criticism
News

Are Sports Video Games Worth Reviewing Any More?

Earlier this week I got several versions of a small talk question I always field this time of year: “I haven’t played Madden in X years. Should I buy it this year?”

17 July 2011

In Real Life

Metacritic Calls On Writers To Review More Shitty Games

Metacritic’s founder made a little bit of a stir earlier in the week when he went on the A Jumps B Shoots podcast to discuss a wide variety of topics, one of them being that game reviewers were obligated to “review all the shit,” not just good games or those expected to sell well. GamePro followed up for a clarification of his remarks.

23 May 2011

In Real Life

Reconsidering Mafia II In The Lights Of L.A.

In the runup to the game’s release last year, Mafia II‘s development studio and publicity team tried, with limited success, to set reasonable expectations of the game. “It isn’t Grand Theft Auto,” I was told, more than once, in emails and in the game’s review notes.

4 March 2011

PlayStation

Could You Rewrite Fight Night?

The concept behind Fight Night Champion’s narrative “Champion Mode” inspired me when I read of it. I looked forward to it as a breakthrough opportunity for the sports genre. But it served up a tray of disappointingly bland cookie-cut characters and conflicts, and the progression of your career was too short and too rigid. That doesn’t mean it was a bad idea.

31 December 2010

In Real Life

From The Mouths Of Babes, Withering Criticism

Tron: Legacy has been, at best, a critical disappointment. At worst, well, “a Dora the Explorer movie would be more interesting.” Who said that? The eight-year-old daughter of noted video game academic Ian Bogost.

11 November 2010

Objection! Video Game Criticism

Welcome to Objection! This is where we take the time to go on-depth on gaming issues, and let you guys continue the discussion in the comments section.

This time round we’re talking about Video Game criticism and the academic study of interactive games. To help us we’ve roped in Adam Ruch, a regular commenter on Kotaku and a PhD Candidate in Video Games Criticism. Are games worthy of serious study? And how should we be studying them? All this and more in Objection!

18 September 2010

News

First Reviews Hit Kmart Shelves, Policy Tweaked

Kmart’s new review policy, which places customer game reviews on their store shelves, recently went live with some important tweaks.

9 August 2010

In Real Life

Middle-Aged Writer Finally Tries Gaming

Nicholas Baker, author of Double Fold and a self-described “nontheistic Quaker”, is not a gamer. Before this past fall, he had never touched a video game controller until this past fall.

20 April 2010

Do Video Games Shape Who We Are?

Can video games have a Western canon?

19 April 2010

An Open Letter To Roger Ebert

Dear Mr. Ebert,

I’m writing regarding your recent post “Video games can never be art”. This of course is ground you have touched upon before. Your site is currently being inundated with comments from those eager to defend video games as art.

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