NPR Plays

Where NPR presses start

[nprplays]

Nintendo Switch and Legend of Zelda Road Trip Impressions: Part 2

By Stephan Bisaha

Wooddale, Tennessee 10:45 a.m. – I’d be lying if I said the thought of playing some more Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wasn’t a big motivation for getting out of bed this morning.

Well, the plan was to stay in bed for a bit and turn the console on from there with the controller and get straight to playing. Unfortunately, while the light on the Switch’s dock indicated it was in TV mode, my room’s TV was not picking up any signal (initially I simply hadn’t turned the TV on, but after doing so there was still no signal). Instead, I tragically rose from my bed, went to the TV and found everything was still connected. I turned the TV off, undocked and docked the Switch and everything worked fine.

I tried turning the Switch on again with the controller, this time with the TV on first and everything worked correctly. My gut is telling me this was simply an issue with the TV, not the system, but it’s worth noting.

I played for a bit with the Joy-Cons separated from their grip – they were both independent from each other in my two hands. While it was serviceable, my instincts immediately told me to go back to the grip.

Breath of the Wild lets you aim a bow with the right analog stick, yet it has gyroscopic controls that work in conjunction, which actually work really well. The analog stick is sensitive and gets me close to my target while nudging the controllers allows for that extra bit of precision. It even replicates the need for a steady hand when I finally did line up that perfect shot.

With the Joy-Cons separated, I found the exact opposite with the gyroscopic controls. I had an awful sense of how to tilt the two controllers properly when detached from each other. There’s the ability to turn the gyroscopic aiming off, but I much prefer using the Joy-Cons with a grip or even attached to the system in portable mode. 

In BOTW, I’ve just left the game’s starting area. I’ve already been told where the final boss is and I can storm the castle right now if I so desire. The game strongly “suggests” I do other things first and I have a lot of trouble believing I’d survive past the front gate, but just knowing that’s an option – even if it’s a highly discouraged option – just feels right.

I started moving toward the new objective the game marked out for me and I had every intention of making a beeline straight to ii, but I found myself quickly distracted by a forest with monsters at least twice the size of my previous foes and new ruins to explore.

I have less than four hours of driving to go to get to Birmingham. I told the owner of the Airbnb I’m staying at I’ll be arriving around 5 p.m. That should let me take my time and get plenty of more Zelda playing in at any rest areas along the way.

Cleveland, Tennessee 12:51 p.m. – I started driving south along I-75 South when I noticed a troubling site. Despite twenty minutes of driving, Google Maps did not reduce my travel time. Worse, the travel time started to tick up. It brought me back to the ‘90s, when the progress bar on my computer would keep revising upward its estimated time of completion.

Apparently, an accident about 60 miles in front of me was causing significant delays. So instead of reliving that old frustration, I grabbed some lunch and pulled into the nearest rest area to wait much of the traffic out. 

Unlike Virginia, this section of Tennessee was warm enough for me to sit at a park bench for about 30 minutes with the Switch. I still relied on headphones to keep my ears warm, but it still beat sitting in the car.

This time I tried playing in “tabletop” mode using the system’s kickstand to hold up the screen. And immediately the kickstand broke off. 

I was able to snap it back into place, but this seems to be the weakest element of the Switch’s design. I did eventually hold up the system, but at an angle near perpendicular with the table and my confidence in its ability to keep my $300 toy from falling backwards was greatly diminished by how easily it broke off. 

So far that’s been my biggest issue with the system and while it’s disappointing, everything else the Switch does right makes it easy to forget. 

I played with the Joy-Cons independently from the rest of the system and I had less trouble them with this time. While I would like to blame at least one in-game death on the control setup, my running into a fight unprepared held at least some of that responsibility.

And that’s another of the new Zelda’s strengths. This particular group of bad guys was no stronger than the gang I died to at the very start of the game. I assumed a couple of hours in that I could rush in without a car like in past titles, but even the beginner enemies haven’t let me my brain drift off into autopilot made while fighting them.

A nice design choice is the game doesn’t punish players for this, other than the humiliation of a game over screen. The game seems to save before every fight so I was able to tackle the same obstacle without having lost any of the equipment I used up during my previous failure.

Moving (really trying to not use the word switch) between playing on the TV to playing portably is smooth. Of course I missed the big screen and the Joy-Cons sitting in their grip, but that quickly melted away as I got lost in the game.

Traffic seems to have lightened up so it’s back to the road. Next up: Alabama.

