Moving Pixels: 2010 Game of the Year Edition

Well, it's that time of year, time to look back on the best of the last year. I gathered up most of the Moving Pixels bloggers and asked about the game of the year, and the following post is the result.

Lots of love for Red Dead Redemption, though no one officially championed it. The diversity of the list speaks (to me) of the strength of the releases of 2010, which I think has really been the best year in gaming since 2007 (Bioshock, Portal, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare). There is also a surprising emphasis on "flawed gems" here as well as games that (as I say in the post) "refine, rather than innovate."

Moving Pixels: 2010 Game of the Year Edition

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Best of Last Generation Gaming

Happy New Year.

While it is a new year, the first Moving Pixels podcast of 2011 is a retrospective on the previous console generation.

You can check it out here:

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Best of Last Generation Gaming

The Miracle Is in the Execution: The Indifferent Kill in Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed has habituated me to play in a way that enforces a certain dramatic performance on my part.

The Miracle Is in the Execution: The Indifferent Kill in Assassin's Creed

Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring New Vegas

New Moving Pixels podcast is up. For some reason, I only have the foggiest sense of what we all discussed during the 'cast. Well, I know that it is about Fallout: New Vegas, but the specifics elude me.

That may be my notion of playing the game though. I always feel a little distant from the universe of the Wastleland. Being trapped behind the eyes of a character for so many hours leaves me stangely more detached from "myself" than one would think should be the case in the "immersive" first person perspective. I don't discuss that in the podcast, however. Maybe I should write a bit about perspective soon, though.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring New Vegas

Everybody Wants to Own the World

My wife says that the conclusion needs more development. I say that the essay is more a "talking point" than a full blown argument.

In any case, my "talking point" concerns investement simulations in a few recent action and RPG titles and the allure of possession of virtual property for the player, especially as it distracts from the seeming main goal of the narrative.

Everybody Wants to Own the World

Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring Albion in Fable III

If you can believe it, the Moving Pixels writers have yet more to say about Fable III. Even when Molyneux doesn't succeed though (or not in the way you expect), he always produces work that is interesting and worth talking about becase he makes you reconsider what is possible in game design.

While there were a host of things that I wanted to talk about concerning Fable III, an inordinate amount of our time was consumed by discussion of the "menu" screen (which seems kind of fair given how much of one's time in Fable III is likewise consumed by this strange innovation) and the appearance of Reaver in the endgame, something that seems appropriate to me given Fable III's cartoonish moralism (but I strangely argue here has a "realistic" authenticity). In any case, stay tuned for the end in which Rick and I have a weird dust up over the whole Reaver issue.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring Albion in Fable III

Mafia II Goes Retro with Joe's Adventures, Early 2000s Retro That Is

Mafia II is quite good. Its DLC has been dodgy at best.

However, Joe's Adventures offers a better experience than Jimmy's Vendetta. Sometimes frustration leads to satisfaction:

Mafia II Goes Retro with Joe's Adventures, Early 2000s Retro That Is