A selection of links, hand-picked by the Guardian games writers.
Asda suspends Wii U stock | CVG UK
Disappointing and possibly prophetic news for Nintendo:
Retail giant Asda is no longer stocking Wii U consoles across its 555 retail outlets, dealing a new blow to Nintendo's bid to reverse the console's fortunes.
The grocer, Britain's second-largest, has suspended stock on all Wii U games, consoles and accessories across its stores, though eight products (all released during the Wii U's November 2012 launch) remain available on the Asda Direct website.
CVG understands that the company did not stock Nintendo's latest release, Pikmin 3, a widely acclaimed title which entered at number two on the UK all formats chart.
Pikmin 3 has been attracting excellent reviews, but is it too little too late for this beleaguered console?
Dynamite Fishing: An Open Letter to Phil Fish | Clifford Unchained
Some fatherly advice from Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski to runaway indie developer Phil Fish:
Never underestimate the intestinal fortitude of the anonymous loser hiding behind a monitor and his or her ability to sling vitriol at someone who willingly puts themselves out there. The fact of the matter, Phil, is that you were trending worldwide on Twitter. How many game developers can say that? Does no one realize that while you may seem somewhat unstable at times you also have Andy Kaufman as your Twitter AVI?
I think Bleszinski is harbouring theories that Fish's withdrawal from the games industry is a Kaufman-esque prank. I hope he's right.
Why Lorne Lanning went from triple-A games to indie — and loudly loves it (interview) | GamesBeat
Lanning is the founder of Oddworld Inhabitants and a great industry pundit. Here are his predictions for the next century of gaming:
"When I look at the history of Nintendo, I say, "Nintendo is gonna be here in 100 years." I have no doubt. I doubt Microsoft will be here in 100 years. I know Zynga won't be here in 100 years. I've been here longer than Zynga. [Laughs] We're not making headlines in the Wall Street Journal, but we're still building what we set out to build. Now we have to be clever and smaller in how we think, but we're more self-empowered than we've ever been."
The Chinese Room: Balancing fun with terror in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs | GamesIndustry International
Interesting article with Dan Pinchbeck of experimental development studio, The Chinese Room, talking about the nature of horror in games:
"I think when you look at it like that you realise that you're not actually using monsters to scare the player, you're using them to change gear to enable you to ratchet it back up again. When I was an academic I read a book on the philosophy of horror and the difference between horror and terror. Usually, when we're talking about horror, we're actually talking about terror, which is just using any means to scare you. Horror is a much slower, much more disturbing thing. What we wanted for the balance of our game is that the player should always be thinking 'I desperately want to go forwards, but I desperately don't, too.' Playing with the balance between those two states is important."
20 cancelled Star Wars games revealed | Eurogamer.net
A host of cancelled Star Wars games were revealed in the LucasArts tell-all book, Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts.
While published in 2008, the logos for 20 canned Star Wars projects is just now coming to light (thanks, AllGamesBeta). Interestingly, even then there was a tie-in for the unannounced-at-the-time Episode 7, planned with the subtitle Shadows of the Sith. A third Jedi Knight was planned as well, subtitled Brink of Darkness, but sadly never went anywhere.
The logos run the gamut from slick to silly. I'm particular fond of the golden era noirish logo for Star Wars: Scum and Villainy, while you just know that Star Wars: Dark Jedi would have been that series' Shadow of Hedgehog.
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