I-59 Alabama Welcome Center, 4:09 p.m. ET/ 3:09 p.m. CT – My route recalculated because of traffic so I cut through Georgia for a bit. But now I’m just across the border into Alabama with about 120 miles left for my destination. After picking up some maps and pamphlets, I sat down on a rocking chair to get back to Zelda.

This time I went back to playing with the Joy-Cons attached to the system. After a while, some of the pain I felt in my thumb came back but nothing too serious. For the first time, I played using just the system’s speaker. It’s certainly serviceable and was loud enough against the rumble of the nearby interstate. The audio quality was adequate, though I’ll be sticking to my Sony MDR headphones whenever I have the option.

As for Breath of the Wild, no matter how genuine my intentions are to stick to the main path the game lays in front of my, I always find some new temptation that leads me further and further away from it. But time never feels wasted. I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying that, for the player, BOTW both demands and grants respect. So far that’s been true when it comes to the game’s challenge, but the game has also respected my time. Every direction I go, I quickly find something new to discover and I’m curious just how long the game’s open world can keep this up.

All right. No more stops. With less than two hours to go, I’m on the final leg to Birmingham.

Birmingham, Alabama, 8:30 p.m.: Final Thoughts – Handhelds have always been about compromise. My first one was a Gameboy Pocket. It was also the first system I bought with my own savings (if you count getting granted a few bucks over what felt like months for doing chores). Because of that I’ve always felt a connection with handheld systems, though I never did kid myself. They feel well short compared to their console counterparts.

Graphics are compromised. Controls are compromised. Sound, game length, multiplayer – all are compromises that are necessary to make a game system portable.

The Nintendo Switch has to make nearly all of the same compromises (excluding game length and perhaps multiplayer). But the Switch succeeds in making these compromises nearly intangible.  

Yes, the graphics are inferior to the PS4 and Xbox One, but with the trend Nintendo started back with the Wii when it comes to graphics, was anyone really expecting something different with a Nintendo console? Yes, a regular controller is more comfortable and offers better control, but the Joy-Cons still feel great. Yes, the built-in speakers aren’t as nice as a home theater setup, but the sound design still shines when pumped through quality headphones.

Even better, these compromises seem to disappear when the Switch is docked with a TV. I failed to notice the frame rate problems others have reported with BOTW as I got lost in its gorgeous art style on the bigger screen. The sound design of a game like Zelda is so extraordinary, I can’t tell whether the sound of chirping birds and the buzz of bugs are coming from my system or outside my window. 

The main reason to stay away from the Switch at this point comes down to the lack of games. This may not change until the end of the year, maybe even longer. But if one game is enough to convince you to buy a console, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is that game.

Now excuse me. I have some packing to ignore while I see what’s at the top of this mountain. Assuming I don’t go exploring this firefly lit forest first. There’s also a campfire surrounded by monsters on the horizon ...

[nprplays]

Nintendo Switch and Legend of Zelda Road Trip Impressions: Part 1

By Stephan Bisaha

Washington, D.C. 7:05 a.m. – Back in 2006, I was waiting in line for the Nintendo Wii. Actually, it was my third time doing so; the first two failed due to my not arriving early enough to receive any of the limited supply. 

Over a decade later, I was waiting in line again for a Nintendo console. But instead of arriving hours before the store opened with more than a dozen people in front of me, there was only one other person an hour before the Walmart opened.

(Okay, I did wake up a 3:30 a.m., went outside, saw no one was waiting yet and then went back in. The perks of living above a Walmart.) 

When the doors did open at 6 a.m., the six of us that were waiting went inside to purchase our Nintendo Switch’s with little fanfare. There were about ten left and I didn’t see anyone coming in on my way out.

This isn’t all that shocking. The Wii was a phenomenon that had my father – whose previous interest in games extended to how beautiful he thought the beaches of Super Mario Sunshine looked – flailing his arms to roll a virtual bowling ball. The Switch was never going to be that, at least not at launch. The system is essentially releasing in beta, lacking basic functionality like an internet browser or even a Netflix app. 

But, just like in 2006, the main reason I woke up early to pick up a Nintendo console was for a new Zelda game, this one titled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 

Of course, just as Zelda has grown up – and not in the moody, bleak Twilight Princess version of the term – over the past decade, so have I. In a couple of hours I was going to drive from D.C. to Birmingham, Alabama to report with WBHM for three months as part of my fellowship with NPR.

And while I may not have the same number of hours to toss at a new Nintendo console, the Switch has come at a perfect time. Nintendo touts the Switch as a portable console. It’s a tablet with two controllers stuck to its side and a dock to play on a TV screen. A two-day road trip to Alabama gives me an excellent opportunity to see how well the Switch functions on the go.

