by Lucy Ungaro

It is officially November, and along with the upcoming holidays, we are all preparing for an onslaught of newly released games.The Circle is buzzing! Let’s see what’s going on this week. 

First up, Jeff Bakalar has the lowdown on upcoming games in November and December. There are some pretty exciting games on this list, of course; ’tis the season. Also, if you like free things as much as I do, check out this video by Dan Ackerman on gratis games for Xbox and PlayStation in November.

As I’m sure everyone knows, Fallout 4 is coming out next week. Next week! For a little tidbit of information to tide you over, here’s an article by Samit Sarkar on actress Lynda Carter’s (Wonder Woman) role in the game. Not only did she do voice work, but she sang some original Fallout songs, as well. This is exciting for two reasons. One, because we now have even more lyrical Fallout music. Secondly, we’ll get to hear them all next week when the world shuts down to play Fallout 4. 

Jorge Jimenez never fails to spread the indie game word. We’ve all wanted to be hackers at one point in our lives, unfortunately it’s not as easy as movie keyboard-mashing would imply. (However, if you want to be that kind of hacker, check out Hacker Typer). For a more involved experience, here’s an article on a game that brings you into cyberspace on a hacking adventure.

A few weeks ago, one of the Circle members reported on Arkham Knight’s re-release for the PC. Regretably, it was too buggy the first time it was released. Now, Chelsea Stark tells us the end of the story. After four months of “fixing” the game, it apparently wasn’t very fixed at all, and is now offering refunds to its players. This feels too familiar as of late. Read the article for all the information here.

Here‘s a great article on fate in Life is Strange by Derrick Sanskritt. It talks about the minor yet effective consequences for actions in the game, and whether those consequences translate in any meaningful way in the ending. It’s something I touched upon in my own review of the game (which will be up soon). It’s an interesting and important topic for games, because while they offer player choice, they override it in the end.

Pac-Man 256  is now available for the i-Pad. There have been many versions of Pac-Man for the iPad, but this one is really good, says Jordan Minor. The title isn’t just a clever reference to the 256 glitch, either; it actually plays a major part in the game. Read the article to find out!

Finally, Scott Stein writes on what it’s like to play games on the Apple TV. I was surprised to see a mostly very positive review, but maybe that’s the PC diehard in me talking. It looks like the Apple TV has a future. Click here to find out why.

And now for news outside of the Circle…

PRACTICE, a conference for game developers all over the world, is coming to us again next week. Fallout 4 and PRACTICE all at once? I can’t handle it! If you can’t make it to the event, don’t worry; here’s an article with a bunch of information, as well as information and interviews with the panelists. Also, the talks will be online shortly afterwards.

Here’s an article about a new game by Nina Freeman, a game designer here in NYC who attended NYU. The game is about falling in love in a virtual space, and takes place in Freeman’s past. It looks really gorgeous, and seems to be very personal and relatable. It’s a “game within a game”–you can sort through her computer files as well as play an RPG on her computer, which is, of course, where she falls in love. For more information, check out the article.

To top off the week, read about Activision’s purchase of the company that made Candy Crush, King Digital Entertainment

That’s it for now. See you next week!