Shane Burkholder

writer and game designer

Technocapitalist Messiah

I’ve just watched Steve Jobs. Yes, the movie from 4 years ago depicting Jobs’ rise from the humble hanger-on of Wozniak’s demonstrably more innovative coattails to cultural entity that devoted most of his life to obfuscating the fact that he used to be just some fuckwad. My derision and special disdain for Steve Jobs and […]

Continue Reading

What Happens When They Give Up?

It is important to note the chief similarity between main and side characters. That is, at any point, a main character might become a side character and vice versa. Their lives could stop. This is what helps them achieve personhood, this imagining them as people with control over their lives and not bound to some […]

Continue Reading

Interuptions of Inference

It’s important not to interrupt yourself, but it’s even more important not to interrupt the other person. In writing or in speaking, interruptions can be disastrous. Reading isn’t any different, and the dialogue writers hold with their readers is (or should be) as sacrosanct as that which we might have with a friend or close […]

Continue Reading

The New Metric

Increasingly I feel like the only number that matters in game reviews is not the Metacritic score, but the amount of hours the player can sink into the game. There are as many AAA heavy-hitters in this category as there are indie games. A game can have the most beautiful environments, the most intuitive gameplay, […]

Continue Reading