The Real Dr. Frankensteins By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • February 12th, 2019 First there was Frankenstein, there there were the scientists inspired by Frankenstein.
Backlog The Stiff Brown Cloth in Which the Knife is Kept By Gavin Craig • February 9th, 2019 Knowing a fable’s end first can change its meaning. Especially when you remember endings are things of fiction.
Documentary Sunday Welcome to Marwen By Megan Condis • February 8th, 2019 Mark Hogancamp’s biopic has plenty of Hollywood movie magic, but not enough to distract from the omissions that undermine its moral.
Viking Funeral Ceremonies By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • February 5th, 2019 Notorious Narratives sees what we can learn about Vikings from the way they treated their dead.
The Weird History of Breakfast Cereal By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • January 29th, 2019 What do masturbation and enemas have to do with Corn Flakes?
Feature Excerpt Friday Nights in the Hostile Environment By Rob Haines • January 28th, 2019 British developer PanicBarn’s Not Tonight offers a Brexit-flavored critique of the past ten years of the hostile environment.
Feature Excerpt Teaching Crunch By Melissa Brinks • January 28th, 2019 Many students enter the video game industry well aware of its infamous crunch culture. After all, their colleges groomed them for it.
Human Sacrifice in the Maya Culture By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • January 22nd, 2019 Notorious Narratives explores the reasons, process and necessity of human sacrifice in the Maya culture.
A Sticky Situation – The Story of the Boston Molasses Flood By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • January 15th, 2019 On this day, 100 years ago, molasses killed 21 people.
Collision Detection At Least Videogame Advertising Has Grown Up By Ben Sailer • January 11th, 2019 The days of shit-talking the competition are gone. Now videogame companies demand our attention by . . . just making better products.
The Heavy Pour Get Your Kicks at the Cosmic Horrorshow: A True Story By Sara Clemens • January 9th, 2019 On a Route 66 roadtrip, Sara asks: “What am I doing in the middle of this godforsaken desert?”
Hardware Digital Body By Eron Rauch • January 9th, 2019 Eron Rauch reviews the exhibit A Whole Different Ball Game: Playing Through 60 Years of Sports Videogames at the Museum of Moving Image.
Memscape The History of Twitter’s Little Bunnies By Alyse Stanley • January 9th, 2019 Twitter’s ushering in a new age of Ascii art, whether its users know it or not.
This Mortal Coyle Willow By Deirdre Coyle • January 8th, 2019 Just like Willow from Don’t Starve, Deirdre can’t control what goes on in the world. But she can keep her sanity meter up in the meantime.
Feature Excerpt Videogames in Kuwait By David Wolinsky and Tali XOXO • January 7th, 2019 David Wolinsky and Tali XOXO share their impressions of GX and Kuwait Battle Royale.
To Better Know that Death By Levi Rubeck • January 3rd, 2019 Gather round, lay out the tarot and find out the manner of our end.
Resort of the Dead- The Story of Hart Island By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • January 1st, 2019 Notorious Narratives investigates the haunted history of the Bronx’s Hart Island.
Bizarre Christmas Traditions Around the World By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • December 25th, 2018 There’s some weird ways to celebrate Christmas out there.
Sears Wish Books, 1982-84 By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 24th, 2018 Happy Holidays! This episode, the guys look at the Sears Wish Book catalogs that contained Dungeons & Dragons products.
You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat: The Shark Attacks of 1916 By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • December 18th, 2018 **Jaws theme**
The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans: Marie Laveau By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • December 11th, 2018 Like the Bobby Bare song says, “Down in Louisiana, where the black trees grow, lives a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau.”
Self-Insert The Unsinkable Darcy Lewis By Amanda Hudgins • December 7th, 2018 A side character from Thor has almost 15,000 fanfics featuring her. Amanda Hudgins asks the question: Why does Darcy Lewis persist?
Another Look Writing About Games: Learning to Love the Compromise By Yussef Cole • December 6th, 2018 There is only so much compartmentalization you can do in separating a game from its production process and the worldview it espouses before you, as a writer, become morally compromised.
Memescape We Are All Gritty By Alyse Stanley • December 5th, 2018 Gritty: An obsession; a movement; a cult. Ultimately, though, he’s a googly-eyed reflection of this tumultuous time.
Backlog What Matters and What Matters Last By Gavin Craig • December 4th, 2018 It’s a difficult thing to write about videogames when one doesn’t play very many videogames.
Whose Head Is That Anyway? The Story of Easter Island By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • December 4th, 2018 Notorious Narratives plumbs the mysteries of the moai.
The Burnt Offering The Feels By Stu Horvath • December 3rd, 2018 What happens when a horror story tries to manifest in the real world?
The Heavy Pour Sucking Blood from the Earth By Sara Clemens • November 30th, 2018 Between the nightmare of daily news and the ethical quandaries of playing games by any triple-A developer, it’s hard to be assed to play games these days.
Here's the Thing No, Shut Up, Brutal Legend is Great By Rob Rich • November 29th, 2018 People loved to dump on Brutal Legend when it released, but Rob stubbornly maintains that it was (and still is) a great game.
Imprisoned in Paradise: The Leper Colony of Hawaii By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • November 27th, 2018 Notorious Narratives demystifies the Hawaiian leper colony at Kalaupapa.
Rookie of the Year Let’s Go Paisley By Matt Marrone • November 27th, 2018 Not everything about Paisley Park is weird.
Collision Detection DDR Movie Marks a Positive Step By Ben Sailer • November 26th, 2018 Why make a movie about Dance Dance Revolution? Maybe a better question to ask is, “Why would they make a movie about any other game at all?”
On Voice Acting and Diversity By Malindy Hetfeld • November 26th, 2018 Voice acting should be the great equalizer for diverse representation in games. It isn’t.
Feature Excerpt Crack the Network: It’s Called Cyberpunk Not Cybersecurity By Liam Conlon • November 23rd, 2018 While disappointed by Cyberpunk 2077’s announcement to exclude a non-binary option, Conlon thinks it’s necessary to desire more than small kernels of representation.
Special Episode Robin’s Fun Facts: Thanksgiving Edition By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • November 22nd, 2018 Ever wonder why Americans eat the food they do on Thanksgiving? Notorious Narratives has the answers.
This Mortal Coyle The Encarta MindMaze Witch By Deirdre Coyle • November 21st, 2018 Hidden in Microsoft Encarta ’95 lies one of the foundational goths of Deirdre’s childhood.
Feature Excerpt Flash Forever By Phantom • November 21st, 2018 A history of the delightful weirdness of Flash games.
Strange Eats: The Story of the Buckland Family By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • November 20th, 2018 Turkey for Thanksgiving every year? Not if you’re trying to eat every animal on earth!