July 1st
This week is an emotional one, with many critics taking on discussions of empathy, trauma, and cruelty toward outsiders. This Week in Videogame Blogging is our rundown of the week’s most important...
View ArticleJuly 8th
Videogames and VR are often described as “empathy machines” – and though that term was first used for cinema, the idea today is often that newer mediums are more immersive, and therefore more...
View ArticleJuly 15
The weird thing about living such a digitally connected life is that all the work needed to make such a world possible is often made invisible and taken for granted. With games, the more human effort...
View ArticleJuly 22nd
Although it’s typical for AAA games to attract the majority of the in-depth writing, in the context of increasing tension around labor exploitation, more critics are considering the power dynamics of...
View ArticleJuly 29th
Trauma, abuse, hell, and postmodernism are just some of the stops on this week’s journey through critical writing on games. Yet somehow, it’s a fun ride, with high-quality prose, a wide range of...
View ArticleBraid 10th anniversary Critical Compilation
Perhaps one of the games historically most strongly associated with the idea of talking about and critically analysing games, Braid was the subject of the first Critical Compilation here, written by...
View ArticleAugust 5th
It’s been a week of mystery and wonder, as multiple critics show us the limits of what we can really know about games -some arguing that this unknowability is in fact how games work. Along the way, we...
View ArticleAugust 12th
Investigative reporting on games culture has had a strong week, as well as histories of game design, development, and criticism. Our weekly roundup of critical writing on games, This Week in Videogame...
View ArticleAugust 19
This week, games and their critics ponders at length about inclusivity, technology, change, and play. In particular, games and their communities are examined on inclusion and the considerations of...
View ArticleAugust 26th
It’s been a good week for topics that definitely deserve more attention – I was excited to read pieces that pick up on how the movement of the player-character’s body intrinsically affects the...
View ArticleSeptember 2018: What Shouldn’t Work
Videogames are a relatively young medium, taken in comparison to most of their nearest peers. Even still, they’ve been around long enough to have a formula, and most games are variations on their...
View ArticleHere Comes a New Challenger!
Hello! I’m Chris Lawrence, and I am excited to announce that as of this week, I am joining the team as incoming Senior Curator for Critical Distance. You may know me from my ongoing work as...
View ArticleSeptember 1st
This week I have enjoyed a wealth of fine criticism concerning the relationship between games and the recent past as authors explore “retro” trends in titles new and old. Great writing is also being...
View ArticleSeptember 9th
This week brings a selection of powerful and timely articles about inclusivity within games as well their overlapping communities of play, design, and criticality. With a shift by some major...
View ArticleSeptember 16th
How can I express my excitement over the past seven days? This has been an incredible week for writing in games. This week’s banner release is Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and leading the charge in...
View ArticleSeptember 23rd
This is my fourth week as Senior Curator for Critical Distance, and I am at once in a never-ending state of learning and growing, and having the time of my life. I’m beginning to recognize patterns and...
View ArticleSeptember 30th
I want to begin with a confession: I’m tired. It’s been an emotionally draining news week pretty much regardless of what interests and channels you follow. I say this bearing in mind the privilege I...
View ArticleOctober 7th
We are, without a doubt, in the midst of the busiest time of year for big-name game releases, but for the first time in a few weeks, the most important elements of the discourse–for me at least–haven’t...
View ArticleOctober 14th
It’s become something of a cliché at this point to quip that we are living in the darkest of a series of possible timelines. Moving beyond this idea’s (arguably well-justified) cynicism, I think this...
View ArticleOctober 21st
The conversation on labour in games continues with undiminished momentum, in part because Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has volunteered himself to be the one to really step in it this week. There’s no...
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