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Articles by C.S. Voll
Tomy's Innovation Led the Early Handheld Gaming Market
Nowadays, Nintendo is synonymous with handheld gaming; the Game Boy, DS, and Switch boast long lineages and millions of sales. The company often faced fierce competition, though. These rivalries bred innovation, and one rival proved to be more innovative than most: Tomy. A toymaker, it knew what could entertain players, and in its quest to create fun, it would push what was possible with the technology of the time through 3D games.
Steins;Gate Ø Scares You With the Truth
How do you improve on perfection? It’s a question many video game franchises struggle with after a successful first entry. That’s also the case for Steins;Gate, which received this sequel (of sorts) 6 years after the first mainline entry, although the excellent spinoff games had entertained fans during the intervening years, too. Steins;Gate Ø tries to escape its predecessor’s enormous shadow by being a different kind of game. Let’s see if it succeeds or fails.
Gilded Age Healthcare: A Tale of How Black Women Doctors Saved People
Healthcare in the USA remained fractured and segregated after the Civil War. In many areas, Black Americans did not have access to formalized medical services, leading millions to suffer. As others turned their backs on people’s plights, a group of Black women attained their medical degrees to increase their access to life-saving services. One who would rise to prominence was Caroline Virginia Still Anderson.
‘A Woman of Distinction’ Skewered the Perception of Unmarried Women 75 Years Ago
Rosalind Russell stepped into a role during a career crisis Press enter or click to view image in full size Cat lady, spinster, old maid — terms people have attached to single women over the years. Discussions about women’s marital status are still ongoing today. After World War II, this topic also grew prominent as soldiers returned home. A Woman of Distinction, a comedy film released only five years after the war, ridicules as well as reinforces certain societal norms, oddly enough.
It’s Good To Be King: Suzerain’s Kingdom of Rizia
In 2020's Suzerain, we panicked as we guided Anton Rayne, Sordland’s democratically elected president, through a tumultuous period in his fictional country’s history. Kingdom of Rizia is a 2024 DLC that puts us in the shoes of Romus Toras, the new king of Rizia. You have absolute power, but absolute responsibility when anything goes wrong, too — and it will, trust me. Hope for the best, but expect the worst is a useful motto here, as we’ll find out when we look at Suzerain: Kingdom of Rizia.
Clifton’s Cafeteria Fed Ray Bradbury in More Ways Than One
Books often feel like mystical objects because they burst with creativity. Nevertheless, writers are not transcendental beings who pluck out page after page from thin air, and they also worry about food, shelter, or their health. Lately, the disappearance of third spaces have left many concerned, but what does that mean for writers, though? To get a clear picture, we need not search further than one of the most influential third spaces: Clifton’s Cafeteria.
Peering Into the Eyes of the Fayum Mummy Portraits
All while the faces of Roman Egypt stare back at us Left: A mummy portrait of a woman (circa 150 CE). In the Louvre Museum’s collection (Accession number: N 2733 3). By Shonagon from Wikimedia Commons (IPublic Domain). Right: A mummy portrait of a young man (circa 80 CE). In the Manchester Museum. By Allan Gluck from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Edited by the author. Time destroyed many of history’s greatest artworks.
Los Angeles Anti-Fascists Battled a Notorious Supremacist in 1945
A time when rabble-rousers travelled from town to town The United States fought against fascist powers during World War II, but at home Nazi sympathizers spread their ideologies. In fact, people such as Father Coughlin and Gerald L.K. Smith drew considerable support during the 1940s, and used populist techniques to increase their influence. This was possible because, among their supporters, resentment grew against New Deal politics, unions, civil rights groups, and communism.
Travelling to Turkey for a Chance at Love
Along the way, Victor Grigas captured how Europe was changing in 1970 Sometimes we forget how quickly the world changed after the Second World War. People wanted to distance themselves from the recent past by moving towards something else. In a couple of years, people could climb aboard a jet airliner for the first time, cook food in a microwave oven, and see a craft land on the moon.
