rolling thread of stuff worth reading on videogames

http://www.vice.com/read/my-name-is-tom-and-im-a-video-game-addict

wait, that IS the James Franco I'm thinking of. weird!

dude is badly overeducated

Extra Lives is a search for what is so attractive about video games, but it is also a kind of modernist investigation into the essence of the medium and what video games can do better than other mediums. If we tried to translate the agency given to the player in video games to other mediums, you’d get something like elaborate coloring books or extensive choose your own adventure books. But to the nth degree, because videogames are now able to contain random interactions, unplanned occurrences between the player avatar and the unscripted independently programmed characters and elements of the game world. This means that the video games are approaching the open-ended dynamic of life.

reads like a college essay through and through but with sentence fragment issues

When he talks about himself and sad-robot coke habit then he's tedious. Much better is when he writes about his reaction to a game - a lovely passage on resident evil springs to mind. You can tell he's a travel writer by trade. I suppose it's hard to talk about your reaction to something without coming across overly narcissistic, which he def does at times, but the good bits of the book make me want to read more personal emotional reactions to games (ilg is v good at this)

I couldn't really find a good thread for this but:

http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/6/4403602/interplay-repurchases-freespace-ip-thq-volition

Only $7,500? Wow. What does Interplay even do these days?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/07/the-worst-video-game-ever-created.html

good read

Yeah, that was cool! Never heard of that before.

that opening paragraph is great but the rest of the article doesn't seem to refer back to it. or did i miss something?

you missed something

“They didn’t contact us,” said Teller. “Someone sent me a news story about the event over e-mail. So I got in contact.” Saunders e-mailed Teller back, thanking him for his interest. He asked if Teller might consider giving the team an encouraging phone call to inspire what had become a “hub of sleep deprivation.” After Morgan van Humbeck hung up on him, Teller found another number to reach the team, and asked what they’d like for lunch.

ah thanks, my fault for rush-reading

http://mentalfloss.com/article/51930/legend-oregon-trail

thanks!

ok, not really any new information here but i lol'd once i realized zombie boner
http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/8/4595050/adults-only-ao-games

http://www.newstatesman.com/games/2013/08/returning-alter-ego

Excellent article.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/time-to-feel-old-inside-the-nes-on-its-30th-birthday/
No shocking developments, but a solid piece, and definitely some good photos and videos selected along with the article I hadn't seen.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/08/grand-theft-autos-bigfoot-hunters.html

Christian Cantamessa, a former Rockstar employee who worked as a level designer on the game, took a similar stance when I approached him. “It is a little like asking the U.S. government to discuss Area 51, isn’t it?” he said. “The only appropriate comment is ‘No comment.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/us/cia-acknowledges-area-51-exists-but-what-about-those-little-green-men.html

do u guys Believe???

(and is there a game myths-relevant thread? I love that shit)

Yeah that's a cool article! Personally I don't think it's there - if hackers have discovered Hot Coffee by now, they should've discovered a bigfoot model. But that article puts up a good argument for both sides!

i remember some weird kid at my school telling me that he had 'hacked' the cartridge for zelda 64 and discovered a secret fish at the lake you can fish at

was it the loach? 'cause the loach is in there by design. I could never catch it tho

http://www.bogost.com/writing/consumption_and_naturalism_in_.shtml

http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/9/6/4641320/pewdiepie-youtube-commentary
fucking pew die pie is horrible

http://kotaku.com/manifesto-the-21st-century-will-be-defined-by-games-1275355204
imo

cute
http://vimeo.com/74645125

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-fi-c1-rodrigos-world-20130902-dto,0,2239765.htmlstory

Good behind-the-scenes piece from lolKotaku on the demise of Lucasarts: http://kotaku.com/how-lucasarts-fell-apart-1401731043

yeah, that's a good read and should also be on the george lucas crimes thread because it sounds like he had a big hand in fucking that company up

god damn you george lucas

None of those abandoned games sounds like a big loss tbh

Day of the Tentacle HD sure does.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/10/hiroshi-yamauchi-henk-rogers/

via Tom - http://tevisthompson.com/on-videogame-reviews/

that's pretty good, yeah

I can't wait to play Infinite and find out if these guys are right

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/technology/this-is-war-for-a-game-industrys-soul.html

i don't agree with the article's idea that the health of DICE is a canary for the whole industry, but still a nice profile

Tevis makes good points and I generally agree but the "I'd give it a 2/10" biz is slightly distracting.

Well, there's really two separate points being made - "I am really critical of this game and here's why" and "I am concerned by how unvaried the 'criticism' is in this field." The challopsy 2/10 stuff is more about the latter than about this game as such, as I took it. I thought it was a really good read, although I haven't played any Bioshock whatsoever.

yeah his primary point is right on and painfully valid and he's a fantastic writer so all around it is a really good read. it also lead to four or five days of annoying and defensive debate on a game writer list serve.

do you guys have any links to forums or msg boards where people are debating this tevis piece? thought it was superb, nails all my distrust of game reviewers (across the board 9/10s for la noire was the point where it properly hit me)

Neogaf thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=698719

haven't read it

thanks

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/203801/How_Typing_of_the_Dead_Overkill_survived_its_studios_apocalypse.php
i think i need to buy this

i'm smacking myself for forgetting to buy it, even after i posted about it in the deal thread

it's a sega title though, it'll go on sale again

just read the article, ha, i love that they put so much effort into getting it out