Revving the Engine Surviving the Near Future in Phobos Subhuman By Ben Sailer • December 27th, 2021 There can be something especially empowering about feeling as though you can shape and survive whatever is around the next corner.
Collision Detection Rethinking the Post-Apocalypse in Eastward By Ben Sailer • December 3rd, 2021 Post-apocalyptic stories are often framed as tales of what happens after everything ends. Eastward instead shows how life moves on.
Collision Detection Rethinking Retro Remakes With Tunnel B1 By Ben Sailer • November 5th, 2021 We’re in the middle of a retro shooter renaissance. Why not mine the forgotten past for ideas and inspiration?
Collision Detection Escaping Isolation in Concrete Genie By Ben Sailer • September 28th, 2021 Ben finds a surprisingly poignant message about the interconnectedness of commerce and community beneath the family-friendly veneer of the underappreciated painterly adventure Concrete Genie.
Revving the Engine An Unreal Curriculum By Ben Sailer • September 20th, 2021 At Abertay University, students learn the skills to thrive in an industry that’s grown into an economic and educational force.
Collision Detection The Terrifying Truth Vs. Some Free JRPG Mini Games By Ben Sailer • August 25th, 2021 Ben finds a free game hidden on Google’s home page and slowly sinks into a pit of existential despair.
Collision Detection The Role-Playing Television Future of Tomorrow, Yesterday By Ben Sailer • August 12th, 2021 VR, the hard way. The really hard way.
Collision Detection Dos Vedanya, Kudryavka By Ben Sailer • June 29th, 2021 Correcting the tragedy of the first dog in space.
Revving the Engine Death is the Beginning By Ben Sailer • June 25th, 2021 Reaching the spirit world is not going to be so easy in Path of Kami
Revving the Engine The Occupation: Mind Your Deadline By Ben Sailer • June 8th, 2021 A righteous mission. An edge of danger. A David and Goliath dynamic.
Collision Detection Controlling the Future in Five Minutes or Less By Ben Sailer • June 1st, 2021 Ben gets hooked on pretending to draft players for his favorite football team, and maybe, just maybe, learns something along the way. Or not.
Revving the Engine Cute ‘Em Up By Ben Sailer • May 14th, 2021 A close chat with the creator of a “first-person cute ’em up.”
Collision Detection On Cheat Codes and Disappearing Forever By Ben Sailer • May 5th, 2021 Ben finds a book to a lost era, a time of sharks, genies, and rapid button combinations.
Revving the Engine Under the Hood By Ben Sailer • April 1st, 2021 The beauty of having a dream, and making it so, and then having thousands of others make their dreams within your dream.
Collision Detection Controlling the Narrative By Ben Sailer • March 26th, 2021 Why the hell would anyone play two-player sports videogames by themselves?
Collision Detection Cyberpunkland and the Full Service Dystopia Simulator of Tomorrow, Today By Ben Sailer • March 10th, 2021 A free dystopian browser-based game like Cyberpunkland should be a silly diversion. But considering recent events, it feels bizarrely prescient instead.
Collision Detection In Videogames, Everybody’s Working for the Weekend By Ben Sailer • January 26th, 2021 Work sucks, I know.
Collision Detection Countering COVID-19 Disinformation in Five Minutes or Less with Go Viral! By Ben Sailer • January 8th, 2021 Separating fact from fiction on the Internet and in the media is more difficult than ever. In the middle of a global pandemic, the consequences are potentially lethal. Could a simple browser game be part of the solution?
Collision Detection On Videogames, Accessibility and the Winter From Hell By Ben Sailer • December 10th, 2020 Videogames are more accessible than ever thanks to increased digitization. Facing what will be the harshest winter in a generation, this is a godsend that is easy to miss, but should not be taken for granted.
Checkpoint Colin Kaepernick, Madden NFL 21 and the Football Future That Wasn’t By Ben Sailer • October 27th, 2020 After punting on social justice for years, Electronic Arts recently patched Colin Kaepernick back into Madden NFL 21. Don’t rush to pat them on the back.
Collision Detection We Can’t Afford to Log Off By Ben Sailer • October 1st, 2020 Twitter isn’t just a time-wasting hellsite. It’s also the world’s worst multi-user dungeon.
