"Where is all the good writing about games?"
Discussion about guns and unionization looms large in games criticism this week. This roundup features the most important writing on these topics and more – but first, I want to bring your attention to something special that we published this week. Dark…
Zoya is 20,000 ft in the air on a plane flight at the moment, so you’re stuck with me as your stand in for this week. This is This Week In Videogame Blogging! Guns Videogames are once again the ever present deflection…
Responses to the Trump administration’s meeting to discuss links between videogames and violence feature prominently This Week in Videogame Blogging – but this roundup starts with some art history. Bad art Two Unwinnable articles this week argue for aesthetic reclamations of bad…
Games critics are always exploring new ways to talk about digital media, be it genre, narrative structure, architecture or the material thinginess of computers themselves. The latest This Week in Videogame Blogging features artists, journalists, and historians trying out new perspectives on…
This week, critical writers in games were moved by the final moments of Demon’s Souls, disturbed by the empty lives of non-player characters, and concerned by xenophobic portrayals of history. We round up the most original writing of the week in the…
What kind of people do we want to be? What kinds of people do we become when we play games? And how are our gameplay experiences shaped by who we already are? This week, critics, journalists, and video essayists discussed morality, identity,…
Does it matter what console you play a game on? This week a number of writers look at the significance of platforms and ports, and how games deal with their cultural context. This roundup starts with reports on the conditions in which…
How can interactive systems subvert the way we normally think things are supposed to be done? This week’s roundup features a number of articles on designing games for different ways of being, as well as examinations of how visual design can make…
In this week’s roundup of the latest critical writing on games, critics delve into fantasy worlds and explore unrealities, bringing back insights into how fiction and truth intersect. Brains First, two critics use ideas from psychology to look at how games affect…
This week, critics discussed topics such as trans representation and the politics of the undead in horror and strategy games. This week’s roundup starts, however, with writers bearing witness to excellent visual artists. Image The passing of a celebrated artist prompts some…