Metal Gear 2 Retrospective: The World Spins Without Snake
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake’s defining attribute is texture. Metal Gear shaped an initial world, and Metal Gear 2…
The Past, Present, And Future Of Diablo
On November 2, 2018, Blizzard closed its annual BlizzCon keynote by announcing, to scattered applause, a Diablo game…
The Case Of The Disappearing Nancy Drew Video Games
On March 25, 2015, the weather in Bellevue, Washington was just warming up enough to play hacky sack, a favorite…
Inside Rockstar Games' Culture Of Crunch
In the final year of development on Red Dead Redemption 2, the upcoming Western game, the top directors decided to add…
Metal Gear Retrospective: Snake's Punishment Begins
Metal Gear wants the player to fail. The game’s rough edges are part of the growing pains of an early genre, but taken…
Franklin Broke Peanuts' Color Barrier In The Least Interesting Way Possible
Charlie Brown is hesitant. Marcie is shy. Lucy is cruel. Schroeder is aloof. But Franklin is just…perfect.
Far Cry 5's Faith Seed Embodies An Evangelical Double Standard
I hated fighting Faith Seed, the highest-ranking woman in Far Cry 5’s fictional cult. She was confusing, annoying,…
How Peanuts Used Lucy and Schroeder To Explore Dysfunctional Relationships
Lucy’s relationship to Schroeder was unfulfilling. She craved emotional validation from the one character who was least…
Video Games Can't Handle Their Booze
I never pass up the opportunity to drink in a game. I’ve visited every bar in The Witcher 3. I’ve filled Adam Jensen’s…
How The Makers Of Mafia III Lost Their Way
In mid-2016, a few months before the release of their first game, Mafia III, the developers at Hangar 13 in Novato,…
Why I Play
In the first years of my career as a games writer, I got used to a certain reaction from my parents’ friends when they…
Nier: Automata's Director: 'I Might Be Broken In Some Way'
SAN FRANCISCO—Without his mask, Yoko Taro looks like anyone else at the Game Developers Conference. He has a thin grey…
Overwatch's Zarya Got Me To Start Lifting Weights
Overwatch features characters with body types and backgrounds that are not often seen in pop culture, let alone first…
The Collapse Of Visceral's Ambitious Star Wars Game
It seemed like a surefire hit: a Star Wars take on Uncharted, published by Electronic Arts and developed by the…
Video Games Gave Him The Chance To Prove He Is American
Video games aren’t what kept José Muñoz in his parents’ basement for much of the past seven years, slipping into…
How Blizzard Saved Diablo III From Disaster
This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, BLOOD, SWEAT, AND PIXELS, which comes out on September 5 and tells the…
The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development
In 2012, as work on Mass Effect 3 came to a close, a small group of top BioWare employees huddled to talk about the…
I Got Internet Famous Leaking Gaming Info From Toys "R" Us
In the 15 years I worked at Toys “R” Us, I sometimes leaked information about video game sales and posted them on…
Jack Sparrow Ruined Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean Ride
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The attraction has a timeless…
How Three Kids With No Experience Beat Square And Translated Final Fantasy V Into English
One day in the late 1990s, Myria walked into the Irvine High School computer room and spotted a boy playing Final…