discussion
Culture
Cooperative Multiplayer With The Devil You Don’t Know
6:00AM Owen Good | New Super Mario Bros. Wii released a week ago, and even its light-hearted cartoon environment and four-player cooperative mode still manage to bring out the worst in multiplayer behaviour – if you don’t know your partner, that is. More »
Culture
The Meta-Narrative That Pulls Back The Curtain For All Games
6:00AM Owen Good | Was GLaDOS, the artificial intelligence in 2007’s critically acclaimed Portal, in fact a game designer? And if so, what does our relationship to the computer, and its abuse of our trust, say about the other games we play? More »
Culture
Industry Types Confess The Evil Deeds They’ve Done (in Games)
7:00AM Owen Good | What’s the most cruel, unfair, downright evil thing you’ve done in a game? Bitmob polled some industry types with the question. Hal Halpin was a real jerk in Mario Kart 64; Todd Howard created a suicide squad in X-Com. More »
Regulars
Why Games Should Have A Few More Senior Moments
5:00AM Owen Good | In video games, senior citizens are largely stereotyped NPCs. Rare is the kind of game like Metal Gear Solid 4, with a truly aged, playable protagonist. Can games create more roles for the elderly? Should they? More »
Regulars
Forced To Strip: How Games Might Teach Us More About Sex
5:00AM Owen Good | The upcoming Heavy Rain features a sequence in which its female protagonist is forced to strip for a disgusting mob boss. It’s sex but it’s not sexy, and it moves the needle for games teaching us to differentiate the two. More »
Culture
Manual Instruction: Two Types Of Learning In Game Tutorials
4:00AM Owen Good | Who reads instruction manuals any more? These days even the most complex console game arrives with just a 16-page booklet. Increasingly, we rely on in-game tutorials, and the two modes of learning they promote both have their benefits — and drawbacks. More »
Features
Discussing A Dangerous Game — For Girls
7:00AM Owen Good | Another new concept we’re trying out for our expanded weekend coverage is the Weekend Reader, where we excerpt a well-written long-form piece on a subject in gaming and invite readers to discuss it. More »
Culture
What Would You Show to Someone Who’s Never Seen a Game?
2:00AM Owen Good | As some of you know, I’m living with my grandfather for the near term, because he’s 86 and needs some assistance, and the companionship’s good for him. But he keeps asking me about video games. More »
News
