PlayLab! Magazine

The Precursors of Escape Room Design

Post author:Markku Vesa
Post published:April 28, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

Escape rooms combine digital and non-digital game ideas.

Identification in the Apocalypse

Post author:Pietari Kaartinen
Post published:April 27, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

Identification in The Walking Dead is a fluid, ongoing process.

Duck Game Review

Post author:Ville Susi
Post published:April 25, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews

Duck Game is a local multiplayer platformer shoot 'em up with Sega Genesis style graphics and sound. And with ducks. Obviously. A lot of ducks. And quacks. And some hats.

4x Gamer as Myth: Understanding through Player Mythologies

Post author:Aleksi Kesseli
Post published:April 25, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

4X gamer as a player mythology.

The game’s splash screen featuring quality pixel art.

Built for Speed – Retro racing on the go

Post author:Juho Hartikainen
Post published:April 24, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews
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Built for Speed is an oldskool mobile racing game with a fun track editor. Let’s see what this Finnish free-to-play game is made of.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

Post author:Ed
Post published:April 24, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews

A multitude of mechanics in a gorgeous, breathing world. Nintendo just saved open-world games from themselves.

Capitalism and Unfairness in Competitive Board Games

Post author:Markku Vesa
Post published:April 24, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

Games offer a good medium for critical reflection of social inequality.

Making games for philosophy

Post author:Ed
Post published:April 21, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

Self-reflexive videogames as tools for philosophy is a thought-provoking experiment.

Hesburger bubble shooter.

Finnkino Leffapeli – Casual mobile gaming in the movies

Post author:Juho Hartikainen
Post published:April 20, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews

Finnkino, the largest cinema chain in Finland, has recently released Leffapeli (Finnish for “Movie Game”), a new crossmedial game to go along with the moviegoer experience.

The Dark Side of E-Sports

Post author:Ed
Post published:April 20, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

What does a French intellectual born 100+ years ago think about League of Legends?

You can save your progress by taking a breath on a bench, a mechanic reminiscent of the Dark Souls bonfires. Each checkpoint-bench is a beautifully illustrated break in your quest.

Review: Hollow Knight

Post author:Risto Hämäläinen
Post published:April 19, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews

Hollow Knight combines somber visual design with tight metroidvania gameplay.

Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin and remixing video games

Post author:Risto Hämäläinen
Post published:April 19, 2017
Post category:Features

Dark Souls 2: Scholar Of The First Sin presents a new way to remix a game’s play experience.

The Allure of Struggle and Failure in Cooperative Board Games

Post author:Markku Vesa
Post published:April 19, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

Failing together is fun.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Review

Post author:Markku Vesa
Post published:April 18, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews

A friend of strategic fantasy tabletop wargaming? Look elsewhere.

Review: One Night Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak

Post author:Risto Hämäläinen
Post published:April 18, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews

One Night Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak is a fast-paced bluffing exercise.

Critical alternative journalism from the perspective of game journalists

Post author:Aleksi Kesseli
Post published:April 18, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

Alternative gamejournalism : Is the new watch dog of the gaming industry all bark and no bite?

Naval units featured in the launch trailer of Civilization V: Gods & Kings. (Source)

Postcolonialism, Case: Civilization V

Post author:Juho Hartikainen
Post published:April 12, 2017
Post category:Game Research Highlights

Civilization V is biased, imperialist and silences contrary voices. Like real history.

Not quite a wheel-and-pedal combo, but close enough. Namco's neGcon on the left, Microsoft's Wireless Speed Wheel on the right.

Hardware Special: Namco neGcon VS Microsoft Wireless Speed Wheel

Post author:Aleksi Vesanen
Post published:April 12, 2017
Post category:Features

Something old, something new: Two unusual racing controllers go head-to-head!

One Night Ultimate Vampire Review (Tabletop)

Post author:Ville Susi
Post published:April 12, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews

One Night Ultimate Vampire is a vampire themed hybrid tabletop game with social play emphasis, a digital mobile app companion and fast, paranoid gameplay.

Hitman (Season One) Review

Post author:Pietari Kaartinen
Post published:April 12, 2017
Post category:Game Reviews
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A welcome return to form by one of the stealth genre’s greatest.