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Pathologic

Critical Distance is proud to present the first in its 2020 series of Critical Compilations: Ice-Pick Lodge’s cult classic Pathologic and its sequel, Pathologic 2. This compilation is curated by Andrew Bailey, a Ph.D. candidate within the Art History and Visual Culture program at York University in Toronto. He can be found on Twitter at @andrew_r_bailey.

Introduction

When Pathologic was first released in Russia in 2005 it went on to quickly receive a number of prestigious awards and accolades from a variety of Russian games conferences, websites, and magazines. A year later the game was localized into English

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March 21st

…with a trio of sections about history and ahistory. I’ve gone back and forth a bit on how to order these pieces and sections because there’s lots over commonality on things like the short cultural memory that plagues games, cyclical narratives in reporting, and art, preservation, and obselescence. In this first part, we’ve got three authors who, while focusing on specific texts and topics, also gesture broadly to the construction of cultural history and memory in the industry.

  • Too many games – Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster Kimimi interrogates the breadth and specificy of knowledge valued–even required–within games as

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Víctor Navarro-Remesal and Thiago Falcão | Keywords in Play, Episode 11

…and I will hold to that. But I think we are a bunch of misfits coming from this romantic idea of the humanities and this romantic idea of meaning, core meaning. But meaning as something valuable. We look at the object, we look at video games, and then we study society. And then we study how things take shape. And, and, for example, one of the things we have to do in the future is to contribute to the writing of a more complete history of video games in Spain, we are too dependent on the history of American video…

October 17th

Welcome back, readers.

New Keywords! This week’s guest is games academic, legal scholar, and loot box expert Leon Xiao. Check it out!

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

Cross-Platform

Our opening section this week brings together three critiques which cut across both storytelling media and computing platforms, looking at process of translation, adaptation, critique, and narrativity.

  • Pitfall II the Final: Pitfalls in History | Midlife Crisis Optional LeeRoy Lewin explores artistry, authenticity, credits, and copyright in the 1980s-era

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June 12th

…all these same things and wondering. What’s under this tall grass, what’s up at the top of that tree? I mean I’m 96 and ain’t climbing no trees but I can still wonder. I guess I’m liking outside more than I thought I did from this game.”

AND Gates

Both of these next two selections combine genre and history in differently productive ways.

  • Game Pile: Kings Quest I | press.exe Talen Lee does a little bit of genre genealogy amidst a very short history of videogames.
  • History is political: games are propaganda | SDHist…

January 20th

…UK and Australia exclusive Dead Island statuette titled “Zombie Bait,” which features a dismembered female torso presented to prospective buyers as a “conversation piece” for one’s desk. Many writers and outlets took issue with the design, especially in light of Dead Island‘s troubled history.

On Gameranx, Jenn “Tweets About Torsos” Frank reminds readers that the statuette follows on the heels of a long history of depersonalizing the sexualization of women’s bodies:

Stop right there. Stop in your tracks. No. Wrong. No, we would never do this to a male torso. Maybe some of us would like George

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March 10th

…– I am sensitive to the fact that games are a business, and that developers need to eat, after all – I think it’s a conversation well worth having as the free-to-play model only grows more and more prominent.

The Globe and Mail has a fantastic long piece, by Ian Brown, which asks: “Are video games like Assassin’s Creed rewriting history?”

This is one way history still gets taught: At 6 p.m. in a pink-and-beige lecture hall at the University of Toronto, 100 young men and women in HIS217Y are writing down everything, absolutely everything, Erin Black

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May 5th

…“beta” month has articles by Lana Polansky, Denis Farr, and EIC Mattie Brice.

Five Out of Ten Magazine also released a new issue this week. If you haven’t purchased any of the magazine so far, maybe think about buying the value-laden triple pack?

Take a Breather

Watch these motion capture videos of videogames by Nicolas Boillot.

History Schmistory

Here are some links about games history: Michael Barnes writes on the history of the “Dudes on a Map” genre of board games. Carl Therrien speaks in interview about a particular way of doing games history, laying…

February 16th

…mentions on Twitter.

Finally, an announcement:

Next week, Critical Distance will be running a special edition of This Week in Videogame Blogging in honor of Black History Month. Similar to how our Women’s History Month roundup worked last year, this special will exclusively feature work by and curation from black writers.

We strongly encourage you to submit links for this roundup — including your own, if you have something you’d like to share. Keep in mind as well that This Week in Videogame Blogging does not limit itself to works of strict written analysis. If you have…

June 1st

…about history.”

Chris Franklin provides an excellent example in the dangers of playing with history by analyzing Civilization. He argues that the representation of barbarians as less-than-human beasts is problematic and supports the idea that “some peoples or social constructs [are] below consideration as equals.”

Meanings in What We Say and How We Say It

Language is tenuous in that not only what we say and how we say it, but also what we elect not to say all affect systems of representation. The implications of our words, and even our spellings, have ripples that matter.

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