Essay
Love to Worry
Games are a collision of study and play, but they lean heavily on the former. Jason Johnson’s trip into the chaotic mines of Spelunky taught him how to love the inhumanity of the machine.
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Essay
In Balance and Imbalance
J. Nicholas Geist takes apart and rebuilds the mechanics of Fumito Ueda’s minimal classic Ico into words.
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Nintendo’s Power
Nintendo’s new gaming console, the Wii U, has already been dismissed by gaming experts and fans. Is their skepticism warranted, or are they missing the forest for the trees of Hyrule? Jon Irwin thinks the latter.
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Love and Chaos
Since its release in March, Mass Effect 3 has come under fire for everything from its ending to the inclusion of a gay male Commander Shepard. But what really made the game’s fans and critics so upset? In honor of Pride Day, we examine the series’ finale and the complicated sexuality of its protagon
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The Importance of Being in Jest
Videogames are rarely above an inside joke. But can cheeky self-reference become a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Lana Polansky on why good satire is hard to find, except when the game stars Charles Barkley.
Essay
Getting Closer to Our Bodies, One Missing Limb at a Time
The University of Manchester has had amputees healing their pain by controlling avatars with Microsoft’s Kinect motion interface. Michael Thomsen argues this has implications for the creative potential of videogames, which might one day privilege physical pain over competitive challenge.
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What Can Our Smartphones Say to Stilt Houses?
The games Josiah Harrist played in the Third World reminded him of the Mario and zombies of his home. But will the fantasies of videogames outlive the technology that outlines them?
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Why Planescape: Torment Tempted Us To Find the End of Play
In 1999, Black Isle Studio released Planescape: Torment was released to wide critical acclaim for Chris Avellone’s rich story-telling pulled from the world of Dungeons & Dragons. In this Reset column, we explore once more how the game pushed the boundaries of imagination.
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A Numerological Approach to the Pains of Drop7
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. What do the numbers of iOS classic Drop7 mean. We take a stab a decoding the symbols.
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Blessed Are the Geek
While much of modern gaming revolves around success or achievement in its various forms, Rich Clark argues that a clearer vision of what games could be comes from the well-known Beatitudes, preached in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. After a week of grasping hell, Clark offers a differing view of heave
Essay
A Low End Theory
Wondering why so many games send us through hell? Look on the bright side.
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Will Work for Fun
What are the roots of free-to-play capitalism? Michael Thomsen argues that in-game commodities and microtransactions are not new ideas so much as the latest ways that videogame companies instrumentalize us.