Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

This Week on Outside Xbox

Hitman, Far Cry 3 and King Edward.

Hello once again, Eurogamer, Mike from Outside Xbox here. Thanks for having us over for a quick update on what we've been up to this week. Shall we take our shoes off at the door? Yes a cup of tea would be lovely. Oh go on then, just one biccy.

Distressing as it may be, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and no sooner did we think we'd got our list to Santa finalised, Far Cry 3 arrives and blows our (and everyone else's) trousers clean across the room. Jane's been chatting with Jeffrey Yohalem, the lead writer for the game who, for context, was in charge of the confounding Truth puzzles in Assassin's Creed II and the plot of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

He's a fiercely intelligent chap whose fingerprints are all over Far Cry 3's exceptional storyline and he argues that even the scenes that might initially appear to be crass titillation are attempts to subvert the usual videogame clichés.

Watch on YouTube

Elsewhere, Andy and Jane tore into a potential Christmas gift for that special Valve fan in your life. Prepare for a shambolic Blue Peter inspired build of the beautifully designed Portal 2 PotatOS Science Kit. This video forms the bulk of our Nobel Prize application, so if you could keep your fingers crossed for us that'd be lovely.

Watch on YouTube

Finally, we set aside the fact that Hitman: Absolution sounds like something that bodybuilders rub on their gut for 'instant' definition and used it as the basis for our Show of the Week. Stay tuned for a potted history of Agent 47's antics plus comments and feedback from the site.

Watch on YouTube

If that's simply not enough video to stuff your pipe, feel free to listen to Jeffrey Yohalem's insight on writing Far Cry 3's chief antagonist Vaas or watch as we take three very different approaches to Hitman's King of Chinatown mission. Otherwise, we'll see you next week. Ta-ta!