This web comic by LadyLooLauren bears a striking resemblance to Gus Mastapa’s own salivating escapades through Skyrim. Uncooked potato and cabbage. It is raining by the time I get to Rorikstead, a small weatherbeaten farm on the far end of the tundra. Small plots are ringed in by a low wicker fe
Jody Brown of Arch Daily defines design as such: Design is about finding a balance. There’s a Japanese word for the place in between “ma”. It’s the interval of time between two things. It’s the point in the swing of a pendulum when the object switches from an upswing to a downswing. It’s the pause
While the pixel art community is still flourishing, its use in mainstream games might be in decline. In a wonderful article by Fred Dutton, videogame pixel artists are asked to chime in about how the leaps in technology are changing videogame art. The humble DS is arguably the final platform where t
Architecture Daily has an article about a guy named Enrico Deni, who invented a new type of 3D printer to help him actualize his dream building. Imagine a world in which level designers could playtest and iterate on their ideas in their backyards. Full circle. Dini became a civil engineer and later
Rock Paper Shotgun has a funny, heartwarming story of a Skyrim player accidentally killing a member of his party, and then throwing her up a hill and into a coffin, and then burying her after unsuccessfully trying to revive her. The entire thing is great, but here’s the death in question: I returned
A recent study has found that children who play excessive amounts of videogames have their brain wired like gamblers. Those that usually spent more time playing on their computer had more grey matter in a part of the brain which is rich in dopamine, a chemical which makes us feel pleasure and reward
In the 1830s, a mathematician named Charles Babbage drew up a set of plans for a programmable machine that ran off of punch cards. He called it an “Analytical Engine.” Everyone thought he was crazy. A hundred years later, somebody created basically the same thing that Babbage designed and called it
Sex is traditional thought of as an offensive and defensive game, with the man trying to steal home, while the woman hopes to get three outs to end the inning. Getting youth to think outside of this stereotype is one of the goals of a forward-thinking sex education class that is written about in thi
Download audio file This is an audio excerpt from an interview with voiceover artist and actor Nolan North, featured in Kill Screen Issue 5: Sound. I caught North on Skype in Creative Director Amy Hennig’s office at Naughty Dog (he was there working on his book, Drake’s Journal, about the making of
In a recent interview for the Atlantic, writer Jonathan Lethem talked on the key differences between adapting comics to film. “The movies insist on transforming a form into another form, and yet the results fall into a hideous void between them. The mystery of the evocativeness of a comic book panel
Chris Hardwick, comedian, host of the Nerdist podcast, and former MTV game show host is a nerd and proud of it. In a recent article for Wired, however, he talks about how being a nerd is both a blessing and a curse. “Because of our mutant powers of obsession, it’s my guess that a lot of nerds suffer
In an interview with Forbes about his recent book How To Do Things with Videogames, well-known game academic Ian Bogost explained why the word “gamer” is a misnomer. In some ways, the concept of the gamer is one of the worst ideas that proponents of games have advanced. It signals it as sort of a li
When Megan and Eric Kellermeyer found out their child was going to be born on the release date for the highly anticipated Skyrim, they did what any parents would do: name their child after the main character. Bethesda had announced a baby naming contest months ago, but Mrs. Kellermeyer is adamant th
See the whole set! -Jason Johnson
For the aspiring and actual musicians out there who are offended by Guitar Hero, the digital realm has not failed you. Enter the iTar, a guitar and iPad hybrid device that emulates a real instrument-playing experience. Though the device is still in its formative stages on Kickstarter, it would let y
While shrines to classic pixel art are everywhere, pixelstyle, a tumblr by artist Alex Bond (aka enso) casts a wider net. Old Nintendo work shares the page with logos from classic software pirate outfits, and work from modern artists (like the above piece “Winter” done by Samanasuke in 2010). Check
Okay, not actually all of them. But, like, most. Still doesn’t top Das Racist’s “Who’s That? Brown!” video, which comes in the form of an actual video game. [via]
Can somebody please give Mattias Adolfsson a job in level design? His stuff ranges from Baroque Death Stars to cobblestone planets, historical art mingling with geek chic. “The subjects, as you can see, range but tend to focus on built environments with a Steampunk-like nostalgia for vintage styles
Using a system of both visible and infrared light, a new device from researchers at the Disney Institute and Carnegie Mellon may give us yet another reason to endlessly toy around with our iPhones. SideBySide is comprised of a camera-less mobile device that breathes life into animated images that, w
Or don’t I? That looks terrifying. [Appshaker] (via) -Jason Johnson
In a recent interview, prominent indie developer Jonatan Söderström, better known as cactus, called the creativity and relevance of recent indie games into question. I’ve also grown tired of indie games in general, not easily being interested or impressed by what I see posted on blogs. Nothing real
We can’t really put our fingers on it, though. Wait… There it is. -Drew Millard [via]
A column from the Washington Post recently argued that sports should be offered as an academic pursuit, alongside more traditional departments, such as science, business, and the humanities. Why shouldn’t we let kids major in sports? Aspiring athletes should be able to pursue their real interest, as
In Mercedes’ dystopian vision, we will all be blurs being sent nowhere, trapped in a pixelated dungeon of our own design. Luckily, you can be saved by driving a Mercedes. Or something. Play the game at Mercedes-Benz’s official UK site. Fair warning, they’re going to try to trick you into giving them
As a team of two Russian and one American astronauts blasted through the Earth’s atmosphere towards the International Space Station on Monday, they had their eyes not on the control panel, as you’d expect, but on Angry Birds. This wasn’t a case of being distracted by mobile games. The astronauts dan
