The Impact Factor

News & Views

8/13/16-8/19/16

So ends a damp, cool, and foggy week in San Francisco. I’ve been waiting since the first hour of Monday for this.

News & Views collects the week’s best writing about video games and puts it all into one convenience place. Check out the links below for stories about how a developer’s hypoglycemia is represented in his games, how Super Mario 64 introduced the camera as a new character, and a look into a growing mystery that links 19 seemingly unrelated games together.

And of course please check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight

Magic and gender in Final Fantasy VI

Kathryn Hemmann, Kill Screen

Worth Reading

Death and Consequences in Game Design

Chris Solarski, Gamasutra

How SWERY's Reactive Hypoglycemia Manifests Itself In His Video Games

Laura Kate Dale, VICE

On Monsters, Role Playing, and Blackness

Gita Jackson, Giantbomb

Against Representation

Aevee Bee, Zeal

Super Mario 64 introduced the camera as friend and foe in video games

A.A. Dowd, Matt Geradi, John Teti, and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, A.V. Club

With Comments

How -Not What- To Think About New cards

Popsychblog, Reddit/r/hearthstone

This poster on Reddit offers an interesting insight into how to view new cards. Pros and amateurs alike are routinely wrong about the power level of new cards. There are so many factors, it’s hard to really know. Poppsychblog suggests a common rubric on how to value a new card’s merit that’s irrespective of meta context. Interesting thoughts!

No Man's Sky and the Joy of Being Stranded

Alex Newhouse, Gamespot

No Man’s Sky is a polarizing game. Some love it, some hate it. Like many of the ‘big’ games of our time, it has certainly fueled interesting writing. Alex Newhouse discusses the joy of being stranded alone in an unthinkably vast universe. I’m not sure that’s what I am looking for in games, but that No Man’s Sky can provide that feeling is something truly special.

These Mysterious Symbols Have Been in 19 Video Games and No One Knows Why

Patrick Klepek, VICE

Well, Frog Fractions 2 here we come! Jokes aside, this is a crazy story. 19 seemingly unrelated games have these symbols appearing. Symbols that, once decoded, seem to assemble into some kind of map (or electrical circuit?). With the Overwatch Sombra ARG in full force, I’ve been really into following the hard work of others in deciphering these cryptic messages. Here’s to hoping it builds to something really cool.