How Fortnite Brought A Family Together
This article was originally published in the Load Save newsletter, a gaming newsletter sent every Saturday with the best industry and development news. If you like what you see, subscribe today!
Industry News
As anger over the Epic Store subsides, what’s next?
One of the reasons that I stopped playing PC games was because of the different launchers I needed to have. I had Steam, Origin, Battle.net, and Bethesda’s launcher, and they all ran differently. Sometimes they would work flawlessly, other times I couldn’t even log in. It was beyond irritating and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change.
So now that people are accepting the Epic Game Store (probably because of the awesome games it gives away for free), what’s the next thing in the pipeline to get angry about? I think the next big one is going to be related to next-gen. There will always be people who won’t have their standards met, but I’m interested to see if it will be a repeat of last-gen and the initial release of Xbox One or not. Will PlayStation be the culprit this time around? We can only wait and see.
What do you think will be the next big complaint in gaming?
Coronavirus looms over planning for next-gen launches
I’ve talked about this a little bit over the past few weeks. The effect that the Coronavirus is having on the world can’t be ignored, and it’s even threatening the next-gen of gaming.
This article discusses the possibility that Xbox Series X and PS5 will be delayed because of the Coronavirus throwing a wrench in a lot of supply chains that are key to the manufacturing process for both of these products. Regardless of what you believe, this is a very real possibility if the Coronavirus continues to spread.
The thing that surprises me the most is that no one seems to be talking about it. We read the headlines that PlayStation isn’t attending some trade shows and then we move on to talking about how we can’t wait for the PS5 this year. I do it too, so I think it would be smart to prepare ourselves for the possibility that we won’t get next-gen this year or that there will be very little supply available (imagine every Nintendo console launch).
So as you’re anticipating next-gen, think of the hard work and overtime that is going into getting these systems ready for the Holiday.
Community News
How Fortnite Battle Royale Reconnected a Family
OK Beast is a gaming site that I’ve been following for a little bit. They just went through a major overhaul of their content and this is one of the series that came out of their brand new content plan. It’s an amazing 6-minute documentary of how Fortnite helped reconnect a family that was a nation apart.
This reminds me of the one of the first articles I linked to Load Save, “Fortnite is more than you think it is.” The article highlighted multiple stories of how the gaming platform helped people heal from pain, connect, and even have a place to show off their creativity. I’ve never found the game itself to be super fun, but I do recognize its impact on community. I know there are stories like this all across the world, and I’m so happy that gaming can be used to build up families and bring more happiness to the world.
Development News
Here’s All The New Info And Tidbits From Today’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct
Animal Crossing is one of those games that doesn’t sound great on paper but is an absolute joy to play. The idea is simple: go on a tropical vacation, do menial tasks (like gardening, cutting down trees, collecting fruit), pay bills, and talk to your neighbors. These are all things you can do in your real life, but Animal Crossing makes it so much better.
The latest Nintendo Direct gave us a 30-minute look at what we can expect to see in Animal Crossing: New Horizons when it releases in one month. I’m most excited about multiple users being able to live on the same island, even though I know a lot of people have an issue with that. I think it’ll be great to build and shape the island with my girlfriend and get to know villagers! What are you most hyped about?
(and did you see that tombstone??)
Rebuilding a classic in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
The Age of Empires series was a huge part of my formative years of gaming. I loved the exploration of the map, the different stories that you played through, and pushing your civilization through the Ages. It was such a cool game that never got old. I’m listening to the soundtrack for this game as I’m writing this, and it’s bringing a flood of memories.
The fact that I’m not a huge RTS fan shows how good this game was. It managed to entertain a young, hyper kid and involve him in building a town (even though I sucked at it). So when I saw this these games were being remastered a few years ago, I got so hyped. I haven’t jumped back into it yet, but it’s on my backlog. This article is a great look at attention and care that went into creating the Definitive Edition of AoE II.
If you’re a fan of the Age of Empires series, the fourth installment in the series was announced last year. Here’s the teaser for it!
Just For Laughs
The 12 most extravagant lines of dialogue in games
This article made me laugh so much that I couldn’t avoid putting it in this week’s issue. Writing in video games really is something else, sometimes delivering astonishing performances to making your eyes water from laughter. This article explores all of the above. Are some of these so deep that we just don’t understand them? Or are they just plain dumb? I couldn’t tell you, but I can say that Leon’s “JESUS…?” exclamation from RE2 Remake made me laugh so hard I had to pause the video.
Also, I completely forgot that the villain’s goal in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was to literally eradicate the English language by making people who spoke it die. From tiny creatures inside their throats. Kojima is one helluva drug.
Reviews
What Made People Think ‘Heavy Rain’ Was a Great Game
Last week, Bioshock 2 turned 10. This week, Heavy Rain turns 10. This gives us a great dichotomy. One game is being remembered as a really fun title that expands and improves on an established genre. The other is remembered for it’s bold direction, mistakes, and the fact that it hasn’t stood the test of time. Can you guess which is which?
Two disclaimers here: this article is incredible, but spoils the whole game. So if you are still planning on playing Heavy Rain, avoid this one for now. Next, I never played Heavy Rain. It wasn’t something I was interested in upon release and by the time I got it on PS Plus, I knew of its shortcomings. However, I still recognize it as being an iconic game. Iconic doesn’t necessarily mean “good”, it means that it’s memorable. Heavy Rain is memorable because it took a step away from what games were and tried to be something new. It was something new, but that doesn’t make it good.
I don’t want to resuscitate the whole article, but I’ll say that the brief glimpse it gives us back into narrative-only games is a weird nostalgic feeling. Not that feeling that old Nintendo games give you, but the feeling of: “oh yeah, I remember when TellTale’s next game was super anticipated.” I remember feeling disconnected from the gaming community because these games didn’t provide a lot of entertainment for me. I would trudge through them, have an emotional response like I was supposed to, but never feel the “fun” of playing the game. I enjoy the feelings that games like Heavy Rain propose in movies, not so much in video games. I’m sad that this era of games is over because I know a lot of people enjoyed them, but I’m glad that people aren’t pretending that these were super good games anymore.
Did you play Heavy Rain? Let me know what you thought about it!
Long Read
GameStop employees report extreme pressure from ‘desperate’ bosses
I remember Gamestop being the place to buy games because they were the only store who had a lot of video games and consoles. Target would be a good place to go for big releases, but they didn’t have huge stock to peruse like GameStop did. But even back then, I remember the annoying push to sign-up for the Rewards program, or buy a warranty, or pay more for anything else that I wasn’t interested in.
I haven’t really been inside a GameStop in years. I try to avoid them because of the obnoxious sales tactics, but this article makes me feel bad for the employees who are forced to say it. I’m caught in the middle here: I want people to keep their jobs and I want there to be a place where the gaming community can hangout. But I don’t want GameStop to continue to shake down customers for cash.
I remember a local games store opening when I was young that was the cool version of GameStop. They had a “Game Cage” inside the store that you could go play full games in. But I never bought from there because their prices were too high. Now I know that was because they couldn’t afford to sell games at a lower price. They closed down after a few years because of that mistake, but there has to be some middle ground between that and GameStop, right?
What are your thoughts? Is GameStop eventually going to die or can they recover?
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