Elf Shot the Food: The Inevitability of Discord in Co-Op Gauntlet

This is probably one of those posts that I kind of really like but that no one is going to really read, but I wrote up a bit of discussion on playing co-op Gauntlet for the Moving Pixels blog.

It is kind of a rant about the design of the Elf character and kind of a discussion of the politics of playing Gauntlet and how scarcity and the game's ability to draw the attention of the player to their inevitable doom affects the group dynamic.

Anyway, here it is:

Elf Shot the Food: The Inevitability of Discord in Co-Op Gauntlet

Review: Dead Rising 2: Case West

Dead Rising 2 is pretty damn good.

Case West is good. Decent, even.

A bit of discussion as to why follows.

However, I should have up what I think is a slightly more interesting essay on that stupid Elf in Gauntlet a little bit later on today.

In the meantime, though:

Review: Dead Rising 2: Case West

The Best Gaming Moments of 2010

As an experiential medium, it is often the little moments that mean so much in video games. This week we wrap up our discussion of gaming in 2010 by recapping some of the most emotionally affective and just plain cool moments in games like Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock 2, Amnesia, and Heavy Rain (to name just a few).

The Best Gaming Moments of 2010

Moving Pixels Podcast: Revising the Cold War in Black Ops

I just realized that I had forgotten to mention the new Moving Pixels podcast on Black Ops.

Which makes sense to me on some level because I think that it's a pretty forgettable game. Look, even my splash image is a little meh.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Revising the Cold War in Black Ops

Time for Consequences: Moral Dilemmas in Dead Rising

I just played both Dead Rising titles for the first time recently (and some DLC, a review of which I should be writing fairly soon). I was really struck by he urgency of decision making and what that means in terms of making the kinds of difficult choices that other "morality simulators" more often feign an effort to provide the player.

Time for Consequences: Moral Dilemmas in Dead Rising

The Politics of Submission: The Romance of Enslaved

I really enjoyed the story of Enslaved. There are also some good gameplay ideas (I think) in there that never seem to quite grow into fruition.

However, I spent today's post largely concerned with some of the game's theme of enslavement, especially as it relates to the romance between Monkey and Trip. It seems to me that this romance comments on the overall interest in submission that becomes the core of the overarching plot and some of the gameplay.

Submission to authoritarian dictates is, of course, an idea handled by a lot of the "thinkier" games of recent years (Portal, Bioshock, and Loved to name a few). Enslaved offers a different answer than a lot of those games, as it does not suggest that antagonism is necssarily the outcome of such power dynmaics.

The Politics of Submission: The Romance of Enslaved

Moving Pixels Podcast: The World of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Our new podacst is up, discussing Nick Dinicola's favorite, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I like the game itself, but I really wish that the frame story was still being handled with more deliberation.

This episode and the last couple are not showing up on iTunes for some reason. I don't take care of the iTunes portion of the post, so I'm trying to figure out what's up with these latest episodes not loading (talking with the fella at PopMatters that does take care of that budiness). Hopefully, it gets straightened out soon. In the meantime, sorry for the inconvenience. You can listen to the 'cast directly from the PM page, which I realize is not as convenient for everyone as it could be.

Moving Pixels Podcast: The World of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

A Single Player Experience in a Multiplayer Universe: The DCU Online Beta

Just some quick impressions of some time spent in the DCU Online Beta:

A Single Player Experience in a Multiplayer Universe: The DCU Online Beta

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