Reading List (February 2018) (Patreon)
Content
This is a collection of links to stuff I enjoyed in the past few weeks. Sometimes it’s a video. Sometimes it’s an article! Whatever the case, it’s always interesting.
Lemme know if you hate this new format. I just didn’t feel like there was a lot of value to me commenting on every link - but I also didn’t want to just paste a random list of URLs. Hopefully this middle ground is okay!
Designer notes
Read - The designers of the ultra hard Celeste explain why you can cheat your way to victory.
Read - Gamasutra lists seven influential immersive sims, for anyone curious about this niche genre.
Watch - NIKMOE reckons Mario Odyssey has four different endings. Here’s how that works.
Watch - KingK explains the feedback loop that makes the Monster Hunter games so addictive.
Watch - Turbo Button talks us through the rewarding combat system of PS2 classic God Hand.
Read - Eurogamer looks at the creation of a potential new genre: the Battle Royale game.
Read - Amy Henig (Uncharted) and Sean Vanaman (Firewatch) have a candid conversation about making games.
Watch - Mr B Tongue returns with another video on violence and war in games - and how it relates to real world conflict.
Analyse This
Watch - Campster’s got a take on Getting Over it with Bennet Foddy that’s worth checking out.
Watch - If, like me, you found Noah Gervais through his video on Call of Duty’s campaigns, this follow-up will be a must watch.
Business lunch
Read - Ralph Koster crunches the data to find the cost of making games.
Watch - Extra Credits claims that $60 is way too cheap for modern day games.
Watch - And explains why triple A games cost so much to make.
Watch - Jim Sterling’s got a rebuttal that’s well worth watching, too.
Comedy central
Watch (CC) - This dude’s trying way too hard to be Egorapter and JonTron but oh well, his video on Super Princess Peach is good.
Watch - The ever brilliant Super Butterbuns walks you through the basics of Resident Evil 7.
History lesson
Read - Kotaku goes deep on the history of Atari and its complicated relationship with its female employees - all in light of the Nolan Bushnell controversy.
Watch - If you still don’t know the story of Tetris, let The Gaming Historian explain it through gorgeous illustrations.
Watch - Siegarettes wants you to know that the video game classics aren’t always classic.
Culture club
Watch - Game Score Fanfare tackles the Yoshi games, which use music to evoke childhood and play.
Read - Gamasutra chats to Atlus to find out how Yakuza gets translated. There’s some stuff about Yakuza 6 I wish I didn’t read in there, so heads up.
Watch - Super Bunnyhop looks back at 2017 - the year Japan dominated the video game market.
Read - The Psychology of Games asks: why do people play jobs?
Read - A touching tale of parenthood and sacrifice, through the lens of 9999 Mario Odyssey coins.
Watch - I’m slightly obsessed with this series, that explains how to catch all the Pokemon in any given game. Make full use of YouTube’s speed settings.
Beyond games
Watch - Thomas Flight examines the end of La La Land and Whiplash, to figure out how director Damien Chazelle crafts an ending
Watch - Lindsay Ellis destroys Netflix’s Bright like it’s a paper cup.
Watch - Gavin from the SlowMoGuys points his phantom at an old CRT and a copy of Super Mario Bros to explain how TVs work.
Watch - Everyone knows Netflix changes its recommendations to suit you: but it goes way beyond just picking films for you.
Read - Some interesting thoughts about the perils of relying on world-building in fiction. There are some good links to click through to, as well.
Read - This Buzzfeed simulation of a Twitterstorm is the most accurate thing I’ve ever read.
Read - You know those films that are based on a true story? This site lets you go, scene by scene, through each movie to check their veracity.
Watch - I didn’t understand Meltdown and Spectre (the bugs affecting processors). Now I do. Thanks, internet!