As you may have noticed, updates have been pretty slow here on Gaming Reinvented.
But don’t panic, there is a reason for this.
Namely, I’m redesigning the entire website. Why? Well to be honest, there are two reasons.
Firstly, the existing site doesn’t really work for its purpose at the moment. It’s meant to be a service, yet currently feels more like a traditional blog. And that’s fine if you’re running a blog.
But I’m not running one. I’m running a service where people are meant to post their own content. It’s basically a social media type site for writers, in the guise of a news site.
And the current design means people don’t understand this. They don’t realise they can post their own articles or content, they keep asking me to post them as if guest blogs were still relevant and gaming sites require professional staff.
So that’s one reason I’m redesigning the site. To encourage people to use it in the way it’s meant to be used, not as yet another blog they have to send messages to about guest posts and staff writer positions.
Reason number 2 on the other hand… well that’s a bit philosophical. Basically, as I realised a few months or so ago, traditional content sites don’t really work anymore. Why is this? Because society has moved on. Instead of using traditional desktop computers, people use smartphones to access the internet through most of their day.
However, most existing sites don’t get this, and as a result, they’re stuck in the desktop era.
And that’s a huge issue. Put simply, the workflow required for old school news sites and platforms doesn’t work in this new world.
Think about it. How convenient is it to post an article on mobile?
On like, any CMS you can think of?
Not very. This means sites like Medium (and traditional CMS systems like WordPress and Drupal) lose out whenever audiences on their phones.
Yet it’s not just limited to them either. No, the same goes for news reporting too. Want to cover a Nintendo Direct? Yeah, good luck doing that on an iPad, since taking and uploading screenshots is hell and videos are even worse. Add glacial upload speeds, fiddly buttons in website interfaces and awkward plugins telling you how hard to read your work is, and things just become a complete nightmare.
But we want to fix this. We want a world where reporting the news is super simple, lightning fast and convenient for everyone. One where authors can write a beautiful story on the bus back from work without worrying that their 3G connection will fail while they’re doing so. Where users can read articles even while offline. Where modern, futuristic looking articles can be written and posted without the backing of a high-tech development team and thousands of dollars in media production skills.
Hence that’s why we’re redesigning Gaming Reinvented right now. Because in today’s smartphone era, the competition just isn’t good enough.
In the last few years, Valve hasn’t really done much where game development is concerned. Oh sure, they’ve made some updates on Steam and found ways to monetise their multiple titles through lootbox type mechanics, but as far as new games are concerned, releases are few and far between.
So much so in fact that some people have actually started questioning whether Valve makes games any more at all!
Which is why when talk of a new Portal game was heard online, the fans were ecstatic. After all, it’s a beloved series with two amazing games in it, and the mere thought of a third title would basically set the internet on fire.
Then we got the trailer. Here it is, the debut video for Bridge Constructor Portal, a bridge building Portal spinoff headed to the app store, Steam, PS4, Switch and Xbox One:
As you can imagine… people haven’t been very happy about it. Indeed, the responses online to this title have been absolutely brutal, with comments on internet forums and Reddit questioning every aspect of the title and the video being so heavily disliked the uploaders disabled ratings on it. The game’s gone down about as well as Metroid Prime Federation Force did.
But you know what? I think that’s kind of unfair. At its core, it seems like Bridge Constructor Portal could be a good game. Not an ambitious game sure, but a decent little puzzle game to play on a smartphone or what not.
It’s just that like so many other titles, its creators made a fatal mistake when making and marketing it:
They announced it after a long period of no important games in the series. A period where Valve made nothing of interest at all.
And just like other games in the same situation, that created a huge backlash. It’s basically Chibi Robo Zip Lash or Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts all over again; a random gimmick game/spinoff deal that just happens to be the only thing the fans have gotten in years.
So regardless of any quality the game may have, this is basically doomed to fail. The game just isn’t what the fans (or general public) want from the Portal series and feels like another blind cash grab from a company that’s completely ignored its core business for nearly a decade.
Still, what do you think about it? Are you happy with this Portal spinoff, despite its… interesting choice of genre and design?
Or do you feel that Valve giving the license to Headup Games may not have been a wise move, especially with the limited number of ‘real’ titles the company put out in recent years?
Post your thoughts on the matter (and more) in the comments below or on the Gaming Latest forums today!
Over the years, we’ve seen quite a few terrible attempts at using or creating games for propaganda purposes. We’ve seen dictatorships use footage from military games to ‘illustrate’ war victories. We’ve seen armies use games as training simulators for their wars. And well, we’ve seen all kinds of bad attempts to mock political opponents through the medium.
But the EU’s recent attempt at gamifying propaganda is worse than any of them, as well as hilarious for all the wrong reasons.
Why?
Because it plays out like a parody of the EU rather than a defence of it.
