Remembering

• Stories We Tell | PopMatters
  Boen Wang examines Wind Waker‘s complex relationship with cultural memory.
• Jingle Cats can be as surreal as actually living with a cat · On The Level · The A.V. Club
  Anthony John Agnello reviews 1998 virtual pet game Jingle Cats
• Final Fantasy VIII makes high school’s life-or-death drama literal · Special Topics In Gameology · The A.V. Club
  Anthony John Agnello summarises the melodrama of Final Fantasy VIII
• Erik Twice Reviews » Chess | AAA
  How does the design of Chess lead to such an interesting set of problems?

“We are so used to it we might not notice, but Chess is a very modern game in some regards. Instead of fighting to the death or strangulation like in most abstracts, the win condition is the capture of a single, practically unarmed piece. This is huge! It enables a wide range of plays and the threat of the game ending in a single move introduces a lot of fun and tension. And the pieces? They are all a bit strange. The Bishops move diagonally despite the game being vertically-bound. The Knight can move through other pieces but doing so makes it alternate between white and black squares. Pawns form the backbone of the army yet are barely capable of harming each other. There are a lot of curve balls in Chess that makes it feel fresh and exciting.”

Representing

• My kingdom for a phalanx | Wargame_[space]
  Bruce Geryk launches the first in what promises to be a series of board game critical analyses, focusing on a particular event in classical European history.
• Let’s Play: Far Cry Primal Ep.1: An “Archaeological” Exploration | Play The Past
  Philip Riris begins a series of Let’s Plays of Far Cry Primal in which he comments on the game’s portrayal of history, based on his expertise as a research archaeologist.
• Putting Naiveté to Rest: ‘1979 Revolution: Black Friday’ | Gamechurch.com
  M. Joshua Cauller, who once had aspirations toward being a Christian missionary in Iran, reviews the game about its revolution.
• 1979 Revolution: Black Friday: The Kotaku Review
  Evan Narcisse reviews 1979 Revolution: Black Friday for Kotaku, highlighting how the mere fact of its creation is a politically-charged act.

“Despite the fact that game-maker Navid Khonsari is suspected of spying by the Iranian government, the primary takeaway from playing 1979 Revolution is a feeling of complicated affection, not angry bitterness. There’s another side to what we in the West know about Iran, and playing this game is a good way to start learning about it.”

Recording

• The Great Wars of EVE Online
  Kotaku published an extract from Andrew Groen’s history of Eve Online
• The True History of Eve Online
  Polygon also posted an extract from Andrew Groen’s history of Eve Online
• Rejecting the Now, “More Light: Media Art from Atlanta” at Eyedrum
  Dan Weiskopf gives an overview and critique of a fascinating exhibition of new media art in Atlanta, Georgia.

“This tale, I think, goes some distance towards explaining why so much new media art is mired in nostalgic reverie, despite its patina of geekish futurism. Cultural history suggests that “the look of now” tends to age badly. This is no less true in technology than in fashion and hairstyles. Any new style or medium runs the risk of being obsolete tomorrow, discarded and bulldozed under”