Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic and elsewhere on the Internet. » 12/21/12 9:00pm 12/21/12 9:00pm

The NRA's Absolutely Unhinged Response to Newtown Condemns Video Games as a 'Shadow Industry' that 'Sows Violence Against Its Own People'

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

212L

Backhanded Box Quotes: 'Very Very Videogame.'

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic. » 12/14/12 9:00pm 12/14/12 9:00pm

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

86L

Backhanded Box Quotes: 'I Wish They Would Do a HD Remake of Blood Money'

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic. » 11/30/12 8:30pm 11/30/12 8:30pm

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

172L

Backhanded Box Quotes: When 'Best Call of Duty Ever!' Isn't a Compliment

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic. » 11/16/12 8:30pm 11/16/12 8:30pm

Something negativeBy Owen Good

96L

There's No Such Thing as a Free-to-Play Game

I've tried to be fair to the concept of free-to-play games, which you see a lot of in mobile gaming. Yes, it all seems a bit cynical—it trades a single price for a potentially unlimited revenue stream, but there's nothing necessarily illegal or unethical about that. It does depend on making some substantive portion of… » 11/16/12 8:00pm 11/16/12 8:00pm

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

106L

Backhanded Box Quotes: No Need for Creed

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic and elsewhere. » 11/09/12 8:00pm 11/09/12 8:00pm

ScienceBy Owen Good

111L

Video Game Experiment Teaches Angry Kids Not to Rage Against the…

There's a new insane study of children and video games out there, and it makes me grateful the Wii died without that ridiculous Vitality Sensor » 10/26/12 11:00pm 10/26/12 11:00pm ever coming to market.

Anger ManagementBy Stephen Totilo

288L

Minor Console Aggravation: Those Darn PS3 Installations

Download a game on the Xbox 360 or the Wii and you're good to go. You can play it. Download a game on the PS3 and you just might have to then tell the PS3 to install it.

You have to manually install any game that you have downloaded in the background. This is strange, sort of like the PS3 is getting back at you for… » 10/26/12 9:00pm 10/26/12 9:00pm

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

113L

Backhanded Box Quotes: Medal of Honor Gets a 10

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic and elsewhere. » 10/26/12 8:30pm 10/26/12 8:30pm

OpinionBy Jason Schreier

524L

It Only Took Seven Months For Apple To Make Me Feel Like A Chump

On March 7, Apple announced the iPad 3. "Look how shiny it is!" Apple's executives preached to a crowd full of cheering fans and press. "Retina display! Brand new graphics! You want one!" » 10/23/12 4:30pm 10/23/12 4:30pm

The 12 Best Games for the iPad

Apple Announces New, Fourth-Generation iPad With Double Graphics Power

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

76L

Backhanded Box Quotes: BFG is a POS.

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic and elsewhere. » 10/19/12 9:00pm 10/19/12 9:00pm

AchievementsBy Patricia Hernandez

128L

I Hate That I'm Addicted To Boring Video Game Challenges

I'm having the same, recurring nightmare of late. It's one of those stupid ones where something that's normally inane and innocuous becomes unreasonably horrible. Here's what happens: I'm on Pandora, out on a mission—to kill someone, probably—when I notice something. Maybe it's a a box or a locker. And the second that… » 10/19/12 8:30pm 10/19/12 8:30pm

Anger ManagementBy Owen Good

125L

Their Studio Gave them an Amusement Park Ticket—and Then a Pink Slip

How would you like to be fired? Do you want to go out in a take-this-job-and-shove-it blaze of glory? Would you like security to martyr you, marching you out by the elbows, as you clutched your box of things like Richard Gere carrying off Debra Winger » 10/19/12 8:00pm 10/19/12 8:00pm? Would you just want the chance to look into the soulless black…

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

174L

Backhanded Box Quotes: We Found Someone Who Doesn't Like Dishonored!

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic and elsewhere. » 10/12/12 8:30pm 10/12/12 8:30pm

DexterBy Patricia Hernandez

117L

A Cable Drama Conundrum: What's Worse, A Serial Killer Or A Gamer?

No, seriously. This is a question I've had to wonder of late thanks to Dexter, the hit TV show that follows a serial killer who kills other serial killers. This would make him a "good" serial killer—at least, as good as someone who murders people can be. That may sound ridiculous, but being privy to Dexter's thoughts,… » 10/12/12 8:00pm 10/12/12 8:00pm

Best of metacriticBy Owen Good

158L

Backhanded Box Quotes: 'A Flushed Turd Down a Toilet Drain'

Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful, sometimes plagiarized criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic and elsewhere. » 10/05/12 8:30pm 10/05/12 8:30pm

Six Reviewers Really Can't Agree On Resident Evil 6

Something negativeBy Owen Good

242L

Crazy Expectations of a Console That Didn't Deserve Its Third Chance to …

If you never saw Crazy People, a 1990 film starring Dudley Moore, I highly recommend it. Basically, an advertising agency is taken over by the insane, who decide that honesty—the anathema of marketing—is now the best policy. Volvos are sold as "boxy, but they're good." Another stunt offers "a free plant for fat slobs."… » 10/05/12 8:00pm 10/05/12 8:00pm

NsfwBy Owen Good

289L

PSA: Don't Take This Guy's Van in Battlefield 3. He is Chasing a…

Audio is NSFW. » 9/30/12 1:00pm 9/30/12 1:00pm

Anger ManagementBy Owen Good

120L

Seeking Credit—Where It is Due—as Two Blockbuster Games Launch

You probably don't know Elizabeth Tobey. She didn't voice an outrageous character or design an outlandish weapon in any video game you're currently enjoying. But she did, legitimately, have a hand in the creation of —or at least stirring up the desire for—two big 2K Games hitting shelves right now. And she didn't get… » 9/28/12 9:00pm 9/28/12 9:00pm

Shoppin' Cats and Dogs: The Winners

Anger ManagementBy Owen Good

17L

The Week in Anger

Or outrage, or scorn. Video games are just one pushcart in the vast marketplace of ideas, where everyone shouts down the quality of the goods. Then again, sometimes the merchants deserve the berating. So let's recap the week's most noteworthy reactionary topics, scoring them for the outrage they summon and the… » 9/28/12 8:00pm 9/28/12 8:00pm

OK, OK, This is What You'd Call a 'Roster Update'

Playing Violent Video Games Actually Makes You Feel Less Pain, Researchers Find