August 18th

Welcome back readers.

No big updates around the site this week, other than the ongoing fact that you, the readers, are the ones that pay our bills and allow us to keep our finger on the pulse of games crit! If you want to help us keep doing that work sustainably, here’s how!

This Week in Videogame Blogging is a roundup highlighting the most important critical writing on games from the past seven days.

Hidden Passage

This week we’re opening with a pair of quality longreads, both about dungeon crawlers. Let’s dig in.

• Shining the Holy Ark: A different perspective | Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster
  Kimimi embarks upon an expansive overview of the Saturn’s flagship dungeon-crawler, taking time to write about style, interface, encounter design, balancing, narrative, and more.
• Making good on years of threats | Unlosing Writer
  Brendan Sinclair goes full sicko mode on a Nippon Ichi dungeoneering classic.

“The people the main character helps go on to help others, who go on to help others in turn. Even in repeated defeat, his heroism improves the world around him, creating ripple effects that eventually come back to help him save the day. It’s a virtuous feedback loop that ultimately makes a happy ending possible.”

Audience Audit

For our next section, let’s look at different constructions of and inquiries into audience.

• D&D Fifth Edition: Death & Rebirth | Traverse Fantasy
  Marcia B. ponders the shifting audiences and play cultures that inform D&D‘s latest ruleset revisions.
• The Crush House wanted me to make a steamy reality show, but I got tired of being told to film butts and made a nature documentary instead | PC Gamer
  Emily Price goes rogue in a satirical game about reality TV production.

“I find that when I stop trying to film the action I appreciate the darker undertones of the story. As I said, The Crush House knows how the sausage is made in reality TV: When I step back from the drama I really feel the wrongness of the house. I notice how the kitchen starts off with no food, and you have to buy it with ad money (otherwise the contestants will drink only Crush Juice). I notice how fast I move when I run; in fact, the controls really remind me of Portal, as does the basement decor that hints at something sinister going on. Why do I run this fast, anyway?”

Interviews

We’ve got a pair of interview-style pieces to share this issue, bringing together conversations on labour and sound design.

• Tone Glow 156: Yuu Miyake | Tone Glow
  Ashley Bardhan sits down with Namco sound designer Yuu Miyake to chat about Katamari, craft, Tekken, genre, and games-as-punk.
• AI is changing video games — and striking performers want their due | NPR
  Mandalit del Barco talks to the performers, artists, and engineers involved in bringing virtual performances to life, and why the human labor involved needs to be protected and compensated.

“It takes an entire crew of digital artists, he says, to animate the motions created by human performers. “You need a modeler to build the character, then you need a person doing the texture mapping, as it’s called, which is painting the body or painting the Spider-Man suit,” he says. “Then you need a rigger, which is the person that draws the skeleton, and then you need an animator to move the skeleton. And then you need someone to light the character.””

Legacy Explorers

Now here’s a pair of critical reviews on games new and old.

• Going on a Hunt – Final Fantasy Explorers | Pixpen
  Sam Howitt contexualizes Square Enix’s go at the Monster Hunter format through the platform lens of the 3DS.
• Ereban: Shadow Legacy Review | GameCritics
  Fumo Chabalala plays a stylish stealth action game that doesn’t stick the narrative landing.

“Plainly put, the narrative is better in concept than execution. This exploration of the conflict failed to elicit any emotional responses from Ayana, whose voice actress half-heartedly reads through the script. That apathy dictated how invested I became, and little about the protagonist and the general premise is ever well-realized. It’s a shame, since themes of reclaiming one’s identity and the abuses of foreign corporations are very relevant in the modern era. The failure to capitalize on real-world politics around us was a disappointing missed opportunity.”

Free Play

This section brings together a range of articles, united by their exploration of different values and meanings of play.

• Cumming Together: Lewdtubing, Eroge, And Community | cohost
  LewdNeko breaks down the practice and joy of cultivating community by streaming porn games.
• Video Games are Toys | VGBees
  Moira Hicks turns over ongoing questions about what play can but does not always add to narrative experience.
• The Play Space | Unwinnable
  Jay Castello traces the outline of the shape games take up in a life.

“I win an entire tea game (sort of the Pokémon Blue to coffee game’s Pokémon Red) by watching a pigeon wash itself in my bird bath, which is smaller than it is. I think about not turning in this piece, which feels so self-indulgent. But self-indulgence feels like one of the cores of play, and in spending the day reorienting myself back into the world and its games, I remember that writing about them has always been another.”

Critical Chaser

Our closing segment this time around is a double-header, inviting both reflection and refraction.

• Emulating My Past | Into The Spine
  Dea Ratna looks back on emulation as a childhood entry point into games.
• Slow Fire | cohost
  Crushed just wants to watch Jurassic Park.

“It bewilders. You don’t remember any of this. You follow links down rabbit holes; boutique companies are selling special limited order tape players (always out of stock) that promise to play nearly any format of video cassette tape with “near-perfect accuracy.” A two-year-old pinned tweet promises a special disc format model coming soon.”