Games

Blizzard has just unveiled it's latest addition to their line-up of heroes in Overwatch: a hyper-intelligent hamster in a mechanized hamster ball. Yes, you read that correctly.

We have had robots, animals, people, and people in mech-suits in Overwatch before: but this takes it to the next level. Hammond's design and in-game iabilities are unlike any other heroes and he brings something entirely new to the table. Hammond rolls up into a ball, and rolls around the stage at high speeds – and uses a grappling hook to attach onto the environment to become a sentient "Wrecking Ball." The way this character uses the environment and the in-game physics engine is fun and new in so many ways – but has it gone too far?

The problem with characters/abilities who interact with environments and physics in multiplayer games is that it almost always leads to glitches and exploits. Look at Symmetra and Mei for example who create stage hazards which have been known to cause all kinds of glitches and exploits (the ice wall and teleporter glitches).

Is this character's unique toolkit an asset that helps Hammond stand apart from the rest – or is it just going to be a glitchy balancing nightmare as we all try to avoid a giant swinging ball on the pillars of KOTH maps like Numbani and Lijiang Towers?

Look at how GMs in Real-Play RPG podcasts go about presenting their long-term narratives. Do they present a sandbox world and let the players improvise? Do they railroad to hit more traditional story beats for the listeners? What's most effective?

Since the inception of video games, a pervasive mythos has been established that video games are not only addictive but are also destructive to ones psyche, health and life. However, we need to be able to shift through gaming fact over gaming fiction. Through an analysis of the literature on gaming addictiveness to exploring new insights into the benefits of gaming, this article will attempt to provide some answers on how problematic gaming addiction is in modern society.

The last several years have seen a major explosion of popularity for competitive gaming, with games like League of Legends, Fortnite, Counter Strike:GO to name a few. Millions are poured into this industry as it is a new market and it seems to be a good enough investment that the Houston Rockets (NBA Team) have a LoL team in North America. As competitive gaming continues to grow and tap into new potential, will competitive gaming be mainstream or will it remain in its own sphere.

Throughout the technological evolution of modern video games, there has existed a prominent lineage of photorealistic pursuit, of aiming closer and closer toward a graphic image that resembles "the real thing." While one might argue that this lineage is just a natural progression in the utilization of increasing graphic capacity, such a progression doesn't necessarily have to go in a realist direction as there are other ways to achieve visual detail. My hypothesis is that it has to do with mimesis; the concept that an image is (metaphysically speaking) a representation/imitation of a "real" counterpart object, which has permeated Western aesthetic thought and culture since Ancient Greece. I would love to see an article that examines the lineage of realism in video game graphics through the context of mimesis, looking at the aesthetic theories of Plato and subsequent philosophers and how they have influenced Western visual culture. Or perhaps there are some other potential factors behind the lineage that I'm unaware of – nonetheless it would be a really interesting topic to explore!

Bioshock was a revered and renown franchise but except for a remaster of the original 3 games, the series has been quiet since Irrational games closed. With the recent announcement of a secret new Bioshock project called "parkside", there is a chance we will see a new game from the series. What do you want to see out of a new Bioshock game? What new setting would fit a new game? What mechanics would you want to see?

It seems to be a somewhat awkward time for the single-player experience in AAA games. Recently EA recently shutting down Visceral Games and "pivoting" the design of their planned Star Wars game to something seemingly more multiplayer. At the same time, smaller games on platforms such as Steam and Itch.io are, more often than not, single-player. Are games of this scale filling a gap that is becoming increasingly difficult to financially justify in the AAA space, or are games such as last year's Doom or this year's Legend of Zelda indicators that there's still a place long-term for more focused experiences?

Analyze the key factors that enabled The Witcher, a fantasy novel written by a Polish author, to become a hit video game that is clearly the work of great art, talent, and money. Why did the Witcher become a video game and not a movie? What about the story makes it intriguing enough to become a game?