Interview
Luke Schneider
Luke Schneider, the solo member of the Radiangames studio, talks with Jason Johnson about the solitude of leaving a major gaming studio and going it alone as an indie.
Jason Johnson
Essay
Why I Drink the Purple Rain
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.”
Review
Review: Sonic Generations
Jason Johnson steps onto Sega’s newest roller coaster, and discusses which parts make him want to step off.
Essay
The Year in ADHD
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.
Columns
Grow Cannon
A virtual pet for crazy people is what this is. Assuming anyone is crazy enough to figure that out.
Columns
Foot Step
In our inaugural Flash Forward column, about all things browser, Flash, and otherwise tab-able and clickable, Jason Johnson writes on the transcendent joy of getting stepped on by a giant boot made of squares.
Review
Review: Kirby Mass Attack
In a move fit for the Twitter and app generation, Kirby gets shattered into tiny—but formidable—pieces. Jason Johnson reviews what may be his Nintendo DS swansong.
Interview
James Silva: I Will Destroy Anyone Who Gets in My Way
James Silva, the one-man studio behind the gory cult classics I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 and the Dishwasher series, talks to us about why he’s squeamish, high school band fiascos, and what he’ll do if you try to collaborate.
Review
Review: Super Crossfire
Luke Schneider’s new take on Space Invaders has one twist, and that’s all that it needs. Jason Johnson weighs in on the virtue of simplicity.
Review
Review: Scoregasm
A new entry in an overloaded genre, the twin-stick shooter, Scoregasm suggests that when mathematical formulas cease to surprise, only art may differentiate them.
Essay
The Illogical End
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
Reset
Reset: Radiant Silvergun
The bullet-filled trajectory of videogame shooters, from Spacewar! to Space Invaders to shmups, may have peaked with Radiant Silvergun, a rarity now playable on Xbox Live Arcade. Jason Johnson explores how 3D threw shooters off course.