Thrik

It looks like this doesn’t work again, also is Slack the preferred choice over Discord (if there even is one)? If someone can DM me an invite that’D be superb.

Yes!

Sounds fantastic when you're on crap-ass broadband like me. Surely to god the lack of some people's connection quality hasn't been overlooked? Or do they just get horrendously compressed rubbish?

Haha, wow. I was just peeking at a gameplay video and holy crap the the UI is a lot like Destiny's. The ship customisation screen is so lifted. I mean it works, but Destiny's novel and superb UI is a significant part of its identity (especially bearing in mind how much time you spend there) so to have another space-orientated game use such a similar approach seems like a missed opportunity to me. Then again, the similar might help to endear it to the masses — something that was potentially a conscious design decision — so I can't completely condemn it.

What an absolutely excellent story haha.

I'm just a silly bastard and keep watching TV shows rather than continuing to play the games I'm halfway through like MGS5 and Uncharted 4 even though I think they're absolutely excellent.

Ah right. I guess because I keep all the gaming shit like Origin and Steam tucked away on a separate partition it doesn't bother me so much. Origin and Steam are both pathetically under-developed though — both still look like hell on a high-pixel density display. So annoying when I use them. I know Windows generally isn't free but if you ever get the opportunity to grab a Windows 7/8/10 key I'd highly recommend installing it with Bootcamp. I noticed that the same games installed on both Windows and OS X literally run at twice the frame rate in some cases, or at the very least a good chunk faster. It's a very effective way of getting more gaming life out of an ageing (or even new) Mac, if that ever becomes a concern.

I'm liking your anecdotes about this game. I think I'll get it this weekend. The guy really should mention Prison Architect on the website though, ideally where a whole load of other games are prominently cited as influences. Only seems right.

The Sims has always been available on Mac? Although I personally run it in Windows via Bootcamp because the performance is better.

Yeah you really don't want to be mix and matching those things. For example the wrong one charging an iPhone would probably melt it. I've outright killed a laptop by plugging the wrong power brick into it.

Social aspect is clearly referring to the way that the game has brought literally tens of thousands of people together IRL who'd never otherwise have met. From a purely academic point of view I'd be fascinated to know how many lasting friendships or even relationships result from this game. I know that with its spiritual predecessor Ingress this happened a lot — in fact I know a woman who's met several dates through it. It's definitely missing a lot, but in all honesty the whole app screams 'exploratory prototype' to me. I can't imagine that they expected this kind of sudden popularity and would imagine that there'll be lots of additions in the coming weeks and months to milk the fad for as long as possible. Nintendo's big question right now is presumably whether or not it has the legs to be an enduring cultural phenomenon like Ingress. Without the masses of people playing it everywhere leading to in-person encounters the shine would probably wear off fast. Perhaps more than anything this game is revealing most people's innate desire to connect with others in the real world, and for those who struggle with that it's perhaps a really nice ice breaker and feeling of being part of something. It's not just a idyllic fantasy — people really are connecting through this thing.

Well Nintendo certainly seems to be on a roll this week! I too would definitely grab a SNES version for the convenience and nostalgia/collectable factor of the physical unit, if it came with key favourites like DKC1–3, Super Mario All Stars, Mario Kart, and Super Mario World 1&2.

It's basically just what we all dreamed of as children, right? Being able to go out in the world and catch Pokemon. Not some virtual world in a console — the actual world. Just like the earlier games' characters' adventures would just be random shit that happens to them while out and about, the same can happen to you while playing this game. Will you find some rare delight? Nearly get eaten alive by a bear? Meet wonderful new companions? Get mugged? It's all part of the adventure. Of course the game is ropey as hell. It's noticeably rough for an iOS game, with lots of blurry textures and UI elements. Animations and transitions feel clunky and overly time-consuming. The overall performance of the application is bad even on an iPhone 6S Plus. But see my previous paragraph for why none of that matters. Personally I'm basically done with it after one morning since it came out in the UK. I can see younger people absolutely loving this, and clearly many older people are too. I'll probably delete it soon. It's been a fascinating fad to see happen though, one that seems to cross generations like few other phenomena.

Is this even the case when you're listening to the cassette tapes as you unlock them? I'm not particularly far in, but I've been enjoying a steady supply of new narrative-orientated tapes as I complete each main mission. I've been treating them like the codec conversations of the older games, where I just sit and listen to them while having a cup of tea or something. It's a lot like MGS2 in that respect, seeing as that game was probably 90% codec to 10% cutscene. It's different but still nice, and actually I feel less obligated into enduring the long stretches of narrative on the game's terms; instead, I can dive into it when I can't be bothered with actual gameplay. I've also been hearing quite a lot of Big Boss in these conversations, whereas in the game proper he's basically a silent protagonist — which makes sense seeing as you can swap your main character for others, such as a woman with a voice of her own.

We've just published an interview with two environment artists who worked on The Witcher 3 and its upcoming content. It's a development interview so might be of interest to those into that side of things.