Jun 11, 2010

At some point, we have to face facts: not everyone is a hardcore gamer. Worse yet, the ratio of people actively playing games to the people who don’t know their thumb from their arse-end is something like 1:1,000. Yes, chances are your friends aren’t gamers. Chances are your parents aren’t. Chances are your significant other isn’t. So...

Jun 10, 2010

Final Fantasy XIII essentially told a simple story. I know this now because I had someone explain it to me. Reasonable accusations about my intelligence aside, the logical conclusion is that the developer failed to tell the story effectively. That is somewhat surprising considering just how many cutscenes there are in which the plot could have been conveyed in a...

Complaining about cutscenes feels like a futile pursuit for a couple of reasons. Partly because it feels oddly similar to banging a bit of bamboo against the stiff rigor mortis flesh of a deceased equine; partly because it must surely be a fruitless endeavour at this stage. Cutscenes are clearly here to stay and developers are making no secrets about the fact...

While not attempting to broadcast it on a global scale, I also have not hidden my dislike for Steam. Dislike probably isn’t a strong enough word, but it’s the best I can hope for with my editor metaphorically staring over my shoulder with a Scottish slang booklet in one hand and a guide to Japanese cursing in the other in case I try to get...

I own all the main gaming platforms, bar PC (I’m a Mac man you know) and over time it’s become clear that each machine has a different core demographic. I say it’s become clear, but I don’t mean I have done extensive research and can provide broken down stats to make my point. Hell no! I’m an opinionated columnist and Ill just write...

Are videogames still “games,” or is this word and many like it outdated terminology passed down from our hobby’s earliest of days? Certainly, videogames have progressed since their earliest, primordial hours. Gone are the days when one large, rectangular “ball” bounced off of two other larger, rectangular blocks. The medium has advanced to the...