It’s possible to love a video game. To be devoted to it, to value what it does for you, and how it makes you feel. To want the best for it. Not in the same way you love a person — or at least, I hope not. But take a look at any major fan convention for video games, movies, TV, or almost anything that develops a subculture, and you can see this love is real, active, and powerful. And of course, profitable. And if it’s possible to love a video game, then of course it’s possible to fall out of love. To feel disconnected from what first drew you to it. To realize that it isn’t giving you everything it once did, and you can’t give it what it needs from you. Especially if what it needs is regular digital purchases in order to get a competitive advantage in gameplay. I loved Overwatch once. I don’t anymore. How that happened is, I think, worth examining. This Dear John letter is a broad history of the game Overwatch itself, and its relationship with both its own players and the company that made it. The honeymoon phase In 2016, Overwatch was a big deal. A Team Fortress 2-style team shooter, made by the people who brought us Starcraft and Diablo, with incredible character designs that looked like Pixar had decided to reboot G.I. Joe? Players couldn’t get enough of it. And indeed, for the first couple of years Overwatch was a 600-pound Winston of the gaming landscape, dominating game coverage, showing up constantly on Let’s Plays, and causing an excited... Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2022-11-01 15:51:22 UTC ]
Crime fiction festival CrimeFest will release an anthology of short stories next year to mark its 10th anniversary, with new stories from contributors including Ian Rankin, Lee Child, Sophie Hannah and Ann Cleeves. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cornerstone imprint William Heinemann is publishing a collection of short stories from actor Tom Hanks, anticipated to be a "major publishing event" for PRH this autumn. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As writers learn that tech giant has processed their work without permission, the Authors Guild condemns ‘blatantly commercial use of expressive authorship’When the writer Rebecca Forster first heard how Google was using her work, it felt like she was trapped in a science fiction novel. “Is this... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three short stories by the queen of Regency romance have been discovered by her biographer and are being reprinted in a new volumeA trio of forgotten stories by the queen of Regency romance Georgette Heyer have been uncovered by her biographer and are due to be published, for the first time in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Little, Brown imprint Corsair has acquired Difficult Women, a collection of short stories by US writer Roxane Gay, for publication in January 2017. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Actress-turned-author Lena Dunham is trying her hand at writing fiction as she prepares to release a collection of short stories next year. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2016-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daughter of Odren will be published in new omnibus edition of the much-loved fantasy sequence to mark the 50th anniversary of The Wizard of EarthseaA story from Ursula K Le Guin’s world of Earthsea that has never been published in print before is due to be released to mark the 50th... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld has signed a new contract with international bestselling writer Lee Child for three further thrillers plus a volume of short stories and a novella. New books in the deal will feature maverick ex-military policeman Jack Reacher. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US actor Bryan Cranston will return to television executive producing and starring in a series based on the short stories of science fiction author Philip K Dick, Variety magazine has reported. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2016-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The US Authors Guild’s appeal against the earlier ruling that allows the tech giant to scan millions of books under ‘fair use’ has been rejected by the Supreme CourtA long-running face-off between the US Authors Guild and Google over the search engine’s scanning of millions of books was brought... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Deaver has written 37 novels, three collections of short stories, and dabbled in everything from folk music to an audio-only drama. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Children’s will this summer publish a second collection of short stories from Terry Pratchett. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While the mall operator who said on Tuesday that Amazon intends to open up to 400 bookstores is backtracking, the tech giant has posted job openings for several bookstore positions in the San Diego/La Jolla area. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How many have you read? Test yourself by seeing if you can match first lines to the titles of the Monitor's favorite novels (and one collection of short stories) from 2015. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Stuart Evers recently collaborated with U.K. folk trio Daughter, writing three short stories that provide the visuals for three music videos promoting Daughter's second album. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The tech giant that pioneered online bookselling is going old school. Amazon unveiled its first bricks-and-mortar bookstore, Amazon Books, in Seattle’s upscale University Village shopping mall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the French city of Grenoble, there are unusual vending machines that don't dispense soda or snacks -- they print out short stories that look like paper receipts instead. These machines were built by a publishing company called Short Éditi... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A little time alone can go a long way in spurring your creative thinking and strengthening relationships.I recently got back from a week of solitude in a house off Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts. I was there to focus on finishing my book of short stories without distraction, conversations,... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Instagram has seen its share of photo essays, profiles and short stories. But no one has used the image-sharing network to publish an entire novel - at least not until Matilda and Harry. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2015-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When sickly Bostonian Edward J. O'Brien put together the first "Best American Short Stories" anthology in 1915, short stories were considered junky pop culture. He was hoping that his project would elevate the short-story form. He had no idea he was launching a series that would last a century... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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