Book Review: Reality Is Broken - Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal


Book cover featuring a game pad made of people.

I have never felt less like a human being than while reading this book. I don't mind video-games, I find them mildly diverting. I've never gotten in to massively multiplayer online games (unless you count Twitter). I just don't see what's appealing about them. Why would I want a bunch of teenagers screaming racial slurs at me when I'm trying to relax? The book says "reality is broken" - but it left me wondering if, instead, I am broken. The book is endlessly quotable. The truth is this: in …

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Game Review: Day of the Tentacle - Remastered


Game cover for Day of the Tentacle.

The past is another country to which you can never return. It is a million years ago, and my brother and I have just spent all of our pocket money (and a good deal of next year's) on a state-of-the-art PENTIUM 75 desktop. With 200MB of hard drive space, and more RAM than we'd ever seen (8MB), it was a beast. We chose it because it came with a CD-ROM Drive. Sure, we told mum and dad that the Encarta Encyclopedia would help with our studies - but really, we wanted the games! X-Wing! Zork! And, …

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The value of videogames (or, why I think Untitled Goose Game was a rip-off)


A stupid cartoon goose honks into a wishing well.

I have a limited amount of time on this planet. I also have a limited amount of money to spend. Therefore, like any Homo Economicus, I have a rational desire to get the most value for money for my time-wasting distractions. So, after months of memes, I bought Untitled Goose Game on the Nintendo Switch to play over the Xmas break. I baulked at the price - £18 - but figured since everyone else on Twitter enjoyed it, I would as well. I settled down to play it one afternoon, picked it up the …

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When Did You Last Beat Your Wife?


A get out of jail free card from the Monopoly boardgame.

(This post started out life as a comment to Robert Brook's Not Everything Is a Game post.) I remember when I stopped beating my wife. I used to beat her regularly without ever wondering why. Without really considering how it made her feel, the effect on our relationship or the effect it had on me. Beating her was just something I did. I didn't take any particular joy in it. I wasn't experiencing huge emotional relief after she was beaten - I didn't feel smug, self-satisfied or powerful. Deep…

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