Should video games avoid politics? How do games influence Oscar winning films? This and more in this week’s gaming news
The following articles and commentary were originally curated in the Load Save newsletter. If you want the best gaming news with considered commentary in your inbox every Saturday afternoon, subscribe today!
Sony Is Struggling With PlayStation 5 Price Due to Costly Parts
Last week, I predicted that the PS5 would be unveiled this week. I was wrong, but we still got some news about the new system!
This is from inside sources and PlayStation has declined to say anything about it, and it’s not the happy news I was wanting. Instead, it’s a discussion about the price of the PS5 and how it will most likely be $500 🤢. This really hurts, and it might hurt even more if the Xbox Series X can undercut it.
We might even see some supply issues because of the Coronavirus. If the virus continues, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a potential delay of the release of the system. If Sony isn’t confident that they can produce enough systems to meet demand, then it would be in everyone’s best interest to delay. I’m hoping it doesn’t happen, but the world has a way of ruining plans.
‘Parasite’ and ‘1917’ show how video games influence prestige movies
Video games, in a way, are modeled after life. Movies are modeled after life. So there’s going to be some overlap between the two mediums. But this article takes it a step further and highlights two critically acclaimed movies from 2019, Parasite and 1917, and how they are influenced by video games.
In the beginning, the article stays on a lofty metaphorical level of how these films take from video games, but it dives into concrete examples about midway through, listing how the stealth scenes from both movies are easily linked to notable stealth games, like The Last of Us and Metal Gear Solid.
These connections aren’t baseless. Both directors of these movies have said how video games have influenced them, from the ability to know every inch of a set to being inspired by Red Dead Redemption.
This is a great read, and maybe it’s a reason why we don’t need movies based off video games. but that’s a discussion for another time.
CEO of Epic Games says game companies should be platform agnostic, ‘divorce’ from politics
The founder of CEO of Epic Games (Epic Games Store, Fortnite, etc.) had a lot to say this past week about the future of the industry, and he didn’t hold back.
Sweeney addressed platform exclusivity (namely, how he’s against it), the unfair cuts that Google and Apple take for games on their platforms, and loot boxes. Oh, and he talks about politics too. Sweeney is very set in his ways and ideas, which is expected from someone who’s created such a powerful company as Epic. But does this justify his stance?
He talks about these issues as if his opinions are facts, which is a sticky situation to be in. The hot topic everyone is buzzing about here is his belief that gaming companies should “divorce” themselves from politics. He later clarified on Twitter that he was speaking from corporate overlords and marketing teams pushing for games to take a political stance in order to drive sales, he believes that if it’s the heart of the creator to be political, then it’s alright.
This is a tough conversation. Video games don’t exist in a vacuum, so of course some games will have some political undertow to them. It’s also challenging to make a narrative-driven story without someone calling out political themes, even if they weren’t intended by the developers. Is Sweeney’s solution to only make games like Fortnite and Mario? I know he’s not that extreme, but a statement like his leaves a lot of ambiguity. Here’s some notes to frame your thoughts about politics in video games and this situation
- Here’s an example of a blatant political stance in video games: the opening to The Division 2, which offers their opinion on owning guns. But this stance goes with the tone of the game, so should it be hated?
- Some of my favorite (and most critically acclaimed games) are heavily political: The Bioshock Series, the Fallout series, and probably every other post-apocalyptic game.
- Tencent, a company that is often criticized for its actions in China, owns 40% stock in Epic Games, so they get a pretty big final say in Epic’s decisions.
What do you make of this? Let me know on socials or through email.
Disney wants developers to “reimagine” its IP for video games
When I see Disney, video games, and IP in one headline, you can bet my ears perk up.
Sean Shoptaw, Disney’s senior VP for games and interactive experiences, wants talented creatives from the gaming industry to “come and play” with its IPs. That includes Disney, Marvel, and now Fox IPs, so there’s a good chance we could see some incredible games from Disney and friends in the future.
Disney has a good reason to jump head first into gaming with the wild success of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order from this generation. Marvel’s Avengers will be the next game from Disney and will really test the magic behind their name. From what we’ve seen of it, I’m not very impressed, but it could still surprise me! If Marvel’s Avengers is anywhere as good as Spider-Man and Fallen Order, Disney will have made some of the best games of this generation.
What would your dream developer/Disney IP mashup be? I pretty much got my wish with Insomniac and Spider-Man, so everything else is just icing on the cake.
BioWare confirm they are “reinventing” Anthem
I’m happy to see that the dev team behind Anthem is able to make the game they want.
This comes after the dev team’s silence around new seasons and rumors that the game was going to be rebuilt from the ground up. I’m also glad that they’ve decided to rebuild this game, not release an Anthem 2.
The original blog post from BioWare does a great job of conveying sincerity and is another example of transparency in the industry. You can tell from reading it that the dev team is sad that they didn’t get to make what they wanted the first time around, so it gives me confidence that this rebuild will let the team make what they wanted, not what they were forced to make.
After Anthem’s initial failure, we got glimpses of the hellish development of the game. The part that still sticks with me is the dev team essentially being forced to include flying in the game for no other reason than an EA exec thought it would look cool. You can tell the slight shade that BioWare throws in the blog post:
“And to do that properly we’ll be doing something we’d like to have done more of the first time around — giving a focused team the time to test and iterate, focusing on gameplay first.”
Next time you see Anthem on sale, maybe give it a buy in anticipation of this update.
Why did Dreams take Media Molecule seven years to make?
Dreams is officially out! This is a great interview with the dev team behind this incredibly ambitious game. It’s been in Beta for a while, so people have been creating inside of the game and most of the feedback I’ve heard has been great.
Last week I talked about Art’s Dreams, the storyline game within Dreams, that looks so cool that I might have to buy the game to experience it myself.
Do you plan on picking Dreams up? Let me know!
The best BioShock game turned 10 this week
Wow, wow, wow, that’s all I can say about this game and THAT TRAILER. The launch trailer (linked in the article) is incredible, it actually made me jump when I watched it the first time. That trailer and Bioshock: Infinite’s first trailer makes me think that the Bioshock games have the best trailers in the entire industry.
Other than the trailer, the game was incredible too. I was lucky enough to have played this right after the first Bioshock, so experiencing the story of a Big Daddy right after facing so many of them was such a cool experience. The gameplay itself changes too, with heavier, more powerful weapons replacing the revolvers and wrenches of the first game.
This game was just so good, and I’ve heard the DLC, Minerva’s Garden, is just as incredible. I’ve never played it, but that’s about to change.
Excuse me while I jump back into Rapture.
Cloud gaming compared: are any of the services worth paying for?
If Stadia put a bad taste in your mouth and made you totally write off cloud streaming, then you’ve probably missed what’s going on in that space. I was one of those people, but this article caught me up.
The platform called Shadow looks the most promising to me, although it doesn’t have the staying ability that Stadia and GeForce Now have thanks to their parent companies.
What’s the most interesting platform to you? Will cloud gaming see success in the future or is it destined for failure? Let me know what you think!
This is from issue #25 of Load Save. Subscribe today to get the best gaming news in your inbox every Saturday afternoon.
To see articles that didn’t make the cut, check out Load Save on Twitter. You can also come say hey on Facebook!
