TychoCelchuuu Posted December 11, 2012 Perhaps you've heard of thecatamites (or alternatively this website?), either from the various mentions on Rock Paper Shotgun, Venus Patrol's story, or one of thecatamite's unforgettable games, like Murder Dog IV: The Trial of Murder Dog ( ). Or maybe you have no idea who the fuck thecatamites is.Who cares! What's important is that now we have game reviews from thecatamites popping up on this tumblr (although the latest post is Auguste Blanqui's "Eternity Through the Stars" for some reason). And the reviews are amazing. But don't take my word for it! Game development superstar and Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight Team Leader JP "The Breton" LeBreton says that "Game reviews by thecatamites are the most important thing to happen to games writing in the past 5 years. Not kidding." while linking to this gem. I'm inclined to agree, and I was pushed to make this post and evangelize in the style of JP after having just read this peerless work of art. I've been on a kick of reading games writing recently for a few reasons, and it's so incredibly refreshing to read something that's not a hastily "researched" copy and paste job shoved under a provocative headline designed to get people angry or confused enough to read the article to a sufficient degree that they might click the flash ad next to it. I want thecatamites to review all games, forever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
youmeyou Posted December 11, 2012 Thanks for this. You're right, it's very refreshing material. Love that he occasionally reviews things that aren't games. Threw me for a second. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Noyb Posted December 11, 2012 What is a game? Professor M. Mouse of Texas, America claims that the word game denotes "the historical process by which the term game has been characterised and understood".Easy for you to say, Professor!! Those of us with a more down-home approach to codifying the various aspects of a nebulous and unbearable human condition prefer to go by a simpler definition, thus. A game is some combination of the following indivisable elements: - skeleton - red key - score thing - magic door If you see something that looks like a Video game but isn't, you should notify the Police. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted December 11, 2012 That's definitely the best definition of What Is Game since Idle Thumbs discussed this a few episodes ago (via [url=[url=http://harmonyzone.org/video games.html]thecatamites' website[/url). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted April 14, 2013 Ugh these are so good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nachimir Posted April 14, 2013 Thank you for bumping this, I'd forgotten he was writing again. A game is some combination of the following indivisable elements:- skeleton- red key- score thing- magic door Michael Brough put all of those in Corrypt . This happened just after Proteus was released too. And then there's this, the sentiment of which I think is at the heart of the current formalist/zinester row, but need to think about more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chummer Posted April 18, 2013 And then there's this, the sentiment of which I think is at the heart of the current formalist/zinester row, but need to think about more. Would it be valuable to start a new thread on Koster's recent essay response to Leigh Alexander's tweets, or get it going here, as it falls within the realm of criticism and such? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nachimir Posted April 18, 2013 This is pretty much where I've ended up with it:http://twitter.com/infinite_ammo/status/324784218695680000 Edit: Or at least, the other thoughts I've had on it are nothing to do with what games are and instead about what we do with them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chummer Posted April 19, 2013 This is pretty much where I've ended up with it: http://twitter.com/infinite_ammo/status/324784218695680000 Edit: Or at least, the other thoughts I've had on it are nothing to do with what games are and instead about what we do with them. I haven't read Koster's Theory of Fun nor Aunte Pixelante's Rise of the Zinesters, so anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the latter's complaint would be that they're being ghettoized into a non-game category. (Apologies if I'm characterizing this argument incorrectly.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juv3nal Posted April 19, 2013 also relevant: http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2013/04/a-letter-to-letter.html?m=1 http://www.mattiebrice.com/triptychs/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nachimir Posted April 19, 2013 I haven't read Koster's Theory of Fun nor Aunte Pixelante's Rise of the Zinesters, so anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the latter's complaint would be that they're being ghettoized into a non-game category. (Apologies if I'm characterizing this argument incorrectly.)To an extent, I think it's about that for some people. Many designers just don't give a fuck about that at all though. I think some of it is also about game development culture rather than what games are, i.e. entire classes of people struggle to have a voice through games, and defining their output as non-games can be seen as another way of marginalising them. That's the case outside development too; I think Robert Fearon nailed it when he said the "No thanks" button on Greenlight is more of a "GET OFF MY LAWN!" button. I'm not saying all of the above is the case, and definitely not that it's a deliberate, conscious attempt by those labelling themselves as formalists to exclude others, but it's definitely very complicated and about more than what games are. In the midst of that, a bunch of people have decided to just carry on making interesting stuff and not worry about it. I think to an extent this is people arguing over the term "game" because it's the juiciest one, somewhat like academics who study emotion competing over that word and not wanting their field or what they specifically study labelled with "affect", "feeling", "mood" etc., because they're less juicy and immediately understandable terms. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chummer Posted April 20, 2013 To an extent, I think it's about that for some people. Many designers just don't give a fuck about that at all though. This seems to be the 'Zinester' postion. The essays juv3nal linked to by Robert Yang and Mattie Brice seem totally find with not defining 'game' and letting people explore it in new ways and from new ways. The problem seems to be that Formalists want to give hard definitions- like Tadhg Kelly here- and marginalize those fringe experiments even more. On that note: So, I think, starting May, I'm going to do as much as possible to never use the word 'game' ever again. There.- Mattie Brice Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted April 24, 2013 "some banjo kazooie level: “the last year at marienbad of video games” - a1reviews as quoted on kotaku dot com Whither video games conference and buffet" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Roderick Posted April 24, 2013 Last Year at Marienbad is the Citizen Kane of video game/movie industry standard analogies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Argobot Posted April 25, 2013 Related (?): Darius Kazemi has the best response to the formalist vs zinester debate http://tinysubversions.com/game/formalism/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chummer Posted April 29, 2013 Related (?): Darius Kazemi has the best response to the formalist vs zinester debate http://tinysubversions.com/game/formalism/ Yeah, this is pretty good. At the risk of staying on the thread's topic, it seems like the A1 Reviews tumblr has been destroyed. All the links to it here are broken and it has disappeared from my feed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted April 30, 2013 When a tumblr changes its username (which is trivially easy to do) it breaks all the links so I hope that this is what happened and not like, some sort of disappearance. Do you see any unfamiliar tumblrs on your feed? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chummer Posted April 30, 2013 No unfamiliar ones. There's only a handful that I follow and it seems to have straight up disappeared. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Noyb Posted May 8, 2013 Interview with thecatamites over at Gamejolt, in which he talks about his inspirations, creative process, and confirms that he deleted a1 reviews in a fit of self-loathing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chummer Posted May 8, 2013 Interview with thecatamites over at Gamejolt, in which he talks about his inspirations, creative process, and confirms that he deleted a1 reviews in a fit of self-loathing. What a weird, hilarious, dude. Hope he keeps doing what he does. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted May 10, 2013 I found an archive (via this interview) happily. Reminds me of Virgil asking people to burn The Aeneid after he died. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted May 25, 2013 Better archive now up. Thank goodness. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chummer Posted May 25, 2013 Better archive now up. Thank goodness. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TychoCelchuuu Posted May 30, 2013 thecatamites is back on twitter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Leego Posted June 3, 2013 That Twitter account appears to have disappeared now, after accusations of deceit and fakery were levelled against it but there is a new thecatamites game about fishing. It's called Lake of Roaches http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/lake-of-roaches/15060/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites