Be Careful What You Say: Conversation in the Dragon Age Series

A lot on Dragon Age at the Moving Pixels blog for the last couple of weeks. I am throwing in my own two cents on the game-like qualities of the conversation system:

Be Careful What You Say: Conversation in the Dragon Age Series

Moving Pixels Podcast: You Just Aren't Looking So Good, Old Video Games

An aborted effort to play retro classic Maniac Mansion leads to a discussion by the Moving Pixels crew about differences between older and newer games.

It's an odd discussion I think:

Moving Pixels Podcast: You Just Aren't Looking So Good, Old Video Games

Gray Matter: Just Another 19th Century Video Game

How come when I decide to take a week off, I still end up with a couple of posts that week? Ah, well.

My review of Gray Matter is up, a game that I was interested in for a number of reasons. One of which is that I have kind of had a hankering recently for an old school point-and-click adventure with a rich, well told story. Unfortunately, I didn't realize just how "old school" Gray Matter would be:

Gray Matter: Just Another 19th Century Video Game

Break Time

I need a break.

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Superhero and the Video

Originally conceived of as a discussion of the best superhero video games of all time, the Moving Pixels Podcast crew quickly discovered that super powered games have been—for the most part—less than super.

With that in mind, our discussion of the presentation of superheroes in video games became, instead, a discussion of the history of the superhero in video games—more particularly the refinements that have lead to more interesting gaming experiences within this genre.

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Superhero and the Video Game

You Had Me at “Invisible Trousers”

Okay, there's always time to write more (and more and more). Despite my desire for hitting pause this week, it just isn't in my nature to do so.

As a result, I wrote a brief discussion of a rather charming little flash game over at New Grounds called The Man with the Invisible Trousers. Besides really falling in love with the name of the game, I also enjoyed how the mad logic of the narrative matched the mad logic of the physics in this platformer.

More over at PopMatters:

You Had Me at “Invisible Trousers”

Moving Pixels Podcast: Boys, Bullets, Bulletstorm

More fun with Bulletstorm. Macho, sweaty Bulletstorm. *sigh*

You can see what the other fellows in the Moving Pixels podcast crew think of Bulletstorm below. I haven't changed my opinion on it much.

Also, I'm a little uncertain about my regular Wednesday posting for this week. I have just really been beaten up by life in general for the last several weeks, and I may need to just hit pause for a moment and catch my breah.

We'll see, though, something may yet capture my imagination, compelling me to write anyway. That is usually how these things work out.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Boys, Bullets, Bulletstorm

We Need to Stop Saying That Games Tell Bad Stories

Just a brief manifesto this week on how game critics talk about stories. There is too much bashing of the medium itself, and we need to stop apologizing for bad quality. Bad quality is pervasive in all of the arts. It isn't exclusive to video games, nor is it something that we have to be seemingly so embarrassed about.

This is a manifesto that will, of course, be ignored. But what the heck? I still think that it needs to be said:

We Need to Stop Saying That Games Tell Bad Stories

Moving Pixels Podcast: Dragon Age Expanded?

In anticipation of the forthcoming release of Dragon Age II, the Moving Pixels podcast is reconsidering the first game, especially its DLC.

I'm not involved in this discussion as I have only played a few hours of the first game, and I was out of town during the time of the recording. However, that other "Chris," Kris Ligman is sitting in for me, which is good because she's smarter than I am anyway.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Dragon Age Expanded?

Bulletstorm: Murder by the Numbers

Today's post concerns some initial thoughts on playing Bulletstorm. These thoughts concern tone more than gameplay.

I expected Bulletstorm to provide over the top parody of action games (the way that, say, Machete provides a similar critique of the exploitation film), what I got was over the top but an also altogether too familiar images of men in video games. If Bulletstorm is supposed to be a joke, how come it feels so much like Gears of War or Turok or Darksiders or any number of other games? Where's the parody?

Bulletstorm: Murder by the Numbers