The Game Critique

The Nature of Reading: Interpretation and Auteurism using Final Fantasy VIII and Mulholland Drive

Recently on twitter I was pointed to an essay on Final Fantasy VIII that differs from the more generally accepted reading of the game’s story. If you have not read it yet, before you proceed with this post, please do. First let me speak on the essay itself. I think it’s a beautifully argued and supports [...]

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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.

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October’s ‘09 Round Table Entry – Denouement: The Gameplay Slowdown

Designer Denouements How can the denouement be incorporated into gameplay? In literary forms, it is most often the events that take place after the plot’s climax that form your lasting opinion of the story. A well constructed denouement acts almost as a payoff, where protagonists and antagonists alike realize and adjust to the consequences of [...]

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The Citizen Kane of Video Games

For those of you who maybe groaning at the title of this post let me assure you I am not going to declare anything the "Citizen Kane of video games" and am instead going to explain the pointlessness of the debate in the first place. And for those of you now disappointed, I implore you to please continue reading anyway.

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September's '09 Round Table Entry – What Do Spatial Relationships Mean to Us

Isn’t That Spatial? Every video game has certain benefits and constraints in the way it represents space. Interaction fiction, arcade titles, 2D side-scrollers, isometric RPGs, and first person shooters all have advantages and disadvantages to how they deal with space-some technical in nature, some design-based. This month’s topic invites you to explore the ways games [...]

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On the Wii and Controls

The following is a comment I posted over on the latest GameCritic's podcast. It may seem a little rantish, but that's why I'm going to expand on it at the end.

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May’s ‘09 Round Table Entry – The Great Wave off Kanagawa

A Game Is Worth a Thousand Words: What would one of your favorite pieces of non-interactive art look like if it had been created as a game first? May’s topic challenges you to imagine that the artist had been a game designer and supersede the source artwork-whether it be a painting, a sculpture, an installation, [...]

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April’s ‘09 Round Table Entry – Torture

Taking Games Seriously, Making Game Seriously: This month’s Round Table challenges you to design a game that deals with a social issue that personally troubles you. The recent months have seen controversy sweep through the video game industry. Whether people are objecting to the use of imagery widely considered to evoke racial stereotypes, or to [...]

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The Noby Noby Boy Review Analysis

Let me reiterate the opportunity. Two reviews, using the same game, within 4 days of each other, using the same scoring method and same scoring scale gave two vastly different scores. The scores are not always alike, in fact, they very, very rarely are, but the difference is usually like a 7.6 to an 8.1. The scores are close if not even closer. The meanings are usually between really good to borderline great or whatever the specific scores might be for a game. But from 'Passable' to 'Outstanding' is a very different matter.

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N’Gai Croal moves on and other thoughts on Game Journalism

For those of you who haven’t heard N’Gai Croal is leaving Newsweek effective the end of the week and becoming a consultant for the games’ industry. You can read his final post and farewell here. For those of you now asking “who is he or why should I care,” then I respond “why are you [...]

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