How Games Screw Up Moral Choices

My latest article was inspired by Infamous: Second Son, a game I have yet to play but, from what I’ve seen and read, features moral choices.  Just like its two predecessors, Second Son will have moments where the player has to choose whether to be good or bad, which should impact the narrative, the character, and the gameplay.  So I took it upon myself to explain why moral choices are crap.

“Good and evil morality systems are a bad idea. By their very nature, they’re self-defeating: creating dull simplistic characters, being overly reductive and passing judgment on complex moral issues, and pushing players to forgo their actual preferences and align solely with one side.”

Read more by clicking here and, if you want, you can follow me on Twitter at @cam_wade37 where I rant endlessly about Metal Gear Solid.

The Last Tinker: City of Colors Preview: Punch With All the Colors

This week I got to take an early look at The Last Tinker: City of Colors, an absolutely charming 3D action-adventure game that’s bursting at the seams with color.

“I’m interested to see how the simple gameplay transforms over The Last Tinker‘s approximately eight hours, but the big standout in my hour or so with the game was the world of Colortown. Everything feels so vibrant, so tactile and textured. Paper is peeling off of an old inn. Wind chimes are made of cardboard. NPCs are colorful and expressive, talking like Banjo-Kazooie characters. The world is all the more impressive considering Mimimi Productions is comprised of just 11 people.”

If you have any fondness for the classic PS2 action-platformers like Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, or Jak and Daxter, or you’re sick of your games being a mix between brown, gray, or brownish-gray keep your eye on The Last Tinker.  It’s coming to Windows, Mac, and Linux this summer.

Click here to check the preview out, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @cam_wade37 to get tweets like, “You don’t have to buy a game just because it’s on sale.  You don’t have to buy a game just because it’s on sale.  You don’t have to buy…”