The old Building (Critical) Consensus posts were never exceptionally popular and I was getting tired of doing them so I’ve decided to reboot the concept. I like the sort of meta-review summary of BCC but I’d like to try something a bit different. Rather than overall conclusions or summary statements, we’re going to look at detailed critical assessments on the game with specific opinions about gameplay elements, story, graphics and so on. So welcome to the Critics Corner.
I don’t think that Double Fine Games were planning to revolutionize indie gaming when they launched their Kickstarter campaign for Broken Age but that’s exactly what happened. What was just a project to make a Tim Schafer point-and-click adventure game ended up turning the industry on its head by showing that crowdfunding was a viable means to fund game production and that small devs weren’t always beholden to the whims of big publishers.
Still, Double Fine showed some of the issues with crowdfunding. Almost two years after the campaign launched, Broken Age is finally here but is being released in two parts to help fund the completion of the second half of the game. Scope creep and delays weren’t really considered a major risk to crowdfunders at the time but people think about it now.
So what do the critics think of Tim Schafer and Double Fine’s return to point-and-click?
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Sometimes the best way to remove the risk of third-party actions affecting you is to just buy them out. Microsoft didn’t outright buy Epic Games but they did buy their hottest intellectual property. Microsoft bought the Gears of War franchise from Epic and have handed it off to first-party developer Black Tusk Studios.
The graphic quality of games has come a long way over the last eighteen years. Perhaps the best illustration of the changes in graphic and art design since 1996 is the progression of Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider games. Lara has come a long way from a 540 polygon character best known for her chest size to the high-def character in the Tomb Raider reboot.
To examine the change in the character’s look, we have a handy infographic for your perusal.
I think we all knew that the United Kingdom’s so-called porn filter would end up causing more harm than good but I don’t think that gamers thought it would hit so close to home. League of Legends gamers have been experiencing errors after a recent update that included files with names that triggered the filters.
Anybody who is overly positive about almost anything in the gaming world is almost instantly hit with accusations of being bought by a publisher. Most of the time, statements like these are completely outlandish and unfounded. On rare occasions, though, these accusations find the mark.
Recently, it came to light that Microsoft was paying Machinima content creators for positive coverage of the Xbox One. Now, various outlets on the internet have revealed that EA has also been paying YouTubers for positive coverage of its games.
When the likes of Steam, Origin, Battle.net and League of Legends went down in recent weeks, it wasn’t through a traditional DDoS attack. Instead, they used a new type of attack to bring down services that otherwise would have been prepared. [Ars Technica]
An anonymous developer explains why third-party publishers and developers aren’t so gung-ho on the Wii U. [Digital Foundry]
Microsoft did a very silent Xbox One promotion with Machinima. Machinima partner videos featuring Xbox One content would receive $3 per thousand views from Microsoft but no one disclosed anything. [Ars Technica]
At some point in the near future, I’m going to start streaming and producing videos under the et geekera banner. Until then, read up on the growth of Twitch. [ReadWrite]
And rounding up the Ars Tehcnica links of the week, a tech startup has developed a sort of auto-aim rifle designed for ultra-precise shots. [Ars Technica]
While Sony and Microsoft’s new consoles have been out for a couple of months and are in a quiet period before the next big wave of next-gen games come in March, the upcoming Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition could reignite the battle between fans of the two biggest players in the home console market.
Recent reports indicate that TR:DE will run close to 60 frames per second for the majority of the game on PlayStation 4, the Xbox One version of the game will be floating between 30 and 45 FPS.
When Disney said that they would be producing “spin-off” movies alongside the VII, VIII, IX trilogy of films, I don’t think anyone expected them to bring their biggest guns off the shelf to make a movie.
No, Johnny Depp isn’t making a Disney produced Star Wars film. (Well, not yet and hopefully not ever.) Reports indicate that they’ve called in Pixar to make an animated Star Wars spin-off movie.
Just because you’re one of the genuine good guys of Hollywood doesn’t mean that you can’t be pranked. Just ask Norman Reedus who was victimized by The Walking Dead co-star Andrew Lincoln and Greg Nicotero, TWD zombie special effects genius, with the help of Nick Santonastasso.
Just because Daryl is a total bad ass doesn’t mean that Norman is ready for the zombie apocalypse.
There’s a line between everyday villainy and cartoonish supervillainy. The folks at King, the company behind the popular cash cow Candy Crush Saga, may have crossed that line.
While the internet collectively scratched their heads and said terrible things about King’s trademarking of the word “candy” in relation to gaming, educational services and clothing, they’re also claiming rights to the word “saga.”
The folks at Stoic have found this out the hard way. In late December, they were served with a Notice of Opposition by King for their game, The Banner Saga. The worst case scenario for Stoic would result in punitive damages levied against them.
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