Michael Thomsen

Are pro-athletes doomed to fail in business? MMO maker 38 Studios may be proof.

“There are no second acts in American lives,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote. The sentiments seems to be painfully true with athletes migrating from the locker room to the board room. Last week, Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios had to choose between paying its employees for the week or going into default on a

Will Work for Fun

What are the roots of free-to-play capitalism? Michael Thomsen argues that in-game commodities and microtransactions are not new ideas so much as the latest ways that videogame companies instrumentalize us.

The Untold Depths of Snake Eating

We can try to make sense of the sound and the fury of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D as it escalates and unravels. But maybe we don’t need to.

When Robots See Us Laugh

Have you ever asked the nearest robot how you can help it—not vice versa? If “charismatic machines” take hold, then we’ll have a lot to laugh about.