Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

The Best Flash Games of 2010

Tired. Exhausted. End of semester. Trying to get thesis proposals from students. Reduced to writing... lists.

The Best Flash Games of 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Fallout, the “To Do” List Simulator

Kind of a follow up to "Fallout: The Scrounging Simulator", this week's post concerns the sort of work that sidequests in Fallout: New Vegas entail.

Fallout, the “To Do” List Simulator

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Treyarch Attempts to "Modernize" Warfare

Maybe this is more of a review than an essay? I don't know. I categorized it as a review rather than as a blog entry this week.

Basically, it's a discussion of the single player campaign of the newest Call of Duty release, Black Ops. Mostly I do some comparison between Treyarch's approach to storytelling as opposed to that of Infinity Ward. While I realize that Modern Warfare 2's storytelling was not that well receive by the critical community, I still find myself more interested in what Infinity Ward does with the medium than Treyarch.

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Treyarch Attempts to "Modernize" Warfare

Monday, November 15, 2010

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Minecraft Experience

We recorded this episode quite a while back (around the same time that I wrote a post called "I Don't Know How to Play", which also concerned Minecraft). In retrospect, it was pretty bad pool to participate in this discussion only having played the browser version of the game, but I still think that just that experience was interesting in it own ways.

Anyhow, a bit more discussion of what it means to play generally and to play Minecraft itself:

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Minecraft Experience

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare: A Little Incompetence Goes a Long Way

More review than any heavy analysis this week. I cover my experience with Undead Nightmare, a solid piece of DLC for Red Dead Redemption, especially given the $10.00 price tag.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare: A Little Incompetence Goes a Long Way

Monday, November 8, 2010

Review of Power Gig: Rise of the SixString


Rythym games are pretty big around my house. Power Gig: Rise of the SixString was not.

Here is why:

Power Gig: Rise of the SixString

Moving Pixels Podcast: All Those Necessary Supplements


A few weeks ago, Nick, Tom, and I got together to discuss DLC, especially the sort that extends the plot or universe of games. This week's Moving Pixels podcast is then a discussion of the necessity (or lack thereof) of various bits of DLC and how they effect the overall experience of game content.

Moving Pixels Podcast: All Those Necessary Supplements -- A Discussion of Downloadable Content

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Fable 3: An Uncompromising Commitment to Whimsy


Ah, Albion. The place that I am obsessed with owning (by buying up and renting out every square inch of it). The place where I foment revolution by gaining followers through dance and patty cake. The place that actually seems enchanting.

This week I discuss whimsy and the Fable series. A sense of whimsy is so hard to evoke in any medium without coming off as sentimental and insipid. Yet, Lionhead is able to reach that sweet spot every time out.

More here:

Fable 3: An Uncompromising Commitment to Whimsy

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Moving Pixels Podcast: Our Favorite Horror Games


Reporting a little late again, but the latest episode of the Moving Pixels podcast went live on Monday. It contains a discussion of horror games, which is not exactly a particular interest of mine (not that I won't play them--just not my genre of choice generally). Nick certainly has an interest though and is a great champion of the Silent Hill series, which doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Our Favorite Horror Games