The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for considering whether you can talk Quinns into being a punching bag in Starcraft 2 again, sipping tea and compiling a list of fine (mostly) games writing we collected across the week, resisting the urge to link to pop music, no matter how much the urge compels me. Must... no... fail... again.

• Tom Armitage writes about his annoyance with positive mainstream reviews of Bioshock 2, but applying generally to any game they get excited by. In short - always hailing them as literature, never hailing their game-ness. This has been pretty well chewed over by a lot of people, but I think it's an interesting example of the debate's progression. We used to be happy with any coverage. Now, we're starting to argue about the type of coverage. This is all small steps towards some future synthesis of what games will considered to be.
• On a similar note, here's Chris Dahlen arguing that games should fuck the cinematic comparison and embrace the dance/music ones. I admit, I've tended to lean towards similar sort of thinking myself.
• Actually, while we're on Edge, Steven Poole's last Edge column got a lot of people's backs up. Frankly, I think he's over-estimating Cathedrals.
• Fourteen years ago, Qtest was released. Bethblog talk to Id about it.
• Remember D&D Online going free? Well, it's increased revenues by 500%, apparently. No actual hard numbers there, but an interesting example of changing business model having an obvious effect.
• Ars Technica on the casulaties of DRM like Ubisoft's new one. Soldiers in isolated areas, who don't have the access. Ubisoft should be careful of pissing these folk off, because they do have guns.
• We're still working on the Neptune's Pride diary. In the mean time, here's Edge interviewing Jay Kyburz about everything from the game to leaving Irrational.
• Here's a Metro 2033 interview, pointed at me by Paweł Dembowski. The English translation is on the right. Example quote: ""I didn't want to make a game like Kane & Lynch, I didn't want to make a game like Call of Duty, I didn't want to make a game like GTA. They are too violent, senselessly violent, you just compensate for your real-life complexes." I like it when Devs say this kind of thing.
• People are still chewing over Bioshock 2. Here's Tom Francis, on what's wrong with it and when he likes it anyway. If you're waiting for my actual take, I direct you to Richard Cobbett chewing it over. Pretty much beat for beat, what Richard writes is what I'd have tried to have said.
• Quinns gets around to writing about VVVVVV. Hurrah!
• Oh - and here's him talking about State, on the quiet one of the most influential communities in games writing history. Though don't start me on the lack of a StateMag archive.
• TINY CHILDREN FIGHT FOR PLUTO!
• Here's a free comic from a couple of friends of mine. Tim Skinner is Andy Winter and Declan Shavley's particularly brutal satire of the anglophone comics industry. Lots of ingags which, I suspect, will fly best if you're vaguely familiar with the concept.
• While the urge to link to some of the gloriously horrific vinyl people unearthed for Alec's birthday party is almost overwhelming, let's go for Joanna Newsom, whose new "Have One On Me" triple-album is available to stream from NPR. It's a touch more conventional than Ys, I think - but a touch more conventional for her still makes everyone else exploring her Rivendell-esque terrain look like Steps.

Failed.