Pokémon GO Captured Close To $800 Million In Global Revenue Last Year
Month after month in 2018, we heard how Pokémon GO continued raking in piles of cash and often outperforming its earnings in the previous year. Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data has now confirmed the game’s revenue has grown by 35 percent over the past year, bringing in an estimated total of $795 million worldwide.
Niantic’s mobile hit went out with a bang in 2018, which saw global player spending across the App Store and Google Play surpass $75 million. In total, this is an increase of 32 percent when compared to the $57.2 million spent in the same month in 2017. According to Sensor Tower, the “consistent rollout” of new features kept trainers engaged, with GO revenue reaching an average of nearly $2.2 million per day in 2018. In 2017, the money made per day averaged around $1.6 million.
The United States was the biggest spender on GO in 2018, equating to around 33 percent of all gross revenue ($262 million, to be exact). This is the same percentage as the previous year. In Japan, players spent around $239 million, adding up to about 30 percent of the game’s revenue in 2018. This was a five percent increase from the spending in 2017. Since launching in July 2016, players have now dropped $2.2 billion on the free-to-play augmented reality title. If Niantic manages to hold player interest throughout 2019, the game is expected to surpass the $3 billion mark by the end of the year.
Are you one of the trainers spending money on GO? Do you still play this game on a regular basis? Tell us below.
Automotive Linux Summit connects the developer community driving the innovation in automotive Linux together with the vendors and users providing and using the code in order to drive the future of embedded devices in the automotive arena.
This may not come as a surprise, but not a lot of decent games have been released this week. I mean, there have been releases if you like that sort of thing, but from where I’m sitting there isn’t really anything worth specifically drawing attention too.
But I don’t want to leave you guys empty handed, so I’ve managed to pull together a few sales that are still going on.
Even though Asmodee’s Winter Sale is technically over now, they’ve still got some deals lingering on the App store. Their version of Agricola is one and you can pick it up and the two-player version for a couple of dollars. Neither of these games have been lower than this, so it’s a good price.
Last but certainly not lease, one of Knizia’s many euro games is also going cheap – High Society is only a dollar. This is a card-based auction game where everyone starts with the same amount of money that they must spend on luxuries and items of recognition. The catch being the player who spends the most amount of money loses!
This excellent city builder released last year is discounted on Android (not iOS, sorry), and well worth checking out if you’ve been looking to address that SimCity hole in your life.
That’s all we’ve got for you this week I’m afraid – content wise we’re kicking off next week with our guide to 2019’s big releases and what we’re looking forward too, and we’ll also be throwing up some filler reviews to pass the time while we wait for more games to come out. We’ve also taken your feedback from the GOTY voting form, and we’ll see what we can do to improve things in 2019.
Seen anything else you liked? Let us know in the comments!
CES 2019 in Las Vegas is still a few days away, but you won't have to wait until the trade show starts on January 8 to get a load of what LG has to offer. The electronics maker has already put out a press release about at least some of what it means to show off in Vegas--and it's mostly big, powerful TVs.
LG put out a press release detailing the big improvements to its TV sets it means to show off at CES this year. Specifically, the company is introducing its new ThinQ AI, a "deep learning algorithm" that looks to make content look and sound as good as possible on your LG TV, no matter what's going on in the room you're watching in.
ThinQ makes use of the Alpha 9 Gen 2 processor in LG's newer sets and "recognizes content source quality and determines the best upgrade method for optimal visual output," according to LG's press release. It'll also use the TV's ambient light sensor to take into account conditions in the room it's in, adjusting screen brightness and refining the way it displays HDR content to make sure scenes and images are always clear. ThinQ is also supposed to be able to improve sound quality, mixing up two-channel audio to make it sound like 5.1 surround sound.
While LG hopes to interest customers with the under-the-hood improvements to its sets, it's the size and resolution that are likely to wow anyone headed to Vegas. The Alpha 9 Gen 2 and ThinQ are in a number of LG's new set models, most notably its huge 88-inch 8K Z9 OLED TV and 75-inch 8K LCD TV (model SM99). The LG is also continuing its partnership with Amazon in 2019, with all its new ThinQ models featuring support for Alexa, Amazon's voice-controlled personal assistant app.
You can read more about what LG is bringing to CES in its press release. Other potential hints and teasers are starting to trickle in about what else might show up in Las Vegas during the show, starting with HTC tweeting a photo suggesting new products in its Vive VR line. Stay tuned for all our CES coverage during the show, which runs from January 8 to 11.
