The ever-popular genre of medieval role-playing continues its downward march with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a collaboration between game-design heavyweight Ken Rolston, fantasy luminary R.A. Salvatore, and comics auteur Todd McFarlane. Michael Thomsen finds the results less than uninspiring; th
Nintendo’s new Zelda opus is a paean to learning and wonderment. Michael Thomsen dissects the contradictions at the heart of Skyward Sword, both mechanical and human.
What sense can be made of the influx of game mechanics and forms? Michael Thomsen argues that recent videogames have pruned their rules with purpose, bringing us into the beginning of a neoclassical era of game design.
