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GameGeneration, a Korean game criticism webzine, is a magazine that seeks to be lighter than a journal and heavier than a popular magazine. GameGeneration, which explores the social context of contemporary digital games from a critical perspective, is published bimonthly and has an English-language page for overseas readers.
Jisu Kim
25. 4. 10.
![[Interview] The Story of Digital Game Diversity & Accessibility and Making Books About it – Kyung-jin Lee, Diversity & Inclusion Director at Smilegate](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d03518_a46e9767a9d54462aa065e8aba26d39d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_265,h_140,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
In August 2024, Smilegate – one of the best-known South Korean game developers & publishers, published two books aimed at game developers, focusing on game accessibility and diversity. The first book, “게임 접근성 개념과 사례 (Concepts and Cases of Game Accessibility)”, explores the concept and current state of accessibility and diversity in South Korean games and case studies. It also delves deep into design approaches to ensure all players can fully enjoy games without restrictions. Smilegate’s second book, “콘텐츠 다양성 개념과 사례(Concepts and Cases of Content Diversity)”, introduces the idea of "cultural diversity" and examines how it has been implemented in South Korean media and games.
Phan Quang Anh
25. 4. 10.
![[Paper Seminar] The Legacy Goes On: Wuxia and its impact seen in the gaming landscape of Vietnam](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d03518_4b0369afd0174b45ae317d4074535767~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_265,h_140,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
Wuxia represents the martial arts and fantasy literary subgenre that dominates East Asian and Southeast Asian cultures (Chen, 2009), especially where Chinese-speaking societies are founded, or the trace of Chinese culture is recorded. The Chinese martial arts and heroics of ancient times take place in wuxia stories that have expanded into various media such as literature and movies and television programming. Wuxia under its local names kiếm hiệp and truyện chưởng has established itself as an important cultural phenomenon in Vietnam. Wuxia fiction introduced in Vietnam during the early 20th century experienced various historical transitions through print media and online gaming until reaching its current state. The current wuxia content in Vietnamese video games will be examined through an investigation of how wuxia originated historically from its literary heritage. This article has the life course approach and concepts like nostalgia and cultural proximity recruited to study the influence of early wuxia experiences on current gaming choices in Vietnam.
Marc Lajeunesse
25. 4. 10.
If you’re a video game enthusiast born after the year 2000, chances are good that you grew up with relatively easy access to video game media. Though gaming still maintains some of its countercultural reputation, it has simultaneously become a facet of mainstream culture, and the sheer volume of player-produced video game content has done a lot of legwork to keep our favorite games alive in our eyes and ears long after we’ve signed off for the night. For even some of the most obscure games, it feels like there is a limitless amount of game content available for players to consume without even needing to play. Video gaming’s cultural spaces now weave in and out of games, online communities, and numerous digital platforms like Steam and Discord.
Mạnh Toàn Hồ
25. 2. 10.
Since 2020, customers buying a new iPhone no longer have a charger included in the box. According to Apple, this omission was aimed at reducing packaging waste as well as e-waste. The company explained that this move means it has to consume fewer raw materials for each iPhone sold, and it also allows for a smaller retail box, which means 70 percent more units can fit on a single shipping pallet, thereby reducing carbon emissions (Calma, 2020).
Solip Park
24. 10. 10.
While some critics pointed out similarities between Kart Rider and Nintendo’s Mario Kart series, this controversy did not concern its players, especially the young kids already enjoying the game—myself included. Kart Rider marked a pivotal moment in Nexon’s history, peaking at 200,000 concurrent players (in a country of 50 million people), dominating the PC-bang market, and reaching 10 million registered accounts in 2005, within just a year of its release. In 2023, after 18 years of service, Kart Rider was replaced by its sequel, Kart Rider: Drift, though the reception to this successor has been mixed and is still unable to surpass the legacy of its predecessor.
Kim Gyuri
24. 8. 10.
“Lies of P” (Neowiz, 2023) takes place in Krat, a fictional city inspired by the Belle Époque period in Europe. One of the game’s NPCs (non-player characters), Eugénie, is portrayed as an outsider from a distant country east of Krat. She claims to come from the so-called ‘country of the morning,’ with a visual character design that resembles East Asian ethnic groups. Perhaps this character’s story was inspired by the Joseon Dynasty, a kingdom that existed on the Korean peninsula from the 14th to 19th century, which was typified as the “Land of Morning Calm” in the West around the 18th century based on the loose translation of the country’s name in Chinese characters (朝鮮).
Aska Mayer
24. 8. 10.
The dark hallway I walk through seems to be deserted. I can only hear my own steps and the eerie soundscape of the cranking metal pipes surrounding me, and can barely see what lays beyond the light of my flashlight. I’m afraid, as I don’t know if something is waiting in the shadows for me. As I enter the next room, I hear heavy breathing and as the light catches a mutilated body, in between the dead and living, I feel my stomach contract from disgust.
Marc Lajeunesse
24. 8. 10.
In my personal gaming history I have two distinct memories of fear. The first time I was truly scared while playing a game was during the first Resident Evil in what has become a notorious scene from the game. Though at the time Resident Evil felt more like a slower action game than a horror game, there was one key moment when the player walks down a hallway when suddenly one dog, then another bursts through the windows from the outside causing fright, disorientation, and panic. This is an example of a pretty standard jump scare in games (and other media), and though it did frighten me at that moment, I didn’t carry any greater fear of those dogs and what they represented beyond a slightly heightened anxiety while I walked the halls of Spencer Mansion.
