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August 10th

Hello, Critical Distance! I’ve been traveling on and off for nigh on the last month, and since I’ve been back, I’ve been consuming nothing but Games Crit. So delicious, so filling. Please, gather round with me for some nutrient rich content This Week in Video Game Blogging!

At All Costs

This week brings us several sources interrogating the concepts of cost, monetary and otherwise, in relation to games. For instance, both Tami Sigmund and Casey Johnston take a look at free games in terms of their non-monetary costs: Sigmund examines the phenomena whereby casual and mobile players

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November 2nd

…Moving Pixels again this past week to reflect on the recession’s influence on the recent uptick of cyberpunk in games.

Illustrated Herstories

Kill Screen’s Chris Priestman has a neat feature on Rachel Weil’s FEMICOM art installation, which Leigh Alexander also profiled earlier this year.

Actually It’s About…

At his review blog, Erik Twice notes that, indeed, games journalism is mired in very real problems, albeit ones which don’t seem to have crossed Gamergate’s radar.

Meanwhile, at Salon, Arthur Chu writes empathetically about the social ostracization and resentment behind much of the movement’s rage. And Zoe…

December 14th

…by Vi Hart and Nick Case.

Design and Development

Working in the game industry is tumultuous anywhere, but Anton Paramonov discusses the more unique and specific challenges Eforb faces as a development studio based in the Ukraine. For instance, he notes this as an unique position to find your business: “It’s tough to fall asleep in one country and wake up in another.”

Elsewhere, Holly Gramazio talks about her work designing place-based (parks, hotel rooms, etc) games — not all of which are digital.

Meanwhile, Damion Schubert discusses the concept of resonance (or really the lack…

This Year in Videogame Blogging: 2014

…the ostensible name of “ethics in games journalism.” So I beg your forgiveness if our own efforts to summarize fall on the brief side. No roundup can completely address everything of the last few months, from explaining the harassers’ tactics, to condemning the lies, to acknowledging the pain and honoring the losses suffered by the gaming communities everywhere. Content warnings for this section include discussion of sexual harassment, stalking, rape and death threats, and all the rest that the GamerGate hashtag has come to exemplify.

(Editors Note: Some weeks into 2015, Reddit user Squirrel Justice Warrior was kind enough…

March 2015

…together this month too! For instance, Philip Kollar and Danielle Riendeau of Polygon venture into Let’s Play territory with Bloodborne. In Part 1 of this LP series, Kollar and Riendeau create the avatar Pickle Hedgehog and discuss various stats for the character as they do so.

On Four Play Show, Matt Albrecht sits down to play the as-yet-unreleased Extreme Exorcism with the game’s two developers.

Elsewhere, on Steam Friends, Soha Kareem and Kelsey play and take in the beauty of Raetikon. It’s enjoyable to hear just how responsive they are to the game’s aesthetic.

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01: Subjectivity

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For my part, I’ve been writing about subjective criticism in response to what I see as two divergent trends. On the one hand, there’s a glorification of objective, “unbiased” commentary across academic institutions, games criticism, and popular games writing. On the other are efforts to develop subjective approaches that root meaning-making in individual players’ experiences of engaging with game structures. I’ve seen a lot of remarks to the effect of “wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had more subjective methods of criticism/research?” or “I wish there were greater acceptance of experiential critiques.” In reply, I’ve been trying to push

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November 15th

…game’s environments, Petit notes Rise of the Tomb Raider forces the player to de-emphasize the aesthetic, reducing environments from sublime to a mere container of player plunders.

Petit addresses the backlash to her review in a follow-up on her Tumblr:

Some readers–those, for instance, who attack less-than-glowing reviews of highly anticipated games that haven’t even been released yet and that they haven’t yet had a chance to play–aren’t interested in actual criticism. They are interested in being told that their emotional investment in a particular game, their anticipation of it, the sense of greatness that they have

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April 24th

…than offering clarity to the player. This expressionism reflects the murkier ideas of violation, transgression, and bodily autonomy running through the narrative.”

Homemakers

The work and play of creating a space is addressed through writing on art installations, survivalism, and sausages.

art/games The first issue of new magazine Art/Games is out, featuring Skot Deeming and Hannah Epstein among others, discussing gallery installations, dystopias, and maker spaces.
Far Cry Primal’s Survivor Mode Makes The Game Feel Complete Kirk Hamilton argues that Far Cry Primal is at its best when improvising under tough conditions.
Too…

Far Cry 2

…simple fact that 10 years later, people are still inspired to play it, to revisit it, and most importantly, to write about it.

So for the 10th anniversary of Far Cry 2, I wanted to share some of the best and most thoughtful criticism of the game that I’ve come across. I went back through old emails, searched the internet, and spent hours organizing my Instapaper account in order to narrow it down to what I feel are the ten best pieces written about Far Cry 2.

In terms of how I filtered them: for the most part…

Kentucky Route Zero

Critical Distance is proud to present this Critical Compilation of Cardboard Computer’s Kentucky Route Zero, written by Nicholas O’Brien. Nicholas is an artist and researcher that makes video games, digital animations, and installations addressing civic history, urban infrastructure, and overlooked narratives of technology and labor. He currently lives in Brooklyn and is Assistant Professor in 3D Design and Game Development at Stevens Institute of Technology.

When Kentucky Route Zero, the episodic magical realist point-and-click adventure from Cardboard Computer (Jake Elliott, Tamas Kemenczy, and Ben Babbitt), first reached players in 2013, critics were struck by its intricate narrative, distinct

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