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Erik Hanson
Chicago
Writing and editing from Chicago
Interests: poetry, frisbee, chicago sports, videogame criticism, indie games
Recent Activity
As a slight to her sex (I don't know about her gender) and her rank, I find this doubly offensive.
But I mostly dropped in to let you know that you got linked by Critical Distance (http://www.critical-distance.com/2009/10/25/october-18th-25th/ -- now also on RGameSetWatch: http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/10/the_week_in_game_criticism_oct.php) and Context Clues (http://vghvinet.ning.com/profiles/blogs/context-clues-for-october-1824) this week.
Veronica Dare Halo ODST commander of nothing
Having recently completed Halo ODST one thing stood out as more annoying than the short / repetitive gameplay, the less than superb graphics and the over the top hype this game has managed to garner based on name alone. Halo ODST has one of the worst portrayals of a female 'commander' in any vid...
I'm a little surprised the book deals with the ethical-unethical judgment paradigm and doesn't keep to the ethical-nonethical spectrum, classifying games by whether they offer the potential to be placed on the ethical-unethical spectrum. That probably won't take it off my "to-read" list either way, though.
Sans Ethics and Damn Fun? Sega's Madworld and HOTD Overkill
I recently read Miguel Sicart's The Ethics of Computer Games (2009), and while I found aspects of the work to be problematic, on the whole I enjoyed reading it. Probably because it combines two of my favorite subjects: ethical philosophy and video games. Other texts have combined the two be...
Reminds me of the term "ludonarrative dissonance" that Clint Hocking coined to describe the way the story and game mechanics are out of sync in parts of Bioshock. It's worth reading up on if you get the chance; I find just about anyone who mentions the term tends to have interesting thoughts about games.
Player’s Footprints…
Human beings are fascinating creatures. There are so many variables to take into account to define who someone is or what his personality is all about. The full answer to this question goes beyond what a simple post can describe, but there’s still something deeply essential defining who we are a...
That's an interesting idea, Clint. The idea of redrawing the boundaries of the magic circle is appealing and worth keeping in mind. I have to admit that my initial evaluation of the appeal in Ben's writing was the dramatic narrative where he tightens the focus, more as Justin and others have noted. But I'll watch to see if one side "wins" or if they evolve into a tasty melange.
I sometimes wonder about complaints regarding AI and accuracy of enemies, as I found the AI to be surprisingly nuanced and reactive, responding to unknown threats and jumping at noises in surprisingly realistic and intelligible ways. Is there a significant difference in how the AI reacts at different difficulty levels, or between the 360 and PC versions?
Live and Let Die
So, what started as an experiment by Ben over at Sometimes Life Requires Consequence is starting to pick up steam. It's been tagged a couple times now at Game Set Watch and Kieron Gillen over at Rock Paper Shotgun blasted some buckshot his way in today's Sunday Papers. Already at least a couple ...
Not that I feel like I have the time, but it'd be really interesting to break down, via MDA rubric, the aspects of MLB '09's "Road to the Show" mode in comparison to a more standard (J?)RPG. I wouldn't be surprised if the main difference (besides pitch/swing in lieu of attack/magic) would be in how tightly prescribed the story is.
What it means to be "in the game"
In my previous post I lamented the lack of critical writing about sports games. While it's easy to find review-oriented coverage of sports games (ratings, evaluations of features, comparisons to previous editions, etc), genuine criticism of sports titles is hard to find. Perhaps these games d...
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