Cast Adrift in a Ship of Fools
Plato’s antidotes to tyranny and difficult times Democracy is a fragile creature. Untended, it can die at any time. Or it grows into a monster that bites its protectors. Plato, an Athenian philosopher, believed tyranny was a natural outgrowth of a democratic government. To hurt the elite, the citizens of a state elect a tyrant, who is a favorite of a section of the populace. The tyrant then leans on his popularity to hide his tightening grip on power.
The Unusual Rise of Fantasy RPGs in Japan
Dark Souls, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy: so many popular fantasy RPGs have come from Japan. Now, we think of fantasy RPGs as being embedded in the Japanese media landscape, but this wasn’t always the case. Fantasy was a niche interest there until the 1980s. When it was ready for the big stage, Japanese developers ignored some of the well-established tropes of the fantasy genre to create something distinctive. Post-war Japan embraced technology to find hope.
New DNA Study Reveals Carthage’s True Identity
The civilization that produced Hannibal was more multicultural than many imagined When we think of the ancient world, we often picture cultures always warring with each other, and always at odds because of their vast differences. War gets most of the press, it’s true. Many other everyday interactions, ones that glued people together, went unrecorded over time, though.
Suzerain Does the Most Terrifying Thing: Elects You the Leader
Politics seeps into every facet of our lives, whether we like it or not. Video games are often an escape from the real world for many gamers, so you wouldn’t expect politics to feature in this form of entertainment, but it has been important in simulation games for a long time. In 1985, when the Cold War still spread its icy grip around the world, the game Balance of Power became a big hit because it replicated the American and Soviet nuclear standoff.
Henry Ossawa Tanner Defied Convention in His Biblical Art
The famous African American painter pointed his brush at poignant scenes Art has long been a way for people to make sense of the world. In religion too, believers have often turned to visual representations to portray their religious experiences, be it in literal or symbolic form. Representations of biblical scenes remained popular because they gave the viewer, who might have been illiterate, a new perspective. Each artist also brought something of themselves to their representations.
How Workers Fought for More Rights in the Progressive Era
Unionism, nativism, fundamentalism, and a fight over American identity Democracies aim to foster political discussions. Every couple of years, the voters hash things out to see who will lead their country for a while. And then they do it again. The cyclical nature of the beast can make us feel like nothing changes — or has ever changed.
Edward Curtis Visited Over 70 Native American Tribes to Complete a Photographic Project
Member-only story He feared all Native Americans would vanish from the earth in his lifetime C.S. Voll · Follow Published in Full Frame · 10 min read · -- A portrait of an Inupiat Family from Noatak, Alaska (circa 1929). By Edward S. Curtis from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). At the turn of the 20th century, many in North America thought the indigenous people of the continent would vanish within a generation.
Nazi Germany’s Obsession With Spectacle Touched Everything — Even Vacations
Member-only story Prora summarizes many of the obsessions of a totalitarian state C.S. Voll · Follow Published in Teatime History · 7 min read · -- The KdF Prora building (2007). Edited by the author. By Dr. Schorsch (Georg Wiora) from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Leisure time has changed over the centuries. Technological advances, such as railways, opened up trips to faraway places.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Captures a Different Creature
Many people compare Digimon to Pokémon, although that’s unfair to both franchises. The Digimon are, as the name suggests, sentient digital beings that interact with the real world, and that alone takes its stories in other directions. Characters in its worlds have died, confronted traumas, and faced sadistic opponents. Because of this tone, its target audience is usually older than many other shonen franchises.
Black Chicagoans Show Us Their Lives in the Early 1970s
Member-only story John H. White was there to document how a city’s communities dealt with adversity C.S. Voll · Follow Published in Full Frame · 8 min read · -- A young member of a community program in Chicago (August 1973). Edited by the author. By John H. White from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). The USA experienced an economic boom during the 1950s and 1960s that is still idolized by some decades later.
