Weekly Links #8

So, I'm late again and with few links to show for it, but anyway.

In a welcome twist, the makers of Candy Crush have withdrawn their trademark application, presumably following all the outrage. Let nobody tell you that online activism is frivolous. Too bad that, as Techdirt points out, the saga isn't really over. But it's a victory.

In other news, the Rampant Coyote comments on the demise of Irrational Games, makers of Bioshock Infinite. For those of you not keeping score, this was the third game in the controversial Bioshock series of story-driven first person shooters, themselves spiritual successors of the fondly remembered System Shock duology of cyberpunk shooters-with-RPG-elements (probably the first of their kind back in the 1990es). Now, Bioshock Infinite is a game with absolutely stunning graphics -- it's like you're playing a movie with an oil painting filter applied. Too bad that everything else about it was soundly panned by audiences, and therefore the sales weren't enough to recoup all the money poured into those graphics. Which is exactly what influential voices such as Shamus Young have been warning about for years.

The parallels with climate change are worrying. Luckily we don't need the gaming industry to survive as a species.

To finish with more conventional stuff, here's a review of Paper Sorcerer, an old school dungeon crawl with a less common premise and unusual art style. I heard of it when it was still in development, and I'm glad to hear it came out so well. And if you're interested in game design, here's a nice little rant about balancing magic against other RPG mechanics. Because you can do it poorly... and then you can do it abysmally.

And... that's pretty much it this time. Sorry about that. See you!