The Sunday Papers: Final Fantasy XVI's Shallow Middle East, Armored Core's Honest Violence, and AI Research's Lost Purpose

Rock Paper Shotgun's Sunday Papers column curates the week's best writing about games and adjacent culture from across the web. This week's selection spans cultural representation, the philosophy of violence in games, and the state of AI research.

Mazen Haggag writes for Deleted Saves about Final Fantasy XVI's approach to Middle Eastern and North African cultural influences through the nation of Dhalmekia. The game positions Dhalmekia as the only non-white nation in its base world, a desert trading hub known for artisan craftspeople. Towns within it each specialize: Tabor features tanneries, Dravozd centers on smithing, and Dalimil offers hot springs surrounded by shops including a carpet store, shisha stall, herb and spice merchants, brass ornament dealers, and a bakery.

Haggag notes that while the visual details tell a story about how these towns have developed around their resources and visitor traffic, the cultural depth stops at architecture and goods. The people inhabiting Dhalmekia lack the substance that would make the setting genuinely reflective of the cultures it draws from. Visual flavor and authentic representation become separate layers rather than integrated parts of the world.

Lilith, writing for Gamesline, examines how games portray violence through Armored Core 6. The piece argues that Armored Core 6 understands violence as fundamentally unglamorous. Death arrives in screams and gunfire; war kills people without memorable final words. Yet the game also acknowledges that violence can be cathartic depending on the narrative path taken. Lilith writes: "A story where a violent regime is overthrown by the downtrodden is not the same power fantasy where you uncritically protect the status quo. Both stories are violent, yet that violence is not equal."

Dr. Michael Cook, an artificial intelligence researcher and occasional Rock Paper Shotgun contributor, reflects on the shift in AI research over two decades. Cook describes reviewing papers where the core contribution amounts to asking a large language model to perform a task and reporting that it succeeded, often without proper evaluation. He observes: "So much of AI research now is simply using the products of a handful of companies to claim they can do something. The research is investigating the applications of capital, not expanding our understanding of the world."

Cook contrasts the current landscape with earlier AI work driven by genuine curiosity about what machines could learn and discover. The researcher expresses uncertainty about remaining in a field where corporate products have become the primary vehicle for research claims, noting that reconciling this reality with the optimism of two decades past has become difficult.

Nathan Brown's Hit Points newsletter receives a mention for its coverage of Microsoft's Xbox layoffs and organizational restructuring. Brown observes that while the logic of folding teams like Halo into Activision's proven Call of Duty production machinery has surface appeal, few outside Xbox leadership believe the strategy will succeed. Brown writes: "The Xbox tarot deck these days consists solely of Death cards. Shuffle them all you like; it's nice to feel busy, after all. Just don't expect anything to change."

The column also touches on Niko Stratis's piece for Paste Magazine marking Nevermind's 35th anniversary, reflecting on how the album resonated with listeners grappling with unspoken emotional struggles during the 1990s, and links to People Make Games' investigation into Bobby Kotick's legal campaign against press coverage, a two-year investigation led by journalist Mikhail Klimentov.