NGai Croal's blog

3D-ing Is Believing

N'Gai Croal opens Pandora's box and thinks that the depths of 3D really do have something special to bring to videogames.

March 15, 2010

N'Gai Croal remembers the highlights of his first decade in gaming.

February 08, 2010

Modern Warfare 2's No Russian level isn't perfect, says N'Gai Croal, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from its successes and failures.

January 18, 2010

N'Gai Croal looks at how some games make him feel endangered and finds it's all just a matter of time.

December 15, 2009

Just how much do music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero owe to history, asks N'Gai Croal.

November 04, 2009

N'Gai Croal wonders whether the real battle of the current console generation wars is in interfaces, not silicon.

October 08, 2009

N'Gai Croal asks whether allowing players to set their own Achievements could take gaming into a new dimension.

September 09, 2009

After a stormy response to Nintendo's Demo Play patent, N'Gai Croal looks at the difficulties of difficulty.

August 18, 2009

Now the dust has truly settled, N'Gai Croal looks back at the announcements at this year's E3.

July 31, 2009

Apple has long had a troubled relationship with videogames, but iPhone's finally changing all that with its notion of play for play's sake.

July 06, 2009

Batman: Arkham Asylum Takes Best Game BAFTA

Rocksteady's dark knight takes two Video Games Awards and Uncharted 2 takes four, while Shigeru Miyamoto is honoured with an Academy Fellowship.
ELSPA renamed UK Interactive Entertainment Association

Members attending Extraordinary General Meeting vote for re-branding and to develop a new mission statement.
Switzerland Moves To Ban Violent Games

Legislation passes that may ultimately lead to ban on mature games.

The Friday Game: Keeping It Brief

Chris Donlan looks at Backbreaker Football, along with some of the other iPhone games that are slicing up sports.
GDC: Play As Excavation

IGF Nuovo finalist Ian Bogost on crafting games with meanings that players can interpret through play.
GDC: Mass Effect 2’s Subjective Story

Mass Effect 2's lead cinematic designer discusses his successes and failures in creating an interactive narrative.

Where Did You Go?

The shopping mall scene in Heavy Rain fails, for a simple reason: it’s no fun, argues Chris Dahlen.
3D-ing Is Believing

N'Gai Croal opens Pandora's box and thinks that the depths of 3D really do have something special to bring to videogames.
Words Are Cheap

Chris Dahlen meets the director of interactive fiction documentary Get Lamp and remembers how rich a world that only costs the time it takes to write it can be.

Time Extend: Space Channel 5: Part 2

How hot rhythm and high camp came together to perfectly express Sega’s magical difference.
Review: Dante's Inferno

Dante would only be delighted that his hellish visions should be inflicted on a new generation of sinners.
What Economic Crisis?

Despite an overall year-on-year drop for UK game industry revenues, individual retailers recorded growth in 2009.
Time Extend: Robotron 2084

Why do you love a game that refuses to love you back? Meet Robotron: 2084 – gaming’s earliest abusive relationship.
The Making Of: Gauntlet

How the rise of the home console led to the creation of an arcade gaming legend and the grandfather of Left 4 Dead.