Category: Game Issues

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

Comic Culture and Video Game Culture

I haven’t been around in the video game space for  (checks last post) over a month and half. I have to explain something. I go through cycles when it comes to which medium I marathon at any given time. For a variable amount of time I will have an intense desire to immerse myself in one medium of my interest. These are generally books, movies, TV shows, video games and the latest one comic books. I also tend to marathon works within that particular medium. | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

A Reader’s Manifesto and why it could be A Gamer’s Manifesto

I finished a book a little while ago entitled A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose and I loved it. I loved it so much that I’ve started calling it my little black book. It’s a long form literary critique using examples from numerous books, both-what the author calls-good and bad. It’s not a dry academic stuffy read. It is a fast, concise to the point essay about a specific topic that is not a high-minded far away abstract topic, but about book reviews, reviews people readers rely on to tell them what is good. | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

TGC 2010 Game of the Year

So, I'm leaving this to last possible moment this year...again. But I have a better excuse than last time of not being able to decide. This time it's because my time has been filled with other projects, the most notable, or at least the one that has been revealed was the rebirth of the Critical Distance podcast. Suffice to say I also haven't played all that many games from this year. I missed out on most if not all of the major releases and most of the secondary releases. | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

State of the Blog ’10

It's been a little over two year since I started The Game Critique. In the past year I wrote fewer posts than before, (only 24 this year) but they definitely have gone up in quality and length. Looking at the posts that I have planned and those that are half finished I find that I may be entering a phase of long form essays. I think and hope I finally may have found my niche and expertise in the critical community that I've long been searching in the dark for. This year was also the year I finally graduated college. | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

Transparency for Critical Distance

Last week I was asked to take over the TWIVGB feature at Critical Distance by Ben Abraham. It was my sixth time. During the week I collected the links and pasted them into a word document for later aggregation as I always do and I began thinking about the way things are done with TWIVGB. I realized I had quite a lot of power over the content of each issue, even the ones I don't write. That thought scared me slightly. If there is one thing I've learned, is having someone looking over your shoulder and calling you out is the best option. | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

An Act of Non-Consequence

I've been on a documentary binge as of late (Thank you Netflix) having watched 6 in the last 24 hours at the time of writing. As it so happens while watching them, I noticed a correlation in the behavior of the subjects of the majority of the documentaries and players of video games. The documentaries in question, or rather the aspects of the documentaries I'm going to talk about, all deal with the idea of responsibility. Of course it's very easy to point to who is responsible, but then the question becomes 'why did/do these things happen in the first place? | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

TGC’s Game of the Year ’09

So what is my game of the year? Well unlike the last two years 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 were just obvious. This year has no such easy stand out, hence the lateness of this post. Just to be clear, I have not played everything that came out, not even all the better than decent AAA titles, so this really is a personal pick. | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

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 critical communities: the brainysphere, the iris network, the border house and their overlaps. I like to think I've made some friends in that time and haven't totally ticked anyone off with my constant need to argue and debate. | more

Eric Swain Game Issues, Recent Posts

Gaming Made Me

Gaming Made Me started with the crew over at RocksPaperShotgun and the various designers they asked, and then others in the middle circle has taken up the question of which video games have made them who they are. Michael McBride talked about how discussing such information will have your audience better understand who you are and where you're coming from when they read your analysis. I'm willing to one step further and say it's an excellent method of self-examination so you can understand yourself better, see any bias' you might have and writer better critique in the long run. I figured it was my turn after last post self-searching nature plus it felt like a good exercise So here we go. | more