A collection of academic, critical, and enthusiast games publications.

Academic

There are a number of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary games research publications, as well as various middle-state websites. The publications below highlight the range of scholarly publications. For a more complete list see DiGRA’s “Games Research Journals.”

ACM Computers in Entertainment

“ACM Computers in Entertainment (CiE) aims to foster critical discussions and innovative thoughts among entertainment computing scholars and professionals as well as creative executives, writers, producers, directors, artists, designers, and other talents. This site features both peer-reviewed articles as well as non-refereed content in all aspects of entertainment technology and applications. It serves as a place to build community, find research partners, discover new possibilities, and share cutting-edge ideas. We accept submissions of articles, interviews, commentaries, industry news, product reviews, book critiques, games, and blogs posts. ” – ACM Computers in Entertainment

[Back to top]

ELUDAMOS, Journal for Computer Game Culture

“ELUDAMOS is an international, multi-disciplined, biannual e-journal that publishes peer-reviewed articles that theoretically and/or empirically deal with digital games in their manifold appearances and their sociocultural-historical contexts. ELUDAMOS positions itself as a publication that fundamentally transgresses disciplinary boundaries. The aim is to join questions about and approaches to computer games from decidedly heterogeneous scientific contexts (for example cultural studies, media studies, (art) history, sociology, (social) psychology, and semiotics) and, thus, to advance the interdisciplinary discourse on digital games. ” – ELUDAMOS

[Back to top]

First Person Scholar

“At First Person Scholar we seek to develop and expand the role of the game critic. Historically speaking, games have proceeded from industry-driven production to mainstream-media guided reception (i.e. industry-sponsored games magazines and websites). Within this dynamic the game critic—as an informed figure capable of bringing context to games–has been largely irrelevant.” – First Person Scholar

[Back to top]

Games and Culture

“Games and Culture (G&C), peer-reviewed and published quarterly, is an international journal that promotes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within interactive media. The journal serves as a premiere outlet for ground-breaking work in the field of game studies and its scope includes the socio-cultural, political, and economic dimensions of gaming from a wide variety of perspectives.” – Games and Culture

[Back to top]

Game Studies

“Our Mission – To explore the rich cultural genre of games; to give scholars a peer-reviewed forum for their ideas and theories; to provide an academic channel for the ongoing discussions on games and gaming. Game Studies is a non-profit, open-access, crossdisciplinary journal dedicated to games research, web-published several times a year at www.gamestudies.org. Our primary focus is aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games, but any previously unpublished article focused on games and gaming is welcome. Proposed articles should be jargon-free, and should attempt to shed new light on games, rather than simply use games as metaphor or illustration of some other theory or phenomenon.” – Game Studies

[Back to top]

Journal of Games Criticism

“The Journal of Games Criticism (JGC) is a non-profit, peer-reviewed, open-access journal which aims to respond to these cultural artifacts by extending the range of authors to include both traditional academics and popular bloggers. The journal strives to be a producer of feed-forward approaches to video games criticism with a focus on influencing gamer culture, the design and writing of video games, and the social understanding of video games and video games criticism.” – Journal of Games Criticism

[Back to top]

Not Your Mama’s Gamer

“Not Your Mama’s Gamer, started by Samantha and Alex in 2011, was designed as a space that would bring scholarly endeavors in line with personal passion, a space that would combine feminist interrogation of games with the games community. Since its inception, NYMGamer has grown by leaps and bounds, expanding content as well as staff, adding features such as our Signal Boost that focuses on diverse voices, gaming livestreams, and multimodal content.” – Not Your Mama’s Gamer

[Back to top]

Psychology of Popular Media Culture

Psychology of Popular Media Culture is a scholarly journal dedicated to publishing empirical research and papers on how popular culture and general media influence individual, group, and system behavior.” – Psychology of Popular Media Culture

[Back to top]

Criticism

There is a wealth of critical writing on games and culture. The sites below publish or collate much of that content, creating sites for critical inquiry into games, design, history, culture, and politics.

Critical Distance

“Back in 2009, Critical Distance was founded to answer the question: ‘Where is all the good writing about games?’ Now in our sixth year of operation, we’ve seen the proliferation of thoughtful, incisive criticism, commentary and analysis across dozens of sites and publications. However, our goal remains the same: to bring together and highlight the most interesting, provocative and robust writing, video and discussion on games from across the web.” – Critical Distance

[Back to top]

Five out of Ten

“Five out of Ten is a magazine for people who love videogames and demand the best in independent writing. It was founded in 2012 to create a magazine that was different, inclusive, and fair to its writers. Five out of Ten is inspired by classic magazines of the 80s and 90s, yet has an insight and style all of its own. It’s a place for the greatest in videogame criticism and culture writing from around the world. As well as our flagship magazine, we also publish books on videogame culture.” – Five out of Ten

[Back to top]

Memory Insufficient

“We are a magazine for game design history and digital culture. The essays we publish encourage players and creatives alike to hone a sharper critical lens, building the literacy needed for cutting-edge craft to thrive. Founded in 2012 as a monthly PDF, we have spent years building a home between academic media studies and enthusiast blogging. Through rigorous editing and accessible publishing, we aim to make critical and historical writing available to anyone.” – Memory Insufficient

[Back to top]

Ontological Geek

“Founded in August of 2010, The Ontological Geek is a website for people who believe that popular culture is more than just entertainment. Games, movies, books, and comics aren’t just works existing in a vacuum; sometimes, they connect to us by reflecting our hopes and fears, our identities, our beliefs, our history, and our future. In other cases, they fail to do so and leave us feeling alienated. For the past five years, The Ontological Geek has brought you essays, columns, and podcasts that seek to explore these hidden depths and connections of games and popular culture.” – Ontological Geek

[Back to top]

Play the Past

“Collaboratively edited and authored, Play the Past is dedicated to thoughtfully exploring and discussing the intersection of cultural heritage (very broadly defined) and games/meaningful play (equally broadly defined). Play the Past contributors come from a wide variety of backgrounds, domains, perspectives, and motivations (for being interested in both games and cultural heritage).”

[Back to top]

The Arcade Review

“The Arcade Review is a quarterly digital magazine that publishes criticism on experimental videogames and digital art. We focus on freeware games, art games, non-games, small indie games, old obscure works, and everything in between.” – The Arcade Review

[Back to top]

Enthusiast

Enthusiast websites celebrate games and game culture, providing news, interviews, commentaries, and reviews of games.

Kotaku

“…a news and opinion site about games and things serious gamers care about. We’re here to inform you and, sometimes, entertain you.” – Kotaku

[Back to top]

Offworld

“Offworld is a place for curious and playful grown-ups, where we can enjoy the endless possibilities of the 21st century’s greatest art form. We’re here to express our love of exploring new worlds, to talk to their creators, to share our discoveries, and imagine new frontiers to play in together.” – Offworld

[Back to top]

Polygon

“Polygon is a website founded in 2012 in partnership with Vox Media. Its mission is to cover not only games but the artists who make them, the fans that love them and the culture surrounding them. It’s built to deliver fast, comprehensive news, in-depth feature stories and reviews that bridge the gap between criticism and buying advice. The site is powered by Vox Media’s Chorus platform, a modern media stack built for web-native news in the 21st century.” – Polygon

[Back to top]