![[Talk 4/17] Building Worlds While the Actual World Burns](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/size/w800/format/webp/2026/04/Kara-Stone-Joshua-Dawson-Header.png)
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Games, play, and culture with Jamin Warren
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There is an open world LEGO Lord of the Rings game coming out
The LEGO games are really cute, fun, and you can play them with your nephews without worrying about blood going everywhere. But it can be tiresome to get tracked onto the rails of each linear level. The upcoming LEGO Lord of the Rings promises an open world and a crafting system. True to the LEGO ga
We didn’t pass chemistry but here are the thermodynamics of gameplay
The laws of thermodynamics are at work when you play a videogame. Raymond Neilson explains his idea of entropy as a metaphor for game-playing in an analysis of Max Payne 3. The process of playing, then, can be seen as equivalent to extracting work from a system for the purposes of “fun”. The non-tr
Puzzler Gateway an indie platformer mechanic mash-up.
The indie puzzler Gateway combines a plethora of game device tropes, portals, gravity manipulation, self-shadows, and does so unapologetically. David Johnston, the game’s creator, acknowledges the influence of other games: It helps me to see what other ideas people have tried and what works as a gam
Pulitzer-winning author Junot Díaz explains why videogames suck at writing female characters
From an interview in the Atlantic this week: The Atlantic: It sounds like you’re saying that literary “talent” doesn’t inoculate a writer—especially a male writer—from making gross, false misjudgments about gender. You’d think being a great writer would give you empathy and the ability to understand
Qrth-phyl is basically Snake in 3D, on the hunt for vowels
What if you could play Snake in 3D? The new qrth-phyl, by Hermit Games, is basically a 3D version of the arcade and cell phone classic, but the levels are random. Jeffrey Matulef on Eurogamer explains: Qrth-phyl features self-generating code, so the challenges won’t play out the same way twice, and
Microsoft wants to literally surround you with videogames
Mircrosoft recently filed a patent for an “Immersive Display Experience” to make a virtual game room. The detailed description states that images outside of the HD display could engage a player’s peripheral vision. It definitely sounds like a Kinect 2.0 that would be more group-friendly than a VR he
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