Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
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Star Wars Battlefront II stirred up controversy at launch with grindy progression systems and questionable loot boxes. Over the last six months, the game has added new modes and done its best to win back players. Here’s where things stand today. The lead up to Star Wars Battlefront II’s release is its own saga following…
The Empire is without an emperor. Last week, a Star Wars Battlefront II update apparently brought back the evil Emperor Palpatine’s game-breaking ability to shoot lightning through walls. An emergency fix completely removed him from the game, and it’s unclear when he’ll return. Star Wars Battlefront II allows players to fight as iconic heroes and…
Mafia 3’s opening used to be much more intense, the game’s director has revealed. A “cold open” sequence that ended with the main character killing a cop was eventually cut from the game—and apparently deleted from the developer’s servers, so it never gets out. Speaking at the Brighton Develop Conference yesterday, as reported by Eurogamer,…
Image: Tara Jacoby Yesterday, Valve announced a sweeping new policy for Steam: From now on, the platform will allow “everything” except for games Valve decides are “illegal, or straight up trolling.” In light of controversies like the recently removed school shooter game Active Shooter, the announcement came as a surprise to those who were expecting…
Fallout 76 will have nukes. Provided players find the keys, they will be able to fire these nukes off whenever they please. This gameplay feature, announced at last night’s Bethesda press conference, is presumably meant to encourage player-created drama in the upcoming online survival game. It’s also the clearest signal yet that the Fallout series,…
The next Assassin’s Creed is going to turn heads. That won’t just be because it’s set in ancient Greece, nor simply because it lets you play as a man or a woman. It’s also changing the series’ combat yet again, offering more options for stealth, and even fleshing out the modern-day stuff that’s been lacking…
In the past few days, Harebrained Schemes designer Tyler Carpenter has been accused of sexual abuse and harassment by at least six women on social media. The allegations range from inappropriate groping to repeated expressions of romantic and sexual interest after repeatedly being told to stop. Carpenter, who recently worked as a systems and missions…
Far Cry 5 suggests a world on the brink of a violence apocalypse, but the game’s sanitized gameplay and clean-cut power fantasy ultimately ring hollow. If the series wants to make a case for human savagery, it should look back to Far Cry 2, a game that wasn’t afraid to let things break. In his…
EA’s pre-E3 (pre3?) press conference came and went with all the fanfare of a trip through a Wendy’s drive-through, despite Janina Gavankar’s valiant efforts to hype the audience for Star Wars Battlefront 2‘s probably-gonna-be-fine campaign mode. Much of the presentation’s audible thud could be attributed to the extended Battlefront 2 multiplayer demonstration, which came complete…
In the few days since Electronic Arts and BioWare let fans start playing the first 10 hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda, I suspect things haven’t gone according to their internal marketing plan. Instead of people sharing the cool moments they’re having in space, they’re retweeting the awkward animations and various examples of a lax attention to detail….