It seems almost cruel to cast an overly critical eye on Mario Kart 8. After attracting headlines for plenty of wrong reasons, Mario Kart 8’s arrival is, for Nintendo, like the triumphal fanfare of Tywin Lannister relieving King’s Landing from the siege at the Blackwater. Finally some good news: 1.2 million copies sold over the … Continue reading The Latent Cannibalism of Mario Kart 8
Essays & reviews
The Vorrh by Brian Catling – Review
“My name is Muybridge and here’s the answer to the letter you sent my wife.” The trigger pulls, the muzzle flashes, the bullet cracks, and Major Harry Larkyns is dead – shot at point-blank range in an act of pre-meditated vigilantism. This event is not fiction. It happened in California on October 17th, 1874. The … Continue reading The Vorrh by Brian Catling – Review
The State of Fantasy: Videogame News from the Scrying Glass of E3
This article refers to news from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) held in Los Angeles in June 2014. Fantasy has always been a salient feature in the videogame landscape, right down to the essential footprint of guiding an idealised persona through an imagined world. The hallmarks of fantasy – high fantasy especially – have become … Continue reading The State of Fantasy: Videogame News from the Scrying Glass of E3
Love and Eskimo Snow by Sarah Holt – Review
Ideas-driven fiction is perilous ground for writers at any stage of their career. It poses the constant challenge of balancing the insistent voice of theme with the integral components of the story itself – character, plot and pacing. Too much theme, and you risk turning your fiction into a political pamphlet – too much story, … Continue reading Love and Eskimo Snow by Sarah Holt – Review
Ganondorf and the Hardcore in Zelda: The Wind Waker
SPOILER WARNING: Contains plot spoilers for Zelda: The Wind Waker and Zelda: Twilight Princess. Although if you haven’t played these by now, WHAT THE HELL. It’s 2003. A young, wide-eyed Link ascends into a shipwreck penthouse atop a crooked tower. Ahead of him stands a dark, perplexingly fat figure, as misshapen as his home, and … Continue reading Ganondorf and the Hardcore in Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Problem with Ideas-Driven Fiction (And How to Fix it)
Theme folds in meaning to our writing and gives a recognisable shape to the underlying structures that form the narrative. Without theme the narrative can feel flat or disjointed, but a strong theme provides an overall consistency that holds everything in place. Scenes, characters, and events take on new poignancy, attracting deeper sympathies. Most importantly, … Continue reading The Problem with Ideas-Driven Fiction (And How to Fix it)
Gravity – Review
Gravity has been fetching rave reviews and heralded as a game-changer in cinematography. But does it really deserve the praise festooned about what is essentially very simple storytelling? First things first: yes, it’s A Good Film. If you’ve been dithering about whether to see it or not, go and see it. Right now. Go on. … Continue reading Gravity – Review
Santa’s Other Helpers
Think Santa Claus has the monopoly on supernatural Christmas gift-giving? Coca-Cola may want us to think so, but there’s a pantheon of other beings who surface during the Yuletide season. And some of them aren’t quite as benevolent as the jolly old man in red. So before you leave out a carrot and mince pie … Continue reading Santa’s Other Helpers
House of Terror, Budapest – Review
The House of Terror is a grim yet fascinating witness to the victims of Budapest’s two terror regimes from the last century. Identifiable by its striking black borders, the very building that was once home to the perversions of ideological extremes is now a commemoration to its victims. Now in its tenth year since opening … Continue reading House of Terror, Budapest – Review
A Game of Thrones: Worth the Commitment?
So you’ve all seen it. No? What do you mean, no? Ah, I see. Because it’s on an obscure, subscription-only Sky channel. Well that’s fair, but you could always watch it courtesy of HBO Go (I feel there needs to be an exclamation mark on the end there, but never mind), the network’s free online … Continue reading A Game of Thrones: Worth the Commitment?
Monsters in Eden 