The DeanBeat: What does video game history mean to you?
I’m about to co-write another video game history book: volume 2 of The Ultimate History of Video Games. My friend Steven Kent wrote the...
The DeanBeat: A tragic but almost necessary meltdown for the game industry
It was a tragic week for the industry. Women in the game industry, fed up with sexual assault, rape, and abuse, named a half-dozen...
A life in game journalism
Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I thought I would do something different for a holiday message this year. It’s based on a talk I...
Game Boss interview: Zoe Quinn’s Crash Override Network fights online abuse
As we noted in part one of our interview, Zoe Quinn endured an appalling amount of Internet hatred related to the Gamergate controversy. In response, she...
Game Boss interview: How Zoe Quinn survived Gamergate and lived to fight Internet hate
In August 2014, Zoe Quinn found herself under the Eye of Sauron. The reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s evil character with a searing, burning eye...
The DeanBeat: Our growing piles of video game shame
My Cuphead social storm lasted about eight days. During that time, gamers near and far criticized me for playing a demo of the upcoming...
Esports’ future is female
The esports industry is one of the fastest growing segments in sports and entertainment, on pace to generate as much as $5 billion in...
The DeanBeat: Farewell to #Gamergate
The #Gamergate controversy began in August 2014, when a former boyfriend of game developer Zoë Quinn shared a long post about their relationship, one that...
Indie designer Zoe Quinn to developers: You can code comedy, too
During her GDC 2015 session, indie designer Zoe Quinn discussed how looking at comedy as the same kind of two-way input structure as most design elements could lead to a wider spread of funny games.
The DeanBeat: The game industry’s struggle with light and darkness
GDC brought some feelings of hope to the future of gaming.