Reconnect Recap - w/e 30th November

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

Kia Ora folks

Well I did what we all did and bought a heap of new games on the Steam Sale, and whilst I do have a gaming laptop, I tend to prefer my SteamDeck and now I’m eyeing up a more powerful handheld to really experience these games in all their glory. So watch this space, maybe by the next newsletter I would have made some really poor financial decisions.

As always this is the Reconnect Recap, your weekly newsletter to covering off all the great articles to feature on Reconnect, in the past week.

This edition is absolutely jam packed, we’re talking about backlogs, censorship, courtrooms, retro games, and plenty of analytics.

Lets dig in.

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Great Write Ups

• Backlogs part one: Seasoned Gaming takes us down memory lane to back to when you would buy a game everyone was excited for and it wasn’t for you, so it sat in your backlog taunting you.

• Backlogs part two: Pause Menu also takes a look at the backlog problem and poses a different way to think about it.

• Russia censors Queer games: Video Games Industry Memo reveals how Steam censors LGBTQ+ content in Russian on behalf of the Russian Government.

• Global Insights: GameDev Reports - powered by Xsolla has the insights from the AudienceNet Study, which surveyed 24k active players, and has the breakdown of demographics, interests, and gameplay patterns.

• Courtroom History: Geoffray Brunaux wrote a book about the history of the video games industry, told not through the normal means, but instead courtroom battles, The Video Game Library has a great write up on the French book.

• Orange is the new cube: Toomanywires has a SPICE orange Gamecube and matching four controllers and recounts what it took to get the set and how they plan on keeping their retro library going.

• Get Curating: Sey explains why one of the best things you can do is create a Steam Curator Page to help drive traffic to your content.

• Games are a goldmine: TWIV explains why Hollywood is suddenly obsessed with mining video games for ideas.

• Gaining Steam: GamingOnLinux details the work Igalia, an open source consultancy is doing with Valve to make the next Steam hardware a success.

• Steaming Ahead: Harrison Polites writes about how the Aussie game development scene is excited for Valves upcoming new machines.

• Inspiring Fantasy: Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games explains where Final Fantasy pulls there inspirations from.

• Are Steam Prices Dropping?: What is the median price of a Steam Game, does the slew of Indie hits change the equation? The GameDiscoverCo newsletter dives into the numbers to answer the question.

• Playstation on Steam: How much money has Sony made by launching their games on Steam, and which Studios are doing the best? The Alinea Insight newsletter explains.

• Polygonal Action: Chris goes back in time to the original Tomb Raider game and views it through the lens of today.

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Fun Tidbits

• This Gamer Is Creating A Tool To Automatically Make Any GBA Game Work On Game Boy Color

• The C64 Mini - Black Edition - Commodore’s Beloved Home Micro Gets Shrunk Down (Again)

• Netflix’s Castlevania: Nocturne Is Getting An Art Book

• Here’s Super Mario 64 Running On PlayStation

• The TimeSplitters Series May Be On Ice, But This Impressive Fan Project Will Help Soothe The Pain

• The Games Industry In Canada Has Grown Nearly Double In A Decade

• A WonderSwan RPG Based On The Anime ‘Cardcaptor Sakura’ Is About To Get A Fan Translation

• Remember When Games Came With Instructions? This Guy Does, And He Wants To Find The Heaviest PS1 Manual

• “We Are Actively Investigating Your Feedback” - R-Type Delta HD Boosted Publisher Delivers Statement On The Port’s Timing Issues

• DSpico Is The World’s First Open-Source Nintendo DS Flash Cart

• 2005 Resident Evil Rival ‘Cold Fear’ Joins The GOG Preservation Program

• Balatro And Scrabble Just Had A Baby, Thanks To Two Of The Legends Behind GoldenEye And TimeSplitters

• Following Doom & Doom II, Duke Nukem 3D Is The Latest Classic FPS To Get A Voxel Transformation

• “It May Be The First Video Game About The Beatles” - Before Rock Band, There Was Beat the Beatles

• Spyro The Dragon On N64 Is The Crossover Nintendo Never Thought Would Happen

• This ZX Spectrum LEGO “Tribute” Set Really Needs To Become A Reality

• “No One Outside Of Our Company Was Very Excited By It” - Former GTA Boss On The Third Game’s Amazing Success

• Feed IT Souls Is A Game Boy Metroidvania That Pokes Fun At Annoying “Techno-Feudalists”

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Housekeeping

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