A very precise, very adroit and very unforgiving intellectual calling himself "icycalm" or Alex Kierkegaard runs this site, where more is written in the forum than on the frontpage. His ideas and views on gaming are more than enough for anyone who wants to actually know anything about what games actually are and which ones are worth playing. He has also studied (and *understood*) the writings of Baudrillard, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and probably some others, and is an authority there as well (naturally, his unusually high confidence will be seen as bluster intended to intimidate and dazzle others, but he walks the walk that he talks). Assume from the start that he is more intelligent and capable of well-founded thought than you, and that he has played enough videogames to be more of an authority on the subject as well.
He has no time for those who don't show humility and who do not only write on what they are genuinely knowledgeable about. He treats his forum like a home rather than a public square, which is actually refreshing, and reflects his view of the zeitgeist as run over with mediocre thinking and relativism, where everyone has to get along and be "equal". So don't write anything that you haven't thought through and applied all possible criticism to in advance, or you will be verbally abused.
He calls himself the "number one videogame expert in the world", and while this is quite a claim he certainly offers a corpus of writing (reviews, essays, forum posts) on games that really has no match anywhere else, if only in quality and depth of criticism. He is writing some collections of essays on games, which will not receive the attention they deserve (not that the author wants to be read by people who aren't worthy in his eyes).
icycalm is simply very good at thinking well and then exhibiting this through intelligent, persuasive and efficient writing. Any complaints about (or exultations over) his particular tone and personality are completely irrelevant.
For a theoretical perspective on games, I've never come across anything so well-written and insightful. Grasping (or even accepting) some of the more radical ideas can be difficult, but 90% of his articles make total sense to me and have completely revolutionized how I look at games. There are a handful of people who have really inspired me when it comes to discussing Japanese games -- for their insane amount of passion and knowledge (historian/Gameside writer Haruhisa Tanaka, Macaw, Recap, Randorama, BIL) -- but for a wider theoretical perspective, icycalm is essential reading as far as I am concerned.Have a look at "On the Genealogy of 'Art Games'".
Tell me one gaming website that reaches anywhere near such a level of incision, depth, sensitivity, penetration, sagacity, etfuckingc.
Just one. No more required. Show me one case of someone on the internet who has even brought up the issues put forward in that article.
And if you wish to dismiss that part by saying the issues are discussed incorrectly, or whatever — read it, and tell me it doesn't make sense, also showing *why*.
See, this is how we debate things in big boy land. Not with greentext and offhand words we've picked up through years of plaguing our brain with 4chan. With reason and purpose.
I just wanted to provide an alternate perspective, and give the man the credit I think he deserves. I'm looking forward to reading about the updates on this game, and I've offered to help him with the music (if I can find the time)...