First off, the New York Review of Books blog considers the connection between Tarkovsky’s Stalker, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series, and Chernobyl. And for extra credit, read our interview with an artist who raided the Zone!

“So there I sat in my parents’ living room, playing the game with my mom, showing the game to my dad and brothers and sister. I think I’ve never heard my dad laugh so long and so hard.” — Adriaan de Jongh, creator of Fingle, the iPad game about evocative hand rubbing, on play-testing without a girlfriend.

DayZ creator Dean Hall is seriously one of the busiest game makers I’ve ever met. And this is what he does in his downtime: climbs Mt. Everest.

EA is closing Sims Social. Is this what foreclosure feels like? 

Might & Delight, maker of KS-favorite Pid, is releasing Shelter, a game about a momma badger protecting her cubs. Dust of your copy of Watership Down!

The chessboard is now required reading in Armenia. A class I would fail and fail miserably.

The particularly well-curated radio stations from the Grand Theft Auto games are now on Spotify. Gary Numan synths incoming. Also, read this.

Logsmashpot, the street game where you smash a flower pot with a few hundred pound log, is something that actually exists. And it should totally be a new minigame in the next Zelda.

Have a good week!