What the Howell!

An occasional blog about games and whatnot.

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The Last of Us: Part II's 'Theatre Fight' made me hate Ellie but that's why it's clever

Peter Howell

Feb 207 min read

The Last of Us: Part II's 'Theatre Fight' made me hate Ellie but that's why it's clever

SPOILER WARNING: This article will spoil key plot points of The Last of Us: Part II! This article has been in my drafts for a while...

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Uncover the Meaning of White Lake at the Aesthetica Film Festival

Peter Howell

Nov 7, 20231 min read

Uncover the Meaning of White Lake at the Aesthetica Film Festival

The University of Portsmouth's Advanced Games Research Group houses talented researchers exploring a variety of topics. Our most recent...

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Multi-platform Pigs and Plenty of Publications

Peter Howell

Dec 12, 20202 min read

Multi-platform Pigs and Plenty of Publications

My last post was over a year ago having just returned from DiGRA'19 in Kyoto. Covid-19 decided to come along and plonk itself squarely in...

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Peter Howell

Sep 2, 20196 min read

DiGRA Kyoto 2019

In August I attended another engaging DiGRA conference, this year held in the wonderful city of Kyoto. The conference theme was Games,...

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Agency, Intent, and the Psychology of Need Satisfaction in OnRush

Peter Howell

Apr 23, 201917 min read

Agency, Intent, and the Psychology of Need Satisfaction in OnRush

PlayStation Plus has been serving up a varied assortment of titles over the last few months, many of which I probably wouldn't have...

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Knack: An Underappreciated Lesson in Accessibility, Variable Challenge, & Cross-Generational Appeal

Peter Howell

Oct 8, 201810 min read

Knack: An Underappreciated Lesson in Accessibility, Variable Challenge, & Cross-Generational Appeal

I have been waiting and waiting but finally, the time has arrived when my first-born is able to play games. Proper games that is, with an...

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Incest, Bestiality & Infanticide: Why is Game Horror Often Afraid of Taboos?

Peter Howell

Sep 1, 20176 min read

Incest, Bestiality & Infanticide: Why is Game Horror Often Afraid of Taboos?

The purpose of horror is to unsettle people, to make them feel afraid, disgusted or dirty, to make them stare in the face of the very...

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Philosophy of Computer Games (POCG2016) Conference Paper & Talk

Peter Howell

Nov 4, 20161 min read

Philosophy of Computer Games (POCG2016) Conference Paper & Talk

The first post-doc publication following on from the work completed during my PhD was presented today at the Philosophy of Computer Games...

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Mechanical Criticism: Transistor and Ether One

Peter Howell

Jun 23, 201611 min read

Mechanical Criticism: Transistor and Ether One

Two games in particular have surprised me recently because I loved the one that I expected to hate (Transistor) and have decidedly mixed...

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'The Doctor Will See You Now', or, 'Bugger Me, I Finished!'

Peter Howell

Jan 18, 20161 min read

'The Doctor Will See You Now', or, 'Bugger Me, I Finished!'

So, the primary reason why this blog has been a little 'tumble-weedy' for the last year or so has finally been finished. I submitted my...

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DiGRA 2014 Paper: Disrupting the Player's Schematised Knowledge of Game Components

Peter Howell

Aug 29, 20141 min read

DiGRA 2014 Paper: Disrupting the Player's Schematised Knowledge of Game Components

My DiGRA 2014 Paper, Disrupting the Player's Schematised Knowledge of Game Components, is now available via the DiGRA Digital Library...

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Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs Postmortem Report Now Available on Gamasutra

Peter Howell

May 23, 20141 min read

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs Postmortem Report Now Available on Gamasutra

You can head on over to Gamasutra now to have a read of what is hopefully an interesting and honest postmortem report following the...

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