The Campfire presents: The Nutcracker

The Campfire is a new column where we regale you with tales of our video game adventures. This is a story about a Spartan getting shot in the testicles.

Team snipers.

How I loathed this gametype lurking within the team slayer playlist of Halo 3’s matchmaking. Even though 90% of the time I would get to play something fun, occasionally I had to subject myself to this riff raff to avoid getting down-ranked for quitting a game. I prefer beating my opponent’s stupid face in with the butt of my gun(*) to staying in one spot and scanning the area for anyone foolish enough to walk into the open. This was not going to be my idea of a good time and certainly was not a pleasant way to introduce my friend sitting next to me (logged in as a guest) to online-multiplayer in a first-person shooter.

Feedback Loop: When Rape is Just a Game

I have always been especially sympathetic to parody, satire, and general irreverence. I’m skeptical of authority and find tradition and convention extremely dubious. And when topics are off-limits or taboo, the benefits to silencing discourse rarely makeup for what’s lost

What Does It Mean For Video Games to be Smart?

In recent weeks the argument was put forth that most games are dumb. Writing for the Atlantic, gamer and author Taylor Clark provided an in-depth profile on indie video game creator Jonathan Blow. In so many words, both Clark and

Stifling the medium

The tall poppy syndrome is a pejorative commonly used in Australia to describe the social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are criticized for being exactly that. It’s a ridiculous societal response that encourages people to censor their achievements

After Pressing Start: Dragon Quest IV Chapters of the Chosen

When the world is falling into despair, the Hero is always ready to catch it. The Villain will inevitably have a head start but the Hero’s accelerated growth will always save the day in the nick of time. Heroes rise

Golf and godhood

There is a God and He is in a golf game. You won’t find Him at first, though. Much like the various religions that portray Him, His existence transcends human understanding. He is behind every drive, chip, and putt in

Serving the douche: When usability trumps character

Oh, I have a partner in this game? Wonderful! You take this, and this, and this, oh I might need this, but take this…. Partners in video games have it rough. They’ve been shafted ever since the palette-swapped Luigi. From

The zoology of Dragon Quest IX

I have a confession to make: I have an undying love for the palette-swapped monsters in Dragon Quest IX. The monsters are cute, for starters, devoid of the baroque stylings of their Final Fantasy brethren, and they’ve made a consistent

To the end (and back again) – Endless play in Nidhogg

If you were to trace my interest in video game endings over time, the graph would resemble a cascading wave of disinterest. I came into the gaming landscape at an age where my heightened sense of imagination was paired with

Fear and Loathing in the DC Smithsonian

“What is this generation’s Pac-Man?” It’s a question posed to my associate and I during a late night smoking cigarettes outside of the Washington Hilton, asked by a short, sunglasses-clad African-American in his late twenties. I previously told him I was