[Originally posted on PopMatters] Being a woman in a video game would not be easy. There’s not a single decent, complete set of armor in the world that fits properly. Your mammary glands swell until you’re so top heavy that your skeleton may well warp. There’s plenty that’s already been said about how women are … Continue reading Passivity and Women in Games
[Originally posted on PopMatters] On May 20 of 2010, Pablo Picasso’s painting, Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois (The Pigeon with the Peas)—along with a handful of other paintings—was stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern art. The work of art, now destroyed, no longer exists. For visual art and even literature, there is usually a … Continue reading Video Games and the Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction
[Originally posted on Joystick Division] My TV stand is proudly lined with every console I’ve ever owned. At least one from every console generation. Beside the stand is a five foot tall cabinet chronicling my 24 years of gaming. Titles range from cult classics, obscure genre-benders and hilarious misfires. My collection might not be the … Continue reading The Sanctity Of The Cartridge
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Even accounting for the nostalgia bias and the changing trends since Final Fantasy VII’s release in 1997, Cloud Strife is still an exceptionally multifaceted character. Of course, there is no one true measure of quality of characters (in games or otherwise) but at the very least, Cloud is one of the … Continue reading A Profile of Cloud Strife
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Recently, the University of Queensland conducted a study on the dehumanizing effects of violent video games.1 The study (accepted for publication but not yet edited or published) has already made its way into the news, and the predictable outcries of “I knew it along” or “this study is garbage” have already begun … Continue reading Violence Without Meaning in Games
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