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Review: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

The latest Metal Gear Solid sends mixed signals
For a couple of hours, I was enjoying the latest iteration of the long-running Metal Gear Solid series, which is called Peace Walker . Unlike the massive, bloated, self-important Metal Gear Solid 4 , this portable installment felt lean and mean.
By MITCH KRPATA | July 02, 2010

Review: Red Dead Redemption

Grand Theft Oater?
The land doesn't care. Not about the storms that blow across its plains. Not about the animals that stalk one another through its grasses. And certainly not about the men who occasionally appear over the horizon and try to build a civilization on its sands.
By MITCH KRPATA | June 21, 2010

Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Star-crossed: not quite super
Say this for Super Mario: he still seems to be having a good time.
By MITCH KRPATA | June 14, 2010

Review: Alan Wake

Shadowplay: Remedy Entertainment puts on a light show
Alan Wake proves, once again, that developers don’t need to reinvent entire genres to make a good game — they simply need to play to their strengths.
By MITCH KRPATA | June 01, 2010

Game Changer

After decades of lackluster releases, the video-game-turned-film genre may have finally found its royalty
For the worse part of two decades, Hollywood has been trying to discover the formula for successfully adapting video games to the big screen.
By BRETT MICHEL | June 04, 2010

Review: 3D Dot Game Heroes

Linking to the past
The story of 3D Dot Game Heroes ’ kingdom of Dotnia might ring a few bells. An ancient hero of old defeated an evil king by trapping him inside one of six magical orbs.
By MADDY MYERS | May 25, 2010

Puppet pageants

The influential art of Jim Henson and Peter Schumann
In the beginning, there was Kermit. Not Kermit the Frog — not just yet. That would come nearly 15 years later.
By GREG COOK | May 07, 2010

Barbarians, legions clash at Holiday Inn

Repeating History
On Saturday morning, more than a hundred men crowded into the banquet hall of the Holiday Inn beside the turnpike exit in Westbrook. They came with armies in tow, prepared to refight many of the most famous battles of history.
By WHIT RICHARDSON | May 05, 2010

Review: The Freebie

R eveals lifetimes of intimacy
As can be seen in the opening bliss montage, these two almost disgustingly in love with each other: they hug, kiss, tickle toes, do crossword puzzles — everything, it seems, except have sex.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 15, 2010

Review: Final Fantasy XIII

Paradigm shift!
I’m so old, I can remember when Final Fantasy VIII came out and everybody complained about it.
By MITCH KRPATA | April 06, 2010

Review: God of War III

New console, same game
What is Kratos so angry about — again? There used to be a good reason for his non-stop temper tantrums.
By MITCH KRPATA | April 01, 2010

Potatoes and a pennywhistle on Somerset Street

In the Garden
Drive south on Broad Street past the markets and churches, take a left on Somerset and there, in a clearing of raised garden beds behind a chain-link fence, you will find Phil Edmonds with his peas.
By ELIZABETH RAU | April 02, 2010

SXSW 2010: [Photos] 'Stache by 'Stache West

In pursuit of the hirsute at SXSW 2010
Photos of the great moustaches of SXSW 2010.
By K BONAMI | March 23, 2010

Geek icon

Jonathan Coulton talks PAX
A hurricane of pure video-game bliss is set to pummel Boston this weekend, as thousands of gamers converge on the Hynes Convention Center for the Penny Arcade Expo.
By SHAULA CLARK | June 19, 2010

SXSW 2010 (Wednesday): [Photos] Brahms, Trespassers William, Magic Magic

Plus Japanther, live at SXSW, March 17, 2010
Photos of Brahms, Trespassers William, Magic Magic, and Japanther, performing live at SXSW
By KELLY DAVIDSON | March 19, 2010

Review: Heavy Rain

A haunting thriller for PlayStation 3
Is Heavy Rain a game or a movie? Players have been asking the question since before its release.
By MITCH KRPATA | March 11, 2010

Review: BioShock 2

BioShock 2 dives under the surface
When Andrew Ryan said this to your player in BioShock , it was part of a plot twist of surprising power — about halfway through the game, you realized you'd been taking orders from your antagonist.
By MITCH KRPATA | February 24, 2010

Review: No More Heroes 2

Pain in the assassin
In the world of video games, one rule is ironclad: if a game is successful, there will be a sequel. Hell, sometimes if a game isn't successful, there will be a sequel.
By MITCH KRPATA | February 16, 2010

Review: Mass Effect 2

The good Shepard returns
Mass Effect 2 gives us the game we craved the first time around — the laborious load screens remain, but the bits in between are a breath of fresh air.
By MADDY MYERS | February 10, 2010

Crossword: ''Burns, Baby, Burns''

It's a growth industry.
Crossword results: February 5, 2010
By MATT JONES | February 03, 2010

Review: Army of Two: The 40th Day

One step forward, but Army of Two steps back
When I reviewed the original Army of Two , I found myself in the unfamiliar position of being the guy who liked something everybody else hated (as opposed the guy who hated something everybody else liked).
By MITCH KRPATA | January 27, 2010

Crossword: ''Special effects''

With a little extra thrown in
With a little extra thrown in
By MATT JONES | January 27, 2010

Makes sense to him

John Ashbery's Planisphere
So understood is John Ashbery's post at the top of the contemporary American poetry heap (a distinction these days with the cultural heft of a Scrabble championship) that the question of just how to read him seems doomed to languish beside the point. Detractors need only a pillow and a trusty alarm clock to approach Ashbery.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | January 12, 2010

Review: Bayonetta

Season of the witch
Here's the thing about Bayonetta : you have to take all of it, not just part.
By MITCH KRPATA | January 12, 2010

Super 8-Bit Brothers | Brawl

The End (2010)
It's easy to forget how annoying certain pop-culture artifacts were in their heyday.
By BARRY THOMPSON | January 13, 2010

Greatest video-game tragedies of the last decade

Zeroes from the Aughts
Here are some of our favorite anti-victories of the past 10 years, in rough chronological order.
By LASER ORGY | January 20, 2010

Review: The Saboteur

Pandemic Studios' swan song
When Pandemic Studios was shuttered on November 17, it seemed less another casualty of the economy than a mercy killing.
By MITCH KRPATA | January 06, 2010

Winter wonderland

Video games start the new year right
Do not adjust your calendar. Christmas has not been moved to March this year.
By MITCH KRPATA | January 04, 2010

A casket gets some airtime

Deadly
Bert Harlow, woodworker and founder of the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, Massachusetts, made his own casket a few years ago. But he figured the pine box should get some use before he was nailed into it.
By ABIGAIL CROCKER | December 30, 2009

2009: Year in video games

Swimming the mainstream
At the end of each year, there's the temptation to identify a common theme among the games that were released.
By MITCH KRPATA | December 22, 2009