People Argued While the Roman World Burned
Member-only story The clashes of the Donatists and Catholics show the dangers of partisanship C.S. Voll · Follow Published in Teatime History · 10 min read · -- “St. Augustine arguing with donatists” painting by Charles-André van Loo. From Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). A Roman at the start of the 4th century CE would be a tired person.
Forough Farrokhzad Dissected How Shame Burns Women
For centuries, shame has been a brush that pushes people to behave in certain ways. After physical force became less acceptable in many societies, at least in certain public cases, shame rose in importance to control people. Social media has only magnified the reach of shame. Still, ever since World War II, many women have shared their brushes with these powers. One of them was Forough Farrokhzad, an Iranian poet with no patience for artificiality. Her words shocked her contemporaries.
A World War II Veteran Photographs Chicago
America’s post-war period was full of change. Many soldiers returned to their homes with a lot of ghosts from a deadly conflict during this time. People tried to pick up the pieces of their lives. The tense relationship between former allies, such as the USA and the Soviet Union, twisted into suspicion. It’s one thing to describe it, and another to live through it, though. The closest we, the viewer, can get is through the form of expressions, such as photography.
Once Upon a Time, Grocery Barcodes Unlocked an RPG World
Barcodes have become ubiquitous objects in modern life. The first grocery product to be scanned, a 10-pack of Wrigley gum in 1974, would signify the creation of a standardized storage method for pricing information. Nor did this technology remain limited to the commercial arena. In the early â90s, a Japanese company would create a handheld console that would presage technological developments.
Freedom Fighters Retrospective
Popularity doesn’t always indicate the quality of a game. Some titles you might never have heard of, but they are just as good, or even better, than their more well-known compatriots. One that got lost in the shuffle is Freedom Fighters, all the way back in 2003. This was the year of Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Final Fantasy X-2, Need for Speed: Underground, and many other hits.
Bouboulina: Greece’s Tragic Revolutionary
Greece’s War of Independence (1821–1829) attracted international attention like few other conflicts. American, French, British individuals, and other supporters of Greece — the Philhellenes — sometimes even went so far as travelling to the conflict zone itself to take part in the war. One poster woman for the Greek cause was Laskarina Bouboulina (née Pinotsi), who appeared on fundraising merchandise such as art prints, ceramic sculptures, and cards.
This is the Choice of Steins;Gate
Some games are pure entertainment. Others attempt to communicate heavy messages. Both are valid, because they satisfy different needs. Though a rarer, third kind communicates a message that matches its story and characters, whilst also entertaining its players. Steins;Gate is a member of that last class. Its form and its message entwines in a slow, seamless dance that rewards a patient gamer. Before long, it seeps into your bones, until you ponder its existential questions well into the night.
We Live with the Ghosts of Chivalry
Modern men wrestle with their historical inheritance C.S. Voll · Follow Published in Teatime History · 11 min read · -- “Lonely Ride” painting by Hans Thoma (1889). By Städel Museum from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). Masculinity’s crisis has moved to the foreground. This has been, in part, fueled by various studies. For example, researchers found that American men died from drug overdose at about 3 times the rate of women in a recent study.
Tetris at 40: The Twisting Tale of Its Journey to Handhelds
The screen that opened up Tetris to a new group of gamers was that of the handheld. In this area, its success became synonymous with the Nintendo Game Boy. That wasnāt the case everywhere, though. In the developing world, an official Game Boy was out of reach for millions, so some turned to other options, such as the infamous Brick Man console. The torturous route of Tetrisā licensing dance in the 1980s had laid the foundations of this world.
In 1939, a Photojournalist Documented a Road Trip to Break Her Drug Addiction
Annemarie Schwarzenbach fought herself while she travelled all the way to the Indian subcontinent C.S. Voll · Follow Published in Full Frame · 9 min read · -- Annemarie Schwarzenbach’s Ford De Luxe in Torkham (1939/1940). Swiss National Library, SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5–22/010. By Annemarie Schwarzenbach from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). A road trip with a friend is a time for fun.
