David Shimomura

The Meaninglessness of Maturity in God of War

By David Shimomura • May 2nd, 2018

While the game tries to tell us of heroes come and gone who made war by making peace, we can never do this. It’s good to kill a demon, an escapee from the underworld, a monster. They have no agency and thus we can never reason with them. We can only bring reason to them at the edge of axe.

Last Week's Comics

Last Week’s Comics Series Finale

By Ian Gonzales, Sara Clemens, Michael Edwards and David Shimomura • May 2nd, 2018

Last Week’s Comics is dead. Long live Last Week’s Comics!

An Ode to Porkins (and Star Wars Merchandise)

By David Shimomura • April 23rd, 2018

Not only does Porkins merch exist, but there’s a lot of it. What’s that say about Star Wars?

Last Week’s Comics

Last Week’s Comics 4/4/2018

By Sara Clemens and David Shimomura • April 4th, 2018

Team Unwinnable share their thoughts on Saga # 50 and Dark Nights Metal # 6.

A woman in a large white dirty tshirt and cargo pants, wields a bat at a dog running away gleefully with an assault rifle in its mouth. Behind her in the dust is a bleeding man.

Far Cry 5: Taking off the Engagement Blinders

By David Shimomura • April 2nd, 2018

That’s the trap of engagement and enthrallment. At 100mph the flaws dissolve in the motion blur.

two figures, their eyes whited out and the bottom of their faces obscured by solid opaque black face paint.

Mute: Sci-Fi is a Genre, Not a Setting

By David Shimomura • March 26th, 2018

The story of a man searching for his lost love in a city hostile to him is novel. But its not necessary to tell this story in the future and Jones does nothing to connect the futurey, robotic set dressings with the actual story.

Jared Leto, with his android face and a back full of Japanese style tattoos, peers off in the middle distance slightly over one shoulder.

The Astonishing Banality of Cinematography in The Outsider

By David Shimomura • March 12th, 2018

Even as Leto becomes immersed in this world, falls in love, and treats himself to bath time with his bros, the camerawork and direction reinforces how inappropriate the whole venture is.

The Ritual Fails to Close the Circle

By David Shimomura • March 6th, 2018

You can probably turn The Ritual off at the 66-minute mark.

A woman with curly, natural hair and a stunned wary expression on her face looking out with a glitched out screen behind that says "System Error"

Cloverfield and the Art of the Cinematic Universe

By David Shimomura • February 19th, 2018

The Cloverfield Paradox is a bad film with very good marketing.

Sally Hawkins standing as her character in Shape of Water in a 1950's dark blue green accented kitchen a large window open in the background.

The Space of Water

By David Shimomura • February 5th, 2018

All together the spaces in The Shape of Water feel not just believable but contribute Michael-Stuhlbarg-levels-of-performance.

Last Week's Comics

Last Week’s Comics 1/31/2018

By Sara Clemens and David Shimomura • January 31st, 2018

Team Unwinnable shares their thoughts on Kingdom of Skulls # 1 and Doomsday Clock # 3.

On a pathway, a boy walks with a blue bowl, statues pointing him the right direction.

Gorogoa, a Lesson in Learning

By David Shimomura • January 22nd, 2018

Stu might think that Gorogoa is magick but I’d say that it’s language.

Last Week's Comics

Last Week’s Comics 1/17/2018

By Ian Gonzales, David Shimomura and Sal Lucci • January 17th, 2018

Team Unwinnable shares their thoughts on Batman: Creature of the Night #2, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero # 246 & 247 and James Bond: The Body # 1.

A small castle surrounded by green farmland. This is a screenshot from the game They Are Billions, originally taken by Steam User Killer Rabbit

An Exercise in Being Prey

By David Shimomura • December 18th, 2017

They Are Billions is a game about becoming a bigger, fatter, juicer piece of meat and being surrounded by starving hordes.

Commentary

A white hooded character holding a future tech gun looking to the left .This is a still from Destiny 2.

Destiny 2: The Big Empty

By David Shimomura • December 11th, 2017

Destiny is a world completely devoid of the things that make a world worth playing in.

Commentary

The Insidious Capitalism of Games

By David Shimomura • December 4th, 2017

In a game, enough is never enough. We’re rewarded for our ambitions, for working hard to achieving great things without any of the restraint placed on us in our every day lives. But how many games reward us for improving the world we enter as we vastly benefit from it?

Last Week’s Comics 11/29/2017

By David Shimomura, Sal Lucci and Michael Edwards • November 29th, 2017

Team Unwinnable shares their thoughts on Doomsday Clock # 1, Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil # 2 and Swordquest # 5.

A large blonde man with a large gun and a sheepskin jacket looking sternly at the camera.

The Heart of Wolfenstein 2 is a Voice

By David Shimomura • November 27th, 2017

But for the minor shortcomings of The New Colossus it should be said that B.J. Blazkowicz’s internal monologue and Brian Bloom’s voice acting is among the best of 2017.

Last Week’s Comics 11/22/2017

By David Shimomura, Sal Lucci and Michael Edwards • November 22nd, 2017

Team Unwinnable shares their thoughts on Punisher Max, Bankshot and James Bond: Solstice.

Three teenage boys looking shocked on a couch.

American Vandal Feels More Real than True Crime

By David Shimomura • November 20th, 2017

Is the truth worth it and at what cost, especially when exposing it leaves those who sought it with little more than a story to tell.

Mario in a rainbow poncho and sombrero, running away from something to the right.

Video Game Journos and Giving Mario a Pass

By David Shimomura • October 30th, 2017

Mario in a sombrero and poncho fails the basic “my culture is not a costume” test. He’s wearing a costume that is a caricature of a stereotype.

A still from the game Little Red Lie, with red RPG characters. Below is text that reads "the way I see it, Dystopia is nothing but a distraction from a reality that will be even worse"

Little Red Lie is an Unflinching Look at Capitalism’s Failings

By David Shimomura • October 23rd, 2017

The value of Little Red Lie is in how it defies the conventions of game and play.

A series of fake captions arranged across a background. The largest and most legible read: "HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE AGE OF XBOX ONE", "HOW HURRICANE VICTIMS ARE HURTINGS BECAUSE THEY CAN’T PLAY OVERWATCH", GAMES AND OBAMACARE: WHAT ABOUT THE GAMERS?", "HOMOCIDE IN DC AND THE RISE OF THE JAPANESE RPG", "Just like us: How does Trump’s cabinet game? ", "CIVIL FORFEITURE AND THE SONY PLAYSTATION 4", "What does Global Warming Mean to You, A Gamer? "

The Game Take is the Worst Take

By David Shimomura • October 2nd, 2017

It’s hard to watch sites pat themselves on the back super hard for only the tip of the iceberg.

a dark haired Japanese man leans up against a car, a large rock formation cutting like a ribbon across the sky in the background. This is a still from the game Final Fantasy XV.

The Unspoken Glory of Tardiness

By David Shimomura • September 25th, 2017

Coming to things late lets you take it at a pace all your own, a pace dictated by nothing more than how you feel on that day or in that week.

Red lips in a white face with a ruffle behind, a red balloon partially consider the face. This is a still of Pennywise from It.

2017’s It Isn’t Scary, It’s Frightening

By David Shimomura • September 11th, 2017

It’s strangest quality as a film is that it’s a horror movie that is simply not very scary. While the line between scary and not is porous, subjective, and obtuse, it’s up to a movie to either define its terms or define itself in relation to existing ones.