Posts Tagged ‘Christine Love’

RPS Feature Independent Games Festival

The Electronic Wireless Show – IGF Special #3: Sex

Stop sniggering at the back. The RPS podcast of yore has returned, as you might have noticed, in which we are chatting to all sorts of interesting people from the makers of 90s cyberpunk thriller Quadrilateral Cowboy to the creators of political elbow-nudging Orwell, and so many more.

In the third episode of this special #content we are talking to the visual novelists behind erotic adventure Ladykiller in a Bind and awkwardness sim One Night Stand. Yes, we’re talking to them about sex.
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Ladykiller In A Bind dev reworks controversial scene

Ladykiller In A Bind

Ladykiller in a Bind [official site] is an erotic visual novel in which you’re trying to win votes from former classmates on a transatlantic cruise while impersonating your twin brother. There’s a fair amount of sex and the tale doesn’t shy away from exploring elements of queerness, roleplaying and various kinks as well as having sections of dialogue which explicitly demonstrate people asking for and receiving consent.

But one scene in particular seemed an uncomfortable fit for the game and provoked strong enough reactions from players that, as per developer, Christine Love, “The bulk of the scene has been completely rewritten and now has a different tone.”

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RPS Feature Sexy teens head to Southampton

Wot I Think: Ladykiller In A Bind

Content warning: this review discusses a rape scene.

Sex in games is a (t)horny issue. Games are predominantly made for and marketed at men, and thus most games that attempt to cause a panic in your battlestations are normally pointing their hormone missiles at your throbbing periscope and not the, uh, hang on, there aren’t any vagina analogues in this terrible, tortured metaphor.

Look, Ladykiller in a Bind [official site] is set on a boat. A cruise, in fact – from Halifax, Canada to Southampton, England. For some reason, a bunch of incredibly wealthy, privileged teens are on this cruise. To Southampton. Obviously, the thought of going shopping in Southampton’s glittering WestQuay mall (there’s a Swarovski!) is enough to get these teens all riled up in their unwhisperables, and that’s where you come in: a handsome, charming, absolute bastard of a boy ready and willing to do whatever it takes (sex) to get what you want (more sex).

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Christine Love’s Ladykiller In A Bind Released

Christine Love, creator of Digital: A Love Story and Analogue: A Hate Story, has released her latest visual novel. Ladykiller in a Bind [official site] is just a touch sexier than those, as will become perfectly clear when I tell you the game’s extended name: My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!!

We’ve all been there. Read the rest of this entry »

RPS Feature

Have You Played… Digital: A Love Story?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

There’s a moment in Digital: A Love Story [official site] when your (in-game) computer starts to crackle. Lines of pixels run across your screen and obscure your view. You’re under attack! Your attacker has manipulated a vulnerability in your system. But… didn’t you upgrade? Didn’t you patch this very vulnerability? Why hasn’t the upgrade been applied? That’s when you realise there’s a simple solution to your hacker problem: turning it off and on again.
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RPS Feature Fifty Shades Of Pink

Ladykiller In A Bind: Hands On

Christine Love’s games have always existed to be the antithesis of something. And where Digital: A Love Story and Analogue: A Hate Story were an antithesis to typical visual novels, her next game, Ladykiller In A Bind [official site], is shaping up to be the antithesis to dating games. With a fascinating approach to dialogue, and a genuine desire to make you feel both turned on and uncomfortable, it’s already looking rather extraordinary.

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RPS Feature Cyberpunk Bartending Sim

S.EXE: VA-11 HALL-A

Some of my favourite people in the world have been bartenders. I mean, I didn’t speak to many of them for more than ten minutes, and I know how it works – I used to tend bar too – you flirt for tips and for kicks. But a bartender has an uncanny way of being able to flip a switch in you. Not just with their sticky fluids, but also with their damn fine smiles, the ability to pay you attention for just those five minutes you want to order a drink after work. Sometimes you can make up stories about them, that the smile was really because you are the most handsome thing in the world, and they are going to Tom-Cruise-in-Cocktail you after their shift.

But ah, being the bartender. It’s a different sort of thing all together. It’s a real performance.

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In The Name Of Love(‘s Next Game): Ladykiller In A Bind

I am constantly frustrated by videogame names, as too often they’re oblique, or cliché, or unsearchable. Christine Love knows how to do it right. The creator of Analogue: A Hate Story just announced her next project: My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!!

