Features & Analysis – Michael Iantorno

2 months ago

If You Don’t Like the Game, Change the Rules: Alternative Modes of Videogame Production

1 Min Read

04October

In the fast-paced world of video-game development, grueling crunch and toxic work environments have long been a problem. If You Don’t Like the Game, Change the Rules: Alternative Modes of Videogame Production is a research project facilitated by Game Arts International Network that studies how worker co-ops, unions, and other alternative working arrangements have emerged in response to...

March 1, 2022

Power Bombs and Glass Cannons: A Reflection on Metroid Dread

By Michael

9 Min Read

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01March

This is more of a personal reflection on Metroid: Dread rather than a review. I mention this off the top because I’m not claiming any sort of objectivity — my critiques of the game are firmly rooted in my ongoing love for Super Metroid and Metroid: Fusion. To put in bluntly: I’m judging Dread in comparison to two of the series strongest entries, which is unfair for innumerable reasons. As most of...

April 6, 2020

riddles_text_adventure: 3 Media Archaeological Perspectives

By Michael

46 Min Read

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06April

Our media archaeological journey began with a set of converging interests, sparked through class discussion in Darren Wershler’s Media Archaeology class. Beginning with a tentative conversation about the riddle structures of computer games, new ideas quickly emerged to form an amorphous constellation of media: participatory radio, role-playing gamebooks, cassette tapes, telephone role...

March 3, 2020

Media Archaeology Probe: 2-XL Robot + Echo 2-XL

By Michael

10 Min Read

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03March

This article is a media archaeological probe written for Dr Darren Wershler’s Media Archaeology graduate class at Concordia University. When I first encountered 2-XL, it had been relegated to an out-of-reach shelf above the repair counter at A&C Games in Toronto. Unsure of what to make of the device, the staff had adorned it with a baseball cap and positioned it high above the back area...

December 31, 2019

I Can’t Find The Words

By Michael

1 Min Read

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31December

I Can’t Find The Words is a prototype created for Mia Consalvo’s Games and/as Research-Creation graduate class at Concordia University. It explores the research question: “Can certain established videogame mechanics (namely, navigating 2D game space and speaking with NPCs) be co-opted to create an effective metaphor for the social anxiety caused by living with a speech impediment?” The prototype...

July 25, 2017

Risk Legacy: In Defense of a Disposable Board Game

By Michael

5 Min Read

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25July

Risk Legacy is a $50 board game that you’ll probably only play 15 times. If I had tried to sell you on that concept twenty years ago you probably would have laughed in my face. Board games have long been vaunted for their replay value and durability. If you grew up in the burbs, it’s likely you knew someone with a venerable iteration of Clue or a well-worn Monopoly set from fifties...

February 11, 2016

Here Be Monsters 2: Hell Breaks Loose

By Michael

4 Min Read

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11February

Always on the look-out for new gaming contests, my brother and I recently stumbled across Here Be Monsters 2: Hell Breaks Loose! HBM2 is a monster building contest which uses the Pathfinder RPG rule-set: something Matt and I are very well acquainted with. This year’s theme required us to design an evil monster spawned from the BOWELS OF HELL. Well, not quite that specific. But definitely...

January 28, 2016

Science Fiction, Robotics, and Body Anxiety

By Michael

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28January

Guess what? I’m posting more of my “work” work on the blog! This is a bit of an oddity – since my audio interviews are usually few and far between – but recently I had the chance to chat about sci-fi, disabilities, and technology with the knowledgeable Dr. Jeff Preston.A recurring theme in science fiction is placing a human mind into a robot, a virtual world, or...

CategoryFeatures & Analysis