Beyond Critical Damage: A Portfolio

 For posterity's sake, here is a list of my various published writings and works of journalism.


Ars Technica

"'I think they're mad': Inside a 48 hour battle to build the best video game." (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) 
 

2011 Game Developers' Conference coverage for IndustryGamers 

"Flash Gaming Summit: Facebook and Flash are Steering PopCap's Future" 

"The Successes and Failures of the Humble Indie Bundle"

"Are Social Games 'High Glucose Slot Machines?'" (currently 404-ing)

"Intuition and Metrics: A Collision of Two Worlds"

"Angry Birds is 'A Next Generation Entertainment Franchise,' says Rovio"

"Social Network Games are not Social Games, says Iwata"

"Mobile Games are the Future of Entertainment, says Neil Young"

"Social Games Are Not Perfect But They Are Games, Says Reynolds" (ignore the byline, this one was actually written by me, I swear!)

"Romero and Hall Look Back at Doom"

"Cliff Bleszinki and The Rise of Gaming's Power Creative"


2010 Freeplay Independent Games Festival coverage for Gamasutra

"Freeplay 2010: Brandon Boyer Tells Indies To 'Be Yourself, Be Wonderful'"

"Freeplay 2010: Why Adam Saltsman Makes Video Games"

"Freeplay 2010: The Difficulty of Understanding A World That Can't Exist"


Kill Screen Magazine Publications

"Crossing King Carrion"

"A Sackboy Says No Words" 

"Review: Ninja" 

"Review: Terraria" 

"Split Screen: Freedom in Alcatraz" (Reposted here on Pitchfork)

"Split Screen: The War Must Go On"

"Capture the School" Print, Kill Screen #2: The Back to School Issue

"Character Building" Print, Kill Screen #3: The Intimacy Issue 

"40 Seconds of Fame" Print, Kill Screen #4: The Public Play Issue 


Pixel Hunt

"Review: Tron Evolution"

"Review: Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds"

"Review: L.A. Noire" 

"Review: Gears of War 3" 

"Review: El Shaddai" 

"Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim"

"From Russia With Love (Metro 2033 Special Feature)" Pixel Hunt e-zine, 2010 Handbook

"A Player's Best Friend" Pixel Hunt e-zine, issue 13

"God Damned Crazy: A GDC Adventure" Pixel Hunt e-zine, issue 14 

"Whatisinaname" Pixel Hunt e-zine, issue 15 

"Press to Continue: Emergent Narratives vs Linear Narratives" Pixel Hunt e-zine, issue 16


Hyper Magazine

"Rock Hard Times (Minecraft Feature)" Print, Hyper #206

"The Point of Points" Print, Hyper #209

"The Japanese Bread Theory of Game Design" Print, Hyper: Japan Special Edition. 

"Just a Suggestion: How Minecraft's Community Influenced Its Development, and How They Did Not" Print, Hyper #220

"Review: Minecraft" Print, Hyper #220

"Preview: Medal of Honor: Warfighter" Print, Hyper #224


PC Powerplay Magazine

"Perspective: Political Landscapes (Morrowind)" Print, PC Powerplay #200 


Paste Magazine

"Accountability: Xbox Live and The Playstation Network" 

"Tiny Tower Review"

"Bastion Review"

"Why Did I Do That? Choice and Consequence in Ico"


Edge Magazine

"Things: Just Cause 2's Grappling Hook" Print, Edge #E230: August, 2011

"Feature Article: Clone Wars" Print, Edge #E233: November, 2011

"Where Is My Heart? review" Print, Edge #E235: Christmas, 2011 

"Things: Gears of War's Lancer" Print, Edge #E237 February, 2012 

"GDC 2012: Time running out for Japan, says Inafune"

"Studio Profile: Supergiant Games" Print, forthcoming

"Feature Article: Just Being There" Print, forthcoming


Games On Net

"One Point Great: Falling Back In Love With Minecraft."

"Brave New Worlds: Why I'm Unashamedly Hyped for Skyrim."

"You Know What I Love? Cinematic Trailers."

"You Know What I Love? Qwae." 

"You Know What I Love? Modern Warfare" 

"You Know What I Love? Glitches" 

"You Know What I Love? Silence"

"You Know What I Love? Movement" 

"You Know What I Love? Old-School First-Person Shooters"

"You Know What I Love? Double-Jumps"

"You Know What I Love? Playing Slow"

"Live From GDC: New SimCity Unveiled by EA and Maxis"

"Live from GDC: BF3 "Close Quarters" DLC and Medal of Honor: Warfighter Details"

"Live from GDC: Mechwarrior Online Preview"

"Developer Interview: Karl-Magnus on the Future of Battlefield"

"Back Door Authors: Why Players Have Less Power Than Ever Before"


Gameranx

"Dark Souls: A Time To Grind."

"The Immersive Wonder of Audiosurf."

"Before My Time: On the History of Skyrim's World"

"Winter Isn't Coming: Why I Don't Believe Skyrim is Cold" 

"Rage Quit and Try Again"


Kotaku

"Modern Warfare 3 Isn't An Un-Game, John Walker. You Are An Un-Player. (And That Is Okay)"

"Do Video Games Need To Be Fun?" (Interviewee)


Unwinnable

"Pocket Treasures: Adrift in iSpace"

"GDC 2012: The Other Sides of Videogames" 

"Pocket Treasures: An Unethical Number of Enemies"

"Alone Together in Journey"

"California Dreamer: Driver San Francisco's Dream World"

"Pocket Treasures: Eliss"

"Fez: Connected Perception and Concealed Dimensions"




The Conversation

"Swing When You're Winning: Do Gesture-based Controls Push The Right Buttons For Gamers?"




Other Projects

Towards Dawn - An ongoing blog recording the day-by-day adventures of a Minecraft nomad.

Frog Blast The Vent Core - An ongoing series of letters about Bungie's Marathon between Bethesda's Shane Liesegang, Microsoft's George Kokoris, and me.