Video: This Fitness Boxing Overview Trailer Is Here To Motivate You
If you’re trying to improve your fitness in the new year, perhaps Fitness Boxing for the Switch might be worth checking out. It may not offer quite the same level of variety as the Wii Fit series, but it can at least provide you with an intense physical workout.
If you have been on the fence about this Imagineer-developed title, Nintendo has now uploaded a brand new overview of the game. Running for a total of 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the clip provides a brief rundown of all the options and workout features within the game. If you do decide to get fit, you’ll learn how to master the jab, uppercut, hook and plenty of other moves as you time them to the beat of more than 20 different songs, including the likes of Lady Gaga, LMFAO, and Avril Lavigne (full tracklisting here). In addition to this, you can customise your trainers and workout or compete against a friend.
If you want to work towards a fitness goal in 2019, Fitness Boxing is out in Europe and is now also available in North America. If you’re still not sure if this is the right game for you, you can always consider downloading the free demo from the Nintendo eShop.
Have you played this game yet? Did the overview trailer grab your attention? Tell us in the comments.
Nintendo Participating In Virtual Reality “VRM Consortium” As An Observer
A total of 13 Japanese companies are joining forces to establish a joint enterprise known as the “VRM Consortium” in February 2019. The aim is to develop an international virtual reality business that has a special focus on 3D avatars.
Another objective of the enterprise is to advocate the file format “VRM” (based on gITF2.0) in the hope it can become the standard file format for 3D human models featured in Virtual Reality. This format is reportedly platform-independent, free to use and open-source. The companies involved, hope it will make the creation process easier for video game designers, virtual YouTubers and other projects that utilise this type of technology. The enterprise also intends to expand this initiative beyond Japan.
Why we’re even talking about this, is because Nintendo is participating as an observer. So, basically at this stage, it’s curious to see how it all unfolds. According to Anime News Network, these are the main companies directly involved:
“They include game development platform creator Unity Technologies Japan, virtual reality development companies IVR and XVI Inc., GREE‘s virtual YouTuber company Wright Flyer Live, artist website pixiv, livestreaming platforms Showroom and Mirrativ, telecommunications company Dwango, online game sales platform S-Court, virtual YouTuber and amusement development company DUO, VR distribution platform Virtual Cast, virtual event platform developer Cluster, and Vocaloid’s music technology company Crypton Future Media.”
Virtual Cast also uploaded a video about the new enterprise, highlighting the participating companies and the existing VR model creation and distribution platforms. Take a look below:
As recently as last October, when Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé spoke to Ars Technica about virtual reality, he said the company was “looking” at the technology, but said how it had to be fun before considering it more seriously:
“For virtual reality, we’ve said: it’s tech that we’re looking at, but in the end it has to be fun. That’s our mission, and that is what we do arguably better than anyone else. We have nothing to announce here on this stage. These are going to be technologies that we’ll continue to experiment with. There are new experiences we want to bring to life.”
Would you like to see Nintendo embrace VR technology in the near future? Tell us below.
Cephalocon Barcelona aims to bring together more than 800 technologists and adopters from across the globe to showcase Ceph’s history and its future, demonstrate real-world applications, and highlight vendor solutions. Join us in Barcelona, Spain on 19-20 May 2019 for our second international conference event.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-04-2019, 10:35 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Some Lord Of The Rings Games Have Been Delisted On Xbox, PlayStation, And PC
Lego: The Lord of the Rings and Lego: The Hobbit have been removed from a number of digital storefronts on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. You can no longer buy the games digitally, and their removal could be tied to the expiration of a licensing deal.
Lego: The Lord of the Rings (2012) and Lego: The Hobbit (2014) seemingly require numerous licenses, from the films, Lego toys, and other rights-holders, so it's not a total surprise to see them leave digital stores. Other Lord of the Rings games, like Middle-earth: Shadow of War, remain available to buy, however.
Reddit user SuperMoonky, who first reported the removal of the games, reckons the Lego games might have been removed because they feature dialogue and music that came straight from the movies, while Shadow of War does not do this.
Outside of games, Amazon is producing a very expensive Lord of the Rings TV show that is set long before the events of the movies. Additionally, a movie about author J.R.R. Tolkien and his wife Edith Bratt is in the works with Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-04-2019, 08:55 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Video Game Deep Cuts: End Of The Year Extravaganza
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from video game industry ‘watcher’ Simon Carless (GDC, Gamasutra co-runner), rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend.
