MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
You shouldn’t worry too much, as MCVuk.com will continue updating over the bank holiday.
But on the off chance that you need something else to read over the long sunny break (by that we mean rainy, obviously) then MCV has compiled a few links that we judge to be worthy of your time and your bandwidth.
They cover a good variety of subjects too, from the ethics of shooting stuff in games to the rise of smartphone football games and even a marvellous chocolate analogy for Capcom’s Devil May Cry. Sorry, DmC. Enjoy.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Shooter – LINK
Tom Bissell, Grantland
Take-Two’s Spec Ops has garnered quite a wealth of meaningful discussion online, but few pieces can hold up to Bissell’s fantastically constructed analysis of what it really means to shoot digital people in digital games.
DmC is Looking Totally Sweet – LINK
Stace Harman, IGN
Previews for Capcom’s Devil May Cry reinvention DmC aren’t exactly thin on the ground, but what Harman achieves that others do not is beginning his piece with a superb three paragraph chocolatier analogy.
Football sims and the fallacy of realism – LINK
Keith Stuart, Hookshot Inc
Console developers have spent the best part of three decades trying to make the most realistic digital recreations of the beautiful game as possible. And with the likes of FIFA 12 the vision has been achieved. But the rise of smartphone gaming has brought with it a new approach to the genre, and the results are in some ways every bit as exceptional.
Dumbness In games, Or, The Animal As A System – LINK
Matthew Burns, Magical Wasteland
Gaming’s frequent inability to tell a decent story continues to baffle almost everyone. In this piece, Burns doesn’t offer any magical solution, but he does a great job of exploring the reasons why the industry keeps falling a bit short.
How To Fix Games Journalism – LINK
Kris Lipscombe, Halbpro’s Thoughts
There are few things games journalists love as much as talking about games journalism. And they’ve been doing A LOT of it this week, mainly due to Polygon’s really quite astonishing trailer for its yet-to-be-launched website. But whilst the admittedly wonderful team of mostly American journalists promise to help humanity ascend to a higher plain, over in Britain we’re remaining a little more level headed. The Sixth Axis writer Kris Lipscombe’s advice here may not aid in the search for a cure for cancer or promise to bring about peace on the West Bank, but it does offer a realistic take on how we might all strive to be just a little bit better.
