guest editorial
News

Gamification Is Here To Stay (And It’s Not Bullshit)

Gamification is a polarising and divisive topic with many proponents and vocal sceptics and cynics. But it is not bullshit. Gamification is real and its benefits are tangible. Gamification is here to stay.

August 23, 2011
Nintendo

Never Count Nintendo Out

If there are any universal rules or golden constants by which the game industry is governed, one of them is surely this: Never count Nintendo out.

August 11, 2011
News

Gamification Is Bullshit

In his short treatise On Bullshit, the moral philosopher Harry Frankfurt gives us a useful theory of bullshit. We normally think of bullshit as a synonym-albeit a somewhat vulgar one-for lies or deceit. But Frankfurt argues that bullshit has nothing to do with truth.

August 10, 2011
News

What Games Have Changed

As a game maker and the co-president of Games for Change, I was thrilled to be invited by Kotaku to discuss some of the recent developments in the field of games for learning, health and social impact. Games for Change, founded in 2004, is a non-profit and a global advocate for games that have positive impact on our society.

August 2, 2011
News

Why Debates About Video Games Aren’t Really About Video Games

After the Supreme Court announced its decision regarding a California law that would have imposed state limitations on children’s access to certain video games, a deluge of reactions flooded the internet. A Google News search shows the variety of opinions, which range from celebration of video games’ affirmed first amendment rights to lamentations of the victory of violence and gore.

July 14, 2011
In Real Life

The 10 Best Moments In Pro-Gaming History

Competitive gaming and eSports are not a new phenomenon. The act of playing games for sport has been growing in popularity since the mid ’90s. From Doom 2 deathmatch, NetQuake and Descent, to Warcraft 2 on Kali, Diablo and Ultima Online PvP – to say nothing of going down to the local arcade to spend your quarters and wait your turn on Street Fighter 2 – people have loved playing each other in video games.

June 30, 2011
Xbox

I Waited A Decade For A Game That Moved Me Like Rez

I’d played games avidly since I could manipulate keys on a keyboard, with the same ferocity of concentration that I’d read all the books in my parents’ house. I read everything from Agatha Christie’s endless novels to “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”.

March 16, 2011
PC

If You Play Multiplayer Games Online, You’re Doing It Wrong

I am so sick of online multiplayer. I swear, if I get trolled by one more 13-year-old kid or get a flirt from some dude pretending to be a girl, I’m gonna lose my shit.

December 24, 2010
In Real Life

Giving Your Loved One A Wii This Christmas? A Piece Of Congo’s War Zone May Be Inside

Conflict minerals from eastern Congo’s war zone will be in our holiday gift stockings this year in our smartphones, flatscreen TVs, and video game systems, but is there any difference among the companies that make them?

November 30, 2010

The Problem With Sex As A Video Game Goal

As you thumb through dialogue trees in Mass Effect, trying to find the best lines to seduce slinky space-warrior Ashley, you’re engaging in what the developers hope is an advanced form of simulated human interaction.

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