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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, Neuromance, 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

Monday, December 15 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, January 4 2012

The Best Flash Games of 2011

These games taught me: the danger of following the rules; the pleasing presence of unexpected personalities; the pleasures of a well paced and meditative process; the joys of a frantic and chaotic twitch-fest and; the satisfaction derived from a game that brings out my inner masochist.


Tuesday, October 25 2011

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

The insensibly repetitious nature of romance present in both video game plots and in their mechanics leads to all too familiar storytelling.


Tuesday, August 23 2011

Why Video Games Might Not Be Art

Roger Ebert might have a point when he claims that 'games can never be art'. At least, Aristotle and T.S. Eliot would have agreed.


Friday, June 24 2011

Boys Get Naked Better than Girls

In games like Kabod Online, male characters expose themselves to an audience. This makes them look stronger, more powerful, more manly than they do with their clothes on.


Friday, April 29 2011

Rewind to Advance: Jordan Mechner's Games with Time

Games feature the ability to constantly challenge the forward momentum of time, rewinding (as it were) to reconsider the best route to reach a more optimal solution, challenging what we know about time and how we consider consequence.


Reviews

Friday, February 3 2012

'Quarrel' Is 'Scrabble' Meets 'Risk'

Quarrel is Scrabble meets Risk. It fixes some of the problems of Risk, while adding a few new irritations of its own.


Friday, December 16 2011

The OnLive Cloud Gaming System

OnLive does feel something like the future of digital distribution.


Wednesday, November 23 2011

The Sims 3: Pets

Strangely, The Sims 3: Pets put me, as a gamer, on more of a leash, and I frankly like it all the more for doing so.


Monday, November 14 2011

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

Weirdly, I want to suggest that Dead Rising has more in common with The Sims than it does, say, Resident Evil because its emphasis is on efficiency, not horror in the traditional sense.


Friday, November 11 2011

Batman: Arkham City

I want my prison more cramped, more uncomfortable. I want the Asylum back.


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]
Graffiti Kingdom [1.Jan.95]
The Godfather [1.Jan.95]
Still Life [1.Jan.95]
Fantastic 4 [1.Jan.95]
City of Villains [1.Jan.95]
The Movies [1.Jan.95]

Blogs

Wednesday, February 8 2012

Lana Del Rey's “Video Games” and, Well, Video Games

It isn't really a song about video games, of course. However, it is interesting for what it implies about games by taking gaming for granted as a normalized cultural practice.


Monday, February 6 2012

The Moving Pixels Podcast Explores the World of 'Skyrim'

The Moving Pixels podcast crew get together to discuss the varied approaches that they took to exploring the vast world of Skyrim.


Wednesday, February 1 2012

Big Games and Little Boys

I'm not around little boys enough to think too much about them. I kind of take them for granted. Too often, they just seem loud... and dirty.


Monday, January 30 2012

Moving Pixels Podcast: Grand Theft Stupid?

In which the Moving Pixels podcast considers the merits of the sometimes zany, sometimes puerile, most often both, Saints Row: The Third.


Monday, January 23 2012

Moving Pixels Podcast: Leaving the Asylum for the City

Batman: Arkham City is so much bigger than the Asylum, but is that a good thing?


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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Sharon Van Etten: Tramp (Reviews) [Thu, 1:00 am]
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