Ask George, September 2024

My favourite games, an esports golden age and the loot box question finally comes up...

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• I dive into the games that I like to play

• I consider whether we’ve missed an esports golden age

• I noodle on whether loot boxes are actually gambling

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Good afternoon,

A Video Games Industry Memo newsletter? After lunch? What’s going on, George?

Well, like Tim Robertson at a drive thru, it’s fair to say that “I’m doing something here” by varying up the delivery time of the exclusive Insider email.

You’ll see whether or not I stick to this time in the weeks and months ahead. I may not even stick to the day of the week if I really let things get out of hand.

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So without further ado, let’s get on with this month’s questions

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Pentiment - Source: Obsidian Entertainment

What video games do you actually play? - Anna

The answer, as with every player, is a spread. But I’d say there are a few types of games that I particularly enjoy playing.

I love any game where you can make meaningful choices within the world. For the most part, this means that I enjoy role playing games such as Fallout: New Vegas, Pentiment and even Starfield (yes, I did end up spending quite a bit of time with it) where decisions that I make have a tangible impact on the world around me

I think this is also why I enjoy strategy games too. Depending on where my mood takes me, games such as Football Manager, Civilization and entries in the Total War series (currently Three Kingdoms) appeal because they scratch my itch of thinking about - and making - big decisions on the fly.

Finally, and going pretty broad here, I enjoy tightly authored single player games which either have a perfect core loop or an amazing grasp on the world its creating. The first category tends to contain roguelikes such as Slay the Spire and Spelunky (or puzzle games like Threes), while the latter seems to hold a lot of Metroidvanias in the form of Hollow Knight and, well, Super Metroid.

But when I look across everything I play, I tend to lean towards games that are thoughtful, respectful of how I spend my time and usually tightly wind themselves around an interesting world or concept to let me experience something new.

Oh, and I quite like Rocket League too. I just wish I could do more of the aerial tricks that everyone else is able to do…

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Source: Riot Games

Is the golden age of esports over?- Sam