Category Archives: video games
When Gamers Grow Old
Gaming as a hobby has always had a core audience. The target demographic which most developers tend to care about the most has traditionally been the 16-30 year old males. Of course publishers are happy to sell their games to … Continue reading
Tomb Raider
It was the lazy summer of 97 (or maybe 98) when the three of us sat on the cool basement floor, clustered around the TV and swearing like sailors every time Lara died which worked out to be about every … Continue reading
HOWTO Improve Your PC Gaming by 100% in 5 Minutes
I play video games on a PC. I know this may come as a surprise to some of you – after all I typically don’t blog about gaming that much at all. I mean it’s not like I have a … Continue reading
Bioshock Infinite: Part 2 – Elizabeth
Spoiler Warning! This post contains spoilers for Bioshock Infinite, including mid and late game details. It does not discuss the main plot or the end twist but it does spoil at least one major important game event which is pivotal … Continue reading
Bioshock Infinite: Part 1 – Art Direction and Visual Storytelling
Bioshock Infinite is a great game. You may remember that I had mostly positive things to say about the original Bioshock game. I have never played the sequel, because to be honest, it seemed like an incredibly stupid idea at … Continue reading
Dishonored
Back when I was still actively playing World of Warcrap, one of the games’ many inside jokes were the pandas. According to the lore, somewhere in Azeroth there existed a race of pseudo-Chinese panda bears that were mostly known for … Continue reading
DOTA 2
Lately I have been entertaining myself playing DOTA2. I got a beta invite from one of the readers here (thank you sir!) and found it quite addictive. The game is currently F2P but in a closed beta so you need … Continue reading
X-COM: Enemy Unknown
X-COM is not a video game – it is digital crack cocaine. It will suck you in. It will keep you up until 4am on a weekday. It will make you mutter “just one more turn, just one more spin … Continue reading
FTL
FTL is a new indie game that explores a novel concept: how do you fuck up an idea that simply cannot fail. It is one of the first games that was crowd-funded from the ground up via Kickstarter. The development … Continue reading
Cheat Codes
Here is an interesting tidbit I stumbled upon when playing Red Faction: the game apparently has cheat codes. Or not cheat codes, but “cheats” nevertheless. This was something interesting, because cheats was something that faded away into obscurity in the … Continue reading
Red Faction: Guerilla
Red Faction: Guerrilla is a remarkable game. I don’t think I have ever seen a product with so many good ideas, all of which are implemented poorly. And it is not that the implementation is buggy or half-assed. The game … Continue reading
Dear Eshter
Can video games art? This is a really dumb question. Of course they are. Or rather they can be. Anyone who would say no to this is wrong. Artists can choose to express themselves in just about any medium and … Continue reading
Video Game Protagonists
I touched upon this issue in my review of Dead Space 2 but I think this topic is worth expanding into an entire post. I’m talking about the astonishing lack of variety when it comes to video game protagonists. It … Continue reading
Dead Space 2: The Good Parts
Last week I talked about why Dead Space 2 does not work as a survival horror game. This week I would like to point out the few things that I liked and that I thought worked well. And no, the … Continue reading
Dead Space 2: The Fear Factor
Dear diary, I played Dead Space 2 and didn’t fear even once. Is there something wrong with me? As you might have guessed, I spend a shameful amount of money on the recent Steam sale. It happened pretty much exactly … Continue reading
Max Payne 3
If you saw the post title and got excited for an angry and bitter “Rockstar totally ruined this franchise” rant, I am sorry to disappoint. I have not played the original Max Payne games so I don’t actually know if, … Continue reading
EA and their hate of sales
I don’t know if you heard about this, but sometime last month David DeMartini – the head honcho at EA’s digital delivery platform known as Origin (you know their incredibly shitty spyware ridden attempt to replace Steam) said they will … Continue reading
Phone Games
I’m being a bit lazy today, so let’s talk about lazy time entertainment: cell phone games. I happen to own an iPhone so I will be discussing some of my favorite titles for that platform, but I don’t want to … Continue reading
The Age of Fan Funded Products
When I was a teenager, Kickstart meant something different than it does today. If you told a younger me about a webpage known as Kickstarter, I would most likely assume it had something to do with Amiga Kickstart – the … Continue reading
Why you should be excited about 0x10c
By now, I think all of you probably know about 0x10c. If you haven’t heard about it, here is the scoop: Notch, the creator of Minecraft has a brand new game in the pipeline. It’s a space sim with Minecraft … Continue reading
Mass Effect 3: A Re-Write
Mass Effect 3 Spoiler Warning Please note that this post may contain some spoilers for Mass Effect 3 ending. Actually it contains a lot of spoilers, along side with wild speculation and bunch of “what if” theorizing. So if you … Continue reading
Mass Effect 3: Ending
Mass Effect 3 Spoiler Warning This post contains massive end-game spoilers for Mass Effect 3. If you have not played the game yet, and you wish to do so in the future, turn back now, before you find out how … Continue reading
Mass Effect 3: Difficult Choices
Mass Effect 3 Spoiler Warning Note, this post contains massive spoilers for Mass Effect 3. If you have not played the game yet and you don’t want to be spoiled, turn back now. I like video games that force you … Continue reading
Jumping in Video Games
Jumping in video games is important. As a gamer I think I always knew this, but never actually realized how crucial it is to overall experience until Steve Yegge pointed it out in his long article about Borderlands: Jumping is … Continue reading
Elements of Addiction
Guys, guess what? Steve Yegge has committed a blog post again! Sound the trumpets! If you don’t know who Steve Yegge is, shame on you. Actually, I guess you could be excused because he tends to regularly fall of the … Continue reading