The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for finishing off an episode of Twin Peaks, crouching in your office trying to type quietly while Delightful Fiance records some music and compiling a line of the fine (mostly) games related reading from across the week, while trying to not link to some manner of future-music remix of the future-fiction of the Victorian age.

• This was probably the story which lead to most outrage. Kaitol writes about How To Hire An Artist to assist making their games. And he writes about it with awe-inspiring candour, basically explaining exactly how to exploit ignorant artists to maximise your own bottom line. Clearly, artists explode at it... but the piece actually serves a useful purpose in educating artists that this is how people are going to be treating them. That Kaitol was stupid enough to say what actually happens will hopefully lead to the penny dropping for a whole load of people. It's the same in games journalism. I recently heard that apparently some people are working for free for national newspapers for "the exposure". It was only not knowing for sure if it was true which didn't stop me hunting them down and boiling the little scabs alive. It's fine to work for free when people aren't making serious money off you (i.e. You aren't being exploited). To agree to exploitation is to sell out your entire fraternity, and forever reduce the currency of your work, you idiot scum.
• Remedy talk about the problems of porting Death Rally from DOS to Windows. Aw. Bless 'em.
• You've heard what we've had to say about Bioshock Infinite. Here's what Ken Levine has to say.
• Over at Resolution Stephen K Peacock writes about how he'd like to see more human connection in games - or rather - specifically reading human responses. Left 4 Dead and - er - The Curfew are hailed.
• Picked up from the always good Critical Distance, here's Emily Short analysing her problem with indie videogame storytelling. In short: the prose. Ben also links to a couple of pieces defending Activision's apparent all-boy-leads policy and asks "Are They Convincing?". No, not in the slightest. They're a pair of apologia for corporate sociopathy.
• With similar intent, Ex-Games Journo now-of-Activision Dan "One Of Swords" Amrich looks at Bobby Kotick's infamous comments and sees if how they've been castigated is entirely fair. I'll note that while Dan's defending the first one as a financial thing, the later elaboration is clearly talking about development. I think Dan - and as a ex-Future writer, he should know - how this can effect creativity.
• Boris Orosz writes at Gamecrashers about game cameras, and the aesthetic effect they can have at certain moments. Plus videos!
• Mr Denby writes over on Game Set Watch on Inception and videogames, specifically on "Why the fuck didn't we do this first?". I had similar thoughts circa the whole Matrix. Stuff they had to create entire camera arrays for, we can get by simply pausing the action and spinning the camera.
• Blitz 1UP are interviewing a series of indie-friendly journalists about how best to get coverage for your indie game. I was the first, I think.
• Here's Boing Boing getting a Yakuza to play Yakuza.
• And the GMAs have turned up again, and we've been nominated. Thanks for everyone who voted for us, you sweeties.
• Elon Musk thinks he's going to retire to Mars.
• Oh - let's be a bit self serving here. Over at the Awl Sarah Jaffe reviews The Singles Club. I've mentioned Phonogram a few times here, but this is a big hefty piece which takes in a whole load of reasons why I'm more proud of The Singles Club than anything else I've ever done.
• RPS as a whole - well, 60% of it, I suspect, with another 20% probably not having listened to it and the other 20% being John - has been loving this Dubstep take on HG Wells. Yays!

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