I have mixed feelings on Game of Thrones. After watching the first season I wavered back and forth before ultimately deciding I liked it. The book was about 600 pages too long and it lacks the flow and coherence of the show, but what George R.R. Martin couldn’t do on his own, HBO managed to … Continue reading The Dark Ages and the Unromance of Game of Thrones
A week or two ago I finished playing Resonance for review.1 It’s a neat little adventure indie game with some retro charm, some effective self-deprecating humour and a couple of pleasant puzzles to help a clichéd but well executed plot go down. However, it got me thinking about adventure games as a whole. While I’m … Continue reading Adventure Games: a flawed genre?
[Originally posted on Joystick Division] The stealth game is something that often works much better in theory than in practice. The tense atmosphere and clever strategy can be dashed to the ground by a glitching spotlight or a guard’s inability to see past fifteen feet. There are very few games that can thread that needle successfully. … Continue reading Voyeurism in Stealth Games
[Originally posted on Joystick Division] Have you ever had any interest in sharing video games with someone? For those that haven’t grown up with them, video games are a completely foreign and unapproachable beast. Even those that want to see games as legitimate can’t because, for whatever reason, some people just can’t play them. Games … Continue reading Horror Games As Shared Experiences
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Mr. Bleszinski, First, congratulations on the conclusion of the Gears of War series. As someone who has shared more than a few toasts of rum and coke with the esteemed series, I can honestly say that it’s been a great run from start to finish. However, I was a little taken … Continue reading An Open Letter to Cliff Bleszinski Following the Release of Gears of War 3
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Last week, G. Christopher Williams wrote an article explaining that games may not be art1 because the interactivity of games mutates the relationship between audience and work. The essay speaks better for itself than I ever could but an interesting point that came up was that those arguing games are “just … Continue reading League of Legends Is “Just a Game”
