#BiWeek: A Roundtable about Bisexuality in Video Games

#BiWeek: A Roundtable about Bisexuality in Video Games

Mid-September doesn’t just mark a change in seasons, leaf colors, and Starbucks orders: it also means #BiWeek, a celebration of bisexuality and bi+ sexualities! This year, the Sidequest team decided to consider bisexuality in video games. (more…)

Grow Up: Gone Home is Wonderfully, Perfectly YA

Grow Up: Gone Home is Wonderfully, Perfectly YA

Grow Up is a series in which I evaluate whether games called young adult actually fit the definition and exploring why that matters.

Gone Home was really the inspiration for this column. It’s a critical darling—when it was released back in 2013, it was everywhere. At the time, it was like few other games out there; you didn’t play the hero, it revolved around two queer teenage girls, and it was more interested in exploration and atmosphere than traditional game mechanics. By virtue of being new and different (and kicking off the explosion of walking simulators), it was impossible not to talk about. (more…)

Makin’ WooHoo: The Sims and My Sexual Awakening

Makin’ WooHoo: The Sims and My Sexual Awakening

Back in the days before I played Dragon Age or Mass Effect, before I knew what a dating sim was or had any idea that games could represent relationships more complexly than Mario and Peach, I had The Sims. (more…)

MARVEL Avengers Academy: More Style than Substance

MARVEL Avengers Academy: More Style than Substance

MARVEL Avengers Academy

TinyCo, Inc.
Android/iOS
February 4, 2016

If you’re a Marvel fan and a mobile gamer, there’s a good chance that you were eagerly anticipating TinyCo’s Avengers Academy. It’s been out for a few weeks now, and has experienced some ups and downs as feedback from fans has been rolling in. The general consensus, and one I agree with, is that the game is more style than substance, and that the gamemakers seem to have misjudged their audience on a few key points, but that it’s not completely without merit, depending on your gaming habits.

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