Freedom Force
Review by Mike PhillipsJune 2002
Are you the sort who channel-surfs past CNN in order to watch the Justice League on Cartoon Network? Still have your Marvel comics stored in the closet? Seen the Spiderman movie more than once? Then you’ve already played Freedom Force and are far more enlightened than me.
I had serious trepidation over buying Freedom Forceeven the box looked like it should reside next to Spongebob Squarepants: Operation Krabby Patty. Freedom Force is a comic bookstyled superhero game, for heaven’s sake. It would surely be fun for kids to play, but no well-adjusted adult should give it a second glance. I loved comic books as a youth, but I also had a fascination over staging battles with my GI Joe dolls, and both are a distant memory now. Okay, maybe on rainy days when I can’t play outside, I do get out the GI Joe dolls, but that’s not my point.
Eventually I caved and purchased Freedom Force, fully expecting to give it a brief glance before throwing it on my “I’ll finish it when Hell freezes over shelf” … right next to Jekyll & Hyde. What I got is easily the best game I’ve played in quite some time. Freedom Force is fun, period! For anyone who suffers from my antiquated ways of thinking, get over it and buy this game already. Irrational Games has crafted something that will appeal to everyone, and as a bonus it just oozes polishit’s the little things that will lift this title into classic status long before it disappears from store shelves.
Installing the game gives you an idea what a treat you are in for. Several comic book covers are displayed featuring the heroes and villains that you will be meeting while playing the game. The covers have an aged, read look to them, a fantastic touch. The people behind this game thought of everything.
The opening intro provides an explanation of how Frank Stiles, an average citizen of Patriot City who was working on the Manhattan Project long ago, gains his super powers. An alien ship drops several canisters of Energy-X on the city … because Lord Dominion wanted to rule the Earth … and, well, Mentor kind of foiled his insidious plan by … then the evil Mr. Mechanical enters the picture … but then the Timemaster runs amok … Forget about it, I’m not going to spoil the story. The plot is very well conceived even though a tad bizarre, as it should be considering the nature of the game.
The graphics aren’t anything special, but in no way am I implying they’ve been beaten with an ugly stick. We’re talking comic books here, folksthey don’t have to be cutting-edge. If you are expecting bump-mapping, cell shading, or even trilinear filtering, you won’t find it. What you will find is a very crisp, detailed, alive, 3D world with automobiles and citizens going about everyday activities.
Virtually everything can be interacted with in some fashion; buildings can be destroyed if you so fancy. Every citizen will reply to you, although in most cases only a few offer any valuable information beyond a scant canned sentence or two. Objects such as cars, mailboxes, traffic lights, street lamps, etc., can be thrown or wielded as weapons against foes. Pedestrians often cross streets in front of speeding cars, and obviously that’s a bad thing. Again, the attention to details elevates this title to something special.
Cutscenes are something to be Marveled over (pardon the pun). These cutscenes are comic books in action. When a new superhero is introduced in a mission, at the end you are treated to vignette as to how he or she acquired his/her powers, how those Energy-X canisters affected his/her life. The legendary Jack Kirby obviously played a major role in the inspiration for this game, and I’m sure he would be proud of the effort.
Sound is where Freedom Force really shines. The voice acting is some of the best I’ve ever encountered in a game. The cast members accepted their roles with an incredible degree of professionalism, as campy and over-the-top as the roles were. This group grabbed their parts and ran with them; they lived themhow refreshing in a computer game. I’m compelled to mention the narrator by name, Ian Vogel. If one conducted a nationwide search for someone to fill the narrator role, I doubt if anyone could pull it off with more aplomb than Mr. Vogel.
The music is also something that can’t be described in printed word. Each level has its own score, and the music is mostly sung, with a baritone, foreboding chorus. How someone could sing “Nuclear Winter” as if it were going to be a Grammy contender is beyond me, but they did it, giving another aspect of the game a polished, finished feel.
The game is played from a rather indescribable perspective. In most instances the game world is viewed from something resembling a 75-degree isometric view, until you zoom the camera in; then it’s more of a standard third-person, over-the-shoulder view. The camera control definitely takes a while to get used to, but I can’t think of a way it could have been handled any better. When viewing the game map from a distance, buildings, trees, etc., get in the way of the action. Quite often, in order to fight an enemy you have to zoom in and get up close and personal. Using a scroll wheel mouse is the best way to accomplish this. When you zoom in, said obstacles become transparent so you can view the action transpiring behind them. It’s very disorienting at first, yet with a little practice it becomes effortless.
Undoubtedly everyone who plays Freedom Force will have a favorite character. Mine happened to be Man o’War, not because he was the best to go into battle with (he was a useless laddie), but rather because of the outrageous remarks he makes. Stephen Russell (who provides several voices in the game) does a Sean Connery impersonation that is hilarious. I often found myself pausing the game, hoping to regain some semblance of composure before I continued playing. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Mr. Connery should embellish the work of Stephen for all it’s worth.
Humor is a very subjective matter, but if you happen to get some chuckles while watching Batman (no, not those recent impostersI’m talking about Adam West, the Batman), you’ll be doubled over while playing Freedom Force. The dialog and plot give new meaning to tongue in cheek.
Ah, the gameplay, you ask. Irrational Games refers to it as a tactical RPG, and, well, it is, sort of. By no means is it your standard Dungeons and Dragons kind of RPG, although the basic structure is present, in a limited fashion. Before starting a mission you have to choose your party (squad, team, or whatever name you prefer). Each mission has both primary and secondary objective(s). The secondary objective(s) are optionalthey are there for you to gain prestige points, which in turn can be used to recruit new members to the FF fold. Primary objectives must be completed in order to advance, and depending on your success rate these determine how many experience points are gained. Experience points are used to “level up” team members upon completion of a mission.
During missions, there are various Energy-X canisters lying about. The flavors include power, health, experience, and prestige. It’s a good plan to search the entire game map for these canisters before completion of the primary objective. A side note: the game’s initialization file can be easily edited to add bonus characters, change the zoom factor (which I highly recommend), or enable the console so cheat codes can be used if necessary.
Does it seem complex? It is, but the first level of the game serves as a tutorial, replete with an explanation of most aspects provided by Mr. Vogel. Beyond that, mouseovers are used to give a text explanation on options screens. A thorough reading of the manual is imperative to understand the finer points of the game, such as creating a custom character. Speaking of which, the manual is a sixty-page document that covers everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Freedom Force. It would have been further icing on the cake if the manual had been printed in color, but I’m just being nitpicky.
The good news for point-and-click fans is that the game can be played using only the mouse. Keyboard shortcuts make things much easier, but they aren’t needed.
If multiplayer is your thing, it works flawlessly out of the box. You choose your characters and have at it with other gamers on differing maps. Hosting a game couldn’t be any easier, or if you want to join a game, meeting other players can be accomplished using GameSpy Arcade, which is included on the disc. I must confess that I’m not a multiplayer lover, but this game has me warming up to the concept.
Want skins, meshes, wallpaper, or have a question about the game? A game-dedicated forum can be found here if you need tech support, strategy advice, or just want to offer an opinion. Feel the need to do a little modding? An editor is available for download here. Tutorials are available to ensure designing your own levels is as painless as it can be.
Further good news from Irrational Games: Freedom Force is designed to be a trilogy. While this game takes place in the early 60s (the Silver Age of superhero comics), the sequels will traverse the 70s to present day, offering much “grittier” subject matter. An expansion pack is also being considered.
Of course I have some complaintsmy inherent desire to whine. The save game utility is the most confusing I’ve ever seen. There is a quick-save/quick-load option that works fine. But your hard saves are stored alphabeticallyno thumbnails, no date and time, just alphabetically. It makes figuring out where you left off quite a chore; I’d love to know why the programmers did this. It’s a very disturbing flaw in an otherwise excellent game.
The traditional methods of adhering to particular characters and leveling up as quickly as possible don’t work well. You may find your favorite characters unavailable for some missions, and doing battle with weak characters can result in restarting the game from scratch. Not much of a complaint, but I’m trying my hardest to find anything to bitch about.
Odd tech bits and stuff: For whatever reason FF was a bit unstable (a few random crashes) for me while playing it under 98SE. On the same system with the same drivers, ME handled it with no problems. I also briefly played it under 2K, and it ran smoothly with no problems.
In an age where you thought everything has been done before, along comes Freedom Force, shattering genre lines, daring to do something different, and instilling fun for all ages into a gameyou can’t ask for anything more. Grab a copy now, because it just doesn’t get any better than this.
