Journal of Flakery

The opinionated mouthpiece of Jon Clayden

This article discusses sexual themes heavily, but there is no explicit imagery and no direct links to any (although external websites can of course change).

Western relationships with sex, and its portrayal in art and the media, remain awkward and partly self-contradictory. Religious traditions co...

I got a Steam Deck in 2022, and I love it. The form-factor works well for me, its power and battery life are fine since I'm neither hardcore gamer nor frequent long-distance traveller, and its size, portability and price mean I don't need to justify the cost or the space required for a "proper" Wi...

Feelings of vulnerability, both to the elements and to other people, are perhaps the central theme of Firewatch, the recently released debut game by young studio Campo Santo. No doubt we’ve all felt that way at various points in our lives: walking home late at night; being lost in an unfamiliar...

The full-motion video (FMV) games of the 1990s occupied an interesting niche in the history of computer gaming. Solid storytelling in games had been established by a procession of text adventures released during the late 70s and 80s, but graphical engines were very basic and nowhere near ready for t...