Weekend Reading - September 22nd

There's been lots of gaming action happening recently. Last weekend we saw the Black Mesa team finally deliver something playable, and this week everyone got their hands on a couple of much-anticipated sequels in Borderlands 2 and Torchlight II. On to the links.

Games

• Various: Borderlands 2 reviews and coverage
  
  
  • Verge/Polygon: 'Borderlands 2' review: firing range
  • PA Report: Gearbox went all out on the PC version of Borderlands 2, and it’s the best way to play the game
  • PA Report: Borderlands 2 adds something necessary to the series: A reason to shoot those guns


• PC Gamer: Flash of greatness: StarCraft pro-gaming explored
  This is a longer magazine-style article (which makes sense since it's from a magazine) that explores some of the mystique of Korean Brood War pros as they transition to SC2.


• Forbes: With StarCraft II Declining, The World's Top PC Game League Of Legends Sees Continued Growth
  More eSports coverage. SC2 has been dropping off as of late, though HotS will hopefully give it a shot in the arm. LoL, on the other hand, is still going strong - and growing.


• PA Report: Torchlight 2 vs. Diablo 3: on welcoming the player instead of locking them in
  Everywhere I look I see another glowing review of Torchlight II that shames Blizzard and Diablo III at the same time. I guess I need to play Torchlight and pick up the sequel ASAP.


• Blizzard: Developer Journal: Defensive Bonuses and Monster Damage
  Diablo III struggles to remain relevant. I wonder by how much gameplay has dropped off in the last few months and whether or not it'll fall off a cliff once Mists of Pandaria is released.


• PA Report: Black Mesa is a remix, not a mod: The men who modernized Half-Life
  It's cool to see comments from the Black Mesa development team and hear their approach to modernizing a legendary game. Black Mesa is next on my playlist.


• Ars Technica: Unofficial multiplayer mod for Just Cause 2 causes hilarity, riot
  I heard about this mod a couple of weeks ago and it sounds hilariously amazing.


• Eurogamer: Death by gaming: an investigation into the Taiwan café fatalities
  Here's a reality check. Every few months we hear about someone who goes on a 20 or 30-hour gaming binge and ends up dying as a result. This article examines the Asian LAN center environments that are probably partially responsible.


• PA Report: Rekoil is the $15 PC game that you own: run your own server, share maps via e-mail, mod everything
  I saw this earlier in the week and signed up for the beta. Their method of handing out keys is a little iffy and highlights some of Steam Greenlight's shortcomings.

More links after the jump.

Hardware and Peripherals

• Tom's Hardware: This Lian Li Case Looks and Moves Like a Train: Choo-choo!
  I have no words.


• Verge/Polygon: How to build a PC: A comedy of system errors
  A look at system building and PC gaming from the eyes of a relative newcomer. This is the beginning of a three-part series.

Everything Else

• Joystiq: Steam Greenlight by the numbers
  3200 submissions, of which 800 ended up being visible. 10 million votes. Here's a look at Steam Greenlight thus far.


• Verge/Polygon: Game Accessibility Guidelines project aims to help developers understand and design for a wider audience
  This sounds like a pretty solid idea. More games offering support for color-blind gamers, for example, can only be a good thing.


• Ars Technica: Bohemia offers defense for Arma 3 devs arrested in Greece
  Here's a followup to that weird story from last week that featured two ARMA 3 devs being arrested on a small Greek island. I never knew game development was so dangerous.

Have an interesting link? Share it in the comments.