Author: Eric Swain

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Reviews from April – December

This is just housekeeping for the reviews I wrote last year for PopMatters, but didn’t catalog on my site. Tales from the Borderlands episode 2: Atlas Mugged Dreamfall Chapters Book Two: Rebels Game of Thrones episode 3: The Sword in the Darkness Life Is Strange™_20150328152238 Life is Strange episode 2: Out of Time Hand of Fate Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow is Today Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! | more

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Critical Distance Confab – Back to the 2015

On the last day of 2015 I released our end of the year podcast. No epic length to wade through. Just me, Kris Ligman, Alan Williamson and Riley MacLeod handing out on Skype chatting about some stuff that happened in the year. Not a whole lot to say about this one. No minisode this month, though we do talk about some of our favorite games/game related things of the year so there you go. Also, please tell me someone gets that title. I struggled to come up with anything and I’m not too sure how much of that title comes through. | more

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This Year In Video Game Blogging 2015 – Post-Mortem

Year six of This Year In Video Game Blogging. There is a point every year in the December where I end up shouting at myself for having the stupid idea of doing the Critical Distance end of the year projects. This year was no different. While I didn’t break into tears this time, I was in no less full-on panic mode by the end. So, understand that this is coming after a time of calming down long after the things I had in my head to say are no longer organized nor as volatile as they were when fresh. | more

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The Moving Pixels Goes Around the World in ’80 Days’

And we get around to playing and talking about one of my favorite games in 2014, 80 Days. I’ve said quite a bit on this game already and I bring that preparedness to the discussion. Really, it’s an hour of the three of us valorizing this game and all the various stories it has within it. We get into what it changes from the original book, what experience it gives us as its own work and all the various social mores it upends by presenting a different view of the late 19th century. | more

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The Moving Pixels Podcast Opens Up ‘The Beginner’s Guide’

The last episode of the year is us talking about the meta-commentary on criticism, The Beginner’s Guide. There’s a lot to talk about with The Beginner’s Guide and yet it is a game that leaves me somewhat cold. I don’t know why. To me it came across as an academic exercise. There’s a lot to say in this academic exercise and we do in fact. Yet, I enjoyed it less than The Stanley Parable. I wonder if that’s because I am the target of its message instead of the game itself? | more

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Critical Distance Confab – Minisode 08 – Breaking the Mold and Cultural Musings

And so is published the last CDC minisode of the year. This time I managed to wrangle Austin Walker to co-host with me. I enjoy this podcast. In fact, it’s a particular favorite of mine. I get to simply chat. There’s something about hearing someone talk in their own voice that changes everything you thought you knew. I like doing that. I like being able to talk and have fun. The plan is continue with them next year, which means I’m going to have to fine a whole new crop of games to talk about that no one has ever heard of before. | more

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The Moving Pixels Podcast Concludes Our Discussion of ‘Life is Strange’

The last episode of the Life is Strange series on the Moving Pixels Podcast. After relistening to the episode I can’t think of anything I didn’t get to express in it. Sure there’s a lot of minor observations of craft and plenty of tertiary narrative lines left by the wayside, but we hit all the major points. Either in this episode or in the prior ones. Life is Strange is, frankly, a rather dense work and an hour and half may not be enough to cover everything. | more

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Critical Distance Confab – Everthing’s Better Embed

And so ends this year long interview series on video game criticism publication authors and editors over at Critical Distance. There are plenty of other books still yet to come and I’m sure an online magazine or two that I missed. Not to mention the books by people I have nowhere near enough clout to ask to come on to the podcast. Still, it was super fun to talk to Cara Ellison, a writer whose skill at the craft I have so much respect for. | more

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Life Gets Stranger

And we’re back to our series of podcast on Life is Strange. Do ignore that the title is the same as the last episode on the game. It’s been a while. This episode was recorded before the release of episode 5 and I was surprised how prescient a lot of our observations and predictions were. Even more so is that while we were right, it’s that we were also oh so wrong given how it all ended up turning out. Also, interesting how episode 5 turns some of our discussion moot. | more

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Critical Distance Confab – Minisode 07 – Horror Games

It was October, so of course, I had to do a theme minisode on Horror Games. This was the hardest minisode to set up yet. Mostly because October is a notoriously difficult month for people to schedule time, because every game publisher decides now is the right time to release their game. Way back in the beginning of the year, March I think, when I was recording the first minisode with Danielle Riendeau I mentioned that I wanted to see how long I could go without having another cis-straight white guy on as a co-host. | more