Weekend Reading: In Cyberspace Everyone Can Hear You Shred

While we at Kill Screen love to bring you our own crop of game critique and perspective, there are many articles on games, technology, and art around the web that are worth reading and sharing. So that is why this weekly reading list exists, bringing light to some of the articles that have captured our attention, and should also capture yours.

///

Virtual Reality Owes a Lot to the Air Guitar, Meghan Neal, Motherboard

Some think virtual reality was created for games. That certainly was the attitude when Oculus launched their Kickstarter campaign. Others think it’s for film, and many more imagine it as a way to enter a new dimension. Jaron Lanier, a Silicon Valley veteran who is considered to have coined the term, says virtual reality was created for a real curve ball: air guitar. As Lanier prepares a keynote for this year’s Moogfest, Neal speaks with him about music’s VR potential.

The Coming Horror of Virtual Reality, Simon Parkin, The New Yorker

Videogame fans certainly enjoy getting spooked, and the revival of shock-riddled projects seems to be on a collision course with virtual reality. But aside from the obvious guttural intimidation, what makes fear in these devices so much more intense? Simon Parkin looks at the past, present, and future of getting the willies.

Crystal Rift

Shuffleboard At McMurdo, Maciej Cegłowski, Idle Words

McMurdo Station is the southernmost American settlement; a polar outpost for scientists and passerby. But as you may be wondering, and as Maciej Ceglowski clearly wondered, what the hell do people do all day down there? A surreal and sleepy place, Ceglowski speaks with locals at living on the edge of the world, and asks why they’re obsessed with Zippo lighters.