Keeping on top of an endless Twitter feed or a piling up RSS list can be daunting. Each and every week Gamebrit brings together a selection of some of the gaming stories that caught our eye and are worth your attention.
So sit back relax and grab a drink and give the gaming articles you may have missed this week a read:
Pacific Rim features homage to Portal
Upcoming sci-fi monster flick Pacific Rim is due to arrive in cinemas later this year, but when the trailer hit last month many gamers were surprised to hear a voice that sounded a little familiar. The movies A.I character sounds just like GlaDOS from Valve’s Portal, and this is no accident as director Guillermo del Toro has revealed to the Toronto Sun that he’s a big fan. The director, known for Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, specifically asked Valve for permission to use the voice in the film. However del Toro confirmed that in the movie the A.I isn’t “cake-obsessed”.
Guillermo del Toro says ‘Pacific Rim’ A.I. an homage to ‘Portal’s GlaDOS – Toronto Sun, Steve Tilley
Where is the choice to play as a girl?
Martin Belam writes in The Guardian that videogames need to “let girls be girls” having noticed how few games let you switch gender. Now, you could argue that like books and movies, games should take you on the journey of the intended character. However, for a large number of games this distinction isn’t important or relevant to the gameplay, so adding such an option should be a no brainer right?
Belam’s young daughter gained much pleasure from being able to play as a female in Temple Run, so should more games be offering a gender choice?
Videogames: Let girls be girls – Martin Belam, The Guardian
Girls make games too
Kim Swift, a former Valve employee, and now designer at Airtight Games has called for female workers in the gaming industry to be more visible. Writing on her blog, Swift explains that the low number of women working in the indsutry will not go away soon, and visibility now will help some ten to twenty years from.
1Reason – Kim Swift, In The Base Case
Videogames are not a new and ominous threat to society
Following yet another tragic mass-shooting comes revived conversations about what part videogames play in being responsible. Vaughan Bell, a clinical and research psychologist, writes in The Guardian how the typical view of pointing the finger at games and technology could be wrong. Dr Bell concludes that anything in excess will cause us problems.
Are video games really the villain in our violent age – The Guardian, Vaughan Bell
Addiction, Addiction, Addiction
This week it emerged that one Chinese father got so fed up with his son’s addiction to videogames that he decided to take matters into his own hands. Mr. Feng wanted his son to try and find a job, but his son, addicted to playing games had other ideas. As a result Mr. Feng hired “digital assassins” to go into games that his son was playing to repeatedly kill him, in the hope that his son would get bored…
Father Hires In-Game “Hitmen” To Deter Son From Playing – Eric Jou, Kotaku
That’s your recommended reads for this week, be sure to come back next week for more.
If you have any suggestions for stories you think folks should be reading just drop us a tweet with your reccomendations.
