Invalid Memory

November 29, 2016June 29, 2018

Player Two: An Interview with Benjamin Poynter

Interview by Miguel Penabella Initial edits by Justin Keever Originally published October 24, 2012 New edits and introduction written November 2016 Mobile gaming has evolved significantly since 2012, and the media industries that sustain these technologies carry with it meaningful discourses concerning issues of labor, resources, infrastructures, globalization, surveillance, and agency. While once ubiquitous games … Continue reading Player Two: An Interview with Benjamin Poynter

November 27, 2016

Opened World: On the Margins of History

Mafia III’s frame story, conveyed in flashback through the lens of a documentary, suggests that the entire game is filtered through the unreliability of memory and myth, yet simultaneously employs slideshows of actual period photographs and newsreel footage as though to allege the grounded reality of these events. The game suggests that Lincoln Clay essentially … Continue reading Opened World: On the Margins of History

October 26, 2016

Opened World: Nostalgia Ultra

Like other coming-of-age “last hurrah” adventures including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Superbad, Oxenfree maintains a delicate atmosphere of apprehension, the lingering disquiet of friends who know that this may be the last time they have together before moving out from high school. The promise of renewal after graduation and the fear of division and growing … Continue reading Opened World: Nostalgia Ultra

September 30, 2016

Second Shot: A Case for Driver: San Francisco

Driver: San Francisco is a game about a dreamer in San Francisco, where people are possessed and its protagonist wanders around as if in hypnosis, eerily recalling the oneiric story of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Like James Stewart’s character in the 1958 film, Tanner must reenact his traumatic accident briefly seen in the beginning of the … Continue reading Second Shot: A Case for Driver: San Francisco

September 19, 2016

Opened World: Queerness & Movement

Like the revolving player avatar of puzzle game and spiritual predecessor Kuru Kuru Kururin, Roundabout highlights the awkwardness of movement through treacherous spaces. The disconnect between Georgio’s unorthodox movement and her surrounding physical environments is where queer themes are most inventively expressed. In Roundabout, Georgio Manos doesn’t conform to the normalized behavior of driving “straight,” (indeed, … Continue reading Opened World: Queerness & Movement

August 14, 2016August 14, 2016

Opened World: Nowhere Fast

The central theme of Three Fourths Home is the frustration of movement and independence when grander problems like work-related accidents or financial shortcomings circumscribe individuals within strict boundaries, and these ideas are replicated visually. The top half of the screen depicts Kelly’s car on the road, cruising by cornfield after cornfield in a worsening thunderstorm … Continue reading Opened World: Nowhere Fast

July 27, 2016

You’ve Got to Watch: Notes on Spectacle & Spectatorship

In thinking about spectacle and spectatorship in videogames, there’s certainly no want of games with extravagant, thrilling displays of special effects. Look no further than the latest big-budget shooter game for frenzied action heroics and showy bravura. Moreover, there are games about spectacle, recognizing how passivity can be employed as a crucial element of gameplay … Continue reading You’ve Got to Watch: Notes on Spectacle & Spectatorship

July 21, 2016

In Praise of Travelling Slowly in Shadow of the Colossus

For all its interest in duration and slow travel, Shadow of the Colossus does offer a form of fast-travel that often goes unremarked. We can only ever travel towards the colossi, and the game denies us the ride back to the Shrine of Worship, instead presenting us with an elliptical fade to black after Wander … Continue reading In Praise of Travelling Slowly in Shadow of the Colossus

July 10, 2016July 21, 2016

Opened World: In Ecstasy of Images

One overlooked series in relation to drug culture, despite its evocative style, is the Wipeout series by developer Psygnosis. The Wipeout games—and in particular Wipeout 3, the high point of the franchise with its original art by The Designers Republic studio prior to their departure from subsequent games—engage with drugs allegorically in their lush visual style … Continue reading Opened World: In Ecstasy of Images

June 5, 2016July 21, 2016

Opened World: The October Country

The setting is also steeped in the past; Max is returning to Arcadia Bay after having lived there during her childhood with her best friend Chloe Price. Life is Strange boasts time travel mechanics, but simply revisiting a childhood town is a form of time travel in itself. There’s an inherent sadness in coming back … Continue reading Opened World: The October Country