robot-on-robot violence
overwatch 2 porn, john carpenter, gundam evolution
hey!
welcome to the first legit issue of ian’s video game cavalcade. i won’t spend a bunch of time relitigating my goals with this publication, so please check out the about page and the initial announcement post for more information on what you can expect from me moving forward.
i’m happy you’re here, let’s talk about video games.
The Mere Promise of Overwatch 2 Porn Gets More Attention Than Overwatch 2
it’s no secret that a non-negligible factor in overwatch’s continuing popularity, even in the face of a super rough overwatch 2 launch, is due to the cottage industry of talented pornographers creating risqué animations of the characters in the game. but nowhere has this phenomenon been more obvious than when prolific 3D artist memz uploaded previews of their overwatch 2 models, assets many assume will be used for porn in no time.
as pointed out in a separate, now-deleted tweet, memz’ completely safe-for-work images got a lot of attention. they’re sitting at over 96,000 likes less than a week after they were posted. that’s more than just about everything shared to the official overwatch twitter feed, including new character kiriko’s official reveal and even the overwatch 2 release date announcement, both of which have much less engagement.
that’s not to say interest in overwatch itself is dying, of course, even if overwatch 2 is currently in a difficult spot. it’s just a funny indicator of how the franchise’s popularity extends far beyond sitting down and playing a few matches, passion no doubt spurred on by the excellent designs and personalities (read: fuckability) blizzard’s crafted for its motley crew of playable characters.
What the Fuck, Video Game Industry: Not Collaborating with John Carpenter Edition
john carpenter, film director and composer, recently told will hughes over at av club that, despite loving video games, he’s never been approached by a developer about scoring one.
AVC: Have you ever considered writing a soundtrack for a game?
JC: If somebody asked me, I sure would. But no one’s asked!
AVC: Maybe we can change that. Plenty of your albums would work great with games.
JC: Well, thank you. I would love it. It would be fun, huh? Fun for me.
here’s a great example of carpenter’s music if you aren’t aware of what a travesty this is:
what the fuck, video game industry.
Gundam Evolution’s Surprise MVP Screens Are Delightfully Badass
like many competitive games, gundam evolution (bandai namco’s attempt at making an overwatch-like hero shooter) commemorates folks post-match for a job well done. acknowledgements include congratulating the mobile suit pilots with the most kills, highest damage, etc., but the “best” player (scare quotes because it’s not immediately clear how the game defines “best”) gets a full MVP screen dedicated to their outstanding performance.
every so often, however, the MVP festivities will be interrupted by a different player’s giant robot in a special, often destructive cutscene. again, no one is quite sure why this happens—the prevailing theory is that the algorithm determining the match’s best pilot sometimes comes up with two people who qualify for recognition—but the result is always fun as hell. as a fan of robot-on-robot violence, it doesn’t get better than these cutscenes.
preemptive apologies for the uneven quality of the video below; the rarity of these surprise MVP animations means we’ve gotta take what we can get.
while my personal favorite is definitely turn a gundam’s suplex, there’s also something very satisfying about seeing guntank, the mobile suit many believe is the worst in the game, absolutely rocking unicorn gundam, whose team-healing and armor-granting abilities naturally make it a common sight in online matches. here’s hoping bandai namco release high-quality versions of these cutscenes once the fun of the surprise wears off.
let me know in the comments which you like best.
Good Stuff You Should Check Out Elsewhere
How to get Doom running in Windows’ notepad.exe (Kyle Orland, Ars Technica)
Every way Pokémon Scarlet And Violet's new gym leader could get canceled (Ashley Bardhan, Kotaku)
Nintendo settles labor dispute with game tester over unions (Stephen Totilo, Axios)
How a Plants vs. Zombies game died so a Star Wars game could live (and then also die) (Rebekah Valentine, IGN)
Games shouldn’t be movies (Gita Jackson, NYU Game Center Lecture Series)
Moment of Zen
that’s it! thanks for reading the first issue of ian’s video game cavalcade. feel free to follow me on twitter as well as check out my personal website and twitch channel, where i just got done with a full playthrough of killer7, my favorite game of all time.
oh yeah, click some of these buttons, too. it really helps me out.
bye!