Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Sunday afternoon is filled with delightful free comedy (Ever get a chance, go see Brian Gittins). But the evening? It will be full of pasta and sleeping. But in between, in the meniscus between the two, it’s time to compile a list of writing on games found across the internet this week while resisting linking to some piece of music that caught our fancy.

• This is the heftiest piece of the week, and if I had more time to do a proper analysis, I’d have done a real breakdown in an longer post. As it is, you should just go through it. TweakGuides do an enormous and relatively non-partisan 10-page examination of Piracy which includes at least a half-dozen good ways to start fights. Some numbers comparing PC and Console piracy which make anyone playing a “But it happens on consoles too!” openly laughable? A vivisection of the “DRM doesn’t work” and “DRM is always cracked” argument? Arguing that there uproar around Starforce and Securom was just hysteria rather than anything rooted in fact? And while we’re there, a strong critique of Steam? I wouldn’t agree with some of the fine detail, but there’s a lot of stuff that’s well worth taking on board. And… go, comment thread, go!
• Cheery RPS-tribute site The Reticule – and I suspect none of the Reticule Writers will get that particular in-gag – have been motoring with the interviews recently. As we approach the release of Sol Infernum, they chat to Cryptic Comet’s Vic Davis about making a hell set strategy game. Good stuff.
• I’d missed this Ben Fritz has been doing some impressively in depth reporting around the fall of Brash Entertainment. If you’re the sort who cry out for investigative journalism in games, you’re pretty much duty bound to click through.
• Gamasutra has some interesting demographic information about people who game, which seems to confirm the older gamer = pc gamer idea. Perhaps common sense, but good to see evidence to back up assumptions.
• Not strictly speaking PC stuff, but I did a profile of Rare Software for OXM US which has been lobbed online. I think it’s one of the better more subdued pieces of games writing I’ve done this year, and find Rare’s dilemma fascinating. Get a chance, do read.
• Minor PC Games writer John Walker writes a piece for his obscure blog. I think it’s just about worth bringing to wider attention. Its subject: “On Why Games Reviews Should Be Subjective”. It’s strong.
• I really quite like the demo that Ex-Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall has up on her MySpace page. Very lovely.

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