This week’s highlights include another gigantic chunk of ‘end of year’ charts, discourses, thoughts and ruminations.
And while we’re at it – I’m not really big on editorializing in this newsletter, but just wanted to say: please take some time for you and your loved ones at year’s end, before 2019 gets incredibly busy & clouds your vision.
Molleindustria’s highlights from 2018(Paolo Pedercini / Molleindustria – ARTICLE)
“These indiepocalyptic times are giving us an embarrassment of releases but the most popular development strategy seems to be: work within established genres, put a lot of effort into visual polish (probably a result of increasing visual social media), and often just… make games punishingly hard (which I guess yields more play hours in face of limited resources?). [SIMON’S NOTE: Continuing his provocateur shenanigans, but Paolo’s yearly picks are nonetheless reliably some of the most interesting.]”
Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos. That’s a Problem for Video Game Developers.(Jason M Bailey / New York Times – ARTICLE)
“When LeBron James bounds down a basketball court, he is both a transcendent athlete and a prominent palette for dozens of tattoos. His mother’s name, Gloria, rests on a crown on his right shoulder and his forearms bear a portrait of his son LeBron Jr. and 330, an area code for his hometown, Akron, Ohio. Although those tattoos have personal connections, they may not truly be his.”
Greg Kasavin’s Top 10 Games of 2018(Greg Kasavin / Giant Bomb – ARTICLE)
“I made time for plenty of other games, which as always kept me entertained, grounded, and inspired in 2018, through all its ups and downs. There’s a lot of stuff I’m only just getting to, so I’m going to divide my list into two halves–games I played too little or not enough, and games I sank my teeth into enough to put them in a real Top 10. [SIMON’S NOTE: absolutely just the tip of the iceberg on Giant Bomb – please read all of the staff & guest Top 10s if you have a few, uh, hours – including folks like Subset Games, the ever-entertaining Jeff Gerstmann, and Night In The Woods’ Scott Benson.]
[Interview] Eric Chung (exA-Arcadia CEO): ‘We aim to be the next NEOGEO’(Staff / Shmup ‘Em All – ARTICLE)
“After Spain and numerous public appearances in Japan, exA-Arcadia visited France during Stunfest 2018. Shmup’Em-All took this opportunity to interview the president of this new company, Eric Chung, in order to learn more about this ambitious new arcade hardware. [SIMON’S NOTE: this is a very interesting new cartridge-based arcade game effort – pity it’ll be so expensive for home collectors, but it’s a super neat idea.]”
Netflix Takes Interactive Storytelling to the Next Level With ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’(Janko Roettgers / Variety – ARTICLE)
“Back in early 2017, Netflix approached “Black Mirror” creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones with an unusual idea. The streaming service had been experimenting with interactive kids content, giving young viewers the ability to choose their own path through a story with a series multiple-choice questions that could be easily answered with the help of a TV remote. [SIMON’S NOTE: This Wired piece has more detail behind the scenes, too.]”
The 10 best video game soundtracks of 2018(Tayyab Amin, Lewis Gordon & Scott Wilson / FACT – ARTICLE)
“It was also another fantastic year for video game soundtracks. FACT has picked 10 of the year’s best, from the grimy, industrial synth backdrop to experimental first-person horror title Paratropic, to the blissed-out accompaniment for retro platformer Celeste and the big budget Old West sounds of Red Dead Redemption 2.”
The history of the strategy game(Fraser Brown / PC Gamer – ARTICLE)
“The history of computer strategy games begins on tables and boards, crammed inside cupboards alongside that knackered old box of Risk that every home seems to possess. The moment strategy made the leap to consoles and computers, it was already familiar.”
The Year In Relaxing and Stressful Games(Paul Tamayo & Gita Jackson – ARTICLE/VIDEO)
“With the year winding down, I thought it’d be great to look at three games you can chill with as the impending apocalypse—I mean New Year’s—rolls in. Or, if you’d like to prepare for the end times with some hectic games that get your heart rate up, Gita was nice enough to give me her favorite stressful games of the year. [SIMON’S NOTE: rest of Kotaku’s Year In Review is here, including ‘different’ stuff like ‘This Year In Video Game Sex’.]
Esports players are burning out in their 20s(Aisha Hassan / Quartz – ARTICLE)
“Some of the world’s top esports players work as many as 80 hours a week, with much of the time spent on marathon video-game sessions that end up taking physical and mental tolls. According to a new documentary by CBSN Originals, this practice, known as “the grind,” is causing many professional gamers to retire by their mid-20s.”
