Review: Dark Souls

It feels like a long time since I have written a review (I actually have quite a few thing to write up right now, though).

However, I have written a couple of things about Dark Souls, so this review may be a little familiar in some of its observations, but there it is. I do focus once again on gaming and consequence and also how amazingly engrossing this cruel, cruel game is.

Review: Dark Souls

Dead Again: Notes on the Impermanence of the Virtual Body

So, I'm not done thinking about Dark Souls, yet. I had only really gotten to the start screen in my first post on it a couple of weeks ago, and I still wanted to address its consequential approach to death and compare it to other forms of death in video games.

This is the result:

Dead Again: Notes on the Impermanence of the Virtual Body

Other Princesses, Other Castles: The Problem with Playing Romantically in Video Games

I've found myself in recent years writing a lot about sexuality and sex roles and how they are expressed in video games. My newest Movng Pixels column revisits this topic and does some of the things that I've done before with it, like considering how mechanics express romantic concepts. Additionally, I do an abbreiviated survey of romance in video games, all of which is related to a larger project that this column is serving as a bit of a dry run for.

So, hopefully, this column is of interest because it represents some ideas that I want to express in a more formal way in the nearish future.

Other Princesses, Other Castles: The Problem with Playing Romantically in Video Games

Self Indulgence or Self Realization?: Sony's “Michael” Ad

So, you know that moment when one of your relatives is doing something public, like public speaking or some kind of performance, and you can just see that they're choking? And you love that person, you don't want other people to see this lapse because you know that they are better than this moment?

That's kind of how I felt initially when I saw Sony's "Michael" ad, an ad that both places a whole bunch of video game characters in a weirdly "real" context but also revels in the narcissism of gaming--that players are constantly trying on the roles of heroes for the sake of their own pleasure.

However, I then found myself feeling a bit differently about the ad, seeing its self indulgence as honesty about what the medium is and what is unique about it as an art form.

I'm not sure that I've worked out my ambivalence about the ad's presentation, but here is more of my thinking on that ambivalence:

Self Indulgence or Self Realization?: Sony's “Michael” Ad

Moving Pixels Podcast: What's the Point of Points?

What does the image above have to do with this week's podcast topic?

Ummm... it is art based on a classic video game that has points... I guess...

I don't know. I just think the painting is really cool.

If you want to hear about the value of points, though, head over here:

Moving Pixels Podcast: What's the Point of Points?

A Quiet Start Screen Speaks Volumes

A few brief thoughts on how a start screen can evoke dread.

A Quiet Start Screen Speaks Volumes

Moving Pixels Podcast: Fun, Sun, Zombies

Given as many hours as I committed to a game that I wasn't actually sure that I wanted to play, taking part in a podcast seems appropriate enough.

I rather like Dead Island in terms of mood and in terms of its gameplay. This ain't Shakespeare, but it handles its more functional qualities rather well.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Fun, Sun, Zombies

Living for the Short Term Grind

Lordy, League of Legends is good.

Ironically, I'm singing its praises in my recent blog post for "shortening the grind." The truth is, though, it is consuming so very much of my own, as it definitely is a "just one more match" kind of experience.

Living for the Short Term Grind

The Moving Pixels Podcast on CivWorld and Social Gaming

As my post from last week indicates, I (and my Moving Pixels colleagues) have been spending time with CivWorld on Facebook. Like any social game, it is engaging on some level, drawing the player back in regularly to maintenance his "segment" of the game.

Also, as I indicated in my previous post, this is also a game that lacks some ability to keep the player hooked, largely because it fails to establish a strong enough sense of ownership for the player over his own corner of this particular universe.

But you can hear not only what I have to say about it but also Nick and Rick's sense of the game's strengths and weaknesses.

The Moving Pixels Podcast on CivWorld and Social Gaming