You Can't Go Home Again: Why Nintendo Shouldn't Grow Up

Nintendo really shouldn't grow up. They're fine the way that they are.

I think.

You Can't Go Home Again: Why Nintendo Shouldn't Grow Up

Moving Pixels Podcast: Back to Isaac's Basement

You may have heard that I have spent a lot of time playing this game called The Binding of Isaac. I mean a lot of time.

So, it just wouldn't be fair not to record a podcast on the game. Nick Dinicola has likewise spent some time hacking through the dungeon that is Isaac's basement, so the two of us got together for an extended chat about body horror, religion, and the undeniable allure of Edmund McMillen's game.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Back to Isaac's Basement

Moving Pixels Podcast: Gaming Without the Geek

Nick and I were joined this week by former Digital Cowboy and current host of Digital Gonzo, Alex Shaw, to discuss the changing definition of the concept of the gamer.

I was very tickled to have Alex with us, as I am a huge fan of his work. He's one of the smartest and most engaging podcasters out there.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Gaming Without the Geek

Labyrinths of Childhood: Exploring The Path

This essay isn't mine.

I taught a course on Interactive Fiction last semester and a graduate student named Kate Worzala wrote a really nice piece on Tale of Tales's game The Path for her final paper in the course, which I then encouraged her to submit at PopMatters.

While Kate grew up around video games, she doesn't self identify as a gamer and was a little leery of the course's subject matter. She hung in there, despite playing games like The Path and initially finding herself despising it.

I actually understand writing about that which you despise. I often found that the books that I disliked the most when I was a student often occupied my thoughts when it came time to write the paper, causing me to seek somehow to explore them all the more. Maybe I wanted to understand better why others admired them? Or maybe I wanted to confirm why I shouldn't like them at all? I'm not quite sure. (I do know that I admire Hemingway a great deal more now than I did then, though.).

In any case, Kate brought some definitions of labyrinths from Umberto Eco, some discussion of The Path by L.B. Jeffries, and her own thoughts on her experience with the game and grappling with what it was all about together in the essay. I think that she ended up with a pretty nice piece about the game as a result:

Labyrinths of Childhood: Exploring The Path

Returning to My Own Vomit: Playing The Binding of Isaac

Nice title, huh?

It's biblical.

Returning to My Own Vomit: Playing The Binding of Isaac

Moving Pixels Podcast: They Make Games on Boards Still?

Jorge joined Rick and I for a discussion that we have been wanting to have for some time about board games.

We talk about a lot of games and maybe a little about why we play and are still drwan to games of a non-digital form, despite the flash and spectacle of our beloved video games.

Moving Pixels Podcast: They Make Games on Boards Still?

Fearing God, Fearing the Body: The Theology of The Binding of Isaac

In which I consider the theological questions raise by The Binding of Isaac, especially concerning the connections that it explores between evil and the body:

Fearing God, Fearing the Body: The Theology of The Binding of Isaac