Warren Spector retiring
I came across this post over on Engadget about Warren Spector retiring from the games industry. It caught me a bit in my emotions, and stirred up a few thoughts.
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Blogging about games becomes harder
There was a time for me when blogging about games was easy. I was gaming almost daily and my time spent in front of a console or PC games machine probably averaged two or three hours per day, seven days per week.
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Stop Killing Games
Rock, Paper, Shotgun had an interesting article on the activities of the consumer protection group Stop Killing Games (SKG). The article inspired some thoughts on my part about what SKG and similar groups are trying to do on the behalf of gamers.
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Creator appreciation: Bethesda and CD Project Red
This is the third week of Blaugust, and the topic of discussion for the week is creator appreciation. Who, either individuals or corporations, do we look to and respect for certain qualities of the items they produce? Saying thanks to these entities is what this week is all about.
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Corporate Gaming
Wolfy had some words to say about the difficult news coming out of Microsoft recently. Thousands of layoffs, studios being closed, games cancelled: it is tragic. My familiarity with the specifics of the Microsoft situation is limited, but I do have some more general thoughts on where the industry is and where it might be going.
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Xbox games is struggling… but maybe not on the console
I was over on Wilhelm’s TAGN site today enjoying a good read about the disaster that is Xbox Games. I generally agree with everything he is saying: Microsoft has done a terrible job running their game business and it is showing. But I also have a somewhat different experience as a user of the Xbox console that I feel bears mentioning.
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Electronic Arts: strangely fond memories
Wilhelm over at The Ancient Gaming Noob posted about the sad state of affairs at the modern incarnation of Electronic Arts. What EA has become over the past thirty years is both sad and despicable: they are often times more damaging to gaming and the industry than they are beneficial. And now the stage is set, as Wilhelm describes, for things to become much worse.
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Avowed
Avowed is an expansive RPG by Obsidian, the folks who developed Fallout New Vegas and the Pillars of Eternity series. Set in the same world as PoE, Avowed places you in the boots of a Godlike who has been chosen by the Emperor of the Aedyr Empire to figure out what is going on with the Dream Scourge, a plague affecting the Living Lands.
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Digital rot
I’ve been playing a few games lately, and finished Avowed over a month ago. But I haven’t made much progress on writing a review- I don’t have an excuse other than sometimes writing is hard.
But I do have a little inspiration to capture some thoughts on a gaming related topic. I’ve ran across a few posts about the reality of digital licensing lately, including one by Wilhelm over on The Ancient Gaming Noob. This discussion has become more relevant in recent years as the percentage of games being purchased in purely digital form has increased.
What does our purchase of digital media actually entitle us to? Pretty much nothing in the current system, which seems a bit one-sided. Clearly digital licensing doesn’t impart ‘ownership’ in the traditional sense, but shouldn’t it give us something we can count on?
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