Zoya Street, curator of Critical Distance, offers slow reflections on the fast-paced world of digital play…

What is a game if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?

Chris Priestman gave a beautifully-written account of one of my favourite topics: inactivity.

"There’s a satisfaction to be derived in comparing our own motionlessness to the busyness of the world around us—to be the silence among the noise. This dichotomy can help us meditate on the glory of that singular moment."

For those who enjoy awe and wonder at the majesty of concrete, Hamish Grace offered a detailed, games-oriented overview of Brutalism, an architectural style that has been increasingly significant in games of late.

It's often said that games allow us to walk in somebody else's shoes, but what if the shoes don't quite fit? It's enlightening to hear from somebody who has directly experienced the situation a title purports to simulate. Reflecting on his past work as a journalist in a communist regime, Zach Hines argued that newspaper simulator the Westport Independent portrays a naive view of self-censorship.

Avant-garde art blog "We make money not art" covered a French festival featuring games as well as some remarkable digital art installations (part one | part two)

Finally, Darius Kazemi's interactive review of The Witness is affectionate and illuminating; a lovely thing to observe and ponder.

If you're not quite done quietly contemplating videogames, you'll find lots more material in the full roundup post on our website. For regular updates, follow Critical Distance on Twitter and consider pledging your support on Patreon.

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The Offworld Collection, presenting the very best features and essays from Offworld, is finally available to buy directly from Campo Santo for $40. I had the pleasure of designing and illustrating this splendid 250-page hardcover volume, but it’s the excellent writing, edited by Leigh Alexander and Laura Hudson, that makes it an essential buy. You […]

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What was it like working a Nintendo hotline in the 80s?

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Black women are already superheroes

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This password manager maximizes security on every website

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This mini-printer makes memos anywhere with zero ink refills

Just a reminder: Print isn’t dead. And now that printers are becoming as portable as cell phones, it might be around for quite some time. Enter the MEMOBIRD Mobile Thermal Printer, a mini-printer that is versatile, portable – and most importantly, never needs a refill on ink or toner. Measuring just a few inches around, […]

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Learn MySQL painlessly with this online master class

What do Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google all have in common? Somewhere in their framework, they all use MySQL, that most versatile (and free!) of database management systems. And they’re not alone. If your company or the one you’d like to work for wrangles data (and who doesn’t?), they’re going to need someone with a […]

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