Asgard's Wrath 2 and Murderbot
Also — E3 is dead, long live E3!
The Meta Quest 3 finally has its (god-)killer app. Asgard’s Wrath 2 is everything my colleague Will Mitchell hoped it would be:
I'm swinging from rafter to rafter in a multilevel temple with my whip sword when I'm suddenly attacked by flying enemies. I grapple one and pull it in close for a finishing move. Other adversaries start to surround me from behind, so I throw my boomerang axe and send it bouncing from one to the next. I do all of this without much thought — in Asgard's Wrath 2, it's easy to feel like a god. […] The game has set a new standard for standalone VR, knocking out my longtime favorites, Half-Life: Alyx and Skyrim, as my top virtual reality experience.
Asgard’s Wrath 2 is long — potentially over 100 hours with side quests — and built from the ground up for the Meta Quest 2 (though NPR tried it on the new Quest 3). It’s a huge commitment, according to Digital Trend’s Giovanni Colantonio:
While I appreciate that Sanzaru Games swung for the fences in crafting a 60-hour RPG, I’m not always convinced that’s the right fit for the tech. I love my Meta Quest 3, but I can still only wear it for an hour or two before my head feels like it’s going to burst like a grape.
Incidentally, I’m also coming to love the Meta Quest 3, since Mitchell was kind enough to loan me his review unit (namely, because of its improved resolution and an adjustable spacer that enables me to easily wear it over my stupidly-big glasses). While I tried its “mixed reality” proof-of-concept First Encounters game, which had me shooting puffball aliens as they invaded my living room — I mostly used it to assist Chloe Veltman with her piece on noxious content that keeps finding its way onto Meta’s Rec Room.
Meanwhile, E3 announced it was finally closing its doors (it’s been so fully supplanted by Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest that few will likely miss it next year). Nevertheless, I helped Morning Edition put together a short obit.
I also hosted a White Elephant Magic: the Gathering draft, where the eight of us made custom packs that included absurd cards like Avatar of Me and Void Winnower (that card features the notorious official ruling, “Yes, your opponent can't even. We know.”). I also relived my college Khans of Tarkir glory days thanks to its new implementation in MTG Arena; first drafting an enviable Sultai control deck, then an even better Jeskai tempo deck (in one game, I won by casting and copying Master the Way three times in one turn!).
I’d be remiss to mention Magic, however, without acknowledging that parent company Hasbro announced that it would lay off 1100 employees, two weeks before Christmas. The news comes even as their Dungeons and Dragons property, Baldur’s Gate 3, continues to enjoy astonishing sales and acclaim.
Here & Now Highlights
Fellow producer Emiko Tamagawa and I interviewed author Martha Wells on her newest Murderbot novella, System Collapse! Despite the titular character’s name, it’s actually a hopeful and disarmingly relatable series — it’s ultimately about an android forging its future away from the corporations that once controlled it (in that way, it resembles one of 2022’s best games, Citizen Sleeper).
I also got Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA) to join host Scott Tong on her inquiry into patient privacy at the nation’s largest pharmacies. Incidentally, I also learned that Congresswoman Jacobs went to my rival high school in San Diego County, the much-hated Torrey Pines!
We also discussed the implications of Epic’s surprising antitrust win against Google this week with The Verge’s Adi Robertson.
I produced another segment with The Grist’s Naveena Sadasivam on the climate deal that came out of COP28.
And a hit on the legal context behind the Texas Supreme Court’s decision to block a woman from seeking an abortion in the state after she learned her pregnancy was doomed by a near-certainly fatal condition.