The Verdict
The Lowdown
Developer: Irrational Games Publisher: Electronic Arts; Crave Entertainment Release Date: March 2002
Available for:
Four Fat Chicks Links
Screenshots
System Requirements
Windows XP/Me/2000/98 (Windows 95 and Windows NT not supported) 300 MHz Intel Pentium II or AMD K6-2 processor (600 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor recommended) 96 MB RAM (128 MB or more recommended) 4X CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive (16X recommended) 31 MB free hard disk space 16 MB Direct3D capable video card (32 MB recommended) DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card (Environmental Audio capable sound card recommended) Keyboard Mouse
Where to Find It
Links provided for informational purposes only. FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).
Copyright © Electric Eye Productions. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.
Pages
Category Archives
- Alliance of Awesome (RSS) (13)
- Announcements (RSS) (35)
- Editorials (RSS) (341)
- Celebrity Guest Editorials (RSS) (11)
- Culture Clash (RSS) (25)
- Ephemera (RSS) (68)
- Features (RSS) (199)
- A Weekend With (RSS) (4)
- Dark Souls Diaries (RSS) (14)
- Death in Fire (RSS) (4)
- Diary Of A Call Girl (RSS) (3)
- Games of the Year (RSS) (35)
- Kermdinger Chronicles (RSS) (9)
- Local Flavor (RSS) (12)
- MrLipid's Closet of the Odd (RSS) (2)
- My Idea of Fun (RSS) (7)
- On Tap (RSS) (7)
- Quest for 7:00 on the Nordschleife (RSS) (7)
- Superficially Relevant (RSS) (7)
- Tap Dance (RSS) (52)
- Tap vs. Tap (RSS) (9)
- Tapping Down Memory Lane (RSS) (4)
- The Log of Shame (RSS) (5)
- FFC Archives (RSS) (419)
- Impressions (RSS) (189)
- News (RSS) (366)
- Reviews (RSS) (175)
- Uncategorized (RSS) (8)
Blog Posts
- Side by Side: Feud (0)
- Side by Side: Samurai Gunn 2 (0)
- Gregg B’s Games of 2022 (0)
- Side by Side: GourMelee (0)
- Side by Side: Windjammers 2 (0)
- Side by Side: Spirits Abyss (0)
- Side by Side: Very Very Valet (0)
- Side by Side: Bämeräng (2)
- AJ’s Games of the Year 2021 (6)
- Boyfriend Dungeon (1)
- Dozen Days of Demo #9: Project Haven (1)
- Dozen Days of Demo #8: My Time at Sandrock (1)
- Dozen Days of Demo #7: Severed Steel (0)
- Dozen Days of Demo #6: Reshaping Mars (0)
- Dozen Days of Demo #5: Chernobyl Liquidators Simulator (0)
- Dozen Days of Demo #4: Blaster Master Zero 3 (0)
- Dozen Days of Demo #3: Sable (3)
- Dozen Days of Demo #2: Bandit Simulator (0)
- Dozen Days of Demo #1: Terra Nil (2)
- Steerpike’s Dozen Days of Demo (1)
- NieR Replicant ver 1.22474487139… (3)
- Mad Devils Heads For Steam Playtest (1)
- Tenderfoot Tactics (0)
- Side by Side: Season 5 Deleted Scenes (0)
- Element TD 2 Launches Into Early Access (2)
- Fancy A 2.5 Space Adventure? BlazeSky’s Available In EA (0)
- Impressions: Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise (3)
- The Last of Us Part II: Hateful. Brutal. Beautiful? (0)
- Steerpike’s Games of 2019: Wait—Isn’t He Dead? (5)
- Gregg B’s Games of 2017-2019. Yeah. (4)
- Xtal’s Games of 2019: Born at the End of the Universe (4)
- AJ’s 2019 Video Game Roundup (5)
- The Rise of Skywalker (10)
- Side by Side: Disobedient Sheep (1)
- Side by Side: At Sundown: Shots in the Dark (0)
- Side by Side: Totally Reliable Delivery Service (0)
- Side by Side: On Trailers (0)
- Side by Side: Wand Wars (0)
- Side by Side: Daka Dara (0)
- Side by Side: SSMP (0)
- Side by Side: BADBLOOD (0)
- Side by Side: Inversus (0)
- Side by Side: Double Takes (0)
- Side by Side: Battle Bolts (0)
- Side by Side: HELLFRONT: HONEYMOON (0)
- Side by Side: Chambara (0)
- Side by Side: LazerGrrl (3)
- Side by Side: Fling to the Finish (2)
- Ground, to Major Tom (6)
- Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (3)
- There’s No Hentai at MomoCon (1)
- Impressions – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2)
- Devil May Cry 5 (3)
- Xtal’s Games of 2018: “The earth has music for those who listen” Or: The King Is Gone But He’s Not Forgotten (9)
- Twilight of the Wii Shop Channel (4)
- Games I Liked in 2018 and Also in 2017 (5)
- Road to Redemption (4)
- Catch Us Live from PAX Unplugged (0)
- Side by Side: Witchball (2)
- Side by Side: Chronobot (0)
- Side by Side: Birdsketball (0)
- We Nerds Ruin Everything (3)
- Side by Side: Nuclear Reaction (0)
- Some of the Games of PAX West 2018 (4)
- Side by Side: Hacktag (0)
- Donut County (3)
- Side by Side: Totemori (3)
- Side by Side: Cuckoo Curling (0)
- Side by Side: Anyball (0)
- Side by Side: Tuned Out (0)
- Side by Side: Muddledash (0)
- Side by Side: Regular Human Basketball (2)
- Side by Side: EGX Rezzed 2018 (1)
- Entertainment versus Affliction in Hellblade (4)
- Xtal’s Games of 2017: Helpless Like a Rich Man’s Child (5)
- The true Demon’s Souls ends Here (4)
- Girls Behind The Games Hashtag is So Good, So Pure (1)
- Side by Side: N++ (1)
- Greetings from PAX Unplugged (2)
- 2017 Is the Best Year for Games of All-Time, And It’s Not Even Close (4)
- Side by Side: Johann Sebastian Joust (0)
- The Last Guardian: Brief thoughts and Thanks (3)
- Side by Side: Sumer (0)
- Side by Side: The Unholy War (2)
- Side by Side: Cryptark (0)
- PAX West 2017: The Good Life with SWERY65 (1)
- PAX West 2017: Dungeons & Dragons, Playing and Watching (2)
- Side by Side: Gang Beasts, Abyss Odyssey & Season 3 (1)
- Side by Side: Vomit Crabs (1)
- Help a Brother Out, Part 9 (0)
- Heart Quest Books: D&D Adventures for Girls (4)
- Too Many Games and the Philadelphia Game Scene (2)
- I Play Fighting Games for the Story (10)
- Checking in from the D&D Adventurer’s League (1)
- Let My People G-OHGODWHATISTHAT (3)
- Nier:Automata (mostly) & Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen (sort of) (19)
- Apparently It’s Not the Last One (1)
- Side by Side: Crawl (0)
- Side by Side: Magicka 2 (4)
- Catch Me on Twitch! (3)
- Xtal’s Games of 2016: Journey Milestone Accomplished (5)
- Gregg B’s Games of 2016 (12)
- AJ’s Games of the Year 2016 (11)
- The Drake Incident: Harbour Master vs. Hellkite (4)
- Death in Fire: A RimWorld Saga, Part 4 (16)
- Death in Fire: A RimWorld Saga, Part 3 (0)
- Death in Fire: A RimWorld Saga, Part 2 (7)
- Death in Fire: A RimWorld Saga, Part 1 (1)
- Obduction (4)
- Side by Side: Affordable Space Adventures (0)
- Oh look, a list (A Top 17 list) (10)
- Hands on with Torment: Tides of Numenera at PAX West (3)
- Feelin’ Iffy: Pathologic Remake Delayed (10)
- No Man’s Diaries: Prologue (13)
- Hate Expectations (7)
- Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma (5)
- Bastard Bonds (4)
- Too Many Games in Philadelphia (1)
- PAX East 2016 – Part 5 – Roundup (0)
- Games of PAX East – Part 4 – Indie Minibooth (0)
- Games of PAX East – Part 3 – Interviews! (2)
- Games of PAX East – Part 2 – VR (2)
- Indie Games of PAX East – Part 1 (2)
- Fire Emblem: Fates (3)
- Side by Side: Archon (3)
- Impressions: Salt and Sanctuary (4)
- Games and Music at MAGFest 2016 (3)
- Steerpike’s Games of 2015: Somewhat Enriched (5)
- Gregg B’s Games of 2015 (7)
- AJ’s Games of the Year 2015 (6)
- Xtal’s Games of 2015: “And the wind will lift away our rot” (3)
- Help a Brother Out #8 (4)
- 2015: To Pimp a Bunch of Miniature Reviews (5)
- Tales from the Borderlands (0)
- MrLipid’s Closet of the Odd: Black Viper – Sophia’s Fate (3)
- Rise of the Tomb Raider (7)
- Side by Side: Crypt of the Necrodancer (1)
- Three Thoughts about Undertale (9)
