VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR is OUT NOW from Abrams Books!
Experts and newcomers alike can enjoy this epic look at more than 40 years of gaming history. Critical essays, stunning artwork, and extra picks from more than 75 guest writers.
I hope you all enjoy my first book! Order VGOTY today: https://linktr.ee/jordanwminor
Having just started reading "Indie Games Are More Than Their (Supposed) Influences", this little book has given me an idea for a project (that I'll almost certainly never commit myself to): a Game of the Year-style book like this, but with two added rules:
- You can't choose games that were already part of a major GOTY list elsewhere.
- If multiple writers are working on this project, then every list must be unique compared to all others. If there's overlap, then the writers in question have to work out amongst themselves which of them gets to add that game to their list.
I mean, look at the list offered in the blurb. In opting for the same games that always appear on these lists - Resident Evil 4, The Witcher 3, Super Mario Bros., Half-Life - it re-entrenches not only the canon, but the very idea of a canon as natural and desirable. So what if we did away with that assumption entirely? Force critics, and hopefully the people who read and respect their work, to engage with stuff beyond what's commercially successful, beyond what critics have canonized long ago, beyond what the mainstream has accepted as the face of games.
I'm a little worried that doing so would simply feed into the production of Hidden Gems™ that has plagued the retro game community for so very, very, long, but in this instance I'm willing to take that risk.