Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review 
Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant Danish company Monstrum may sound terrifying, but they do amazing work, building children’s playgrounds across Europe that look more like fantasy arenas than the dirty old contraptions most of us grew up with.
It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one blown away by Wired Magazine on the iPad. John Abell, New York bureau chief of Conde Naste, notes on Twitter that 24,000 copies of the e-mag were sold in the first 24 hours. Check it out, you deserve it.
[This essay was given as a talk at SUNY Buffalo, 28 January 2010, the day after Howard Zinn's death. I have left the text unaltered, to better reflect the spirit of the talk.]
Who would have thought that this late in the console’s life cycle that a PlayStation 2 game would make the cover of a major gaming publication? The latest issue of Play magazine features Atlus’ upcoming RPG Persona 4, with a whole slew of special Shin Megami Tensei-themed features packed inside. It’s really an odd sight to see, especially considering the other games listed in the top-right corner of the cover – Afro Samurai, Mirror’s Edge, Resistance 2, Sonic Unleashed, and Prince of Persia – all big name, current generation titles.
And you thought you played games to have fun — Steven Poole has a lengthy essay trying to prove you wrong. We’re working — working for the (video game) man, man. I must confess that even if we’re on a literal or figurative rat race when it comes to ‘working’ in games (I am, after all, a passionate fan of the Harvest Moon series, which is unabashedly obvious about the necessity of work), I still find much of it fun. Still, despite the wet blanket overtones, Poole’s essay is thoughtful and makes some interesting point. Is it really just about following orders?:
The editor of Play magazine, Dave Halverson, has some harsh words for anyone who scored Sega’s Golden Axe: Beast Rider below a 7 out of 10: “Be wary. The majority of these people (can’t call them critics) either didn’t complete a fraction of the game, don’t understand game design, or just plain suck at games.” At last check, all outlets but Play have reviewed the game well below Play’s 9 out of 10 — the GameRankings average is currently at 44%. Halverson derides these “sad reviews” as an “ever pervasive sign of the times.”