Alexandra David-Neel Hiked Snowy Peaks to Access Tibetan Buddhism
People in the West grew interested in the East during the 19th century. Orientalists studied religions such as Buddhism but often viewed them through the prism of mysticism. Enthusiastic spiritualists brought many of the concepts in an altered form to different audiences. Many European and American academics brought their own preconceptions to discussions and sought to reform the superstitious aspects of the religion to align with scientism. Alexandra David-Neel was one of them at first.
Choices Have Consequences in 428: Shibuya Scramble
We like to feel what we do matters. It’s also true for our actions in video game worlds. A story might give us a thousand options, but if our choices change nothing, then what’s the point? One game that respects this need is 428: Shibuya Scramble. In many respects, the way it represents the cost of our actions is still a gold standard. A different novel New storage technology excited game developers in the 1980s and 1990s.
Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, Issue 25
We're back with another issue of Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, and this one marks the quarter-century point! We've gone monthly with this format, giving our writers the time to truly sink into the games they're playing.
'Palm Springs' Asks What Gives Monotonous Lives Meaning
Routine dominates our lives. We wake up at predetermined times, check our devices, meet the same people after work, and then do it all over again the next day. Time has become such a precious commodity that we don't know how to savour it. To deal with this, we focus on pleasures, become jaded, and judge others from our self-imposed exiles. Palm Springs, a comedy from 2020, shows us a way to free ourselves from this cycle. Nyles (Andy Samberg) stands out like a gummy bear in a sandpit.
Promises of a Phantom: Dreams of a Lost Console From 2002
My excited friend shows me hazy images on the internet. It’s a futuristic white box, attached to a big screen. This will change the world, he says. The Phantom. With it, we'll have access to a huge gaming library, play what we want, and never even have to leave our living rooms. This is the future, and it sounds pretty sweet. This wasn’t one of my hallucinations back in the halcyon days of the early 2000s. No, this was how I found out about the PlayStation 2's newest challenger.
Luella Bates Trucked Skills Across a Bumpy, Changing America
Transportation looked very different at the beginning of the 20th century. Only 200 miles of paved roads greeted car drivers outside of American cities. The roads that did exist shortened the lifespan of the vehicles, as well as the stressed owners, while also lengthening the travel time between destinations. Being a truck driver in this environment was hell.
Photos that Turned People Against Child Labor
As odd as it sounds today, many people were pro-child labor around a century ago. They saw it as a way for children to lift themselves out of poverty through hard work. In the 19th century, several prominent people and U.S. presidents, such as Millard Fillmore, had worked hard from...
'Great Teacher Onizuka' Yelled About the Education Crisis
By C.S. Voll The straight-talking protagonist changed many people's lives Great Teacher Onizuka (1998). Produced by Fuji TV. How many teacher television shows are out there? If you woke me in the middle of the night, I could blurt out the names of at least three cop shows, and then compile a long list of them after a cup of tea. But shows about teachers? Yes, there are shows about...
Stories that Shine Like Stained Glass
Adventure games experienced a renaissance during the 2010s. These games, with their focus on choice and narrative, introduced a new audience to the important genre. During this decade, Daedalic Entertainment took on the mammoth task of transporting the popular The Pillars of the Earth book, by Ken Follett, to the digital realm. It would be the German studio’s biggest project up to that point. Events that encircle The Pillars of the Earth's setting is a somber one.
Renaissance Heretics Empowered the Individual
One young scholar, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, would jumpstart the growth of individualism's influence during the Renaissance. To forge his philosophy, he drew on Jewish Kabbalah, Arabic philosophy, and Greco-Roman thought. Per his...
Adolph de Meyer Crafted a Fashion Fantasy Land With Pictures
People influence the way artists see the world. That's also true for life partners. Baron Adolph de Meyer changed fashion photography forever, but his wife also pushed him to evolve his approach. His candid photos of her show the relationship's unvarnished affection. Adolph...
