The Sunday Papers

IT'S SUNDAY. What gets my blood pumping is to compile a list of interesting reading related to games from across the week and lob it up for your delectation, while hoping I haven't included a link to some manner of pop video I helped out in. That'd be terrible.

• This is the sort of thing we like to see. Awesome Hissy Fit! Robert Bowling of Infinity Ward gets angry over Activision Producer Noah Heller mentioning Call of Duty 4 too much in interviews, amongst other things. To be honest, the first half isn't really Noah's fault, apparent factual errors apart. That stuff is lead by the journalists - and, frankly, that's fine as it's exactly what the readers want to know (Do you really think the DX3 guys aren't going to talk about DX1?). The most interesting stuff is him noting they should interview someone other than the bloody producer who Robert accuses of never having even played the game (Not true, by the way - I was playing multiplayer against Noah at a press event recently). The producer-being-interviewed is an interesting phenomena - ideally, I'd always like to speak to someone actually deep in the team, but if they don't show up at press events... (Via VG47).
• The Telegraph reports that British soldiers could be trained on a videogame which recreates the smells of the middle-east by as early as next year. Will this technology reach the consumer market? You can hope so, if only as it'll allow us to claim that a game stinks in a more literal sense.
• Gamasutra really does do a lot of stuff, from the hyper-specific to the generalist. I was quite taken by this interview about Far Cry 2's fire propagation. A whole interview about fire propgation! Videogames are a marvelous thing. From the other end of the spectrum, from Mirror's Edge's Producer Nick Channon about the whole philosophy of what they were trying to do.
• I'm only keeping one eye on Obsidian's Alpha Protocol, as I want to actually be surprised by what they turn up with. Obsidian, so far, have been a frustrating developer at best - because while they've been good, they've never been great - and, with the talent they have, we all know they've got the ability to do so. Anyway - here's Chris Avellone having a good old yammer.
• Really basic: EG's Oli Welsh walks around Eve's Space Stations and tells us about it.
• Basic Videogames are awesome hype: They're the UK's top entertainment form (which is the sort of headline which could only be written by someone who believes the amount of money spent on something makes something top. Sorry - I'm being all Marxist this morning. ("What's wrong with being Marxy?" - Ed)). Meanwhile, in the PC IS BEST file: Head to head between the PC, 360 and PS3 Fallout 3 over at Eurogamer. PC wins.
• Proper Games Thinky-Criticism: Gregory Weir dissects Spore.
• Manda Rin's Guilty Pleasure as directed by old comrade-in-arms Alex De Campi. Mentioned this in a previous Sunday Papers, I know, but thought you wanted to see her handiwork. Bits where I (sorta) helped? Well, I provided about 1/3rd of the tea inside anyone at any given point. Also, constantly re-standing up the daisies on the lawn, half of a quick reworking of the EAT ME cake and purchasing the Salami to lure the dog into attacking an inflatable man's groin. Alas, my finest hour - sorting out all the individual ice letters from a kit and then spelling EAT ME on a half dozen tiny cakes - is unused. Ah, showbusiness, darlings.

Failed.