I got that one a while ago in an ID software bundle, but I couldn't really get into it. I can't get the Quake 1 engine to feel natural on a modern PC, and my hands just don't want to go back to those old positions.

The combat in Deadly Premonition had one redeeming feature: If the creatures get close enough, they shove their arms down your throat. That is straight-up nightmarish.

I've never played Sanitarium, but I've been seeing it around for ages. I have a soft spot for isometric 90s games and horror games, so I should probably pick it up (it can't be worse than Crusader, right?). The original Alone in the Dark is very, very, very dated - I don't think I made it ten minutes in before the…

The formulas for game design and gameplay change so gradually that if you've been playing games for more than about 10 years, things start to feel "samey." On top of that, the current design formula for AAA games seems to be that nothing should happen for the first 15 or 20 minutes, which sometimes works well but…

I'm really intrigued by the Friday the 13th game and Dead by Daylight - competitive survival horror seems like a great game model, but I keep reading mixed things about gameplay balance and overall bugginess. And I really hate interacting with other players online (I love Left 4 Dead because it actively punishes…

That concept of unlocking parts of the city as you complete missions has been around since at least GTA: Vice City. Seeing as that game is 15 years old, and it was kind of an annoying mechanic then, I'm surprised they still use it.

This is actually great to hear - I've been looking at a 1050 or 1060, but I had a little trepidation that I'd sink $130 and still have slowdown issues. (Though I discovered, when configuring Mortal Kombat X with my outdated video card, that I barely notice the difference between 720p and 1080p when I'm actually…

Not only is she the inventor of Liquid Paper, but being the mother of Michael Nesmith makes her the grandmother of the movie Repo Man.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Cloud Atlas is a masterpiece of cinema, full stop. If there's any justice future generations will get over the silly casting and admire it for what it is.

I love that line, too. The concept of "equality = less + more" seems to elude him. Along with most things.

I do kind of like how the writer of this letter says that women don't want equality, they want more, like it's a sick burn. Really it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how quantities work - you have less, you need more in order to have an equal amount.

He has a very tough legacy. I mean, it's pretty reasonable to say that Johnson ended the Jim Crow era, and policy passed under Johnson is the platform for civil rights as they exist today - even the blockage of Trump's travel bans and the suits over gerrymandering are based (at least in part) on Johnson-era laws. …

"I… we all… kept saying we could do it. Nobody asked whether we should."
- Pamela Ainsle, chief engineer, Weaponized Misogyny Program (WiMP)

I like the line "name something invented by a woman!"

I mean, I can totally see how a gender-specific screening of a movie one day at one movie theater is similar to a widespread social engineering philosophy that rationalizes segregation.

I was trying to remember her name! Not that compilers are a big deal or anything - machine code is just as good.

Between this letter from the mayor's office and the Alamo Drafthouse's habit of using irate voicemails for their pre-screening announcements, I feel like Austin might secretly be the cold-blooded snark capital of the United States.

Fantasy stories in cinema over the past decade or two have developed a deeply cynical, almost nihilistic core. Part of it is that the action movie structure has a third act where the Good Guy either kills the Bad Guy or beats the Bad Guy into submission. Since fantasy movies have adopted that structure, they're…

There are a lot of classic novels that are very readable. If I had to name one book that really got me invested in literature, it would be "Huckleberry Finn" (as long as you can get past the language). There are plenty of American classics that hold up very well - "East of Eden" is one of the best books ever…

Honestly, I doubt that an English PhD candidate has the bandwidth to read for pleasure. Reading is her full-time job, and the reading material in a graduate English program can be pretty grueling. Reading a book that has nothing to do with work is a good life skill, but it's not a small undertaking.