Tag: Paul

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Game Spotlight

Spooky Fun for Everyone

by Public Service Associate Paul

“I don’t know if anyone’s out there or if anyone will find this. I think I’ll just talk for a while then leave this recording here before I go. Maybe I should leave a note with it. I think that I’ll listen to it a few times just to hear a voice. Even if it’s my own.”

Do you like to tell spooky stories around the campfire? What if I told you instead of taking turns with your family or friends, you could all work together to craft a story and that you could do it from the comfort of the inside of your home! Well, you can and it’s all with the help of a game called Ten Candles written by Stephen Dewey. 

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Video Games

Malfunctioning Ethics: Art Theft, Bungie, and Marathon

By Public Service Associate Paul

Left: Marathon (1994 art) | Right: Marathon (2025 art)

Buckle in, there’s a history lesson coming, but I promise it’s going somewhere…
It’s May 1991, thousands of American troops are preparing to return from deployment in the Gulf War, the Queen of England visits Congress for the first time, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is readying to hit shelves. Meanwhile, following his graduation from the University of Chicago, Alex Seropian founded his own gaming company named Bungie Software.

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Video Games

Terms and Conditions May Apply

Gaming and the Illusion of “Ownership”

By Public Service Associate Paul

Picture yourself as a child in the 5th generation of home video game consoles–a time when the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Sega Saturn stood like titans, engaged in a fiery battle for your imagination. You are buckled into the backseat of the family car, clutching your new GameStop gift card like it’s a golden ticket, your mind already drifting to the aisles that await. You can already see them in your head: rows of game cases lined like soldiers with their glossy covers bursting with heroes, villains, and far off lands calling to you. You push past your parents and feel the cool air as the automatic doors whoosh open. Your eyes adjust to the fluorescent lights, and you see the shelves stretching endlessly, glowing like a treasure trove of pixelated promises. You wander, starry eyed through the electric wonderland, your hands dragging along the spines of cases, each one whispering a new adventure to your imagination.

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Board Game Spotlight

February Fun

Stay warm with Fire in the Library

by Public Service Associate Paul

The scent of burning parchment fills your lungs as you gasp back to reality. You find yourself sprawled along the gilded marble floor of the Grand Library, where every book, every manuscript, every whispered secret bound in ink and paper – the sum of all human knowledge – lives. As your blurry, doubled vision begins to right itself, you notice the flicker of golden chandeliers that illuminate this grand hall is now being drowned by the rising inferno that engulfs the shelves around you. The once mighty shelves that always stood like sentinels, now crumble to embers, taking all the wisdom they once contained and turning it to ash before you.

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staff favorites

2023 Video Game Roundup

By Public Service Associate Paul

2023 was a remarkable year for gaming and as we come to a conclusion on this 3rd year in the 9th generation of home video game consoles let’s take a look back at some of the best this year had to offer. In no particular order, I would like to highlight some of the games this year that, when faced with the challenge of launching in a window of time that was surrounded by so many other hotly anticipated games, rose to the occasion and left an indelible impression on myself and so many others that I would be remiss to not include them today to share with you all. 

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