Working a sense of a larger world into single player experiences is always something I'm keen on, even if the ways it tends to happen fit into some very specific boxes. I still want to see it at least considered because eventually it's going to lead to something rad. Gabriel was telling me about how Assassin's Creed: Origins handles it and then we made a strip! This happens a lot, I would say. Twenty years, give or take.
I was a buy every year Assassin's Creed fan, fuckin'… Preorder that shit kinda guy up until Unity. People like to post gifs where people don't have faces or whatever, just, like… some eyeballs and lips, but I never saw any of the bugs people were talking about. It simply wasn't part of my experience. I'll take over districts and buy rad clothes until my dying day - I don't even have a problem with the loop. The problem for me was that it was that they tragically underutilized the setting and even when the material was good, they didn't capitalize on it. I'm that rare creature who liked ACIII best, because right from the beginning it recontextualizes the entire fucking franchise. It asks and answers the real questions I had about the series. Yes, the part with the fire difficult. Still the best AC game.
So I gave up on the franchise right about the time Gabe started buying it and playing it for himself; he played it about twenty hours on the PS4 Pro before restarting it completely on the Xbox One X. I've been playing console games almost exclusively on the PS4 not because of any particular content but because he was also there and it had been made very clear that it's where I should be. I think the hardware supremacy moves the Xbox One X into gadget territory, which tantalizes him; the challenge for the Xbox as a platform is more than just the sales of their primary competitor, it's that a "win more" scenario is created when limited development resources are allocated - in this case, years ago - toward the clear victor. Microsoft's in-house ability to generate (as opposed to purchase) exclusive content is minor. Digging their way out of these things is going to be an aerobic effort, even if every performance comparison between the two systems makes the even the new PS4 look like dogshit.
We're in the Golden Age of tabletop right now, a phenomena we're trying to enunciate with PAX Unplugged next week, for which there are still a few three-day passes left. But we started recognizing the indie tier in that space when PAX South got underway with the PAX South Tabletop Indie Showcase.
What we're missing is the game you're working on - the one you have just about done, and don't know what the next step is. Or, the game your friend is working on, the one that keeps coming out at game night and not just to be nice, but because it is authentically ballin'. You gotta tell your friend to enter their game. I check out every winning game at the show, and typically buy a few if they're already available - it's also a great place to bump a planned Kickstarter. Anyway, what I'm saying is that today is the last day you can submit them, so let me give you that extra nudge: Show me what you got.
(CW)TB out.
