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50 Cent, Still Human
Drew Millard peeks into the world of G-Unit, where 50 Cent dictates all. What Would Fiddy Do? Anything he wants.
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Why I Drink the Purple Rain
What is it about the hardest challenges that draw us in? Jason Johnson talks about the infamous Japanese arcade game Mushihemesama Futari and the kind of enjoyment that can only be found in “bullet hell.”
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The Year in Lyrics
What Would Drake Do? The freestyle version of 2011 in gaming, and open letter to Justin Bieber, courtesy Drew Millard.
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The Year in ADHD
Looking at his favorite games from 2011, Jason Johnson wonders why gaming is becoming like web surfing, if the internet is really destroying his attention span, and if he should even care.
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The Year Forgotten
Our senior writer Filipe Salgado bought his first console since the NES. He wonders why he can’t remember any of the Xbox 360 games he played in 2011, and looks back on his indie roots.
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Korea’s Happy Deals
South Korean games are on the rise, and their inspiration lies in unexpected territory—fast food in its many alike incarnations. Jordan Mammo examines the scene’s philosophy and its ambitions.
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The Game Design of Everyday Things: To Shape the Future
Our design columnist Tom Armitage on why landscape gardening is a better analogy than architecture for videogames—a discipline about guiding the player without access to a rulebook.
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Please Try Again
We say we “play” videogames, but that word doesn’t always mean what it’s supposed to. Lana Polansky traces the line between Street Fighter and just about everything else, and describes why practice is important.
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Sky’s the Limit
The video-gamification of war is well underway with the continual increase in U.S. unmanned drones. We hash out some of the distinctions between military drones, robots and toys in this conversation with Ted Carancho, a leading member of the drone-development community.
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Bring Your Own Game
When are boring games more fun than fun games? Kyle Chayka visits the Play Station exhibition at Postmasters Gallery and finds challenging and rewarding experiences.
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How Will Videogames Pass Go?
A rumination on the effects of rationality and irrationality on videogames big and small, including Skyrim, Dark Souls, Passage, and Braid—and why it’s important that game systems come out of culture.
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Drinking Games: Angry Minority Flip Cup
In our first installment of Drinking Games, Manveer Heir? lays down the new Flip Cup law in an update to a modern classic.