Month: February 2017

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Think, Game, Love

On this episode of the Critical Distance Confab, I interview Heather Alexandra. It seems there is much variety on YouTube when it comes to video game criticism. This is my 11th interview with video producer and only now do I get to talk to someone about Let’s Plays. Heather Alexandra is also very different in that she is far more informal with a lot of her work. She can do the structured essays but also seems just at ease doing a video where it feels like you’re just chatting with her without you having to say a word. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Explores ‘This is the Police’

This week we dig into the Belarus indie police simulator This is the Police. It was a game that seemed fine at first, but slowly devolved into ‘I don’t give a fuck just be over already.’ I danced around what I felt the major failing of it was, because I hadn’t completely ordered my thoughts on it, but it’s so damn cynical for no reason. And cynical in a way that doesn’t really make sense. It’s a depressing cartoon of a police force that so desperately wants to be taken seriously. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Great Levels, The Best Levels In Gaming

It’s a little late, but the first episode of the Critical Distance Confab for 2017 is up. I interview Max Barnyard about his YouTube show Great Levels in Gaming. We were migrating the server, so uploading the actual mp3 got delayed by several days. This is January’s episode and, despite it releasing in February, you can expect to see another interview later this month. I’d also like to apologize about the first 4 minutes or so of audio. What happened to the previous recording, happened to this one. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Experiences ‘Event 0′

This week we go into deep space and talk to a ship AI in Event [0]. We discuss language as a mechanic as through most of the game you are uncovering what happened on a derelict star ship by way of real text conversation with the ship’s AI. The game is a marvel of technical prowess. But we each had issues with it came together as a whole. Strangely enough, each of us had different issues. You can find the episode on PopMatters, SoundCloud, iTunes and through the RSS feed. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

My PopMatters Reviews from 2016

I haven’t written for PopMatters in quite a while. When I went to go upload post an article for them the other week I found that I no longer was able to. Most likely my permissions have been changed. Last year, I did write a number of reviews that I never got around to linking to here. I’m still going to appear on the podcast, but given my current situation with the site, this will most likely be the final roundup of written material I published on PopMatters. | more