Sunday mornings: a time for calculating the financial burden of raising a child, investigating the capital needed to launch a street food venture, perhaps centered around the iconic currywurst, and then contemplating how to delicately present such entrepreneurial aspirations to a significant other – maybe even with a PowerPoint presentation over a sausage served on a disposable tray.
With such culinary-inspired daydreams abruptly dissolving, what better to do than dive into some of the most compelling articles about games and related subjects from the past week?
Including Nathan Brown’s Hit Points feels almost like an unfair advantage, but honestly, you should be reading it. This week’s edition delves into the horrifying reality of reporting to Randy Pitchford, a man known for his public antics:
Imagine the experience of being employed by that individual. Visualize the customer support staff when the CEO, reminiscent of a medieval knight, storms in demanding account access, ready to personally confront dissatisfied customers. Picture the development teams tasked with creating a roadmap of fixes dictated by a leader who has publicly declared the game as “pretty damn optimal.” And consider the communications team, struggling to craft a public message around all of this. Envision anyone at Gearbox, finally releasing a game after years of dedication, only to have the conversation dominated by the CEO’s ill-advised social media outbursts.
What motivates a remake? Video Games Industry Memo explores the perspectives of developers and publishers, offering guidelines for executing them effectively. Let’s also hope this is the only time the word “remakesters” is encountered.
Remakes represent a lower financial investment, coupled with reduced risk. These projects capitalize on an existing fan base and well-established reputation, practically guaranteeing strong sales. The remake of Silent Hill 2, as an example, has already surpassed the sales of the original game by more than double, while Resident Evil 3’s remake has sold nearly three times the number of copies as its predecessor. Well-received remasters and remakes of older, popular titles rarely fail. Consider the Crash Bandicoot N’sane Trilogy, which sold an impressive 20 million units, exceeding the combined sales of the original three games.
If you missed my (hopefully informative) article from earlier in the week, writeup, Keith Stuart of The Guardian examined research into the peculiar phenomenon of inverted game controls. This study was partly inspired by Stuart’s previous work on the same topic. The answer is complex and perhaps surprising, especially if you subscribe to the “It’s always been this way” explanation.
The cognitive testing revealed that many assumptions about controller preferences were flawed. “None of the explanations people gave us [regarding inverted controls] were actually related to whether they inverted,” explains Corbett. “The most accurate predictor among all the factors studied was how quickly gamers could perform mental rotations and overcome the Simon effect. Faster individuals were less likely to invert. Those who said they sometimes inverted were significantly slower on these tasks.” Does this mean that non-inverters are superior gamers? Not necessarily, according to Corbett. “While they tended to be faster, they weren’t more accurate than inverters, who were actually slightly more precise.”
Neil Paine chronicles the decline of skateboarding games, while also analyzing modern attempts to revitalize the genre.
Skateboarding embodies a creative act of defiance, claiming public spaces as your own – a refusal to be restricted in where you can ride. Today’s major publishers represent the antithesis of this spirit: they are the establishment, enforcing rules centered on maximizing profits. Capturing the essence of skateboarding authentically within that corporate framework has become nearly impossible. And while I am unconcerned with the knee-jerk reactions claiming that these games have become overly “woke” – a tired insult now thrown at nearly every major release – the reality is that the latest Tony Hawk games feel sanitized, designed to meet HR standards rather than channeling the raw, sometimes edgy, punk energy of the late 1990s.
For Bad Faith Times, Denny Carter examines the fleeting nature of cultural trends, using an unusual truck advertisement as an example.
The creators of this nationalistic piece included several culturally diverse images – fleeting and almost imperceptible – to avoid overt racism. A quick glimpse of luchadores and a mention of jazz provide cultural camouflage for the Ram ad. Of course, the threat of oppressive political systems is ever-present, growing more intense, but everyone is invited to participate. Everyone is welcome to join in this cultural submission. This vision of neutrality is what helped to increase Trump’s support among Black and Latino men in 2024. The creators of this absurd truck commercial were clearly aware of those voting trends. You can sense it.
Today’s featured music is Futique, by Biffy Clyro. Superior to Ellipsis, but inferior to Puzzle. But truthfully, everything pales in comparison to Puzzle.