The Game Design of Severance
Ben Stiller's Severance uses game design principles to explore information, identity, and workplace control through the lens of split personalities and corporate mystery.
television
Quantum Break is better TV than videogame
In Remedy Entertainment’s Max Payne (2001) and Alan Wake (2010), the player can approach television sets and watch short, surprisingly detailed videos. In Max Payne, these include soapy melodrama Lords and Ladies and the paranoiac, Lynch-riffing Address Unknown. Alan Wake sticks to a Twilight Zone-i
Doom mod lets you hangout with the cast of Seinfeld
Here’s something you probably know: Doom II (1994) and Seinfeld (1989-1998) are both pieces of popular culture released in the 1990s. They both had huge audiences and now two decades later, they are still as well known as they were when Bill Clinton was in office. In fact, this year’s Doom was relea
The glorious return of The X-Files, TV’s greatest science show
There was one point in my life where I thought about becoming a member of the FBI. In the months prior to my graduation from college, I had decided that I could put the 200+ hours that I had invested into The X-Files to good use. Of course, after I learned of the trials and tribulations one had to g
A new tabletop game challenges you to maximize ratings as a TV executive
Operating a television network is not a game. Hold your laughter and that thought. We’ll return to it momentarily. The Networks is a tabletop game that challenges players to perform the duties of TV executives who seek to maximize viewership and, consequently, profit. You bid for shows and talent an
Mr. Robot might be the best sci-fi show on television
Mr. Robot is a timely, acerbic show. You should be watching it
Stephen Colbert’s weird Twine game may double as a map to late night comedy
Letterman to the left, Corden to the right, Colbert seems to be stuck in the middle.
The new BattleBots is harder, better, faster, and finally all grown up
BattleBots, now with 100% more Silicon Valley sheen.
This week, on HBO’S Game of Thrones presents TellTale’s the Walking Dead…
We need to talk about the game-ness of last night’s Game of Thrones episode.
How Eve Online became a birthplace for stories
The best virtual worlds mix work with play Eve Online is a rich universe most people don’t know exists How a sci-fi world creates some of the best non-fiction CCP wants to turn the virtual lives of Eve Online players into a TV show
Can you remember Dexter’s morning routine? Prove it in this videogame
Play through a breakfast for murderous champions.
Now seems like a good time to rewatch that 8-bit Twin Peaks intro
“…Every day, once a day, give yourself a present.”
2:22AM captures the all-consuming inertia of insomnia
Cathode ray tube effects!
The 2014 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest winner, ladies and gentlemen
Rube Goldberg machines, those kooky machines that perform simple tasks with convoluted methods, are generally a thing of marvel, especially when said Rube Goldberg machine is the winner of the 2014 annual contest among college students. Luckily, that impossible contraption, which was built by a team
More online viewers watch Twitch than Game of Thrones
We already knew Twitch was big. We just didn’t know the extent of the popular game streaming service’s hugeness. Well, that’s become a little bit clearer with this new report on Internet traffic, which says that Twitch is bigger than HBO’s digital service Go. That means more online viewers are tunin
Eve: Valkyrie gets Battlestar Galactica’s Starbuck; ‘Take My Money’ memes abound
When it was announced a few hours ago that Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica was to voice a leading role in CCP’s VR Eve Online spinoff, the reaction around the virtual Kill Screen office was a celebration of Fry memes. (OK, one Fry meme.) On the show, Starbuck was a fiery pilot played by actress K
Shark Tank investor decides to bite on VR treadmill after all (sorry)
Things didn’t go so hot for the creator of Virtuix Omni when he appeared on “Shark Tank,” a reality show on ABC with an ensemble of filthy rich hosts known for chewing up and spitting out young optimistic entrepreneurs like expired caviar. But one of the rich guys, millionaire investor Mark Cuban, w
The Cards Against Humanity guys are hosting a reality show for tabletop game design
The reality series Tabletop Deathmatch is a no-holds-barred, drama-packed throw-down between 16 aspiring boardgame designers trying to get their projects approved by a ruthless panel of judges who are basically the game design “Shark Tank.” OK, it’s not as misanthropic as I made it sound. But what w
Minecraft gets a Simpsons intro. What’s next, Notch on MTV Spring Break?
Is there any bigger indicator that a person or product has made it than getting featured in a Simpsons intro? Well, Minecraft has crossed that threshold and joined the upper echelon of pop culture. Last night, during the opening credits, the familiar logo was, uh, somewhat cleverly replaced with the
This disco-ball camera wants to make VR cinema a reality
Gravity—the multi-Oscar winning movie, not the physical force—was a visual showcase that engaged your senses in the way only the absoluteness of space could. A film like that in virtual reality, where you could turn your head to see in 360 degrees, could be downright panic-attack-inducing. At least
The failed reality show Game_Jam is a descent into acid-green hell
There are many obvious problems with the failed “GAME_JAM” Iron Chef-style reality show that imploded after just a day of filming. To start with, a show based on a contest that involves participants tweaking code on their computer for hours on end doesn’t exactly make for riveting TV. And that’s bef
Game of Thrones mix tape brings Big Boi to the realm of elven fantasy
Game of Thrones is HBO’s much-ballyhooed high fantasy drama series, soon entering its 4th season. Big Boi is the hip hop artist best known for rapping about southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and bombs over Baghdad in the rap group OutKast. In other words, nothing in common. Except, well, Big Boi and
How Law & Order unintentionally captured the cultural shift into the Computer Age
One of the longest running shows in history, Law & Order ran from 1990 through 2010, which means it offers an interesting take on computer history. Artist Jeff Thompson noticed this after bingeing on the show on Netflix, and began documenting the evolution of computers used from season to season, wh
Why Call of Duty: Ghosts and Gravity share more than just outer space
Director Alfonso Cuaron explains the lasting significance of “moments” on screen