Call for Papers: Return to the 36 Chambers: Enter The Wu-Tang, 20 Years Later

G. Christopher Williams
Image: G. Christopher Williams
PopMatters Multimedia Editor

G. Christopher Williams is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  He posts his weekly contribution to the Moving Pixels blog at PopMatters every Wednesday.  Besides also serving as Multimedia Editor at PopMatters and writing at his own blog, 8-bit confessional, he has also published essays in journals like Film Criticism, PostScript, and the Popular Culture Review.  You won’t find him on Twitter, but you can drop him a line with that old fashioned thing called e-mail at williams@popmatters.com.


Features

Tuesday, December 16 2008

Bettie Page, Dead Since 1957

What might be remembered of the life of a woman who was long ago replaced by her own representation?


Thursday, June 5 2008

Wizards & Words: An Interview with Patrick Rothfuss

Author Patrick Rothfuss talks to PopMatters about the pivotal role of language in magic, the structure of storytelling, and the role of fantasy in contemporary fiction.


Thursday, April 24 2008

Painfully Masculine: An Interview with Benjamin Percy

With the rise of the metrosexual and the fall of the patriarchal society, some men, lost in a gray zone, compensate by joining Gold’s Gym, screaming at Packers games, and driving big-ass Hummers


Thursday, September 20 2007

Super Columbine Massacre RPG!: Can a Historic Event Be Examined Seriously By a Video Game?

Unlike more passive forms of art that largely require the participation of viewers as interpreters and observers of their subject matter, video games raise thorny questions about "viewing" content, since the action of a player is more directly participatory for the audience.


Friday, March 30 2007

The Death of Jean Baudrillard Did Not Take Place

The controversial French philosopher's legacy has been tarnished by reductionist readings of his work, generated precisely by the tendencies of the mass media he sought to illuminate.


Columns

Wednesday, April 24 2013

Playing to Suffer, Suffering to Play

I have found myself struck with admiration recently by games that I have played that have put me in less than empowering positions, games that celebrate difficulty and hardship, struggling and deprivation, rather than empowerment and excess.


Monday, February 25 2013

Forgive Me, Father, for I Have Simmed

I feel guilty for things that I have done in God of War. Pushing that caged man over a bed of flames to solve that block puzzle? Still not over that.


Monday, January 28 2013

Is Catherine the Last of the Manic Pixie Dream Girls?

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl not only teaches men how “to embrace life and its infinite mysteries” but also to violate taboos, the mundane, and all that which represents the prison of order and responsibility.


Tuesday, October 16 2012

Paying Too Often for Sex in Video Games

In film, the salacious is something to see. In video games, however, the salacious needs to be something to do.


Friday, August 17 2012

The Pleasures of Playing in an Economy of Pain

The greater the failure of the video game player, the greater the financial reward of the video game machine’s owner. More frustration, more 'death', used to mean more quarters per hour. These days, it means something else, entirely.


Reviews

Monday, March 25 2013

'Tomb Raider': Lara Croft is Reborn... Again

This story is largely told through Lara's body in the game, as we watch her initially stumble and fall a lot, scream in terror at what confronts her, limp wounded away from a fight, and hesitate to climb heights that the older version of Lara would not have even blinked at.


Wednesday, February 13 2013

Omerta: City of Gangsters

The more one plays the larger economic game, the more one admires the game's commitment to marrying its mechanics to its themes.


Monday, February 11 2013

Kentucky Route Zero: Act I

This is a game about forward momentum and going nowhere.


Friday, February 1 2013

DmC: Devil May Cry

In a sense, the new Dante feels a bit like a Twilight-ified version of the original devil hunter.


Wednesday, November 21 2012

'Hitman: Absolution': The Thinking Gamer's Murder Simulator

Murder seems to be the thing to do this holiday season in gaming. And if there is one assassination simulator you play this year, you won't go wrong with the stealth-puzzle strategies of Hitman: Absolution.


