January-February Roundup: Healing
byWhy hello sunshine! You’re looking much better. I’m glad to see you on the mend. A little time and a lot of care seems to have done us all a lot of good. Maybe there’s a long way to go, but for…
March 5th
byThis past week has been full of thoughts, on beginnings and endings, and worth reflecting on before next week starts in earnest. Hopefully your weekend has treated you as gently it could, warming and preparing you for the coming week. Particularly for those…
Episode 43 – Think, Game, Love
byDirect Download In this episode, I interview the newly crowned Critical Distance 2016 Journalist of the Year, Heather Alexandra. Each new interviewee seems to bring some new aspect to the video criticism form. Heather Alexandra instead of jumping straight into video essays,…
February 26
byThis week’s roundup asks where violence fits in political discourse and how to care for yourself in a troubled environment. Interesting Times (Content Warning:discussions of violence and racism) Joking Matters YouTube’s Edgy Jokes Are Part Of A Bigger Debate In The Comedy…
The Critical Distance Awards 2017
byFor the past few years, at the end of the year we’ve awarded the “Blogger of the Year” title to a writer who has inspired and impressed us. This year, we decided to do things a little differently. Instead of nestling the award…
February 19th
byThis week, critics find different ways to talk about paranoia, fear, and comfort in relation to videogames. Imagine with me now I want to start with a little link to the roundup of Emilie Reed’s special event that wrapped up this week…
Visual Essay Jam roundup
byThe first Visual Essay Jam was held on itch.io over the weekend of February 10th-12th. In this short time, and only two weeks after I had come up with the idea in the first place, 25 visual essays were submitted, covering a…
February 12th
byIs ignorance bliss? What kind of things can we learn when we admit to truly knowing nothing at all? Games critics this week have been considering the problems of celebrating ignorance as well as the benefits of eschewing expertise. Getting lost First,…
Episode 42 – Great Levels, The Best Levels In Gaming
byDirect Download Our first interview of 2017 is with Great Levels in Gaming YouTube producer Max Barnyard. Like our previous interviewee, Max Barnyard focuses his criticism on specific elements of video games; in this case, the construction and purpose of exemplary level design….
February 6th
byA lot of games critics worry, understandably, that their work can’t address the problems that people face in the real world. Others have already started the work of politically-engaged games criticism long ago. This week there are lots of examples of the…