So, Mass Effect: Andromeda is coming out this we–oh wait. Never mind. That’s still about a month away… But the Nintendo Switch is this week! March is going to be quite the interesting month for games, but we do need to discuss the things that happened last week, just In Case You Missed It.
In Case You Missed Last Week’s In Case You Missed It…
In case you missed In Case You Missed It from the previous week, SNES preservationist Byuu lost $10,000 worth of games in the mail and had postponed his project in order to focus on repaying the collector who sent them. This week, however, the United States Postal Service managed to do their job correctly and actually found the missing package in Atlanta, Georgia. Granted, it was supposed to be in Ohio. You can read the harrowing events on Byuu’s website.
In Case You Wanted a Good Marvel Game…
Something that has plagued Marvel’s video game outings is that they have mostly been movie tie-ins. This unfortunately led to rushed games and limited vision for those games. Last week, Marvel got the memo. As of now, Marvel Games will no longer require developers to adhere to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or other storylines. In an IGN interview, Marvel Games has stated that the new PS4 Spider-Man and Telltale’s Guardians of the Galaxy have been given their blessing to go out and explore new territory. Here’s hoping it pays off!
In Case You Live in Australia…
Sorry, mate. Your Steam games are gonna get more expensive. According to Valve, the game publishing platform will be adding a 10% sales tax to all games in July. Other regions such as New Zealand will also have to pay up for their games. You can find the full list here.
In Case You Ordered a Nintendo Switch…
Time to beautify it! Kickstarter projects are already underway for small things to make the Nintendo Switch “yours.” The first one I’ve seen is this adorable little sticker you can slap onto the controller. Look at it! Look at it!
In Case You Want to Have Your Cyberpunk Dystopia…
We’re getting a little closer to that. In a Wired article this week, Edward Castronova of Indiana University talked about how the free-to-play model may eventually lead to pro-gaming being the only blue-collar job in existence. Here’s his argument. First, mechanization is eliminating labor-intensive jobs. Second, nearly half of the profit for free-to-play games comes from 0.2% of players, and as the rich get richer, these types of games will make even more money. Third, since the other 99.8% of players contribute little other than bodies for these “whales,” free-to-play games may start using the abundance of funds from rich players to provide some sort of income for the rest of us. The end result is that companies might wind up paying people to populate their games so the rich people can have an “authentic” gaming experience. Ain’t that just delightful?
And that’s all for now! Be sure to swing by again next week for more wacky tales, In Case You Missed It!