Gamasutra’s Best of 2018: The top 10 game developers of the year(Staff / Gamasutra – ARTICLE)
“The way game developers are telling stories, serving their audiences, and helping their employees stay happy, healthy, and creative are evolving year by year. Looking back and seeing all the good stuff game devs have done this year reminds us how games are small miracles, and the people making them are some of the most gifted people around. [SIMON’S NOTE: also see a Top 10 Games Of The Year list, naturally.]”
How the Artificial-Intelligence Program AlphaZero Mastered Its Games(James Somers / New Yorker – ARTICLE)
“AlphaGo was a triumph for its creators, but still unsatisfying, because it depended so much on human Go expertise. The A.I. learned which moves it should make, in part, by trying to mimic world-class players. It also used a set of hand-coded heuristics to avoid the worst blunders when looking ahead in games. To the researchers building AlphaGo, this knowledge felt like a crutch. They set out to build a new version of the A.I. that learned on its own, as a “tabula rasa.””
The gift of gaming: the joys of getting a console for Christmas(Keith Stuart / The Guardian – ARTICLE)
“We all remember that one Christmas present we got as a kid. The one we’d begged our parents for all year, the one we’d looked up 100 times in the Argos catalogue or on Amazon, depending on our age… For many of us, that present was a games machine.”
The Animation of Gris(Dan Root / YouTube – VIDEO)
“Happy Grismas! There’s something magical about the animation of Gris, and I’m here to give you my thoughts on how it does it.”
Why 2019 could be the year video game unions go big(Charlie Hall / Polygon – ARTICLE)
“When members get together, Kinema said, it’s not just idle talk. Efforts are ongoing inside at least 12 existing studios to form bargaining units and demand the right to negotiate the terms of employment and compensation as a collective. She said that the size of the studios involved run the gamut from several dozen employees all the way up to shops with thousands of workers.”
Weather Systems Took on a New Meaning in 2018(Rob Zacny / Waypoint – ARTICLE)
“Video games love to stun you with the gorgeous vista, the unexpected majesty (or tragicomedy) of a rare animal in the wild. But these depictions started having an unshakably melancholic resonance this year. How much of what the last two Assassin’s Creed games portrayed is in danger of disappearing during our lifetimes? [SIMON’S NOTE: here’s the ‘games of 2018’ article tag on Waypoint – go wade in!”]
The best VR games of 2018(Samuel Horti / PC Gamer – ARTICLE)
“This year has been a relatively quiet one for VR, but headset owners have still been treated to their fair share of great games. The likes of Beat Saber, In Death and Moss have become must-plays for anyone with an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, while we’ve also seen plenty of excellent VR ports of existing games, such as Skyrim VR.” [SIMON’S NOTE: plenty of other good end of year charts on PC Gamer, including top games ‘you might have missed’ & a big ‘best-of’ by genre & editor.]
Recovering Nintendo’s Lost SimCity for the NES(Frank Cifaldi / Video Game History Foundation – ARTICLE)
“A lot of you are probably aware of Nintendo’s remarkable rendition of SimCity for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The cartridge launched alongside the system here in the United States, and brought the popular PC game to a brand new console audience. But did you know that Nintendo’s version of SimCity actually started life on the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System?”
Alex Wiltshire’s 5 best games of 2018(Alex Wiltshire / RockPaperShotgun – ARTICLE)
“Now I look back, I realise that I’ve particularly enjoyed a series of games which gave me space to explore them on my own terms. Whether on the scale of giant monsters or the confined scale of the decks of a ship, they’ve all felt expansive and generous, and respectful of me as a player. [SIMON’S NOTE: yep, lots more best-ofs from RPS are here.]”
Dojin Game Trailers of Comic Market 95 (2018)(EdelweisNal / YouTube – VIDEO)
“[SIMON’S NOTE: Just wanted to post this 70+ minute compendium of trailers for Japanese indie/fangames (?!), compiled from the in-progress Comiket event in Tokyo, because there’s a vibrant Japanese game-making scene that isn’t discussed much – it’s just very much traditional genre-based.]”
The Weirdest Video Games Of 2018(David Wildgoose / Junkee – ARTICLE)
“Fortunately, there’s a whole world of games outside the so-called triple-A space. It’s a world that celebrates the lo-fi, embraces diversity, explores the obscure and champions originality. These are the bravest, strangest, most unconventional and experimental–and, yeah, just plain weirdest–video games of the last twelve months.”
