.Hack: Falling through the happily ever after
(Warning: .Hack games series spoilers) You started off as a newbie player. Just as it happened, the character you created happened to be special, and with that you were given this fate to be a saviour. You formed your
.Hack: Falling through the happily ever after
(Warning: .Hack games series spoilers) You started off as a newbie player. Just as it happened, the character you created happened to be special, and with that you were given this fate to be a saviour. You formed your
Fans, Capitalism, and Mass Effect 3’s Ending. Oh My.
How can something like this happen? My finger begins to cramp from scrolling through all the screaming and virtual facepalming over the Mass Effect 3 ending debacle on Twitter. I eventually felt pressured to race through the game just to
Fans, Capitalism, and Mass Effect 3’s Ending. Oh My.
How can something like this happen? My finger begins to cramp from scrolling through all the screaming and virtual facepalming over the Mass Effect 3 ending debacle on Twitter. I eventually felt pressured to race through the game just to
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
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
In defence of Vanille's accent
Here’s the audio version I have narrated. Yes, this different, but equally messy accent do exist in real life/ (Spoiler warning: Final Fantasy XIII and Black Swan) As someone well primed to North American accents through entertainment, and Australian accent
In defence of Vanille's accent
Here’s the audio version I have narrated. Yes, this different, but equally messy accent do exist in real life/ (Spoiler warning: Final Fantasy XIII and Black Swan) As someone well primed to North American accents through entertainment, and Australian accent
BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY and the douchebag in all of us
It’s late in Arkham Asylum. Dawn will break soon and it seems like the nightmare Joker would unleash onto Gotham was averted. The game is about to end, but, before it does, a call about Two-Face is overheard on the radio. It seems Batman: Arkham Asylum is all but over for Commissioner Gordon, you and me. But not Batman. He flies off to handle another crisis in Gotham City. He must endure. The game offers us a taste of what it is like being Bats, but just a taste. What that ending says is that never truly became him. His martyrdom must continue after the credits rolls.
Sometime after the first game, mayor Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham, together with the help of Dr. Hugo Strange, reallocated all criminals to a closed-off area in Gotham City and named that new prison Arkham City. The developer’s goal in doing this is pretty straight forward: to finally get the full experience of being Batman, as he scours the city for criminal activity.
In doing so, what they have managed to do was to corrupt all that understanding of what it means to be Batman that was so well-crafted in the first game. Batman is no longer a hero. He is a “video game hero”, with all game manias that entails.
BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY and the douchebag in all of us
It’s late in Arkham Asylum. Dawn will break soon and it seems like the nightmare Joker would unleash onto Gotham was averted. The game is about to end, but, before it does, a call about Two-Face is overheard on the radio. It seems Batman: Arkham Asylum is all but over for Commissioner Gordon, you and me. But not Batman. He flies off to handle another crisis in Gotham City. He must endure. The game offers us a taste of what it is like being Bats, but just a taste. What that ending says is that never truly became him. His martyrdom must continue after the credits rolls.
Sometime after the first game, mayor Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham, together with the help of Dr. Hugo Strange, reallocated all criminals to a closed-off area in Gotham City and named that new prison Arkham City. The developer’s goal in doing this is pretty straight forward: to finally get the full experience of being Batman, as he scours the city for criminal activity.
In doing so, what they have managed to do was to corrupt all that understanding of what it means to be Batman that was so well-crafted in the first game. Batman is no longer a hero. He is a “video game hero”, with all game manias that entails.
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
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
The Artist: A Conversation with Cart Life's Richard Hofmeier
“There are three classic semantic problems. The worst one is art.” On paper, this sounds like the beginnings of a dry lecture from Linguistics 101, but Richard Hofmeier delivers it with such earnest enthusiasm that I can’t help but lean
The Artist: A Conversation with Cart Life's Richard Hofmeier
“There are three classic semantic problems. The worst one is art.” On paper, this sounds like the beginnings of a dry lecture from Linguistics 101, but Richard Hofmeier delivers it with such earnest enthusiasm that I can’t help but lean
After Pressing Start: Halo CE
Halo: Combat Evolved, the FPS made by Bungie, starts you off with a cinematic in outer space showing people you don’t know, talking about things you don’t understand. That’s okay, though. You’ll figure it out soon enough. The important thing
After Pressing Start: Halo CE
Halo: Combat Evolved, the FPS made by Bungie, starts you off with a cinematic in outer space showing people you don’t know, talking about things you don’t understand. That’s okay, though. You’ll figure it out soon enough. The important thing
Review: Rise of the Video Game Zinesters
This is the sort of review to begin with a description of myself, the reader: I am a 24-32 year old white, heterosexual male who comes from a very liberal background (I live in the Portland, Oregon of the East,
Review: Rise of the Video Game Zinesters
This is the sort of review to begin with a description of myself, the reader: I am a 24-32 year old white, heterosexual male who comes from a very liberal background (I live in the Portland, Oregon of the East,
Death and Storytelling
One of the distinguishing – though not universal – features of playing games is that you die. The natural phrase people use – even small kids who’ve not learned it via experience – is to say “I died,” not “Mario
Death and Storytelling
One of the distinguishing – though not universal – features of playing games is that you die. The natural phrase people use – even small kids who’ve not learned it via experience – is to say “I died,” not “Mario