Multiplayer, Multispeaker: How We Talk About Games

As editor of the second edition of “Critical Discourse” for Critical Distance (please hold your applause to the end) on Danger featuring Gita Jackson, Aevee Bee and Nick Dinicola, I was a part of another exciting letter series.1 I’ve never had any direct contact with Dinicola even though he is a colleague of mine at PopMatters but his work … Continue reading Multiplayer, Multispeaker: How We Talk About Games

Review: Dream

[Originally posted on PopMatters] HyperSloth describes Dream as a “Walking Simulator,” a term not universally appreciated among game critics,1 but still implies a certain kind of recognizable game. A walking simulator is deliberately slow, and it refrains from typical “gamey” conventions like objectives and challenges. A walking simulator is an introspective character study, the minimalist art … Continue reading Review: Dream

Review: Kyn

[Originally posted on PopMatters] As useful as it is to not judge a book by its cover, some covers simply reveal everything there is to know. Take a look at the cover of a Dungeons & Dragons manual and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect out of its contents. Similarly, looking at … Continue reading Review: Kyn

They Think They’re People: Domestication, Wildness and Personified Animals in Breath of Fire

[This piece was written as a part of Critical Distance‘s June 2015 Blogs of the Round Table feature] One day, a hero searching the wilderness (for a meal in a drought? for her missing sister?) stumbles upon a mysterious blue-haired boy. This boy is alien in two ways: he is stark naked and he is completely human. … Continue reading They Think They’re People: Domestication, Wildness and Personified Animals in Breath of Fire