Gaming is a philosophical quest.
This is the message I gleaned after listening to the latest episode in Robert Ashley’s impressive podcast series titled “A Life Well Wasted”. I normally podcast-it on a commute, but the message within the podcast was so rich and fascinating that I listened in an unprecedented way: indoors, at home, and with a cup of tea. And afterwords, I couldn’t help but feel good about my gaming habit, and the weird little quest that it continually takes me on.
The episode (simply entitled “Why Game?”) begins with Ashley asking people attending the Game Developers Conference why they game. It’s quite a simple and meaningful question, really. But… wait. Why do people game?
» Read the rest of this entry «
I recently had the pleasure of reviewing one of the best adventure games in a good, long while. And if you haven’t noticed, the genre is shit, these days. You can see the fumes rising up from its dead, hot waste.
The Gobliiins series attributes dream-logic to its puzzling.
But there is hope, dear friends! For any of you that enjoy casually sniffing about environments, clicking here or there, trying to solve puzzles, and then panicking and ripping your hair out in frustration, then there are developers in France that care about making quality games for you.
The game is Gobliiins 4, and it’s quite brilliant. Really the only problem with the thing is that the 3D graphics are mediocre at times. Pierre Gilhodes, a series creator, makes seriously beautiful handdrawn comic-style artwork, and it’s hard to see his vision translated to poor 3D rather than rich, detailed spritework. But it’s OK! I still love the game.
Oh, and do read my review.
