The games industry crash of the early 1980s seemed to spell doom for dedicated gaming consoles in the United States, and confirm in peoples minds that video games were just a fad. However, as home computers continued to thrive in the United Kingdom, video games lived on as popular software for these new, pervasive machines. As magazines covering […]
Category: Game Studies
The video games industry has seen a new, profound support of independent developers with Microsoft’s ID@XBOX program and Sony’s commitment to bringing indie games to the PS4. These new games are often viewed as a breath of fresh air, employing new gameplay ideas amongst a sea of growing AAA sequels and projects. However, the risk […]
There’s only one thing to do with a video game: play it. At their core, games are guided by play, and the two words will forever be associated. The invitation of play that video games extend to us is the fundamental difference the medium has with TV, film, and books. For this reason, and that for […]
2015 is the year of open world games. Dying Light gave players a zombie filled playground to explore, Bloodborne let hunters purge Yharnam of blood disease, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt had Geralt searching for Ciri across a massive fantasy setting, and Batman: Arkham Knight will give players free reign inside Gotham. Not to mention Mad Max, Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain, and […]
A mind-numbing amount of people play video games, and the cultural significance of these products hold has become massive. As a form of media, they are creating a new sense of a public sphere by requiring user agency, which breaks away from the structures of pre-digital communication. They connect us to others around the world, […]
A mind-numbing amount of people play video games, and the cultural significance these products hold has become massive. As a form of media, they are creating a new sense of a public sphere by requiring user agency, which breaks from the structures of pre-digital communication. They connect us to others around the world, facilitate idea exchange, […]
There has been a noticeable push in games criticism to evaluate the content of video games based on the narrative they tell. Gamers want to be able to tell others not familiar with the medium of the impactful stories and emotional journeys offered by their hobbies as means of justification. However, this is problematic because […]
Video games are often thought of as a strictly visual media. They are frequently assessed by their ability to create pictorial representations of virtual worlds, and their graphical fidelity is increasingly scrutinized as an important trait. Gamers want their games to look pretty, and art direction and character design are amongst the first aspects of a […]
The controller is the most under-discussed object in gaming and represents a the major deviation from all other entertainment media. Not since the stereoscope–which required the cranking of a lever to view simulated motion– has such physical repetition been required in order to interact with a medium. Furthermore, It is used differently by each developer, […]