I’ve been dreaming for a while now of picking up a PS2 game I already own, putting it in my pS3 and having it work. Ever since my launch PS3 did that’s been totally out of the question, so I guess I’ll have to settle for the next best thing. More »
Shinji Mikami is responsible for one of the most successful game franchises ever, horror series Resident Evil. It’s not just the games that are scary. Mikami’s own childhood sounds horrific. More »
My current least favourite part of the modern video game is when it tells me to stop having fun for a few minutes so I can think about something. More »
Cult hit God Hand was one of the last titles released by Capcom’s now-shuttered-subsidiary Clover Studio. Shinji Mikami, creator of Resident Evil, designed the game. He now has regrets. More »
Sometimes, one gamer’s flaw is another’s feature. Even the highest-rated games aren’t always perfect – but what determines the flaws we’ll tolerate versus the ones we can’t forgive? It all depends on why you play games. More »
Kieron Gillen has a nice meditation on difficulty and games over at the Escapist: where do you find it these days? Gillen opines that real difficulty, something “balanced expertly on the precipice between hard and unfair” (like his example of God Hand), is increasingly pushed towards the edges. As the rules of the economic game have changed, many titles are forced to balance challenge with “completability,” with the balance being skewed towards easy (or ‘easier):
