March 3, 2014 Eric Swain External Sources Paths and Parables This podcast on The Stanley Parable was recorded back in January, that’s how far ahead we are. I really love this game and was really excited to finally get to talk in depth about it. There’s something about its brand of wackiness and intellectual masturbation that fits my personal brand of criticism and thinking. It’s also a title that doesn’t get much exploration beyond surface level discussion even when it comes to the game’s meaning. | more
February 12, 2014 Eric Swain External Sources ‘The Stanley Parable’: Mapping Choice to Spatial Movement This week I wrote about the meaning behind The Stanley Parable as a first-person walker. We all know The Stanley Parable is about choice in video games. The game is nice enough to tell us this fact over and over. But the game takes the form of a first-person walker, a genre by its nature is a minimalization of some aspect of a video game. Previously, I only had examples that were minimalizations of genres. But when you look at The Stanley Parable it isn’t a reduced version of a genre but trend many different types of games incorporate – choices. | more
December 23, 2013 Eric Swain External Sources Reviews For November/December In this time of reflection and end of year lists, I’m going to take a moment to reflect instead on the games I wrote reviews for in the past two months. I’m doing it early because PopMatters is on hiatus until the new year and the rest of the reviews I have lined up will go up then. What is there left to say about the PSN downloadable title Rain? No, seriously what is there left to say. I was struggling to fill out the word count on this one. On a purely aesthetics level, the game is a wonder to look at. | more
August 26, 2011 Eric Swain Game Essays, Recent Posts Indie Game Spotlight: The Stanley Parable Indie Game Spotlight is a weekly feature where I highlight an independent game that deserves attention. Given the difficulty these developers have in being heard, every little bit helps. Some will be free, some will cost money, but all are deserving of some attention. The Stanley Parable is a Source Code mod made by Davey Wreden. It took two years of work to make and is a superb think piece. That’s what it is, a think piece in interactive form. It’s not a game in the traditional sense. | more
