Interested in writing news stories about gaming and geek culture? We’re looking for a few good writers as we move into a new era — a redesigned site, a stronger focus on presentation, and greater engagement with the industry and community — and we need strong additions to the team […]
Monthly Archives: March 2015
39 posts
Welcome to the newly redesigned Not Your Mama’s Gamer! All the content from the original site is here, but we’ve updated not only the look and feel of the site, but added a number of new features that should help readers more easily navigate content. Over the next few days, […]
About two weeks ago, I had the privilege to attend the 2015 Game Developers Conference (GDC) through an opportunity at work. For those who may not be familiar with the annual gaming conference, GDC is the largest gathering of professional game developers. But rather than the industry trade show feel […]
The term “serious games” is problematic. We play for fun and enjoyment, yes, but the idea behind serious games is that they are somehow more impactful…more real…than other games. But these games also try to fill a void that is lacking in the world of AAA titles and platformers. Serious […]
This full game review comes courtesy of guest writer Carol Hood. Welcome, Carol! The best-worst thing to ever happen to my Vita was Hotline Miami. See, no one can convince me there was a better old school beat ‘em up than Streets of Rage (1 and 2, we do not […]
Last week, as Offworld was launching, we created a partial list of sites, podcasts, and resources that feature women and/or gamers of color, or that explore cultural issues of interest to those groups. We’ve since updated the list, through our own efforts and some help from friends and fans, and have […]
I don’t know how I end up playing horror games for the site, but here we are again, this time with OSome Studio’s White Night. Then again, I’ll play almost anything with an intriguing art style and I’m a huge fan of noir, so the minute I caught a glimpse […]
Stealth mode is to games what the brokeback pose is to comics. It’s the Rob Liefeld of game design, mysteries wrapped in enigmas wrapped in how in the hell are you even doing that come on now. I’m a croucher. I admit it. Especially in a game I’m just learning, […]
The first day at PAX East is extremely overwhelming. As the escalator descended into a landscape of colossal screens and mainstream logos, I wove through throng after thong of colorful cosplayers and eager gamers on the EXPO floor. I attempted to wait in line for the Oculus Rift but the […]
The ways that I see my seemingly divergent areas of scholarly study constantly coming together still continues to amaze me after years of doing game studies work. This week in my Minority Rhetorics graduate seminar we had a great conversation about Gloria Anzuldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera and blaxpolitation. To keep it brief […]
Social media hubs around GamerGate — both sides — have been in rare form this week, with much discussion ignited anew. It’s not surprising, really; a lot’s happened lately, with controversies around Reddit and GamerGate-related subs, GDC and PAX East and the relaunch of Offworld. Yesterday, however, things took a […]
As an experiment last week, I boxed up my Xbox 360. I’m trying to downsize, and I wanted to see how I would feel about using the Xbox One exclusively. I was only a couple of days into this experiment when I realized it was not going to work. Like […]
I’d ask you to do a quick google image search for the phrase “hardcore gamer”, but if you’re familiar with gaming at all you don’t need to. Heck, you probably wouldn’t need to even if you weren’t very familiar with gaming, because everyone knows what a hardcore gamer looks like- […]
Yesterday, we talked about today’s relaunch of Offworld as a site dedicated to women and minorities in gaming, but we didn’t talk much about why that’s a good thing, or rather, a necessary thing. Since the announcement of the new site, I’ve been watching social media discussions around the move, […]
This week at GDC’s #1ReasonToBe panel, as we excitedly discussed on our podcast, Leigh Alexander and Laura Hudson announced the relaunch of BoingBoing’s Offworld as a site focused on women’s and minority voices in gaming. Longtime critic and author Alexander will serve as Offworld’s new editor-in-chief, and Laura Hudson, Senior […]
Gamers face a number of stereotypes that have negative impacts. You have the gaming addicts, the basement dwellers, the overly sexualized gamer girl, and much more. It’s sad and unfortunate but the term gamer can have bad connotations. Stereotypes do nothing but generalize a grouping of people, robbing them of […]