Water Cooler Games, a standard-bearer for intelligent discussion of video games over the past six years, has been shuttered according to co-founder Ian Bogost in a final post made today. More »
A former co-worker of mine started a blog for girlfriends of gamers. I’m hoping she’ll expand the scope—but for now, I get to be both her target audience and her audience’s target. More »
Welcome to your Sunday reservoir of interesting writing about video games. Grab your reading jacket, a cup of coffee and get ready to exercise the brain.
Gaming Daily: Empty shell protagonists Craig Lager argues that blank slate player-characters allow the real stars of a game – the NPCs – room to shine.
Gamasutra: A Circular Wall? Reformulating the Fourth Wall for Video Games Stephen Conway exposes how video games manipulate the so-called fourth wall, bringing a whole new aspect of play to the experience.
Hit Self-Destruct: Cadmium Duncan Fyfe goes back to the very beginning for the last ever Hit Self-Destruct post.
The Brainy Gamer: Early Suda Michael Abbott discovers something of value when reappraising the earlier work of No More Heroes designer Goichi Suda.
GamesRadar: How indie games took on the world (and won) Alec Meer celebrates the indie revolution and finds out what 2D Boy, Ed McMillen, Dylan Fitterer and others think “indie” really means.
Welcome to your Sunday reservoir of interesting writing about video games. Grab your reading jacket, a cup of coffee and get ready to exercise the brain.
Jumpbutton: L1V3S (thirteen lives) First in a series of thirteen short stories that each “focus on one character–one life–that is somehow connected to the world of video games.”
NPR: On ‘The Path,’ Everything A Big Bad Wolf Could Want Heather Chaplin explores the themes of Tale of Tales’ The Path for a semi-mainstream media outlet. Interesting to see.
Groping The Elephant: Who Are You? Justin Keverne wonders who exactly is the author of a silent video game protagonist?
Lingua Franca: Memberships, Hierarchy and Lore of the Gorons Daniel Johnson delivers a remarkable cultural analysis of Zelda’s mountain-swelling tribe.
The Amateur: The Game Design Lessons Of Permadeath Andrew Doull examines permanent death informs the player’s experience, particularly in the Roguelike genre.
Welcome to your Sunday reservoir of interesting writing about video games. Grab your reading jacket, a cup of coffee and get ready to exercise the brain.
Gamasutra: Ken Levine on Studio Culture: From Looking Glass to 2K Boston Christian Nutt chats with one of the industry’s most passionate and creative thinkers.
Versus Clu Clu Land: So Close! Iroquois Pliskin offers this superb analysis of the failings of Mirror’s Edge.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Some Stuff About Open World Games Jim Rossignol muses on the heightened demands players place on games that opt for the open world.
Critical Distance: Critical Compilation: Fallout 3 Comprehensive essay on what the blogosphere (including me!) discovered while exploring the wasteland.
Offworld: One More Go: Final Fantasy XII, Wasting your time the scientific way Margaret Robertson reflects on her persistent obsession with Square’s flawed RPG.
The Federal Trade Commission, it seems, has determined that bloggers aren’t journalists, or should at least be treated differently. More »
Welcome to your Sunday reservoir of interesting writing about video games. Grab your reading jacket, a cup of coffee and get ready to exercise the brain.
GameSetWatch: Can Murder And Games Meaningfully Meet? Christian Nutt ponders how murder can carry weight as a narrative device when gaming’s body count is, well… countless.
GameSetWatch: Can Games Become ‘Virtual Murder?’ On the flipside, Benj Edwards assesses just how close games have come to being real “murder simulators”.
Eurogamer: Koda Game Lab The ever-eloquent Simon Parkin creates “the best unicycle-based, sea-predator-themed, crooner-soundtracked shoot-’em-up you’ve never played” with Microsoft’s design kit Kodu.
Critical Distance: Critical Compilation: BioShock Michael Clarkson presents a sterling summary of everything of value ever written about Rapture.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Gaming Made Me The lads from RPS (and some developer friends) explore their gaming influences in fascinating, funny and deeply personal fashion.
Welcome to your Sunday reservoir of interesting writing about video games. Grab your reading jacket, a cup of coffee and get ready to exercise the brain.
Chewing Pixels: Lest We Forget Simon Parkin ponders what it means to make a realistic or authentic military game.
Suicide Girls: Brutal Legend And The Worlds Of Tim Schafer PixelVixen argues that our favourite Tim doesn’t just design games, he builds entire worlds.
GameSetWatch: Plotting, Emergent Narratives, and ‘Story Spaces‘ Tom Cross explores how games abdicate authorship to redefine what a narrative actually is. Part 2 is here.
The Escapist: Designing Religion Alan Au examines how Sid Meier’s Civilization series has handled religious matters from game to game.
The Brainy Gamer: The Darkness Michael Abbott inspires me to revisit Starbreeze’s disturbingly well-conceived shooter.
Welcome to your Sunday reservoir of interesting writing about video games. Grab your reading jacket, a cup of coffee and get ready to exercise the brain.
Experience Points: Fires in Africa: Politics in Far Cry 2 Part One of an excellent essay. Part Two can be found here.
OffWorld: Milo and Kate, or Artificial People Are The New Games Jim Rossignol suggests that the future of games is “artificial life”.
Robin Burkinshaw: Alice And Kev Amazing visual diary of the lives of a homeless father and daughter in The Sims 3.
Click Nothing: Ethical Decision Making Ubisoft Montreal’s Clint Hocking stimulates a fascinating debate around how ethical dilemmas in games differ from those in other media.
Hit Self-Destruct: Prometheus Unlocked Anyone who writes – or wants to write – about games should read this and feel inspired. More »
