Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Articles You Should Read

I'm always on the lookout for smart videogame journalism (if you want to call it that). It seems, though, that most of the writing out there is either pretentious (The Brainy Gamer, Sexyvideogameland) or dumbed down to appeal to teenagers and college kids (Joystiq, Kotaku, Gamesrader). I do enjoy the work of Giantbomb, but the reviews there can be too formulaic and the Bombcast sometimes turns into a dudefest (especially during E3).

I'm not interested in a basic review that breaks a game down into its constituent parts with the purpose of telling me whether or not I should buy it. Nor am I interested in a review that attaches a number-score to itself, thus nullifying everything that was just written. I want writing that is mature, critical, and smart; that treats video games as an expressive, artistic medium; that looks at the issues within and that surround the games themselves. But I don't want it to sound like a chapter out of a critical or literary theory textbook. There are a few writers who have accomplished this, and I'm posting links to their articles. I'll do this from time to time when I feel that you should be directed to an important or interesting article. Check them out after the page jump.