Search Results for:

khee hoon

December 10th

…Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan is more cutting, getting to the heart of why both capitalism and addiction by design are at odds with the rhetoric of freedom that drives so much game design.

“The capitalist ideology is simply at odds with individualism, passion and spontaneity. Instead, coursing through its veins is a penchant for mundane predictability and cold, economic calculation.”

The New Colossus

Two more takes on the latest Wolfenstein game are added to our growing collection this week.

  • Game of the Year 2017: #10. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus – Polygon…

January 7th

…confront the empty reality of millennial capitalism, and calls for games that can help us to imagine an alternative.

  • The Vaporwave Aesthetic of Broken Reality | Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan addresses the millennial loss of purpose via nostalgic superflat glitch aesthetics in this mid-development title.

    • “This system of gathering as much social media currency as possible, only for a vague sense of reward, reminds me of the pervasiveness numbness that comes with consumerism.”

    Normal apocalyptic

    Three critics highlight games that challenge received genre conventions relating to zombies and the apocalypse.

    • An…

    January 28th

    …regarding trans representation in a new cyberpunk bar game.

  • Exploring the Shades of Gender in Genderwrecked – Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan relishes mythic, lovecraftian metaphors for gender liberation.

    • “Genderwrecked broke down murky gender concepts through metaphors and allusions, which can be occasionally enigmatic but are almost always relatable.”

    Collapse

    From cuddles to capitalism to living corpses, four articles examine the modes of being evoked by interactive systems.

    • Project Horseshoe 2017 report section 3 This report comes out of a team of designers’ exploration of “coziness” in game design, and aims to…

    February 4th

    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 players.

    • For Many Players, Lootboxes Are a Crisis That’s Already Here – Waypoint Ellen McGrody has carried out research into how gambling-like systems in games have negatively impacted players through addiction-forming design patterns.
    • The Appeal Behind Yume Nikki’s Unplayability | Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan visits the often-discussed topic of surrealism in games,

    …

    February 25th

    …sake.”

    Self-identity

    Two writers considered the lenses through which people experience and critique tabletop games.

    • A New Game Journalism Reader | Meeple Like Us Michael Heron highlights three pieces of critical writing on games that focus on personal experience rather than looking for objective qualities of the games’ design.
    • Feast and Our Personal Stories of Food | Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan suggests that, more than having anything in particular to say about its content, Feast might gently point players towards their own reflections about food and emotions.

    “Underpinning this game is…

    Abstract image evoking bird silhouette

    April 8th

    …Wilbur reflects on the need for portrayals of Native Americans that give indigenous people agency and self-determination.

  • E-soterica: The Quiet Exclamation of ASMR | Unwinnable In an interview with the creator of an ASMR game, Khee Hoon Chan brings out extra layers of virtual embodiment in online life and gender dysphoria.

    • Shadows

    In a fascinating pair of articles, critics examined their own relationship with psychology through games.

    • Why I Play | Kotaku Keza MacDonald explores the highest and lowest motivations driving a lifelong relationship with games.
    • “Share Melancholy Thoughts” – First Person Scholar…

    June 10th

    …fraught.

    “Though we can hope that this trend toward empowered female protagonists persists, it is lamentable that these particular females can only seem to achieve agency by not being there.”

    Narrative

    Discussions of queerness and inclusion continue in much of this week’s writing on narrative.

    • The Mass Effect Issue: Romancing the Krogan | Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan considers what it would mean to enter a relationship with some of Mass Effect’s unromanceable, less-humanoid characters.
    • Belonging Outside of Belonging: Avery Alder’s Dream Askew | Unwinnable Sam Desatoff interviews Avery Alder and digs…

    June 17th

    …

  • The Dragon At The End Of The Universe – Timber Owls Edcrab complicates the role of dragons in the larger problem of RPG predictability.

    • “The problem is not the dragon. The problem is expectation: the expectation of dragons in fantasy, sure, but more specifically the expectation of escalation.”

    Springs

    Two writers consider cultural issues in the representation of marginalized people’s struggles. (Content warning for racism and transphobia)

    • Exploring Japanese Trans Themes in One Night, Hot Springs | Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan highlights the value of positive stories in the context of

      • …

    July 1st

    …to its cruel logic. There is no chronology: trauma is past crashing into present”

    Time

    Discussions of the temporality of trauma and memory continue in two more pieces this week.

    • Deception III: Dark Delusion, Part 1 | Something in the Direction of Exhibition Vincent K. explores relationships with trauma and abuse through one game’s reflection on violence.
    • Architectures of Memory | Umiro | Heterotopias Khee Hoon Chan examines a strikingly aesthetic game about place and memory with reference to Edward S. Casey’s phenomenology of remembering.

    “Space and memories are so entwined…

    August 19

    …responsibility in content between parents, kids, and games.

    • The Boxes and Paraphernalia of Captain Spirit — Unwinnable Memories tied to objects can be inescapable, a tangible piece of remembered history, which lie buried deep in boxes in Captain Spirit, as explained by Khee Hoon Chan for Unwinnable.

      In the album Rooms of the House, Jordan Dreyer from La Dispute wrote, with striking clarity, the emotional entanglement objects have on their owners. This is especially resonant in the album’s final track, “Objects in Space”, in which the estranged husband carefully laid out the paraphernalia of his

      …