Medusa's Laugh - 11/23/2020 - Past and Future
Medusa's Laugh is a weekly newsletter thematically curating music and writing about games for your inbox.
Medusa's Laugh is a weekly newsletter thematically curating music and writing about games for your inbox.
Intro
We are living at the intersection of the past and future. Perhaps that's obvious—it's the literal definition of the "present." But the present can often feel like a trap, truncated by the trauma of what has happened and anxiety about what will later. It can be hard to take comfort in the here and now, especially when trapped in an unending resolution. We are nearly done with the year, and after an unprecedented election, constant reminders of structural problems in our militaristic culture, and continuous impropriety in a fractured game industry, taking a moment to take stock of your emotional health is harder than ever.
That isn't to say that everything's bad. We aren't here to doomsay; in fact, we want fractals to be a positive force and a historical record. We want to uplift the writers reporting in our community that deserve a proper look. And even more than that, we're friends and colleagues that rely on each other.
This week for the newsletter we've put together a playlist of songs caught in the present, looking both to the past and the future in varied ways. We hope you have a peaceful, healing Thanksgiving and remember to take care of yourself during tough times.
Playlist
Interlude: Past to Present - NCT U
Till Death - Japanese Breakfast
The Roundness of Days - Lightning Bug
2020 - OOHYO
Smalltown Boy - Orville Peck
Revive - Crying
Terra Incognita - Atlas Sound
Light + Space - Laurel Halo
Gospel For A New Century - Yves Tumor
7 Years - Charli XCX
2021 - A.G. Cook
A Study in Vastness - Ana Roxanne
Writing
Arcade Idea investigates the military-industrial complex's history with game design.
Natalie Lawhead gives a great history of Flash and its relationship to the internet, making an argument about how we should be designing future-facing technology.
Beyond the Astonishment of Fast Load Times
Historian On Games questions, despite the spectacle of new hardware, where does another console generation newly direct us in the future of games, if anywhere?
Next-gen consoles have few answers to Argentina's longstanding reliance on piracy
Diego Arguello writes on the history of games and piracy in Argentina.
Fear of a Yellow Planet: Why We Need to Actually Understand Cyberpunk
Alexis Ong notes the history of Cybnerpunk's relationship with Asian culture, and how forgetting the aesthetic's roots create harmful Asian stereotypes.
Mocking Succession | Into The Spine
Our very own Austin Jones tackles Higurashi's tensions of modernity and tradition, past and future, life and death, meaning and meaningless.
2020 is the year of the Nintendo DS Lite
Cole Henry looks to the Nintendo DS Lite as the game console that perhaps, we all need in a time of despair and exhaustion.
Caleb Andrew Milligan and Kyle Bohunicky dive into the history of the Casio Loopy, and how its existence reflects games cultures relationship to femininity.
VIDEO GAMES IN A LOW←TECH FUTURE
Mark Wonnacott asks what a future of videogames would look like if it focused on low tech and a sustainable future. How would not only videogames change, but our livelihoods?
A fantastical speculatory future of videogames escaping the capital and corporate ties that bind them.
The Last of Us Part II's Conservative Politics Show How Far Games Have To Go | Sidequest
Maddi Butler examines the conservative underpinnings of Joel's character from The Last of Us and how his individualist philosophy pervades its sequel.
Like Sands Through The Hour Glass, So Are The Days of Crusader Kings III
Holly Green posits *Crusader Kings III'*s appeal lies in the dramatic web hiding behind each character, which allows you to set personal goals in a kingdom that's destined to be forgotten.
30 Years Ago, the Super NES, Final Fantasy 4, and a Broken Jaw Changed My Life
A reflection on the revolutionary SNES through personal history.