Hello, Escapist readers! As part of our partnership with curation website Critical Distance, we’ll be bringing you a weekly digest of the coolest games criticism, analysis and commentary from around the web. Let’s hit it!
First up: at PCGamer, Emanuel Maiberg ventures into the sneaky, sordid, lucrative arms race of game cheats. Naturally, in the name of good journalism, Maiberg takes a turn as a Counter-Strike rage cheater between interviews with Valve and the companies making subscription-based cheating software for its games.
Nintendo’s North American PR touched a raw nerve last week when it told the Associated Press it would not be including same-sex marriage into its upcoming life sim/toy Tomodachi Life, implying that to do so would be a “form of social commentary.” Of course, including marriage of any kind in a game is a sort of social commentary, as several critics were quick to point out. At Gamasutra, blogs director Christian Nutt walks us through an interesting retrospective on Computer Artworks’ 2002 adaptation of John Carpenter’s The Thing, which received accolades following its release for its technical innovation. It’s nice to get an inside look at the development behind some of the games from years past!
That’s all for this week! If you’re interested in more great writing, videos and podcasts from this week in games, be sure to swing over to Critical Distance to have your fill!
