[Originally posted on PopMatters] The more that I approach games critically, the less interested that I am in distinguishing good games from bad ones. A major complaint of the last console generation is that games cost too much to develop and that they cost too much to play (Kohler, Chris. “Videogames Can’t Afford to Cost This … Continue reading How Bad Games Can be Good
“Human sperm cells were seen with the earliest microscopes in the seventeenth century. The human egg is several thousand times larger, but — despite earlier postulates — it was not visualized until 1827. […] For something to be found, it must first be imagined and sought.” (Duffin, Jacalyn. A History of Medicine, (Toronto, ON: Toronto … Continue reading It’s a Man’s World: The Implications of Makeup in Mass Effect
Most games give their player an avatar. The avatar is the player’s body inside the fiction. Obviously, games move because of their audience: players don’t follow a protagonist, the story progresses only in response to the actions of the player’s virtual body. In essence the player’s body, the avatar, becomes the fiction’s narrator in that … Continue reading The Narration and Abstraction of Bodies in Games
This week, Mike Joffe at Video Games of the Oppressed has been proposing a number of games to play within other games. A number of his games have been based in retro console RPGs like Pokemon and Earthbound. The proposed games make for interesting opportunities to personalize experiences that are generally pretty consistent from player … Continue reading Meta-Game Fan Fiction
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Early this month, Ben Serviss wrote about the effective subtext inParticle Mace (”Particle Mace: The Space Game About Selflessness.” Dash Jump. Jan 9 2014.). In his article, Serviss argues that in being simplified to a single mechanic (avoid environmental dangers), Particle Mace emphasizes an awareness of the game’s environment, not on the player’s avatar, and … Continue reading Mechanical Marrow: The Strength of Simple Games
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