I’ve been to game FAQs much more than I’d like to admit. The times I find myself there are usually not to solve a puzzle or to get through an action sequence, but to find out the potential outcomes of an in-game choice. Nonlinear narrative requires decisions that do not always have the clearest outc
A nationwide (even global) magnifying glass was placed on the 2012 election and campaign trail. Most of the attention was put on the presidential race, but Nov. 6 was a day of progress in many states for reasons that had nothing to do with the presidential ballot. Washington and Colorado legalized r
The quicksave is pervasive in PC games. It exists on the console as well, but there it is better classified as a frequent-and-laborious-trip-to-the-menu save. G. Christopher Williams at Pixels or Death examines this panacea for challenge and contrasts it with the mechanics found in Jordan Mechner’s
When humans interact with others, they overwhelmingly focus on the face of the person they are communicating with. Alan Kingstone, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, wanted to know if this was because humans seek out the eyes of those they interact with or if they just focus on th
From genuine interpersonal relationships to the art of the pickup, the gaming of life is an inevitability. We may overtly participate in it, or it may take place beneath the surface of our awareness, but we are constantly playing with the systems of social interaction and society. Being polite, dona
It’s tempting to dismiss Halo 4 as purely a workout for the adrenal glands, but it has a softer side hidden beneath the battle rifles and pulse grenades. Its characters were not just iterations of Hollywood’s collection of Johns (Rambo, MccLane, Connor), but were influenced particularly by a progeny
If you were ravenously consuming prerelease information for Dark Souls like I was, then you probably stumbled across a helpful nugget from its director Hidetaka Miyazaki: start with the Pendant. You see, there were a few different “gifts” the player could receive at the start of their game. Each had
A panel at last week’s ExPlay Festival in Bath analyzed educational videogames and their potential. Each speaker brought a new perspective to the discussion: Force Of Habit founder Nick Dymond talked about working with a professor of microbiology on Tempest-style game Dysbiosis, which teaches player