The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for booking your Japan Rail Pass and having a trip become a little more real with each passing second. Before you check the cherry blossom forecast, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

Over on the Guardian, Kari Paul wrote about crochet enthusiasts who asked ChatGPT for patterns, with cursed results. TikTok users asked ChatGPT for AI-generated patterns and it simply can't seem to get animals right. Clearly, AI can't steal crocheting from us.

Woolner is not the only creator to explore the potential crochet-based applications for ChatGPT. Lily Lanario, a London-based crocheter, said she was inspired to explore ChatGPT applications for crocheting because the centuries-old practice has thus far evaded mechanical replication due to its unpredictable and free-flowing stitching.

Robert Purchese wrote a post for Eurogamer on the hourglass philosophy behind Dishonored and Deathloop's level design. Purchese talks to Arkane's campaign director Dana Nightingale all about making interesting playgrounds for players. As someone who will forever be in awe of Dishonored 2's Clockwork Mansion (and many other levels), this interview was an absolute treat.

"And then at the bottom half of the hourglass - and now we're getting really theoretical - is the idea of affordance and intentionality," she adds. "Affordance can mean like a thousand different things. But what I need affordance to do, as a designer, is to be able to design the whole game in a way where the player understands that this is a world that operates under rules, and these rules are going to be consistent. And if they understand a quarter to a third of the rules, the rest of it is going to be comprehensible."

On the Guardian,Keith Stuart wrote about why fashion houses are getting into video games. Stuart speaks to lots of folks about games becoming more and more like spaces to live in, and how the brands take hold.

“Here is a space in which you are constantly needing to show off and flex your skins, to have something nobody else has,” says Matthew Drinkwater, head of Fashion Innovation Agency at London College of Fashion. “That idea of self-identity is very much in line with what fashion is, particularly at the luxury end. There is something visceral and emotive about the way you shop for fashion; no one buys anything simply for functional reasons at that end of the market. You buy it because you fall in love with it and because it says something about you. And those same emotional reactions are replicated within virtual spaces.”

For Kotaku, Luke Plunkett argues that Cyberpunk 2077 can't be saved. A scattered blog post-style piece that's more forgiving than the title might suggest. I don't agree with it all, but I do agree that the sidequests are bangers. I'm genuinely really looking forward to the Phantom Liberty DLC.

I met all my favourite Night City residents in this second Cyberpunk, and I think it’s easily the best way to meet them. To be able to savour each little adventure at its own pace, instead of having them crammed in between main quests. In this second game, where I was no longer following a Keanu Reeves-led narrative laced with international intrigue but free to just be a guy doing murderous odd jobs around town, Cyberpunk felt so much closer to what I had expected from it back in 2020. A game about exploration, being a handyman, uncovering unforgettable little stories with sticky moral quandaries. The Witcher 3 with cars, basically.

Music this week is the BLACK seminole. by Lil Yachty. Here's the Spotify link and YouTube link. I'm a big fan of his latest album "Let's Start Here.", which sees him mix his signature hip-hop sound with Pink Floyd (and so much more). It marks a new direction for Yachty, who's been known more for his "bubblegum trap" and mumble rap until now. I hope he keeps evolving the sound he's formed in this project, or at least, keeps experimenting. The man's really onto something.

ALSO, I'd argue that the album regains momentum from "WE SAW THE SUN!" and takes off from there. So if you do give it a spin after "BLACK seminole" and aren't feeling it, then maybe give it another shot from further in.

That's it for this week folks, have a great weekend!