As a hobbyist game journalist / game reviewer, I try to research how the “professionals” do their job and learn something new from every person I come across. As I listen to them I ask myself questions such as, “How does this critic ‘show and not tell’ with their writing?”, “How do they stand out?”, … Continue reading My Top 5 Video Game Reviewers
As we discussed in a previous post, Hideo Kojima is the first game designer to create a Postmodern video game. Postmodernism is an artistic movement that began in earnest in the late 20th Century, though its roots go all the way back to the 1910s with Dadaism and Surrealism, such as Rene Magritte's The Treachery … Continue reading Hideo Kojima, Part 3: Deconstructing Video Games
In 2012, Kojima said in an interview with The Guardian that he has a highly active imagination, and that even in adulthood he has to keep his mind from wandering off and making its own stories. He even paused during the interview to discreetly share what was going through his head at that very moment … Continue reading Hideo Kojima, Part 2: The Surreal Art of the Visual Metaphor
Hideo Kojima's Instagram bio states, "Game Creator: 70% of my body is made of movies." As we've recently learned, Kojima's love for movies runs deep into his childhood. It has stayed with him through difficult times like when his father passed away, or when he was striving to make it as a game designer. They … Continue reading Hideo Kojima, Part 1: How a Film Geek Makes Video Games
The 1963 film High and Low begins with a renowned Japanese shoemaker, Mr. Gondo, sitting in a luxurious living room. He is surrounded by his fellow company shareholders. Dozens of shoes pile up on the center table. Between puffs of cigarettes, the men discuss how to move their shoe company forward, and the conversation quickly … Continue reading The Life and Times of Hideo Kojima
What makes a game good? No, really, what makes a game worth talking about and remain worth talking about? What makes a game stay around for decades instead of fading away into obscurity after its launch week? Most of the discourse around video games are reviews, Top 10s, and analyses. Those certainly have a place … Continue reading How To Read a Video Game: The Hideo Kojima Preview
A year for a human is about... 10 years for a video game console. That would mean that in a few days, the Nintendo Switch is hitting the big ol' 4-0. I advise you to make sure your Nintendo Switch doesn't go and buy a big shiny sports car just to make sure he's "still … Continue reading The Nintendo Switch’s 4th Anniversary
Part of what makes Literature (the kind you read in English class) so enduring is how two readers can view a story from completely different perspectives, and the text could provide evidence to support both conclusions. For example, when Hamlet encounters his father's ghost demanding revenge on his murder, you could argue that Hamlet literally … Continue reading What Remains of Edith Finch – A House Haunted by Reality
Welcome to one of my new experiments for the year! I'm trying to cross-breed my one-off reviews and my developer case studies, the ones that span multiple posts. So with these, I will 1) share what I learned about the developers of iconic games, and 2) give my interpretations of their works. It'll be a … Continue reading Zen and the Art of Thatgamecompany
Klonoa: The Door to Phantomile is a 2D Platformer developed and published by Namco. It released for the PS1 on March 13, 1998. A remake was also released for the Wii in 2008. I played the PS1 version on the Vita.When the PlayStation released in 1995, pixels were out, and polygons were in. Everyone tried … Continue reading Klonoa: Pioneer of the 2.5D Platformer
Hookshot, Charge Beam, Revive 