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.
Columns
A Sound Design: L.A. Noire’s False Notes
We tend to think about the “uncanny valley” as something that we can only register visually. But is the it harder to stomach the almost human faces in L.A. Noire or the game’s replica and relic of a soundtrack? Music columnist David Raposa looks at the game’s sound and music design and wonders if hi
Next Time I’m in Rio
An experimental videogame called Hokra invites comparisons to sports, but not only for its rules. For Abe Stein, sport is a feeling that runs deeper than the inner workings of games, existing in the events and dramas that we cause to emerge from them. So how do a few pixel squares pull that off, and
To Build and Break
What do boardgaming’s stars look like? If Donald X. Vaccarino is any indication, they are difficult to grasp. The designer of runaway favorite Dominion builds games that change and remake themselves nearly to infinity. In his latest column Gus Mastrapa tries to get a foothold in Vaccarino’s twisty w
Like Looking In A Mirror, Only Not
Nicolas Cage may be our greatest living actor. On the precipice of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Scott Wayne Indiana talks to Brandon Bird, the insane genius behind the Nicolas Cage Adventure Set.