Glass House Games

"She was a huge fascist." - Shay 

"But a sexy fascist." - Jordan

Jordan, Shay, and Maggie talk about romance in video games, from games all about dating, to role-playing games that let you form relationships with elves and aliens, to our video game character crushes and what they say about us… Guess which one of us has a very “white bread” taste in men?

This episode contains spoilers for StarCraft.

Links:

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/mass-effect-andromeda-romance-guide/

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/the-outer-worlds-wouldnt-let-me-romance-my-companions-but-i-fell-for-them-anyway/

https://www.reddit.com/r/outerworlds/comments/azk8ne/what_yall_think_of_no_romance_being_in_the_game/

https://harvestmoon.fandom.com/wiki/Harvest_Moon:_Boy_%26_Girl

https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020520/Fewer-Tifas-or-More-Sephiroths

https://twitter.com/jericawebber/status/1164890720001548290

https://boingboing.net/2015/03/17/six-japanese-dating-sims-to-fa.html

https://www.gdcvault.com/browse/gdc-15/play/1022131

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ssUXd9yuUQ

This week’s snack was: a Kit Kat cake for Kit’s birthday! You can find a recipe in your search engine of choice.

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games

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"It almost feels like a mockery of people that use these things which feels mean." - Sam  

Jerica, Sam, and Alex CG reflect on Mosaic, a grey game in which you play through five days in the life of an indistinguishable office worker. Is it effective for a game to convey the mundanity of a 9-to-5 by making the player repeat boring actions? How biting is the satire compared to, say, Black Mirror? And does the ending place the blame on the worker themselves?  

This episode contains spoilers.  

Reflections are scored individually on a scale from love to hate, and then a group Glass House Games verdict is determined using our magical algorithm.  

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games 

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

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"You're going to get cancelled off the back of this!" - Sam

Jordan, Shay, Sam, and UKIE’s CEO Jo Twist and Insight and Innovation Manager Luke Hebblethwaite talk about the UK Games Industry Census, a collaboration between the University of Sheffield (led by Dr Mark Taylor), the University of Leeds, and UKIE, with support from the Arts & Humanities Research Council. The 60-page report, using data from 3,200 UK games industry workers, suggests that the games industry is – compared to national averages – overwhelmingly young, white, male, middle class, queer, and experiencing anxiety and/or depression. We delve into these findings and more, theorise on the reasons behind them, and discuss what can be done to learn more and improve the industry.

Links:

https://ukie.org.uk/UK-games-industry-census-2020

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-02-03-the-uk-games-industry-is-still-overwhelming-young-white-and-male

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-51364212

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-02-04-survey-details-how-male-dominated-the-uk-games-industry-still-is

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ukie-census-reports-that-31-of-the-uk-games-industry-has-depression-or-anxiety/

This week’s snack was: limited-edition Crosstown Doughnuts! You can get your own in Brick Lane.

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games 

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“Because you didn’t need to eat the smell of summer, you needed to smell the smell of summer...” - Alex P  

Shay, Alex P and Kit reflect on Wattam from the weird and wonderful mind of Katamari Damacy creator, Keita Takahashi. Wattam is a quirky and colourful game that lets you control 100 playable characters each based on everyday items such as telephones, toys and toilets. Join us as we discuss the absurdity of eating golden poops and commandeering sentient facial features.   

This episode contains spoilers.  

Links: 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20... 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/17/2... 

Reflections are scored individually on a scale from love to hate, and then a group Glass House Games verdict is determined using our magical algorithm.  

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games 

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

Follow @GHGshow on Twitter and Instagram

"There are deaths throughout the series." 

"And in real life, I guess." - Alex P

Jordan, Alex P, and special guest The English Simmer talk about the game Will Wright used to call “Doll House” and other people at Maxis called “The Toilet Game”. 2020 is the 20th anniversary of The Sims, and Jordan and special guest Mollie (a.k.a. The English Simmer)  have been there since the beginning. Alex P may have dropped off at The Sims 3, but he does have a surprising amount of experience with the 1991 game SimAnt.

In this episode we talk about the history of the series, what makes it unique, its audience, the ways in which it has increasingly represented different kinds of people, and the life that The Sims 4 lives on YouTube. We’ve got your 100 Baby challenges, your tiny houses, and suggestions for what we’d want from The Sims 5. Sul sul!

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheEnglishSimmer

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/01/18/making-of-the-sims/

https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/news/infographic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PC_games

https://www.museumofplay.org/press/releases/2016/05/2688-2016-world-video-game-hall-fame-inductees-announced

https://ir.ea.com/financial-information/quarterly-results/default.aspx

https://s22.q4cdn.com/894350492/files/doc_financials/2019/q3/Q3-FY19-Prepared-Remarks-FINAL.pdf

https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/43kj93/learning-simlish-sims-language-game

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/qveqew/the-untold-story-of-the-sims-your-first-favourite-jazz-record

https://kotaku.com/how-the-sims-translates-pop-songs-into-simlish-1832998368

https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9871786/carly-rae-jepsen-run-away-with-me-simlish

https://twitter.com/NoraReed/status/1220921837548273664

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v4CIhGcxiY

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Hecking_family

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Ngata_family

This week’s snack was: raspberry and pistachio brownies (vegan)! You can find the recipe in Anna Jones’ book A Modern Way to Cook.  

