It’s been a quieter fall than normal for big game releases, but we’ve been covering a slew of smaller new games and finding plenty of interesting stories. My favorites from last week:
- The Past, Present, And Future Of The Witcher 3 | “‘We feel there are quite a few people in the industry who consider us crazy, strange, you name it,’ said said co-founder Marcin Iwiński.” (Also from last week: The Personal Story Behind The Witcher 3’s Bloody Baron Quest)
- The Natural: The Trouble Portraying Blackness in Video Games | “This is how the skeleton of a continuum of portrayals get built. Right now, there’s a clavicle and a tailbone, maybe, but nothing capable of supporting much weight.”
- Valve Explains Why Steam Customer Service Is Still Terrible | “‘The second software problem that we’re getting through now is how to deal with account security and account theft,’ he said. ‘So we’ve been updating the mobile apps and dealing with two-factor authentication.’”
- Why People Are Freaking Out Over Destiny Microtransactions | “That’s what this is about. Trust. When jumping into something like Destiny—an all-encompassing, life-consuming game—players need to be able to trust that they’re not wasting their time. We need to know that the developers are as committed to this thing as we are.”
- All Games Should Unlock Every Level Right Away | “Yes, climbing Mount Everest is less satisfying when everyone can teleport straight to the top. But a good video game is one in which the ascent itself is a pleasure, and not just the final view.”
Best eSports coverage:
- One Bad Call Costs Star Korean League Of Legends Team Its Spot At Worlds
- Chinese League Of Legends Teams End Disappointing Run At Worlds
- ‘Game-Altering’ Bug Disrupts League Of LegendsWorld Championship [UPDATE]
- The Pentakill That Won The Latest League Of Legends World Championship Game
- World’s Best Smash Bros. Player Loses, Ending 53-Tournament Streak
New releases we covered, pro and con: Metal Gear Online, Planetbase, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone, Chibi Robo: Zip Lash, Downwell, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (actually, that one’s a little old but isn’t out in America yet!), Mushroom 11, Bedlam, Civilization Beyond Earth: Rising Tide, Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, Soda Dungeon, Chesh, Minecraft Story Mode Episode 1, Legend of Legacy, Dragon Quest Heroes and Prison Architect.
Best headline: Counter-Strike Player Wins Match By Climbing On Opponent’s Head (Runners up: Square Enix’s Latest Streaming Restrictions Are Ridiculous, Witcher 3 Sends Taxman After Players Who Used Exploit, and Hardest World of Warcraft Boss, With Exactly 1 HP Left, Wipes Raid.)
Best GIF (via this post):
Got thoughts about what we published last week or about stories you’d like to see on the site? Let me know.
To contact the author of this post, write to stephentotilo@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @stephentotilo.
Top illustration by Jim Cooke.