Heavy Rain is an extraordinary game. In terms of storytelling and gameplay, it does (or tries to do) things that are never done before. Also, and that’s the premise of my article, it reveals the limitations of today’s controllers. The emotional impact of pressing buttons shrinks, as one button, say R1, cradles a baby at one time, but kills a man another moment. Continue reading
Interview: Tristan Lambert of Vertigo Games
During Gamelab #3, a gaming-related event hosted by Blammo (creators of the popular Dutch gameshow Gamekings), one presentation sparked my interest. Tristan Lambert, co-founder at Vertigo Games, spoke about their new game, Adam’s Venture. Their new project is inspired by Christian values, but looks like a Triple A-title. This odd combination inspired me to interview Tristan. Continue reading
Niels ‘t Hooft (editor in chief at Bashers) asked Bashers’ contributors to write a retrospective, consisting of memorable gaming moments in 2009. Looking back to my gaming year, I quickly came to realize it was a year worth remembering. Some of the moments I highlighted were the discussing night about game journalism, discovering art-like games such as Canabalt and – of course – finishing a game-related thesis. Continue reading
The past few weeks Thom Stokkel and myself were busy planning and organising a special event – the first joint operation between Xi Online and Bashers: a discussion night about game journalism in The Netherlands. Continue reading
A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the games industry in Iran, inspired by the appearrance of a small Iranian stand at Gamescom 2009 in Köln. The article was originally published by Xi, but two weeks after the publication, I recieved an answer from one of the people I approached in Iran. The information he provided proved to be useful enough for a updated version of the article, which is published by Bashers today. Continue reading