- Steam Hardware Impressions Part 2: Steam Controller (18)
- Steam Hardware Impressions Part 1: Steam Link (6)
- Side by Side: Rocket League (5)
- Microsoft Acquires Havok from Intel (3)
- Batman: Arkham Knight (9)
- Side by Side – Season 2: Assault Android Cactus (1)
- Voice Actors Vote on Strike (3)
- “In My Heart I am a Gamer” (7)
- Rumors of Our Demise, etc. etc. (5)
- Zeke Iddon Presents: Gaming for Profit on YouTube (0)
- Mineclass (1)
- Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne – A Real Actual Game (2)
- Impressions – The Witcher: Wild Hunt (10)
- Axiom Verge (3)
- GameLoading: Rise of the Indies (4)
- Gregg & Steerpike vs. the Overworld (3)
- Local Flavor: Connor Hart from OverReact (0)
- Local Flavor: What Pumpkin Studios and Hiveswap (2)
- Local Flavor: PHL Collective and ClusterPuck 99 (2)
- GDC 2015: GDC Microtalks and #1ReasonToBe (3)
- Find Me at GDC (2)
- Local Flavor: CleaverSoft and EarthNight (1)
- The Order | 1886 (21)
- Impressions: Life is Strange, Episode 1 (2)
- Local Flavor: Golden Ruby Games and Extreme Exorcism (3)
- Hyrule Warriors (7)
- Local Flavor: QuadraTron Games and Threshold (1)
- Side by Side: The Series So Far… (2)
- Games I played in 2014 and thought were gud. (5)
- Steerpike’s Games of 2014: Unfinished (11)
- AJ’s Games of 2014: The Wicked, the Weird, the Wacky (5)
- Bravely Default (5)
- GSC Game World Returns (4)
- Impressions: Elegy For a Dead World (3)
- Local Flavor: The Sheikh Zayed Institute’s Pain Medicine Care Complex (2)
- Tap Dance: Introducing ‘Side by Side’ (1)
- Learning to Fly (7)
- Tap-Repeatedly Returns (0)
- Dreamfall Revisited (11)
- A Journey Inward (6)
- Local Flavor: Schell Games and Team Enemy Mind (2)
- Impressions: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (9)
- In My Life (2014 Edition): A Collection of Miniature Reviews & Impressions, Disguised in the form of incoherent ramblings (10)
- Don’t Fear the Creeper: Microsoft Mines Mojang (7)
- Local Flavor: Michael Silverman of Silverware Games (1)
- Review: Shadowgate (2014) (1)
- Local Flavor: Ryan Morrison of Island Officials (3)
- Why I’m Extra Excited About Minimum (3)
- Why The Emerald Dream Can’t Be An Expansion (3)
- Local Flavor: Shawn Pierre of OriGaminc (8)
- Impressions: The Forest Early Access (7)
- Review: Shovel Knight (5)
- The Wolf Among Us (9)
- Aiden Pearce is the Worst (18)
- Help a Brother Out, Part Seven (5)
- On Tap #7 (0)
- The Endless Night of Kentucky Route Zero (8)
- Storming the Castle (7)
- Iron Man Mode Suicidal Aeroplane Charity Livestream Extravaganza! (0)
- On Tap #6 (6)
- Child of Light (3)
- Impressions: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha (11)
- On Tap #5 (3)
- Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (5)
- Avengers Alliance Disassembled (5)
- Moebius: Empire Rising (1)
- On Tap #4 (8)
- Never-Ending Battle? (26)
- Trip Report: PAX East 2014 (3)
- Review: Escape Goat 2 (2)
- Impressions: Lifeless Planet (7)
- Guest Editorial: Arkham Identity (5)
- On Tap #3 (7)
- EGX Rezzed 2014 (4)
- On Tap #2 (5)
- Impressions: Enemy Mind (2)
- Oculus Rift and the Future of VR (12)
- On Tap #1 (10)
- Adventure Games from Phoenix Online Publishing at GDC (3)
- Soul Pain (20)
- Dispatches from the GDC Narrative Summit and Critical Proximity (3)
- One Last Night in Arkham (15)
- Impressions: Broken Age (7)
- South Park: The Stick of Truth (4)
- Impressions: Thief (44)
- Impressions: Banished (3)
- Irrationalia (7)
- Indie Games in Public (4)
- The Last of Us: Left Behind (8)
- The Castle Doctrine (3)
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (12)
- Early Excess? (20)
- Don’t Look, the Rapture is Here (10)
- Impressions: Horizon (7)
- Proteus (2)
- A Speedy Million Dollar Game Charity Run (5)
- Gregg B’s Games of 2013: List Off* (7)
- Xtal’s Games of 2013: The Good in Everyone (5)
- Steerpike’s Games of 2013: Silent Night (17)
- Dix’s Games of 2013: Family Ties (9)
- AJ’s Games of 2013: You Have My Axe (9)
- Impressions: FORCED (4)
- First Person Literacy and BioShock Infinite (7)
- Impressions: Ossuary (7)
- I’m Irrationally Angry About Transformers Legends (12)
- Knee-Deep in the Dear John (3)
- The Bridge (3)
- State of Decay (10)
- XCOM: Enemy RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY SNIPER MAJOR AND SHE STILL CAN’T HIT IT (15)
- Can You Steal A Franchise Back to Health? (37)
- Batman: Arkham Origins (10)
- Extra Life – Play Games – Heal Kids (5)
- The Stanley Parable (10)
- Beyond: Two Souls (13)
- Knock-Knock (11)
- Revisited: Heavy Rain (11)
- Signal Boost: Help Support Game Design Research (5)
- Closure (2)
- Review: Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller: Episode 4 (5)
- Announceosaurus: Valve’s SteamOS [Updated] (25)
- Impressions: Escape Goat 2 (2)
- Glad We Got That Sorted Out (3)
- Tap-Repeatedly Joins the Previous Decade (8)
- He Could Only Rule the World (19)
- Review: Everlove: Rose (4)
- I’m Not Buying Grand Theft Auto V – I Bought Saints Row IV Twice (20)
- Gameplay for Fun and Profit (4)
- Sacrifice (34)
- What a Difference a Year Makes (12)
- Review: Dragon’s Crown (41)
- Everlove: A Romance Game for Women (11)
- The Soulless Social Payne of Rockstar Games (9)
- Kermdinger Studios Unveils Stunt Runner (A Kermdinger Chronicles Update) (4)
- Shadowrun Returns (7)
- Assuming Direct (Star) Control (9)
- Fifteen Hours of Eight (14)
- Review: Face Noir (6)
- The Tapcast of Us: Kristine, Dix, xtal, and Steerpike! (0)
- Help a Brother Out, Part Six (17)
- Culture Clash: Storyville, Population One (9)
- The Walking Dead: 400 Days (2)
- The Last of Us (5)
- Age of Broken Promises (33)
- Review: Deadpool (12)
- When Online Multiplayer Games Die (8)
- Review: Neverwinter (7)
- Metro: Last Light (11)
- Deadly Premonition – The Director’s Cut (17)
- Impressions: The Last of Us (10)
- Trip Report from the Gotland Game Conference (3)
- Culture Clash: A Camel (11)
- Tomorrow’s Harvest (1)
- Tap vs. Tap: Xbox One (16)
- The Night of the Rabbit (8)
- Let’s Watch Let’s Plays (11)
- Star Trek: The Video Game (A Cooperative Review) (4)
- The Part You’re Missing (8)
- Culture Clash: The Fourth Letter (2)
- Antichamber (5)
- Selling Survarium (6)
- Neverwinter Beta Launch Interview (2)
- Celebrity Guest Editorial: NYFA’s Zeke Iddon! (24)
- Thomas Was Alone: A Micro Review (8)
- Defense Grid 2 is Go (11)
- Impressions: Don’t Starve (7)
- Culture Clash: You Just Had to Be There (2)
- Enraptured by Sadness: BioShock Infinite and the Depressing Reality of AAA Game Design (34)
- Review: Retro City Rampage (3)
- Do You Divekick? (7)
- Revisited: Alan Wake (24)
- Talking Cognition and Mystery Adventures at PAX East (4)
- My Idea of Fun: Bioshock 2 (18)
- PAX East Hands-On: Outlast and Remember Me (4)
- My Friday at PAX East 2013 (7)
- There’s the Door, John (10)
- The Games I Saw at IndieCade East (7)
- Impressions: Impire (11)
- The Ultimate Triumph of Beer Pong (15)
- Game of Moans (2)
- Culture Clash: That Used to Be Us (3)
- …And a Stick to Steer Her By (2)
- Impressions: Neverwinter – Beta (4)
- Revisited: Defense Grid (4)
- Impressions: Dead Space 3 (17)
- Discontinuity (6)
- Industry Attrition Continues (4)
- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Backlog (10)
- Did Anyone Actually Need for Lightning to Return? (21)
- Xtal’s Games of 2012: Beauty Lies in the Eye (8)
- Culture Clash: Play it Some Author Way (2)
- Gregg B’s Games of 2012: Distractions (14)