The plan is, after a few more hours of sleep, I’m going to start the drive down with my packed car. Every few hours, I’m going to find some place to rest, either to eat or as a simple break from the road, and start playing with the Switch. 

How well does Nintendo’s new baby function away from its dock? Is Zelda really as good as the reviews are saying? Will I actually make it to Alabama on time or get stuck in Tennessee, unable to drag myself away from a new Zelda adventure? Let’s find out.

Troutville, Virginia 2:45 p.m. – The original plan was to stop and earlier in my travels to get some play time and rest in, but the wide-open blue sky and green hills covered in silhouetted cows motivated me to put in some extra hours before stopping at a rest area on 81 South. It’s certainly been a much nicer drive than I’m used to from my New Jersey upbringing.

After parking and stretching my legs, I slid beneath a tree and started to play, at least until I remembered it is still winter and the cold drove me back to my car and I continued there.

I did start up the Switch before I left D.C., which worked out as it allowed me to download two quick updates for the system and for Breath of the Wild. Everything was packed up already so I didn’t have a TV to dock the Switch to so I’ve only used it in handheld mode so far. The main menu really is bare bones, but it does have a simple elegancy to it. The menus are intuitive and easy to navigate and there’s little clutter.

When I returned to the Switch at the rest stop, I found it had already built up a fair amount of dust. While there were some small snow flurries at the beginning of my trip, the bright Virginia sun was causing significant glare. It sapped a lot of the weight out of BOTW’s ominous and mysterious opening. I twisted in my car to avoid direct sunlight on the screen.

To add to my awkward positioning, I’m having trouble getting comfortable holding the system. It’s light enough that my hands aren’t getting tired, but the Joy-Cons strapped to the device’s sides are taking some getting used to. The analog sticks feel a lot better than the 3DS’s circle pad, but a step below what we’re used to from modern consoles.

After playing BOTW for about 45 minutes, I’m ready to get back to the road. It’s been an enjoyable opening and it really does away with Nintendo’s handholding habit. I’ve died twice already, which is probably more than my last play through of Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. I think I can drive for a few more hours before the next stop.

Christiansburg, Virginia 3:50 p.m. – Never mind. The next rest stop I saw I took, about 50 miles down the road. My first few bad guy encounters in Zelda had me itching for more combat.

When discussing handheld games, it’s often brought up that they should be structured for quick play sessions. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon on the 3DS did this by, much to my dismay, breaking gameplay into individual missions. The idea is a gamer is more likely to have shorter burst of play than a when playing on a console.

The problem with that approach is missions are often set lengths – often getting longer as the game progresses – and it’s rare for a gamer’s limited handheld time to lineup perfectly with a mission.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild solves this by providing an open world full of quick challenges. Only have five minutes? That’s just enough time to take down this enemy camp. Have some more time? Here’s a small set of mysterious ruins to explore. 

I was able to stop for about twenty minutes and have a satisfying time, as well as granted in game rewards for those tasks so I left with at least a small sense of accomplishment. 

Atkins, Virginia 5:25 p.m. – I’ve stopped at a rest area just shy of Tennessee. The goal at this point is to make it to Knoxville and find a hotel there. 

Now that the sun has dipped further down and not directly hitting my screen, the glare is no longer an issue. And wow, this is a gorgeous game on a gorgeous screen. Switching from watching a YouTube video on a smartphone to a game on the 3DS was always jarring because of how much worse the handheld’s screen is. But the Switch’s screen, while not 1080p, feels like a huge step up.

I’m getting more comfortable with the controller, but I am getting some pain in my right thumb when using the analog stick. Supporting the system while my thumb stretches down over a decent amount of time is difficult.

Oh, and as for the battery, I’ve been cheating and using a USB-C car charger so there’s been no real risk there. 

Back to Zelda, I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying exploring this world. I had no interest in playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim because of how much Fallout 3 failed to grasp my attention. 

I tend to prefer more linear games. But I think the major difference for Zelda is the level of care and density. When I played Grand Theft Auto IV, I remember wondering what it would be like for every building to have an interior to explore. So much of the city was just skyscraper-shaped boxes with no way inside.

Zelda has the advantage of not needing to replicate New York City, but I’m never walking for more than a few seconds in any direction without stumbling upon a new danger or discovery. Despite the size of the opening area, every square foot feels like it was given careful consideration. I’ve logged about two hours of game time and I just stopped playing having finally bothered to address the game’s first objective.

But that will have to wait until Tennessee.  I don’t want to miss the sunset my westbound trip is preparing for me. 

