Love Interest: Arianna Bell-Essai, the Teacher's Vixen

Every Sunday, Mattie Brice picks a date from a visual novel and breaks down how they represent culture’s expression of sexuality. Today she talks about her time with Arianna Bell-Essai from Christine Love’s Don’t take it personally, babe, it just

/ 8 Comments

Love Interest: Arianna Bell-Essai, the Teacher's Vixen

Every Sunday, Mattie Brice picks a date from a visual novel and breaks down how they represent culture’s expression of sexuality. Today she talks about her time with Arianna Bell-Essai from Christine Love’s Don’t take it personally, babe, it just

/ 8 Comments

Naughty Dog vs. Audience Expectations

Note: This article contains story spoilers for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was, to put it mildly, pretty well-received. Less known for innovating and more known for wrapping all the elements of its gameplay and narrative into

/ 12 Comments

Naughty Dog vs. Audience Expectations

Note: This article contains story spoilers for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was, to put it mildly, pretty well-received. Less known for innovating and more known for wrapping all the elements of its gameplay and narrative into

/ 12 Comments

Soundscapes: The role of music and how Portal 2 failed

In an episode of the podcast Irrational Interviews Guillermo del Toro and Ken Levine both agreed that 50% of any story is context. A critical component of establishing context is music. Whether the music is calm, excited or if it’s

/ Comments Off on Soundscapes: The role of music and how Portal 2 failed

Soundscapes: The role of music and how Portal 2 failed

In an episode of the podcast Irrational Interviews Guillermo del Toro and Ken Levine both agreed that 50% of any story is context. A critical component of establishing context is music. Whether the music is calm, excited or if it’s

/ Comments Off on Soundscapes: The role of music and how Portal 2 failed

Pokemon and samurai collide in Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition [UPDATE]

CoroCoro magazine recently teased the reveal of a brand new, “shocking” Pokemon title to be revealed in their January 2012 issue.  Turns out Jump Festa had other plans, seeing as they decided to showcase the game early.There is a chance

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Pokemon and samurai collide in Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition [UPDATE]

CoroCoro magazine recently teased the reveal of a brand new, “shocking” Pokemon title to be revealed in their January 2012 issue.  Turns out Jump Festa had other plans, seeing as they decided to showcase the game early.There is a chance

/ One Comment

Let me play: 7 issues with racing games

Recently I’ve been taking a crash course in the racing game genre. I’ve gone through over half a dozen titles from the current generation already. I understand that the genre can be a niche, especially with some of the hard

/ 5 Comments

Let me play: 7 issues with racing games

Recently I’ve been taking a crash course in the racing game genre. I’ve gone through over half a dozen titles from the current generation already. I understand that the genre can be a niche, especially with some of the hard

/ 5 Comments

Star Wars Galaxies is no more

It’s the end of an era. The once mighty MMORPG that allowed you to essentially live in the Star Wars universe has come to an end. The servers have been shut down permanently, ending SOE’s contract with Lucasarts. Honestly, I’m

/ One Comment

Star Wars Galaxies is no more

It’s the end of an era. The once mighty MMORPG that allowed you to essentially live in the Star Wars universe has come to an end. The servers have been shut down permanently, ending SOE’s contract with Lucasarts. Honestly, I’m

/ One Comment

No more surprises

Pokemon Blue may in fact be one of the most influential games of my childhood. It is a series that has worked hard to create a massive world of its own inhabited by fascinating creatures known as Pokemon. As a

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No more surprises

Pokemon Blue may in fact be one of the most influential games of my childhood. It is a series that has worked hard to create a massive world of its own inhabited by fascinating creatures known as Pokemon. As a

/ Comments Off on No more surprises

Faith in Final Fantasy

Let me tell you why the recently released soundtrack to Final Fantasy XIII-2, featuring an incredibly awkward not quite death metal cover of the Chocobo song and an even more awkward rap song than Iwatodai Station from Persona 3, worse

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Faith in Final Fantasy

Let me tell you why the recently released soundtrack to Final Fantasy XIII-2, featuring an incredibly awkward not quite death metal cover of the Chocobo song and an even more awkward rap song than Iwatodai Station from Persona 3, worse

/ Comments Off on Faith in Final Fantasy

After Skyward Sword the Legend of Zelda 'cannot go back to button controls'

The motion controls tailored for the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword were generally well received, but not everyone was happy with them. Bad news for them, Nintendo plans on sticking with these controls for generations to come! “I honestly think

/ 4 Comments

After Skyward Sword the Legend of Zelda 'cannot go back to button controls'

The motion controls tailored for the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword were generally well received, but not everyone was happy with them. Bad news for them, Nintendo plans on sticking with these controls for generations to come! “I honestly think

/ 4 Comments

How You Got Videogames Wrong #2: The Vanity Glitch

Pissing you off in installments, the monthly series “How You Got Videogames Wrong” delves beyond appearances into the slimy interior of The God’s Truth (about videogames).  This month we’ll be looking at videogame culture’s heavy, though not altogether unhealthy, reliance

/ 7 Comments

How You Got Videogames Wrong #2: The Vanity Glitch

Pissing you off in installments, the monthly series “How You Got Videogames Wrong” delves beyond appearances into the slimy interior of The God’s Truth (about videogames).  This month we’ll be looking at videogame culture’s heavy, though not altogether unhealthy, reliance

/ 7 Comments