Hello everyone! This week is loaded to the brim with writing and criticism of all kinds, so let’s get to it. It’s This Week in Videogame Blogging!
Streaming
I want to start with the surge of video criticism that’s been emerging lately.
Brendan Keogh has been looking at the first Modern Warfare title, showing us how the old blockbuster is more interesting than it seems on first glance. Stephen Beirne reflects on the act of interpretation and value while drawing a pretty picture.
Jody Macgregor has a critical Let’s Play series of the first Thief, Noah Caldwell-Gervais looks at the Mass Effect series, and Stuart Arias has a critical series of System Shock 2 up on Twitch. Critical Let’s Playing is really interesting approach, and I’m excited to see more of it!
All That’s Fit to Print
On Ontological Geek, Oscar Strik reviews Cameron Kunzelman’s On August 11, A Ship Sailed into Port. Meanwhile, at Words That Won’t Sell, Edward Smith writes a very interesting piece about the sense of exhaustion and defeat that pervades the new Wolfenstein.
At Game Church, Joshua Cauller examines the risk of love in war that Valiant Hearts sets in conflict. At Videodame, Virginia Roby reflects on The Last of Us‘s seeming subversion of the Damsel in Distress trope.
Justin Keever’s Virtual Narrative blog has a post about the metanarratives of the Civilization games. And Claire Hosking, negotiating the pull between the procedural narrative and the “authored” artistic work, looks at the urban structures of Transistor and the narratives of those structures and aesthetics.
Lastly, a pair from two of Critical Distance’s own. Mark Filipowich looks at several RPGs and their stands on the morals of violence in a two part post. And Lindsey Joyce tethers Wayward Manor‘s relationship to Neil Gaiman’s fiction.
*breathes*
Histories
At The Digital Antiquarian, Jimmy Maher has a historical look at Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?; the cultural and material contexts that brought it to life, and its lasting impact in mainstream videogames. And in conjunction with his upcoming book on mobile games (currently seeking crowdfunding) Zoya Street writes about the Nokia 3210 phone and the low-res no-colour games that came with it.
Race! Race! Race!
A couple of pieces thinking about race, identity and culture emerged this week.
At Game Bias, Sidney Fussell and Jed Pessgrove have a conversation about the general “race in games” discussion point, making sharp observations with Bioshock Infinite and The Walking Dead, as well as interrogating the presumption of post-racialism. And at Polygon, LeSean Payne gives us personal reflections on his relationship with black characters in videogames and media.
Extended Reading
I’m going to note Zoya’s book again, because it’s near the end of its crowdfunding and it can use all the support it can get.
There are other book/magazines out as well. The new Five Out of Ten issue on “Time” is now available for purchase, featuring Critical Distance’s own Joe Köller, The Mary Sue’s Becky Chambers (whom we feature frequently here) and many more. The newest Surveillance and Society is now out with a focus on games and play (and is free on pdf). And The Arcade Review, an arts/games magazine focused on small experiential works that I run, released its summer issue this week. It’s our last issue for this year, so you should take the time to catch up!
Closing
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Mark and Lindsey have taken over for Alan at Blogs of the Round Table and their first new blog prompt for August through September is “Catharsis.” Check it out and get involved!
And be sure not to miss our most recent podcast, where Eric Swain interviews games criticism alum Kirk Battle (better known by his pseudonym, L.B. Jeffries).
That’s it for this week! There’s quality writing and reading here to keep you informed, educated and perspectived on videogames and art, so you should take advantage. To support the work that we do here, you can help us continue our curating work at our Patreon. Happy reading, and take care of yourself!