This will be a long post, my apologies in advance!
A little over a month ago marked Genshin Impact’s 3rd year anniversary. Just a couple of months earlier, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, paid a visit to miHoYo’s headquarters in Shanghai, where he met with one of its co-founders, Liu Wei [1]. Remember this name; it will become significant shortly. Before Genshin Impact, gacha games were a niche, at least in the Western gaming market. The astounding success of Genshin shocked the gaming industry [14], and the full repercussions may take many more years to materialise. But how exactly did Genshin achieve this and at what cost?
I am pretty sure that most of you who are reading this post are already familiar with the tricks used by mobile gaming companies to extract as much money as possible from players. In 2016, Torulf Jernström delivered his now infamous “Let’s go Whaling!” presentation [2], inadvertently shedding light on those practises. …
Console generation last somewhere between 5 to 8 years so it is fair to say that 3 years is a substantial amount in any console generation. Both PS5 and Xbox Series launched in November 2020 during the middle of the COVID pandemic and were initially hampered by supply chain issues.
What do you feel are the improvements these consoles and the games have made over those in the 8th generation?
Which games have been the standouts so far?
What are your disappointments with the generation so far?
Should the Nintendo Switch be considered to be a part of this generation despite its hybrid nature and relatively underpowered specs compared to PlayStation and Xbox?
Which trends seem to have emerged so far both in terms of games and game development/ publishers in the last few years?
Various news outlets and influencers posted their Hands-on and Impressions today for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora:
PS Blog
IGN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3abJDzC8yk
Eurogamer
Skill Up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v91y87R5iDk
Gamespot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXIxpwUjzQ8
Polygon:
https://www.polygon.com/23934959/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-preview-ikran-navi
VGC
PC Gamer
https://www.pcgamer.com/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-hands-on-preview/
Gamesradar
https://www.gamesradar.com/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-preview-hands-on-october-2023/
Rockpapershotgun …