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April 2nd
Wondering how to get started on games criticism? This week’s writing happened to feature some great overview articles that give readers an introduction to specific topics, as well as deeper dives on...
View ArticleEpisode 44 – A Cagey Interview
http://www.critical-distance.com/podcast/Critical-Distance-Confab-episode-44.mp3 Direct Download This month I interview YouTuber Kevin John, also known as Cagey. YouTube essayist Cagey is a jolly old...
View ArticleApril 9th
Think back to games of the late 1990s; what did they teach you about games that you now take for granted? This week, critics reflected on how genres from the past affect the work they do today....
View ArticleApril 16th
This week’s writing allowed me to reflect on the way that gaming and life affect one another as well as how we look at games through time and space. I hope you enjoy what we’ve curated for you this...
View ArticleApril 23rd
Shining a light on media can help reveal the dark truths lurking beneath the surface. This week in videogame blogging, critics discuss power fantasies, prisons, and psychoses. Persona 5 We start with...
View ArticleApril 30th
This week saw some social media drama in the games criticism sphere, as Georgia Tech Professor Ian Bogost invoked the pantomime conflict that is Ludology vs. Narratology. Beyond that discussion, it’s...
View ArticleMay 2017: ‘Responsibility’
The division of time is almost entirely arbitrary, the calendar a human construction to give structure to what is otherwise just time passing. However, standing on the threshold of a new coming month...
View ArticleMay 7th
On your own in an unfamiliar place, where nothing is real, and powerful structures overshadow everything? Games critics this week venture out alone. Technical limitations Narrative-focused games are...
View ArticleMay 14th
Sound, size, and space are all discussed this week as critics work out what makes games affect us more deeply. Speaking First, an investigative piece about paying people to chat and play with you, and...
View ArticleA reading list on trans representation in games
I’m currently researching a literature review for my Computer Games Design Course, looking at trans representation in media[…] I was hoping you could give me some advice on possible academic texts or...
View ArticleEpisode 45 – Documentary Delight
http://www.critical-distance.com/podcast/Critical-Distance-Confab-episode-45.mp3 Direct Download With this interview, we move away from YouTube and delve into independent film, to talk with Philip...
View ArticleMay 21st
Worried about the future? Pull up a chair! This week features writing on fear and the economy in games such as Night in the Woods and Prey. The thrill of reaching an audience The Personal-Essay Boom Is...
View ArticleMay 28th
How can game creators design for specific flavours of fear? This question is a big theme of writing this week, in what has turned out to be a particularly good selection of critical writing on games....
View ArticleJune 4
This week we take a look at how we shape our personal worlds, and how games are shaped by us. Not just from a design standpoint, but by the way we explore our worlds and how that world informs the...
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May Roundup: Responsibility
I feel like the world asked a lot of us this past month. Responsibilities come in all sorts, and sometimes they can catch us when we’re least prepared for them. All the same, we soldier on as best we...
View ArticleJune 11th
There’s a little event called E3 going on this week, and with it comes plenty of new games and rapid-fire discourse. Yet we stand firm in our mission to curate the internet’s most intriguing critical...
View ArticleJune 2017: ‘Time’
Hello and happy spring to all you lovely readers of Critical Distance. For those keeping score at home, I’ve been a touch discombobulated in the last few months, or as I like to describe myself:...
View ArticleJune 18th
What is a role playing game? You might have a fixed idea of what the genre is and how it works, but this week some writers are challenging those assumptions and asking you to see them differently. That...
View ArticleJune 25th
People often say that games give us a chance to try out being somebody else. But I think a great strength of this week’s writing was the pieces challenging us to be more aware of who we already are....
View ArticleEpisode 46 – Talking on Games
http://www.critical-distance.com/podcast/Critical-Distance-Confab-episode-46.mp3 Direct Download Freshly back from E3, YouTuber Hamish Black, the man behind the Writing on Games channel, sat down with...
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