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My Last Princess: Women as Objects in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive.” Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess” (1842) *SPOILER WARNING* In the latest Legend of Zelda title, Link saves a total of nine people from the villain, Yuga. They are (in no particular order): Gulley, the blacksmith’s son and Link’s childhood friend Queen … Continue reading My Last Princess: Women as Objects in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

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The Narration and Abstraction of the Camera in Games

Quite a bit of early (or at least earlier) videogame criticism strove to prove videogame exceptionalism. Videogames had a gift, and it was called interactivity. And while the concept of interactivity eventually proved more suffocating than liberating, for a time it felt like videogames actually were unique and by playing them players actually were using … Continue reading The Narration and Abstraction of the Camera in Games

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Review: Aeon Command

[Originally posted on PopMatters] Aeon Command really shouldn’t work because there’s very little to it. But if there’s a lesson in Aeon Command’s design, it’s that it’s better to do one thing really well than many things just adequately. On the game’s official website, the developers boast that they wanted “to make a casual strategy game … Continue reading Review: Aeon Command