Monday, May 21 2012
To Build a World or to Tell a Story?
Plot just provides us with a win condition, it is not necessary for the act of play. I can enjoy a game without plot, but I can’t enjoy a game without world building because that is a game without rules.
Monday, April 23 2012
A Love Letter to ‘Ms. Pac-Man’
Ms. Pac-Man speaks to the most essential nature of what a video game is, clarifying what makes a video game a video game and not any other type of game.
Friday, March 23 2012
The Method to the Madness of ‘Modern Warfare’
In a series in which World War III is just a subplot, it’s clear that Infinity Ward is more concerned with character resolution than it is with plot resolution.
Thursday, March 1 2012
Labyrinths of Childhood: Exploring ‘The Path’
Herman Kern says that “a certain level of maturity is required to understand the shape of as well as to make the decision to venture into, a labyrinth." The girl who enters Grandmother’s house in the labyrinthian game, The Path, has just what it takes.
Thursday, January 26 2012
Batman Is Boring in ‘Arkham City’
Batman is a bit player in his own story, and I think a lot of that stems from his desire to save everyone.
Wednesday, January 4 2012
The Best Flash Games of 2011
These games taught me: the danger of following the rules; the pleasing presence of unexpected personalities; the pleasures of a well paced and meditative process; the joys of a frantic and chaotic twitch-fest and; the satisfaction derived from a game that brings out my inner masochist.
Friday, November 18 2011
If You Can’t Help Me, Just Die: Survival in ‘Dead Island’
Dead Island is old-school survival-horror game, a subgenre that seems to have largely disappeared from the medium with the ascension of the action-horror game.
Tuesday, October 25 2011
Other Princesses, Other Castles: The Problem with Playing Romantically in Video Games
The insensibly repetitious nature of romance present in both video game plots and in their mechanics leads to all too familiar storytelling.
Monday, September 26 2011
The End of the World Makes Sense in ‘Bastion’
The multiple endings in Bastion all feel like natural conclusions to the story.
Monday, August 29 2011
On Costumes, Video Games, and the Art of Pretending
A little nostalgia goes a long way. Sometimes, you get so lost in looking at a thing that you forget that it's not real. Or at least, you want to forget that it's not real.
Tuesday, August 23 2011
Why Video Games Might Not Be Art
Roger Ebert might have a point when he claims that 'games can never be art'. At least, Aristotle and T.S. Eliot would have agreed.
Thursday, July 21 2011
Death Is Boring: Immortality as Character Development in Video Games
The infinite lives of video game characters present an interesting narrative conundrum: how does a writer create tension when the hero is essentially immortal?
Friday, June 24 2011
Boys Get Naked Better than Girls
In games like Kabod Online, male characters expose themselves to an audience. This makes them look stronger, more powerful, more manly than they do with their clothes on.
Thursday, May 19 2011
The Narrative Pastiche of Games
Beyond the cinematic presentation of many games, their pacing and storytelling has more in common with novels and television than with film.
Friday, April 29 2011
Rewind to Advance: Jordan Mechner’s Games with Time
Games feature the ability to constantly challenge the forward momentum of time, rewinding (as it were) to reconsider the best route to reach a more optimal solution, challenging what we know about time and how we consider consequence.
Tuesday, April 5 2011
Kickstart the Presses
In the past month, two friends of mine have undertaken major print projects. How are they covering the costs of what some might call a foolish endeavor? By going online for funding, of course.
Tuesday, March 29 2011
The Assassins’ Politics
Through a series of puzzles Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood paints a picture of corruption and conspiracy throughout the US government from the 1700s to the present.
Friday, February 25 2011
Horror in Video Games: There’s Seeing—and Then There’s Realizing What You’re Seeing
My wife is right. The Necromorph known as a Slasher is extremely gross. But even though I played Dead Space for hours, I never noticed it.
Friday, January 21 2011
Civil Violence in the Old West: ‘Red Dead Redemption’
Red Dead Redemption shows us over and over again that the bonds of society do little to quell man’s violent nature. Rather, man’s violent nature shapes the civilizations that we live in, creating a world of constant conflict on a personal and national level.
Tuesday, January 18 2011
‘Glee’ on the Wii
Video games and cross-promotional marketing yield the inevitable: console karaoke for Gleeks.