Wooddale, Tennessee 10:15 p.m. – I’ve decided to stop just outside of Knoxville. The jump between staring at a screen and the road – even if both have been beautiful in their own distinct ways – has my eyes weary. I pull into a Holiday Inn Express and drag my bags to my room. After a quick food trip, I connect the Switch’s dock to my hotel’s TV and set the tablet inside.

I thought Zelda looked amazing before – playing it on a TV makes the graphics really sing. It’s hard to take in all the detail on Switch’s native screen, which is to be expected given its size. But seeing it expanded on the screen provides a much better opportunity to soak in the graphics.

I connected the Joy-Cons to the grip that came with the system. A normal console controller is still preferable, but this is more comfortable than having the Joy-Cons attached to the system. I’ll try playing with the Joy-Cons unattached from the grips tomorrow to see how that compares.

I have another day of traveling tomorrow, but so far I’ve been impressed with the Switch. As unnecessary as a portable console may sound, it motivated me to get to each new rest area and to get back to the game. And to have that seamlessly transfer to a TV is an experience still unique, and greatly appreciated, in gaming today.  

[nprplays]

Last of Us Part II & All Things PSX

Listen.

Something magnificent occurred this past weekend. Us gamers were given a gem, the deepest of treasures, a goldmine of XP, HP and MP combined.

For somewhere in the near future (we hope), we’ll finally receive a second installment to probably one of the greatest games of our generation, The Last of Us.

The announcement and roughly two-minute teaser trailer were released at the Playstation Experience, or PSX, conference held in California on Saturday. Now look, as monumental as this announcement was, there are several more important takeaways from this corporate event.

So here are a few highlights, although if you’re a gamer, you’ve most likely already briefed and have since gone into consistent spasms of excitement and fatigue from overwhelming happiness. 

But I digress. 

PSX In A Nutshell

Think E3, but on a slightly smaller and more intimate scale and still just as astronomically expensive. It’s an annual video game expo of colossal nature that first took place in December 2014, and is usually held in a upscale locations like Las Vegas and San Francisco.

As per usual with events such as these, there’s a constant sense of video game haven and worship, creating an inclusive congregation for developers and fans alike to revel in all things games.

Oh yeah, and there’s A LOT of applause. Like so much.

Ellie and Joel Are Back 

I’ll start with the biggest — The Last of Us Part II. The trailer alone infected (get it?) the audience with praise and the Internet was likewise afflicted.

Now this news wasn’t a huge secret seeing as Naughty Dog, the game’s developer, had issued hints in the past about a sequel. But as a diehard fan of the series, I didn’t get my hopes up.

However, seeing Ellie and Joel took me back to that place, delivering me a delightful combination of anxiety and tension that can only be captured between those two characters and that narrative alone. 

Don’t get too excited — there’s no definitive release date and as of now, Neil Druckman (co-director of the first Last of Us) is reportedly heading the project alone, according to a statement sent to Kotaku. Druckman’s copilot on the first game, Bruce Straley, is currently on sabbatical and so it’s unclear whether he will return in any fashion for this next installment.

The important thing is Ellie and Joel are back. Here’s the trailer: 

You’re welcome.

Death Stranding

Weird.

Just so weird.

But look, if you get past all the bizarre infant sequences, you’ll recognize quite a few friendly faces and big wigs in the industry.

This upcoming open-world action game is the brainchild of Hideo Kojima. He’s responsible for the Metal Gear franchise, and this new game will be a first for Kojima since his departure from Metal Gear Solid V.

You’ll also recognize Norman Reedus, a.k.a Daryl Dixon (this needs no further explanation) and Mads Mikkelsen, or Dr. Hannibal Lecter (see IMDB and educate yourself in case you don’t know). Reedus is set to play the protagonist and Mikkelsen, the antagonist, respectfully. Per usual procedure, don’t expect this one any time soon.

Here’s the trailer but do yourself a favor and don’t watch it while at work. Watch it at a Starbucks instead. The muggles will have no idea what’s happening thus providing divine entertainment. 

A Female Narrative for Uncharted (About Time)

I know, I know. I’m back with more love for Naught Dog, but look, this time around, the company’s announcements are just way too supreme to not discuss.

Remember Chole? Nadine? Fabulous attire and sassy one-liners?

These are two very, very memorable characters from Uncharted, yet another Naughty Dog product. But don’t be fooled -- this story doesn’t concern Nathan Drake.

Instead, fans will be given Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a first-ever story DLC for the franchise and one that will feature both Nadine Ross, Nathan’s strong-willed antagonist in Uncharted 4, and Chole Frazer, an enigmatic reoccurring character from the series and the woman responsible for Nathan’s fancy thief prowess (because of course).

