Added: 28.07.2015 19:43 | 19 views | 0 comments

--still doesn't make much sense, nor does the involvement of Nathan Prescott, the troubled son of the city's most powerful family. There is one particular puzzle in this episode that I found almost intolerable. Chloe and Max lay out every clue they have collected--literally lay it all out in front of them--and the player is tasked with matching up groups of clues that create leads for the duo to follow. When the puzzle began, I had no idea what I was looking for, and it was a long time before Max's voice-over offered any hints as to what I should be searching. The mystery gets too obtuse to follow, and only after slogging through scraps of paper and tattered photos does anything even remotely make sense. Things were tidied up far too quickly for me to follow, leaving the victory of discovery feeling a bit hollow.

But following this puzzle, the episode picks up again, leading to one of my favorite environment puzzles in the entire series to date. And from here everything spiraled out of control, leaving me the most upset I have ever been at a game's completion. I didn't sleep at all following my playthrough. I felt gross.

The big "thing" for this episode, if you will, is that it demonstrates the effect your choices have been having on the series all along. Big decisions you've made in all three previous episodes--whether or not Chloe still has her gun, whether or not you killed Frank's dog, whether or not you saved Kate--have huge implications. If you saved Kate, you're treated to scenes you wouldn't have seen otherwise. If you didn't knock off Frank's dog, you have a real chance to connect with him. Things I forgot I did in episodes past have a major impact on what I dealt with in Episode 4, which means everything I'm doing really matters. Life is Strange may poke holes in its mechanics when it sees fit, but it a does a damn good job of letting you know that every little thing you do is contributing to a powerful butterfly effect.

That sense of confusion, however, floats on the top of my emotions. Dark Room is two very strong sequences with a lot of uninteresting stuff sandwiched in between--uninteresting in that the pacing drags, some scenes go on too long before the game allows you to rewind, and it becomes genuinely hard to care about anything that's not the adventures of Max and Chloe. It's a rollercoaster of an episode, with some disappointing holes punched in concepts that have been strengthened for three episodes, but it delivers a punch in the gut that makes the rest of the experience worthwhile.

Added: 28.07.2015 16:38 | 29 views | 0 comments

Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has spoken out on the subject of gender and racial diversity in the games industry. The topic came up in an

Asked how important it is to change that perception, Spencer said the industry is already making strides in the area of diversity--though he stressed that there is still much work to be done.

"I noticed just as we were doing the [E3 show] the number of characters of color that were playable in the games you saw," Spencer said. "We have a lot of work to do as an industry in this space."

On the subject of female leaders in the video game industry, Spencer said there is room to improve here, too. But for now, he pointed out that Microsoft already has strong, positive female leaders among its workforce, including Halo bosses Bonnie Ross and Kiki Wolfkill, as well as Lydia Winters of Mojang.

"We don't have to say, 'OK, let's find somebody in the Halo team that's a woman to put on stage.' You pick the leader of the Halo team!" he said. "I was incredibly proud of the way that diversity showed up, but I think as an industry we have more work to do, and we're committed to that."

Added: 28.07.2015 16:38 | 18 views | 0 comments

Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has spoken out on the subject of gender and racial diversity in the games industry. The topic came up in an

Asked how important it is to change that perception, Spencer said the industry is already making strides in the area of diversity--though he stressed that there is still much work to be done.

"I noticed just as we were doing the [E3 show] the number of characters of color that were playable in the games you saw," Spencer said. "We have a lot of work to do as an industry in this space."

On the subject of female leaders in the video game industry, Spencer said there is room to improve here, too. But for now, he pointed out that Microsoft already has strong, positive female leaders among its workforce, including Halo bosses Bonnie Ross and Kiki Wolfkill, as well as Lydia Winters of Mojang.

"We don't have to say, 'OK, let's find somebody in the Halo team that's a woman to put on stage.' You pick the leader of the Halo team!" he said. "I was incredibly proud of the way that diversity showed up, but I think as an industry we have more work to do, and we're committed to that."