-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Categories
Archives
Posts by Author
Recommended Reading
- Bit Creature
- Chungking Espresso
- Critical Damage
- Critical Distance
- Edge Online
- Electron Dance
- First Person Scholar
- Gamasutra
- Game Studies
- GamesIndustry International
- Gather Your Party
- Journal of Games Criticism
- Ludogabble
- Mammon Machine
- Medium Difficulty
- Metroidpolitan
- Nightmare Mode
- Polygon
- PopMatters
- Radiator Design Blog
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun
- The Border House
- The Escapist Magazine
- Unpitchable
- Unwinnable
Meta
Author Archives: Erik Bigras
Playing with Heavy Rain: The Gamepad and Personal Knowledge
Immersion has long been held in popular thought as one of the defining characteristics of video games (Keogh, 2013). A good game, to many, is one where they can lose themselves within the game and its narrative. Such escapist understandings … Continue reading
Posted in Criticism, Erik Bigras
Tagged Gamepad, Heavy Rain, Immersion, Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge, Proprioception, Tacit Knowledge, Video Game History
Comments Off on Playing with Heavy Rain: The Gamepad and Personal Knowledge
A Decked Out Retrospective: Cyberpunk Games
Welcome to a Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective! Retrospectives can take many forms: some focus on a single franchise while others are more expansive. For these retrospectives, I’ll be taking the latter approach. These retrospectives aren’t meant to be best-of … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Retrospectives, Erik Bigras
Tagged Blade Runner, Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk 2077, Deus Ex, Deux Ex: Human Revolution, Heist, Neal Stephenson, Neuromancer, Ridley Scott, Shadowrun, Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Unlimited, Snow Crash, Uplink, Uplink: Hacker Elite, Watch Dogs, Watch_Dogs, William Gibson
Comments Off on A Decked Out Retrospective: Cyberpunk Games
Coopted Access: The Rise of the Shooter in Video Game Design
This post revolves around a series of paradoxes. Within the realm of information technology, access often is understood as something that should be promoted. However, within the realms of information technologies, increased access often has led to increased centralization. For … Continue reading
Posted in Criticism, Erik Bigras
Tagged Abandonware, Access, Ethics, FPS, Free Software Foundation, Game design, Game Mechanics, Home of the Underdogs, HOTU, id Software, John Carmack, Militarization, Morality, Open Access, Shooter, Video Game History, Wolfenstein
Comments Off on Coopted Access: The Rise of the Shooter in Video Game Design
A Vulnerable Retrospective: Desolation Games
Welcome to a Higher Level Gamer Critical Retrospective! Retrospectives can take many forms: some focus on a single franchise while others are more expansive. For these retrospectives, I’ll be taking the latter approach. These retrospectives aren’t meant to be best-of … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Retrospectives, Erik Bigras
Tagged 7 Days to Die, Affect, Choice, D&D, Dark Sun, Dayz, Despair, Dune, Emotions, Emptiness, Fallout, Game design, Game Mechanics, Guilt, Kenshi, Loneliness, MechWarrior, New Vegas, Open World, Remorse, Rust, SEAL Team, Story, Twilight: 2000, Video Game History, Video games
3 Comments
DayZ of Indifference: Fighting Against the Injustice Engine
I hadn’t meant to be talking about DayZ this week, but after reading Jason’s post, I just couldn’t resist. As with many of us, I’ve been familiar with the ArmA II mod for a while now. I found it interesting … Continue reading
Posted in Criticism, Erik Bigras
Tagged 7 Days to Die, ArmA 2, ArmA II, Biopolitics, Bohemia Interactive, Dayz, DayZ Standalone, Doom, Indifference, Injustice engine, Minecraft, Mods, Player interaction, Rust, Sandbox, Steam, Survival, Video games
2 Comments
Shadowrun Unlimited
When I owned a Sega Genesis, I used to play Shadowrun until my eyes bled. I loved the world’s lore and the quirky feel of the game. When Shadowrun Returns was released, I, of course, jumped on it and enjoyed … Continue reading
Posted in Announcements, Erik Bigras
Tagged Shadowrun, Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Unlimited
1 Comment
Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus: An Epistemological Review
I return after the holiday season with a confession: I’m not, strictly speaking, a game studies scholar. Rather, I’ve been dabbling and stumbling professionally in this particular academic arena for close to a decade, now. Formally, I’m trained as a … Continue reading
Erik on Hiatus until January
With the holiday season upon us, I won’t have a chance to post much. I live in Eastern Ontario, while my family lives in Western Québec, which means that I end up doing a lot of traveling during this time … Continue reading
Posted in Announcements, Erik Bigras
1 Comment
Extremism as a Narrative Device
Playing DayZ has allowed me to reflect on extremism a little bit. DayZ appears to be a game that fosters a plethora of extremes: one is either an extremist bad guy (I’ll kill everyone!), an extremist good guy (I’ll kill … Continue reading →