The Impact Factor Ep. 27: Chicken Baby Sugar Lips

Podcast

Welcome to the 27th episode of The Impact Factor! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. Hosts Alex Samocha [biomedical scientist] and Charles Fliss [social scientist] sit down every week to discuss the week in gaming! Listen in for the news, views, and games that made the biggest impact!

Please send your suggestions and feedback to impactfactorpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode Alex and Fliss talk about console ownership, Activision, Candy Crush, the ESA, Miitomo, Outlast 2, Halo 5, YouTube Red, Tales from the Borderlands & more!

‘PewDiePie blames YouTube Red on the rising tide of ad blockers’ by Alex Wawro:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/258017/PewDiePie_blames_YouTube_Red_on_the_rising_tide_of_ad_blockers.php

Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-impact-factor/id993404882?mt=2

 
For articles and reviews from Alex, check out: www.theimpactfactor.blogspot.com
For a blog about Japan, pop culture & more from Fliss, check out:

www.flissofthenorthstar.blogspot.com

YouTube page:www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zpRq6h1O7d2MlMYWhNNjw 

Follow Alex @alexsamocha on Twitter. twitch.tv/megalodonphd
Follow Fliss @thecfliss on Twitter. twitch.tv/flissofthenorthstar

Intro song:

You Kill My Brother by Go! Go! Go! Micro Invasion, East Jakarta Chiptunes Compilations. Freemusic Archive. (Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike License)
freemusicarchive.org/music/Indonesi…s_Compilation/
Transitions:
News & Views and Perspectives transitions from victorcenusa, Freesound.org (Creative Commons 0 License)
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148785/
freesound.org/people/victorcenusa/sounds/148784/
Experimental Methods transition from Sentuniman, Freesound.org (Attribution Noncommercial License)
freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/143994/

News & Views

10/24/15-10/30/15

Happy (almost) Halloween everyone! It’s sad that we’re coming to the end of my favorite month of the year. But it’s exciting that the holiday is almost upon us! It’s not too late to join me in my Scare Fest 2015! I foresee candy and pizza and scary movies in my future. This time of year is great, too, because right after Halloween we go headlong into Thanksgiving and Christmas. Party time!

News & Views is back and awesome as always. This week I found great writing about why Halo’s story doesn’t matter, how Miyamoto wanted to create an entirely different GoldenEye, designing SOMA’s unforgettable monsters, and how the original Assassin’s Creed was so revolutionary.

In honor of Halloween, this week’s Spotlight is the 25 best horror movies since 2000. So now you have no excuse: get out there and watch some great stuff this spooky-scary weekend! Keep an eye on The Impact Factor on the 31^st for something special!

And of course you can 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

The 25 best horror movies since 2000

Joshua Alston et. al, A.V. Club

Worth Reading

Girl Gamers: Who gets to be a gamer?

Latoya Peterson, Fusion.net

The trick design problem of Soma's memorable monsters

Kris Graft, Gamasutra

A Good Companion - balancing emotions and practicality when designing companion characters

Daniel Hunter-Dowsing, Gamasutra

Revisiting the original, quietly revolutionary Assassin's Creed

Michelle Ehrhardt, Kill Screen

Let's stop pretending Halo 5's story matters

Ben Kuchera, Polygon

With Comments

The Creepypasta Hell Inside Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Ben Gabriel, Kill Scren

Gabriel writes a fascinating piece about how video games can be perfect vehicle for creepypasta. I love creepypastas. /r/nosleep is fantastic. This article really makes me want to borrow my fiancée’s 3DS to see Aika’s nightmare for myself. Spooky stuff fit for Halloween weekend!

GoldenEye on N64: Miyamoto wanted to tone down the killing

Keith Stuart & Jordan Erica Webber, The Guardian

Miyamoto is such an interesting figure. His approach to game design is so thoroughly unique. I’d love to see his full vision of N64’s GoldenEye. A shooter with less violence, in which all of your downed foes greet you at the end of your playthrough sounds awesome. Stories like this are always fun to read, too. You’ve got to assume there’s some parallel dimension in which this version was released.

Halo 5's Ads Lied To You

Mitch Dyer, IGN

Game ads are notoriously deceptive. They often lie about graphics (use pre-rendered cutscenes) and gameplay (show live actors). But I’ve never seen them lie about a game’s story, like what has happened with Halo 5. I’ve only played the first Halo and even I was captured by the concept behind the new game’s story. Master Chief is the bad guy?! And Spartan Locke is going to try to take him down?! So it came as a huge shock to me that this never happens in the game. I feel cheated, and I don’t even plan on buying Halo 5. It’s so bizarre.

An annotated history of video game boss battles

Tyler Lee, Polygon

A boss battle best-of list with some nice visual flair. Like any superlative list, Lee misses out on a lot of great fights. The bosses he did choose, however, are all fantastic. It’s a nice graphic that brought a welcome bit of nostalgia. Man I need to play Shadow of the Colossus again.

When should we review games?

Johnny Chiodini, Eurogamer

Chiodini puts together a video conversation that the industry has been collectively having for the past couple years. When should we review a game? Games are often broken at launch and improved in the week or two that follows. But what about online features? What about lasting impact? It’s a tough question and one that I suspect doesn’t have one good answer. Something to think about for all of us who share our thoughts on games.