by Cole Henry | Jun 9, 2020 | Features, Video Games
I can kickflip in real life. I can also ollie down a five-stair. What I can’t do is kickflip down a five-stair! Every time I’ve given it a go, it has always ended with some part of my body bloodied and/or scraped after an all-too-personal meeting with the pavement. Falling is a big part of skateboarding, and learning how to fall is one of the most important aspects of ensuring that your time with skateboarding is longer rather than shorter. Skateboarding is an exercise in pushing against gravity with concrete and metal. The concrete and metal always win, but sometimes a skater can work with them to cheat gravity and land a trick—an endeavor that can often feel like a war of attrition; small steps towards progress that are punctuated by often hard slams. Through accepting that one’s body can only take so much punishment and the humbling fact that most of us will never go pro, we must accept our boundaries. (more…)
Cole Henry works as a copywriter by day and writes about games by day, too, or night, or whenever he gets the chance to do so, really. He still plays way too much Skate 3 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. He can be found on Twitter @colehenry19.
by Alenka Figa | Jun 1, 2020 | Features, Tabletop Games
Welcome back to Greenlight This, You Cowards! A series about TTRPG podcasts we love and media adaptations that we want. In the first installment, I pitched the wonderful Dames & Dragons as a dating sim. Now, in this harrowing time of pandemic, I have been turning to these podcasts for a bit of much-needed escapism. The wilder and more outrageous the podcast, the better the distraction, and no podcast keeps listeners on their toes like Queer Dungeoneers—which is why I think it would make a perfect Avatar: the Last Airbender-style fantasy cartoon! (more…)
Alenka Figa is a queer librarian obsessed with D&D podcasts that have solid queer rep. She frequently tweets about them @alenkafiga. Catch her reviews of zines and indie comics over at Women Write About Comics.
by Alenka Figa | May 26, 2020 | Features, Lists, Tabletop Games
Found Familiar is a small coffee roaster with artwork and blends inspired by fantasy worlds and roleplaying games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. Enraptured by the stories behind the coffee and the fantastic art gracing the bags, librarian and noted coffee consumer Alenka Figa and former barista Kate Lyons ordered a selection of the three most enticing coffees and sat down with a webcam and a french press. Together, we split a bag of Fey Step, a Guatemalan medium roast; Rogue Panache, a Peruvian blonde roast; and Thieves’ Cant, a secret blend of beans that varies in roast and origin. Armed with Alenka’s good taste and Kate’s caffeine dependency, it was time to drink.
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Alenka Figa is a queer librarian obsessed with D&D podcasts that have solid queer rep. She frequently tweets about them @alenkafiga. Catch her reviews of zines and indie comics over at Women Write About Comics.
by Jameson Hampton | May 4, 2020 | Features, Fiction, Video Games
This is a piece of fiction written from the perspective of Orville, the dodo who works at the airport desk in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Orville never leaves the 24-hour airport, but he sees me often as I jetset to my friends’ islands—and he sees the strange parade of my colorfully-dressed friends as they fly in to visit me. Being able to hang out with friends virtually is a comfort for me and many others during this trying time and has contributed to the major phenomenon that New Horizons has become. It occurred to me that Orville and the other denizens of the Animal Crossing world aren’t burdened by the same real-world troubles as we are, but they’re still witnessing the way they’ve affected the parts of the game I value. (more…)
by Wendy Browne | Apr 28, 2020 | Features, Video Games
Animal Crossing is not the game for me, which is why I paid no attention to the goings on around the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. But two weeks into social distancing with my 14-year old, and I decided that this is indeed the perfect game for this situation.
To be clear, I still have not played this game myself and my understanding of it is limited. My knowledge is relegated to memes, passing comments and tweets from friends, and what I can glean from the mind-piercing shrieks that come from my daughter’s room when something good or bad occurs. She frequently brings her Switch to me to show off some new accomplishment (she took me on a museum tour recently), laments about her wasp stings, visits friends, and designs outfits based on her favourite show, Bee and Puppycat.
Based on her interactions and the internet buzz, I understand that it is a good, sweet way to pass the time, but little did I know that it could also teach my child to be a responsible, financially literate person. (more…)
Mother, geek, executive assistant sith, gamer, writer, lazy succubus, blogger, bibliophile. Not necessarily in that order.
by E. Forney | Apr 16, 2020 | Features, Video Games
We are coming up on completing our first full month in our virtual retreat from the world—Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Being a cabal of many fascinating, talented folks, we’ve amassed quite a collection of strange and wonderful creations using the game’s customization features. Here to share their creations with you are E. Forney, Emily Durham, and Nola Pfau, each of whom take a unique and wonderful approach to crafting the getaway of their dreams. (more…)
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