And apparently, this DLC is substantial enough to be released as both a digital download and a standalone copy that can be purchased in store, according to Naughty Dog.

The good news is it looks like this one will be released in 2017. I won’t spoil anymore. Take a look for yourself:

Oh Hay, Mega Man 

Well now it’s official and this latest all-star fighting game is set to arrive in 2017. Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite pits video game classics from Street Fighter and Mega Man against iconic superheroes from the Marvel universe. 

Single player and online multiplayer modes will be available and by the looks of it, the roster is pretty sweet.

There’s still some speculation as to which heroes we’ll definitively see, but the six confirmed appearances are Iron Man, Captain America, Mega Man, Miss Marvel, Ryu and Morrigan.

Pretty rad. 

A Revival of a PS One Classic 

This one takes me back and let me tell you, it looks sick.

Crash Bandicoot is back and remastered in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and probably looks the best we’ve ever seen him. Although admittedly, I still do love some jagged edges on my characters every now and then.

This Playstation One-era game (yes, you read that correctly) is being given an extensive makeover, except this time with hoards of finesse and a fresh paint job.

This remaster of sorts will be handled by Vicarious Visions, an Activision-owned studio responsible for numerous Skylanders’ expansions, to name a few. So no — since Naughty Dog is only a bit tied up at the moment, its throwback original will be produced under different leadership.

But it looks like Vicarious Visions is doing its homework. An excerpt from Visions’s Dan Tanguay shows that the company seems to be headed in the right direction:

“The best way to understand a game is to play it, and boy, did we play the Crash games. We played them to the point that we broke controllers from mashing the jump button too much. We studied original concept art and commercials for inspiration. And we went even further back to understand the material that original inspired Naughty Dog, including ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ and ‘Looney Tunes.’ ”

News of the trilogy was announced at E3 this past summer, so now that we’ve seen an official trailer, it’s safe-ish, for us to commence celebratory jigs. 

Check the details for yourself here. All righty — I’ve done some work for you. In case I missed some updates, check out these liner notes:

Vane: The details of this project are still fuzzy but it’s set to be open world and will have aerial elements as its primary gameplay. 

Horizon Zero Dawn: During the conference, an in-depth look was given concerning the machines featured in this game along with more AI artwork. Lots of work has gone into this one and so its release on Feb. 28, 2017 will be epic, to say the least. 

Lara Croft Go: This little one will be making the leap from mobile devices to both the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, which will be a fun one for those who love themselves some Lara. 

Nioh: It seems like this one will be a strong RPG and it’s expected to be released Feb. 9, 2017. But most importantly, you get a cool sword. 

So ... 

[nprplays]

Get hyped!

[nprplays]

NPR Live: Trailer Park

At around noon ET today, I will be on NPR’s Trailer Park, an NPR Live show where we talk about movie trailers (obviously). Why does that matter to you video game heads? Well, because today host Glen Weldon and I will be talking about movies based on video games, in particular we’ll be watching the newest trailers for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed film and the latest (and last?) film based off of the Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

So ...

>> FOLLOW NPR’S FACEBOOK PAGE HERE

And check back in around noon. Come armed with questions and thoughts, and share them in the comments. But if you can’t make it, I’ll post the archived video here.

But for now, a question for you: What is your favorite movie based off of a video game?

[nprplays]

Review: Pokémon Sun and Moon

It’s 2000. I’m eight years old, sprawled across my bedroom floor, but also wading waist-deep in the tall grasses of the Johto region. Enter Silver version, my first adventure as a Pokémon trainer. Fast forward 17 years, five generations, and three reboots; I’m 25 years old, sprawled across my bedroom floor, but also being carried by a Machamp through a cave on my way to fight the Elite Four. This game is everything I wished it was when I was little.

More accurately, Pokémon Sun and Moon are one step closer to the freestyle, open-world Pokémon experience we daydreamed about. After Game Freak gave the franchise an aesthetic overhaul in Pokémon X and Y, with a few tweaks in the following Generation III reboot, this installment is a bold streamlining of its prior improvements, making Generation VI look like a prototype for this adventure.

The Alola region feels far more lush and alive than any of its predecessors, for better and worse. The overworld teems with lively touches like ambient cries of local Pokémon and environmental puzzles that engage the full 3-D landscape. Battles are more fleshed out too, complete with trainers and their command animations in-frame with the fighting Pokémon. The boost in worldbuilding compliments its new challenges too, with wild Pokémon being able to call for help when injured.

