Dire Critic

(art credit goes to blackrathmar @ deviantArt)

Videogames

Kate Cox has posted again, and that’s really all the reason you should need.

Mazels tonight go to Limbo devs PlayDead, who have used the profits from their landmark 2010 title to pay off their debts and buy back their company from investors.

Film

This live action Captain Planet parody has been circling today, but I like Susana Polo’s whole grimdark interpretation even more.

Nightmare Fuel

Science makes yet another Edgar Allen Poe story a reality.

And normally I’d link you to the podcast itself, but something like the Simulation Argument, which tends to keep me up at night, benefits from Mark Frauenfelder’s distillation of the premise. Thought experiments about the nature of the universe and reality are scary, kids.

Moment of Awwww

Say hi to Jackie, a 10-year-old transgirl whose parents not only love and fully support her, they’ve helped her to transition.

I’m baaaack! I thought about taking some extra time off, but now that I’m back to my day job as well I figured, why delay things further?

I’m in three phenomenal courses this semester which should help shape my critical output for the next few months. But more on that another time. I have a linklist to get to. And mind you, I’m not even going to ATTEMPT to sift through all the news I missed, but it’s not like anyone was even blogging while PAX was on, right?

Videogames

First out the gate, Darius Kazemi has a new column up at Paste and you should totally read it.

Finally! The Pink Knight is available for Castle Crashers. For free! To benefit breast cancer research!

Mitch Krpata asserts that maybe a lot of game critics actually just suck at games. I never thought this was a secret? We’d write ourselves right out of relevancy if we sought only the hardcore perspective.

Mike Schiller came up with his final post on Bastion just as I came off hiatus! I love you, Mike.

Kirk “Pretty Fly for a Jazz Guy” Hamilton interviews Jennifer “FemShep” Hale. Excellent.

This one was recced to me during my break: the storytelling of Super Metroid.

Mattie Brice tackles the difficult conundrum of transgender characters in Atlus games.

And before I lose you to the other categories, be sure to check out the latest Sunday Papers and This Week in Videogame Blogging as well.

Film

Oh holy jesus, more Johnny Depp as Hunter S. Thompson? The universe has answered my prayers.

Music

The first science fiction film is to become a faaaabulous rock opera!

SCIENCE!

Ever wonder why human animals think we’re not the animals, the other animals are? Baby, we were born that way.

Hacktivism

Oh, shut the hell up.

Moment of Zen

What happens when you make two chatbots hold a conversation?

Of course, we all know the real reason the Mormons want to ban those darn Victorians…

(Need website for this artist!)

Videogames

It’s Member Blog day! First up, can learning about game design suck the joy out of playing them? Second, Joey Gibbs writes about spatial constraints and narrative.

Haven’t or can’t play “The Stanley Parable”? Don’t worry; there’s a complete video walkthrough now.

I don’t know about you guys but a world in which single-player gaming is completely dead is not a world where I want to live.

And Joel Goodwin’s second part of his interview with David Fox is now live as well, so that’s something.

Film

A thriller about face-blindness? Could be corny, could be awesome. Cornawesome? Anyway, it has Milla Jovovich, so that’s reason enough.

Television

Stephen Colbert(‘s 3D printed head) in spaaaaace!

Reading/Writing

Virginia school bans Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet for being offensive to Mormons. Someone should remind the schoolboard that roughly 90% of the Sherlock Holmes canon is apt to offend someone. Quick, ban “The Adventure of the Five Pips” before the KKK gets their feelurs hurt.

Curios

Gotta love the British law enforcement these days. First they jail a couple of guys for four years for “using Facebook to incite disorder” and then theyarrest a guy for organizing a water fight via Blackberry. THE FACE OF COMPETENCY.

Not to say we’re terribly innocent stateside, what with a woman recording a brutal police beating being charged with “illegal wiretapping” (what the fuck).

Quit saying Kansas is flat as a pancake! Pancakes have more dimension than Kansas.

Moment of Zen

Brother tells sister to stay out of his room. Sister (and family) totally disregard this with epic results.

That must be a wonderful job.

Videogames

…

Well, Critical Distance’s This Week in Videogame Blogging goes live in a few hours?

Television

And wait, Banksy is making a television show? Okay, fine. Sell-out.

Curios

Nothing gets my overprotective mother hen side going like hearing something bad has happened to Shepard Fairey. It doesn’t make it better that Boing Boing speculates the ambush was set up by the press.

FAIL

Here’s a fail from the article’s subject, not the authors. Homophobic, xenophobic, climate change denying presidential candidate loves Pokemon, fails to get its message.

And finally…

Nightmare Fuel

Someone has finally died by vampire bat.

(art source needed!)

Videogames

The latest of Kate Cox’s Beyond the Girl Gamer series is now live. A recommended read, as always.

Randomessa at Casual Is As Casual Does takes apart the sexual dimorphism of several races in Guild Wars 2.

IndieGames interviews Yasunori Mitsuda about Play for Japan.

Amidst discussions on why like should or shouldn’t hire like in the course of building the game industry of the future, Lisa Brown advocates for the benefits of a liberal arts education.

And if motion control isn’t gimmicky enough for you, maybe tactile gaming will tickle your spine.

Fandom

Words cannot describe how much I want this.

SCIENCE!

Into the dark planet. The very, very dark planet.

Well… that’s an interesting Kickstarter project.