Don't Pick Up The SOPA, It's Bad For You

The Industry seems to love having very slow weeks followed by very fast ones - I was planning a piece about the recent MetaCritic drama that's been going on, and you'll get that, just not today.  Also on the boiler plate right now is something about the Battlefield 1943 suit that just got launched against EA.  But today, we're going to talk about something a bit more serious, because it could ruin the Internet in America - today, we're talking about SOPA.

The Ultimate Role Playing Game

Lord British is back in the pilot seat, and if he can make his dream come true, we're all in for what will be the best game ever created.  At least, that's the claim he's expressed in a recent essay he posted to Facebook.  Here's a link.  Go read it - it's a little long, I'll wait...

Rainbow Six: Patriots

Well, color me surprised.  I thought this new video to surface would have drawn more attention by now.  It's truly a strange world to live in where video games are not immediately attacked by sensationalist media outlets when they feature controversial material.

I'm not sure if everyone has seen this yet or not, so I'll share.  See you after the jump:

Static in the System

Apologies for the incommunicado over the last week, I've been busy setting up my new computer.  The process is almost complete though, and I'll have at least two stories for everyone to digest come Tuesday - we'll be talking about R6: Patriots and Lord British.  Can't wait!

Only those close to the top are rewarded without trying.

R.I.P. Lego Universe

Very often my reaction to the news coming out of the game's industry is negative, so given the chance to reflect on the life of Lego Universe, I wanted to take the time to say something positive.  Sadly, the servers supporting the game are set to shut down come January of next year.

Heavy Rain Director's Cut

Well, I thought I was going to get away with not making a post today until I read about this little gem.  Heavy Rain, the mogamevie that completely misses the point of video games, is getting a Director's Cut re-release.  Industry, we need to have a heart to heart.  Meet me at camera three.

Grand Theft Auto

Rockstar just released their announcement trailer for Grand Theft Auto 5, and I gotta say, I'm pretty excited.

It looks good, it sounds good, it's set back in San Andreas... all and all a good start to the next set of games.

DRM is dead, long live the DRM!

A group of hackers, Razor1911, has announced an Origin-free version of Battlefield 3.  This is great, cause now I can weigh in on the whole DRM subject.  A lot of people I talk to about this don't even know what it is, let alone why it is probably the biggest issue facing the industry, so I'm going to do a little explaining before hand - bear with if you already know all about the horrors of DRM.

Violent Videogames Make You Kill People

It must be a slow news days if they're dragging this one back out.  Oh well, gives me an excuse to tell them why they're wrong - let's dig in!

Two new study results have been released in the past couple days.  The first is one out of the University of Queensland by a Dr. Bastian.  He made some kids fight each other in Mortal Kombat as well as fighting the computer and then tested to see whether or not they saw their opponents, and themselves, as lacking human qualities.  He compared that result to others who played a different, unspecified game that is said to have not been a violent video game.

Mass Effect Multiplayer

So, Bioware released some details a few weeks ago about their upcoming capstone on the Commander Shepard Story, Mass Effect 3.  Namely, they confirmed a co-op mode that affects your "Galactic Readiness."  You probably heard about it.  Maybe even wept openly, who knows.  A big chunk of the internet certainly seems to have gotten up in arms over it, so let's talk about it.

There's two arguments being made in this discussion - one, that Bioware is forcing it's customers to play a game they don't want to play, and two, that Bioware is making a radical departure from the design ethos of the Mass Effect series very late in the development cycle of the series.  I'm going to go ahead and spoil the next couple paragraphs for you - I disagree with both of these sentiments.  But let's take this apart, I wouldn't be the Reactionist if I didn't completely ruin your shit, Internet.

What We Have Here Is...

I feel like I should explain myself.

Video Game news is easy to come by, but the vast majority of the blog-o-sphere, or whatever it calls itself these days, is just people retreading the same information over and over again.  Nothing is being added to the larger discussion.

We at 8 Bit Update aim to change that.  Hence, The Reactionist - commentary on the topics at hand, not just simple parroting of old news you could find anywhere else.  Go elsewhere for your story, here you'll only find a higher level of discussion about what the story means.

You can all despise me, but I'll be laughing at the end!