- Steerpike’s Games of 2012: Special Achievement (13)
- AJ’s Games of 2012: And I Feel Fine (6)
- Tap vs. Tap: Authorship (8)
- Gamer’s Block (22)
- Merry Christmas from Your Android Device (1)
- Obstacles & Introspection, Part 1: The Way Out Is Through (8)
- Review: Cognition: Episode 1 (5)
- Review: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (32)
- Gamers Give Back (0)
- GSC Game World Resurrects Itself; Sends Nastygram; Vanishes Again (8)
- The Naked Vulnerability of Halo 4 (14)
- The Dissent, Part 2 – Journey and Dear Esther (21)
- Tapcast: Ben and Steerpike Talk Mass Effect (3)
- Crowdfunding and the Mysterious Oton Console (13)
- Review: Primordia (4)
- Impressions: Miasmata (10)
- The Dissent, Part 1 – S:S&S EP (13)
- Games Don’t Need Much Story (24)
- More-ment (4)
- The Final Ultimate Red Vs. Blue 10 Season Box Set Review (4)
- The Continuing Mission: The Search for Great Star Trek Games (Part 4) (4)
- Difficult Choices in The Walking Dead (5)
- The Seventh (34)
- Culture Clash: The ABCs of AAA (9)
- Star Citizen Kickstarter on its Final Countdown (2)
- Tales from a Halo Household (12)
- A Preview of Gender and Diversity in Primordia (5)
- Consider Wreck-It Ralph (5)
- Group Impressions: Guns of Icarus Online (Beta) (5)
- We’re Not Here for Integrity (5)
- Don’t Bite The Hand That Feeds (10)
- Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (4)
- Impressions: Dishonored (23)
- FTL: Faster Than Light (2)
- This Shrivels My Game Sack (17)
- Culture Clash: World of Wonkcraft (3)
- Site Maintenance Tomorrow And Maybe Longer (0)
- Eurogamer Expo 2012: Mind Dump Part III (8)
- Eurogamer Expo 2012: Mind Dump Part II (5)
- Eurogamer Expo 2012: Mind Dump Part I (7)
- Review of “The Best Red vs Blue DVD Ever” (3)
- Impressions: Prison Architect Alpha (3)
- Thoughts on the Smithsonian’s Art of Video Games Exhibit (8)
- Tap vs. Tap: Dix and Steerpike Battle Bosses (17)
- The Continuing Mission: The Search for Great Star Trek Games (Part 3) (0)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Epilogue (37)
- Project Eternity Kickstarter Breaks All the Banks (10)
- Culture Clash: Meta Effect (4)
- Review: The Walking Dead (Episodes 1 – 3) (20)
- Tap Dance: HM and I talk At A Distance (2)
- Puzzle Clubhouse Launches, and It Has Lasers (1)
- Steam Goes Green (36)
- Shameless Self-Promotion: Podcasting Edition (1)
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (9)
- The Continuing Mission: The Search for Great Star Trek Games (Part II) (2)
- You Can Help Uwe Boll Create In the Name of the King 3 (5)
- The Continuing Mission: The Search for Great Star Trek Games (Part I) (4)
- Commemorating 100 Weeks of Failure (4)
- Dominique Pamplemousse in Another Crowdfunding Project You Should Check Out (1)
- Culture Clash: Something I’ll Never Do Again (3)
- Impressions: RaiderZ Beta (12)
- Exclusive Interview: Hidden Path’s Jeff Pobst (7)
- Guild Wars 2 (Noob) Beta Impressions (24)
- Bethesda Maybe Acquires STALKER Publication Rights (5)
- Tap vs. Tap: “Pink” Games (3)
- Celebrity Guest Editorial: Ernest Adams! (42)
- Yes: It’s a Game (26)
- My Idea of Fun: Game of Lordly Caliber (1)
- Culture Clash: Dangerous to the Last Drop (14)
- Impressions: Polymorphous Perversity (9)
- Impressions: Gratuitous Tank Battles (4)
- Impressions: Endless Space (4)
- Cherry Capital Con (1)
- The World Zynga Made (7)
- Tap vs. Tap: Women in the Game Industry (16)
- Obvious Bias: Cute Robot Destruction (2)
- Nintendo’s Imaginary Friends (5)
- Tap vs. Tap: The Game/Feminism Discourse (6)
- DIY Diagnosis (8)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 1,170-1,259 (9)
- Impressions: Splice (2)
- Culture Clash: It Might Be Fun to Run a Newspaper (13)
- Apologies to Lara Croft (22)
- Persistence of Revision (16)
- I Am Your Sword And Your Shield (5)
- A/B vs. W&Z, Final Round (10)
- Gremlins in the Wires [Updated] (11)
- The Log of Shame: May Day, May Day (18)
- Impressions – Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (11)
- Harley Quinn’s Revenge (6)
- Con Coverage Continues (2)
- My Idea of Fun – MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (4)
- Tap Dance: Cat’s Away Chronicles II (starring me!) (3)
- Boldly Go Somewhere Else Entirely (5)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 1,103-1,169 (9)
- Passage Is Not About Me (15)
- Marvel Rolls Infinite Sevens (15)
- Culture Clash: The Magic in the Machine (10)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 1,044-1,102 (17)
- Monsters We Have Met (4)
- Fez (13)
- Impressions: Dragon’s Dogma (7)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #9: Jammed (6)
- Do go down to the woods tonight… (48)
- Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP Now on Steam! (7)
- Indie Impressions from PAX East (2)
- How Not to Learn to Use Rifles (12)
- Alliance of Awesome: Cat’s Away (2)
- The Log of Shame: April Showers. Showers of GAAMEZ (16)
- SquareSoft Demos at PAX East (1)
- One Hundred Years of Tragedy (11)
- Culture Clash: U Know U a Playa (6)
- Kiss Me, Kill Me (6)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #8: The Little Reveal (4)
- On The Fragmented Future of Dungeons & Dragons (15)
- Neverwinter Dawning (3)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 898-1,043 (9)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #7: THE FINAL EPISODE (0)
- Important Pre-April Gaming News (1)
- Guild Wars 2: Separating Wheat From Chaff (26)
- Journey (19)
- Alliance of Awesome: Cats, Carts, Causes and Context (0)
- Vessel (6)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #6: GDC Edition (0)
- A Preview of Gunpoint (4)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 735-897 (27)
- Among the Cool Things I Saw at GDC (4)
- In Memoriam: Ethan “Finkbug” Sicotte (23)
- I’m Commander Shepard, and This is My Favorite Flavor-Aid on the Citadel (22)
- I Like Women in Games Initiatives, But It’s Complicated (15)
- Wipeout 2048 Is Cool As Fuck (2)
- Game (almost) Over! (24)
- I’m Tapping GDC 2012 (2)
- The Log of Shame: March of the Backlogs (27)
- Dear Esther (12)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #5: A Very Special Episode (4)
- Boomblastica (5)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 697-734 (7)
- My Idea of Fun, Episode 4: Forgotten Planet (15)
- Analogue: A Hate Story (7)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #4: Indie Developer, Free to a Good Home (1)
- Kick It: Auditorium Duet (1)
- Guild Wars 2: Mesmer PvP (6)
- Playstation Vita: First Impressions (8)
- A Legion of Story Problems (30)
- Impressions: Guild Wars 2 Beta (18)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #3: The Pitch (4)
- The 3DS Is Doomed (2)
- Planned Site Outage [UPDATE] (0)
- The Log of Shame: Love Log Edition (42)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 651-696 (10)
- Guild Wars 2: Unleash The Beta! (36)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #2: Mystic Crystal Revelations (2)
- Lunchbreak Game: Super Mario Crossover 2 (1)
- What’s Wrong With AAA Today? (25)
- And Yet It Moves (11)
- Fine Time (14)
- Kermdinger Chronicles #1: Meet the Team (7)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 581-650 (19)
- My Idea of Fun: the Time Bandits (6)
- Scenes from the Game Jam (10)
- Stealing Beauty: A Thief Retrospective, Part 2 (0)
- Pardon Our Dust (0)
- Impressions: Frankenstick (5)
