In the heyday of printed games magazines, we ate with our eyes. In the absence of video, we studied still images and tried to animate them in our minds. It's hard to imagine now but seeing a game in motion for the first time really was just as big a revelation as how it played. In the years since, video games have made art critics of us all. We even learnt a new vocabulary to talk about them: references to pixel density, shading, style and perspective made themselves at home in even casual conversation, and how could they not? Try explaining these four images without them: … [Read more...] about Picture books and video games: a backdoor into childhood
Halo community update tracks the obscure cause of Halo 2’s worst launch bug
So what happened with Halo 2? The post first goes through the general steps of finding and fixing a bug, and how every department in a big game studio plays a role. That includes the community team, who interact with players and gather information about reported issues, a dedicated support team that takes reported issues and analyzes them, quality assurance testers, design, production, and engineering. It takes a whole lot of people and a remarkably complex process to nail down a bug and fix it. … [Read more...] about Halo community update tracks the obscure cause of Halo 2’s worst launch bug
Halo 3 makes its PC debut with limited testing next month
343 have kept a staggering pace in porting the old Halos, with a brief snapshot at Halo 3 and ODST running on PC coming before even Halo 2 Anniversary’s release earlier this month. So, while there’s no mention of the jazzy, Nathan Fillon-fronted spin-off in this week’s post, it’s not too shocking that there are already plans to roll out the trilogy’s closing act. Posting in a development update this week, 343 laid out their plans for Halo 3 flighting (testing) within the “first half” of June. … [Read more...] about Halo 3 makes its PC debut with limited testing next month
Play Half-Life: Alyx as a more traditional shooter in this VR-free mod
In case there was any doubt, Baldur's Gate 3's new sizzle reel confirms rooms full of fire … [Read more...] about Play Half-Life: Alyx as a more traditional shooter in this VR-free mod
Call of Duty: Warzone finally gets duos mode
The playlist update comes alongside a double XP, double weapon XP and 2X tier progression weekend. This double XP triple feed runs until 7am UK time on 3rd June, which should help those who haven't quite wrapped up the current battle pass to do so. … [Read more...] about Call of Duty: Warzone finally gets duos mode
