Jason Johnson

Today the most dedicated videogame players hack the computers to do the work for them. We take an inside look at the world of tool-assisted speedruns, where Mario and Mega Man defy even more logic.

Jason Johnson looks into the world of audio games—videogames designed for the visually impaired—and finds a medium racing to catch up with modern times. If the zombie first-person shooter Swamp is any indication, games for the blind may herald an unforeseen future for videogames and technology.

Nintendo’s cheerful take on Monopoly found an untimely release in America last December. Jason Johnson digs into the financial game and finds himself overpowered by Mushroom Kingdom denizens who seem blessed by advantages he can’t see, but feels tearing a hole in his savings.

What’s in a name? The word “gamer” is used to connote men and women who enjoy videogames, and it contains the perilous highs and lowest lows of human experience. Jason Johnson argues that it’s time to leave the term behind.

What is it about the hardest challenges that draw us in? Jason Johnson talks about the infamous Japanese arcade game Mushihemesama Futari and the kind of enjoyment that can only be found in “bullet hell.”

Looking at his favorite games from 2011, Jason Johnson wonders why gaming is becoming like web surfing, if the internet is really destroying his attention span, and if he should even care.

Are all games the sum of their rules and systems? According to the field of ludology, the formal logic of a game is where its soul resides. Jason Johnson argues that bridging the gap between system and meaning is a more tenuous proposition than ludologists acknowledge. Read the first of this three-p