The Cartridge Thief Blog

  If you asked me what the most important differences are in gaming discourse now compared to when I was a kid, one of the first ideas I'd throw out would be games-as-art. While some people do tirelessly continue this asinine debate, the sheer effort and craftsmanship that goes into shaping interactive narratives has, for the rest of us, cemented that video games are works of art just like films and literature. (Images property of 3909 LLC, Black Salt Games, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and 2K Games) However, while this is settled in my mind, it has opened up a whole range of significant implications that are still worth discussing. In particular, the pressure that comes with playing games as art and the guilt complex that results from deciding what games are worth our limited time. The Games-As-Art Guilt Complex We all have a limited amount of time in our days. Without wanting to get too real here, we are all aware of how our jobs, families, friends and other obligations limit the am...

Making games is hard right? They’re expensive, they’re labour intensive and once you’ve made them, you have to go to bed each night knowing that your game will still get outsold by an anime dating sim made in four hours by AI. (Images property of Marvel and Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft Game Studios, Konami, 2K and Bandai Namco) As such, it is an absolute miracle that any games come out good in the end. However, even some of the best games ever made still have their bad moments. Below, I’ve compiled a list of some of history’s best games that still struggled with the occasional bed-wetting incident either because of dodgy design choices, running out of money or just bafflingly bad ideas. Beware spoilers for all of the games listed below. Dark Souls - Tomb of the Giants Upon its release in 2011, FromSoftware’s seminal fantasy RPG Dark Souls made a name for itself for crushing difficulty, gameplay-led design and a strangely high proportion of barefooted female characters. O...

2023 was a hell of a year for video games in every possible meaning of the phrase. On the one hand, the industry saw one of its most successful years in terms of the financial and critical responses to its biggest releases. On the other hand though, it was also subject to job losses cutting through it in vast swathes across both the indie and triple-A spheres.  (Image property of Playstation Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment) However, the past week has revealed that these events were, unfortunately, not a 2023 phenomenon. In the last week alone, Sony has laid off 900 staff across multiple studios, including closing their London studio, with EA following suit soon after, laying off an additional 5% of their own workforce. As such, while this moment is still fresh in our minds and the situation is showing no signs of improving any time soon, it is worth pausing to discuss what exactly is wrong with the industry at the moment and how this might end up playing out in the futur...