Sub Specie

Words that English should borrow from Dutch

You know you want to. […Read more…]

The past future tense in eSports casting

A brief note on using the future tense to describe recent events during eSportscasting. […Read more…]

You know what I did this summer?

My last post was in April… but don’t worry, I have an excuse. Several, in fact. First of all, after several months of employment issues, I found the time to finish my PhD thesis during the summer. The manuscript was approved, two big appendices written, the defense date fixed. It’s a whole load off my shoulders […Read more…]

Back to where we began in Quake

In which I ramble a tiny bit about Quake’s symbolic world and its mommy issues, along with a tenuous comparison to Dark Souls. […Read more…]

Preludes to Kentucky Route Zero

Last month, I made my debut in Unwinnable Weekly magazine with a piece on the preludes to Kentucky Route Zero. If, like me, your anxiously awaiting the fourth act of that game, it can’t hurt to take a look at the (free) games that came before. You can download A House in California, Ruins, and Balloon Diaspora from the Cardboard Computer website. I also briefly wrote about Ruins here before, back when I was a wee lad. Or actually, a couple of years ago. If you’re interested, you can read an excerpt from my article for free on the Unwinnable site, or better yet, subscribe or purchase the whole issue. […Read more…]

Guns & Gowns

Something of a ramble about what made me stop playing Knights of the Old Republic II for a while, about playing dress-up with guns and gowns and what that has to do with roleplaying, and about what Ian Bogost wrote in The Atlantic today on games and the representation of individuals. […Read more…]

Type Travels: Leigh Alexander’s Mona

Mona is a short story by Leigh Alexander with gorgeous illustrations by Emily Carroll. The story is part sensual urban horror, part homage to the game Silent Hill 2. The story recently went on sale, and I provided the design for the e-book versions. Have a look at the design below, and don’t forget to buy a copy of the story! […Read more…]

Walking the Planes 3: Pluralities

The third article in my series Walking the Planes has just been published over at The Ontological Geek. It’s about the Planescape setting and how its emphasis on diversity and plurality has affected me, both in discovering the setting as a teen, and nowadays. I’m not really sure yet what the next episode is going to be about, as I have multiple half-finished ideas bouncing around in my head. You’ll have to wait and see! […Read more…]

Memory Insufficient: Language and Games

Recently, I had the honour of being guest editor on Memory Insufficient, the games history ezine. I edited the special issue on Language and Games. You can read the editorial from the issue below, but really you should just go and download the whole issue here [pdf], because it’s free. […Read more…]