Sleeping Dogs [14.Sep.12]
The Sims 3: Pets [23.Nov.11]
Dark Souls [31.Oct.11]
Frantic Frigates [2.Sep.11]
Wii Play: Motion [27.Jun.11]
DodoGo! Robo [18.May.11]
Mario Sports Mix [25.Feb.11]
Alpha Protocol [4.Jun.10]
Alan Wake [17.May.10]
Bioshock 2 [12.Mar.10]
No More Heroes 2 [19.Feb.10]
The Saboteur [8.Jan.10]
Wet [25.Sep.09]
Majesty 2 [16.Sep.09]
Prototype [10.Aug.09]
The Godfather II [17.Apr.09]
SimAnimals [27.Feb.09]
Prince of Persia [23.Jan.09]
Quantum of Solace [12.Dec.08]
Saints Row 2 [31.Oct.08]
Lego Batman [17.Oct.08]
Too Human [15.Oct.08]
Order Up! [27.Aug.08]
Devil May Cry 4 [28.Mar.08]
Turok [3.Mar.08]
Endless Ocean [13.Feb.08]
Assassins Creed [7.Jan.08]
Conan [16.Nov.07]
Stranglehold [12.Oct.07]
Tenchu Z [6.Aug.07]
Made Man [25.May.07]
Def Jam: Icon [13.Apr.07]
Ghost Rider [30.Mar.07]
Saints Row [12.Feb.07]
The Sopranos [1.Dec.06]
Bully [7.Nov.06]
Scarface [27.Oct.06]
Advent Rising [22.Jul.05]
The Strangerhood [2.Mar.05]
The Bard's Tale [1.Dec.04]
Bush Shoot-Out! [17.Nov.04]
Zoo Tycoon 2 [20.Oct.04]
Spider-Man 2 [7.Oct.04]
City of Heroes [21.Apr.04]
Mafia [24.Mar.04]
The Movies [1.Jan.95]
Graffiti Kingdom [1.Jan.95]
City of Villains [1.Jan.95]
The Godfather [1.Jan.95]
Still Life [1.Jan.95]
Fantastic 4 [1.Jan.95]

Blogs

Wednesday, May 15 2013

A Cleaner, More Hygienic Apocalypse

While one would hope that humanity would aspire to a cleaner, post-apocalyptic condition, for the sake of art I guess I have to settle for dirty toilets and filth encrusted walls.


Monday, May 13 2013

The Moving Pixels Podcast Explores Minimalism in Video Games

This week, it's minimalism. It's video games. What more can we say?


Wednesday, May 8 2013

Putting My Girl Back Together Again

Sometimes an instruction as simple as "Press X" in a video game can lead to something profoundly familiar, profoundly intimate.


Wednesday, May 1 2013

There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.

We follow that disembodied tutorial voice without ever asking why. And even when we don't, when we insist on attempting to ignore those prompts, we find that ultimately we are chained to the elements necessary to drive the plot of Bioshock Infinite (or any game) forward.


Monday, April 29 2013

The Moving Pixels Podcast Explores the Infinite... 'Bioshock Infinite'

From whether we can stand a huge helping of Disney Princess behavior to considering what lurks behind that doorway to the infinite, the Moving Pixels podcast explores the infinite possibilities of Bioshock Infinite.


