rolling thread of stuff worth reading on videogames

i've definitely been thinking for a long time about the normalization of Whig History in 4X games, and gameplay mechanics only gets you so far as an excuse

Very good article, thank you for sharing NV

the linked le guin piece is a cracking read too.

the last time i played diplomacy, i tried to convince as many countries to a ceasefire and to unite in defense against aggressors. i didnt get much support.

"then whats the point of the game?" thats for you and your clergy, therapist, or close friends to discuss, asshole.

Need to come up with a game called Nomadology now

mb it sounds like you need to do a better job of defining these aggressors. Russians or Islamists for example. Maybe Chinese tech giants.

https://www.themanequest.com/

The ILG equivalent of a white canvas painting or 4'33"?

I tried to paste a link from my phone and forgot to stick text between the url tags. I can't even remember what the article was.

https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/15/21067001/gamestop-earnings-revenue-death-retail

presented as yet unread:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/06/playing-metal-gear-solid-v-the-phantom-pain

https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/21/21070333/life-is-strange-2-episode-5-border-wall-interview-immigration-michel-koch-raoul-barbet
Could've used a little more editing but overall a good read.

Woah the New Yorker Metal Gear thing was riveting

yeah, i read after posting and yikes

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/02/05/rockstar-co-founder-and-head-writer-dan-houser-is-leaving/

Should be a standard press release-type deal about Dan Houser leaving Rockstar, but the writer couldn't resist snark, which I appreciated, especially that comment about Heat.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/04/23/who-made-fy_iceworld-a-forensic-investigation/

I'm not even a fan of Counter-Strike, but for reason found this article fascinating.

podcast, not reading, but The Life and Times of Video Games is fun listening for digging in deep on small things - the "Boss Button," color cycling in pixel art, the birth of digitized samples, etc.

tyvm!

Polygon has been doing similar things - really enjoyed this recent video on the evolution of video game babble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYZMWkmXX3k√

i enjoyed this on delay and roll back mechanism in online fighting games

good read, thx Fizzles

https://acoup.blog/2019/11/22/collections-why-are-there-no-empires-in-age-of-empires/

Pretty good unless you know all this already
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJiwn8iXqOI

i knew most of that but it was well organized and presented!

it's kind of like that mini-doc about the amen break, in that way

listening rather than reading but... (it wasn't really fame-related lols)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nv36

"Playing With The Dead

Jordan Erica Webber explores how video games allow us to play with people after they have died."

(about the memorialisation of people in games)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e6xOBCAVvA

that youtuber is a sex pest iirc if you care about such things

what? shit.

https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/gamer-disgusted-to-discover-they-just-watched-nick-robinson-video/

I am honestly not sure what I think about The Hard Times having a gaming section.

Be funny if it was just about speed runs.

they're consistently funnier/more tuned in than the onion's gaming section

at least based on the ones that make it to my Feeds i dont read it actively

One of my best friends constantly texts me links from The Hard Times. I hate him for this.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/shigeru-miyamoto-wants-to-create-a-kinder-world

LOL I opened that in Dark Mode and got a creepy negativ-Miyamoto surrounded by black clouds. Good interview. Miyamoto, for all his beatific demeanor, sounds like a guy it kinda sucks to work for.

couple of years old now, but i don’t *think* this piece on donkey kong high scores has been posted before?

couple of years old now, but i don’t *think* this piece on donkey kong high scores has been posted before?

it was posted fifty-nine minutes ago i think

was going to make a joke to that effect and thought, no, no one will come in and gazump

spotted over the horizon urging his steed ever faster...

NV TO THE RESCUE

i can hear the Holy Grail music now

just for the gimmick: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/interactive/2021/can-you-pet-the-dog/

lol nice

fuck, this packaging is my madeline
https://obscuritory.com/essay/incredible-boxes-of-hock-wah-yeo/

http://obscuritory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yeo_princeofpersia-1024x683.jpg
http://obscuritory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yeo_broderbundnes-1024x337.png
http://obscuritory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yeo_ironehelix-1024x732.jpg
http://obscuritory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yeo_havoc-1024x731.jpg

Hooh, I remember perusing my local Egghead Software and Software Etc. and seeing these boxes all the time. Had no idea so many came from the same source. Owned the trapezoid boxes for Prince of Persia I and II. That Jetfighter II box definitely stood out (for the time, also a pretty good game iirc!) Lotta great stuff in this article, even baering the painfully '90s color aesthetic of some.

Ahoy has a great video on boxes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWLMbmAv0tg

https://www.polygon.com/videos/2021/4/1/22352583/simcity-hidden-politics-ideology-urban-dynamics