Critical Mass: Easter Eggs & Riddles
April Is For Fools
It’s weird, now that I’ve mostly figured out my sleep issues, realizing how much more I’m able to get done. When I opened this blank page I thought “what have I even done this month?,” and then I was like “wait, those things all happened in the same month?”
VIDEO: Ready Player One Was Wrong - The First Easter Eggs In Video Games
Was it a mistake to frame this around Ready Player One? I thought the wider internet would get sucked in because people love hearing about mistakes, but instead it seems like they just complained about the movie and ignored the bigger revelations in the video. Still, I enjoyed the framing device, and maybe that’s all that matters?
ARTICLE: Moonlander - One Giant Leap For Game Design
There’s a trade-off between text essays and video essays, and that’s why this article exists. Video essays are great for showing a lot more visual content, like when I want to show you game footage while I explain a concept happening in the game footage. But when I want to talk about non-visual concepts, coming up with visuals to fill the space is tough. Maybe one day I’ll give in and do the film-myself-talking thing, but in the meantime…
ARTICLE: The Riddler Is Batman’s Greatest Rival
This was going to be a crossover with another site but didn’t quite work out, so I’d been sitting on it since late last year before posted both articles myself. Maybe it’ll get a bump as the movie release nears, or maybe my hot take is just too spicy!
ARTICLE: The Riddler Is Batman’s Greatest Revival
I thought I’d be cute and give the two parts rhyming titles like the ‘60s show used to do…but I think I only confused everyone, because who even remember that the two-part episodes had rhyming titles?
UPDATE: Rarely Seen ‘90s Carmen Sandiego Art By Bill Sienkiewicz
This is an older article, but I’ve updated it with more artwork that was sent to me by a fellow Bill Sienkiewicz fan!
Other Happenings
I was on an episode of the Video Game History Hour podcast.
I was on an episode of the Talking To Women About Videogames podcast.
Twitter Threads & Tangents
MAR17: How I Got Sharp Gameplay Footage Of Several Lost Games
APR05: The Struggle To Revive A Playable Version Of Moonlander
APR14: Me Poking Guinness About Updating Their World Records
APR15: How TV’s Webster Connects To Jaleco’s City Connection
APR29: The Real Reason Apple IIs WereSo Popular With Schools
Around The Internet
VIDEO: Patrick Explains Batman: The Movie (Patrick Willems)
My favorite Youtuber continues to crank out videos at a quick pace, but this was my favorite of the most recent ones because his opinions on ‘60s Batman are very similar to my Riddler article. But also, his history of Dick Tracy was fascinating.
VIDEO: Atari Bridge (Atari Archive)
Kevin Bunch’s Atari Archive series has reached that odd era of the 2600 where most of the games are ones people’s eyes gloss right over. “Bridge” was particularly interesting to me because I was curious why this game ever existed at all.
VIDEO: The Girl Games Of Lost Media (Bobdunga)
A video that takes you through every step of a search for overlooked lost games as thoroughly as possible.
ARTICLE: 50 Years Of Text Games
This is a weekly series that picks one text game for each year and explores it in depth. You should check it out!
ARTICLE: The Ratings Game (Digital Antiquarian)
A history of video game controversies, though you should really read this entire blog if you haven’t already, it’s incredible.
ARTICLE: Worldly Wednesday (They Create Worlds)
Alex Smith has been updating his blog with annotations to his amazing book They Create Worlds.
ARTICLE: How Games Became More Than Score (History Of How We Play)
Ethan Johnson explores the concept of progression in arcade games.
TRANSCRIPTS: Video Game Pioneers Oral History Collection
Do you like oral histories? Here’s a whole archive of ones newly made public.
That’s all for this installment. As always, you can support my research on Patreon.