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Games, play, and culture with Jamin Warren
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Gaming make us aware of life’s social commodities
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
Halo 4 took pointers from Ico
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
Can indie games save the survival horror genre?
It’s not news that the mainstream horror game is in a bad way: Resident Evil 6 was an atrocity, Silent Hill hasn’t been relevant in years, and the Dead Space series (which, to be fair, is excellent) seems to be moving in more of a pure-action direciton. At FMV, Matt Butler takes heart in a groundswe
Dark Souls director pranks devotees hilariously
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
What’s beef? Hip hop and videogames collide
Friday’s news that Rockstar did not demonstably base GTA: San Andreas main character CJ on the appearance and life story of Cypress Hill backup singer Michael “Shagg” Washington (and that parent company Take Two was not liable) made us do several things. First, we listened to Insane in the Brain. Th
Games for school, and for life
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
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