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[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at tinyletter.com/vgdeepcuts – we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra & an advisor to indie publisher No More Robots, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-04-2019, 08:55 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Best of 2018: Gamasutra’s top games, devs, events and trends
The game industry in 2018 saw events that will shift the future of games, landscape-shaping trends that we’ll see evolve for years to come, developers and studios who set the bar high, and of course, games we’ll never forget.
Here we present a roundup of our roundups to make your end of year game industry round-upping that much simpler. This is what Gamasutra’s writers thought of 2018.
There are a lot of games released into the market every year.
And we cover this trend; this inundation of games filling the marketplace. It’s a trend that complicates the chance for success and recognition, from developer to developer, from game to game.
That was true as ever in 2018. But among our staff, there hasn’t been a real complaint about there being “too many games.” We get it — there are a lot of games, but no one would say “there are too many games” if there weren’t so many games that were great.
There were so many games that were great in 2018. Here are the 10 games that stood out in the minds of Gamasutra’s writers this year. (Selections in alphabetical order.)
When Celeste first came out this year, I played it for maybe a half hour, and then stopped. I just wasn’t in the mood for yet another hard-as-hell platformer.
It wasn’t until I picked it back up at the end of the year when I completely fell in love with it, and appreciated what it was doing. Yes, the game is difficult. But the way the story addresses that difficulty, and emboldens the player to keep climbing, is absolutely brilliant. Celeste shows us that we can be our own worst enemy, but that “enemy” is still an innate part of who we are. And having a friend or two help you realize that along the way never hurts.
Mechanically, it’s a simple concept for a player to understand. Jump, dash, and grab. The game masterfully introduces players to the traversal mechanics, then sprinkles in new level design elements where players have to use those basic skills in new ways. It all just feels perfect. – Kris Graft
Ben Esposito’s Donut County is the perfect amount of video game. It’s a funny, surreal story about remote control holes that’s a joy to play, one that doesn’t overstay its welcome. – Alex Wawro
Before diving into why Florence is a unique experience, the developers deserve credit for making a game that’s the perfect length of time. Clocking in at around two hours, Florence tells a story about love at a great pace.
The game takes the generic formula of a traditional relationship (meeting, falling in love, falling out of love) but tells it in such a different way through effective use of simple mechanics, powerful score, and unique art style.
Games without a lot of dialogue or text need to go the extra mile to convey an engaging and emotional story effectively, and Florence absolutely nails it.
No story spoilers will be given away, because it’s a game that needs to be played in order to fully grasp the impact it has. Florence is made for mobile and other short, narrative games would find themselves a great home on the platform. Mobile is confined to a very small subset of mechanics: Tapping, swiping, or holding an icon on your screen. Those constraints serve as powerful storytelling tools ripe for innovation.
The game in its entirety is made up of small, digestible vignettes of very personal and intimate moments in adult relationships where both the good and the bad are shared in a special way. – Emma Kidwell
11 bit Studios’ Frostpunk was the 2018 game I could never stop thinking about. From the moment my poor survivors reached the totemic Generator sitting in the frozen Arctic north, every decision I spent with this society simulator helped me reckon with the demons of authoritarianism and how much control and the lies you can tell yourself in the name of the greater good.
Frostpunk’s thoughtful design means that it’s not just an arbitrary moral messenger here to warn you of the woes of a police state or theocratic regime. It’s crafted to guide you on a path of different path of pain points to remind you that just because you didn’t commit higher crimes against freedom, your lesser decisions still infringed on the rights of your people. And as the pressure drops, and your city is freed from the frozen snow in a great sigh of relief, you’ll look at it’s become and see how even its physical shape was impacted by how much you’d give up in the name of survival. – Bryant Francis
The Hitman sequel drops the episodic format of that last rendition but keeps a firm grasp on Hitman 2016’s charm and quirks as it introduces just the right dose of new mechanics, new levels, and new content to the last game’s already tried and true formula. Hitman 2‘s magic is in each of the massive sandboxes that each main story mission of the game is set in and how it gives players the freedom to take complete ownership of their plans and assassinations, whether the steps they took to complete those objectives were laid out by the game’s suggested or plotted out completely from scratch.
