Last June, Io9 featured an “In Defense Of” article on Dragon Age 2 which highlighted the strengths the game had, despite less-than-shiny reviews originally received from critics and players alike. James Whitebrook’s article reminded me of the deep fondness I had for DA2 and inspired me to share my story on how being…

Video games have a lot in common with porn. That's not meant as a criticism—some of the best minds in the business have compared the two as a way to advocate on behalf of the creative merits of both. But here's the thing: once you accept that video games are often structurally similar to porn, what does that say about…

The web has been abuzz about games with a focus on depression this year, Depression Quest in particular catching everyone's eye. But this very small subcategory of free games goes beyond just that title, and we can take in a true variety of experiences when exploring this space.

I started smoking pot during my junior year of college, after a loud and messy breakup with my first girlfriend that sent me into an absolutely manic rage. It was shortly after she left, bawling, that one of my roommates asked if I wanted to get high. I guess that was his way of trying to make me feel better. That…

Actual Sunlight is not a happy game.

Usually when "video games" and "depression" show up in a sentence together, there's a research team trying to prove that playing video games causes or at least correlates with depression, especially in kids and teens.

Over the past decade countless studies have arisen supposedly proving a causal link between video games, violent behavior, and depression. A new study conducted by Christopher J. Ferguson pinpoints why all of the others may have gotten it wrong.

While more mainstream video games are under fire for causing depression, a new study at East Carolina University finds that playing casual puzzle games is an effective way to combat clinical depression and anxiety. Guess who underwrote the study?

In a survey that's sure to be taken the wrong way by somebody, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine have discovered links between "problematic gaming" and negative health behaviors like smoking, doing drugs, and fighting. But first, good news!

With the economy on the ropes and a recession running around like death at the masquerade, it seems inevitable that we're going to be dealing with question eventually, so let's get to it now. NPR argued yesterday that video games could serve as the mass opiate of this generation's great depression. In the 30s that…

Are video games the movies of our current economic slump? In an article wittily titled, "In Tough Economic Times, Video Games Console", NPR writer Laura Sydell explores the similarities between the growing popularity of video games in mainstream culture with the movie boom that occurred during The Great Depression in…