Confessions of a Skooma Eater

“Sheggorath, you are the Skooma Cat, for what is crazier than a cat on skooma?” -Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi   Khazura will now tell you about the moon sugar and its more potent derivative, skooma. For skooma is why

Gluttonous Punchlines in Table For One

Telling jokes in video games is difficult. Ron Gilbert – writer of Monkey Island, DeathSpank, and the upcoming The Cave – has spoken about the trouble with comedic timing in games. One of his key points is that due to

Review: The Real Texas

  There’s something to be said for truth in advertising. One of the goals of marketing is  to try and sell a product to as many people as possible. This is all well and good when someone is hawking laundry

After Pressing Start: Waking Up In Morrowind. Twice.

In the waning years of the Third Era of Tamriel, a prisoner born on a certain day to uncertain parents was sent under guard, without explanation, to Morrowind, ignorant of the role he was to play in that nation’s history…

The High Road to Relaxation: Finding Catharsis in Spider-Man’s Commute

Dweeby and unassuming, Peter Parker is as accommodating a character as you could ask for: a young, employed adult coping with the piling problems coupled to such statuses. He can’t help but wear every conceivable Ordinary Guy quality on his

Soundscapes – The Future of Virtual Surround

This is part three of a three part series, earlier we looked at the future of sound and music. Understanding the subtleties of how the brain perceives sound, and the real world concerns, such as what speakers or headphones you’re

The Road Fast Travelled: How Fast Travel Can Affect an Open-World

‘Somewhere ages and ages hence  Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by And that has made all the difference.’ Robert Frost – The Road Less Travelled Since the dawn of enlightened

After Pressing Start: How Rocksmith Reinvented the Syllabus

We all know what a syllabus is, right? The syllabus is the content of that first class you started to attend. It’s probably all you are going to do during the first week of school (so feel free to extend your vacations): to read over the summary of topics some council of elders decided the class should cover. This is the day you’ll find out when the tests are, what the teacher thinks about the students’ presence and the book he will force students to read.

Sadly, many teachers are satisfied by merely reading the syllabus. It’s a pity, for anyone can read the syllabus on their own. No use wasting the teacher’s time with that. What students need, however, is a taste. They need to glimpse the potential that class is going to bring if they apply themselves. This is particularly important given the scarcity of information available about a new class. During my time in college, we had the course’s name, a two-line description and that was it.

Well, fuck that! Let’s have Rocksmith show them how it’s done!

Campfire: Invading the Valley of Defilement in Demon's Souls

When we play games we assume we’ll be the ones saving the day, that we’ll be the hero. We hardly ever have to wonder if what we’re doing is actually wrong. When does the justice we dish out end and

Soundscapes – The Future of Music

Have we perfected sound yet? No, not by a long shot. We imagine that graphics will be “done” when we can create anything we can imagine without hitting a hardware limit. Whether it’s a perfect recreation of reality or whatever