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Scenes: The First Day of E3
Kill Screen staff writer Jon Irwin attends his first Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. In this dispatch, holding hands with mutants and reading into attire.
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A Sound Design: Live Fast, Die Faster
In our latest music column, Pitchfork writer David Raposa asks why the late Guitar Hero failed where Rock Band succeeds, with insight from the music industry.
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Laughing Stock: Ron Gilbert
Ron Gilbert began making games that satirized movie genres. Now the mind behind Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and DeathSpank makes games that poke fun at themselves. We talk to Gilbert about finding the funny factor in games—why it can be so hard, and why it’s good for the medium.
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No Quarter For Old Men
NYU hosts its second annual “No Quarter” game exhibit and our Adrian Sanders takes a peek at a new crop of indie titles.
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From Chalks to Blocks
How virtual playground Minecraft is like the building blocks of our youth. We speak with educator Joel Levin about the school curriculum he built around Minecraft, and teaching internet ethics in a way that sticks.
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Profile: Bennett Foddy
Bennett Foddy is a true Renaissance man. The GIRP creator speaks with Jonathan Beilin about being a founding member of Cut Copy, a philosopher at Oxford, and designing games that addict.
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Resurrecting Teddy
Can keeping a digital pet ever live up to a master’s relationship with a real one? Do we want to see the day when it can? Jon Irwin wonders why Nintendogs + Cats for 3DS makes him feel so guilty, and why pet sims don’t take the responsibility of pet ownership seriously enough.
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The Game Design of Everyday Things: Buttons
What’s on a button? In this new column, Tom Armitage takes a look at the things we press—whether on a city bus, a podium, or a Nintendo controller.
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The Last Game Trader
The Video Game Exchange is a link to the past for retro-game lovers, and owner Fred Schofield likes it that way. During field research for NHPR, Jon Lynch digs into Schofield’s shipping containers of games and his refusal to modernize in the face of GameStop.
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Of Brains and Games: Mensa Colloquium 2011
What does Mensa have to do with gaming? Matthew MIllsap put the question to Mensa members at their annual colloquium.
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Too Much Love
Carnegie Mellon professor Jesse Schell has become a major voice in the “gamification” debate that has raged in the game design community for the last year. His “Design Outside the Box” talk two years ago on the layering of games on every aspect of human existence became a big hit. We talk to Schell
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Profile: Petri Purho
Petri “Pete” Purho has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. But the Finnish magician and game designer isn’t interested in run-of-the-mill party tricks. Dennis Kogel explains how Purho’s games are built on a foundation of cards.