How cool is this?

I’m a bit late getting to this, but the last Bulletin was about graphics, and how limited technology will be beneficial for storytelling.

But before long we will reach a point where graphics simply cannot get any better with the current hardware, and developers and publishers will have to find new ways to impress us.  At that point, we’ll hopefully begin to see some lateral movement by developers in terms of visuals, as standing out from the crowd will no longer be a case of how realistic your graphics are, but more a function of your art design as a whole.

You can read the rest of the article here.

This weeks’ Bulletin is about making better use of a game’s setting;

“How about a tactical FPS depicting a yearlong conflict between the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack, or a Hitman-style game where you play a Drell assassin? Even a turn based strategy where you set up new human colonies is feasible – and potentially quite exciting, if you think back to Eden Prime and Feros – and all because BioWare took the time to build an interesting world.“

Read the rest of it here.

As well as my news and feature articles, I write a small column on Pocket Gamer on behalf of The Escapist.  This week’s topic is feature lists and how bigger isn’t always better

“It’s common for sequels to try and be bigger and better than their predecessors. Take the two Knights of the Old Republic games, for example: in the first, you fought against a Sith Lord with a huge fleet at his command, but in the second you fought against a Sith Lord who could destroy planets with his mind.  The desire to make a sequel bigger and better than its predecessor is understandable, but all too often this escalation can cause creators to lose sight of the essence of a project.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

As excited as I am about Super Street Fighter IV, Capcom seems to be stretching the definition of ’street’ here.