Welcome back to the WIRED Games newsletter, friends! It's another Wednesday, which means it's time to talk video games, the people who make them, and the people who play them—including you! I've been a bit burned out this week, but I can happily say that the new gaming PC I put together over the holiday break (which just so happens to be the PC I work from as well) is performing pretty nicely. So if you've been putting off an upgrade, keep an eye on our deals section to save yourself some money when you decide to pull the trigger. Now then, have you seen The Last of Us? No spoilers—although the TV show seems to be a pretty faithful adaptation of the story line of the video game—but according to Will Bedingfield, it's very, very good. And that's a good thing, not just for the success of the show, but for the potential of other smart, entertaining video game adaptations to television. He explains why but also discusses what makes this particular adaptation seem to work so well. Will isn't done though! Right after he finished his look at The Last of Us, he and I worked on a story that's been bugging me for a while: What the hell is going on with the Overwatch League? I was one of those people who was all-in on the hometown team model, eager for the things that made physical sports so engaging for fans, like hometown rivalries, physical venues in different cities where you could catch home and away games, and the hype that surrounds having a global franchise of teams that have a long schedule of games to play. But then it all fell apart. Will explores what happened—and let me tell you, a lot happened. Next up is this amazing profile of Take This, a nonprofit that's celebrating 10 years of fighting toxicity and harassment in gaming spaces. Anne McCarthy sat down with the founder of Take This, as well as a number of other activists and experts in gaming, to share the organization's impact and accomplishments, like its partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to investigate racist and sexist behavior. There's more work to do, of course, but it's nice to see that they're up to the challenge. I spent a good bit of time this past weekend setting up my new PC's streaming software for an eventual return to Twitch, which of course got me thinking about why I want to stream at all and what I'm hoping to accomplish. I remembered this great story from Reece Rogers just before the new year, where he talked to streamers small and large as well as reps from Twitch about the platform's problems with discoverability and fair pay to its content creators. Making a living on Twitch is nigh impossible these days, but the smartest streamers are diversifying their options. Luckily for me, I'm just there to have some fun. Oh, and I know I mentioned upgrades earlier when I was talking about my new PC, but keep in mind that an upgrade doesn't necessarily mean "brand-new, sealed in box." You can get some great gear lightly used if you know what you're looking for and you shop for the right things. Scott Gilbertson has some guidance in his freshly updated guide to shopping used on eBay the right way. Speaking of streaming, no streamer space is complete without color-changing RGB lights, right? Of course not. Luckily, our gear team just updated their guide to the best LED strips, lighting panels, and other cool color-changing lights you can buy to trick out your battle station, even if the only person who sees it is you. But if you do and you do have a cool setup, I wouldn't mind seeing it! Send it over to games@WIRED.com so I can ooh and aah along with you, OK? I'll see you back here next week! |
Commentaires
Enregistrer un commentaire
Thank you to leave a comment on my site