The flipside to this, is that the more intricate visual effects butt up against the 3DS’s performance capabilities, resulting in some severe drops in framerate. Whenever more than two Pokémon are in battle, or if there’s a flashy visual effect happening, the game stutters.

As a progress-driven Pokémon player, I can’t be bothered by minigames that distract me from blazing through the campaign. Somehow, Game Freak knew this. The revitalized Pokémon-Amie (now Pokémon Refresh) incentivizes the time I spend with my partners. After battle, a small window appears asking me to initiate the feature. If a Pokémon is paralyzed, I can apply some medicine and a few belly rubs and send them on their way so the next time I use them, they go the extra mile in battle.

Small conveniences show Game Freak thinking proactively about optimizing the player’s experience, and that’s where the game shines as a whole. I no longer found myself jumping between menus for menial tasks like healing or moving Pokémon around in the storage boxes. The option to swap in a Pokémon you just caught straight to your party is a big deal, too. This game’s interface lends itself so well to muscle-memory, to the point that you can complete small menu tasks almost as fast as you think of them.

The biggest convenience (read: gift) we see is the Pokémon Ride system. Using Hidden Machines (or HMs) to teach Pokémon moves to navigate the overworld’s terrain puzzles became clunky generations ago. With Ride Pokémon, the player no longer has to relegate one or two members of their party to vehicles or bulldozers. Now you essentially have two parties: One for battling and one for traversing Alola.

Pokémon’s objectives are known to be one-note, from getting your starter to becoming Champion. While that’s still the case here in Sun and Moon, these familiar goals become a foundation for the Island Challenge, the freshest take on the standard Pokémon journey Pokémon yet. In the Island Challenge, Gym battles are replaced altogether with missions that force you engage with the overworld in ways that feel more seamless than entering a gym and navigating its signature puzzle. Through trials, we interact with the strongest local Pokémon in a given area and the captains that oversee them. This system of progressing the character still has a long way before breaking away from formula, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Sun and Moon’s plot is also richer, if only by a little bit. The characters you hang around most have a greater sense of presence compared to the obligatory acquaintances from X and Y. These incremental changes in story built enough tension to drive me forward through until I had to stop and level-grind to continue. Even if the plot is one of the weaker elements of the franchise as a whole, Sun and Moon marks a stronger attempt to change that.

Pokémon Sun and Moon is an inspired reinvention of an already revitalized formula. As the franchise hits the technical limitations of its home console, will Game Freak use this as a chance to migrate to a Nintendo system with stronger processing power? Or will Nintendo’s next handheld be able to match the Pokémon developers’ expanding ambition?

Chris Kindred is a temporary Social Media Strategist at NPR. He moonlights as a freelance illustrator and games critic. You can find him tweeting at @itskindred 

[nprplays]

NPR Plays turned 3 today!

[nprplays]

Your vote has died.

OK, we try not to get too political here at NPR Plays (or political at all really, we try to stick to games). But, I felt like highlighting this interesting little piece of content from the New York Times.

It’s called the Voter Suppression Game, aka the “Voter Suppression Trail,” in an ode to classic game that gave us all dysentery, Oregon Trail. Created in the appropriate 8-bit style, the game takes you through three scenarios that see you trying to cast your vote as a white, Latino and black voter in three different areas of the U.S.

The tagline: “Find out if your vote can survive the great, flawed adventure of American democracy.”

Fair enough. 

It’s quite well done, though the “White programmer” scenario is a little over the top at how “easy” it is to vote. That exaggeration, however, does serve a purpose in giving a perspective on the differences many minority voters face.

The game was created in partnership with GOP Arcade, a site that aims to create a “series of lightweight games designed to make all the hoopla surrounding the election slightly more enjoyable.”

Check it out (unless you really, really hate politics).

[nprplays]

The live game stream you watch before dropping that hefty $60.

Hello Brilliant Humans. 

Iman here, dedicated cyborg of @nprplays. 

In the very immediate future I’ll be playing some Titanfall 2, among other awesomeness. 

Think Mafia III, BioShock, Tomb Raider, Last of Us, etc. 

And the cool thing is, I broadcast live on Twitch, meaning you receive a free preview before you buy or some grim entertainment watching me try to beat an unbeatable boss. 

So if this is a thing you dig, come hang with me and BT! 

Posted above is the link to my Twitch and for future updates, be sure to follow me on the Twitter thang: @NaimaUMDEIC915 🤖

Editor’s Note: Some broadcasts feature games of mature content. Spoilers are included so venture at your own risk. 

