Opinion by Matt S. Sony is, of course, a Japanese company. However, the company’s behaviour over the last couple of years towards Japanese games, and indeed, Japanese storytelling and culture, has been something that has started to concern me, because it seems like Sony, in its continued push to remain…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. “Serious gamers need serious performance. Get ready for a new standard in gaming.” This ad on Twitter, by Intel, announcing some new hardware or other that it had developed, reminded me to get these long overdue thoughts down on the virtual paper: this idea that improvements…
Read MoreOpinion by Nick H. At the very heart of sports is a sense of competition. The idea is that we compete against ourselves and we compete against our opponents. Competition innately brings out the best in us, because we are being pushed internally and externally to get better than we…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. Dragon Quest is precious to me. Much like Final Fantasy, I consider the series formative in giving me a deep, abiding, and likely life-long love of Japanese RPGs. The imagination, humour, and storytelling that Dragon Quest pioneered has stuck with me over much of my life,…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. The release of a new Yakuza game is always a good thing, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 is just around the corner. This video has plenty of footage of what to expect from the game. But I also wanted to take the opportunity to discuss something that…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. This is a bit of an odd topic, but the word “content” to describe what’s in video games has annoyed me for a while now, as it represents a lack of respect for the artistry that goes into the making of a game. With this video…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. One of the most common criticisms you’ll see when people talk about games is “this game is repetitive.” It is never delivered as a positive reflection on the game in question, and is either a “but” in “I really enjoyed this game but…” or is one…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. Over the last week we’ve seen a lot of stuff in the press regarding the launch of No Man’s Sky NEXT; a massive, near re-release of a game that was first released back in 2016 amongst a hailstorm of virulent criticism. Some of the stories coming…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. As we all know by now, loot boxes have become such an issue of contention in the games industry that a number of countries have declared them to be gambling. The idea of getting random stuff in exchange for cash has been around for a long…
Read MoreOpinion by Matt S. Earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally defined “video game addiction” as a diagnosable condition (the specific term is “gaming disorder”). This was always going to be a controversial decision, and there has been plenty of measured debate out there about whether video games…
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