As I discussed in my previous article, the idea that there is a direct, linear relationship between science and technology, also known as the “assembly line” model favored by policymakers (Kline, 1995), though often taken for granted in videogame mechanics, doesn’t stand up to even a passing glance at history.Continue Reading
Science is a fairly significant element in strategy games. Some, like Civilization, even feature a “Science Victory” as one means of winning, making science not just a means to an end, but an end in itself. In pretty much any game with a central tech tree mechanic, investing in scienceContinue Reading
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been in the process of relearning C++. Of course, saying that I am “relearning” is perhaps giving me too much credit, as it has been almost fifteen years since my first attempt at mastering the language. While it shares a good deal of syntaxContinue Reading
Last week a controversy erupted when a player discovered that the newly released Steam version of Dead Island contained a fragment of code with a variable named “FeministWhore.” The developer of the zombie shooter, Techland, quickly offered an apology and explained that code was in one of the game’s “leftoverContinue Reading
In my previous post on Play the Past, I looked at the way critics and scholars made sense of the videogame JFK: Reloaded (Traffic, 2004). The game lets players reenact the Kennedy assassination, the goal being to match the findings of the Warren Commission Report with as much accuracy asContinue Reading