[Originally posted on PopMatters] Toren opens with a clarity of purpose but a mystery of place that I haven’t experienced in a game since Shadow of the Colossus. Like Ico, Vagrant Story or, more recently, Journey and Dark Souls, it tells a complex story with space, light, and movement. Like Dreamfall and The Legend of Zelda, … Continue reading Toren and the Art of Mythmaking
When I was 12 my family drove south through Atlanta, Georgia. We never stopped, we just drove right through to see some family friends in Orlando. But of that week vacation what I remember most vividly is passing through Atlanta and looking up from the freeway at the myriad of lit up skyscrapers and just … Continue reading On Cities
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 PopMatters] I’ve saved a lot of worlds in over two decades of playing video games. It’s refreshing that modern games are more personal than ever and that they don’t have to lean on something as ostentatious as saving the world to get their point across. Still, I have to confess that I’m fond … Continue reading Natural Heroes: Inevitable Environmentalism in Games
In my most recent article I talked about heroism in video games and how few protagonists are forced into an undignified position (“Forced Failure and the Undignified Hero.” PopMatters. Jul 23 2012.). Arguing games as a literary media runs into a wall with the word “game.” A few years ago, Roger Ebert wrote an article … Continue reading Why More Games Need to Make us Fail
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