The Very Best Of RPS 2013: Columns
Hired Brilliance
We are very blessed at RPS to have some of the finest, most interesting columnists in the business. Drawing on the expertise of those who passionately care about their niche, it allows us to go big on topics that otherwise might not receive their due attention. Below you can find a guide to our fine, fine columnists' work.
Dead End Thrills - Duncan Harris
A perfect example of what I describe above is Duncan Harris of Dead End Thrills. A column about the art technology of games. What if you ignore how the game plays, and just focus on the technology that creates the art? Duncan provides us with expert interviews with the creators of a game's artwork, or discussions of his own unique perspective of games. Definitely check these out.
The Bargain Bucket - Cassandra Khaw
Games cost a lot of money. Apart from when they don't. And The Bargain Bucket is the column that helps you spot those latter moments. Powerfully manned by Savy Gamer's Lewie Procter until this year, it's now in the splendid hands of Cassandra Khaw, guiding you toward the neatest way to pick up great games for lots less cash.
One of the best writers the UK games industry has ever seen turns up every Friday on RPS with his fantastic, hilarious column, The Flare Path. Covering hardcore strategy and simulation gaming, Tim makes subjects you'd think were so far out of your interest zone into absolutely compelling topics that'll make you want to play.
The link above isn't so useful, since it turns out we are terrible editors. But almost every Thursday sees our hardware genius, Jeremy Laird, bringing us the latest tech news in sentences that actually make sense to non-techies. Which is an all-too rare gift when it comes to hardware writing.
Live Free Play Hard - Porpentine
You want cheaper than bargains? How about, free? Porpentine's Live Free Play Hard is a goldmine of fascinating projects you might otherwise never hear of. Specialising in obscura, it's a wonderful treasure trove of peculiar, outrageous, beautiful and challenging games, and the only column that we allow to break our one-line-for-headlines rule. Because it's Porpentine.
What a stunning project this is. A series of interviews with game developers that focuses on design philosophy - that's a sentence any gaming website should be proud to write. And as Robert Yang interviews developers, he also gets them to design a level for a game. Those levels are compiled into a playable project! Holy crap, RPS is great sometimes. This year it all led to Cohort 2, which you can play right now.
Cardboard Children - Robert Florence
But board games aren't PC games! What next? RPS reviewing soup? Yes. That is what's next. But in the meantime, Rab's column on touchable gaming makes us proud to be alive. And never more so than when it leads to something as extraordinary as this.
Photo credit: cliff1066