In 1989, a big gray brick with a tiny monochrome screen became gaming's new smash hit. Nintendo's Game Boy revolutionized portable gaming. As part of NPR's special series of historical moments, a NPR reporter spoke to business executives turned Game Boy fans in 1990.
You'll need a hug after Shadow of the Erdtree gets its claws around you. The follow-up to the 2022 gaming phenomenon presents a new realm to explore, new mysteries to unravel, and new bosses to get utterly demolished by.
Why do video game workers offer labor at a discount? How can you design a video game for blind and sighted players? Does that design have lessons for other industries?
These and other questions about the business of video games answered in todays episode. The Indicator just wrapped a weeklong series decoding the economics of the video game industry, we're excerpting some highlights.
First, we meet some of the workers who are struggling with the heavy demands placed on them in their booming industry, and how they are fighting back.
Then, we check in on how game developers are pulling in new audiences by creatively designing for people who couldn't always play. How has accessibility become an increasingly important priority for game developers? And, how can more players join in the fun?
You can hear the rest of our weeklong series on the gaming industry at this link, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode was hosted by Wailin Wong, Darian Woods, and Adrian Ma. Corey Bridges produced this episode with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Kate Concannon, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez with help from Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
Today, we're going full nerd to talk about a new board game — Catan: New Energies. The game's goal is simple: Build and develop a modern-day island without catastrophically polluting it. Although the concept mirrors the effects of climate change, those words don't actually appear in the game. NPR correspondent Nate Rott talks to Emily about the thinking behind the new game and how the developers hope it can start conversations around energy use and pollution.
Have questions or comments for us to consider for a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!
We wrap up our series on the economics of the video game industry with a triple roundup. Today, how the new ban on noncompete contracts could affect the gaming industry, whether young men are slacking off work to play games and the ever-controversial world of loot boxes.
Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify) Designing for disability: how video games become more accessible (Apple / Spotify) The boom and bust of esports (Apple / Spotify) Work. Crunch. Repeat: Why gaming demands so much of its employees (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
New action platformer Tales of Kenzera: ZAU delivers a moving story, sleek traversal, and a brilliant setting gleaming with Afro-futurist highlights. It's just not as meaty as competing Metroidvanias.
The origins of competitive gaming are rooted in college campuses going back to the early 1970s. Now a globally popular industry, esports is at the center of many questions about long-term financial viability.
Today, we dive deep into the hype surrounding esports and why the luster seems to be rubbing off the industry that was once seen by some as the next NBA.
Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify) Designing for disability: how video games become more accessible (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
People used to pay one standard price for their favorite games in a one-off transaction. But now, many game companies are offering their games for free, supported by in-game purchases. This is called the live service model.
Today, the first episode of a week-long series about the video game industry. We investigate the promise and pains of the live service model and explain how it turned the industry upside down.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Gaming provides entertainment and community for billions of people worldwide. However, video games haven't always been accessible to those with disabilities. But this is changing.
Today, in the next installment of our series on the business of video games, we explain how accessibility has become an increasingly important priority for game developers and how advocates pushed them to this point.
Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
A new version of the popular board game Catan aims to make players wrestle with a 21st-century problem: How do you develop and expand without overly polluting the planet?
Under the glare of the lights in New York's Time Square, a Nigerian chess master makes his bid to break the world record for the longest continuous chess game to raise money for children back home.
The new show Fallout is based on a hugely successful video game series known for its sardonic, very dark comedic sensibility, and its violence. It's set in the game's post-apocalyptic world – an America divided into factions wrestling for control of an irradiated wasteland. When the hopeful Lucy (Ella Purnell) steps out of the comfortable life she's known in an underground vault, the world she's confronted with is harsh, brutal, merciless – and kinda funny.
Monopoly is one of the best-selling board games in history. It was invented by a woman, who for a long time didn't get credit for her idea. What else is hidden in the game's history? Find out here.
Princess Peach steals the show in diverse roles like Dashing Thief, Ninja and Mermaid. These delightful transformations elevate a game otherwise weighed down by lackluster boss fights.
