If there’s one problem with “The Last of Us,” it’s the game’s linearity. Once you’ve made your way through one section of the game — and witnessed the inevitable cinematic cutscene that bolsters the narrative between gameplay chapters — there’s no going back. The loot you missed is gone, the Read More…
In honor of Pride week, the Daily Californian A&E is bringing you the best of the queer arts community. Pride and Privilege: For all the invisible queers Meg Elison shares her experience of growing up with an openly gay friend in a deeply conservative town and asks the silent LGBTQIAA Read More…
In survival video games, there’s always a home base — a place to store your loot, heal your wounds and save your progress before venturing out into the darkness again. It’s somewhere to go, and it’s somewhere to be. It’s safe. Surviving in the gaming community isn’t as easy. Gaming Read More…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a legitimate federal agency, remember — launched an educational blog called “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse” in May 2011. It aimed to teach readers how to behave in a disaster situation prior to the year’s hurricane season; according to CDC Director Ali Khan, Read More…
“Next-gen” means a lot of different things to gamers — and nothing at all, probably, to the uninitiated. It literally refers to the new “generation” of gaming consoles, but it also means growth and expansion in an industry marred by “sequelitis” and negative stereotypes. Next-gen was the unofficial theme of Read More…
The first time you do it, you’re not really thinking. You’re in game mode, trying to get from point A to point B, still adjusting to the unfamiliar controls. You don’t blink as your old body — the one you so carelessly swapped for that of a clone — crumples Read More…
Neal Edelstein loves to tell stories. As the producer of “The Ring,” he improved upon the original Japanese horror film and brought it to English-speaking audiences; now, as the director and producer of new iOS horror app “Haunting Melissa,” Edelstein is bringing horror to the small screen — and with Read More…
Microsoft Corp. revealed its successor to the widely popular Xbox 360 – called the Xbox One this time around — in a press event on May 21, three months after competitor Sony Corp. announced its new gaming console, the PlayStation 4. While Sony did not reveal the physical appearance of Read More…
“Papers, Please” is a strange game in the absolute best sense of the word. It’s Soviet Union meets Berlin Wall, distinctly Slavic and decidedly communist. It’s tense and addictive. In the words of its creator, Lucas Pope, it’s a “dystopian document thriller.” “Papers, Please,” named for your character’s “catchphrase” of Read More…
When the late Roger Ebert said that “video games can never be art,” the gaming community boiled with anger (as it so often does). Gaming is an often misunderstood hobby, thanks to the stereotype of the overweight, lazy and socially awkward gamer who loves nothing more than to watch heads Read More…
