Share and Share Dislike

The takes industry works overtime during earnings season and between EA reporting sales for Battlefield V and Activision Blizzard announcing layoffs, there was no shortage of material. Earnings should not generate the kind of hyperventilation they do, since they are a standard measure intended to provide everyone access to the same information at the same …

Valve’s Cut

Over half of developers surveyed do not think Steam justifies its 30% share of revenues according to GDC’s State of the Game Industry report. Over half of developers responding make 75-100% of their sales on Steam. The difference is not surprising since, just as gamers will think $5 is a fair price for this year’s …

Diversity for the Amoral

The new year started off with a fresh set of outrages to scourge Real Gamers™: Kick McKeand wrote a good article about diversity in games, Emily Grace Buck (who's started a new program for story games) reminded us that old gaming quip about story and pornos isn't all that clever, and it turns out Soldier …

Lower game prices

In a previous article I pointed out that the inflation adjusted price of the Doom shareware demo is about the same as what you’d pay for a copy of Deus Ex (a complete game that is technologically more sophisticated) today. There is a longer range comparison in the loot box article (the good one) and …

Studio Closure

News of Telltale Games’ closure highlighted the fact that quite a few game studios have closed this year. There has been a lot of reflection on everything from the precarious nature of work in games, to the viability of certain types of games, as well as an outpouring of support for at least some of the …

Finding your next (not so) hidden gem

Every once in a while I get the question “Where do you find all these cool games?” so I thought it would be good write about it. It just so happens that a Kickstarter for such a game is happening right now, so if you do nothing else, please check out Nighthawks. I should admit …

Your EA Takes Suck

EA is an awesome company that makes good games and you sound like a moron when you bash it. EA bashing is the gaming version of clapter. If you've ever watched Real Time With Bill Maher, you'll immediately know what I'm talking about. Clapter sounds a little something like this: "Hey, how about [politician] right? …

Subscription Conniption

A new generation of consoles is released and PC gaming dies again. Google makes us stupid. YouTube serves up algorithmically chosen banality over quality shows. Television replaced the golden age of cinema with tawdry soap operas. Radio distracted children from their studies and turned their brains to mush. The printing press made our thoughts sloppy …

L’Affaire le Laissez-Faire

A little over a month ago Valve issued warnings to the makers of adult visual novels and others which became publicized resulting in controversy and uncertainty regarding the status of games with sexual content on Steam. A few weeks later Valve reversed this implied decision and announced that they would open the store to anything …

Games and Movies

Competency disclaimer: I have no background in game development, but I do have a background in film production. I write articles like this with some trepidation, as the world does not need another player of games telling makers of games how to do their job. However, in so far as the perspective of a former film practitioner …