Year: 2015

Eric Swain External Sources

One More Episode: A Second Look at ‘The Detail’

I said I’d take a look at the second episode of the The Detail on the last Moving Pixels Podcast and that’s just what I did. I had hoped it would get through some growing pains and get better especially since it clearly wants to be more than a mere pulp escapade. The set up is similar to The Wire, in getting a special detail unit together to handle big cases, but certain details are calling to it. Plus, the ending stats where it shows the percentages of players who made certain choices it adds in a fact about the real social issue that choice connects with. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Gaming in the Analog World

And I’m finally back to writing my column at PopMatters. I’ve been out of the game as it were these last few weeks. I was wiled away by the prospect of getting back into playing Magic. I’ve been lamenting leaving the game for a while now and wishing I could get back into it. With money being a major factor as to why I left the game, it was also difficult to jump back in. Over time one loses contact with the game and makes it even harder to muster up the drive to come back. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Focuses on ‘The Detail’

We look at another episodic adventure game, The Detail. Though, instead of going episode by episode, we just dip out toes into the first one. I like what The Detail was doing in its functional form aspects to some degree, but too much of it feel route. It’s not helped that it keeps bringing to mind better examples of it is trying to do with gang and drug violence against a crack team dealing with it. The Wire on the realistic end and Batman on the more bombastic side. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Minisode 04 – Wandering Around and Feeling

June 30, 2015 | Filed under: External Sources, Recent Posts and tagged with: Critical Distance, Podcast A new minisode for the CDC podcast is up on Critical Distance. I would like to thank Imran Khan for answering the call and appearing on the podcast on short notice. He was a great guest to have on and a wonderful voice to edit.1 Another 6 games, and another month of hoping that this little project is doing something. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

‘White Night’, White Noir

This week on the Moving Pixels Podcast we discussed the noir infused horror indie game White Night. I really like the discussion on this game. It speaks well of any game that is able to engender a conversation that speaks to expressionism, subtle themeing, genre mixing and long discussion on craft on how it affects the representation of the game’s themes, even a game I’m not personally high on. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Review Comes For The Arcade

June 18, 2015 | Filed under: External Sources, Recent Posts and tagged with: Critical Distance, Podcast This has to be the fastest turnaround for a podcast from recording to publishing I’ve ever done. Two days. I didn’t really want the podcast to come out this week. I knew it was going to get lost in the shuffle. Even pushing back, a day didn’t help much with all the focus centered on E3. Still, in continuing the interview series of publications we arrive at Zolani Stewart’s The Arcade Review. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Questioning the Context of Video Games

Context matters. It’s something I end up saying a lot. This week on the podcast we check out how the context effects appraisal and understanding of video games. The idea of this podcast came from the fact that we were and still are going to do a podcast on The Longest Journey. It has gotten pushed back several times, because it is a long game and not all of us had the time right at that moment. It’s coming. Meanwhile, since it is an older game, it was worthy asking about context. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Minisode 03 – B-grade Games

This month’s minisode comes a few days early because the last day of the month is a Sunday and it’s going to be rather jam packed with content anyway. I would like to thank Aevee Bee for agreeing to come on the show on such short notice. It was a really good fit. See, as I have mentioned before, I haven’t a whole lot of rules on how the minisodes operate. As time goes on, I’m sure I’ll implement them when problems arise. So far, the rules as they are, are the games must have little to no criticism and no repeats. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Five out of Ten or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Journey to Na Pali

This is the first double header podcast for the Critical Distance Confab in quite a while. This month I was joined by Alan Williamson to talk about two of his publishing projects. In each part, he was joined by his collaborator, Lindsey Joyce concerning Five out of Ten magazine and Kaitlin Tremblay regarding their co-authored book Escape to Na Pali: Journey to the Unreal. Both Side A and Side B as I’ve dubbed them can be found here. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Unearthing the ‘Charnel House’

This time on the Moving Pixels Podcast we talk about the recently release point-and-click adventure game, The Charnel House Trilogy. I appreciate The Charnel House Trilogy more as a formal exercise than I do as a work on its own. I have complicated feelings about it. On the one hand, I don’t feel as if everything connected together or gave me fulfilling story. Yet, on the other, it doesn’t feel like a work that is finished. | more