There’s a very interesting article over at Eludamos, one of the open-access academic journals that’s done a nice job of getting fascinating articles in each issue; this volume is no exception, and the article I found particularly thought provoking is on the issue of death in narrative-driven games. Jason Tocci isn’t arguing that the death mechanic has no place in games, but it’s a cop out for many narrative-driven games — and can create frustrating gaming experiences for end users. This is, in Tocci’s view, a hold over from earlier design decisions when games were more limited in what they could do:
Valve’s three down, six to go in fulfilling its promise to update all nine classes in Team Fortress 2, but the next one will not come this year, according to VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi. “We’re going to keep evolving TF2,” he told Shacknews. “Once Left 4 Dead wraps, you’ll hear us clamoring more about [the next TF2 update] .” Seems many a TF2 contributor also worked on Left 4 Dead, which is due out in mid-November.
Xbox TF2ers, Lombardi also restated Valve’s commitment to bringing all the updates to the 360 version. He still didn’t give a timeline though.
No Team Fortress 2 Updates Until Next Year [Shacknews]
It goes without saying this needs a major spoiler alert, which is why I’m sticking the video on the jump. Video of the first 10 minutes of the game turned up this week on the Polish gaming site Polygamia. The dialogue is in English, subtitled in Polish. If you can’t wait until Tuesday to get the game (North America) or you don’t mind getting a sneak preview, hit play. I haven’t watched the whole thing and won’t comment on what I’ve seen, considering how touchy everyone gets about this. In fact, maybe that’s why the gang didn’t post this, if they saw it. And so here I go walking off a cliff to my own flame-roasted demise …
