Retrospectiva săptămânii 11 - 17 august

O săptămână și mai săracă în știri decât precedenta, dar avem mai multe aniversări și retrospective - Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, System Shock 2 și SEGA Genesis, plus anunțuri interesante: o ediție îmbunătățită pentru System Shock 2, un nou Need for Speed, două titluri ACE Team și… King’s Bounty 2. Și s-a lansat un nou (și cel mai mare de până acum) update pentru No Man’s Sky, ajuns acum la ani lumină de starea în care s-a lansat.

Linkuri rapide:

• Știri
• Articole (critică, dev, design)
• Anunţuri şi lansări de jocuri
• Prăvălii de jocuri

Știri

• Campionul recent încheiatului campionat mondial de Fortnite a fost ținta unui incident de tip swatting chiar în timpul unui stream live. Vizita polițiștilor s-a încheiat însă rapid, fără victime sau incidente. ^{(Ars Technica, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, The Guardian, VG247)}
• My.Games, divizia de gaming a companiei rusești Mail.ru, va lansa un magazin digital de jocuri care se va adresa pieței internaționale. ^{(GamesIndustry.biz, PCGamesInsider.biz, Gamasutra, VentureBeat)}
• Streamer-ul de care scriam săptămâna trecută că a fost vizitat de investigatori privați trimiși de 2K și-a închis canalul de YouTube și toate celelalte conturi de pe rețelele sociale. ^{(Eurogamer, PC Gamer)}
• Trade-N-Games, un magazin de jocuri din SUA, a fost ținta unui jaf, hoții golind un seif cu aproape 150 de jocuri rare în valoare de peste 100.000 de dolari. ^(TechRaptor)

Articole (critică, dev, design)

• Video game corporate satire is really overdue an upgrade ^(Eurogamer)
• What goes right and wrong when games like Diablo 3 take a decade to make ^(Polygon)
• The people who watch video games, but never play them ^(Polygon)
• Why we now talk about politics in games so much ^(Eurogamer)
• Finding Human Interest Stories in Virtual Reality ^{(Hyperallergic )}
• Applying Videogame Theory to Escape Rooms: the Definition of a "Game" ^(Gamasutra)
• The Uncertain Future of Video Game History ^(EGM)
• How an Online Mob Created a Playbook for a Culture War ^{(NY Times)}

---

Reportaj

• What It’s Really Like to Be a QA Tester ^(EGM)

---

Not-a-review

• No Man's Sky Beyond Is Finally Feeling Like the Game I Wanted Three Years Ago ^(USgamer)
• A Mysterious Cult Isn't Enough for the Repetitive 'Church in the Darkness' ^(Vice)
• In praise of Skyrim's oldest mystery ^{(The Face)}

---

Industrie

• Phil Spencer Doesn’t Think That Cloud Systems Will Fully Replace Traditional Consoles Just Yet ^(Gamespot)
• Stop asking "is it political?" It always is ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Discord Explains How It Handles Harassment, Doxxing, and Threatening Behaviour ^(Kotaku)
• How Ark: Survival Evolved "fell into sustainable revenue" without skins or loot boxes ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Phil Spencer Is Exactly Who You Think He Is ^(Gamespot)

---

Istorie, retrospectivă

• The Timeless Horror of 'System Shock 2' ^(Vice)
• How one phone call saved a tiny new studio and gave the world System Shock 2 ^{(PC Gamer)}
• The messy story behind the Hotline Miami mod that never was ^(Eurogamer)
• Power Stone: the Dreamcast brawler that foresaw Fortnite and Overwatch ^{(The Guardian)}
• Sega Genesis at 30: the console that made the modern games industry ^{(The Guardian)}
• Member Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II? ^{(Hardcore Gamer)}
• Alone in the Dark ^{(The Digital Antiquarian)}
• The Game Archaeologist: Dungeons & Dragons ^{(Massively OP)}
• As Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver turns 20, let’s remember why it was brilliant ^(Eurogamer)
• The Origins of Awesome Games Done Quick ^(EGM)

