Thanks for redacting that secret leak thing - I've actually been trying to avoid the datamining stuff. Normally I find datamining results to be kind of cool, but Pokemon is too sprawling and mysterious, and I like to have those surprises portioned out. As for Marowak, I hadn't seen it until moments ago when I did a…

This weekend I'll be continuing my journey through Paper Mario: Color Splash. What an awesome game, and it just keeps getting… awesom-er? I'm about halfway through the lighthouse island, and the pirate toad segment might be my favorite of the game so far. I enjoyed the weird boat minigames and have been consolidating…

OK, you and I are on exactly the same page. It always drives me up a wall when folks want games to be respected as an important art or narrative medium but don't want any of the obligations or scrutiny that go along with that.

I don't know if we're in agreement, but just so I'm not overly ambiguous, I definitely see games as an artistic medium. Many of the richest artistic experiences I've had in the past few years are in video games.

Agreed. I certainly don't have a need of any new content in my near future, particularly if I get Pokemon Sun/Moon and Breath of the Wild on the Wii U in the coming year. It's funny, but for all the breath spent on Nintendo's consoles being content-anemic, I never feel like I run out of great games to play.

Having finally visited the Mafia III review, now I'm disappointed more people weren't there, hahaha. That said, the conversation over there was quite stimulating.

That's pretty cool!

As a northerner, I think we just like to pretend it's not as bad so we can feel better about ourselves. It also fits a pretty convenient (and compelling) historical narrative, which people tend to go for.

I think your final sentence here is one of the truest things that could be said of narrative in games, and one that I wish more developers would take into consideration. "Cinematic" is not an adjective that I see as a positive in games, in much the same way that "videogamey" is not a term I'd want to see in reference…

To find that, I'd recommend Firewatch, Majora's Mask, and Papers Please. These games take advantage of the unique interaction between player and environment to enhance the narrative. Complicity in injustice, and walking the line between necessity and weary acceptance, for example, are critical to the narrative in…

My mind's not made up. It's kind of hit-or-miss so far. Sometimes it has me laughing out loud, and others not so much. The one you responded to is one of my favorites so far, for what it's worth, as it manages to be so specific to the experience of No Man's Sky and simultaneously applicable to so many AAA games.

It's kind of cool in a broader sense to see what niche elements get picked up as "standards" for safe AAA experiences. Your drawing attention to an over-the-shoulder camera is a great example, since this was not common until it was utilized in the the deservedly praised Resident Evil 4. From that point, and especially…

That "apolitical" designation is one of the more frustrating aspects of how people perceive/design mainstream, AAA games. It drives much of the conservative gamer conversation on a perception that feminism and inclusivity is reducing room for straight white game-players. The inherent flaw at the center of it - a flaw…

Good call. This is certainly one of my favorite aspects of games, and I'm happy to see them playing more to it in recent years. Another example that comes to mind is the horrifying decision that the player makes in the opening minutes of Firewatch. I don't think I've ever felt worse playing a game, and I say that as a…

That's got to be one of the more unique aspects of writing in games. There must be a specific style of writing that works well for hearing repeated, because you notice the repetition in some games and not in others. I'd love to hear a game writer speak at length about this subject.

Gosh, your post just got me thinking about the fact that I recently saw To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time and it's striking as both a film in its own right and as a document taken out of its own time. Its continued relevance was heartbreaking.

Huh, this actually sounds fascinating. I've largely been avoiding the open-world crime genre of games for years, but this one finally seems like it might be pretty engaging. If I enjoy the maligned card battles of Paper Mario: Color Splash, am I likely to be able to look past the repetition of Mafia III's gunplay?

From everything I've heard, it sounds like the crafting will be optional. The use of clothing changes and weapon degradation don't sound negotiable, but I'm less put off by them; the heat mechanic in particular sounds very cool.

It's kind of maddening how different the Xbox One controller feels from the Wii U Pro controller. I bought the former to use as a PC controller when my 360 controllers went nuts, but regretted the purchase once I discovered (only recently) that I can use my Wii U Pro on PC. It's amazing how much longer I'm inclined to…

It was exclusively the inclusion of the Super Mario World style that hooked me.