I've been thinking about it. And I think there might only be three types of narrative game
1. Explore the Psyche of Man
2. Stuff Already Happened, And Now You're Here
3. Lesbian Bartender
“It’s a couple of things that work beautifully in concert. First: no music. Audiences are so sophisticated, but what they’re not accustomed to is not being told how to feel,” Wyle says. “You take all that out and it forces a level of engagement where you’re now looking for clues within the frame of the screen, which forces you to look up from your phone. And I think that is extremely engaging, especially to young viewers who aren’t accustomed to being asked to participate in a nonpassive way in the viewing experience.
![“Second point, shooting it with almost exclusively 50-millimeter or 65-millimeter lenses, which is the most comparable to the human eye—and only shooting from the point of view of a human being that’s present in this space. There are no cameras on gurney wheels going in the hallway. There’s no cameras on the ceiling looking down from a God point of view. You are limited to the perspective of a participant. You can look away, but you can’t leave, and it becomes an endurance test for you to stay on your feet as long as we’re on our feet. Which [brings me to my] third point: real time. Real time has an aggregate sense of tension that you don’t get in any other form of storytelling. What happened before is happening now, and these two things are going to add up to the next thing. And if we throw more ingredients into this cooker and keep ratcheting it up, it’s going to pop.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:guthikarwozoldkzhueivkl6/bafkreihklvhtymho7wpemo5mj2f7xaiq6ulvfvcwnzo6hjstg3wixzgesy)
“Second point, shooting it with almost exclusively 50-millimeter or 65-millimeter lenses, which is the most comparable to the human eye—and only shooting from the point of view of a human being that’s present in this space. There are no cameras on gurney wheels going in the hallway. There’s no cameras on the ceiling looking down from a God point of view. You are limited to the perspective of a participant. You can look away, but you can’t leave, and it becomes an endurance test for you to stay on your feet as long as we’re on our feet. Which [brings me to my] third point: real time. Real time has an aggregate sense of tension that you don’t get in any other form of storytelling. What happened before is happening now, and these two things are going to add up to the next thing. And if we throw more ingredients into this cooker and keep ratcheting it up, it’s going to pop.”
Wyle makes eye contact for his next point, delivering it with a Robby-esque matter-of-factness. “Fourth point: The election went the other way,” he says with a shrug. “We could have been a really good show with a lot of nice things to say in a perfectly normal Kamala Harris universe. And instead we became almost a beacon of hope and humanity in an alternative universe. But in the midst of that, fifth point—this is essentially competence porn. You’re watching really smart, dedicated people do what only they know how to do at a level that you don’t know how to do it, and you’re so fucking glad that they’re there doing it, and compartmentalizing their own stuff to put your broken pieces back together. You’re so reassured by knowing that there are people out there that laugh and joke and have the ability to lock in like that.”
this is fucking unreal stuff from Noah Wyle on the magic of The Pitt. www.gq.com/story/noah-w...
Chuckie from Good Will Hunting, played by Ben Affleck, asking "You know what the best part of my day is?"
Chuckie from Good Will Hunting, played by Ben Affleck, saying "It's for about ten seconds: from when I open BlueSky and it's broken and I'm waiting for it to load."
Chuckie from Good Will Hunting, played by Ben Affleck: "'Cause I think maybe it'll never load and they'll never fix it and you won't be there."
Oh I'm sure there was, yes, but not one that was ever realistic. If they'd got to 100m as planned I'm sure they'd have stuck with it.
This is the beginning of the end for Game Pass (remove day-one firstparty games -> drop the price -> let it trundle along for a bit then kill it off) and imo a large part of why they went with a fresh face in Sharma instead of promoting from within. Easier for someone with no baggage to rip stuff up
The game industry worries a lot about where the next generation of gamers is going to come from.
Execs point the finger at streaming and social media for growth problems, but @hitpoints.bsky.social reminds us that they've long coached emerging audiences to have different, precarious expectations.
As a child, I thought “even educated fleas do it” seemed like a human acknowledgement of the value of a commonly devalued species
Now I see the hidden emphasis on “educated”, implying that fleas live in a society where a libertine educated class live above a peasant class who are not allowed love
Coop from Interstellar piloting a spaceship and saying "This little maneuver is gonna cost us 51 years"
your grandparents voting for reagan
A year ago to the day…
newsletter.hitpoints.co/306-feel-the...
we've come up with a system where you can demonstrate growth to shareholders by hiring more people than you should, but also you can demonstrate growth by firing more people than you should. we call it the economy and we think it's going to be great
Terrific, this.
You’re sick of DLSS 5 takes aren’t you. Seen too many of them. Well, sorry. Here’s another one newsletter.hitpoints.co/367-from-hell/
I've never seen a cybertruck irl but if I did I would probably react exactly like this:
Screenshot from Earth Must Die, with VValak talking to Sophie Duker's microscopic character (she appears normal-size, as VValak has shrunk)
The Spring Sale is now live on Steam!
Earth Must Die is 25% off, making it a VERY generous £8.99.
Grab a copy, quick, so I can use the money to make more video games for you.
store.steampowered.com/app/3639780/...
Simogo Legacy Collection is 25% off for a week, friends. Please take a look, or spread the word:
Switch 2 www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...
Switch www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...
Steam store.steampowered.com/app/3817040/...
I was asked to give my thoughts on generative AI usage in games - here they are!
I'm home and I've written a bit on my blog about post-GDC feelings:
meredithgran.com/gdc-thoughts...
fuckin shoutout to @apthomson.bsky.social for using his grand prize speech for this www.twitch.tv/gdcfestivalo...
Haven't mentioned yet that I wrote the cover feature for the current issue of Edge. Pick up a copy while it's still on sale!
Did you know that No Law is a proper immersive sim, in the style of Deus Ex and Dishonored? I flew to Sweden in January so that you could read all about it.
I want to introduce you all to something myself and @jacksonwryan.com have been working on.
A PRINT MAGAZINE about video games and video game culture.
We know things have been bad for games writing recently. We're asking, "do you want to Continue?"
www.kickstarter.com/projects/con...
in case you've never seen it, this is Roger Ebert on The Mummy
One More Catch’s 10% off forever launch offer ends tonight! Subscribe to a new publication - run by just a single person (hello!) with no investors, publisher backing, or use of AI - and get perks like bonus articles for just £3.60 a month / £36 a year. It’ll mean a great deal to have your support:
hmm I followed the instructions I’m not sure why he looks so different
what the FUCK?? holy shit! this is so extensive!!!
the absolute amount of features already is crazy!!
"I could have mowed the lawn 8,644 times instead"
I said goodbye in the most fitting way I could think of: dying to the Heart with Ironclad, Silent and Defect, and continuing to act like Watcher doesn't exist.
