Brainy Gamer

One of the very best things about diving into the murky waters known as the blogosphere is the marvelous group of bloggers you bump into as you splash around trying to stay afloat. (How's that for stretching a metaphor past its limits?)

You already know about Kotaku, Joystiq, and the other uberblogs devoted to gaming. You may not, however, have come across some of the smaller game-focused sites that regularly produce cogent, thoughtful writing about the interactive medium we all know and love.

Here's a list of independent gaming blogs I follow regularly. All are well worth your time and support. If I've omitted one of your favorites (my list is by no means comprehensive), be sure to post a comment and I'll add it to the list.

• Japanmanship - "JC Barnett is the nom de plume of a video games developer working and living in Japan."

• The Quixotic Engineer - "Music, gaming, books, and occasional incoherent rants."

• Fullbright - "The progress diary of a video game level designer, and a place for my thoughts on games and game design."


• Castle in the Air - "Castle in the Air is a place for me to collect thoughts on the games I love, or on anything else, for that matter. My head is in the clouds, so I might as well chatter about the palaces of giants I see there!"

• The Artful Gamer - "in search of the poetic and lyrical in video games."


• Gameology - "Commentary and resources for the game studies community."

• Terra Nova - "a weblog about virtual worlds. Terra Nova authors include scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplines."

• Lesbian Gamers - "Gay gaming for girls."


• Sexy Videogameland - "Game blather for the uncensored gamer. Sexy Videogameland is the blog of game writer Leigh Alexander" (personal blogger hero of The Brainy Gamer).

• High Dynamic Range Lying - "HDRL is created, and maintained solely, by Nayan Ramachandran, an english teacher and freelance journalist living in the bustling town of Takarazuka Hyogo-ken, between Osaka and Kobe, in the Kansai Region of Japan."


• Hit Self Destruct - "Video games, writing in"...by Duncan Fyfe.

• Literati Game Reviews - Intelligent game reviews by L.B. Jeffries.

• Write the Game - "This is a blog that’s designed to help you understand games; the process of development, the sweat, toil and tears that get sunk into thirty seconds of action, and the tightrope line of success across the sea of failure."

Update: these blogs were suggested by readers:

• Play This Thing - "Your daily game fix"
• Insult Swordfighting - "Where everyone fights like a dairy farmer."
• Dubious Quality - a gaming blog by Bill Harris
• Hiwiller.com - a blog by game designer/producer Zack Hiwiller

Image courtesy of monstara at DeviantArt.