[nprplays]

Even In A Virtual World, The Harsh Reality Of Sexual Harassment Persists

BY IMAN SMITH

In an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all practical perception escapes, and in its place arises a fantastical world that teasingly mirrors the reality we call our own.

It's called virtual reality, or VR, and it's this technology that game developer Jonathan Schenker has a passion for. Schenker and his colleague Aaron Stanton created the VR game QuiVr — and, as he tells NPR's Rachel Martin, he was alarmed to discover a female user had been harassed while playing it.

Writer Jordan Belamire describes how she was "groped" and "chased," while playing the medieval archery game, by a user called BigBro442. Belamire's story was originally posted on Medium before it was republished with permission on Mic.

QuiVr features a multiplayer mode, a setting where real-time players from all walks of life are able to interact virtually with one another, allowing complete strangers like BigBro442 to interact with users like Belamire.

"I was upset that the experience was ruined for her," developer Jonathan Schenker says. "The experience of virtual reality is really transportive — it puts you in that world and it's supposed to be an absolutely incredible experience and for a player to lose that experience, at the hand of another, really isn't appropriate, in my opinion. So I tried to fix it with the limited resources that I have."

Read the full story, including the audio interview with developer Jonathan Schenker.

Image:  Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

[nprplays]

Visit Original Link

In an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition, former Los Angeles Laker and League of Legends team owner Rick Fox said his players are just as much athletes as he ever was and put in hard work.

"The reason they're professional and masters at what they do is they make it easy and you think that you, as an average person can do it, right?" Fox says. "When you actually step into their shoes, you realize oh no, this has taken five, six, seven years of their lives to master."

Click the audio to hear the full interview and read more here.

[nprplays]

Hello Games (makers of No Man’s Sky), this is NOT how you do PR and stay connected with a very angry community.

Some are reporting founder Sean Murray’s email was hacked and the account compromised. A tweet earlier said that “No Man’s Sky was a mistake,” before the account was made private.

Did you play No Man’s Sky? Were you disappointed in the product that was shipped?

UPDATE: It also looks like the No Man’s Sky/Sean Murray’s Twitter account was also hacked.

[nprplays]

Video game voice actors strike against publishers

by Iman Smith

Effective Friday, SAG-AFTRA has declared a strike against 11 video game publishers over games that went into production after Feb. 17, 2015. The companies in question include some of the biggest heavyweights of the industry, such as Electronic Arts Productions, or EA, Insomniac Games, Activision and Disney.

The strike comes in light of an unsuccessful 19 months of negotiations after the existing labor contract known as the Interactive Media Agreement expired in late 2014. Overall, the strike is an effort to provide more secondary compensation along with other concerns, such as transparency upon hiring talent and on-set safety precautions.

...

SAG-AFTRA says voice actors don't receive residuals for their gaming work. Instead, they receive a fixed rate, which is typically about $825 for a standard four-hour vocal session. So the voice actors are pushing for the idea of secondary compensation — a performance bonus every time a game sells 2 million copies or downloads, or reaches 2 million unique subscribers, with a cap at 8 million.

"It's a very small number of games that would trigger this secondary compensation issue," said voice actor Crispin Freeman, who's a member of the union's negotiating committee. "This is an important aspect of what it means to be a freelance performer, who has to go from job-to-job – who isn't regularly employed every single day working on projects."

Read the full article and listen to an interview with voice actor Jennifer Hale (Halo 5, Mass Effect 3, Bioshock Infinite).

Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images

[nprplays]

Nintendo released information and a video on their next gaming platform today, the Nintendo Switch. The system appears to be a combo home console as well as a mobile gaming platform, with of course a new take on controllers, which seems to be hallmark of new Nintendo systems.

Here’s how they describe it in their press release:

In addition to providing single and multiplayer thrills at home, the Nintendo Switch system also enables gamers to play the same title wherever, whenever and with whomever they choose. The mobility of a handheld is now added to the power of a home gaming system to enable unprecedented new video game play styles.

It’s ambitious, and Nintendo is once again risking a lot on some niche gaming scenarios (wanting to get up and take your game for a walk, play with a group of friends on a tiny screen, and similar other setups in the video). But Nintendo has a history of taking huge risks to push the industry forward, especially in the area of how we interact with their games and properties.

I will say, I’m intrigued, and curious if Nintendo can pull this one off and be more successful this go around than the Wii U.

What do you think? Are you interested in the Nintendo Switch?

[nprplays]

Hey y’all!

