Behind all the smoke and mirrors, what are video games but lines of code with high aspirations? Unlike with movies, which for the most part share this relationship with coding to the point of visual representation and no further, video games aspire to simulate living, breathing situations through a responsive world that will change both with and without user interactions. Even if you set down the gamepad without pressing pause to fix yourself a tuna melt during a rousing bout of Super Mario Bros, the Goomba, Koopa, Koopa Paratroopa will all still algorithmically waddle and hop about, all for the sake of simulated agency. … Read the rest