Month: June 2013

Eric Swain Game Essays

Fallen: A Story from Primordia

As I’ve expressed before, I’m not a big fan of sequels as a concept. Continuity driven series are fine and all, but video games have a dearth of self-contained experiences. So, if I were asked if I’d want to see a sequel story in the world of one of my favorite games of last year, I would have said no. I would have begged against it. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more complete whole in a video game than Primordia. Yet so many fans of the game apparently wanted to see a sequel in that world filling in all the cracks ignoring that they were A. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Many Forks in the Road of Twine

After skipping two weeks I’m back to continue this look at Interactive Fiction at PopMatters. Lesson learned: never dive into an entire subculture and expect to be finished in a week. The fact of the matter is there are tons of twine games on the internet and more being dumped into cyberspace every day. There is a lot of creativity and lot of junk being spewed out. The fact that there is so much being dumped on the net and no central hub or curatorial site to point at the noteworthy ones is a bit difficult for the so-called movement. | more

Eric Swain Thoughts

Against Sequels

This is something that’s been on my mind and with E3 starting next week, somewhat timely. I don’t particularly like sequels. I don’t like additions. I like completed wholes. I like stories with beginnings, middles and, most importantly, ends. One of my favorite TV shows, if not my favorite, The Wire is so because it knew when to stop. If I was asked if I would like another season of The Wire, it would be tough, but in the end, I’d say no. The Wire was a complete whole with its 5 seasons. | more