Aguas' Points

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Friendslop = FriendlessSlop Or: Will We Ever Lock Eyes When We Play Again?
Aug 3, 2026 · original
“In Gamespace, the very possibility of utopia is foreclosed.” – McKenzie Wark, Gamer Theory Our world is a gamespace where many of life’s aspects are playable. In this world where labor, learning and even relationships are gamified, video games are no longer as novel a medium as they were a decade ago. Currently modern games toil in a tug of war between the social and the solitaire. This contradiction is on display through the prevalence of so-called friendslop. More isolating than other alternatives, friendslop collapses solitary and social forms of play, into a vibe (it could hardly be called an aesthetic)—a further diluted experience from what came before. It is virtual sociability done in isolation turning us into subjects who play alone even when we play with others. Friendslop augments the contradiction essential to inhabiting the virtual world. “You are a gamer whether you like it
Pause & Select Vs. Aguas’ Points: Cultural Studies Media Mix Sing Along
Jun 13, 2025 · original
The nexus between video games and other forms of media is fluid. These platforms, where we create content, discuss, and profit, are specters. Always haunting yet at times invisible in the public consciousness. Of all the video essayists that I’ve interviewed, Joe’s ( Pause & Select ) work is the most stimulating. His videos are academic. His fluency in Japanese makes him a rarity, able to engage with the subject directly. Some decry him and his videos as pretentious. Maybe they are. Nevertheless, pretension requires some knowledge. And Joe knows a lot. Back in 2024, we had a lengthy conversation (the full transcript is over fifty-five pages long) on videogame criticism, language being used for conceptual violence, dirt, and what is content; among other topics of interest to us as writers and researchers. Quite a rollercoaster. Joe, at the time of our interview, was finishing his PhD (whi
The End of the Year Sharpening: Aguas’ Points in 2024 & Beyond
Dec 31, 2024 · original
Another year gone. 2025 will mark three years of this infinitesimal site and four years of me being a professional video game critic. As I look back, I reminisce and wish that I wasn’t living so devilish, shit! The melancholy begins to set. In 2024 I became an NPR contributor (let’s see how long this lasts). I began helping out as a contributing Gamers with Glasses . I increased my output as a freelancer. I was very selective when pitching. I cultivated a great working relationship with Unwinnable , a site with some of the best writers on the internet. I also made time to do more with the New York Videogame Critics Circle attending conferences and mentoring. As a result of all this my output here on Aguas’ Points has suffered. In the last year, I only published two original pieces on Aguas’ Points and republished two pieces that were only available in Unwinnable’s Exploits magazine. “ We
The Lost Crown-ZAU
Oct 14, 2024 · original
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Tales of Kenzera: ZAU are notable examples of games that revere non-Western or Japanese mythologies and cultures. In addition, these games share other noteworthy traits. Black male protagonists are at the center of their epic stories. ZAU was made by the small Surgent Studios and The Lost Crown by Ubisoft. And unfortunately, they are tritely marketed as metroidvanias. ZAU marks a milestone in how Bantu culture is presented and represented to a wider audience in a videogame, while The Lost Crown shows that AAA studios can tackle diversity and representation beyond simply being an attempt at tokenism. In notable ways, these games play with well-trotted territory that predominates Hero’s Journey narratives. Zau grieves and mourns his recently deceased father. In contrast, The Lost Crown ’s hero Sargon is a bad-ass out for blood, and as a member of an eli
Kingdom Hearts II: Sleep No More
May 1, 2024 · original
You waited all year for summer to play Kingdom Hearts II . You loved the original Kingdom Hearts , its fusion of Final Fantasy and Disney. Hikaru Utada’s “ Simple & Clean ” is one of your jams. You plan on spending your vacation playing Kingdom Hearts II at your uncle’s house in New Jersey on his PlayStation 2, a console you don’t own. Your cousins, Ric, Arthur and Sasha, accompany you to Game Crazy to purchase the game. That night you fumble through Kingdom Hearts II ’s three-hour tutorial. You begin the game as Roxas, not Sora. You whisper, “What’s going on?” With every unfolding story exposition your interest fades. You think that maybe you’re too old, too dumb for Kingdom Hearts II . You pass the controller to your cousins. They restart from the beginning. Every explanation of the story convolutes it even more. Your cousins aren’t discouraged by this, or the cargo shorts the characte
It’s Dangerous to Go Alone
