Her Story Podcast

FPS

In June, Sam Barlow (Aisle, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) released Her Story a game where players search through a database of archival footage from a police interrogation. In his interview with Austin Walker at Giant Bomb, Barlow spent a lot of time talking about how literature and film inspired much of the game’s design – as recovering/sometimes literary and film scholars ourselves, we discuss some of the underpinnings of crime fiction and how they hang together in Her Story while also talking about the game’s relatively unique take on interactivity. We talk at length about the game play, the open ending, and detective games in general. This is a highly unique game that we can’t recommend enough. Have a listen to our thoughts about the game and tell us what you thought about Her Story in the comments! Continue Reading →

Narration of Things

Storytelling in Dark Souls via Item Descriptions

Franziska Ascher

If the games of the Dark Souls series (Dark Souls (2011) / Dark Souls II (2014) ) are renowned for one thing, this would be being literally murderously difficult. In Dark Souls every mistake can end deadly, for every opponent can kill the avatar, no matter how innocuous he might appear. All it takes is a tiny moment of carelessness. For narrating stories, other games are renowned—for example the Witcher or Dragon Age series or the recent games by Telltale Games , their narrative quality stemming from the momentous decision-making; or author games by David Cage whose gameplay don’t always live up to the standard of their cinematic narration quality. Continue Reading →

The Game Design Holy Grail

How Magic The Gathering & Nintendo Utilize Lenticular Design

Gino Grieco 4 Comments

Two of my favorite pastimes are playing videogames and Magic: The Gathering (MTG). I’ve been playing videogames since I was eight and I picked up MTG at the tender age of eleven. After more than a decade of playing and loving MTG, I can firmly say that the world’s number one trading card game has had a profound effect on how I think about games. Furthermore, MTG taught me many valuable lessons about game design. There are a host of lessons and philosophies I could translate from MTG to videogames and back again, but the philosophy that I find the most interesting at the moment is lenticular design. Continue Reading →

Cognitive Dissonance

A Scholarly Roundtable on GamerGate - Part II

tobias c. van Veen

What approaches need to be taken to assess the scope, actions, and meaning of GamerGate? A number of questions arise when considering GamerGate in light of its persistence and complexity. Is GamerGate, as Ryan Broderick argues, the last gasp of… Continue Reading →

Sulking About Shulk

The Amiibo Craze & Nintendo’s 2015 Supply Problems

FPS

Four members of the Games Institute take a hard look at the Amiibo trend from a variety of angles including: historical materialism, fan exploitation, nostalgia, consumerism, fan cultures, and competing corporate strategies. A good mix of pontificating about Nintendo as a company and a culture and general nerding out. Continue Reading →

Persuasive Games

The Expressive Power of Videogames

Philip Miletic 2 Comments

Before I begin this review of Ian Bogost’s Persuasive Games (PG), I have to make two points that address the nature of this review. One, I am relatively new to game studies, and PG may very well be the first book of video game scholarship I have read. Two, PG is not altogether new (but I hesitate to say “old”), since it was published in 2007. So, as I am writing this review, I am aware of the delayed context of the review and that some, if not most FPS readers are already familiar with Bogost’s text and Bogost himself. At the same time, not everyone can read all the things, and so this review will hopefully be helpful to those who are considering perusing PG. This review, then, can be a useful but brief return to Bogost’s text for those who have already read PG; it can be an introduction for those unfamiliar with the text and it can perhaps provide a different perspective from a newcomer to the field of game studies. Continue Reading →

Cards Against Humanity Is _________

Playing With & Playing Up Difference in Games

Edmond Y. Chang 1 Comment

I want to frame this essay with the current furor going on in video game cultures and video game communities, particularly the backlash against women gamers, feminist critiques of games, and any charges of racism, homophobia, ableism, and such in games and gaming communities. Think Anita Sarkeesian, Briana Wu, #GamerGate, Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life scandal, and the recent Pew report that reveals that women are largely unwelcome in gaming. In essence, it is really important to understand that among certain segments of gamers what fuels the backlash is the defense that, “a game is just a game.” Because it is play and not “real,” games are thereby immune to analysis or critique, and players themselves are somehow released from responsibility as well. Continue Reading →