Ultimate Newcomer
Forever Young
Ultimate Newcomer started development in Hungary just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s still not finished. We go inside one of videogame’s greatest, untold tragedies.
Jason Johnson
Interview
The Creator of the "Worst Videogame in the World" Sees New Life in BDSM Doc — and as a Therapist
E.T. is known as the game that almost killed the videogame industry in 1983. But its creator Howard Scott Warshaw hasn’t let the failure derail his life. We talk to the man behind the legend about his new life as a therapist for the Digital Age.
Interview
How Ghost Recon Might Teach You How To Shoot a Real Rifle.
They say art imitates life. (Or vice versa.) For the men who craft the weapons in upcoming shooter Tom Clancy: Ghost Recon, creating viable machines meant pulling from the paintball court and the firing range. Jason Johnson dives into the fray.
Review
Sine Mora is Bullet Gulag
If there was a strongman contest for the frenetic “bullet hell” genre, Sine Mora might be it. The Hungarian developer gathers steam and spits fire as Jason Johnson dives into this review.
Essay
Black Undead Damnation
Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption is the latest videogame to host an urban legend. A house on a hill is said to be haunted—in reality—so we went ghost hunting.
Review
There She Blows
What does Nintendo’s new role-playing saga have in common with a sad, dying whale? The list spans the creature’s hide.
Profile
Poisonous Paragraphs
The transgender community has found an unlikely folk hero in Poison, a sexed-up Street Fighter character. Jason Johnson traces her murky evolution from concept sketch to rallying point.
Essay
Gunning With Scissors
How can we understand a world coded in language? William S. Burroughs had some violent ideas in the form of handguns, scissors, and word games.
Review
Bullish Stupidity
Jeff Minter’s new fruit ’em up Five a Day is profoundly stupid. Here’s why it dodges skill and statistics, and goes straight to the soul.
Essay
The Legend of Donkey-Woman
When your game breaks all the time, will you give up or will you play along? We go looking for guts and glitches in the Wild West.
Essay
Going Overboard
Some fear heights; others, going outside. Jason Johnson is afraid of fish, which makes even the most innocent and childproof videogames horrible things.
Essay
Rise of the Superhumans
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.