The Sunday Papers
The weekly roundup highlights writing about videogames, including an interview with multimedia artist Jeremy Couillard and a discussion of how outsourcing is changing game development. It argues that outsourcing can spread financial risk and retain the strengths of triple-A production, but may also concentrate creative control and funding among a privileged few.
Other pieces consider how games can fall short of their own ambitions, using Manhunt’s inconsistent simulation as an example, and meet the creator of a Game Boy Museum housed in a Game Boy cartridge. The roundup also shares an older account of eccentric American investor Timothy Dexter and mentions the writer’s music picks for the week.
In short
- A roundup of writing on videogames and game culture.
- Outsourcing can spread risk but concentrate creative power.
- Other pieces explore game design, a cartridge museum and Timothy Dexter.
Explained simply
Sunday papers is a name often given to a collection of articles and reviews published or recommended at the weekend. This roundup brings together writing about videogames, their production and their cultural history, alongside profiles and music recommendations.
Triple-A games are large productions, often involving many studios and outside contractors. Outsourcing can let companies share costs and risks, but decisions about money and creative direction may then be concentrated among the organisations funding and managing the work. The pieces also look at how a game’s mechanics can differ from what it sets out to achieve, and at smaller cultural curiosities such as a museum housed in a Game Boy cartridge.