Mar 13, 2024 · original
This Aguas Point’s article is a polemic. It’s also vague on purpose . The following was inspired by an engaging and lively conversation with the good folks in the Critical Distance Discord. *** For many of us, video games are a solitary activity. Just a bunch of hermits reveling in virtual worlds, away from the real looking for life within code. As you pick up your controller to play your favorite game don’t forget that it took a lot of work from others for you to experience it. Identity is formed and built around the games we love. Politics also develop as a result of play. Many ignorant players and charlatans believe that their beloved games are being “ruined” by “lazy” developers, “forced” diversity and critical discussion. This could not be further from the truth. Ten years ago, the Falangists crawled out of the crevasses of the internet to harass developers, critics and players. Thi
We Gain When We Create: Elevating Criticism A Pixel a Day
Jan 9, 2024 · original
It’s common to try one’s hand at creating art as a hobby outside of work. “It’s wonderful to create” proclaimed Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. Creative hobbies are a fruitful endeavor for people to engage with, as well as for the revisioning of arts and culture towards a less elitist’ mode. Recently, I began watching the YouTube channel Pixel a Day created by such a hobbyist, Kat. Simply put, Kat is one of the best video essayists analyzing games. Her principal mission is novel and its execution superb. Aguas’ Points spoke with Kat to discuss her channel, the different intersections of criticism, and the communities nurturing and creating new standards for video game analysis. For Kat, Pixel a Day is her venue to critically analyze games and explore how they make us, the players, feel. She requests for her audience to help support her work “…so I can keep wasting my PhD to do thi
The End of the Year Sharpening: Aguas’ Points in 2023 & Beyond
Dec 31, 2023 · original
Aguas’ Points has been in this world for over a year. On this New Year’s Eve, we take a look at what has been published on the site and discuss upcoming articles and projects for 2024. In the past year Aguas’ Points published: A new installment in the series Revisiting the GameCube: A Personal Journey . The game covered was Wave Race: Blue Storm . The article was an excuse to write about water simulation in video games. When it was released in 2001, Wave Race: Blue Storm featured cutting-edge water simulation. Unfortunately, the game has not aged well when compared to other racing games. Overall though it was a valiant effort by Nintendo. The interview series with designers, academics, and the ludo literati began in 2023 with an interview of Taylor Reiner , a game designer and critic. He runs the YouTube channel Taylor’s Trick-Taking Table which focuses on card games. It was an insightfu
Some Thoughts on Howl: A Tactical Escape into A Grim World of Living Ink
Nov 17, 2023 · original
The state of commercial video games is one of extreme contradictions. 2023 has seen the release of some wonderful games ( The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Street Fighter 6, Pikmin 4, Cocoon, just to name a few). At the same time, the jobs of those who make video games are increasingly precarious. Thankfully some astute observers have gone as far as declaring that 2023 hasn’t been a good year for games and that the exploitation in the industry provides a glimpse into the future of labor. The sheer number of layoffs this year is disheartening and depressing. At the same time, our world is burning. Since 2020 global events – the seriousness of the problems affecting and afflicting us collectively as humans – leave a sense of uneasiness when engaging in the escapism that games provide. Should we even be having fun? The frivolity of spending money on and sp
I Promise to Take Content Creation Serious: A Short Journey into a Perilous World with Jenna Stoeber
Aug 25, 2023 · original
The content creator is the spectral job of our time. Take a minute to look around — everyone around creates content. At times it’s even comical to see how many people refer to themselves as such in the obligatory discussion of what one does . Video games as media are ripped fruit for creators to cover and make content . Though video games are a multi-billion-dollar industry, it’s a difficult environment for anyone looking to make a living covering games. In 2022, Jenna Stoeber (a/k/a The Jenna), a video producer and content creator that I closely followed and admired, was laid off from Polygon . Stoeber’s videos were imbedded with insight and a degree of endearing quirkiness. Some of my favorite videos made by Stoeber during her time at Polygon were “ 12 things to love about Wattam ” a preview of the 2019 game by Keita Takahashi, and “ Cheating in video games used to be fun ” a thoughtfu

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