Four Years of 148Apps

Today was my last day writing about iOS games for 148Apps.com. I wrote a big, sappy essay about the four years I spent there. Enjoy! And stay tuned for BIG EXCITING NEWS regarding my future career in nerdy journalism VERY SOON!

Tabletop Deathmatch

The fine folks at Cards Against Humanity hired me to interview the finalists of their board game reality show Tabletop Deathmatch. You can check out the first story here! Look for new articles twice a week for the next two months or so.

http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/deathmatch/episodes/1/

The Lego Movie's secret gaming roots

When The Lego Movie came out last year I was curious if the creators had been influenced by the similarly wacky storytelling of the Lego video games. So I did some investigating. What did I find? Read this feature on Geek.com, a site I've been recently writing for, to find out!

http://www.geek.com/games/the-lego-movies-secret-gaming-roots-1615688/

Stuff I Wrote in 2014

The end of 2013 was a turning point for me as far as my writing goes. I couldn’t be more grateful for the great response to my Kotaku feature story on the Chicago indie gaming scene, and my fantastic internship at PC Mag made my actual journalism school graduation six months later feel like just a formality. In 2014 I tried to keep that freelance momentum going and ended up writing a bunch of stories for a ton of awesome publications that, a few years ago, I never imagined I’d break into so soon. I think I did some of my best work in 2014, and it just so happened to fit in a nice, chronological, top ten list.

The "Good" Gamer's Dilemma

My first, and hopefully last, article on GamerGate, specifically the untenable position of its moderates. There's a lot to it.

Check it out!

Milestones

I wrote a feature called "Milestones" about pivotal moments in game developers' careers. Download this week's issue of Unwinnable and check it out!

Use Your Words- Apple Watch and the Devolution of Language

My new feature for 148Apps. The title says it all. Check it out!

Entering the Thought Processes Behind the Weirdest Video Games Titles Around

Check out my latest feature, Entering the Thought Processes Behind the Weirdest Video Games Titles Around, on The A.V. Club. Hope it's as fun to read as it was to write.

The Rise of Facebook Games and Teaching the Game Developers of Tomorrow

In 2011 I wrote a pair of features I'm very proud of for Yahoo's contributor program. Unfortunately, the program has now been shut down leaving these stories without a home. So I fixed that. Here they are!

The Rise of Facebook Games and Teaching the Game Developers of Tomorrow

Video Games' Afrofuturism Frontier

My first feature for Media Diversified examines what video games could stand to learn from the Afrofuturism artistic aesthetic. Check it out!

http://mediadiversified.org/2014/07/19/video-games-afrofuturism-frontier/

From Big Screens to Touch Screens

Movie tie-in games have been making the move to mobile... for better or worse.

Check out my latest feature for The Escapist!

Hands On With Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

I got to play the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and wrote about it for Paste Magazine. It's gonna be really fun. Check it out!

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/hands-on-with-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u-new-faces.html

Stubborn Gorilla: The Wonderfully Weird Ballad of Donkey Kong

     Did you think I had forgotten about this blog? Hot, original content coming  at you! Check out this thing I wrote about the strange history of my favorite Nintendo franchise: Donkey Kong.

     And if you aren't already, please follow me on Twitter @JordanWMinor. It's my main e-hangout space these days.

Considering the game named after him is what first put Nintendo on the map, Donkey Kong should be a pretty big deal. And yet, over 30 years after his arcade debut, he remains a B-level franchise at best. He's certainly no Legend of Zelda, and although he continues to appear in various Mario spinoffs, Super Mario 3D World got the big holiday release spot while Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was pushed to last February. However, existing in this strange space between "important enough to keep around" and "not important enough to hang our hopes onto" has made Donkey Kong's history one of the most enjoyably bizarre among Nintendo's more prominent mascots.

Coding Clementines: Black Girls Make Games, Too

Here's my new, big video game feature story! This time for The Escapist. Just in time for Black History Month, I wrote about what it was like teaching game design to minority children at The Generation Station summer camp last year as well as the world of educational games in general.

Enjoy!

I Have No Console, and I Must Buy One

Twine is a free, super easy to use program that lets users create little "choose your own adventure" type stories. Most people seem to use it for making weird little art games, but I thought it might have potential to make more engaging and accessible long form articles. So as a test, I taught myself the program by making this "interactive opinion article" about my thoughts on the current video game console war.

Play "I Have No Console, and I Must Buy One"

PC Mag...again

Hey! I have an author bio on PC Mag now. Everything I write for them will be archived right here.

http://www.pcmag.com/author-bio/jordan-minor

PC Mag

That's where I'm working for a while. Look out for my articles!

PCMag.com

Chicago's Gaming Renaissance

This in-depth feature story on Chicago's gaming scene is the big thing I've been working on for a while so I'm happy to share it with you all on Kotaku.

However, next week I'll be sharing another big career announcement.

148 Apps: How Jordan Joined the Press

I wrote this weirdly personal essay about iPhone games and journalism. Enjoy! http://www.148apps.com/news/app-store-anniversary-jordan-joined-press/

Stuff I Did This Week 5/17/2013

Wrath of Caan

Scaredy Squirrel: Look Out Review

Chuck the Muck Review

Twinkle Wheel Review