Last Friday night, I took the train into New York City to experience the Fourth Annual No Quarter event. This is an indie game showcase run by NYU’s Game Center. They commissioned four new indie games and five new art…
I grew up on Disney. My parents took me to Disney World before I could even form complete sentences and walk the whole day. My grandmother painted Mickey Mouse figures on my bedroom walls and the whole family saw every…
Geek & Sundry has a new series from some of the Robot Chicken creators called FetchQuest. Each week, they release a short animated video looking at various aspects of the video game industry. It’s sharp and committed to the theme…
At Quinni-Con 2013, 11 costumed contestants took to the stage to compete in a send-up of the US electoral system called Cosplay Candidate. The host, A Count Named Slick-Brass, was serious from the start, eliminating one candidate before she even…
I’m working my way through the new Tomb Raider right now and really enjoying it. The game is just a more evolved version of the original games on the PlayStation. It has all the same elements–the platforming, the puzzles, the…
When it comes to Spring Into Suspense, we’ve covered everything from orchestral scoring to spiraling structures in video games, books, theater, comics, and film. Yet there is an entirely different school of suspense that has become synonymous with horror films.…
Must Read: Misogyny, Sexism, And Why RPS Isn’t Shutting Up. John Walker of Rock, Paper, Shotgun breaks down the typical troll derailment tactics used when anyone tries to discuss the role of women in video games and fan culture.
I’m well aware of the love it or hate it reaction to ambiguous, exploration-driven indie games. For every rave about a Journey, there’s an equally passionate pan. The pros and cons are sometimes even the same on both sides of…
I’ve played through the Xbox 360 game Alan Wake twice now and really enjoy it. It’s super-moody with a lot of noir notes and an emphasis on storytelling. It builds great suspense in the first hour of play and only…
Anita Sarkeesian’s new series of Feminist Frequency videos debuted on YouTube yesterday. Tropes vs. Women in Video Games is the Kickstarter project that the trolls didn’t want you to have because of misconceived notions of what feminist criticism actually is.…
I have a bunch of “best of” posts planned for Sketchy Details that I’m going to break down into shorter, more digestible features in the coming weeks. First up are video games. 2012 was a sort of renaissance for indie,…
I finally played Journey for the first time last night. Money is always tight around here and the idea of spending $15 on a two hour game seemed wasteful to me. With an after holiday sale and the discount afforded…
I love a good puzzle game. It’s one of the main genres in my wheelhouse (right behind music/rhythm games and the OCD madness of leveling up and resource distribution in a turn-based RPGs) because of the way I think. I…
Kickstarter is not the most reliable funding source for video games. About 43% of these projects reach their fundraising goals, which makes them the 4th least successful category on the site. It’s a higher rate than pitching to a big…