weekend reader
Regulars
The Importance Of Asking ‘Why’
6:00AM Owen Good | In film or literature, the creation of acclaimed work is sometimes attached to a personal event or reaction. “That doesn’t show up often in game development bios,” says one dev. Finding that “why” might save games from a “cultural ghetto”. 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 »
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 »
Regulars
Achievements, 100 Percent, And Games: Fun Or Compulsive Behavior?
5:00AM Owen Good | Finishing a bad or uninteresting book might feel like a chore, or at least unsatisfying, but it’s nothing like playing to the end of a game you don’t care for. Why do so many still choose to do this? More »
Features
Who’s Responsible For The $US60 Price Tag?
5:00AM Owen Good | Just how did we get to $US59.99 for the cost of a new game, anyway? Collusion? Happenstance? For a sector that mimics Hollywood’s studio model, the answer is about as simple—and clear—as why tickets cost $US10. 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 »
Culture
Alignment Error: Even Good Games Can Offer Bad Choices
4:00AM Owen Good | Few things mar a game, especially a role-playing game, like being sold on creating a complex, even unique character and then being presented with tendentiously noble or evil choices to build out that role. More »
Regulars
Too Much Work Or Not Enough Fun?
4:00AM Owen Good | In an essay for Gamasutra last week, academic Lewis Pulsipher mused that games have become so complex as to feel like work, and the stratification of hardcore and casual gamers puts games in a far less inclusive posture than other entertainment. More »
Culture
