Rachel Helps

A Myst book you can play

With electronics getting cheaper and more mod-able, (like when Entertainment Weekly embedded a phone in an advertisement), there’s more of an opportunity for books and screens to collide. While this Myst book is basically a fancy skin for a single-purpose electronic device, it speaks of media to com

Tetris lets you feel like you’re tidying up, without actual tidying

Tetris has affects the human brain strangely, whether it’s with afterimages or blocking traumatic experiences. Tom Stafford at Mind Hacks theorizes that the appeal of Tetris lies in its continual presentation of unfinished tasks… much like popular RPGs, only without any pretenses. Tetris holds our a

MIT Game Lab makes the theory of relativity into a game

Educational games are getting better. Instead of being interactive flash cards, they’ve become worlds where players can come to an understanding of real-life concepts. A Slower Speed of Light from the MIT Game Lab looks at what it would be like if you could walk at the speed of light. From their sit

Hotline Miami dev helps pirates play his game

The postmodern mass-murder lark Hotline Miami is being pirated. Normally this wouldn’t be news, but it turns out the game’s developer provided the pirates with tech support. T.J. Hafter at PC Gamer found Jonatan Söderström leaving helpful comments on torrenting sites. Not only does Söderström (posti

A drone pilot reflects on how his job is like playing a videogame

With the election coming up, military drone strikes are getting more attention. President Obama has increased the role of drones in the military and Mitt Romney has given every indication he would continue the trend if he wins the election. Unmanned, the grand jury prize winner at Indiecade, deals w