It’s short name is just as good: Ladykiller in a Bind. It’s an erotic visual novel about social manipulation.
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Love It Up: Hate Plus To Release Aug 19th

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“Christine Love!” I would say, breathlessly, as I caught up with the prolific visual novel writer on her morning jog (possibly?), “You’re releasing Hate Plus your sequel to the phenomenal visual novel Analogue: A Hate Story soon, and I’m so excited!” “Oh Cara,” she’d say, brushing pink fronds of hair from her face as she effortlessly kept pace, “I know you’re so very excited. Thank you for the nice coverage of my games on RPS, by the way, you are the best website, and also Cara, you are the best writer. Alec understood my games, but honestly, I feel like you understand me.” “Oh Christine!” I would say. “I do understand you! Your games are so intelligent and well-written and…” HEY. YOU. GET OUT OF MY DREAMS. This ain’t no eroge. Read the rest of this entry »

RPS Feature Love Games

A Pulse-Pounding, Heart-Stopping Dating Sim Round-Up

I do so love the blend of madness, sincerity, and unbridled subversion game jams often inspire. While genres normally build on themselves – ripping conceits and mechanics from compatriots like oily scrap from a spent machine – jams often operate in reverse: curious developers tear down everything that’s been established and rebuild, in their own image, from the ground up. I say this because – presumably like most of you – I don’t really play dating sims. Outside of obsessively wooing Tali and Garrus in Mass Effect, they’re just not my thing. But when I heard about the Pulse-Pounding, Heart-Stopping Dating Sim Jam, I was actually kind of thrilled. Here was an opportunity for new interpretations, new beginnings, new relationships. It did not disappoint in the slightest. These are some truly beautiful games. And yes, that’s definitely a T-Rex. 

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Analogue: An Even More Hateful Story – Hate Plus

When Christine Love writes, you should probably listen. She’s proven incredibly capable of spinning choice-powered yarns around love and hate, weaving in themes of misogyny, history, the ramifications of technology, and many more with a deft, personal hand. Seriously, if you’re not convinced, go read Kieron (pre-vengeful virtual ghost state) and Alec’s respective write-ups of Digital: A Love Story and Analogue: A Hate Story. Then join me after the break for the first details on There’s Not A Pre-Subtitle This Time: Hate Plus.

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RPS Feature This is not a love song

Wot I Think – Analogue: A Hate Story

Analogue: A Hate Story, the latest game from Digital: A Love Story and Don’t Take It Personally, Babe creator Christine Love, came out a few weeks back. I’ve finally been able to sit down and explore this dark, sad detective story set on a ghost ship from the 25th century. Here’s what I discovered.

CHOOSE:

I like the art style/don’t care either way/won’t let my dislike of it stand in the way of finding out more about an interesting videogame.

I will not play a game that has that art style.

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PSA: Fortune Summoners, Analogue Out Now

hurry, or they'll sell out!

Y U NO MENTION THAT [GAME X] IS OUT RPS?

COS WE HAV LIKE A MILLION TINGS 2 PLAY N POST ABOUT RAEDER K?

But: it is well worth observing Fortune Summoners – the latest release from Recettear and Chantelise Westernisers Carpe Fulgur – and Analogue: A Hate Story – the latest from Digital: A Love Story and Don’t Take It Personally dev Christine Love – both went on sale this week. Both are games that at least part of the Hivemind is very interested in, and we will be presenting some manner of opinion about them as soon as we can. We have not forgotten them. It’s just that we’ve been paid $3 million each by Eactisoft to only ever write about their releases and ignore all that indie stuff.

Lost Love – Analogue: A Hate Story

Yes, it uses a particular style of art.

Around a year after the fascinating, sinister but divisive saga of schooling, sex, duplicity and privacy infringement that was Don’t Take It Personally Babe, It Just Ain’t Your Story, Christine Love is to release a fully-fledged sequel to her breakthrough game Digital: A Love Story. It’s called Analogue: A Hate Story but despite the inverted title aesthetically it has more in common with Don’t Take It Personally. It’s a semi-non-linear visual novel concerning mystery, transhumanism, traditional marriage, loneliness, and cosplay. Both building on and diverging from the Chan-fuelled ideas that informed her earlier work, then, plus, from its description, there’s a vague air of System Shock to it…
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Wot I Think: Don’t Take It Personally…

Oh look, a face book

The next game from Christine Love, creator of remarkable 2010 adventure game Digital: A Love Story, was released a few days ago. It’s another adventure of sorts, but more specifically it’s a visual novel with heightened interactivity. Here’s how it made me feel.

I know next to nothing about visual novels, I don’t know anything about anime, I’m only passingly familiar with 4Chan, I’ve never been a high school teacher, I haven’t had to wrestle with coming out and I’ve never been seduced by someone half my age. Clearly, I am completely unqualified to write about Don’t Take It Personally, Babe, It Just Ain’t Your Story. Fortunately, the universality of its theme and its observations means I feel completely qualified anyway. I know what it is to feel like someone’s kicked me straight in the heart. For all the otaku trappings, that’s what Christine Love’s latest is really about.
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Take It Personally: Don’t Take it Personally

I didn't show the characters because people would judge and dismiss it immediately. Tactical, me.

I’m going to have a whole lot more to say about this later in the week, but it is only right to point your ocular organs its way while I finish playing it and arranging my thoughts. The wonderfully-titled ‘Don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story‘ is the next (free) game from Christine Love, who you may know from the best adventure game of 2010, Digital: A Love Story. I’ve only played an hour or so, but already it’s lodged expertly in my head and won’t get out.
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