The Writer's Block

Full Blog

John Stevenson
1–2 minutes

  • Crossing the Line

    So about a month ago I saw some ads for a new video game coming out called Spec Ops: The Line. It looked like any other standard shooter: gritty bearded men carrying big guns and causing explosions, like the umpteen bazillion other shooters on the planet. I quickly dismissed it out of hand. And that’s… Read more

  • A Tale of Two Stories: Brave

    Pixar is perhaps one of the greatest film studios in existence. Every single one of their films are thoroughly enjoyable. Ridiculously enjoyable. Not only are they usually hysterical but they’re also emotionally involving that manage to invoke tears in pretty much everyone.  If you didn’t cry watching this scene from Up, you are a god… Read more

  • Extended Cut: Extended Review

    So I’ve spent the last few days thoroughly chewing on Bioware’s Extended Cut, and now it’s time to spit out the masticated remains and pick through them. We’re going to see where the Extended Cut went right, where it went wrong, and where it somehow managed to make things even worse. While overall I was… Read more

  • Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut

    So today Bioware released the Extended Cut DLC for Mass Effect 3, and I have to say…I’m impressed. Given the horrific mess that were the original endings, Bioware has done an excellent job making these Extended Cut endings both thematically consistent and emotionally satisfying. In a previous post I said I thought this Extended Cut… Read more

  • Plot vs Character: Terminator

    Sorry for the late arrival of this post, I meant to try and get this up by Saturday but last Friday I launched my new website. I was then immediately inundated with a thousand different scammers all telling me to use their service, guaranteeing me wealth and women for the rest of my days. Of course there… Read more

  • Minimalist Storytelling: The Realm of Video Games?

    So since I’m pretty sure my last post got me onto several federal watchlists and I still need more time to try and dissect the plot from character driven stories, today we’ll be focusing on something new: minimalist storytelling, and why I think the video games are the first medium that can really unlock their… Read more