The Sunday Papers
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Sundays are for avoiding the cracks in the pavement like a child. Before you hop, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).
Over on Eurogamer, Tom Phillips wrote about Team17, following the Worms NFT firestorm. Several staff at the publisher speak out about low pay, management failures, and overwork.
"There were people who would have to skip meals to save money, people who would have to go into the office during the pandemic to reduce their bills, people who couldn't afford new clothes, people who got an emergency bill and were in their overdraft. We took it to management, and the second time we took it to HR. Nothing came of it. We were essentially told 'the wages you are being paid are fine'. I can confirm they're not. People are struggling, badly."
Over on Unwinnable, Justin Reeve wrote about Sekiro's floating world. An academic-y piece on the cloud motifs found in FromSoftware's samurai-Souls game, with a fair chunk on the origins of the yakuza too. More for the history buffs.
The cloud motif in Sekiro is most likely a reference to the “floating world” of the Edo period. The term describes a culture of pleasure-seeking that developed in the brothels, teahouses and gambling dens of the entertainment district known as Yoshiwara in Edo.
Also over on Unwinnable, Ben Sailer wrote about the circus of value in videogames. A look at how the games or consoles you value most sometimes aren't worth much at all, and yet, the price of the latest consoles is sky high, even if they may not be essential to you.
History remembers the PlayStation 2 as one of the best-selling consoles of all time. The original Xbox ushered in an era of online innovation while the GameCube gave us the hits we expected from Nintendo. However, ask anyone who had a Dreamcast during that console generation, and they’ll probably tell you it’s the system they remember most fondly. It wasn’t the best console of its era by any objective measure, but if you owned one, then you understood the intangible qualities that made it so endearing anyway.
Folding Ideas put together a really long, but very informative video on the problem with NFTs. One to stick on in the background and soak up while doing something else.
Music this week is speeding up by Mokita and slenderbodies. Here's the YouTube link and Spotify link. Upbeat and a bit poppy.
That's me folks, until next time!