The Sunday Papers is our weekly summary of great writing about (mostly) video games from around the web.
Sundays are for putting on contact lenses on the first try. Before we contain the blink, let’s read this week’s best writings about games (and game-related stuff).
On Bullet Points, Jay Castello wrote about Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s frictionless environment. A great piece to really relate to the earth, rather than finding the perfect angle to see it. It reminded me a bit of the book English Pastoral: An Inheritance by James Rebanks, something else I would recommend for everyone to read.
But Valhalla’s presentation comes closer to how the land has really been treated. A nice backdrop is nice, but the frictionless experience is the most important thing. True England is a record of this process more than anything else. Asphalt roads, forcibly domesticated forests in fields, hedges cut into raw squares. Even most of the stone circles are in poor condition because they were carved in the Middle Ages. Throughout history, the people of England have wanted to soften the bristles of nature to better suit their purposes in the same way that Valhalla softens the player’s interaction with their world.
Christopher Livingston wrote about the upcoming wave of city builders for PC Gamer. A good summary for beginning city builders who want to build colonies in less than boring places.
And if you’re looking for an even bigger creature to build a city, how about a cosmic sea turtle flying through space? If you’ve ever enjoyed being in charge of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, you should keep an eye on World Turtles camp creator. As the huge creature crawls through the dark ink of space, you will work to grow your civilization with peaceful and sustainable technology and live in harmony with the great space turtle.
For Eurogamer, Chris Tapsell wrote about the new PS Plus setup and its approach to selling car suitcases for catalog games. I only have the Essential level, but judging by the Extra and Premium levels, I doubt it will be worth an upgrade for me. I’m totally ready to sift through a “pile of shovels” in an antique store, because that’s what I’m there for. When I’m sitting on the couch after paying a lot of money for a service, it’s the last thing I want to do because I’m grumpy and impatient. Give me a good user interface and filters, cheers.
The classic PS Plus Premium catalog only adds to that feeling of over-selling, taking out of your pockets, pulling out a box of Grandpa’s attic-style cure. Again: some gems! Jumping flash! Ape Escape! Miami Hotline! But also a bewilderingly wide range of licensed movie links: Cars Race-o-Rama, Brave: The Video Game, Tron: Evolution, more. Not satisfied? How about a series of floating, disconnected sequels, such as Epic Mickey 2, Greg Hastings Paintball 2, Samurai Warriors 4, Ninja Gaiden 3, and several, but definitely not all, Dynasty Warriors games?
Patrick Klepek spoke with the developers of Call Of Duty about what it’s like to make a game after a mass shooting, for Vice. A good read on how many developers are increasingly uncomfortable with the way their games are put together.
“This culture and the people out there,” said the developer himself, “are the biggest obstacle I see in passing reasonable gun laws that respect the Second Amendment while reducing the number of mass shootings. How many people have played the games I’ve worked on have become single-issue voters, focused on preventing any gun legislation from being passed? I don’t know, but I’m worried. I don’t feel guilty because I don’t know if I’ve contributed directly to that through my work, but I’m worried about being a little gear on a bigger machine that may have done more than I realized. “
Last week we learned that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is officially in development, come on. I really enjoyed my time with the first game, and yet, I often find it hard to sum up exactly why when I recommend it to people. Recently, I remembered Matt Lees ’video on what makes Dragon’s Dogma special and I’ll leave it here for anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. It’s the selling point I’ll keep in my back pocket from now on.
This week’s music is MS. MURAL of Lupe Fiasco’s latest album, DRILL MUSIC IN ZION. Here is the YouTube link and the Spotify link. A reminder that Lupe Fiasco is one of the best lyrics in hip-hop.
That’s all, for now, we’ll catch up with you next week!