While setting up a platform for another season’s worth of dev and user-made content is an impressive feat, the team at IO Interactive also remade every level, both DLC and base Season 1, from Hitman 2016 for Hitman 2. It’s an undertaking that no doubt took a considerable amount of work, especially since each Legacy level manages to embrace the new mechanics and AI of Hitman 2 without losing the feel of the original. Between the Legacy levels and the still-evolving agent-versus-agent multiplayer Ghost Mode, Hitman 2 has become a game that both builds on the successes of its predecessor without shying away from risk. – Alissa McAloon
Nothing I’ve played conveys the sensation of snatching salvation from the jaws of failure quite like Into the Breach. There’s a lot to admire about Subset Games’ sophomore effort, but what’s most striking is how often it sets up tactical problems that seem first impossible, then survivable, then solvable. It’s my favorite strategy game since chess, and a remarkable follow-up to FTL. – Alex Wawro
Marvel’s Spider-Man is just one emotional pit stop for the web-headed hero who’s had a hell of a 2018. He gave his life in the film Infinity War, he’s reframing his own heroic origins in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and when given a shot, Insomniac Games doesn’t waste any time when granted use of one of the biggest icons in pop culture.
Not only does Marvel’s Spider-Man give breath to a dizzying and dynamic traversal system that takes advantage of New York’s iconic architecture, Insomniac also uses its mission design and gadget expertise to weave a narrative about the struggles of Peter Parker, and how his selfless nature and faith in other people can be used against him.
But it’s still not a cynical game! It’s quippy, it’s cute and it gives Mary-Jane Watson something to do. If superheroes are becoming the modern-day mythological heroes, it’s great that Insomniac Games injects a meaningful experience in the middle of its well-honed, well-polished technical achievement. – Bryant Francis
Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 excels on the merits of its smallest moments. The massive open world is an ambitious undertaking, and a space you as a player spend a considerable amount of time traversing during and between missions. And that downtime is where Red Dead Redemption 2 shines. It’s captivating, or even just relaxing to just toss headphones on and exist in that world for a while, fishing, or hunting, or tracking down small oddities hidden out in the wilderness.
The same is true for the moments spent catching up with the other members of the Van der Linde gang. Catching small conversation with a friend around camp or even just lingering among that cast of characters as they sing, drink, and celebrate after a heist well done makes such an endearing and heartwarming experience that I can’t say I’ve found in other games before.
It’s impossible to mention Red Dead Redemption 2 here however without calling out some of the controversy that’s surrounded the game in the leadup to its release regarding excessive crunch, mandatory or otherwise, during the development of Red Dead Redemption 2. Current and former Rockstar developers have spoken at length about their experiences while working on the game, and the stories on those perspectives should be mentioned with any discussion or praise of the game itself. – Alissa McAloon
In an indie scene where retro has become a cliche, a few games continue to remind us of why gaming’s past remains a valuable space to explore. Lucas Pope’s latest, a brilliant supernatural mass murder mystery-cum-insurance investigator simulator, uses its 80s-inspired graphics to reinforce core mechanics. First, your character uses an enchanted watch to see a deceased person’s moment of death in freeze-frame; no animation required, just an eye for detail. Second, that detail is brought into sharp relief by those same graphics. Where certain things might get lost in the haze of bloom and shaders, the unpretentiously-used bit graphics work in favor of clue-finding.
The story that evolves is an incredibly gripping spec-fic narrative in its own right. You only get snapshots of every life aboard the Obra Dinn, often at their lowest moments and their very ends, but you still come away knowing something all-too-human about them all as you piece together Pope’s grand puzzle. The end result is one for the ages. – Katherine Cross
In the run-up and launch of Tetris Effect, I formed a new pet peeve: people saying things like ‘it’s just re-skinned Tetris‘ or ‘do we really need another version of Tetris?’
For one, Tetris is a game that humankind will be playing in some shape or form for the next thousands of years, barring any near- to mid-term self-destruction of our species. To say something is “just Tetris” is like saying “just the Ancient Pyramids” or “just the moon landing” or “just penicillin.” Tetris is a monumental human achievement.
Ahem ok where were we? Oh yes, Tetris Effect. Yes we do need another version of Tetris — specifically this version. Tezuya Mizuguchi’s take on the game (which was directed by Takashi Ishihara) is surprisingly emotional, bringing together visuals, sound and music, and interactivity together perfectly, with a soulful sincerity unique to Mizuguchi’s work.
And don’t pass up on this if you don’t own PSVR — while that’s a great Tetris Effect experience, the game doesn’t lose its beauty on a regular screen. Just turn the lights down, turn the sound up, and play yet another version of Tetris. – Kris Graft
