Michael Thomsen
Washington Post
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Michael:
Why is the games industry so burdened with crunch? It starts with labor laws.
For decades, governments on the federal and state levels have carved out exceptions to labor laws for certain industries. → Read More
‘Battlefield V’ struggles to make sense of history
The game doesn’t just erase historical details, it overwrites them. → Read More
‘Metal Gear Survive’ turns survivalism into a theater of the absurd
It's more about consumerism than survivalism. → Read More
The universe has been outsourced
The unseen labor behind the video game industry’s biggest titles. → Read More
The universe has been outsourced
The unseen labor behind the video game industry’s biggest titles. → Read More
The 10 best video games of 2017
2017 was another incredible year for the gaming industry. Here are the games that our critics could not stop thinking about. → Read More
‘Call of Duty: WWII’ turns the Great War into a timeshare
The levels in “WWII” render warfare as stagecraft, in which the stage dressing and scenery is changed regularly to make aiming and shooting seem heroic. → Read More
‘South Park: The Fractured but Whole’ is a game that’s too eager to laugh at cruelty
In 22-minute episodes, this kind of humor might pass as satire, but the punchlines sour when they are spread out across a 20-hour video game. → Read More
‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’ is a not-quite successful marriage of an old favorite and a new platform
For new (or lapsed) players, the possibilities will seem endless and energizing. For others, the idea of endless possibility might feel like more of the same. → Read More
‘1-2-Switch’ wrings some fun out of awkward eye contact
Twenty-eight brief and bewildering oddities await players who play while staring into their competitors' eyes instead of a screen. → Read More
‘Final Fantasy XV’ review: All the poetry and frustration of a road trip
As with many sequels it becomes more about the auto-nostalgia for previous games in the series. → Read More
The top 10 video games of 2016
For many years the industry has churned out games that take a dozen or more hours to finish, on this year's best-of list more than half can be completed in under five hours. → Read More
‘Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’ is a shooting game at war with itself
The game’s long-running traditions begin to feel like a limitation → Read More
‘Battlefield 1′ review: An odd way to play with history
It’s a reminder that what we want most from history is the make-believe. → Read More
‘Paper Mario: Color Splash’ makes a game of dragging the past into the present
As with much of the entertainment adults make for children, the seemingly harmless “Paper Mario: Color Splash” is rife with hostile moments. → Read More
‘Destiny: Rise of Iron’ review: The latest in the series is proof that ‘Destiny’ will never end
“Destiny: Rise of Iron” is a reflection of how successful Bungie has been in its original plan for occupying players’ time and it’s another attempt to finish what it began in 2014. → Read More
What's Instagram Doing to Us?
What does Lev Manovich's Instagram archive show us how the app is shaping our lives and the way we think about images? → Read More
‘The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD:’ The best in the series
The high-definition remaster is better today than when it was released 10 years ago → Read More
The Worrying Rise of Automated Parole
Vending machine-style kiosks are replacing parole officers, which means less rehabilitation work and more surveillance. → Read More
The best video games of 2015: ‘Bloodborne,’ ‘Splatoon’ and ‘The Witcher 3’ helped make dreams come true
Video games in 2015 were exuberant, despairing, spectacular and spartan, but always close to the edge of new territory. → Read More