---

Dev, making of, mecanici

• Making A Better Card Feel Worse With UX ^{(Tom Francis Blog)}
• What we can learn from… Warframe ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Like a boss: The secrets behind great boss design ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• How Prey Mooncrash Gave us a AAA RogueLike ^(Gamasutra)
• How moving from 2D to 3D shaped the design of Risk of Rain 2 ^(Gamasutra)

---

Design, world-building, artă

• Planning Novigrad ^(Unwinnable)
• How the creators of Sea of Solitude turned fear and anxiety into monsters ^{(The Verge)}
• Your View Inside of Atlus’ Amazing Art Exhibit Dedicated to Persona 5 and Catherine ^{(Game Informer)}
• Star Wars: A Studio Ghibli Story ^(Kotaku)
• Rush Hour ^(Kotaku)

Anunțuri și lansări de jocuri

• Shantae and the Seven Sirens reveals title, plot details and first screenshots ^{(Destructoid)}
• A New Saints Row Is On The Way ^{(Games Informer)}
• 4A Games is working on the next Metro game ^{(DSOGaming )}

Anunţate

• System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition ^(Shacknews). Și, legat de asta: System Shock 2 Has Been Getting New Patches For Years, Based On The Work Of A Fan Nobody Can Find ^(Kotaku)
• Need for Speed Heat ^(Kotaku)
• Liberated ^(Polygon)
• Still There ^(GameSpace)
• Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Project Thalassa ^{(PCGamesInsider.biz)}
• King’s Bounty 2 ^{(PC Gamer)}
• The Eternal Cylinder ^(RPS)
• The Falconeer ^{(Wccf tech)}

Acum cu dată de lansare

• Telling Lies: 23 august ^{(Destructoid)}
• Knights and Bikes: 27 august ^(Eurogamer)
• Nauticrawl: 16 septembrie ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Session (early access): 17 septembrie ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Daymare: 1998: 17 septembrie ^{(DSOGaming )}
• Doraemon Story of Seasons: 11 octombrie ^{(Destructoid)}

Amânate

• Spelunky 2: 2020 în loc de 2019 ^{(Games Informer)}

Anulate

• Lazarus ^(Eurogamer)

Lansate

• 12 august: Anodyne 2: Return to Dust ^(Steam)
• 12 august: Eliza ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 13 august: Exception ^(Steam)
• 13 august: Dicey Dungeons ^(Steam)
• 13 august: Vicious Circle ^(Steam)
• 13 august: Rebel Galaxy Outlaw ^{(Epic Store)}
• 14 august: The Great Perhaps ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 15 august: Ion Fury ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 15 august: DARQ ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 15 august: Shortest Trip to Earth (iese din early access) ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 15 august: Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition ^(Steam)
• 15 august: Hot Shot Burn (early access) ^(Steam)
• 15 august: FlowScape, un tool pentru crearea de scene 3D animate ^(Steam)

Prăvălii de jocuri

Știri

• Some Steam Workshop submissions now require moderator approval ^(PCGamesN)
• Epic Games Store update adds more cloud saves and Humble Bundle Keyless Integration ^(VG247)
• There’s a way to hide games on the Steam store that you already own elsewhere ^{(Destructoid)}
• Utomik crosses more than 1,000 PC games for subscription download service ^{(VentureBeat)}

Update catalog

• Grid 2 has been removed from Steam ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Total War: SHOGUN II – Fall of the Samurai joins the Total War Saga family ^{(DSOGaming )}
• Forza Motorsport 6 To Be Removed From Xbox Live Marketplace On September 15 ^{(Games Informer)}

Jocuri gratis și free weekends

• Hyper Light Drifter and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden are free at the Epic Games Store ^(Polygon)
• Mr Flipper is a free pinball game with one hell of a twist ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Play Galactic Civilizations III for free on Steam this weekend ^(GameSpace)
• New Free Steam Demo Is A Modern-Day Superman Game ^(Kotaku)

---