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Gunning With Scissors
How can we understand a world coded in language? William S. Burroughs had some violent ideas in the form of handguns, scissors, and word games.
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Why Food Isn’t the Point
What can contemporary performance art tell us about Cooking Mama? Kyle Chayka on the unlkely link between cooking videogames and fine art.
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On Answers Withheld
Who is Andrew W. K., and why have we convinced ourselves to chase a mystery? Drew Millard argues our self-deception may be our best way to stay engaged today.
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The Edible History of Games
In common parlance, tastes change. But this is no mere truism; when technology moves with the times, so does what we find palatable. We look at the history of videogames through the surprisingly familiar lens of food.
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Fitter, Happier
The simplest videogames today excel at one thing: the chase that we pursue endlessly and never finish. Yannick LeJacq looks at mobile hits Canabalt and Temple Run through the health and fitness lens.
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The Tao of Molydeux
Game designers around the world recently gathered to make Peter Molyneux’s unconscious fever dreams—the Twitter account of @petermolydeux—a reality. What we learned was that good jokes are not the same as good ideas.
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I’m Not Kidding This Game Is S**t
How can bad games accomplish more than good ones? On the awe-inspiring results of Cheetahman II and awfulness.
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The Legend of Donkey-Woman
When your game breaks all the time, will you give up or will you play along? We go looking for guts and glitches in the Wild West.
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We Changed the Ending
Yeah, we did!
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Hurt You So
A conceptual game about “real interaction” has players burning, electrocuting, and whipping each other. When they are finished, they may find Painstation was not the game they signed off on.
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Going Overboard
Some fear heights; others, going outside. Jason Johnson is afraid of fish, which makes even the most innocent and childproof videogames horrible things.
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The Thrill of Watching
If the cinema has insight to offer games, perhaps it lies not in storytelling, but in the act of watching. Lyndsey Edelman wonders why her transition from passive to active viewer is so underappreciated and terrifying.