Discussion: Metal Screams
Welcome to the March newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
I joked on Twitter that Big Robot had thrown in the towel because it was too bleak by half. Because, Jesus, it is bleak.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: Choose Life
Welcome to the just-one-day-late February newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
When Ingold tackled the question on how to make choices matter he said, without hesitation: choices don’t matter
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: Janken Zen
Welcome to the just one day late January newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
I’ve tried the occasional RTS or 4X but nothing has ever quite sucked me in like Darwinia. Nothing unputdownable. I once played half of AI War's tutorial and, believe me, that's a long-ass tutorial.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: Cyberdunk
Welcome to the year-late December newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
Some have hoped that studio bosses will wake up and smell the Cyberpunk coffee, exclaiming, “Jesus, all that death march crunch is really bad for our games!” I think the more accurate analogy will be those hurrying past a violent mugging in broad daylight, grateful that it wasn’t them this time.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: They Hurt You
Welcome to the November newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
What they’re trying to say - and good luck finding a headline that lays this out clearly - is that videogames aren’t hurting you.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: The Assembled World
Welcome to the October newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
Videogame developers design their worlds with purpose and often sprinkle it with procedurally-generated sugar. That pizza box is placed to tell you someone ate here and didn’t tidy up, or left in a hurry. The child’s playroom is full of handcrafted toys because they were loved and maybe one parent was a woodwork enthusiast.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: Low Score
Welcome to the September newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
I suppose the series' focus on money was inevitable. What the public knows are iconic titles and their associated corporate colossi: the story of pop videogames is the story of videogame money.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: Towers
Welcome to the woefully late August newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
During the halcyon days of FPS mods, not a week seemed to go by without someone showing off a cool gun render. That was the most boring thing about a mod I could imagine. I understood it was helpful to distance themselves from the source material but a hunger for weapon renders, particularly the more realistic, was baffling.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: Patience of a Thief
Welcome to the July newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
I didn’t finish the demo, unwilling to risk the wrath of whatever stalked the dank and uninspiring Gloomsewers. I felt I had been toiling within its systems rather than dancing with them - and the demo was graveyarded.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Discussion: Charity Begins At Game
Welcome to the June newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
Many of the 1,700 items were tools (Hex Kit), assets (Kenney Game Assets 1) and PDFs outlining paper-and-pen RPG systems (The Colors of Magic). However, the strangest aspect of the bundle, which was unlikely to fly for any other bundle, was the inclusion of free games.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.