The Game Critique

19. January 2010

VGHVI Podcast Appearance

Last Thursday I played Bioshock during the simultanious playthrough while talking on Skype with Denis Farr, Roger Travis, Micheal Abbot and several others. Roger took that conversation and made a podcast out of it. He was doing the recording and unforturenatly Skype kept kicking him out so he didn’t get everything, probably for the best. [...]

31. December 2009

1 Comment

TGC’s Game of the Year ‘09

So what is my game of the year? Well unlike the last two years that when I asked myself that question there was a clear winner. In 2007 it was Portal and in ‘08 it was Metal Gear Solid 4. There were plenty of other good games out those years, but those two to me [...]

30. December 2009

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State of the Blog ‘09

A year and a fortnight ago I started this site from the idea that I wanted to critique games, as one would do to a book or movie, looking at what they mean. It is hard to believe that it has been a full year. In that time I’ve learned about the larger spheres of [...]

28. December 2009

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Nostradamus Check Up ‘09

Last year I said I called it to a number of predictions I had made. Then in February I made several predictions about the coming year. Let’s see how I did. 1- On Resident Evil 5 I said that it would be an end to the series being about horror mostly because of co-op as an [...]

A Wondeful Comment in an Otherwise Shitty Season

18. December 2009

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A Wondeful Comment in an Otherwise Shitty Season

Over at Kotaku, I know I know, hear me out. Over at Kotaku they sometimes highlight some of the more interesting comments from their comment sections by giving it their own post, which is better than articles dedicated to breast admiration, though their next post defeats that purpose, but I digress.

In Which I Respond to the Three False Contraints

11. December 2009

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In Which I Respond to the Three False Contraints

When I first read Danc's post over at Lost Garden, Three False Constraints, I called it the stupidest thing I read from the critical community. I decided rather than write an immediate response I would wait a few days to calm down and think it over non-emotionally. I'm glad I did, not because I came to any agreement with him, but because I read this piece by Charles J Pratt over at Game Design Advance. It got me thinking more about the meat of the form of the medium. So I spent some more time thinking and went back to reread his post. Here's my response.

6. December 2009

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Indie Game Spotlight – Today I Die

Over at the CreativeFluff design blog I spotlighted Today I Die, an indie game that came out around April of this year from designer/developer Daniel Benmergui. Go play it before reading anything below. It’s a short game and worth it.Today I Die is a game that firmly wears the arty badge and wears it proudly. It’s a [...]

3. December 2009

1 Comment

The Killer 7 Argument – Braid

It took a while, but I've played another game worthy of the Killer 7 Argument. I just finished playing through Braid for the second time after my first complete save was lost to a corrupt hard drive. The second playthrough was a huge help in getting my head around what to make of the game and figure out what I specifically thought of it.

26. November 2009

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How To Not Spend More Than You Have

Heroes of Might and Magic II is an old game when they were still getting a handle on new design. As great as it is, it isn’t a game that grew up in within a critical atmosphere where such things are considered, even if only tangentially nowadays. Which is a long way of saying there [...]

21. November 2009

2 Comments

Indie Game Spotlight – Small Worlds

The game was made for Casual Gameplay’s design contest #6 with the parameters to incorporate the this content’s theme: Explore. Were I judge in the contest I would look to how well it incorporated the theme, as a critic I am looking at what that means within the game. I recommend playing it here before [...]

VGHVI Podcast Appearance

TGC’s Game of the Year ‘09

State of the Blog ‘09

Nostradamus Check Up ‘09

A Wondeful Comment in an Otherwise Shitty Season

In Which I Respond to the Three False Contraints

Indie Game Spotlight – Today I Die

The Killer 7 Argument – Braid

How To Not Spend More Than You Have

Indie Game Spotlight – Small Worlds

What I'm Playing Now

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