Tag: Podcast

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

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

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Best Games of 2016

This week on the Moving Pixels Podcast we list our top 5 games of 2016. As I say at the beginning of the podcast, this isn’t my final list. They’ll all most likely appear on my final list, that should be coming soon. But my goal here was to talk up games that we hadn’t done podcasts on and wouldn’t really get talked about. I succeeded in part. My compatriots on the podcast might have cheated a little with their choices, but ehh. | more

Eric Swain External Sources

The Moving Pixels Podcast Investigates ‘Gravity Bone’ and ‘Thirty Flights of Loving’

This week we look at two small games by Brenden Chung, Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving. Following up on our discussion Virginia we decided to look back at the games we figured had to be an inspiration for its choice of using film editing language. Coming at these two games, many years after their release and their initial splash on the critical scene, we find they hold up very well and in fact still feel part of the vanguard of narrative experimentation. | more

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

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. I do want to explain what happened just to have it written down for posterity. After I finish an interview, I’ve made it a habit to check the audio right afterwords. | 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