Side QuestHey there,
I’m Hagen McMenemy, a lover of the video game media that is setting out to be one of the voices providing in-depth analyses and critiques of video games that eschews the hype and inflation from major media outlets.
To me, video games are a form of art and should be approached as such. I believe that like any art form, video games deserve to be analyzed and enjoyed with a thoughtful approach. While typical video games reviews that look to judge a video game on objective metrics as a product are useful, that is not my goal.
I’m a native of Alabama currently living in Detroit with my cat Dusty.
When not playing or writing about video games, I work as a technical writer for an SEO Firm.
Spoilers ahead: Gears of War is one of Microsoft’s most storied franchises. During the early days of the last console generation, it was the title that helped to sell Xbox 360s during their juggernaut, Halo‘s absence. Microsoft early in this generation had an arguably strong first-party lineup with unique titles such as Titanfall and Sunset […]
When I first heard “Old Town Road”, I had discovered it through a video that was posted as a reply to a tweet that was a complete non-sequitur. It was so unrelated, that I can’t even recall what the original tweet was. But I googled the lyrics and came across the visual (a compilation of […]
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is the latest album by American rapper Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, better known by his stage monkiker, Logic. Logic has made albums in the past and while there were some people who liked his albums, there were also those did not like his albums. He released Under Pressure, The Incredible True Story, Everybody, YSIV, […]
To say that Tyler, The Creator has undergone a transformation would be an understatement. Where the former auteur of Odd Future had created deranged works filled with angst and teenage edge like Bastard and Goblin, he then sought to withdraw from the darkness and rebrand himself in the light with his previous release, Flower Boy. While not being a […]
Quincy Hanley, better known by his stage-name, ScHoolboy Q, has over the years cemented himself as one of TDE’s elite. He’s built a reputation for his mix of introspective lyrics on his life, his city, and the ways he has coped navigated these channels be it through gang violence, drugs, or friends with a razor […]
No one would be surprised to hear that Future is one of my favorite rappers. Some of his projects are among my favorite releases from any genre, let alone Hip Hop. His mixtape rebirth that began with 2014’s Monster began a trilogy of album-quality mixtapes with Beast Mode and 56 Nights that culminated in his […]
Deerhunter has always been a band concerned with the “then” more than the “now”. Their 2010 landmark album Halcyon Digest had to do with memories and the feelings of hazy nostalgia that come with reminiscing over them. The way that the past is romanticized, even when it is often harsh in retrospect was the core […]
I’mma keep it real with you chief, 2018 was a down year compared to 2017 for videogames. But, that’s kind of an unfair bar to hold 2018 to since 2017 might have been the best year for videogames in my lifetime, or at least since I was cognizant of what a “year” for mediums could […]
Where ? felt like an accumulation of fragmented ideas — often interesting but rarely cohesive, Skins, the Florida rapper’s first posthumous release, feels like a more focused flash of catharsis. On 17, XXXTENTACION funneled his depression and bitterness into a harrowing 20 minute sprint. Then, it feels appropriate that before his death, X may have wanted […]
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