Why DayZ is the Greatest Social Experiment in Videogames

I hear a man’s voice crack in terror. There’s a rumbling sound as he tries to get his microphone into place before someone shoots. “Friendly!” He pleads. “Please don’t kill me. I have nothing.” A moment later, a player with

Flying Blind: A Plea to Reduce the HUD

As a boy, getting lost was a virtue. My father and I did it on purpose. When en route to a location free of time constraint, we would purposely turn down a foreign road and, from there, we would navigate

After Pressing Start: Dead Space

  Horror and terror sound like interchangeable words. If the marketing departments behind slasher films are to be asked, they both fill up a movie poster pretty well. But to Devandra Varma, a Himalayan-born expert scholar of gothic literature, the

Aiming for the Head in The Walking Dead

If you’ve ever spoken to an opinionated man in a vintage Night of the Living Dead shirt at a college party, you’ve likely had the concept that zombie movies aren’t really about the zombies firmly drilled into your head. For

Saints Row the Third: The Dystopian Science Fiction Story You Never Knew

There’s a man that owns half the city. He obtained it all – homes, shops, factories, an airport, and even a nuclear power plant – without a single hint of municipal scrutiny. It wasn’t under the table either, as the

Writing on the Wall: The Secret Messages of the Half-Life Universe

In 1981, a French graffiti artist named Blek the Rat coated Paris in stencil renditions of rats scampering about the city streets. They had no explanation, context, or detail beyond an outline. They were everywhere. Before the infamous Banksy followed