Essay

In Defense of Cheap Shots

Sports videogames suffer from an identity crisis: they are games about games. To kick off our first week of sports articles, A.E. Benenson writes on the eternal confusion, and why “cheating” in MLB: The Show is good sportsmanship.

Occupy Fortune Street

Nintendo’s cheerful take on Monopoly found an untimely release in America last December. Jason Johnson digs into the financial game and finds himself overpowered by Mushroom Kingdom denizens who seem blessed by advantages he can’t see, but feels tearing a hole in his savings.

Fund Razing

Is the game industry a well-oiled, profoundly risk-averse machine with a stranglehold on creative talent, or is crowdfunding about to destroy publishing as we know it? Jamin Warren takes a look at the unprecedented success of Tim Schafer’s Kickstarter project Double Fine Adventure and sees a potenti

Will the Real Gamer Please Stand Up?

What’s in a name? The word “gamer” is used to connote men and women who enjoy videogames, and it contains the perilous highs and lowest lows of human experience. Jason Johnson argues that it’s time to leave the term behind.

Possession of the Ball

How are sports created in our own image? When the global game of soccer is digitally transformed into an international hit in FIFA, the ball finds itself caught between disparate communities, economies, and goals. James Dilks charts its journey from the western coast of Africa to the cables of the F