KyungHyuk Lee
24. 4. 10.
In Korean gamer communities, there's this saying about playing games from the Steam library: "Back then, we never paid to play the game. Nowadays, we never play despite paying the game." The phrase sarcastically highlights the contrast between the game market back in the 80s-90s, when no one actually paid a fair price for video games with the abundance of pirated and copied games in Korea, compared to now with digital game distribution channels when people do not play the game despite after purchase.
Solip Park
24. 2. 10.
If we were to choose two of the most talked-about RPG games in 2023, many would agree to pick <Starfield> (Bethesda Game Studios, 2023) and <Baldur’s Gate 3> (Larian Studios, 2023). It appears that gamers generally favor <Baldur’s Gate 3> over <Starfield> due to disappointing elements in its game design, despite it still managing to achieve good sales records thanks to the developers’ publicity. The game seems to have demonstrated the limitations of the so-called Bethesda-style RPG games, whereas <Baldur’s Gate 3> was praised for its rich interactivity and engaging role-playing elements. Some claim that this Belgium-made game has made a new mark in the RPG genre, listing it as one of the most critically acclaimed RPGs of 2023 alongside The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo, 2023).
Solip Park
23. 12. 10.
Constraints can become stepping stones to innovation. The disproportionate market attention towards integrating blockchain technology into games is perhaps stemming from people’s desire to overcome the current constraints. Here, the idea of combining blockchains and games can be examined from two perspectives: First, exploring the intention behind advocating for this change, and second, discussing why such a change is deemed necessary at this time. Combining the findings from these two would allow us to acquire a comprehensive view of this matter and thus enable critical reflections on what the innovation could bring to our future.
Cortney Blamey
23. 10. 10.
Games are inherently social. In the wake of MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) in the late 1970s to MMORPGs in the early 90s, playing games has been heralded as an opportunity to socialise and be social - antithetical to the usual “loner” gamer stereotype that is so pervasive in popular media. More recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, games offered a pre-existing framework for keeping in touch and hanging out with friends when regions in Canada and the U.S. were facing mandatory lockdowns and curfews to stem the infection rates. Many turned to their headsets and keyboards to play games and catch up with friends when they could not see them face-to-face. However, a caveat to being a social space, is the potential for anti-social behaviours. This is not formed in the lack of socialising, a typical tenant of being anti-social, but rather in the deploying of modes of communication to have a different kind of social “fun”.
Minha Kim
23. 10. 10.
We once thought that the era of Donald Trump had come to an end, but it appears it hasn't. While Trump may have lost the election, his supporters' enthusiasm remains robust. What fuels this enduring energy? Moreover, is the driving force behind Trump's rise aligned with traditional 'American' values or does it run counter to them? It's worth recalling that Trump's campaign slogan was 'Make America Great Again'. Yet, years later, when President Joe Biden won the election after a vigorous anti-Trump campaign, he declared his presidential message as 'America is back.' So, which vision truly represents 'America' – Trump's or Biden's?
Dowon Seo
23. 8. 10.
![[Interview] Bringing the sense of presence into esports – what and how: Yeong-seung Ham, Program Director at Riot Games.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d03518_d9d5b18aed8647afaca510fa220b6dba~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_265,h_140,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
The feeling of being part of the crowd is a powerful experience. In traditional sports, this empowering moment is known as "hyeonjang-gam," which can be translated as the "feeling of presence." Despite technological advancements and high-speed internet that allow us to watch sports matches remotely from home, many fans still choose to visit the on-site venue to immerse themselves in the passion, sweat, tears, cheers, and chanting that cannot be fully transmitted through a screen. Some become fans of a sports team after experiencing an engaging moment at the stadium, chanting alongside a group of people. Even in esports, numerous fans have missed spectating digital game matches at physical on-site stadiums during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Marc Lajeunesse
22. 4. 10.
Lost Ark and the Impression of Korean Games from the Western Perspective On February 11th, 2022 after three days of early access, Lost Ark officially released in the west to over one million players. Produced by Smilegate, a Korean developer, and distributed in the west by Amazon Game Studios, the release of Lost Ark is an opportunity to consider the impression that Korean games have made among western audiences. Despite several successful Korean games launching in the West over the last 20 years, the idea of a ‘Korean game’ hasn’t really taken hold in the public consciousness of western players in the same way Japanese games have dominated the gaming landscape. Through a combination of Lost Ark’s management, the engagement of high-profile content creators, and the role of the Korean Lost Ark community in helping the game succeed among the western playerbase, Lost Ark is in a unique position to configure western player expectations about what a Korean game can be.
Ida Jørgensen
22. 2. 10.
How we talk about a medium reveals a lot about who we consider its target audience or user and what purposes we attribute to their engagement with the medium. The public discourse on digital games in both Europe and North America, have for many years been characterized by the idea, that digital games was, roughly speaking, for young, teenage boys, who spend hours upon hours painted by the luminescence of the computer screen and immersed in mindless entertainment. This was of course never true.
jian deng (邓剑)
21. 8. 10.
This article looks to the 8 bit gaming history in China to illuminate the Chinese gaming industry of today, one that earned 2786.87 billion yuan in 2020 (GPC et al. ) . While becoming the world's largest game market, Chinese gaming industry has also attracted worldwide attention. However, despite our fascination with the great success of the Chinese gaming industry in the 21st century, we should not forget the road ahead. Looking back on the early challenges that China's 8 bit gaming industry ever faced is an essential prerequisite for us to understand the industry’s current success. Therefore, this paper will analyze the Chinese 8 bit game and its history.
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