April 21st
Welcome, readers. There’s a lot of looking back in critical games writing this week, which makes sense to me, since for many it’s a holiday weekend and we are in kind of a lull period between GDC and...
View ArticleApril 28th
Welcome back, readers. So, when I expressed the hope last week that there would be provocative critical takes on the new Mortal Kombat game released this week, I didn’t mean this. But why should I...
View ArticleMay 5th
Hello readers! This week’s labour abuse spotlight is on NetherRealm, and the story runs pretty much the whole way through the studio’s history. I hate that my touching on this is practically a weekly...
View ArticleMay 12th
Welcome, readers (and Happy Mother’s Day to those who observe it today!). In reflecting on the major labour stories in games news this week, I think it’s important to keep in mind that while everyone...
View ArticleMay 19th
Welcome back, readers. While there has been no shortage of bad press about crunch in games development over the last several months (and rightly so), it seems that there are still large studios who...
View ArticleMay 26th
Welcome back, readers. So, gaming disorder, huh? That’s a thing this week. I’m interested to see what kinds of critical responses emerge on this topic over the coming weeks, and how that influences (or...
View ArticleJune 2nd
Welcome back, readers, and happy Pride Month! Many of this week’s selections can be related back to the notion of inclusivity in some way. The decisions you make as a designer to include (or not...
View ArticleJune 9th
Welcome back, readers! E3 is next week? I guess? We’ve got a very timely piece this week on the damaging effects of hype, which I enjoyed a great deal and which you can find below. On the academic...
View ArticleJune 16th
Welcome back, readers, and happy Father’s Day to y’all who celebrate it. E3 has come and gone, and readers and especially writers are no doubt in recovery mode after the annual avalanche of coverage on...
View ArticleAssassin’s Creed III
Critical Distance is proud to present this Critical Compilation of Ubisoft’s Assassin Creed III, curated by Gilles Roy. A history scholar with game design training at Montreal’s INIS, Gilles is also...
View ArticleJune 23rd
Welcome back, readers. First of all, if you haven’t already checked out Gilles Roy’s stellar Critical Compilation on Assassin’s Creed III, I can’t recommend it enough! After so many sequels, III...
View ArticleJune 30th
Welcome back, readers. Sorry, I can’t answer the phone right now (what’s a phone. . . ?). Mario Maker 2 is out, and I am in deep. Pride Month draws to a close today, and we’ve got a selection of great...
View ArticleJuly 7th
Welcome back, readers. This week sees the launch of the inaugural issue of ROMchip, an open-access, history-oriented journal of games. I, umm, think this is pretty cool? And it’s amazing to see so many...
View ArticleJuly 14th
Welcome back, readers. Friends, I am in my element this week. People are writing about old JRPGs, queerness, accessibility, inclusivity, and bad toys from the 90s. Oh, and writers are taking the...
View ArticleJuly 21st
Welcome back, readers. So a delightful trove of documents and materials have surfaced this week detailing the early development history of the The Sims and how queerness was an integral–and...
View ArticleJuly 28th
Welcome back, readers. I’m in the middle of my first summer doing this Senior Curator thing, and truth be told, I was a little worried that critical games writing would slow down a bit in these months....
View ArticleAugust 4th
Welcome back, readers. I’m always surprised, in an exciting, fun kind of way, by how writers seem to sync up with one another from week to week on different topics in ways that aren’t necessarily...
View ArticleAugust 11th
Welcome back, readers. Take a deep breath. Give yourself some space to be still, to practice gentleness, if you can. I’m going to go ahead and throw up a Content Notification here, as I’m about to work...
View ArticleAugust 18th
Welcome back, readers. For a discourse that doesn’t exist, there’s a whole lot of cool stuff going on in critical games writing this week. Keep reading, keep writing, and keep making good shit happen,...
View ArticleAugust 25th
Welcome back, readers. I find I’ve been short on words the last couple of weeks. Maybe it’s end-of-summer blues, maybe it’s just the usual ebb and flow of my energy as a grad student who wears too many...
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