Article
The secret behind Angry Birds’ and Clash of Clans’ success
Is there something in the water in Helsinki?
Jason Johnson
Article
The bootleg retro console culture of Brazil
Growing up with the Phantom System instead of the NES.
Article
Daniel Benmergui on the troubles of telling all the world’s stories
The troubles and trials of telling every story ever.
News
Abstract strategy game Constructo is looking extremely pretty
Yeah, eurogames get the lion’s share of praise and adulation, but abstract strategy games need love too, especially when they’re as nice-looking as this one. Your goal in Constructo, currently in the home stretch of a 1500 euro Indiegogo campaign, is to build geometrical shapes from laser-cut tiles
News
Secrets of Raetikon art book is somehow even more gorgeous than the game
Now there is a gorgeous companion art book for Broken Rules’s Secrets of Raetikon, a pretty awesome game that hangs its hat on mysterious, triangular sunsets and ruthless bird versus bird action. We really liked it. And it was very easy on the eyes too. Well, now you can get it cheap on this week’s
News
This stunning installation turns a theater into an alien universe
Nimbes, a star-laced installation from artist Joanie Lemercier, is kind of like the field trip you took to the planetarium in 5th grade, except wondrous and immersive and not at all lame. Currently showing at a 360 degree, kaleidoscopic theater in Montreal, it is 15 minutes of cylindrical film that
News
Gone Home gets the retail release treatment, now comes in an old-school SNES box
Our favorite game of last year has unexpectedly gotten a physical release on DVD, which is perfect because one day many years from now your kid can find it on your shelf, boot it up, and have a very strange and metaphysical experience. “Gone Home is a story about a high schooler in the ’90s, and is
News
This handheld gizmo turns urban pollution into cool abstract art
Pollution is all around us, swirling invisibly and sometimes not-so-invisibly through the air in wisps of gasses and dust particles. This is a fairly disgusting consequence of post-industrial living. But Digioxide, an art project by vtol, makes environmental contamination all glitchy and pretty. Th
News
Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame is ridiculous, glorious
Rock and opera go together like baking soda and vinegar, so it goes without saying that Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame is the most glorious, ostentatious guitar-epic ever played. I don’t think I’m overstating this. I don’t think overstatement is even possible. I mean, the trailer presents one m
News
Google Maps just got a little more fun with this geographical trivia game
Lately, Google seems to be trying mighty hard to not be evil, as they keep releasing cool little projects like Smarty Pins. The Google Maps mod uses the popular map feature to test your knowledge of US geography, asking you questions like: which city is Portlandia set in? Okay, it gets a little har
News
Future Unfolding swaps out enemies for a sentient forest
I played a very early version of Spaces of Play’s Future Unfolding over a year ago in San Francisco. It was a wholly uneventful experience. The game looked largely the same as it does today, just devoid of, well, actual play. There were no paint-splattering wildebeests, no chiming crystals, no wormh
News
Harmonix featured alongside Björk and a bunch of cool electronic artists at digital art show
Videogames in museums are nothing new, but usually exhibits with games are exclusively about games and separate from the other art, as if games are relegated to the kid’s table because of the fear they’d make inappropriate fart noises in front of the grown-ups. But the Digital Revolution exhibit, o