- Happening Now: Global Game Jam (2)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 472-580 (13)
- The Log of Shame: Backlog Battles for the Masses (Now Recording for January!) (Updated with Q&A!) (51)
- Saints Row: The Third – No Longer By Proxy! (8)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 332-471 (16)
- Armand’s Unsolicited Games of 2011: You’ll Never Guess the Winner (9)
- Xtal’s Games of 2011: Not Another Fetch Quest (8)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 200-331 (11)
- Impressions: Katawa Shoujo (5)
- AJ’s Games of 2011: I Will Take It Personally (9)
- Mat’s Games of 2011: The Times They Are A Changin’ (6)
- Gregg’s Games of 2011: Too Many Games. Sob. (7)
- Steerpike’s Games of 2011: Small Batch (20)
- Dix’s Games of the Year 2011: My Funny Friend & Me (6)
- More Adventures in my Steam Backlog: NightSky and Jamestown (9)
- My Idea of Fun: The Interloper And The Twisted Tourist (15)
- The Steam Holiday Sale Will Do Strange Things to My Backlog (15)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 134-199 (7)
- Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 1-133 (19)
- This Joker Isn’t Funny Anymore (14)
- Guild Wars 2: Mesmer (1)
- Tap vs. Tap: Game Journalism (8)
- Miles Jacobson Looking To “Next Gen”, Tablets “Catching Up With” PC (1)
- Confirmed: GSC Game World Shuts Down (11)
- The Incredible Threat of Failure (23)
- To Mii, To You (0)
- My Idea of Fun: Tri-Optimum, Tanks, Tentacles, and Terrorists (7)
- Tap vs. Tap: Villains (10)
- Pride and Possession (7)
- You Go Hide, I’ll Count to Ten (14)
- Happy Thanksgiving! (6)
- Impressions: Jurassic Park: The Game (6)
- Are We Approaching Travel Games? (12)
- Impressions: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (72)
- Battlefield 3 (PC) (9)
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (10)
- Culture Clash: A Zero-Sum Game (9)
- A Weekend With: Bloodline Champions (7)
- Rodentia (22)
- You Make It Easy (6)
- It’s Not All About You (8)
- Discuss: Reviewing Battlefield 3 (17)
- On Cosplay and Privilege (19)
- Armand and I talk Ruins (21)
- Impressions: Batman: Arkham City (7)
- Introducing ‘A Weekend With’ (6)
- Watch As I Die A Little Inside (7)
- Alliance of Awesome: Armand’s IndieCade Roundup (7)
- Men of Science: HM and I play Portal 2 co-op (2)
- Impressions: Trauma (4)
- [UPDATE] RAGE: It’s A Looker – Now With Extra Technical Support (12)
- Exclusive Interview: ArenaNet’s Bobby Stein (13)
- It’s Interactive Fiction Competition Time (8)
- Ico (Remastered) (9)
- The Binding of Isaac (15)
- Impressions: Star Wars: The Old Republic (59)
- Impressions: RAGE (15)
- Tap on Tour: Eurogamer Expo 2011 Impressions (7)
- Alliance of Awesome: EuroPodcast! (7)
- Exclusive Interview: ArenaNet’s Colin Johanson (11)
- When Is A Spoiler Not A Spoiler? (6)
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (26)
- Impressions: Guild Wars 2 (21)
- Social Strawberry Season (14)
- Meaningful Play: How Games Can Help Solve Real-World Problems (7)
- The Beaver (9)
- We Don’t Really Do “Reliability” Here (0)
- Tap on Tour 2011: Euro Gaming for the Masses (8)
- Heads Up: SEEEEGAAAAA (3)
- Are You a Gamer? Plan for a LAN (8)
- Impressions: City of Heroes Freedom (4)
- Culture Clash: Every Day is Kids Day (6)
- Alliance of Awesome: Bits ‘n’ Bytes Celebrate Gaming 2011 (0)
- Alliance of Awesome: Where He Came From (1)
- Isaac Must be Into S&M (10)
- Trackmania² Canyon (5)
- 21st Century Criticism: Reviews in Four-Letter Words (12)
- Alliance of Awesome: Now With Extra Steam (3)
- Revisited: Brink (9)
- What Is and What Should Never Be (10)
- The Official Tap-Repeatedly Post of Crap Nintendo Peripherals: Version 1.0 (4)
- Farewell, Doctor (7)
- Meta Watch: Dead Island (17)
- Hide (5)
- Dust 514: Producer Interview On “The Marriage of EVE and Dust” (0)
- Video Game Addiction and You (8)
- SW:TOR: HUTT! HUTT! HUTT! (1)
- Guild Wars 2: News Round-up (1)
- Into EVE Online (2)
- Proto-Celebrity Guest Editorial: Jacob “Bear” Elert! (5)
- First Impressions – Deus Ex: Human Revolution (39)
- Alliance of Awesome: Cheer Up, Rock (3)
- Adventures in User Generated Content (6)
- Sylvari: Gender Defined (9)
- Celebrity Guest Editorial: Amanda Lange! (38)
- Mania Potential – Trackmania 2 Beta Impressions (5)
- Heads Up: Brink Big Weekender (3)
- Anti-War Has Never Been So Much Fun (18)
- First Impressions: From Dust (18)
- Revisited: Limbo (11)
- Culture Clash: History Became Legend, Legend Became… Well, You Know (4)
- 3DS SOS (7)
- Alliance of Awesome: Making Sacrifices (1)
- Coppers for Nothing and Tracks for Free (2)
- The Humble Indie Bundle – VVVVVV Edition (4)
- We’re Watching the Watchmen (12)
- Rock Anthem for Saving the Franchise (12)
- If Stabbing a Puppy Would Make it Cooler, I Would Stab a Puppy. Bring Me a Puppy. (18)
- Good Fortune for the Uncharted Movie (7)
- Drunken Guest Editorial: Armand K (11)
- Do You Want Some Juicy Sales Figures? (2)
- From Dust to Silence (22)
- First Impre- no, Fuck it. This Game Sucks. (20)
- May I Have This Dance? (14)
- Back to the Future: The Game (5)
- Slugged In The Brain (5)
- Newer Vegas (6)
- First Impressions: SpaceChem (22)
- I Am Ready (45)
- There’s No Fun Here (13)
- They’re inside (15)
- All Your Mats Are Belong to Master Race (14)
- SWTOR: Alderaan Highlights Trailer Arrives! (2)
- US Supreme Court Does Right by Constitution (9)
- Supreme Court to Rule on Freedom Monday (Maybe) (4)
- Guild Wars 2: Open House and Underwater Combat! (1)
- Mario Marathon Turns Four (1)
- FIFA 12 Equalises on PC (5)
- Impressions: Child of Eden (15)
- First Impressions – Alice: Madness Returns (20)
- Viva La Vita Tequila (5)
- Enter Trackmania (5)
- Alliance of Awesome: The Dying Auteur (1)
- Fact Check! (4)
- Filling the Pipes (12)
- Exclusive Interview: ArenaNet’s Jon Peters and Jonathan Sharp (35)
- SWTOR: E3 Tatooine Walkthrough (11)
- Help a Brother Out, Part 5 (8)
- Wii U. Wake Me Up When The Nightmare Is Over! (24)
- From Dust: E3 Trailer. Yum. (6)
- L.A. Noire (16)
- Culture Clash: The Open World (9)
- DNF DNR? (22)
- The 8th (17)
- God Did It (18)
- Brink (15)
- First Impressions: The Witcher 2 (33)
- June Is: Honeymoons and Game Shows (2)
- Guns of Icarus (6)
- Suspending Disbelief (25)
- Guild Wars 2: ArenaNet Announce The Engineer! (1)
- Someone Thought it was a Good Idea (12)
- Proto-Celebrity Guest Editorial: Brandon Perdue! (10)
- Every Day Is Exactly the Same (9)
- Guild Wars 2: Lions Arch Official Video (4)
- RIFT: 7-Day Free Trial (4)
- There is a Monkey in Our Wrench (7)
- If It Wasn’t Valve, I Wouldn’t Care (12)
- Exclusive Interview: ArenaNet’s Bobby Stein (13)
- The Eleventh Colossus (47)
- Anomaly: Warzone Earth (3)
- Another World: 15th Anniversary Edition (16)
- Pointing Fingers (35)
- Alliance of Awesome: Overrated (20)
- Culture Clash: Fun with Franchising (2)
- Total War: Shogun 2 (7)
- XOC Plays Super Mario Bros. 3 (6)
- Guild Wars 2: The Domain of the Charr (0)
- Vocal Coaching (37)
- ESRB to Computerize Game Ratings (6)
- Introducing the Alliance of Awesome (7)
- Guild Wars 2: Charr Week Looms (4)
- Two Conversations (36)
- E3: Wii Follow Up Imminent? (16)
- IGDA vs. Amazon App Store (15)
- Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Trailer Goes Live. Yeah, About That.. (11)
- The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle Is Now Live (4)
- Creating Concepts (4)
- Do No Harm (5)
- Everything is Personal, Especially When it’s Not (11)
