Retrospectiva săptămânii 5 - 11 ianuarie 2020

A avut loc CES 2020, poșta britanică lansează timbre cu jocuri clasice, oamenii din industrie participă la eforturile de combatere a incendiilor din Australia, avem multe materiale interesante de lecturat și, cel mai important, avem dată de lansare pentru ultimul episod din Kentucky Route Zero.

Linkuri rapide:

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

Știri

• Compania de poștă britanică (Royal Mail) lansează o emisiune de mărci poștale dedicate jocurilor video clasice britanice, precum Tomb Raider, Elite, Dizzy, Lemmings sau Populous. ^{(Kotaku, Eurogamer, PC Gamer, VideoGamesChronicle, The Guardian)}
• Terry Cavanagh face public codul sursă al lui VVVVVV cu ocazia aniversării de 10 ani a lansării jocului. ^{(Shacknews, RPS, PC Gamer)}
• Studioul Fantasy Flight Interactive, deschis în 2017 pentru adaptări digitale ale jocurilor tabletop Fantasy Flight, se închide. ^{(PC Gamer, Kotaku, RPS, GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Au fost anunțate nominalizările pentru premiile ce vor fi acordate la GDC 2020 în luna martie:
  • Pentru premiile IGF (Independent Games Festival Awards) vor concura jocuri precum Untitled Goose Game, Slay the Spire, Mutazione sau A Short Hike. ^{(Site IGF, Shacknews, Destructoid, RPS, Gamasutra, GamesIndustry.biz)}
  • Iar pentru premiile GDC (Game Developers Choice Awards) se vor lupta, printre altele, Control, Death Stranding și Outer Wilds. ^{(Gamasutra, PC Gamer, GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Au fost anunțate și nominalizările pentru premiile Dice Awards, decernate în cadrul DICE Summit în luna februarie. ^{(Shacknews, Gamasutra, GamesIndustry.biz)}
• O asociație comercială din American cu peste 700.000 de membri a lansat o campanie pentru a promova eforturile de sindicalizare în industria jocurilor. ^{(RPS, The Verge, Vice, Polygon)}
• Oamenii din industria jocurilor donează timp și bani pentru a ajuta lupta împotriva incendiilor din Australia:
  • Crytivo, dezvoltatorul jocului The Universim donează profitul din vânzarea jocului pe următoarele două luni ^{(PC Gamer, RPS, Polygon, GamesIndustry.biz)}
  • Mai mulți streameri din Australia au organizat un eveniment caritabil pe Twitch și au strâns câteva sute de mii de dolari ^(Kotaku)
  • Bungie vinde tricouri Destiny 2, urmând a dona profiturile ^{(Destructoid, PC Gamer, Gamasutra)}

CES 2020

În perioada 7-10 ianuarie s-a desfășurat CES 2020:

• Dintre știrile mai importante:

  • Sony a prezentat logo-ul pentru PlayStation 5 ^{(The Verge, Shacknews, VideoGamesChronicle, Kotaku, Eurogamer)}

  • AMD a anunțat un nou model de plăci video din seria 5xxx și Ryzen 4000, o linie de procesoare pentru dispozitive mobile. ^{(Eurogamer, DSOGaming)}

  • Asus și Nvidia au prezentat un monitor cu refresh de 360Hz ^{(PC Gamer, Shacknews, GameSpace)}

  • Intel a prezentat un model de PC modular ^{(The Verge, Eurogamer, RPS, Shacknews, Eurogamer)}, care a fost și implementat de Razer într-un PC impresionant ^{(The Verge, PC Invasion)}

• Sumarul evenimentului: Eurogamer, Shacknews (1), Shacknews (2), Wired

• Alte articole:

  • Inside Intel’s Ghost Canyon NUC, the incredibly small modular desktop PC ^{(The Verge)}
  • How gaming PCs are competing with the PS5 and Xbox Series X ^{(The Verge)}
  • PS5 logo ‘breaks Instagram image likes record for games’ ^{(VideoGamesChronicle)}

Articole (critică, dev, design)

• Forget Lord of the Rings—The Witcher III Should Be the New Standard for Fantasy ^(EGM)
• Hard Games Haven't Gotten Easier, But They Did Get Nicer ^(Kotaku)
• How one company orchestrated a talent war between Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube ^{(The Verge)}
• Digital Demonology: The Historical Origins of Gaming’s Infernal Obsession ^(EGM)
• Inside TASBot’s semi-secret, probably legal effort to control the Nintendo Switch ^{(Ars Technica)}
• Like animals, video game AI is stupidly intelligent ^(Eurogamer)
• Putting controls on your kids’ gaming is a key part of being a parent ^{(The Guardian)}
• Tales from the New Small Screen: Inside the World of Mobile Game Writers ^(EGM)
• The Witcher’s Netflix success: How three timelines somehow became cohesive ^{(Ars Technica)}
• Tetris 99's Biggest Fan Is The Father of Tetris Himself, Alexey Pajitnov ^(USgamer)
• World of anti-Warcraft: the activists turning online video games into protest sites ^{(The Face)}

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Actualitate

• Gallery: The amazing costumes, weird controllers, and gaming rarities of MAGFest 2020 ^{(Ars Technica)}

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Reportaj

• How Game Companies Use Credits To Reward, Or Punish, Developers ^(Kotaku)