Haute Couture's Inventor Helped Women See Their Own Beauty
Society has held women to a high standard of beauty for eons. Because other avenues were not open, it pressured women to conform to ideals; otherwise, they would face exclusion. The dressmaker was their one ally in their war to climb social ladders. This relationship was not mere business.
Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, Issue 21
We're back with another issue of Now Playing at SUPERJUMP! This week is a mesmerizing mashup of genres, classics, small games, and highly-anticipated mainstream fare. Enjoy this week's entries and we'll see you back here soon with more recommendations and odes to the games we love! Lately, I've been playing Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. It's an adventure game set in medieval England. The art style is really eye-catching — it feels like one is part of a beautiful animated movie.
Firewatch Burns a New Path to Understanding
Games often define success in terms of the classic hero’s quest. Players have to slay a monstrous enemy to attain a precious goal. What if the monsters do not hide in a dark cave, but in the hollow of one’s own heart? No amount of quests or bravado can defeat them. Firewatch spotlights what one can do when they sink their claws into our lives. On a tall tower Henry, the protagonist of Firewatch, becomes a fire lookout in one of Wyoming’s national parks, Shoshone National Forest.
Nintendo's DS Delivered the Visual Novel to the West
The impact of the Nintendo DS contradicts its size. In fact, it’s the second-highest-selling console (154.02 million units as of September 2023) of all time, only second to the venerable PlayStation 2. It has been part of many gamers’ daily routines, and the visual novel genre found a foothold in a new market because of the influence of the inimitable console. It did it in a way that worked with the platform’s peculiar assets — the touch screen and stylus.
Australia Became Sam Hood’s Photographic Backdrop
For over half a century, he made a living with his trusty camera Longevity is what many people desire in their creative careers. Nowadays, few expect to work in the same job for over half a century, though. That’s what Sam Hood did in Australia from the late Victorian until the post-war era. And he captured many of the changes in the country over that impressive period.
Zitkala-Sa Dismantled Manifest Destiny’s Myths
Manifest Destiny guided the westward movement of American settlers in the 19th century. While it encouraged migration, it ignored the lives of Native Americans. By the close of that century, after decades of settler incursions and wars, many intellectuals thought Native Americans were…
Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, Issue 20
We're back with another issue of Now Playing at SUPERJUMP! Dragon's Dogma 2 has taken the gaming world by storm, and our team is playing that and a lot more. Enjoy this week's entries and we'll see you back here soon with more recommendations and odes to the games we love! C.S. Voll I finally got around to playing Firewatch, after having it on my to-play list for around 8 years.
‘Royal Warriors’ Packs a Punch
The Hong Kong action movie showcases familiar stars Hong Kong’s film industry has created many stars over the decades. In the mid-’80s, one upstart company pushed a new actor, a person who would become known as Michelle Yeoh, to the forefront to compete with the region’s big film companies. Royal Warriors was one product of that focus. This film displays the evolution of Yeoh’s on-screen talents while it whirrs from one impressive set piece to another. D & B Films appeared on the scene in 1984.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Defends the Reputation of Truth
Today, we can curate what we want to see in our daily lives. We shield ourselves from hard truths with that power, too. Technology has made our lives more comfortable, but also more disconnected from the real world. The foundations of this world lie in the late Victorian era. The Great Ace Attorney series travels to that period, not only to interrogate the troubles of that time, but also to scrutinize their effect on today’s challenges.
Sid Meier's Pirates! Allowed Gamers to Become Swashbucklers
Pirates from the 17th and 18th centuries have captured imaginations like few other groups. It might be the combination of danger, beautiful locales, illicit activities, and freedom that makes it such a rich historical field. In order to capture that essence, a game needs to be proficient in various things: it must be a ship simulator, a fencing simulator, a maritime trade simulator, and a naval battle simulator. The wide-ranging activities of pirates always presents a challenge to developers.
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