When I was a kid I climbed trees, played hide-and-seek and capture the flag, scraped my knees sliding across asphalt, and chewed bubblegum like Lenny Dykstra chewed tobacco in the Phillies outfield. I had a thousand hobbies, most of which were creative endeavors that required pouring gobs of Elmer’s glue all over my hands. Peeling […]
March 9th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 0 comments | ContinuedOther Recent Articles
If… : Hypothetical Questions
If you were to be trapped in a video game for all eternity which video game environment would you prefer to live in and why?
My response: I suppose the answer to this question depends largely on whether or not I have all ready beaten the game, or I am aimlessly wondering about while the protagonist […]
Evil is a Misnomer
Quite frankly, I don’t watch a great deal of prime time television because the advent of reality shows seems to have sucked all screen writing talent out of Hollywood. Apparently, this ball of talent is hovering in a vortex just over Charlie Kaufman’s (a superb screen writer) house. (If you don’t know who Charlie Kaufman […]
March 9th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 0 comments | Continued
In-Game Advertisements: Save a Bunch of Money on Car (Game) Insurance
According to an issue of Game Informer (September 2007), “83% of casual gamers indicated their willingness to watch a 30-second ad in order to play a game for free…” (p. 136). Of course, the results of this survey shouldn’t blow anyone in the gaming community out of the water. I imagine we all want to […]
March 9th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 0 comments | Continued
In Defense of Games: Will the Jury Please Rise?
It is no secret that gaming is a controversial hobby. If you’ve ever spent an afternoon with a controller chained to your hands, you’ve also probably been asked, “When do you think you are going to be done playing that?” You’ve heard the groans of your mother, your spouse, or your friends. And as you […]
March 9th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 2 comments | Continued
Coming Out of the Closet: Why Female Gamers Don’t Talk Game
A gender divide has long been prevalent in gaming subculture. The majority of playable character heroes are male. Gaming advertisements are largely male. And as if this wasn’t enough to deter the average female away from gaming – men repeatedly scold women for their inability to play games and play them well (even though most […]
March 9th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 3 comments | Continued
A Disclaimer for Gamespotters
Some of the blog entries posted on this site will be familiar to those who frequented my blog at Gamespot. I apologize for the redundancy, but prefer my older blog content to be hosted here. Happy trails.
March 9th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 0 comments | Continued
Capturing Horror
One of the most intense scenes in a horror movie is the “I’m hiding in a closet while the bad guy roams freely around the house looking for me” scene. Even in less than perfect horror movies like “The Messengers,” you fear for the kid who has chosen to hide in the cupboardry while the […]
March 8th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 0 comments | Continued
Mortal Kombatting: Cultural Biases Surrounding the Video Game Revolution
By, Natasha Ward
Cultural Biases
“To understand just what the Games are about, it is really necessary to investigate the roots and the meaning that has transformed culture and society for so many years.” – Bill Toomey (2005), 1968 U.S.A.Olympic Decathalon Champion (p. 1)
Attempting to understand the world of video games is much like playing a video […]
Enter With Caution
If you’ve been to this site in the last 24 hours, you’re probably wondering, “What the hell is going on here?” I took a jackhammer and a stick of dynamite to my old theme. Think of this as an HGTV renovation - except there aren’t any cameras and I don’t have a crew.
March 7th, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 1 comment | Continued
Caught on Camera: Barack Obama
“Legislators and revolutionaries who promise liberty
and equality at the same time are either utopian
dreamers or charlatans.” — Goethe
A Flock of Seagulls
To be honest, I’ve never been wholly satisfied by an internet browser - that was until I met “Flock.” Flock makes me want to build a nest on my computer and hatch bookmarks, soar effortlessly through social networking sites, breeze through blogs, and squawk with glee at the interface.
Browsers are a dime a dozen. I […]
Law and Order: Xbox 360
[Insert gavel thunking sound bite]
Chaos ensued this week when, during a passionate Guitar Hero II solo by Tasha Ward, Bill Gates froze her Xbox 360 indefinitely using his Microsoft Update vision. Gates fled the scene of the crime shouting, “Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me I’m the Microsoft Man.” Unbeknownst […]
Internet Antidote
Everyone argues on the internet, probably because it’s a place of anonymity, where words don’t have speaking faces and eyes that must witness tears. The internet is the ultimate invisibility cloak. You can say the things you’d dare never to utter to your mother, your girlfriend, or even your dog without consequence. You can yell […]
March 2nd, 2008 | Tasha Ward | 1 comment | Continued
I know the feeling.
For years I have felt that I should be more religious, but I can't get myself to ...
Nice piece. I will have to check out this show. I certainly have a thing for stories in which people, ...
That's a hard one. I'd probably choose to be in Guitar Hero 3 or Rock Band, playing the base.. ...
Adam,
However, if formal wear, by society's standards, was a pair of Levi jeans and a t-shirt then this is what ...