Full Width Masonry Blog

Exploring contemporary archaeology with The Last of Us

November 7, 2019By Franki WebbBlog Posts, In Depth

(Warning: This article is about the Naughty Dog The Last of Us, it contains narrative and ending spoilers) The Last of Us shows human society severely decimated by the Cordyceps infection, a fungal pathogen that attacks insects but manages to jump onto human hosts. Metaphorical in nature the infected represent “the dying remnants of a … Read More

Field Reports – Cheating the Past

April 15, 2019By Bram van den HoutBlog Posts, Field Reports Welcome to the latest Field Reports! We've got announcements, we've got memes, we've got games!The only thing we don't have, is time to actually play those games! Someone please finish writing my article for me so I can play through Prey. After that, I can FINALLY start Sekiro and see what all this fuss is [...] Read More

Streaming the Past: Halloween Bone-Anza!

October 31, 2018By Dr. RandomStreaming the Past Watch VALUE's Special Halloween Bone-anza! We are joined by Jessica Palmer and Hayley Mickleburgh, two people you absolutely want at your side in the coming zombie apocalypse. Why? They know more about the anatomy of dead bodies than any soul alive or undead! In this yearly Halloween edition of Streaming the Past, we play a [...] Read More

Games We Dig — Holedown

October 22, 2018By Dr. RandomBlog Posts, Games We Dig

During TIPC2, Mata Haggis-Burridge discussed how games have relatively few verbs available that allow us to interact with the past. This made me think… We shoot, we maim, we strategize, we “press X to pay Respects”, but only rarely do we dig. Which is a pity, because digging can be a lot of fun! Case … Read More

Culture Arcade Sneak Preview: Mulaka

August 15, 2018By Dr. RandomBlog Posts, Stratigraph The Culture Arcade is coming soon, with a ton of great games on display! Can't wait? Why not watch Megalithic, Caeda and Dr. Random play through and discuss the first two hours of Mulaka, a 3D action-adventure game based on the rich indigenous culture of the Tarahumara Explore the cosmological landscape of northern Mexico Megalithic [...] Read More

Field Report – Emulating the Past: Piracy or Preservation?

August 15, 2018By Bram van den HoutField Reports Why shutting down ROM websites is a mistake Oh man, remember that game from your childhood that you used to play so much? Yeah, the one with the swords, colourful animals, and the jumping and what-not! You should replay that, it’s going to be so much fun! But wait, your parents sold off your old [...] Read More

An In-Depth Discussion on the Death of A Tree

August 6, 2018By VALUEBlog Posts, In Depth It's summer, the season when gaming life can seem to go on uneventfully for days or weeks. However, sometimes things happen to shake-up these doldrums. Sometimes, it's a thing that ripples out from the game and makes its way to the news pages of the world wild web. If it has anything to do with [...] Read More

Streaming the Past: One More Turn 10

August 3, 2018By Krijn BoomStreaming the Past Watch Episode 10 of the VALUE "One More Turn" series, in which Dr. Random and Ymir play Civilization VI and discuss the game and its relation to world history, as well as anything else that comes to mind really. Trigger warning for academics talking, punning, “strategizing”, and spouting left-leaning opinions. Episode 10: We Are Rich! [...] Read More

Interactive Pasts