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

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"Video games, everybody!" – CG  

Alex CG, Jerica, Alex P, and Sam reflect on Ancestors: the Humankind Odyssey, the new "science-based" survival game from Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time director Patrice Désilets. Set millions of years in the past at the outset of human evolution, the game tries to give a somewhat realistic portrayal of what our predecessors had to go through to get us to the present day.  We talk about survival games, whether a new genre of "(mostly) nonviolent climbing sims" has become a thing, and the pitfalls of realism in art.  

This episode contains spoilers.  

Links:  

https://wccftech.com/patrice-desilets... 

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/h... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHP4s... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hr-y... 

https://www.eurozine.com/change-cours... 

https://www.goodreads.com/series/5852... 

Reflections are scored individually on a scale from love to hate, and then a group Glass House Games verdict is determined using our magical algorithm.

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

Follow @GHGshow on Twitter and Instagram

“That's... why I have a daughter now!” – Alex P

Jordan, Sam, Maggie and Alex P talk about how to introduce a non-player to video games. In an ideal world you would choose someone’s first video game based on their existing interests, and take the time to help them through it… but in Jordan’s world, we’re creating a general starter pack to hand over to anyone who doesn’t play video games but wants to give them a try. Is thatgamecompany’s Journey actually that approachable for beginners? Why did so many people who played Tetris in the 90s never really move on to other video games? And can you rise to Alex Hern’s challenge of creating a five-game lesson plan to get people from a widely approachable game to an arbitrary Metacritic 95? Get in touch to let us know!

Links: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000... 

https://twitter.com/jericawebber/stat... 

https://twitter.com/GHGshow/status/12... 

https://www.reddit.com/r/videogames/c... 

https://variety.com/2017/gaming/opini... 

https://twitter.com/momvsgames 

https://gamesforfriends.club/ 

This week’s snack was: chewy ginger cookies! And they’re vegan! You can find the recipe at Hot for Food: https://www.hotforfoodblog.com/recipe...

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

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"I felt like I was irradiated - you heard it here first!" - Alex CG  

Alex CG, Alex  P, and Sam reflect on Disco Elysium, the groundbreaking RPG / adventure game which swept the 2019 Game Awards and has many saying that a new bar has been set for games writing. We talk about the legacy of CRPGs, politics in games, portrayals of mental health, and the inspirations the game has drawn from literature, art, and history.  As it didn't come out in the discussion, we would like to highlight that this game could not have been possible without the efforts of so many people, not limited to the main writer Robert Kurvitz, but also writer Helen Hindpere and artist Alexander Rostov, among many others. Please see the links below for more details.  

This episode contains spoilers. 

 Links:  

https://steamcommunity.com/games/6324...

https://www.gamesradar.com/the-making...

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/w...

https://bulletpointsmonthly.com/2019/...

https://kotaku.com/disco-elysium-deve... 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=victor+serg... 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... 

Reflections are scored individually on a scale from love to hate, and then a group Glass House Games verdict is determined using our magical algorithm.

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games 

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

Follow us @GHGshow on Twitter and Instagram

“But it did not meet its target...” – Jordan.

Jordan, Sam, and Alex P talk about vegetarianism and how games can make us reflect on our real-world diets. Should vegetarians think twice about killing virtual creatures? Could a game explicitly designed to criticise the meat industry convince anyone to convert to a vegetarian diet? And… do people eat Pokémon?

Links:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-50987943/i-started-the-veganuary-movement-from-my-kitchen

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/feb/12/vegetarianism-violent-video-games-monster-hunter-world

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/monster-hunter-world-iceborne-review/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/05568640009506605?journalCode=rppa20

https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/18-111/The-Art-of-the-Mass-Effect-Universe-hardcover

https://www.polygon.com/2014/7/1/5862086/pokemon-what-do-humans-eat

https://www.polygon.com/pokemon/2018/9/28/17914112/what-do-pokemon-eat-food-humans

https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/15/20963329/pokemon-sword-shield-slow-poke-tail-curry-sausage

https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/7/17660388/dead-cells-game-diet-options

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/9508-mutazione

https://www.vulture.com/2016/03/first-time-developer-made-stardew-valley.html

http://funcrunch.org/blog/2017/03/18/stardew-valley-fun-and-food-for-thought/

https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/5q2uvn/challenge_vegan_playthrough/

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/701094-stardew-valley/76937320

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/730959/playing-game-vegn-style

https://kotaku.com/cooking-mama-has-gone-vegetarian-1837155015

This week’s snack was: vegan baked goods from Debaere! Come down to Glass House Brick Lane and there will always be vegan treats available.

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games 

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

Follow @GHGshow on Twitter and Instagram

“The best thing is listening to Pikachu’s cry when it’s big...” – Shay  

Alex P, Sam, Shay, & Jerica reflect on Pokémon Sword and Shield, the eighth mainline entry from Game Freak in a series that’s nearly 25 years old. We talk about British (but really just English) representation, game design, and Alex P’s greatest gaming accomplishment and/or shame.  

This episode contains spoilers.  

Links:  

https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/14/20... 

https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/14/210... 

Reflections are scored individually on a scale from love to hate, and then a group Glass House Games verdict is determined using our magical algorithm.  

Join the conversation at https://glasshouse.games 

Send your thoughts to [email protected]

Follow @GHGshow on Twitter and Instagram