Review: Gone Home and The Stanley Parable - Indie Game Double-Header

I've found myself playing a lot more indie games recently. I'd hazard a guess that this is probably because most indie publishers place a higher value than Triple-A publishers do on things that FUCKING WORK AT LAUNCH.

So in the past weekend I worked my way through both The Stanley Parable and Gone Home, two excellent PC titles that have given me hope for the future of gaming.  The reason I'm reviewing them together is two-fold: 1) Their gameplay and mechanics are actually quite similar, despite them both having extremely different atmosphere, style and narrative, 2) since these will be spoiler-free reviews and both games are very story-intensive, they'd each be about half a post by themselves - hence the doubling-up.

We're Pulling a Capcom - What that Means, and Why

Things have been... well, stressful. After some behind the scenes talks, it has been decided that we're badly in need of a restructuring. An HD re-release or a disc-based update, if you will.

Accessibility - The Grand Cop-Out

Tonight's post is sponsored by Jagermeister, not because they're paying me, but because I needed to get faded enough to set free my actual anger on this subject.

These days, games are praised for being "accessible", which really just means "really fucking easy". It's an awful thing, and it is the biggest chink in the armor of the otherwise impenetrable games industry.  With developers chasing the next Call of Duty in terms of sales, and publishers chasing the next Angry Birds in terms of install base, games are getting easier and easier.