Search Results for:

%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD %EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD %EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD %EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD %EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD %EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD %EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD insta---batmanapollo

June 2020

…laws have come into effect and irrevocably curtailed the freedom of its citizens, a third of Bangladesh is currently under water, and globally there are almost twice as many (~15 million) recorded covid-19 cases as there were a month ago (~8.5 million). I can only imagine what next month will look like.

Also, despite the continual slipping from view of the many ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, apparently the US now has a gestapo? Anyway:

  • Donate to The Bail Project
  • Donate to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
  • Hire Black Game Developers

…

Sonic the Hedgehog

…interior that can be actively inhabited, filled up. Sonic is all surface and attitude, a style to be passively performed. It’s the difference between playing and being played.

Sonic had explicit messages of attitude and political ideas in the creation of his character, something very different from contemporary Mario. Jack Grimes argues:

Sonic the Hedgehog is, at its (his?) core, a game about radical climate action. Not content to try voting away the destruction brought on by Robotnik’s capitalist means, Sonic takes to occupation and sabotage. He doesn’t stay home and buy a more efficient car…

August 1st

…

  • Tower Of Druaga [1984] – Arcade Idea Art Maybury positions Tower of Druaga at an influential crossroads between many different genres, trends, platforms, and media.

    • “it’s the hybridized synthesis of instant-gratification arcade games and longer-lasting computer games, which is the traditional territory of the console game since Adventure [1980]. Some would argue it wouldn’t find its proper home until it hit the Famicom. Tower Of Druaga being spiritually a console game in the arcade (and Pac-Land [1984] too) feels indicative of a change in the weather, maybe even a passing of the torch.”

    Story…

    July 2020

    …

    PostMesmeric waxes lyrical about the importance of Hotline Miami’s soundtrack to the effectiveness of the game’s focus-driven play and unsettling aesthetic. (Manual captions) [Note: spoilers for Hotline Miami]

    • Found Footage In Horror Gaming – The Checkpoints Show (12:47)

      The Checkpoints Show traces the use of “found footage” effects in videogames from its longer prior history of similar techniques in films and novels. (Autocaptions) [Note: flashing lights]

    • Grand Theft Auto V: Does “Dissonance” Even Matter? – Writing on Games

      Hamish weighs up the contrasting player experiences of ‘dissonance’ in Grand Theft Autos IV and

      …

    Dishonored

    …the history but is “by no means the originator of the ‘play your own way’ premise…”

    The flexibility inherent to Dishonored also makes it a funny (hag)fish to nail down. The original game is filed away under the action adventure genre, although later instalments have been listed as FPS, Assassin, Supernatural and Stealth games, without really changing the formula. Adam Biessener for Game Informer describes its chimeric qualities best; how expectations, even when it came to what genre the game was, were “unshackled”:

    It’s a game about assassination where you don’t have to kill anyone. It’s a

    …

    October 4th

    …Taco Bell potato tacos, cannot be convinced that these men are hot in my head. Could it be because all the men who look like this growing up in my state were also cops?”

    Critical Chaser & Knuckles

    It’s a double-stuff week for our concluding art/humour/feel-good segment. Enjoy some poetry.

    • A Short Piece | Videodame Rachel Tanner, A Short Hike.
    • Game Enjambment: Lava Reef Cooldown | Sidequest Katherine Quevedo, Sonic & Knuckles.

    “your temper, like Lava Reef Zone Act 1 my heated response our words of ruthless rock, tyrant lava I…

    October 11th

    …are not even options, is effortful, even difficult. In moon‘s metaphysics of love, it is literally something that has to be practised to gradually facilitate your movement through the world. But this difficult love also allows a representation of love in all of its strangeness. It’s the comparative emotional ease of a lot of non-violent or wholesome games that doesn’t really work for me, games where the right choices are distinct or there’s no wrong choices at all, settings where you integrate yourself into or bring about a perfect harmony, worlds where love can never truly touch or surprise in…

    October 18th

    …still pulsating to an unknown rhythm against an expanse of broken information. This was all made so much worse by the way Sonic helplessly fell through this chaos the instant the level began, the debris of leftover code flashing before my eyes as he plunged into the water below (of course the sodding water would still work) and died as soon as he touched the bottom of the screen.”

    Embodied Play

    We’ve got two selections this week reflecting on the bodies that are included and excluded in games, and the barriers that exist for some players on…

    Malath Abbas | Keywords in Play, Episode 7

    https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/download/v9iay8/malath-abbas-complete.mp3 Download “Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association.

    This episode we speak with Mal Abbas, an independent game designer, artist and producer working on experimental and meaningful games. Malath established Scotland’s first game collective and co-working space Biome Collective, a diverse, inclusive melting pot of technology, art and culture for people who want to create, collaborate and explore games, digital art and technology.

    Work includes Killbox, an online game and interactive installation that critically explores the nature of drone warfare, its complexities and consequences,

    …

    November 29th

    …comfortably roleplay Nazi generals rebranded as cunning and fashionable underdogs (content notification: this one gets into the weeds re: Nazi atrocities and subsequent efforts to whitewash German military history).

  • Crusader Kings 3 Can’t Conceive of a Gay Family | Gayming Magazine Jeremy Signor finds that for all its queer inclusivity, Crusader Kings III is still unwilling to go all the way when it comes to families and heirs.
  • Blank Ops | Bullet Points Monthly Edwin Evans-Thirlwell focuses on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War‘s deployment of redaction as an artistic device to understand the game’s destabilizing approach…