This is the sort of anxiety I feel in almost any game I play that lets me choose character dialogue or otherwise influence the narrative by imposing my perspective, morals and ideals.

I’m replaying Kotor II right now and I’m constantly bumping up against that impulse; I strive for naturalistic in-the-moment decisions,…

If you’re actually spending time making and testing each level, no, 128 levels should be more than enough.

Research is a fundamental part of good creation. If you want to produce a game known for its gory executions, gory research it will take. What surprises me is that they didn´t have a support system in place, or any kind of acknowledgment. about the potential dangers.

I went for the green and pink Joy-con set as soon as they came out, and I have a transparent backplate on my Switch covered in metallic rainbow star stickers. I love color options beyond the boring and staid black or gray options most gamers are given. And if anyone doubts I am a serious gamer, I will show them my…

I think Ansari and the writers definitely knew the fictional character Tom was carrying out behavior that was wrong, but the social mores of the time were that people found it funny to show characters so brazenly being offensive (see Barney on “How I Met Your Mother” for a more extreme case). We were laughing at how…

I don’t like how Ansari and Louis CK are always compared-and-contrasted. They did different things. It’s like comparing a jaywalker to Ted Bundy.

Hate to say it, but you could book that tour across the street from a solid ~25% of humans and it would look ok.

Ansari needs to book a parallel tour where’s always playing across the street from Louis CK. Call it the “Hey, At Least I’m Not That Asshole Tour.”

Yeah this is an interesting one. I found it more impressive as a tightrope walk than an actual comedy special (though there were still some points that really made me laugh). All stand-up is calculated, but you’re more conscious of it when it’s done in the wake of a controversy. And it puts you even more on edge when…

I worked at a book store when this whole thing happened. We had at least two folks come in to ask about books that were about The Blair Witch. I had seen this and thought it was awesome so I just straight up lied and said that we didn’t have any because all of them were, “out of print,” but would be coming back in…

An actual conversation I had with a friend the summer BW came out.

What kills me is that at the time the special was released, I was living 10 miles from Burkittsville, had obviously never heard a word of this supposed local legend, and still bought it, because in my 14 year old mind I couldn’t fathom that the Sci Fi channel would lie to me about it. I remember after it ended wonderin…

I had a very similar experience with Gris earlier this year. It’s got some lovely and thoughtful parts, but the majority was a bland chore to play, and other games (Journey and Celeste, in particular) were much more successful in their execution of similar setpieces and themes. It almost would have worked better as a…

You probably don’t need anyone to tell you this, Riley, but you shouldn’t feel bad about someone else’s personal experiences failing to resonate with you, especially when you put the effort in to open yourself to them. Sometimes your experiences won’t mesh well with their feelings, or at least how they express them,…

It feels like an actual 80s grossout horror movie, not just an homage.

I actually had the had the opposite reaction. I was actually ready to be pissed off thinking that they were going to kill the flesh flayer then all the people were somehow going to reincorporate out of the sludge. I’m glad they stuck to the dark tone. It was in keeping with the influences of films like The Thing, Invas…

I guess Sheriff Hopper is alive?

Nancy and Jonathan’s fight scene in the car was really well done on every level. Really tonally consistent character justification for everything they both said. Jonathan is, of course, correct that a family of Nancy’s economic status is privileged to not have to think about how much capitalism sucks until it sucks…

The clear MVP of this season is that perfectly ridiculous sailor outfit that Steve is permanently trapped in. I can’t decide what’s funnier, the stupidly short shorts or the little hat.

The original show was challenging. You assumed during most of some episodes that you were on the right side, and then the writing turned the table and made you realize you still had prejudices and flaws. Anybody could watch it and be inspired in some way.