Soft Core Gaming (Moving Pixels) [17.Apr.13]
Watching People Watching People Play (Moving Pixels) [27.Mar.13]
“Why Is She So Feminine?” (Moving Pixels) [6.Mar.13]
A Strategy for Dying (Moving Pixels) [30.Jan.13]
Thinking About 'Cunt' (Moving Pixels) [26.Sep.12]
Brevity, Death, and Replay Value (Moving Pixels) [19.Sep.12]
Moving Pixels Podcast: X-ploring 'X-Com' (Moving Pixels) [20.Aug.12]
U Mad? (Moving Pixels) [1.Aug.12]
I Admire Your Ability to Lose (Moving Pixels) [18.Jul.12]
Defending Lara (Moving Pixels) [11.Jul.12]
The Body of the Barbarian (Moving Pixels) [27.Jun.12]
Moving Pixels Podcast: The Return of Payne (Moving Pixels) [18.Jun.12]
Alan Wake's Women (Moving Pixels) [6.Jun.12]
Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels) [16.May.12]
The End of the Adventure Game (Moving Pixels) [9.May.12]
Little Naked Men in Hats (Moving Pixels) [2.May.12]
My Most Hated Video Game Foe: Fire (Moving Pixels) [18.Apr.12]
The Limits of Retro Gaming Experiences (Moving Pixels) [11.Apr.12]
Death of a Quarian (Moving Pixels) [28.Mar.12]
Machismo and 'Mass Effect' (Moving Pixels) [21.Mar.12]
Big Games and Little Boys (Moving Pixels) [1.Feb.12]
Moving Pixels Podcast: Grand Theft Stupid? (Moving Pixels) [30.Jan.12]
Requiem for a Tiny Internet (Moving Pixels) [11.Jan.12]
The Problem of the Female Gangster (Moving Pixels) [14.Dec.11]
A Holiday Season Awash in Competence (Moving Pixels) [30.Nov.11]
Batman and “Bitches” (Moving Pixels) [9.Nov.11]
Moving Pixels Podcast: The End of the War (Moving Pixels) [31.Oct.11]
Moving Pixels Podcast: What Makes a Gamer? (Moving Pixels) [24.Oct.11]
A Quiet Start Screen Speaks Volumes (Moving Pixels) [12.Oct.11]
Moving Pixels Podcast: Fun, Sun, Zombies (Moving Pixels) [10.Oct.11]
Living for the Short Term Grind (Moving Pixels) [5.Oct.11]
Parenting with 'Angry Birds' (Moving Pixels) [14.Sep.11]
'Shadows of the Damned': Punk's Not Dead? (Moving Pixels) [29.Jun.11]
The Best of Thoughtful Gaming Podcasts (Moving Pixels) [8.Jun.11]
'Portal 2' and the Politics of Stupidity (Moving Pixels) [27.Apr.11]
You Had Me at “Invisible Trousers” (Moving Pixels) [16.Mar.11]
'Bulletstorm': Murder by the Numbers (Moving Pixels) [2.Mar.11]
Isaac Clarke: Intergalactic Handyman (Moving Pixels) [9.Feb.11]
Namelessness, Thy Name Is Monkey (Moving Pixels) [2.Feb.11]
The Best Gaming Moments of 2010 (Moving Pixels) [24.Jan.11]
Deadly Premonition (Consuming Consumables) [16.Dec.10]
Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring New Vegas (Moving Pixels) [13.Dec.10]
Art Academy (Consuming Consumables) [8.Dec.10]
Everybody Wants to Own the World (Moving Pixels) [8.Dec.10]
Mafia II (Consuming Consumables) [6.Dec.10]
Bioshock 2 (Consuming Consumables) [2.Dec.10]
'Fallout', the “To Do” List Simulator (Moving Pixels) [24.Nov.10]
Red Dead Redemption (Consuming Consumables) [23.Nov.10]
'Fallout': The Scrounging Simulator (Moving Pixels) [27.Oct.10]
I Don't Know How to Play (Moving Pixels) [13.Oct.10]
Samus Aran Has Always Been Sexualized (Moving Pixels) [15.Sep.10]
The Name Above the Title (Moving Pixels) [8.Sep.10]
Chun-Li’s Thighs (Moving Pixels) [11.Aug.10]
Brutalizing Children in ‘Limbo’ (Moving Pixels) [4.Aug.10]
Moving Pixels Podcast: Max Payne in Love (Moving Pixels) [2.Aug.10]
Girls Suck at Video Games (Mixed Media) [29.Jul.10]
50 Nintendo Spoilers in 2 Minutes (Mixed Media) [21.Jul.10]
Imitating Intimacy in Video Games (Moving Pixels) [30.Jun.10]
All This Useless Interactivity (Moving Pixels) [23.Jun.10]
The Dastardly Achievement (Moving Pixels) [9.Jun.10]
You Say Apocalypse, I Say Retro Chic (Moving Pixels) [26.May.10]
The Satisfaction of a Switch (Moving Pixels) [19.May.10]
Hamlet: The Video Game (Moving Pixels) [21.Apr.10]
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Game (Moving Pixels) [14.Apr.10]
Building a Better Murderer (Moving Pixels) [7.Apr.10]
An Intimate Moment With the Computer (Moving Pixels) [31.Mar.10]
Hippolyta: A Study in Simplicity (Moving Pixels) [24.Mar.10]
Elegance Is a Shotgun (Moving Pixels) [17.Mar.10]
Making a Case for 'Vice' (Moving Pixels) [24.Feb.10]
Assassin's Creed II (Consuming Consumables) [18.Dec.09]
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (Consuming Consumables) [17.Dec.09]
MySims Agents (Consuming Consumables) [16.Dec.09]
LEGO Rock Band (Consuming Consumables) [7.Dec.09]
Prince of Persia (Consuming Consumables) [3.Dec.09]
Godfather II (Consuming Consumables) [3.Dec.09]
Ms. Pac-Man: Post Feminist Icon (Moving Pixels) [2.Dec.09]
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Consuming Consumables) [30.Nov.09]
Democratizing Dictatorship: Tropico 3 (Moving Pixels) [4.Nov.09]
It's Always More Fun Killing Nazis (Moving Pixels) [26.Aug.09]
Zen and the Art of Playing Video Games (Moving Pixels) [24.Jun.09]
Killing My Avatar, Killing Myself? (Moving Pixels) [29.May.08]
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