In his review of the pseudo-subversive Spec Ops: The Line for Grantland, famed game writer Tom Bissell lists 13 potential reasons why we play a genre of games whose volume of violence surpasses that of most mediums up to this point. From passages to personal stories to jotted notes, the review is as
Beyond videogames, simulacrum, shady politics, and even the best watch-dog journalism, independent filmmaker Alex Rivera (Sleep Dealer) wants us to realize drones as the synecdoche of present civilization. In a recent interview with the senior editor of New Inquiry, Rivera waxes polemic about how th
It’s no retina scan, but with the new Android OS, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, all you need is a good look to unlock your data-treasure chest of a phone. The New York Times reports: This comes under the general heading of “biometrics,” a highfalutin way of saying the phone has the ability to recogn
Variety is reporting that the next Batman from Rocksteady, makers of the Arkham series, is going back to the chromatic ’50s. New, highly stylized title is being developed as a prequel that revolves around Batman’s first meeting with the Joker. It’s based on the Silver Age of DC’s comicbooks from th
The ideal scientist is addicted to research. But when time is of the essence, crowdsourcing with games of pattern-finding in a real world context has proved an efficient way to get the world to do research for you. Following suit, Britain’s Wellcome Trust, a global charity for the advancement of bi
It’s been confirmed that Trent Reznor has composed the theme song for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, a game set in the future where the U.S. is in a cold war with China, which will surely heat up, considering fans would probably be disappointed with a game of ceasefire. Whether Reznor was inspired by d
Kill Screen columnist Michelle Young, on her way through Rio De Janero to study the legalization of street art, took a moment in Terra Encantada, another abandon amusment park whose play crossed the line into death. She took the full story to Untapped Cities. By now, you might be used to seeing aban
If you dream of walking across the words of a poem as you read them, building maps of metaphor that you play in your head, see how New York poet Jon Cotner willled this into realtiy with the work of a Japanese master of the haiku. We’re Floating is a new interactive walk designed by artist and poet