"Where is all the good writing about games?"
For the past few years, at the end of the year we’ve awarded the “Blogger of the Year” title to a writer who has inspired and impressed us. This year, we decided to do things a little differently. Instead of nestling the award…
This week, critics find different ways to talk about paranoia, fear, and comfort in relation to videogames. Imagine with me now I want to start with a little link to the roundup of Emilie Reed’s special event that wrapped up this week…
The first Visual Essay Jam was held on itch.io over the weekend of February 10th-12th. In this short time, and only two weeks after I had come up with the idea in the first place, 25 visual essays were submitted, covering a…
Is ignorance bliss? What kind of things can we learn when we admit to truly knowing nothing at all? Games critics this week have been considering the problems of celebrating ignorance as well as the benefits of eschewing expertise. Getting lost First,…
Direct Download Our first interview of 2017 is with Great Levels in Gaming YouTube producer Max Barnyard. Like our previous interviewee, Max Barnyard focuses his criticism on specific elements of video games; in this case, the construction and purpose of exemplary level design….
A lot of games critics worry, understandably, that their work can’t address the problems that people face in the real world. Others have already started the work of politically-engaged games criticism long ago. This week there are lots of examples of the…
Do you have an idea for a piece of game criticism you’re having trouble putting into words? Have you read a great piece of criticism recently that you want to respond to? Or is there just something that bugs you about games…
Do you feel like garbage right now? Well then I have a treat for you. Games critics this week have gone searching through the detritus of the city for hidden treasure, and created archives of material for others to enjoy. Along the way,…
I love it when critics find ways to get a point across without words. Images can be just as valuable a critical tool as writing; they offer a different set of techniques for demonstrating what a game is doing or what it…
We all participate in constructing social structures, though in the real world most people don’t have a whole lot of institutional power. As many look at 2017 as a year that will demand strong resistance, some writers consider how games teach us to…