- High Five (3)
- Let Me Finish (6)
- Exclusive Interview: ArenaNet’s Daniel Dociu #3 (24)
- The Sun Makes a Right Page 3 Tit of Itself Again (10)
- Portal 2: Aperture Investment Opportunity #3 “Turrets” (1)
- Prematurity (8)
- Resident Evil: 15th Anniversary Trailer (1)
- Exclusive Interview: ArenaNet’s Daniel Dociu #2 (20)
- Going Platinum (8)
- What I Hate (And Love) About Nintendo 3DS (24)
- Portal 2: Aperture Investment Opportunity #2 “Bot Trust” (1)
- Public Service Announcement: Tweet, Tweet (3)
- GameStop Gets Impulsive… but what Does it Mean? (3)
- First Impressions: Love (15)
- Killzone 3 (7)
- Exclusive Interview: ArenaNet’s Daniel Dociu (39)
- First Impressions: DarkSpore Beta (15)
- 2011: A Vintage Year for Zombies (21)
- First Impressions: The Dream Machine (9)
- Crysis 2: Storms The Chart (8)
- EVE Online: A Future Vision (4)
- Culture Clash: Suffer the Little Children (13)
- Guild Wars 2: Meet The Hylek (0)
- Portal 2: Aperture Investment Opportunity #1 “Panels” (7)
- Microsoft’s Vision of the Future of PC Gaming Is.. (14)
- Revisited: Grim Fandango (17)
- PAX East: Cosplay, Alive And Well (6)
- I Don’t Want An All Digital Future. This is Why. (14)
- Apocalypse Soon (9)
- Crafting A Future (14)
- EA to Win Multiple Awards for Kickass PR Week (19)
- Breaking Barriers (14)
- RIFT (7)
- First Impressions: Pokemon Black/White (8)
- The Often of Action (21)
- First Impressions: Stacking (14)
- Now Printing In 3D (0)
- RIFT: It’s A Long Wait… (10)
- Atlus Shrugs – No Catherine Outside Japan (18)
- Gemini Rue (11)
- Culture Clash: The Innovation Pinata (1)
- Marvel vs Capcom 3 (3)
- Guild Wars 2: New Norn Video! (7)
- Game Gorging (18)
- First Impressions: Bulletstorm (22)
- The Stars, Like Dust (10)
- PC Gaming Alliance Shrinks by Two Sizes (4)
- Reverse Me (16)
- Bulletstorm To Include Bullets, Storms (5)
- Culture Clash: The Beauty of a Living Thing (14)
- EVE Online: Captain’s Quarters (7)
- Guild Wars 2: Norn Week (10)
- The Gameification of Everything (3)
- Trade Fortress 2 (19)
- Steam: Total War: Shogun 2 Demo (2)
- Steam: It’s A Bit Popular (26)
- To Mod or Not to Mod (24)
- A Casual Revolution (8)
- World Of Pokemon? (12)
- How Ninja Theory Earned $60 (31)
- Dark Souls Announced (8)
- First Impressions: RIFT (21)
- Debbie Does Demo Downloads Directly (10)
- It Really Does Strike Twice (4)
- Beyond Black Mesa (16)
- HM and I talk Immortal Defense (5)
- Alone for All Seasons (54)
- VVVVVV (15)
- Boob after Reading (9)
- Rue the Whirl (5)
- 2011 Belongs to Handhelds, 3D (7)
- The End of Identity (2)
- Celebrity Guest Editorial: Drew Davidson, Part 2! (15)
- World of Warcraft: Diary Of A Call Girl (9)
- Kinect Sells… a lot (29)
- Celebrity Guest Editorial: Drew Davidson! (26)
- A&B vs. W&Z, Round Four (1)
- Shafer and Stern Join Stardock (3)
- Season’s Greetings! (23)
- Weep for Your Shattered Lives (22)
- Why Pay To Play? (5)
- Build a Patch to Stand the Test of Time (3)
- Alan Wow (6)
- Do Not Steal This Book (10)
- The Rumble of the Humble (9)
- Discuss: 2010 FOTY (13)
- First Impressions: World of Warcraft – Cataclysm (8)
- It’s Tricky (6)
- Wherefive Elder Scrolls? Right Here (16)
- Irresponsible Hate-Filled Rant (13)
- Season of Giving (2)
- It’s an Elephant (26)
- Yesterday Seems So Far Away (6)
- R18+ Now a Reality (Sort of) in Australia (5)
- Culture Clash: The Price of Freedom (0)
- First Impressions: Killzone 3 (BETA) (16)
- Happy Thanksgiving! (21)
- HM and I talk Titans (7)
- The Mighty w3sp (5)
- What Rhymes with “Man Furismo Jive”? (8)
- Emergent-cy (10)
- First Impressions: Revenge of the Titans (Beta) (13)
- The Indignant Bat (25)
- And in it, they will Stalk. (18)
- Here We Go Again: Black Ops Edition (10)
- Wherefive Elder Scrolls? (8)
- First Impressions: Fate of the World (4)
- Bitter (And Not So Sweet) Symphony (13)
- Supremely Unconfident (17)
- I Never Liked the Place Anyway (4)
- Developer is About to Die (25)
- Now I’m No Longer Alone (30)
- FIFA 11 vs PES 11 (15)
- Microsoft Relaunches GFW (13)
- Just Dance 2: Shock And Awe (2)
- New Vegas Glitchy. Also: Sky Blue (38)
- It Creates Unfair Expectations (6)
- Tim Langdell Ousted from IGDA (3)
- Culture Clash: The Game of Life (0)
- Penumbra: Black Plague (11)
- It’s Not Just Black and White (26)
- Final Fantasy XIII (16)
- Langdell Over the Edge? (0)
- Team Fortress 2: Micro-transactions Are Go! (9)
- Discuss: The Sony PlayStation Turns 15 (19)
- Kinect: Things It Doesn’t Work With #604 (18)
- No. No, No, No. No No No NONONONO (4)
- B, G, and E go H and D (23)
- Tentacles Are Scary (8)
- First Impressions: F1 2010 (4)
- The Bobby Kotick Show: BWAAHAHAHAHAHA (14)
- Tom Chick vs. All of Civilization (23)
- First Impressions (Sort of): Enslaved (14)
- Bioshock: Infinite: In-game Footage Released (9)
- Great Expectations (5)
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent (21)
- Sales Chart: Halo Reaches For The Top (5)
- Alien Breed 2 – Assault: Incoming! (0)
- Global Agenda: Beggars Can’t Be Choosers (0)
- GoG GaGs? (45)
- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (4)
- The Bobby Kotick Show: Money, Money, Money! (6)
- Maybe It’s the Second-to-Last Guardian (11)
- Arcen Games Need You (8)
- Culture Clash: The Sounds of Silence (0)
- Guild Wars 2: Book Your Annual Leave NOW (20)
- Halo Reach: Oh The Embarrassment (18)
- Revisited: Starcraft 2 (21)
- Horror Tomorro’ (40)
- Appreciate/Forgive (10)
- Simon of the Dead (3)
- My Inner Child Just Peed Itself (11)
- PSP Gone? (5)
- On the Perils of Over Anticipation (7)
- Warhammer Online: Diary Of A Call Girl – Chapter 2 (4)
- Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty (20)
- Alien Breed: Impact & Alien Swarm (11)
- First Impressions: NHL 11 (10)
- Elemental May not be Fundamental (21)
- Sexy Beast: Atlus Preps Catherine (9)
- Looks Like Someone’s Angling for a Job at Valve (2)
- Warhammer Online: Diary Of A Call Girl (6)
- Portal 2: Johnny & Bonnie 5 (9)
- The Last Bastion About to Fall? (2)
- A Chance at Karmic Reclamation (6)
- That is Whack, Yo (16)
- Karma, We Have a Problem (24)
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. People Disregard Steerpike’s Opinion (16)
- Holy Shit, It’s BioShock Infinite! (25)
- First Impressions: Mafia II (6)
- Revisited: Warhammer Online (10)
- Sometimes the Stories Write Themselves (3)
- Men Who Hate Women (29)
- People of Walmart (14)
- Revisited: Dead Space (12)
- Also: Godzilla. (11)
- The Bobby Kotick Show: Get Harassed, Get Fired (5)
- Immortal Defense Now Name Your Price (28)
- Discuss: Rage Against the Rage Quitters (14)
- Celebrity Guest Editorial: Ben Hoyt! (6)
- Kieron Gillen is a Stud (2)
- Starcraft 2 is “Unfinished,” Say People Who will Buy it Anyway (17)
- Impressions: Deadly Premonition (15)
- Limbo (20)
- Comic-Con 2010: Handin’ Out An Ass Whoopin’ (5)
- Alan Wake (8)
- Dream A Little Bigger Darling (27)
- You Pay for Quality, You’d Better Get Quality (15)
- Kinect Priced, New 360 Bundles on the Way (9)
- Modern Conflict HD (3)
- Wordy and Pretentious. That Sounds Right, Yeah (14)
- Tim Schafer Tells Truth, Apologizes (5)
- Ikaruga: Hardorah than Hydorah (3)
- Welcome to the Slaughterhouse (2)
- A/B vs. W&Z, Round 3 (1)
- Anonymity vs. Exposure (18)
- (Not In) Limbo (32)
- The Bobby Kotick Show: Armageddon! (5)
- Opening the Mouth (7)
- Meta Watch: Crackdown 2 (5)
- Snakes of Avalon (2)
- It’s OK, We’re All Insane Here (4)
- In The Mouth of Madness (8)
