Reconnect Recap - w/e 28th September

A weekly recap of some of the best video game articles to feature on Reconnect.

Kia Ora folks

Welcome to another issue of the Reconnect Recap, the companion newsletter to Reconnect, the games writing discovery platform.

This weeks edition looks at a lot of analysis, in game monetisation, the fond memories of a sleep over and the normal high dosage of retro stuff.

Let’s dig in!

---

Great Write Ups

• Rash on the Road: I loved Road Rash as a kid, it was one of the games my neighbours had and I played it a lot. Games That Weren’t has a great write up on the precursor technical demo that its creators first made to see if they could make driving games interesting on the Game Boy, and like everything GTW does, there’s a demo you can try.

• Stunningly Terrible: I was jonesing for a fire emblem experience , then I heard about the new mobile game, then Wavelengths put it into perspective.

• Super Giant: In lieu of Hades 2’s launch, Oya is doing a play through of the Supergiant games. Loved reading their piece on Transistor, because I loved that game, and even more so their one on Pyre, because I never played that one.

• User Generated Profits: The latest numbers are in from The GameDiscoverCo newsletter, and the thing powering the industry at the moment is User Generated Content.

• How to spend sixty quid: Scanlines isn’t happy at the cost of Mario Galaxy 1+2 and shows you all the other ways you could spend that cash.

• Gaming Aotearoa: Yeah Nah Gaming has the latest analytics from a survey ran in my own country. It’s fascinating to see how my fellow kiwis are playing games.

• When was your last sleep over?: Apparently, Borderlands 4 took Jake Steinberg back to his youth where he played games at a sleep over with friends and got a long lost dose of male bonding.

• Loosing never felt more important: Cat takes us on their emotional journey with the masterpiece we all know, and pronounce incorrectly, Gris.

• Its worth launching in China: The Alinea Insight newsletter looks into why developers can’t afford to skip China as a market, and what issues are present there.

• Self-Regulation: The industry has historically chose to self regulate over forced regulation. The Boss Level provides a great argument as to why the industry should further self-regulate over predatory monetisation.

---

---

Fun Tidbits

• Tomb Raider 2 Fan Recreation Shows Off Dynamic Lighting, New Animations and More

• City Connection Is Resurrecting A Classic R-Type Game Boy Color Game For Modern Platforms

• Popular Slay the Spire mod to be made official in physical form: play as evil bosses in the upcoming boardgame expansion Downfall

• “It Shouldn’t Be That Way” - Tetris Company CEO Laments Low Female Representation In The Games Industry

• Hellspire Is A New Game Boy Game With A Difficulty Curve You’ll Curse

• Forget Nintendo Switch, You Probably Own A Great Way To Play Virtual Boy Games Already

• Rare Game Boy Kiosk Found In Japan For $15,000

---

Housekeeping

• 🟨 Want to see more? Visit Reconnect and bookmark it, the site is updated multiple times a day.

• ⏰ Missed a previous Recap? Check out the full catalog here.

• ✍️ Like how I write? I occasionally write my own thoughts on the games industry, find those articles here.

• 🦋 On Bluesky? Give me a follow, I share all the best articles on my profile every day, if you’re curious about following more games writers, I’ve made a starter pack so that you can follow all the Reconnect writers in one spot. Not 100% complete yet but I’ll keep adding to it.

• 📘 I pen another newsletter, called Barely Managing, that is a survival guide for new and up and coming managers. Check it out!

• 💸 I develop, and pay for the costs of hosting Reconnect out of my own pocket, and everything I do from managing the site and writing these articles are things in do in my personal time. If you're feeling generous feel free to give me a tip.