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khee hoon

August 18th

…the game text, in their engagement with fan communities, and in the exchanges that occur between fans and developers.”

Making Sense of Nonsense

A pair of authors this week investigate goofy, funny games, and why those elements of absurdity compliment the rest of the work.

  • Why Metal Gear Solid 4’s Nonsense is Great, 11 Years On – YouTube Hamish describes how Guns of the Patriots has aged gracefully into its absurdity.
  • Attack of the Earthlings Bakes Humor Into Its Freakish DNA | Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan looks at an XCOM-like that offsets its cynical…

December 15th

…to critique nostalgia on either a private or a shared-collective level, as this pair of authors do so well.

  • The cult of Hideo Kojima • Eurogamer.net Khee Hoon Chan weighs the sincerity of Hideo Kojima’s public engagement against the cynicism of the marketing capital he wields and projects.
  • DRACULA’S CASTLE – DEEP HELL Skeleton, via Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid, weighs the business of nostalgia against its lived practice as a function of our experiences and traumas.

“the important thing about nostalgia we often forget, is it never is really connected

…

This Year in Videogame Blogging: 2019

…question of what is game history and who gets to define it followed us throughout 2019. Seva Kritskiy contended that game history is alive and well — its preservation is another matter, and how do we decide which games should be preserved? Consider, as Khee Hoon Chan did for Polygon, that much of Earthbound‘s legacy as a cult classic is the result of emulation, a practice Nintendo has done all it can to crack down upon.

But there’s reason to be optimistic. In addition to Whitney Pow’s piece for Romchip on Danielle Bunten Berry and the search for “reparative…

February 2nd

…masterpiece of High Resolution Play • Eurogamer.net Omar Haveez-Bore describes the synnergy between Celeste‘s affective and mechanical design, brought to its peak in its final send-off DLC.

  • The Quiet Sleep: A Messy and Emotional Tower Defense | Unwinnable Khee Hoon Chan delves into a plainspoken yet richly allegorical tower defense game themed around organizing and navigating our feelings.

    • “But what it lacks for clarity, The Quiet Sleep makes it up by being a compelling and even frenetic experience, as you try not to crumble under the pressures conjured by your own mind. If you’ve ever felt…

    March 1st

    …of the Discourse: a survey of marginalized game designers on online discussion space. | Go Make Me a Sandwich Anna Kreider shares and summarizes data and findings from a survey conducted among marginalized game designers about the challenges, barriers, and dangers they face existing and participating in the space.

  • The Coronation of Meghna Jayanth | EGM Meghna Jayanth, as interviewed by Samuel Horti, discusses game development, creative independence, combating white supremacy, and self-care.
  • Still fighting: meet the developers of Hong Kong protest games • Eurogamer.net Khee Hoon Chan talks with members of the active protest game development scene…

    • The Witcher 3

    …of color, The Witcher 3’s world has been lauded ever since players first walked its winding paths.

    Khee Hoon Chan got to the core of this for Unwinnable in their short but smart piece, Geralt of Rivia, Anthropologist, in which they argued for the significance of the nonessential, non-mainline narrative beats. In a way, the world of The Witcher is communicated through what Geralt overhears when he is not in a cutscene, or in the final third of the main story.

    Witcher 3 is known for its splendid core narrative, but this measure of care for its

    …

    January 31st

    …is influencing local game development | GamesIndustry.biz Khee Hoon Chan talks to Indian developers about the tensions of making historical and political games in a social and political climate of rising right-wing populism.

    “India is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse countries in the world. The interweaving of narratives surrounding the numerous cultures in the country complicate the stories told about them — this is what makes retelling historical tales such a minefield. This amorphous tension is may become a challenge, particularly for Indian creators and storytellers who wish to share more nuanced perspectives about…

    February 7th

    Welcome back, readers.

    To begin, I’d like to bring your attention once more this week to this call for submissions to a collected volume and archive of Black creators working in, on, and around games. This call runs until mid-March!

    Over at First Person Scholar, there is also a call going out for submissions to a special issue centred around Decolonizing Queer Games and Play, published in collaboration with Khee Hoon Chan. This is paid work, and the organizers are hoping especially to hear from queer and trans BIPOC critics.

    Back over on our site, Emilie

    …

    February 14th

    Welcome back, readers.

    Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve highlighted this call for submissions to a collected volume and archive of Black creators working in, on, and around games, as well as Khee Hoon Chan and First Person Scholar’s call for a special issue themed around Decolonizing Queer Games and Play. This week another exciting CFP has come to my attention, via the Journal of Games Criticism, centred around Surviving Whiteness in Games. This one runs until the end of March!

    Around the site, our List Jam begins today, and runs for a week. I’m looking

    …

    March 7th

    …for abuse, the Holocaust, wartime atrocities).

  • Even the Ocean: Sophomore Woes and Shadow Drafts — KRITIQAL Nate Kiernan situates Even the Ocean‘s narrative and design excesses in the wider context of developer Analgesic’s artistic and thematic trajectory.
  • From Among Us to Genshin Impact, mobile games are quietly exploding | Polygon Khee Hoon Chan situates a boom in pocketable play in the context of the ongoing pandemic paradigm.

    • “More than just the mindless time drains of yesteryear, today’s mobile games aren’t just fun, but also worthwhile social experiences: they let players stave off the one-two punch

    …