In this series we’ll be looking at some principles of game design, particularly as they relate to analysis and criticism. Check out the first part, about genre in gaming, here. While calls for objectivity in games reviewing have been with the media for quite some time, Gamergate seems to have […]
Monthly Archives: November 2014
20 posts
I know that it’s a bit early for sweeping comments 2014 seems to be the year of a lack of female character creation options. Or, more specifically, the removal of female character creation options for the sake of the game’s “quality.” This not so pleasant instance in this year’s list […]
The latest viral letter from LEGO made me a bit sad. The message is great, but reading it makes me sad because it was written in 1974, before I was born. Forty years ago LEGO wrote To Parents. The urge to create is equally strong in all children. Boys and […]
Bear with me. This is raw. But raw is the best that I can muster right now. This post is not about games…but it is. I am a writer, a gamer, and an activist in no particular order and in no particular manner. I process things through my writing so today […]
Of course the last couple weeks I’ve been completely distracted by #GamerGate. It has consumed most of my free time, which was spent looking at articles and reading about new horrible things happening to women in the gaming community. Doing the research for my dissertation damn near killed me, not […]
It’s no secret that I have a real interest in games for educational purposes. And this interest extends to games that might be both fun and educational to my own 6 year old. So when I got the chance to review The Counting Kingdom by Little Worlds Interactive for iOS […]
Episode 90: Girls and Their Toys: On Toys Done Right (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) As we get closer to Christmas we hope to turn to happier things…like toys. In this episode we wanted to talk about toys and the ones that we think get it […]
The Alaska carefully crafted in Upper One Games’ first creation Never Alone is as beautiful as it is haunting; as enchanting as it is perilous. In some of the most treacherous lands in the continent a young girl named Nuna, accompanied only by an arctic fox known simply as Fox, […]
Last weekend, we got together to play table games. I don’t play a lot of table games, and I don’t know why because they are fun, but I think I sometimes get intimidated by all of the rules. Tabletop games seem to require the player to remember a lot while […]
World of Warcraft‘s new expansion, Warlords of Draenor, is out, an event that always revitalizes the nearly 10 year old game (for at least a few months). If you’re at all familiar with the game, you might be wondering to yourself “why did she put a picture from an old […]
I worry about what #GamerGate has done to the games community. Don’t get me wrong, it needed to happen, it was going to happen sooner or later, and a lot of shit got said that needed to get said. However, I worry about what the long-term repercussions will be because […]
I chuckle as I write this because I almost think that it will be more troll bait that will bring us more comments about feminazis and all of the awful things that should happen to them (yes, we don’t share those with you folks), but I have to write it. […]
One of the earliest farming simulation games, the Harvest Moon series tasks you with running and growing a farm and all the various tasks that entails. In addition to growing crops and raising animals, you also can collect wild plants, fish, dig for valuable items and minerals, and the like. […]
I was pretty excited when I heard LEGO Batman 3 was coming out. I loved LEGO Batman 2, which I played on the PS Vita. I debated quite a bit over whether I should get the new game on the Vita again or go for the Xbox One version. Unfortunately, […]
Sometimes you just have to go old school with your gaming and I’m not talking Pac Man, I’m talking analog. Lately as I have been teaching more games courses I find myself drawn to playing more analog games. Not that I didn’t already, but the pull is strong of these […]
Episode 89: Spirits of Spring: A Case for Diversity in Games (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) In this episode we talk about the Spirits of Spring, the new game that looks at bullying from Minority Media. Stay tuned after the closing for a ending spoiling […]