I’m Chris Kindred, a Social Media Coordinator here at NPR. By morning, I crank out Tweets and Facebook posts of the freshest #content to have ready as you wake up. By night, I flex my art school degree as a freelance illustrator for the occasional editorial project or comic.

When it Comes to Games …

I don’t have the most hands-on experience. I grew up around gamers, but could never afford whatever genre-breaking cultural phenomenon came along. Growing up watching gameplay over my older friends’ shoulders turned into a love for Let’s Plays, then critical analyses of those classic games, many years later. I’d like to think I’m making up for lost time.

Currently, I’m playing …

Overwatch, Overwatch, Overwatch. I’ve been playing that game everyday for the past few months and Blizzard has not failed in the fun department. I have plenty of critiques with the mechanics, design choices and culture, but those are paragraphs for another time. I’m also looking forward to the next installment in the Pokémon franchise. Look, I’m not saying I’ve memorized all the new Pokémon already BUT--

What Really Bugs Me …

Lack of an official capture device for a 3DS

Marcus Holloway (Watch_Dogs 2) wearing a DedSec hat when DedSec is a wanted organization

FNAF Spinoffs

When someone in Overwatch pops their Ult and ONLY hits me

The emptiness that comes whenever I think of Silent Hills being canceled

I could go on!

Keep up with me on Twitter (@itskindred) and here on Tumblr.

See y’all soon!

[nprplays]

Video Gamers Head To The Gym To Enhance Competitive Edge

by Alex Smith, KCUR

Ever since home video games were introduced four decades ago, mastering them has typically involved late nights in front of a screen, fueled by junk food.

But now that colleges offer scholarships for gamers and pro teams compete for big prizes, some gamers are heading to the gym to train.

Jake Middleton is a personal trainer who started a new business training video gamers. He says there's more to it than being parked in front of a screen.

"Really what's going on is they have elevated heart rate, they have a lot of cortisol flowing through their body," he says.

Middleton's customized in-person training, which costs $200 a month, includes exercises like yoga for posture, tossing a medicine ball to improve reflexes and cardio for stamina.

"Trying to maximize each player to where, whenever they go up and they play in their competition, they're not only just healthy and feeling the best, but they're ready to perform," he says.

Read the full story here

[nprplays]

Hey. Hi. Hello.

All righty – it’s about that time for the newbie to introduce herself.

My name’s Iman Smith and I’m a temp producer here at NPR. I write scripts, cut two-ways and I’m extraordinarily swift at booking the right guest to discuss Shirley Temples and Trump supporters.

So no, I’m not as cool and gracefully pensive as Eleven.

But my work is nonetheless appreciated.

However, more imperatively, I’m a dedicated gamer. And so when I met probably one of the raddest guys in the building – Steve Mullis – I knew NPR Plays needed to immediately be installed into my workday.

OK, enough Hallmark greetings and onto the good stuff.

When it Comes to Games …

I’m a true RPG girl, which essentially consists, in my mind, of legacy trilogies.

Think all of the Uncharted Series (yes, I traded in my perfectly new black PS4 simply to have Nathan Drake in my peripheral vision); The Last of Us, because who could not love the intellectual class system of zombies; Tomb Raider (you have a bow – need I say more?); Kingdom Hearts (this title speaks for itself); and finally, Final Fantasy X/X2, because “1,000 Words” is legendary in and of itself.

You see, to me, RPGs are vital to the video game ecosystem and help to create an impenetrable backbone of visual storytelling, allowing us to enter a tangible narrative that stems far beyond the controller in hand.

Sorry – too much exposure to Reddit.

I digress.

Currently, I’m playing …

A little bit of everything. When I’m in the mood for laborious wait times and dismal server crashes, I play The Division – that’s a third-person shooter/ MMO that attempts to simultaneously behave as an RPG. We can argue about whether or not the game is successful at a later date.

Because trust me, we have thoughts.

Another interesting one I’m experimenting with is The Order: 1886. No – it doesn’t have the best score on IGN, but I have to say – it’s got some heart.

It’s a period piece where you play as Galahad, a member of an elite order of Knights. Think King Arthur but remixed with Lycans and random advanced weaponry that has the power to paralyze your foes from several feet away.

What Really Bugs Me …

To name a few:

Endless DLCs with no direction whatsoever

Terrible voice acting

Pointless cut scenes

Unfocused character development

Negative online interactions  

Ridiculous price packages, i.e. I just paid for a $60 game and now comes a promised DLC that’s another $20

Unstable servers

The list goes on …

But enough with the Reddit rant.

Because I’ll be back.

If you’d like, follow me on Twitter [@NaimaUMDEIC915].

Happy PlayStation Egg hunting!