“Daycare for adults” – GamesMaster and the shifting cultural capital of videogames

The television show GamesMaster, broadcast on the UK’s Channel 4 between 1992 and 1998, would serve as an early attempt at looking at the wider cultural and economic significance of Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog. It would also experiment with whether it was also possible get real world clout from stunt playing two Virtua Cop 2 cabinets at the same time.

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FAITH AND DEVOTION SEASON: the hero as a ‘force for good’ in Castlevania and Blasphemous

It is fair to describe Blasphemous as an adventure game in the style of latter-era 2D Castlevania games. However, in replacing Dracula and his monstrous minions with a devout order of religious zealots striving to uphold a brutal church-like structure, are the player’s violent actions a justifiable response to a different kind of monster.

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