A selection of links, hand-picked by the Guardian games writers.

Xbox One resolutions a 'non-issue', says Ryse designer | TechRadar

Ryse: Son of Rome design director Patrick Esteves has been trying to calm fears over the whole Xbox One resolution controversy. Does it matter that some launch games are outputting in 720p instead of full native 1080p?

"People are kind of grasping onto things that are really non-issues. For us, it was far more important to have artwork that looked beautiful. And if you're a shooter, of course you want 60 frames [per second]," he told TechRadar.

"So if you're going to do 60 frames at 720 then that's your choice to do it but it's such a small piece of the experience."

"It's all apples and oranges," said Esteves. "The part I'm more interested in is what people are going to do with the Cloud because that has far more implications on gameplay than resolution."

This reflects comments made by Microsoft exec Phil Spencer last week:

"Games should be defined by more than their framerate and resolution. I think this is an industry about fun and people should put the controller in their hand - or gesture - and play the games and decide what they like. I think that's the soul of what this industry's about."

Convinced?

If Microsoft Does This to the Xbox, Both Gamers and Investors Will Lose | Motley Fool

There are rumours going around that if Stephen Elop becomes the next CEO of Microsoft - and he's in the final five contenders apparently – he'll look to sell the Xbox division:

It isn't that Xbox is a failure -- Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division (largely composed of the Xbox) has mostly been profitable since 2008. But compared to Microsoft's other divisions, it's hardly noteworthy. In fiscal year 2012, for example, it brought in just $364 million -- less than 2% of Microsoft's total earnings (I use 2012 here because in 2013 the division was expanded to include Microsoft's Surface tablets).

Splitting off the Xbox could allow Microsoft to focus on core products like Office and Windows. Over the past 10 years, Microsoft shares have underperformed the broader market -- the company's mammoth size many have kept management unfocused and limited Microsoft's upside.

Vulcan Capital, Paul Allen's investment firm, has argued for an Xbox spinoff. Allen no longer has any management role at Microsoft, but as a co-founder, his word might have some weight. Likewise, some Wall Street analysts, including those at Nomura, have written about the potential benefits to an Xbox spinoff.

The article goes on to explain why this would be a horrendous calamity for Xbox, and why major consoles need a huge consumer electronics giant behind them. Nintendo, he says, has been held back by its need to make profit from hardware, unlike Sony and Microsoft, which have sold consoles at a loss. But then, Nintendo has usually done pretty nicely without carrying millions in corporate debt, so...

Everything you need to know about World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor | GameSpot

This is a handy guide to all the new info about the latest (but apparently not final WoW expansion). We covered the announcement on Friday, but this article adds snippets garnered through the rest of Blizzcon. Here's some more on the new garrison addition:

The Garrison is your own personal fortress where you can customize the layout, appearance, and gameplay effects. Same-faction friends in your party can visit your base to check it out and trade resources, and it's a non-instanced area, so you'll be able to see it in the distance as you fly around Draenor.

The biggest addition to the Garrison are followers: You'll be able to collect followers, and "You can also allocate them to complete tasks -- things like crafting or gathering resources, which they'll do whether you're online or offline.

"The resources you'll acquire during missions include both existing crafting reagents and Garrison-specific materials. For example, if you assign a follower to a mining mission, you could receive ore, but you might also unearth stone, a new kind of resource used to construct and upgrade buildings."

An intriguing addition of God Game mechanics to the olde MMORPG.

Designing game narrative | Hitbox Team

This is a really well-considered and approachable look at creating good narrative in games, looking at some of the problems that occur when games forget to be games and think they're movies:

When a cutscene happens, you ignore the whole dimension of interactivity, the thing that makes games unique from film, and put straight up film on the screen. Games with cutscenes are the silent films of games. At least silent films are excused by their technical limitations – no comparable excuse exists for games. The worst part is that the most important plot points tend to happen during cutscenes, while keeping you at a safe distance from actually participating.

DEATH TO THE CUT-SCENE! Ahem.

'You Can Sleep Here All Night': Video Games and Labor | Jacobin

A revealing and rather shaming indictment of video game industry working practices in the US. Is crunch culture trading unfairly on the passion of young developer? Almost certainly.

The author recalls his own experiences as a QA tester at Funcom, working with staff who had been let go by nearby developer Red Storm:

Red Storm at the time employed the bulk of their QAs as temps. Lured in by promises of working their way up the ladder, scores of college kids and young workers would come in, ready to make it in the new Hollywood of the video game industry. The pay was minimum wage. The hours were long, with one of my immediate supervisors casually stating that he regularly worked at least 60 hours a week during his time there. Being temps, there were no benefits.

This would go on for the duration of a project, usually the final four months or so. When the temps weren't needed anymore, it was common for groups of them to be rounded up, summarily let go without notice, and told that a call would be forthcoming if their services were needed again.

Saddening stuff.

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