- Let’s Talk About Zombies (20)
- Steerpike Bricks His iPhone (14)
- Sony Plugs The Hole, New Firmware to Wage War on Wallets (2)
- Polycount Sets The Bar (0)
- Pardon Our Dust (0)
- If Only Professional Developers were So Dedicated (3)
- Paul The Psychic Octopus Says: Auf Wiedersehen, England (10)
- PlayStation Plus/Negative (8)
- Lady Luck, Shine On Me (5)
- The Bobby Kotick Show: Blame the Victim (7)
- Discuss: 3D, Or Not 3D? (19)
- Top Kill (16)
- Don’t Stop, Believ… erm. Journey. (7)
- E3 News: Return of Eric Chahi and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (5)
- E3 2010: A Change of Name, A Diet and Lots of Dancing; It’s the Microsoft Keynote (12)
- Do Not Be Alarmed (10)
- APBeta (7)
- Dreamcast Resurrection (3)
- Huh. (1)
- An Alarming Confluence of News (6)
- Video Games Matter. Video Game reviewers…maybe not so much. (16)
- GoldenWhy (10)
- Lotus III: The Ultimate Tune (1)
- Hmmm. (7)
- First Impressions: Alpha Protocol (29)
- Steam May or May Not Be Evil (15)
- Suspending Disbelief and Roleplaying (6)
- Eurogamer Snags first Alpha Protocol Review (7)
- Tap-Repeatedly Votes YES (12)
- Wow, I Was NOT Expecting That: Killzone Edition (1)
- XCOM Arrives (9)
- Red Dead Redemption Strolls Into Town (2)
- Alan’s Take (25)
- WHAT! Same Screen?! (4)
- First Impressions: Steam for Mac OS X (10)
- The Slope Just Got Slippier (13)
- The Mirror Crack’d (3)
- Metro 2033 (10)
- Blizzard: There’s An App For That! (2)
- Aion Falters (0)
- Guild Wars 2 Surfaces (0)
- Actiblizz Begins Call of Duty Franchise Rape in Earnest (4)
- Shavings from Other People’s Nightmares (14)
- An iPad Adventure: Part Two – The Pre-Order (6)
- Fractal Demo Now Available (2)
- Bronzemurder He Wrote (and Illustrated) (7)
- iBone.. Just Not Tonight, Darling. (7)
- Frozen Synapse (6)
- Taking The ‘Um’ Out of Humble (23)
- Just Dance Falls! (4)
- Keep It Simple (23)
- Alan Waste (6)
- Gothic II: Night of the Raven (11)
- The Future ex-Mrs. Steerpike (3)
- Sony Gets Sued (7)
- Floppy Goes Limp (14)
- Site Misbehavior (0)
- Football Manager Handheld 2010 (2)
- “I Can Feel The Epicness Flowing Through My Balls” (3)
- Hamlet (3)
- Like Tiny, Mysterious Comics from Another World (16)
- They Keep Going, and Going, and Going (10)
- Impressions: Just Cause 2 (8)
- Site Maintenance this Weekend (0)
- X-COM to be Developed by Irrational’s Red-Headed Stepchild (8)
- Yes, Yes, the Upper Banner will be Fixed (20)
- Valve Know A Good Thing (7)
- A/B vs. W&Z, Round Two (2)
- Just Dance…All The Way To The Bank! (14)
- Wow, I Was NOT Expecting That (11)
- Battlefield Bad Company 2 (9)
- New York Gets PWN3D By The 80’s (4)
- A.I. War (7)
- Red Dead Redemption is Best Game Ever (or else) (13)
- What’s Your Favourite? (20)
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (10)
- First Impressions: Darkfall (3)
- From The Cutting Room Floor (17)
- Watch 2 Stupid People and a Gardener Talk About Games on TV (23)
- Review: Near Orbital Vanguard Alliance (N.O.V.A) (6)
- Wuv, Twue Wuv (7)
- First Impressions: Battlefield Bad Company 2 (6)
- Badger Watch (21)
- Laying Foundations (13)
- SA AG to Step Down in 2014 (2)
- First Impressions: God of War III (5)
- Swiss Game Ban Passes (12)
- First Impressions: Metro 2033 (14)
- Jason! Jason? Jaaaasssoooon! (10)
- An iPad Adventure: Part One – Justification (22)
- First Impressions: Mortal Online (10)
- Oh, THIS is Gonna End Well (2)
- Starfeld: Not Starfield (7)
- Strangely Silent at Infinity Ward Exit (1)
- First Impressions: Final Fantasy XIII (31)
- Verbal Warfare (19)
- Walk the Line (28)
- A/B vs. W&Z, Round One (8)
- Eastern Promises (14)
- Review: Heavy Rain (14)
- IGF 2010 (17)
- Freedom Doesn’t Exist (40)
- The Long, Sordid Tail of DRM (29)
- Goons Loom at Infinity Ward (33)
- Peggle (6)
- It is, in Fact, Pouring (22)
- Off the Rails (9)
- Fear Factor (14)
- First Impressions: Heavy Rain (17)
- Beneath A Steel Sky: Remastered (19)
- God Dammit, Satan, I’m Warning You for the Last Time (16)
- A Guardian Angel (11)
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Remember Diapers) (12)
- PC Gaming Diagnosed with Lung Cancer (67)
- The Bobby Kotick Show: Nice Try Edition (5)
- STALKER Engine Creator Says STALKER Engine Not Used for STALKER-Like Game that is Not STALKER (2)
- Down Under (24)
- It has Something to do with Math (3)
- iPwn (11)
- Porn is Awesome, Games Not So Much (13)
- To Review, Or Not To Review (11)
- Dead Space: Extraction (10)
- Weeeeee what a bargain! (9)
- Screw the Internet (16)
God damn, Scout, I’d never heard of this Lanier fellow, but that’s pretty profound.
Information is not a manufacturable item… as you said, we are making less and less. This is either indicative of a larger-scale societal transformation, or a bad thing. I’m afraid I’m inclined to assumed the latter.
Thanks!
Steerpike, that was exactly the argument Lanier was having with callers on the BBC. Lanier was all fatalistic about society’s drop in real productivity while his opponents claimed that this was a huge transformation and that he was just too old to grasp the coolness of it all. If you notice, the web address of that first Lanier link is well.com. I mean, that is old! The Well?
Lanier’s thoughts were pretty much echoed by David Simon, one of the creators of The Wire. Here he speaks with Bill Moyers about the fate of paid journalism in the face of the web.
I’ve read many criticisms of Facebook et. al. I’ve also read contradictions of those criticisms, namely, that social sites are making people more connected than ever. I think that that connectedness is an illusion.
For several months at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 my daughter badgered me to join FB. I could connect with her and some of her friends that I know as well as renew old acquaintances with some of her friend’s mothers. I finally signed up so she’d quit the badgering. I used to check in every day to see what daughter and friends were saying because if I didn’t she’d ask if I saw her post, or a friend’s post.
What I’ve learned is this:
1. “Karen Likes John’s photo (or post)” IS NOT communication.
2. The reason I lost contact with some of these “friends” in the first place is that we no longer had anything in common.
3. I am bombarded with so many ads in so many places that I can do without more. My policy is to never click on ads on FB or on many other sites.
4. While FB’s original mission was connectedness/communication, I think it has become “Let’s make as much money from these fools as we can.” “Wanna have gobs of fun playing a free game on FB?” That game is gonna cost ya big, folks.
5. Social sites are just more places where your personal info can be stolen. There’s enough risk out there as it is. Additional risk is not providing any valuable payoff for me.
6. Why do I want to “friend” a certain handbag manufacturer? Why do I want to take a quiz that tells me what my personality is? FB content providers tell you up front that if you click the link to take their quiz (goes for other types of content as well) you are giving them permission to access your profile info. That’s ok. I’ll also give you my SSN, bank account number and the key to my front door. Not.
7. Don’t even get me started on the number of people who start an account in a pet’s name, and even have the pets making friends and posting.
“…he was just too old to grasp the coolness of it all.”
