Year: 2016

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Interrogates ‘Virginia’

On this, the last Moving Pixels Podcast of the year, we look at the cinematic adventure game, Virginia. There’s a lot to talk about with Virginia, mainly because no one in the game says anything themselves. The entire game is wordless, even my quote below required some stretching to get. Because of that, a lot of the game is up to interpretation and insinuation. Of course, before you can ask what is going on, you have to reckon with how the game is delivering its visual experience. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Every Game a Painting

November 30, 2016 | Filed under: External Sources, Recent Posts and tagged with: Critical Distance, Podcast The November episode of the Critical Distance Confab is finally out. Continuing in chronological order brings up to Mr. Mark Brown of Game Maker’s Toolkit. I do feel like I should apologize for this podcast being so late. Though probably in the end it was best I didn’t hit the 15th target date as it would have gotten lost in the shuffle. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Exploring the Mind-Body Connection in ‘Soma’

This week, we finish our trilogy of going through the Frictional Games oeuvre with their latest game, SOMA. I really love this game. It was my number 2 game of last year. When we started down this Amnesia route, I knew this was the superior game already and couldn’t wait to get to it and dig in. The discussion we had did not disappoint. Also, stick around for after the ending music. My ending quote inspired an 8-minute discussion on one of the characters. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Explores ‘A Machine for Pigs’

This week we continue on from our last Amnesia podcast with The Chinese Room follow up, A Machine for Pigs. Despite that this episode was going to release in November, we decided to continue our look at/catch up with the horror franchise Amnesia. A Machine for Pigs is familiar as an Amnesia game, but at the same time, noticeably different from Frictional’s take, but with clear similarities to The Chinese Room’s other work. My reference point was Dear Esther and Nick’s was Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Finally Gets ‘Amnesia’

This Halloween we look at a now horror classic in Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent. One of the reasons I love being on the Moving Pixels Podcast is that it forces me to sit down and finish games by a deadline. I began playing Amnesia 3 years ago. I made it about halfway through before I had to put it down because it was late and I just never picked it up again. So, we decided on Amnesia as hour Halloween title and I had to sit down and finish it. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Executes ‘The Deed’

This week on the Moving Pixels Podcast we discuss the indie murder planner simulator, The Deed. It’s an interesting idea that works more as a proof of concept than as a cohesive whole. That is just my opinion. My compatriots aren’t quite in a agreement on that front. You can get the episode now on PopMatters, SoundCloud, iTunes and the RSS feed. “There are many ways to do the deed,but only the cunning will succeed.” | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Games Literary Studies on Youtube

Last week, we released our newest interview on the Critical Distance Confab featuring Sam Gronseth, the Game Professor. His whole project emerged out of a class he taught using games to teach literary analysis and critical thinking. From that he created a series of videos to explain the basics of understanding how games work to deliver meaning. Ironically, some of those videos are infuriating to watch despite there being nothing wrong with them. Flashbacks to all the arguments coming back. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – This is Innuendo Studios

I’m sorry this is a few weeks late. I wanted it out on time and instead the unedited audio just sat on my desktop for a month, mocking me. Let that not reflect on my interview with Ian Danskin about his work on his YouTube channel Innuendo Studios. We cover from its viral first video about Phil Fish (or not as the argument goes) to his continuing strong output of thoughtful criticism. The podcast is live in iTunes, please rate and review us, and on the podcast’s RSS feed. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Highbrow, Middle Brow, and Lowbrow in Free-to-Play Gaming

September 27, 2016 | Filed under: External Sources, Recent Posts This week on the Moving Pixels Podcast we do another anthology of 3 small free games. The games this time are A Date in the Park, Mandagon and The Lion’s Song. For this variation on the occasional trip into free game land, we, essentially, each picked a game out … (This post is lost beyond this point.) Moving Pixels Podcast: Highbrow, Middle Brow, and Lowbrow in Free-to-Play Gaming » PopMatters "No need to linger little totem; heed the words we all have spoken! | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Explores Act IV of ‘Kentucky Route Zero’

The long-awaited Act IV of Kentucky Route Zero has been released and now so has our discussion about it. It’s a game about being lost. With each new episode KR0 seems to find a new way to express this both thematically and structurally. While Act IV may be the most constrained episode geographically, it also feels like it is also the most expansive with narrative crafting options. It strange coming back to continue a game after letting it lie two years fallow. | more