Collision Detection Baseball is Dead, Long Live Blaseball By Ben Sailer • September 3rd, 2020 The only thing weirder than the satirical baseball sim Blaseball is actual professional baseball.
Collision Detection Open Worlds, Open Minds By Ben Sailer • August 7th, 2020 While Ben used to hate open-world games, now that life under lockdown has made his surroundings feel more compact than ever though, the promise of exploring their vast landscapes has taken on a different appeal.
Collision Detection Between Progress and Pragmatism in Democratic Socialism Simulator By Ben Sailer • July 9th, 2020 This game offers an opportunity to explore the policy possibilities of a progressive presidency in America. But underneath its colorful cartoon aesthetic lies a surprising degree of subversive power.
Collision Detection Redefining the Race By Ben Sailer • June 9th, 2020 The future of virtual and real-world racing are becoming increasingly intertwined. Could the two someday become one and the same?
Collision Detection Finding Meaning in Animal Crossing’s Weird-Ass World By Ben Sailer • May 7th, 2020 Animal Crossing: New Horizons has dominated social media since its release. This explainer might help you understand the appeal, or it might not explain anything at all.
Collision Detection On GameStop and Contempt for Nostalgia By Ben Sailer • April 13th, 2020 Ben thinks way too hard about his strained relationship with a struggling videogame retailer and learns about Swiss mercenaries along the way.
Collision Detection Could the Decline of Violent Football Videogames Have Predicted the Future of Player Safety? By Ben Sailer • March 10th, 2020 Football videogames in the early to mid-1990s reveled in over-the-top physical violence. Could the disappearance of that tendency be connected to changing public perception around the safety of the sport?
Collision Detection What I Think About When I Think About Grandia By Ben Sailer • February 10th, 2020 What can we learn about social activism from an aging 32-bit-era role-playing game? According to one writer who probably needs to get more sleep, maybe more than one might think.
Collision Detection There’s No Such Thing as a Neutral War Story By Ben Sailer • January 14th, 2020 Like literally every other piece of media, videogames don’t exist in a vacuum.
Collision Detection Exploring Social Impact Journalism With Headliner: Novinews By Ben Sailer • December 5th, 2019 Headliner: Novinews asks players to consider the social impact of sound journalistic best practice by offering questions that lead to more questions.
Collision Detection How I Learned to Stop Worrying (And Love Being Horrified) By Ben Sailer • November 11th, 2019 Ben hasn’t felt frightened by a game since playing the original Resident Evil two decades ago. However, a brisk run through Outlast changed that, and in the process, helped him rekindle a long-lost love for being scared shitless.
Collision Detection Backing a Fake Basketball Underdog By Ben Sailer • October 13th, 2019 It cannot be overstated exactly how bad NBA 2K has beaten NBA Live over the past two decades.
Collision Detection How an 8-Bit Football Franchise is Still Kicking By Ben Sailer • August 30th, 2019 A local competition helps Ben rediscover his love for Tecmo Super Bowl.
Collision Detection Abe’s Oddysee, Ahead of Its Time By Ben Sailer • August 14th, 2019 The PlayStation classic Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee offers poignant commentary on how to handle catastrophic circumstances that feel bigger than yourself.
Collision Detection When Amazon Gamifies Hell, Who’s Gaming Who? By Ben Sailer • July 3rd, 2019 Videogames placed in Amazon warehouses are allegedly intended to boost employee morale. However, reality may be less altruistic than the company’s PR spin.
Collision Detection Dogs of War By Ben Sailer • June 5th, 2019 Sure video game dogs make for great meme material, but good boys have been serving since World War I.
Collision Detection How About a Refund? By Ben Sailer • May 14th, 2019 Google’s talked about how great Stadia is, but how will it win over the average (heavily skeptical) consumer?
Collision Detection Ace Combat 7 Wants the Context of War Without its Baggage By Ben Sailer • April 10th, 2019 Even in an arcade game like Ace Combat 7, borrowing from real-world war narratives makes the whole “escapism” thing…awkward.
Collision Detection Tidying Up the Old Videogame Collection By Ben Sailer • March 13th, 2019 Sometimes, stuff’s just gotta go. Even if you loved it.
