Have you been following along with our first batch of Insert Quarter selections? Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet. Whether its an in-depth analysis of a major issue facing the video game industry or just a fun read that’s perfect for a coffee break, you’ll find it in Insert Quarter.
Here’s some of the game writing that we loved the most over the last three months.
“Playing A Game” Versus “Grinding Through Content”
October 4, 2014 | Originally Published by Kotaku
In this installment, Kotaku’s Yannick LeJacq examines the difference between “playing a game” and “grinding through content” added by the developer to increase the hours required to reach the end in games like Dying Light and The Sims 4.
Earlier this week, Techland announced that its new zombie-killing adventure Dying Light will have “50+ hours of gameplay.” Some might considering this good news. I don’t—at least at face value.
Why? Because 50 hours is a long [*******] time to spend in any video game, and I don’t trust Techland enough as a developer to believe they know how to guide me through such a slog gracefully. I took me roughly half that time to play their last zombie game, Dead Island Riptide. I loved the first few hours, and couldn’t stand the rest.
The Rich Lives of NPCs in Shadow of Mordor and Watch Dogs
October 12, 2014 | Originally Published by Paste
In this installment, Austin Walker, writing for Paste, contemplates the rich lives of non-player characters found in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Watch Dogs. Each game attempts to create a background for each NPC, specifically the Orc Captains that stalk Shadow of Mordor’s Talion through the game’s “Nemesis System” and the petty criminals of Watch Dogs that cause pain for so many of the game’s other citizens.
I’ve been thinking about non-player characters for four months now. I’ve been thinking about them ever since I stood over the body of the eleventh man I killed in Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs. He had a sneering face and a stuffed bank account. The game told me that he was listed on FBI watch list. His name was William Jones. I shot him three times: twice in the back and once in the head.
[…]
Monolith offers the player all sorts of ways to fail [in Shadow of Mordor]. As Talion, I regularly overcommitted to combat deep inside of Orkish strongholds only to find myself surrounded by dozens of Uruk-hai, including a few powerful enemy captains. The Arkham series of games taught me that if I could just counter enough attacks, I’d never fail. No matter their number, the Joker’s henchmen would always leave room for me to knock them around. That is not the case here. Even in the final hours of the game, with almost all of Talion’s abilities unlocked, I was once dropped to one knee by ranged attacks and then instantly killed by a particularly strong captain. I wasn’t sent to a “Retry?” screen. Instead, the Orc who killed me rose in rank, and when he saw me later, laughed in my face. My failure—the act of my death—was not erased; it was just made more complicated, more interesting.
A Profile of the Video Game Archivists at the Library of Congress
October 31, 2014 | Originally Published by BuzzFeed
With more than 6,000 titles, the Library of Congress is home to one of the largest video game archives in the world. But the curation and management of the collection is in the hands of just four part-time employees. BuzzFeed’s Joseph Bernstein reached out to these four men to learn how the Library of Congress is attempting to preserve America’s gaming heritage and how much more still needs to be done:
No, the work of game copyrighting and archiving at our country’s signal institution for cultural preservation is not done by a dedicated full-time staff. Instead, it’s the passion project of a handful of archivists who want to be the new standard-bearers in the preservation of video games. Indeed, the state of video game collection at the Library is something of an expression of the liminal state of video games in American popular culture writ large. The Library recognizes the cultural importance of video games, but only devotes four people part-time to their archiving; Game companies insist that their products are the medium of the future, but don’t trust archives with their source code; Collectors sell their troves on Craigslist and eBay rather than considering donation.
Even to get to this point, though, has been a journey in and of itself.
Is Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s Season Pass a Good Value or a Rip-Off?
November 4, 2014 | Originally Published by Destructoid
Gearbox supported 2012’s Borderlands 2 with a bevy of downloadable content including four campaign expansions (which were included as part of the game’s Season Pass), five Headhunter Packs, two level cap upgrades, and two additional playable characters. It was the most ambitious post-release DLC schedule for a game ever.
Perhaps it’s due to the developer switch or maybe it’s because the latest Borderlands game is still living on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in a new-generation world, but Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel‘s DLC schedule isn’t nearly as expansive. 2K Games is once again selling a Season Pass for The Pre-Sequel, but Destructoid’s Darren Nakamura is concerned that 2K is being intentionally vague in their promotion of the Pass to hide its less-than-stellar value:
So even though no promises are technically being broken, and 2K plans to deliver four digital additions to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel for the price of three through the season pass, I cannot blame any who bought it for feeling cheated. The content fits the requirements laid out, but the value is not there. Even if the plans were to change from here onward and the season pass ends up including one new Vault Hunter and three story DLCs, the value of the pass over purchasing content piecemeal hinges on the quality of all three packs, and the series does not have a perfect track record on that front.
What’s the Best Way To Introduce Halo (or Any Game) To Your Kids?
November 10, 2014 | Originally Published by Polygon
Geeky parents have long wondered what is the best way to introduce their favorite geeky media to their children. It’s definitely a universal thought that I’ve even caught myself having. I don’t have kids yet and I’ve wondered when will be the right time to introduce them to the Star Wars trilogy (and in what order). With this week’s release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Polygon’s Ben Kuchera ponders this predicament as it relates to the game industry’s premiere first person shooter series. Aside from a baffling adherence to inverted controls, Kuchera wonders what parts of the game he should show his son and what parts he should let him discover on his own:
We’re pretty strict about what games the kids play, and for how long, and this is the first time my son and I have played a mature-rated game together. He lacks rudimentary skills when it comes to first-person shooters, and I begin to feel like I’ve been failing him by not teaching him this stuff earlier.
Everyone Loves Overwatch… But Why?
November 13, 2014 | Originally Published by Kotaku
Blizzard’s Overwatch unveiling got the game industry and gamers everywhere buzzing like they haven’t in a long time. But what’s the source of all this good will? Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett believes that it’s due to the fact that Overwatch, above all else, looks like fun. When so many other so-called “AAA” games are exploring the darkest recesses of the human mind, Blizzard is running in the opposite direction to deliver a game that evokes the best Saturday morning cartoons without being childish:
Consider the vast majority of blockbuster video game releases. They usually star men. Those men are scowling. They’re involved in bloody violence of the grimmest sort. The lighting is dark, and smoky, and hostile. From Call of Duty to Battlefield, Assassin’s Creed to Far Cry (and most games in between), the big games from big teams share a very similar tone. And that tone isn’t very fun.
Now consider Overwatch’s reveal. Happy kids, a talking ape, a very chirpy British girl. It didn’t really seem like a video game trailer at all, did it? People compared (wrongly, I think) the art design to Pixar, but they’re close: it felt like a Pixar movie, with a youthful sense of joy and excitement.
In this business, that’s pretty rare!
