"Where is all the good writing about games?"
…Uprooting Time | Unwinnable Phoenix Simms leans into the liminality of time and faerie in examining one of From Software’s more obscure–and inaccessible–artifacts.
“The multi-layered realities in Slayers X as well as Hypnospace Outlaw represent the struggle with navigating online authenticity. You can spend so much time and effort online accusing things of being ‘real’ or ‘fake’ and in doing so completely miss how perspective…
Links updated June 29th 2017
Welcome to another exciting instalment of This Week In Videogame Blogging. Before we dive in, I should probably explain how I go about compiling this list of the best stuff from around the blogosphere from the week. It goes something like this:
I have a Word document. When I read something on a blog that I think is worth noting, I copy and paste the URL into the document. That’s it. The downside is I only have so many blogs in my RSS feed and I can’t cover them all. When I
…
…and I find the simulacra of games representing the boring parts of everyday experiences to be oddly compelling at times. Games should be fun? No! Games should be boring!
We give thanks for our good fortune at not being the Eurogamer reviewer Ed Zitron. This week he played an indeterminate amount of the Indie MMO “Darkfall Online”, leveling some pretty harsh criticism at it and awarding it a 2/10 score. The developers got angry, claimed that he didn’t use his press account for more than, at best, two hours (hardly enough to review any game, let alone an MMO,…
…how the context in which he originally uttered them – a casual interview – became lost as online readers decided to read Croal’s comments as an accusation of racism on the part of Capcom, which wasn’t exactly the point he was trying to make.
Hit Self-Destruct writes about the confluence of Game and Real Life in ‘Photo Album‘. Duncan tells how he empathised particularly strongly with the protagonist in one particular situation in Mass Effect because it mirrored his own.
The ‘Gameology’ blog has been around for a long time now, but posting had fallen off recently. Being…
…worse as more developing nations get online and start buying games they can afford.
Adrian Werner of ‘Reasons Why It’s Good to be a PC Gamer’ talks about the uproar around Fez’s announcement as an XBLA exclusive. His point is basically that “we have to get rid of the “indie game = PC game” mentality as much as we hate to do so.” A good and timely read.
Michael Clarkson is a busy, busy man, but he apparently still finds time to blog occasionally. This week he talks about how narrative finds its way into Sid Meier’s Alpha…
…me in light of all the thinking that’s going into game stories and player created vs. designer authored stories at the moment. The author wonders, “…is this a brave new world for writers who game? Or will it remain a geeky subculture for gamers who write?” That’s a very good question, and one I am personally more than a little interested in seeing the outcome.
If you caught last week’s TWIVGB, you may well have observed that GM Backlash’s tales from the early days of Ultima Online were one of the must-read pieces of the week. To the delight…
…
Jim Rossignol writes at length for Rock, Paper, Shotgun about the recently published book ‘Game Addiction’ and why, despite some initial reservations, it seems like a solid book.
Chris Dahlen, a bit of a chronic freelancer, has been without a regular home for some time. As of this week he now has a new column at Edge Online. If they are all this good, we’re in for a treat. He starts by examining the threesome potential in Overlord II and why their approach is actually a somewhat tasteful and mature one. He says,
That man (or
…
…help of PR folks.
Chris Dahlen is back with his Edge Online column this week, talking about games, how we communicate with mars, and the chances of ever paying WoW on the Red Planet.
Jim Rossignol writes a good ol’ Love Letter to the Personal Jetpack for his Offworld column.
David Wildgoose writes about his first hour with Ashes Cricket 2009, and it’s remarkable for his ability to turn it into an interesting enough tale. Cricket is a bit hit and miss when it comes to the real thing, and doubly so for computer games based…
…ten years of summer blockbusters. Says Jeffries, “They already have video games where I can smash an entire skyscraper, why would I want to watch someone else essentially play a game in front of me?” Why indeed.
I don’t really need to add more than a link and the title to this one: “My Favourite Part of WWII was the Zombies” by Hard Casual.
Touché, Bitches writes about the rise of Game Criticism/Journalism online and how Web 2.0 is (potentially) raising standards of print gaming journalism. Anecdotally, I’d say this is probably a true reflection: one only needs…
…design of game consoles has been vastly underestimated. It seems that console designers, being fans of technology, have tended to assume that their console would naturally be the center- and conversation piece of whatever living room they were placed in. The original PlayStation 3 was probably the worst offender of all time: huge, and with a curved top, signaling that no matter, this had to be the shiny object on top of whatever stack of devices that the consumer might have.
This week Eve Online saw it’s biggest player run in-game bank freeze assets in an attempt to…