A Holiday Season Awash in Competence

Nothing says holidays like grousing about the holidays. So, I guess I'm gonna be one of those people.

I'm just posting a bit about my holiday gaming season disappointment. I think maybe earlier this year I was feeling like there was a fair amount of innovation in some titles that seemed a bit more unusual than the norm. The polished quality titles at the end of the year all seem fine enough, but some of the year's rawer fare has left a bad taste in my mouth of sorts for these soulless but well cooked sequels that are making up the bulk of the holiday releases.

A Holiday Season Awash in Competence

Moving Pixels Podcast: The "Girlfriend on a Couch" Edition

So, I've been planning this podcast for a number of weeks, and it was recorded a couple of weekends ago. A discussion with a student precipated it, as we began discussing whether it was fun or not to watch games, and she suggested her status as a former "little sister on a couch."

Our discussion was intriguing to me for any number of reasons, so I thought that maybe getting together what games journalism often calls "girlfriends on couches" to discuss this seeming form of game spectatorship might be interesting.

Unfortunately, when the time came to record, my own equipment goofed up, so luckily, Jorge Albor came to my rescue and hosted the podcast (he did an amazing job--better than I do at hosting really). However, I was still bummed that I could only briefly participate.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this episode, which brings together both gamers and non-gamers for a discussion of spectatorship and participation in gaming. The whole group is really very interesting and includes Dawna Perry, Jamie Dunston, Adrian Dunston, Nicole Martin, Jean McLachlin, and the podcast debut (and probable last appearance ever, according to her) of my own "wife on a couch," Sarra Williams. She did a good job, though, and I'm not just saying that because I love her and stuff.

Moving Pixels Podcast: The "Girlfriend on a Couch" Edition

The "Subtle" Sex Appeal of Saints Row: The Third

Saints Row has always wanted to be Grand Theft Auto, from imitating its gameplay to imitating its outrageous sense of humor. While Volition has gotten some of the gameplay right and has even surpassed Rockstar at times with some of its slicker mechanics (in the previous two iterations, I'm afriad--less thrilled with The Third but maybe I'll talk more about that at a later date), the sense of humor.... eh....

So, a few thoughts on the "subtlety" of Saints Row's efforts at satire:

The "Subtle" Sex Appeal of Saints Row: The Third

Review: The Sims 3: Pets

Much of my review of The Sims 3: Pets is informed by my general distaste for sandbox-style play. I've mentioned at various times that I am a gamer more than a player. In other words, I like some rules, boundaries, and whatnot to guide me towards goals; I have a difficult time making up my own goals.

Thus, I have always weirdly preferred the more narrative-driven console versions of The Sims, despite their undeniably dumb storytelling and goofy plots. This console version of The Sims seems to me to be less "dumb" than previous console iterations, maintaining the series strengths in emergent narrative instead (which is what the more sandbox-style of Sims excels), while also putting me on enough of a leash, satisfying my more "gamer-y" tendencies.

I think the review clarifies what I mean a bit more coherently:

The Sims 3: Pets

Necessary Failure: Some Late Thoughts on The Path

I'm late (very, very late) to the party on talking about The Path. I have played and written about Fatale, which I admire, but I hadn't looked at Tale of Tales most successful game.

It's a bit slow to get going, and while initially its controls seem agonizingly irritating, once the concepts of the game begin to become clear and how they relate to those controls (which theme and gameplay are definitely related here), the game is pretty engrossing.

I am aware of some of the thinking on this game, and while I obviously agree with most about its overall theme (the loss of innocence), I think that I might present a slightly different view of what Tale of Tales is communicating about that process in this revision of the Little Red Riding Hood story.

Necessary Failure: Some Late Thoughts on The Path

The Moving Pixels Podcast Reconsiders the Cutscene

Rick wanted to talk about his distaste for cutscenes, and I know a bunch of critics hate 'em. I think that maybe Nick and I kind of have a soft spot for the visual reward that is the spectacle of the cutscene.

The Moving Pixels Podcast Reconsiders the Cutscene

Review: Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

Playing Dead Rising 2 again--just as a different character, the shlubby journalist Frank West--didn't seem especially attractive to me. Then, I played through it again for review.

Man, I like Dead Rising, even recycled Dead Rising:

Review: Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

Review: Batman: Arkham City

While I'm playing The Path for the first time, you can read more about Batman: Arkham City:

Review: Batman: Arkham City

Batman and “Bitches”

Some discussion has emerged concerning the language used in Batman: Arkham City. The language is unpleasant.

But then again so is nearly everything in noir and hard boiled fiction.

I don't intend this piece to defend Rocksteady's usage of language. However, I do think that part of what informs its usage concerns the overarching philosophy of the genre that the Batman mythos emerges from, hard boiled pulp and film noir. Unlike some genres, which aren't often governed by a central philosophy (though there are other subgenres that, like noir, do find themselves entrenched in a "position" or world view, cyberpunk, for example, is very much anti-corporate on the whole), noir is very much expressive of a particular brand of cynicism that suggests that few, if any, human beings are anything more than creeps. So, this piece is really an attempt to trace the history of noir and hard boiled attitudes through their evolution into neonoir and how Batman as an exemplum of the genre's adherence to its philosophy emerges contemporarily.

Writing this piece was weird because I grew up on a steady diet of comic books and film noir. I know Batman and American crime stories rather well, and I kind of forgot that I did.

Batman and “Bitches”

Moving Pixels Podcast: Another Princess, Another Boss Fight

Topical again this week at the Moving Pixels Podcast. This week we discuss the tradition of boss fights in games and consider whether it is a tradition worth reconsidering.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Another Princess, Another Boss Fight

Developing Games with the Player: An Interview with Rick Dakan of Mob Rules Games

My colleague Rick Dakan, a founder of Cryptic Studios, is getting a small indie development team off the ground called Mon Rules Games. I interviewed him this week in the Moving Pixels blog concerning the philosophy of his development house, which wants to grow a community alongside the development of their games:

Developing Games with the Player: An Interview with Rick Dakan of Mob Rules Games