Roland Barthes’ “Death of the author” line of criticism has carried a lot of weight in videogame circles. In large part because it’s just an attractive, empowering theory. Barthes was a French literary critic writing in the 1960’s; a time when literary criticism—particularly from French authors—was a new, dynamic and popular discipline. In killing the … Continue reading From Game to Play: Roland Barthes, Videogames and Criticism
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Jake Rodkin, a developer and writer who worked on The Walking Dead: Season One, compared the much lauded series to Twine games at the Practice Conference in New York earlier this month, saying that “Walking Dead is basically the world’s most expensive Twine game.” The statement makes sense. As important as the … Continue reading Who Needs Interactivity?
Please go read my review of Hate Plus (PopMatters. Aug 28 2013) and (more importantly) go play Hate Plus (Love Conquers All Games. Hate Plus official website). Now that you’ve done those things, I’m going to write at a little more length about some of the things I discussed in my review. Hate Plus, I … Continue reading Thoughts on Hate Plus and Discovery
[Originally posted on The Border House] Sturgeon’s Law states that “90% of everything is crud.” If TvTropes is to be believed, there are a number of addendums to the law, such as: “if ever less than 90% of everything is crud than one needs to adjust their standards,” and “90% of people can’t distinguish crud from … Continue reading Sturgeon’s Law, Taste and RPG Maker
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Now that the summer’s triple A releases have come and gone, it is a good time to reflect on the last few months of big budget games. While Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, Remember Me, and The Last of Us have all hogged just about every homepage for the last four months—PopMatters’s Moving … Continue reading Why Firefly Should be a Videogame
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