For Colson Whitehead, B-movies appealed because of their rarity. In the days before VHS and DVR, that time The Flesh Eaters was playing might be the only opportunity to see the film. He enjoyed A Clockwork Orange and Aliens alongside his cinema-going family. I didn’t draw a distinction between good
So-called “helicoptor parents” supervise their children constantly and moniter all the media they consume to make sure they don’t run into anything terrifying. With good reason—violent, innuendo-filled videogames and television shows aren’t appropriate for young children. But parenting wasn’t always
Are you being used? Are companies taking advantage of your enthusiasm to enrich themselves through the abstract new mechanisms of social networking? In a jointly reported story on the New York Times’ Bits blog, Facebook users were asked to comment on the network’s practice of using a person’s “likes
Zombies are the perfect antagonist. They are beyond salvation, are impossible to reason with, and can be given supernatural abilities that exacerbate our worst death fears. Former Call of Duty Creative Strategist Robert Bowling has announced his new game will delve into the primal fears provoked by
On Friday, one of our writers, Michael Thomsen, posted a defense of the new trailer for Hitman: Absolution and a riposte to some of the ensuing dialogue around it. As a community, you responded with disappointment and disgust. While I want Kill Screen to be a place of provocation and debate, this wa
On the eve of E3 2012, the ground shook forebodingly, prefiguring next week’s tidal wave of news: -The Nintendo DS was almost called “City Boy.” –Castlevania: Lord of Shadows 2 revealed, shows off blood sucking hero. -Microsoft rumored to be working on “Smart Glass” app to stream data from mobile ph
Ed. note: This piece sparked a lot of debate in the comments and elsewhere. We’ll be looking at the trailer and the surrounding issues at greater length early next week. In the meantime we’ve amended the original headline for insensitivity. -Jamin Ed. note #2: We’ve since apologized for this piece.
There is a point at which game design simply gets in the way of players. Designers rely on restricted access to ammo, levels, and new weaponry to guide player’s through their games, creating the illusion of “progress.” Under no circumstances are players to be given free reign of all a game’s levels,