Recent content by Leigh Alexander

Dating Sims Get Real A dating sim that includes the chase. Read Full Article

Catherine's Complex View of Commitment Leigh Alexander celebrates how Catherine moves beyond boobs to address the genuine complexity of modern relationships. Read Full Article

Memory Lane The winking-pixel simplicity of the first Street Fighter and Final Fantasy games may seem primitive compared to the elaborate production values and blockbuster status of recent installments in the series. But as Leigh Alexander recalls it, a healthy dose of imagination was all it...

I liked this article, but I think some of the comparisons don't necessarily hold up. Powerpuff Girls is hugely influenced by mahoushojou anime, and to a large extent is something of a parody thereof. It's also a comedy, while Japan's magical-girl stories are intended, most usually, as action...

Not really a fan either, but for some reason lots of the anime series I watch seem to become popular with yaoi fans, so I come across it often. And the thing that I catch most often that people seem to like isn't overt sexual interaction -- it looks to me like a big part of yaoi's draw is to see...

Geez, I hope you don't end up marrying her. She's chronically late and doesn't respect your interests, and you're passively-aggressively expressing your irritation by making her wait for you while you play games. It sounds like you have no respect for each other! Good luck, mang.

So let me guess -- your roommates don't wake up until noon, and watch TV in the afternoon in a stupor, and you feel bad about playing games? I definitely agree that the problem here isn't your gaming behavior, but your level of self-actualization. I was very surprised when you mentioned you...

Midgar is Burning "Then, a funny thing began to happen: As their personifications of beloved characters became more absolute, they rarely spoke out-of-character at all. Those one- or two-word action descriptors became increasingly elaborate. ... In real life, they were mostly teenagers and...

We Always Play Videogames "We'd have paper plates full of Hanukkah cookies, butter treats in holiday shapes and crusted with blue sugar, as our game fuel; we'd send my sister on missions to bring more sweets, assuring her of the vital importance of her role - if we didn't have cookies, how...

:) Thank you very, very much.

Whoa, this thread sure blew up! I just wanted to tell you guys that this kind of discussion around something I wrote is exactly what I was hoping for, and I wanted to thank everyone for thinking critically and passionately about the subject matter. Be nice!

It would be rather odd to write about it if I'd never had experience with it, wouldn't it?

Oh, thank you, Darkpen. Interesting to hear there were things like that on IRC, too. It's funny; males and females generally had distinctly different approaches to the experience. It's worth noting that there was an equal population of males and females, and the girls were the ones writing...

Midgar is Burning "Then, a funny thing began to happen: As their personifications of beloved characters became more absolute, they rarely spoke out-of-character at all. Those one- or two-word action descriptors became increasingly elaborate. ... In real life, they were mostly teenagers and...

Growing Up Gamer "Dad played Zaxxon, Donkey Kong and Centipede; I evolved into obscure text-parser adventure games. We put our heads together on titles of the early 16-bit console era; I'd call him at work (often to his consternation) to tell him when I'd cleared a new level in Keith Courage in...