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Nier
Nier is one of the most maddeningly subtle games I’ve ever played. I’ve rarely encountered a game which places so much of the burden of interpretation on the player. With Nier, we are left with more...
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Dragon Quest IX
As a rule, if you want to know what the essence of a Japanese role-playing game is, you need look no further than the Dragon Quest series. Other series have expanded upon the formula–telling intricate...
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Metroid: Other M
The Metroid series has traditionally been one where plot is largely irrelevant. The first game in the series, Metroid, while featuring innovative gameplay, followed the standards of its day for its...
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Dead Space 2
Dead Space is one of the finest horror games ever made. It’s scary, of course–the creature designs and scripted events are genuinely disturbing. More importantly though, it’s fun to play–the elegant...
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Let’s Edit: Fred Dutton’s “Uncharted 3 plans ‘brilliant’ fire effects”
Fred Dutton’s February 7 Eurogamer article “Uncharted 3 plans ‘brilliant’ fire effects” is the kind of article that you’ve read many times on gaming sites. Whenever a site covers another’s interview,...
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Let’s Edit: Owen Good’s “Promoter Sues Microsoft Over Kinect Launch Event”
A lot of factors go into a poor piece of writing. Shaky command of the language is one of them–there’s nothing worse than a writer who can’t write. Undeveloped thoughts are another–if you don’t go in...
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Is LA Noire sexist? Well…yeah.
Emma Boyes of IGN wrote an opinion piece talking about the question of whether or not LA Noire is sexist. Her argument essentially stated that the roles of women are relegated to housewives, shopgirls,...
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Why We Shouldn’t Take Molydeux Seriously
I can’t believe that Molydeux is two years old. Molydeux, for those who don’t know, is a Twitter account which purports to be game designer Peter Molyneux’s postings about overblown, pretentious game...
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Emo Cocksuckers and Night Elf Faggots
This weekend, at BlizzCon, Blizzard’s annual event where they reveal stuff about World of Warcraft and their other franchises, a metal band consisting of several Blizzard employees played a set....
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Growing Pains
The other week, in response to the BlizzCon homophobia incident, I wrote the following: I am not offended. I am not angry. But I’m disappointed. For all that we want gaming as a whole to grow up, it...
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Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP
Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP has been hailed as an artistic masterpiece and I have no idea why. It’s strange. Many independent experimental games–usually termed “Art games” for their ambitions...
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Deeds Not Words
In 1913, a British suffragette named Emily Davison went to the Epsom Derby, entered the racetrack, stepped into the path of an oncoming horse owned by King George V, and died four days later as a...
View ArticleThe Games of 2011
2011 was not gaming’s greatest year. Between the lazy, big budget sequels that missed the point and the relative lack of original and thought-provoking games, this will not be looked on fondly....
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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is probably the most incompetently awful game to come out in 2011, at least that I’ve played. It’s an ugly, boring slog through joyless puzzle solving and...
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Meet the New Site, Same As the Old Site
Remember Ashton Raze’s ambitious webzine type project Games Question Mark Dot Com, or, as it was stylized, “Games?”? The awkwardly titled site was one of those overambitious, New Games Journalism-y...
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Role-Playing a Pervert in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Normally we have a fairly loose policy on spoilers here–all of my articles are written with the assumption that you’ve played the game in question and that you’re looking for some after-the-fact...
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“Your Story Sucks” Sucks
The more I play and write about videogames, the less I find myself interested in videogame narrative. I play games to play, not to watch a little movie. I also find myself less and less interested in...
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Re: “RE: ‘”Your Story Sucks” Sucks’”
In response to my post “‘Your Story Sucks’ Sucks“, which was itself a response to his post “Your Story Sucks“, Jason Schreier says the following, in an article called “RE: ‘”Your Story Sucks” Sucks’“:...
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How Kotaku Will Change Nothing
If there’s one acronym that sets my teeth on edge, it’s TL;DR. You know what it makes me think of? That kid from high school, you know the one I’m talking about, he went to your school too. He was...
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Programming Blockheads
For those of us who follow such things, Kotaku has been very interesting since Stephen Totilo became the Editor in Chief in January. There have been a series of changes which seem designed towards...
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Reddit, Kotaku, and Gabe Newell’s Beard
Yesterday, Kotaku Editor-in-Chief Stephen Totilo fired up his computer, sat down, and wrote a response to a Reddit discussion, a response which was almost so pathetically earnest as to be endearingly...
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Kotaku’s Greatest Bricklayer
The only person who has to apologize for stories on Kotaku is me. It was my call to run the Sonic story…I had expected it to come off as funnier. That was an error of judgment. But, more significantly…...
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In Praise Of Patricia Hernandez’s “Gaming Made Me: Fallout 2″
I don’t know Patricia Hernandez personally, or at all, really. I’ve read a piece or two of hers on Kotaku, I think, glanced at some of the things she’s cobbled together for Nightmare Mode, where syntax...
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A Man Obeys
It’s tedious to even summarize the event. Mattie Brice wrote an article called Would You Kindly, about violence in military shooters and whether or not it’s realistic or fantastic or just go read the...
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Killing People Is Fun When They’re Zombies: A Personal Essay about Lollipop...
I’ve been suicidal since I was nine years old, but I didn’t really seriously start considering it until I was 14. This was in the days before Columbine, you see: We didn’t shoot up our schoolyard...
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We Don’t Need No Edutainment
I assume that New York Times Book Review children’s book editor Pamela Paul has learned a thing or two about education in all of her years spent reading kids’ books. As a man who does not have...
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Anna Anthropy’s Triad: A Review
“You wanna join us?” The man who said that did not have the largest cock I’d personally seen up till that point–that honor went to a guy I hooked up with 12 years ago who cried afterwards, obnoxious,...
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Ken Levine Does Not Need Your Money. Play Waking Mars Instead.
I spent twelve-to-fifteen hours on Bioshock Infinite last week and, sad to say folks, it’s a whole bunch of bullshit. It’s generic, bang-bang-pow shoot shoot with an irritating, faux philosophical,...
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Deeds, or, Hofmeier Destroys Everything
When I met Richard Hofmeier at Indiecade East in February, literally the first thing he asked me was whether I had a Sharpie on me. Given my shabbiness, the seven piercings distributed around my ears,...
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For The Cost of Bioshock Infinite, You Could Buy 60 Copies of Miner Dig Deep...
I’m forever in love with Arcadian Rhythms for introducing me to Miner Dig Deep. Waking Mars was one thing, but the true palate cleanser after the unpleasant cacaphony that was Bioshock Infinite was...
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Flying Man
Summer, the back room of a Trader Joe’s, late evening, maybe around eight or so, temperature in the late 60s, so it’s coolish, and the sun’s still setting so it’s still light out, and Pete’s got the...
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Review: Corn Zone
Frankie Greco was a cliche back in high school, if you think about it. I say this not to pass judgment–we are all cliches at some point or another–but to let you know what we all saw when we looked at...
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Let’s Edit: Jim Sterling vs. Carole Lieberman
Jim Sterling is, to say the least, a polarizing figure in the videogame community. When freelancing, he can speak articulately, even intelligently, about videogame culture; however, in his day job at...
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Work Harder, Hard Worker
I can’t open up Steam without getting assaulted by a screaming match between Cart Life and Cargo Commander. The two games live next door to each other in my library, and Braid, across the street,...
View ArticleRIP SQ.vg
SecondQuest.vg was created as the website arm of the podcast Cartridge Blowers, hosted by Richard Goodness and Eric Brasure. Since early 2012, it has functioned as the homepage for the videogame...
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