In the Grip of the Paternal: Thomas Brush’s Skinny

So, yeah, it has been a less than productive month blogging. I've kind of been wrapped up in things and not doing too much gaming.

So, I return with an entry on a smallish game, the follow up to Thomas Brush's Coma. Brush's new game is called Skinny, and it stars a gangly robot with mommy issues (of a sort).

I don't think that I am as captivated by this title as the previous one, oddly maybe because it has more game-like qualities to it. While a more fully developed game, Skinny's activities maybe interfere with the moody atmosphere, and atmosphere is what Brush does very well. That being said Skinny still has a rather beautiful aestehtic and tone. Dude knows how to create a mood, which is what I largely admire him for.

Also, I think that I am beginning to catch hints of an anti-authoritarian vibe that I think I really appreciate, however, I may just be placing my own lack of love for paternalism on his work. That's kind of what this blog entry is about, considering whether Brush has some of those ideas in mind by comparing some of the paternalistic anatagonism present in both games.

Read on over at PopMatters:

In the Grip of the Paternal: Thomas Brush’s Skinny

Moving Pixels Podcast: Madness and Maturity in the Shadows of the Damned

Just podcast after podcast this month. I haven't written much (or played much for that matter) because I have been on the road and living in a more or less gypsy fashion for weeks. However, there is a blog post (finally) for Wednesday.

In the meantime, the newest Moving Pixels podcast is on my favorite recent topic:

Moving Pixels Podcast: Madness and Maturity in the Shadows of the Damned

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Grotesque Wonderland of Alice: Madness Returns

I'm having a terrible time writing blogs for podcasts. Too much time is elapsing between recording them and when I post them, which indicates that I really need to start writing "summaries" right after recording rather than waiting until around time of publication.

Thus, I feel like there is some really good discussion in this podcast about the nature of Alice's weird take on mature themes and some legitimate criticism of its gameplay, but I can't recall much in the way of specific details. Best I can say is that I think that there is stuff worth hearing here? (More terrible salesmanship on my part).

Moving Pixels Podcast: The Grotesque Wonderland of Alice: Madness Returns

Moving Pixels Podcast: To Live and Die in L.A. Noire

I really wish that I had the good sense to write up blurbs concerning podcast topics immediately after recording (of course, there are about 10,000 things I should have the good sense to do if there were an extra six or seven hours in a day). It is so difficult (for me at least) to describe the tone and specifics of a podcast correctly a week or two after recording, let alone three to four weeks out (as is the case with this week's episode).

I am pretty sure that there is some really meaty and really interesting stuff that the whole crew discussed in this episode regarding L.A. Noire, I just can't recall the specifics of that really good stuff (as the overly general "synopsis" at PopMatters too readily suggests). So, you should really have a listen to this episode, but I can't remember why (what a terrible salesman I am...).

Moving Pixels Podcast: To Live and Die in L.A. Noire

“I would kill the world before it did you harm”

A follow up of sorts this week to last week's initial discussion of Suda51's Shadows of the Damned. This is a considerably more considered discussion because, well, I'm actually done with the game, and the ending had a significant effect on how I'm seeing the game now.

Last week, I was still kind of stuck between admiring some of the gameplay (which is so not something to do when playing a game by Grasshopper Manufacture) and being really stuck on the fact that the game seemed just so focused in its juvenile attitudes (which works to a point as "punk"--again, see last week's essay). Then the ending came, and I realized why Shadows of the Damned very much needs to revel in its juvenile qualities. It speaks to mythologies that are at the core of masculine development. It is a game about the stories of masculinity taught to boys.

“I would kill the world before it did you harm”