Letter to the Editor

Noah Gordon ’14 writes in response to the 4/25 JC ruling and the current state of the AAS. The Judiciary Council ruling of 4/25 and the current conversation about holding a new election are incredibly problematic. While some of the motivations behind the original elections complaint were completely valid, the conflict now boils down to a mean-spirited, procedural witch hunt with worrying implications. My information about last night’s meeting comes second-hand and may not be entirely reliable,

Trading Cards Go Digital: DotP 2014

When I was younger, for about two months every year my parents sent me away to rural New Hampshire to attend sleep-away camp. This was probably a good thing for me. Being away from television and video games for a while balanced me out, and although I wasn’t a social butterfly, camp provided me with enough experience to survive the social battlefield of post-pubescent life. Though much of our time was taken up by activities, we cherished the few hours of freedom we had to ourselves. On rainy day

Indie Bundle 9: Low Price, Clever Games

The Humble Indie Bundle is the post-scarcity economist’s wet dream. In the age of effortless copying, it is the most innovative and consumer-friendly approach I’ve yet seen to selling digital content. You pay what you want to, from $0.01 to $10,000 (some gaming philanthropists actually approach the upper extreme). In return, you get a digital package of usually good and sometimes-incredible games from independent studios. A portion of the profits go to those studios, a portion to charity, and

A Classic of a Passing Generation

Every summer there is a week or two, usually after the end of internships and before the start of the school year, for which nothing is planned. It is during this time that I inevitably plunge back into binge-gaming, desperately marathoning any Games of the Year I missed out on due to school-time business. This year, during that late-August recess, I found my catalogue surprisingly empty. None of this past year’s favorites called to me strongly. Sitting on my couch with nothing to do, and loath

With Great Power: Responsibility as a Geek

[Trigger warning: sexual assault and misogyny] It’s difficult to put your finger on so-called “geek culture.” Many assume that the words geek and nerd are derogatory, and to a certain extent they are. But increasingly it’s become a self-attributed catch-all for a generation of kids (some, like myself, are now fully grown) who at some point fell deeply into comic books, video games, fantasy novels and the like. The Internet gave these kids a way to connect with one another, and rather than retre

With Great Power: Responsibility as a Geek

[Trigger warning: sexual assault and misogyny] It’s difficult to put your finger on so-called “geek culture.” Many assume that the words geek and nerd are derogatory, and to a certain extent they are. But increasingly it’s become a self-attributed catch-all for a generation of kids (some, like myself, are now fully grown) who at some point fell deeply into comic books, video games, fantasy novels and the like. The Internet gave these kids a way to connect with one another, and rather than retre

Who to Pick For Your President

If you’re wondering who to vote for in the upcoming AAS Presidential race, the choice should be simple: go with the person who came to you. I was approached by several friends and acquaintances well before election week who asked me whether or not I was running for President. The support was there for me, they said, and if I ran I had a good chance at winning. I mulled the suggestion over in my head during Spring Break, and in the end decided against it. I think I could bring a lot of important

Mark of the Ninja Lacks Depth, Still Shines

The stealth genre is one that game developers ought to approach with caution. Stealth-centered games are difficult to execute well, and it isn’t difficult to understand why. Any proper stealth game has to balance its genre’s three core gameplay concepts: waiting, sneaking and acting. Getting the equilibrium between the three can be difficult, and it varies from game to game: the Hitman series emphasizes the waiting aspect, and most of one’s time is spent gathering information and artfully settin

Deconstructing Violence in Video Games

In the past few months, men and women across the U.S. have been debating guns. President Obama and his administration have called for tighter controls on the sale of certain types of firearms, while activist groups like the NRA have invoked the Second Amendment and shifted the blame from the widespread accessibility of guns to widespread violence in the media — specifically, in video games. Rather than butt heads with the NRA, the Obama administration has conceded the point. Vice President Biden

Assassin’s Creed III Fails to Flaunt its Assets

I haven’t yet finished Assassin’s Creed III, and I haven’t even touched its multiplayer side. Yet this game, which I’ve anticipated since it was announced eight months ago, is already worth the buy. That said, I’m something of an idiosyncratic gamer, and what has always sold the Assassin’s Creed series to me is its varied environments, breathtaking cityscapes and thoroughly-imagined environments. This game brings back everything we have come to expect from an Assassin’s Creed game and improved o