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Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Goes ‘Full Throttle’

This week we check out the recently release remaster of the LucasArts classic, Full Throttle. I feel like comedies are difficult to discuss in the manner we usually dissect video games. Instead of going into story details, much of our discussion is concerned with the mechanics of how the game functions both literally and thematically. I make a comment near the end of this podcast that we didn’t really discuss the story all that much. Instead, we focus on the pieces that make up the world and the game. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Discusses ‘Tales from the Borderlands Episode 1′

And so, we begin a new series of episodes on a Telltale Adventure game. This time the action/comedy Tales from the Borderlands. We’ve been away from Telltale for a while so covering Tales from the Borderlands both felt like coming home to a knowable, comfortable quantity and getting a splash of cold water to the face. If there’s a through-line to our discussion, it’s this dichotomy. In changing up to a comedy instead of another tragedy, Tales feels fresh and something of a clearing the air over our burnout of the relentlessness of Telltale’s other titles. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – Documentary Delight

I interviewed the director of the gaming documentary Gaming in Color, Philip Jones. This was a bit different from the other interviews, as it seems every interview in this series is, that instead of a whole body of work that I could discuss we focused solely on a single piece, the film. Can’t think of anything else to add that didn’t make it into the interview. I will admit, this one is a little behind the original schedule. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Seeks the ‘Lost Constellation’

This week, we discuss the free Kickstarter teaser, demoish thing for Night in the Woods, Lost Constellation. I personally didn’t get much from the game other than a nice, pleasant feeling from the game’s art style, but fellow podcaster Nick liked it a lot. I didn’t have much to contribute this time around, but Nick and Chris went in depth on a discussion of folklore and rituals and how Lost Constellation reflects that aspect of human behavior. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Becomes The ‘Beholder’

This week we look at the Russian indie game on living in a totalitarian society, Beholder. It’s one of those games where I found the discussion engendered by the game far more interesting than the game itself. I contend on the podcast that this was by design as it felt thematically appropriate to withhold certain aspects of how to play the game but nonetheless makes it a frustrating experience to play in the first place. Nick got more out of it and gleaned some facets about how the game makes you behave by subsuming yourself to the system. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Moving Pixels Podcast Finally Plays the Long Delayed ‘Last Guardian’

We finally get around to talking about the finally released The Last Guardian. This one has been a long time coming. This is one of those titles that has always been on the docket to be discussed, basically as soon as enough of us have played it. We discuss the wait that The Last Guardian put us through and how the expectation game might effect our appreciation of it. Though we do get into a discussion into how The Last Guardian delivers its story and develops the relationship between Trico and the boy through its play. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

Critical Distance Confab – A Cagey Interview

This month I interview Scotsman YouTuber Kevin John for the Critical Distance Confab. We’re getting closer and closer to the present day. Going in chronological order means that the later interviews will be with people who have started not so long ago. Cagey, as he calls himself, started less than two years ago. He also has the smallest and least known channel of the people I’ve interviewed so far. Add that up all together and even John himself makes no bones about how rubbish he is at interviewing. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast ‘Reigns’

This week on the Moving Pixels Podcast, we discuss the tinder-esque mobile kingdom simulator, Reigns. I am sometimes surprised at some of the games we do for the podcast are able to sustain a discussion. For as simple as Reigns is and as reductive as it has to be to fit the format, it has a lot of commentary embedded into its structure. At one point I call it a game of political one-liners. While true for a lot of the mini quests that make up the deck of cards, it’s a bit reductive to regarding the meaning in the mechanics. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Plays ‘Sorcery!’

This week we look at the first two games in the Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! series. The Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! is so arch that delving into the game in any sort of detail is inevitably going to turn into a discussion of the fantasy genre and its tropes. Sorcery! is from a particular brand of fantasy from the 1980s. Born of the monopolization of the Campbellian monomyth and world building lessons of Tolkien. We discuss the game’s context from which it was born and the effect of a road trip narrative filled with mini-story arcs throughout. | more

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