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jenn%20frank

July 15th

…what it means and applying it.

Speaking of auteur, the Eurogamer has a look at Chris Crawford and the hard times he’s had ever since his infamous Dragon Speech in ’92 that signified him leaving the industry.

Simon Ferrari has finally put up new content on his blog, this time in the form of a new podcast “The Review” (which apparently wasn’t a name being used by anyone) with himself and Charles Pratt talking about a single game. The inaugural episode is them talking about Spelunky.

And finally, for Unwinnable, Jenn Frank’s “I was a Teenage Sexist.”…

September 23rd

…at which the walls stop coming.

Exegesis creates the same difficulty. We should make every effort to determine a creator’s intentions. But we should not make the mistake of ever thinking that we can know them perfectly.

Luke Rhodes is continuing his series of interviews with some big figures of the ludodecahedron (and me, for some odd reason). The latest in the interview chair is industry vet, current Unwinnable regular contributor Jenn Frank, and it’s definitely a must-read.

Next, a couple pieces that defy easy categorization. First, Richard Cobbett has kicked off his series of articles…

December 2nd

…an unexpected paratextual gutpunch while going through the game’s campaign missions.

REVIEWING IS HARMLESS

Brendan Keogh’s Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line released last week to generally enthusiastic response. Now Keogh brings us a roundup of some early and very worthy reviews of his book, acknowledging what his critique does and doesn’t accomplish.

LIVE, EAT, GAME

At Unwinnable, Jenn Frank pens this emotional introspection on her work in games, the death of her mother, hanging on and letting go. Also worth reading is this very valuable B-side.

Daniel Starkey pays…

This Year In Video Game Blogging 2012

…the most commercial of all film types, are sold as if they were haircare products or power tools. Only games are.

In response to the Jennifer Hepler debacle, Tom Auxier comes to her and others’ defense by explaining, “Why some game developers shouldn’t like games.”

Culture Blogging

Gaming is more than just code or artifacts. It’s a culture. And any art form is only as good as the culture that surrounds it. I can only hope that these are the signs that things are getting better. Art affects people. People affect people. To understand games as…

April 7th

…their AAA stigma. The one and only anna anthropy also posted a write-up of her dys4ia post-partum and other talks given at GDC. Elsewhere, Dennis Kogel conducted an interview with anthropy for Superlevel.de.

Bit Creature’s Jason Johnson looks back at some of the indie titles he encountered during the conference. In a similar vein, Jenn Frank played That Dragon, Cancer at the Unwinnable Salon the closing night of GDC, and reflects powerfully on the game’s subject matter.

Responding to recent controversies about hired models at GDC parties, Jason Killingsworth invites us to look at it from a different…

April 28th

…problematic power relations in maintaining this kind of imagery solely for the spectacle of male, heterosexual audiences.

Christian Nutt and Christian Walters have expanded on the silliness of making homosexuality the punchline over on Gamasutra and Gay Gamer respectively.

On Unwinnable, Jenn Frank notes how frequently such discussions of sexualized design and male gaze vilify the female body.

When we talk about character design, we might even use words like distorted, exaggerated, fantastical, grotesque, fetishism, comical parody, somebody please cover her up. Abnormal. Unnatural. And “distracting” – that’s a major one. God, her breasts are so

…

June 2nd

…the kids call it (note: don’t call it that).

Meanwhile, on Kotaku, Leigh Alexander presents us with a satirical take on the Xbone’s dead paradigm.

DESIGN MATTERS

On the original and still very best Brainy Gamer, Michael Abbott offers some much-needed perspective on the so-called creatively limiting trappings of genre. Specifically, that genre can also be a format by which to creatively flourish.

The second Tropes vs Women in Games video is out, continuing Anita Sarkeesian’s analysis of the Damsel in Distress trope. On Medium, Jenn Frank expounds on Sarkeesian’s statement that we can still enjoy…

July 28th

…Animal Crossing

Jenn Frank over at Paste Magazine uses her review to try and pinpoint what the appeal of the highly engaging game is.

Meanwhile, Juli Clover reports a recently discovered glitch that lets you double money and items at will and how it has turned Animal Crossing into “a grotesque slave exchange.”

The Last of Us

Some guy over at PopMatters is disappointed in The Last of Us that for all its supposed greatness he found that it didn’t focus on any fundamental ideas as much as its drama and ultimately felt it a work…

September 30th

…any form of inequality, you need to make privileged people the butt of your joke, NOT the marginalized and disenfranchised.

I have just received a message from our vague, yet menacing government. It is tattooed on the arm of a faceless child who, somehow, still makes crying noises. They want me to announce a reminder that women are still considered the dominant gender, and all videogames would do well to remember that. Over at The Border House, right by Aunt Jenn’s Pizza Shop, Quinne asks when is enough enough, citing the toxic behavior and somewhat apathetic reaction of…

This Year In Videogame Blogging: 2013

…however, I will not vouch for the comments and to be on the safe side, this section bears a Trigger Warning for discussions of sexism, harassment, rape and imagery of brutal violence towards women.

Anita Sarkeesian uploaded the first four videos of her Kickstarted series Tropes vs. Woman in Video Games covering the Damsel in Distress in three parts and Ms. Male Character in one.

Jenn Frank for Gameranx deconstructs what Dead Island Riptide‘s headless woman torso statue says about the culture that produced it and what it represents.

Trigger Warning end.

Polygon’s Tracey Lien looks…