Dire Critic

So, by now many of you have heard that I have occupied taken over for Ben Abraham as the lead editor of This Week in Video Game Blogging (TWIVGB, a regularly linked feature here on Dire Critic and a publication I first joined back in April of this year). I would like to take a moment to thank Ben again for this wonderful opportunity and to reassure Critical Distance readers that I’m both committed to maintaining the high standard Ben set and that I will not allow all this newfound fame and glory to go to my he–

*ahem*

Anyway, as I indicated on Twitter and also hinted at this week in the Roundups of Unusual Size, given the considerable overlap between ROUS and TWIVGB, to keep doing both would make one or both redundant. You may have noticed I started this week by withholding a lot of the great articles we’ve come to consider “TWIVGB material”, the better to keep Sunday a special day. The other side of this is that effective immediately, the Roundups of Unusual Size will be discontinued.

I started doing a daily linklist back in 2009 in part to keep my brain active while unemployed and between academic programs, but largely to close the growing number of unread tabs in my browser. As it developed I started including more content I thought readers (mostly my close friends at that point) would be interested in, and from there, to creating more thorough link compilations, especially for the underreported, more academically rigorous discourse I was just beginning to discover existed. To date it’s netted me three job offers and a marriage proposal, which is a testament to the power of trackbacks above all else, and I’ve never regretted making the commitment to it, even if the amount of work sometimes made me grumpy.

TWIVGB is definitely the Champion digivolution of what I have always wanted ROUS to be so it makes sense to continue on with it. Thank you all so much for reading my little irregularly-sized linklists and I hope you’ll tune in to Critical Distance on Sundays for the more involved, curatorial approach the great writers to whom I link deserve.

*yawns*

*stretches*

Oh, hello, internet. Sorry for no post yesterday. Did I mention I hate how long my Tuesdays are? I hate how long my Tuesdays are.

Videogames

I’m just not linking to Joel Johnson’s Kotaku post. I’m not. I will, however, link to two excellent responses to it–by Mattie Brice and Richard Goodness respectively.

Michael Hahn on why perfect review scores are misleading.

Robert Boyd conducts an informal survey on how to fix the J-RPG.

Some days (well, most days) I feel like Peter Molydeux is a better game designer than the man he’s parodying.

I’m starting to think all anyone has to do to get featured in these roundups is have a headline with “Dragon”, “Age” and “II” in it. That said, Alexander Gereats has a good piece up on Joystick Division about why the game is worthwhile.

Animation

I love Tangled. So really, I am going to give this my unquestioning adoration.

Reading/Writing

SF author Pat Cadigan muses on why science fiction writers love “meeting the other”.

Fandom

This Chrono Trigger mashup is just bursting with time-travelers.

SCIENCE!

The Large Hadron Collider shugs along looking for the Higgs boson, but till then we have some deets on why antimatter is so uncommon.

Neutrinos are jerks.

Curios

May it never be said the United States has a monopoly on youth-punishing bureaucratic schmuckiness.

Teen sex is down, way down! I for one blame Glee.

Or maybe they’re just swooning over porn actor James Deen instead.

You, sir, are a scumbag.

#Occupy

As much as I’m proud of our dear Occupiers at Berkeley, I’m worried as well, for my bro and his wife who study and live there. I have no idea if they participated in the student strike but I’m grateful they weren’t involved in the recent shooting.

Cops aren’t looking too glamorous lately, but I think the winner goes to the cop who pepper-sprayed a senior citizen.

But sharing is caring, so let’s share the blame! The Associated Press (not that I hold out much love for them to begin with) have chastised a reporter for reporting the news too quickly.

In marginally more positive news, Seattle has made a gesture of support for the protests.

I have the best fandom ever, guys. Admit it.

Videogames

Somedays I wish I could do these roundups in the form of Venn diagrams, as this one spills over into other hobbyist communities and ‘net forums dominated by men: xoJane tackles Internet Male Syndrome among jerkface gamers.

Curios

Don’t worry, guys! The gay penguins are getting back together.

Today in masculinity studies: men who “show skin” are perceived as less intelligent.

And a couple from my Instapaper backlog: the invisibility of bisexuality in both straight and queer society and what the PSU riots say about the WTFness of collegiate sports.

#Occupy

The mayor of Salt Lake City has ordered the Occupiers there to disperse after one camper dies an accidental death in his tent.

(Need... art... source!)

Happy birthday Carl Saga– oh. I guess that’s over with. What a shame.

Videogames

Darius Kazemi reviews the Pirate Kart, and in the process asks “what is an outsider game?”

Hey, so you know that L.B. Jeffries has de-pseudonymed, and is back with more material? Here he is with his latest, about games, advertising, communication and meaning.

I can never resist a good article on why Second Life failed.

Film

First Snow White and the Huntsman trailer seems to deemphasize Snow White’s utter Full Plate Badassery, but I will forgive. For now.

Sony thinks Roland Emmerich is screwing up Singularity. Solution: call in Raymond Kurzweil. I am loving this inevitable trainwreck.

Fandom

Getting your wedding narrated by Rucks from Bastion? That’s worth getting married for!

SCIENCE!

Where did our evolutionary imperative to socialize come from? io9 offers a theory.

Curios

James Murdoch dubbed “the first Mafia boss in history who didn’t know he was running a criminal enterprise” by MP Tom Watson.

Everyday hero of the day: lady uses Craigslist to steal her stolen bike back.

#Occupy

Shots fired at Occupy Oakland result in Occupy’s first fatality. Here’s an eyewitness account.

Also, while the police are busy beating unarmed protesters at UC Berkeley, it’s apparently socially acceptable to riot in support of a serial child rapist.

Douglas Rushkoff: “The more familiar something looks, the less threatening it seems. This is why images of funny-looking college students marching up Broadway or shirtless boys banging on drums comprise the bulk of the imagery we see of the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

Lastly and most importantly:

Remember, remember, the 11th of November.

Videogames

It’s time for another Border House podcast! Yay!

And this was originally published to Kotaku, but I’m linking the Jezebel post because the comments are slightly less likely to make me murderous: a collection of awful things said to women gamers.

Ralph Baer, one of videogaming’s many ostensible fathers, looks down on your violent game habits.

Tyler York says that for “social game” we should read “slot machine.”

Choosy game devs choose Baldur’s Gate.

Curios

Zoo cruelly separates gay penguin couple. Okay, so they’re endangered and the zoo wants them to breed with females, but it’s still tragic.

#Occupy

Those OWSers. They may or may not have God (or as I prefer to say, ~the cosmos~) on their side, but they do have Ben from Ben & Jerry’s serving them free ice cream.

Quinn Norton has your Anonymous 101 course ready.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco…

Nightmare Fuel

Because I love you, Ben: how to shrink a human head.