The Sunday Papers
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Sundays are for brushing biscuit crumbs off your lap. Before you scatter, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).
Over on Polygon, Khee Hoon Chan predicts the state of video games in 10 years time. Hoon Chan chats to industry vets about where they reckon the games industry will be in 10 years, and apparently there's a likelihood lots of the following three things will be big: live-service, content creation, and cloud gaming.
The rise of live-service games — that is, games with frequently updated and seasonal content — will likely also continue in the near future. “All games are live games [in the future],” Whitten predicts. “They’re live experiences, and it’s about a continually evolving experience that’s launched from the creator, but built as much from the community playing with it and evolving over time. The idea that they’re almost […] live destinations. But that trend, which I think changes design, it changes how people play, it changes how they think about the time and the game, and I think it’ll just continue to grow over the next 10 years.” Ledbetter, too, also brought up Minecraft’s content updates as an example, stating that this trend will continue to make future games more engaging.
Sean Hollister wrote about the future of the Steam Deck for the Verge. Hollister chats to Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais about Steam Deck 2, what sort of shape it might take, and why Valve aren't worried about future Deck competitors. It's a really wide-ranging interview, and a must-read if you're a keen Decker.
Valve has repeatedly confirmed that the Steam Deck is a “multi-generational product” and new versions are on the way. What will they include? When I asked Yang and Griffais for the pain points they wanted to address in a sequel, they had nearly identical answers: screen and battery life.
On IGN, Kat Bailey spoke to Hidetaka Miyazaki and Masaru Yamamura about Armored Core VI. Bailey draws out some brilliant insights from two FromSoft legends.
There are no elements directly referring to Sekiro, but I feel both titles share the same essence of battle such as aggressive, speed change and action-oriented fighting. For this title, by continuing to attack even the strongest enemy, the force of impact can break the enemy's posture and inflict a large amount of damage – a critical hit. This is the starting point for the slow and fast speed change of the battle, and when combined with long-range firefighting and close-range melee combat, the enemy and his machine engage each other violently, creating a more aggressive and dynamic battle that only mechas can engage in.
VG247's Jim Trinca reviews the Thrustmaster T128 sim-wheel. And even though I didn't care too much for purchasing a sim-wheel, Trinca's words and accompanying vid (which you should definitely watch, it's really good) have made me rethink my decision. Now I really want to play some rally games.
The extent to which driving games are enriched by a proper interface can’t be overstated. There’s nothing wrong with using a pad, of course. It’s a perfectly decent way to control a pretend car. But having a sim wheel which mimics the way you would control a real vehicle connects you to a driving sim in a profound way that makes the game world come to life. All of a sudden, cockpit view becomes your default, and you come to find simple joy in the way your wheel turns in sync with its on-screen counterpart. The force-feedback allowing the road surface to fight against you. The car itself being able to communicate with you via sensation rather than just by the sound of revving and instrument readouts.
Oh, and this is exciting!
Music this week is Little Simz's latest album NO THANK YOU. Here's the Spotify link and YouTube link. Little Simz does it again. Doesn't quite reach the heights of her previous project Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, but it's still capable of real magic.
That's it for this week folks, have a great weekend!