Seriously. You know the pro Brexit camps talked of the EU taking millions in tax dollars and not using it for anything important? Or how the many saved by not paying the organisation to be a member could be used to fund the NHS?
Well Taxlandia accidentally supports that exact hypothesis.
That’s because while the game talks about the importance of raising taxes to pay for services, winning during the game doesn’t actually involve spending the money on anything important. Oh, sure you could use it for services like a good prime minister or president would. You could improve the schools, fund more fire stations and help save the populace from natural disasters like floods.
But the game doesn’t encourage that at all. Instead, the ideal strategy the game encourages is…
Up the tax rate, then do sod all with the money.
That’s it. That’s the whole game in a nutshell.
Just up the tax rate to 50%, sit on your backside for eight years and hey ho, apparently you win the game. It’s almost like the title was designed by Nigel Farage and UKIP to illustrate why the EU is a complete waste of money.
Yet no, it’s official. It’s supposed to be a game put out to support the organisation and teach people the importance of taxes in a user-friendly way.
So, in that sense, good work guys. Your attempt at propaganda works like a shining endorsement of the Conservatives austerity plans.
But it doesn’t stop there. Oh no, it turns out that encouraging lazy governance is only one of the game’s many problems.
Indeed, in addition to saying that sitting around doing nothing for eight years is how to run a country, the game also seems to suggest that trying to improve your lot makes things worse too.
Really, it does. For instance, what do you think would happen if a company invested in education? Say, they built new schools and universities, inspired more teachers and trained people to be more productive members of society.
Well, a logical answer would be that things would get better. Crime would go down because people had other alternatives to make money, the economy would start booming because the more educated population would setup companies and come up with disruptive business models to improve society and the level of superstition would decrease as people stopped relying on stories of ghosts and magical beings to explain the world around them. All things you see readily apparent in Europe today.
Yet that’s not how it works in the game. Instead, building schools actually increases the crime rate and makes things worse! As does building fire stations, improving the police force or doing anything to make life better for your citizens.
It’s ridiculous, and basically goes as far as to imply the ideal role of a government is to line its own pockets at the people’s expense.
And instead of helping the European Union in a term of increased scepticism towards its structure and activity, it makes a brilliant case for its abolition or abandonment. All paid for by your tax dollars too.
Thanks EU game development teams. Not only have you wasted millions of euros on crap like this, but you’ve made a game that outright shoots down your entire organisation and suggests it’d be better if taxes didn’t exist to begin with. Quite the own goal for a propaganda campaign isn’t it?
In future, try and make sure your advertising supports your goals. Or better yet, just avoid propaganda altogether. Games are something to be enjoyed, not a medium to be perverted into a marketing tool for a political organisation.
Back in April 2016, Nintendo announced mobile games based on Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing. Yet while the former got released quite quickly (and become a major success under the name Fire Emblem Heroes), Animal Crossing just kind of disappeared from the radar.
First it was pushed to March 2017 to avoid overshadowing Super Mario Run. Then it was delayed again, pushing the game further back to the third quarter of the 2017 fiscal year. And then after all that, Nintendo delayed it even more, just stating the title would be out ‘sometime in 2017’ as a result.
It’s like the game’s been stuck in release limbo, without nary a detail about the gameplay or mechanics have been released to quell people’s appetite.
But it seems that’s now all about to change. Why? Because as the title suggests, Nintendo has announced an Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct about it for Wednesday this week. Due to be held at 7AM UK time, this Direct is a 15-minute affair revealing the game for the first time, as well as giving more info on how it works mechanically.
Here are the announcements about it on Twitter. Courtesy of Nintendo Co Ltd:
So, if you’re an Animal Crossing fan who’s been waiting for this title for years, worry no more. Because by Wednesday this week, you will know how this new mobile game works, as well as how it compares to other such titles like Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes.
Let’s just hope it lives up to the hype, shall we?
But as well backed up as this article was, it was still up in the air as to whether any of it would pan out. After all, generation 2 Pokémon were in the files for months before they were officially announced. And the exact same thing happened with everything from generation 3 to legendaries.
Datamines don’t prove anything concrete there.
So, while it was likely a Halloween event was in the foreseeable future, it was far from confirmed.
Well until now that is. Because as Niantic Labs have announced in a new trailer, generation 3 Pokémon are indeed being added to the game for 2017’s Halloween event! Here’s the official trailer for it:
Yeah, it’s a bit more limited than we initially thought. For now, the only generation 3 Pokémon being added to the game for the event are the ghost types, with others merely being announced as coming soon. It’s not like 100+ new species are being added in.
But it’s still a good update none the less. What’s more, like the Baby Pokemon update before it, it acts as a nice teaser for what’s coming afterwards. That’s better than nothing, right?
Yeah, we think so too.
So, if you’re a Pokémon GO fan, check out! The event will run from today to November 2nd, and you’ll be able to get all kinds of new Pokémon from it as a result.