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Not-a-review

• The Sexiness Of Control ^(Kotaku)
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood’s impossible 80s setting makes you want to save the world ^(RPS)

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Industrie

• “All of our games… will play up and down that family of devices” – Xbox’s Matt Booty ends the next-gen exclusive as we know it ^{(MCV/Develop)} (TL;DR pe Ars Technica)
• The Last of Us director Bruce Straley on ludonarrative dissonance ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Tim Willits: Recapturing the emotional core of Doom ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Pauline Jacquey’s World Tour: The Unlikely Journey of Ubisoft’s Punk Nomad Fixer ^(EGM)

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Istorie, retrospectivă

• Indigo Prophecy Has One Of The Best Opening Levels Ever Made ^(Kotaku)
• How Sony’s PlayStation 2 took the world by storm ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Rockstar Spouse and the slow change of culture ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• The Game Archaeologist: That time when MTV made a virtual world ^{(Massively OP)}
• The RetroBeat: Missing Myst ^{(VentureBeat)}

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Retrospectiva anului

Jocuri

• Best PC games of 2019 ^(RPS)
• 40 of the best: RPS’ finest reads from 2019 ^(RPS)
• How 2019’s Best Games Will Influence the Next Generation (and Beyond) ^(Escapist)

Industrie

• 3 Disruptive Game Design Trends to Look Forward to in 2020 ^(Gamasutra)

2020

• 2020 in preview: Cyberpunk 2077 could bring a reemergence of the cyberpunk genre ^(Eurogamer)
• The 30 games we can’t wait to play in 2020 ^{(The Verge)}
• 20 weird and wonderful indie games for 2020 ^(Polygon)
• The 2010s: Notable Video Game TV and Movie Adaptations ^(TechRaptor)

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Retrospectiva deceniului

• The Legal Legacy of the 2010s in Entertainment and Pop Culture ^(Escapist)
• Episodic Games Were the Future, and the Future Was Dead on Arrival ^(Vice)

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Dev, making of, mecanici

• The making of Disco Elysium: How ZA/UM created one of the most original RPGs of the decade ^{(GamesRadar+)}
• Breaking linear character progression with Outer Worlds’ flaw system ^(Gamasutra)
• Video: Understanding the remarkable tech and design of Noita ^(Gamasutra)
• A Condemnation of Time ^(Gamasutra)
• Level Design Case Study - Recreating the First Level in God of War (2018) ^(Gamasutra)
• Creating the ever-improvising text adventures of AI Dungeon 2 ^(Gamasutra)
• Video: Understanding the bottom-up design philosophy behind Crashlands ^(Gamasutra)
• 2020 Vision: The Witcher 2 was a stunning tech achievement that still looks great today ^(Eurogamer)

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Design, world-building, artă

• Shadows of Chernobyl: tracing the inspiration of Escape from Tarkov ^(PCGamesN)
• The Invisible Art of Game Titles ^(EGM)
• Forget Tiny Living, in The Sims 4 builders have achieved greatness with Grand Designs ^(RPS)
• The Origins Of Aloy ^(Kotaku)

Made în România

• Liviu Boar vorbește într-un articol pe PCGamesN despre problemele avute cu localizarea pentru Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure. ^(PCGamesN)

Anunțuri şi lansări de jocuri

Anunţate

• ITTA ^(DSOGaming)
• Embracelet ^(Escapist)

Acum cu dată de lansare

• Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls: 15 ianuarie ^{(Destructoid)}
• Ultimul act din Kentucky Route Zero: 28 ianuarie ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Days of War iese din early access: 30 ianuarie ^{(PC Gamer)}

Lansate

• 9 ianuarie: Monster Hunter World: Iceborne ^(Steam)
• 9 ianuarie: Rusty Lake: The White Door ^(Steam)
• 9 ianuarie: AO Tennis 2 ^(Steam)

Prăvălii de jocuri

Știri

• Annual Steam Release Numbers Used To Climb Every Year, But In 2019, They Held Steady ^(Kotaku)
• Steam makes it easier to buy and manage soundtracks ^{(VideoGamesChronicle)}
• Chinese is now Steam’s most popular language, according to its hardware survey ^{(PC Gamer)}
• The 2020 Steam Lunar New Year Sale is coming soon ^{(PC Invasion)}
• Grand Theft Auto IV Delisted on Steam ^(TechRaptor)

Articole

• Analyzing the top Steam tags ^(Gamasutra)
• Steam in Graphs ^{(Sergio Garces)}

Update catalog

• Frostpunk and FTL: Faster Than Light joining Xbox Game Pass for PC ^(EGM)

Jocuri gratis și free weekends

• Sundered: Eldritch Edition is the next free Epic Games Store title ^{(VideoGamesChronicle)}

Reduceri și promoții

• Two Point Hospital, Shadow of War and Dirt Rally 2.0 all feature in the January Humble Choice bundle ^(Eurogamer)
• Humble Bundle Offers 50% Off On FFXIV Online Complete Edition for a Limited Time ^(GameSpace)
• Game studio makes supporting Australia as easy as buying a game ^(Polygon)
• GOG New Year’s Resolutions Sale 2020 Has Darn Good DRM-Free Deals ^(TechRaptor)
• Humble Winter Sale 2020 Starts the Year With Awesome Savings ^(TechRaptor)

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