I feel like the article title doesn’t help: ‘Bungie deletes Destiny’s BEST EXPANSION!’

It’s a flaw because, if best is inherently subjective, you can’t approach game design from a ‘we only make the objectively best games’. There’s just no way to do it.

That’s a good point, and it’s an interesting comparison I think especially with ‘Sony versus Microsoft’ around with the launch of the first Xbox, versus ‘Sony versus Microsoft’ now, where Microsoft is using GamePass pretty explicitly to chase that ‘something for everyone’ model, rather than Sony’s ‘ONE thing for…

I’m actually really curious how long Sony will hold to their current ‘almost entirely third person action game’ approach for their blockbuster first-party titles. It’s served them really, really well for a really, really long time... but that also means it’s served them really well for a really long time. Trends, as…

I find the statement centering around that part - ‘people only remember the best games rather than the OK games’ - kind of fascinating, because to me, it represents the fundamental flaw in the whole approach: it assumes everyone agrees on what the ‘best games’ are. Which means that, with Sony, if you don’t like their…

Honestly, I feel like they could solve a lot of their problems by just being more open about what the schedule for content rotating back out of the Vault actually is. If they could say ‘the Tangled Shore is going away for a while but you’ll get it back in three years, and in the meantime you’ll be getting Titan and Io…

It is pretty hard not to think of Bungie’s own ‘Destiny’ - a Halo-like shooter with a much heavier emphasis on character ‘look’ - and to hear all the gnashing of hair and tearing of teeth that goes on around whether or not Bungie is ‘ruining’ that game with microtransactions and cosmetics as a warning, rather than an…

The ‘big name voice actors’ was one of those early decisions that always felt to me like Bungie was spending money... kinda because they could? (Like hiring Paul McCartney to work on an absolute nothing of a theme song... so they could all say they’d worked with Paul McCartney.)

That’s good to hear; hell, I don’t have chronic pain and firing a scout rifle for an extended period of time can be hell on the wrists and fingers, so I can barely imagine what it’s like for someone who does have actual issues.

I get the point they’re trying to make; I also kinda miss the tone of the first year or so of Destiny, where the game hewed a little closer to Bungie’s stated ‘Knights of the Round Table’ ethos, Guardians going out to make the solar system a better place rather than just endlessly trying to stave off total…

I was gonna say the same thing: I won’t pretend that I spend money with Bungie because they’re not actually a horrible place to work; I do it because they make a game I really enjoy. But still, it’s nice not to have to avoid spending money on a game I really enjoy because they’re a horrible place to work.

And it’s entirely possible I’m just completely out of the loop in terms of this ‘a lot of talk’, given that this (pair) of articles is the first I’ve heard of any of it. I still think there’s a slightly strange lack of sourcing in the article, though; even if you want to overlook the RPS article, at no point is there…

True, but this is a niche enough concept that - even if just to avoid the perception of impropriety - some sort of acknowledgement isn’t the worst idea of the world. It also depends on how broad your concept of ‘public notice’ is, really: if this isn’t a niche concept, then no, it probably wouldn’t be necessary to…

Yeah, I think that’s the answer to your question right there: how much (if any) of the nonsense your Tucker Carlsons or Ben Shapiros of the world actually believes is irrelevant - they’re doing it because it’s how they make their living, by convincing less-than-wealthy white men that they’re being discriminated…

Okay, I follow - it’s essentially using contrast and color saturation, along with the thickness of the linework, to simulate depth of field and focus; ‘guiding’ the eye to where the artist wants the viewer’s attention, the same way our actual eyes focus in on the object of our attention, even when what we’re seeing…

I think it tends to be the ‘rich’ part more than the ‘white male’ part: the wealthier you are, the more you an insulate yourself from criticism, the less you’re able to withstand it, basically.

Might want to consider an acknowledgement somewhere in the article that Rock Paper Shotgun ran almost this exact same story yesterday.

I just wanted to say that - as ‘absolutely not an artist at all’ - this was a fascinating read. The reactions to Sable’s art, both in this comments section and elsewhere, have been all over the map, so it’s great to get a technical take on it. I personally find it highly appealing to look at, but not particularly…

No, I absolutely get what you’re saying - though I do think it’s funny that our tastes are about as different as you can get while still enjoying ‘games where you shoot things’; about the only thing we have in common is ‘we both dislike the Division’. (And that’s absolutely fine; people are allowed to like different…

I get what you’re saying, but I’d say that for me, that ‘spark’ just isn’t going to come from something I only just ‘admire’: if I’m not enjoying something (especially something with a purposefully opaque narrative), I’m probably not going to forge a very strong emotional connection to it, either, and that’s more or…