The Sovereign Survivor
/The player is alone in the game, both sole survivor and unquestioned sovereign, but what's at the heart of such games? Phillip Lobo examines the loneliness of the long-distance gamer
Read Morectrl issues
/"Do you see?" the Narrator says. "Don't you know you were dead the minute you hit Start?" Phillip Lobo deciphers The Stanley Parable
Read MoreThe Modern Mechanism
/Thick with atmosphere, lush with visual design, and sporting more than a few influences of steampunk, "Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs" is a video game Karl Marx might have played - and even enjoyed.
Read MoreThe Shape of Things to Come
/All of European history - and beyond - plays out in new and fascinating variations of guns, germs, and steel in Paradox Interactive's new version of its popular video game Europa Universalis
Read MoreAlready Dead
/In the latest video game iteration of the current media zombie craze, a history teacher from Georgia confronts the undead hordes - and what those hordes may say about contemporary America
Read MoreRage and Regulation
/"I hope they pay you well for your obedience, dog" - two new video games explore the parameters of authority and the constraints of law. Doesn't sound like a fun afternoon, but as Phillip Lobo discovers, there are darker pleasures lurking in the fine print of the social contract.
Read MoreA Devil in the Details
/The ideal player for Capcom's new version of "Devil May Cry" must be a ballerina of death-dealing, striking down an endless array of foes with an endless array of weapons. But how will all of this strike the other-than-ideal player?
Read MoreDo You Feel Like a Hero Yet?
/Has there ever been a time in American history when the gun-and-violence-obsessed subtext of video games was more problematic? Special Ops: The Line puts you in the place of a grizzled, gun-wielding expert - but it doesn't necessarily want you to feel good about that.
Read MoreFright Unseen
/Once upon a time, the hive-mind of the Internet set to work creating a modern-day bogey man who lurks in plain sight - and so "Slender Man," the dark mirror image of "Where's Waldo," was born
Read MoreChange-gamer
/Election-weary Americans might wonder why anybody in their right minds would elect to play a video-game presidential contest - but the process can be oddly enlightening.
Read MoreFort-da Logic
/Why do we play video games? And why do we RE-play them? And what the heck has Sigmund Freud got to do with any of it? Gaming guru Phillip Lobo looks at some new iterations of familiar old games and attempts to connect the dots.
Read MoreBreaking Up With Blizzard
/His teenage years were blissfully misspent playing Diablo II from Blizzard, and now the company has come out with Diablo III - but can the relationship be saved?
Read MoreChoices at the Event Horizon
/In the latest version of the hugely popular video game - as in real life - you are the living culmination of all your past decisions, good and bad.
Read MoreDystopia Now
/A simpler, sleeker update of the dystopian 90's classic Syndicate raises some uncomfortable questions about the here and now.
Read MoreSet Sail, Come Home
/On the surface, the new RPG Bastion is a fairly straightforward hack-and-slash video game---but a complex narrative back-story reveals some hidden depths.
Read MoreAs Crazy Quentin Knows
/Frame narratives, rags-to-riches angles, gender-swapping, the wages of grief, and .... love. Yes, we're talking about a video game, specifically Dragon Age 2.
Read MoreBodies in Space
/Isaac Newton wrote about bodies at rest and bodies in motion - but he never got around to bodies that want to rip you apart with their tentacles and feast on your steaming entrails! A classic video game gets a macabre and highly detailed sequel.
Read More'You Talk Too Much...'
/Unlike its predecessor, Mass Effect 2 makes being a jerk a rewarding experience--Phillip A. Lobo explores the paradoxes of the Enlightenment, and the complicated morality of being bad.
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