Spotlight: Casual gaming market, goodbye to Demon's Souls, moral choice, and a 3DS contrarian

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Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Community Spotlight highlights some of the best articles that didn't quite make the front page. This week, we look at the dark portents of casual gaming, a rage-filled farewell to Demon's Souls, the failings of moral choice in games, and the flaws of the 3DS. (We're very positive people this week, as you can see.)


Will the casual market kill the gaming industry?
By Jay Feezor
Jay sees parallels in today's casual market to the great video game crash of the '80s, when shovelware ran rampant and quality control didn't exist. I dunno -- I don't think we'll ever see anything as broken as E.T. on the Atari 2600. And for that I thank the gods of gaming profusely.

Goodbye Demon's Souls
By Karli Winata
I still have an unopened copy of Demon's Souls sitting near my PS3. Shameful, I know. But after reading Karli's furious farewell to the game, I'm even more intimidated to play it. Don't miss the conversation in the comments of this one, either -- our own Rob Savillo steps in with his thoughts.

Imperfections of moral choice
By Siri Karri
I loved Siri's point here: "It's no coincidence that 'choose your own adventure' books never go on to win literary awards." If you've ever been bothered by the inflexibility and extremes of moral choices in games, Siri feels your pain. Or he doesn't, depending on if he's playing as a Renegade.

Contrarian corner: the 3DS
By Jason Lomberg
Based on his hands-on time with the 3DS, Jason disagrees with some of the glowing reviews he's seen in other publications. He goes on to point out the flaws in 3D as a whole, and he draws parallels between the 3DS and the technologically advanced handhelds that have come before it (and their mixed performances). Good stuff from a guy who knows.

 
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