No, it’s just that most of us get to the age when we demand a bit of wheat with our chaff.
At 38 my daughter is older than the average demographic of social sites although I know that that demographic is skewing up. She seems to be cooling on FB. Some of her 221 friends are as well. Many of them do want some wheat. When more cooling has taken place I will unjoin.
I wonder, though, what new fad will come along when FB, Twitter and others run their course? MySpace, anyone?
My favorite line from the BBC interview was when Lanier was comparing MySpace and Facebook. He admitted that MySpace had some eye gougingly bad pages but said that he liked the “strangeness” of personalities that you get with it. With Facebook, he claimed that it was like looking at a tax form. A boring, watered down, bland presentation of people.
I joined Facebook almost exactly a year ago. Apart from sparking up a new friendship with a very dear buddy, I’ve gotten about zero back from it. I sort of read with bemusement the activities of people I hardly know and could care less about. And when you consider how much information the devs harvest there…it’s scary. Lanier claims that the information is so far worthless to the investors and that the whole thing has become a sort useless ritual serving no purpose. He claimed that Google’s ads on the other hand will probably turn out to be the greatest advertising model ever created. He also thinks Google should stop before it’s too late but says they probably won’t. Just a glance at the side bar reveals about 4 ads for advertising agencies. Heh.
Has anybody read Anti-Oedipus? I’m slogging my way through it (the third attempt I believe), and Deleuze and Gauttari’s ideas seem relevant to this in a way that I’m not sure I can articulate. This probably has something to do with a conversation I was eavesdropping on that, coincidentally, mentioned a lot of Deleuze and Gauttari’s theories. Someone was talking about another theorist (whose name I didn’t catch) who was defending “Generation Y” essentially. The argument went that Generation Y is an example of a “de-Oedipalized” cultural group (that’s Anti-Oedipus jargon, just stay with me). Apparently this meant that they made connections in a different manner than other generations, the idea of bricollage was brought up and things were generally mired in a lot of reasons why I don’t have my Masters in English. What I got from it was this Generation Y shoots out connections everywhere and attempts to make up a whole idea with them as opposed to relying on predefined pathways. In Deleuze and Guattari’s language: the schizo as opposed to Oedipus. In language that probably makes sense: Peer to Peer as opposed to client-server.
So, of course, no one’s really right. I’m skeptical of the idea that Generation Y (full disclosure: I’m 29 so I’m part of that group) has enacted some sort of paradigm shift in how to operate in social systems, but facebook has changed how I connect with people. Then again, it’s not like I don’t value face to face communication.
The future is somewhere in between. I’m really not cynical enough to believe that we are at the end times of civilized society because of Web 2.0. Instead society will change and stay the same because that’s what it does. Facebook is not the future; it’s probably a rung up the ladder though.
To me, Facebook and Twitter are 0’s. They are not worth my time. I do not care what someone I know or don’t know did a half hour ago or will do next. I have met up with people on facebook I had lost contact with. But, in truth, the reason I had lost contact was I was not that interested in staying in contact.
I think for many people the Facebook/Twitter world is great. For me it has nothing to offer.
kay
Tap has an automated device that twits… tweets… whatever whenever someone posts a new article. Just in case it draws some visitors.
To be honest, though, I’m on Kay’s side of the fence, I don’t understand Twitter and I don’t understand why it’s so popular. I barely care what I’m doing from moment to moment, why should anyone else?
I don’t get Facebook either, though I’m a member to keep track of all the girls who wouldn’t give me the time of day in high school.
Tweets are great for giving me snippets of news. If I like what I’ve read in the short paragraph tweets give, then I will visit the main page for that tweet. (Very good for following world news, favourite columnists, etc.)
However, reading tweets from people such as “Just woke up, Madonna is giving me a massage while I shave my nuts” is not my idea of a good read.
I use tweets the same way Lewis does. Of the people/things I follow, if the tweet is interesting I’ll follow the link to read the entire article. I follow fairly intelligent people, so I’m not subjected to the idiocy of “Just brushed my teeth while sitting on toilet”.
@loki: I’m afraid I’ve not heard of them. I’m a couple of years below you so that puts me in the same Generation Y as well. I read through a few of those links Scout posted as well as a few more on Lanier’s new book “You Are Not a Gadget” and it took me a fair while to get to the crux of what he is saying and he has a lot to say, most of which I find very confusing.
As a graphic designer the whole “everything is becoming advertising” thing has been bothering me for years. The incessant barrage of advertising is like fingernails on the chalkboard of my soul, which sort of makes me a hypocrite. After all the years of tuning my art and design skillz my creative abilities have amounted to nothing more than crafting pretty ads that sell things. Non of it speaks any truth or has any sort of ‘beauty’; it’s just stone cold mechanical capitalism. Granted there are ads out there that are beautiful, clever and visionary but the front line stuff is as dull as it gets. I’m sure this isn’t strictly what he’s getting at but it’s definitely something that irks me in relation to Scout’s last remark.
Anyway, I remember Twitter just exploding in what seemed like the space of a week and I still can’t fathom the allure of it aside from providing a direct stream of consciousness from famous folk to their ravenous fans. I wish I’d thought of it to be honest. I can see the creators sitting around a table staring at Facebook and then saying “I know! We make a website that’s just about status updates! You can even update them with your mobile phone!”.
With regards to Twitter news snippets, unless it’s for a phone, I don’t see the point because RSS feeds do a great job. At present too great; I simply can’t keep up with my subscriptions. There’s too much information on this super highway.
Twitter is officially the dumbest thing ever.
That said, it looks like I will have to be the official “tweeter” for my day job before too long. I can’t wait! (roll eyes)
I’m with everyone else here. I’m glad to say I’ve never signed up for Facebook; I fear that if I ever had I would have long ago died from loss of brain cells due to reading moronic status updates. It’s as Kay said: ninety-five per cent of people with whom you lose contact are probably no longer in your life because you have nothing left in common. And echoing Steerpike’s comment, me eating toast and jam on a Sunday morning watching Fawlty Towers is not interesting, not to me. Why the hell would anyone else give a shit?
Twitter I signed up for about a year ago, not really understanding what it was. I now understand it…but don’t care to use it often. I have made 58 tweets over that year. I suspect for some that is a daily or weekly average. It’s just Facebook status updates without all the drunken photographs. I admit it can be mildly useful for following, say, a news site. Usually when I hop on my twitter (once every two weeks??) it reminds me that I should read The Onion more often. That’s about it.
Let’s see… looking at the actual humans I follow, um… Wil Wheaton is happy that the LA Kings have won 9 games in a row, my sister-in-law thought our dinner tonight was “delicious,” and Kevin Smith’s batteries are recharged … or something.
Wow, my life is already getting better!
p.s. <—– Gen Y'er (can we call ourselves that?) and proud that when I Google my own name a real estate company pops up.
Twitter is exactly as useless as the person who’s writing it. If someone is telling you boring shit over Twitter, it’s the person wasting your time, not the delivery channel.
MySpace is the same, but it seems more intrinsically garbage because for some reason almost everyone who used it was an intellectual embryo with a fetish for unreadable hyperneon text on top of garish uninteresting photos. Facebook’s great trick is that it prevents you from realising that most of your friends would make a brutally hideous homepage for themselves if they could.
That’s the argument against the whole of this post: the internet isn’t evil, but the people who use it might be. It’s people who make business models successful; people who make money flow to advertisers instead of artists, by buying into the advertising.
This has been a pretty didactic post, so let me compensate by saying VIDEOGAMES WOOOOOOO!!!
Good point about not blaming the delivery channel Fraser. I seem to recall Lanier saying that he preferred the personality that MySpace has over Facebook despite its Craptastic Pages of Illegibility. I’m trying to think of something intelligent to follow that up with but my brain is failing me at the moment, so…
VIDEOGAMES WOOOOOO!!!
Fraser, I really loved your following comment:
“Facebook’s great trick is that it prevents you from realising that most of your friends would make a brutally hideous homepage for themselves if they could.”
I think that may just be one of the most hilariously true comments I’ve read in a comments area on any video game web site ever. That sounds overly dramatic, I know, but I actually mean it. Kudos to you!
Yeah but don’t you miss all the ugliness of MySpace? All those hideous pages at least had personality or what Lanier called the “strangeness of the person” to them.
I actually don’t agree with a lot of what Lanier says esp “the hive mind must die” stuff. But I do think he is right about the spirit shriveling blandness of Facebook.
I also suspect that Twitter is going to be around for a while. It will be more and more influential. People are simply not as willing to ingest huge amounts of information in the form of pages of text anymore. The delivery systems that succeed will be those that can communicate a lot of information in a short amount of time. Most days we want “glimpses” or “snapshots” not total immersion. Lewis, Toger and Fraser are correct in that you get out of it what you decide to follow.