Essay

Darshana Jayemanne on why it’s time to stop criticizing—and celebrating—videogames for being nonlinear. It turns out the medium’s blessing and its curse is neither unique nor especially new.

What games and players can learn from System Shock 2, and why the most effective videogame story may be an incomplete one.

When in doubt, look to Italo Calvino’s systematic writings about literature and the imagination. We use one of his essays to speculate on the creation of a gaming canon.

How can we understand a world coded in language? William S. Burroughs had some violent ideas in the form of handguns, scissors, and word games.

What can contemporary performance art tell us about Cooking Mama? Kyle Chayka on the unlkely link between cooking videogames and fine art.