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L.B. JeffriesPopMatters Associate Multimedia EditorAbout L.B. Jeffries L.B. Jeffries is the pseudonym of a law student from South Carolina. After majoring in English, L.B. wandered around the resort scene in California, taught a little creative writing in Vermont, and ended up dead broke on the lower east side of Manhattan. A year of working for the government convinced him that there are some things worse than death so he took the LSAT. He continues to maintain his sanity and artistic sensibilities by posting a weekly on the PopMatters blog, ‘Moving Pixels’, providing game reviews, and whatever else captures his fancy. Features
The Film Noir Roots of Cowboy BebopThe animated series Cowboy Bebop is a blend of classic film noir motifs mixed into a futuristic setting that reverses the roles of gender and character. [19 January 2010] The New American Spook CountrySpook Country is about America’s loss of innocence, its various ways of remembering the past, and an attempt to find a way of reconciling those memories with the present. [30 September 2009] The New Games JournalismThe most useful moments for New Games Journalists are ones that occur in multiplayer, describing experiences that could never occur during just a general session of play. [18 June 2009] Does Video Game Criticism Need a Pauline Kael?Kael, much like video game critics today, was faced with a massive philosophical shift in her chosen artistic medium that large quantities of critics were against. [18 March 2009] Does Video Game Criticism Need a Lester Bangs?Part of the reason Lester Bangs was a great rock critic was because he reflected the virtues and vices of his medium. Yet as a critic Bangs provided a lot of personal standards that could be easily applied to multiple mediums. [1 December 2008] The New YouTube Game Criticism: An Interview with “moviebob”"Working on the web is a great motivator...if you screw up and forget that Stanley the Bug Man was the hero in Donkey Kong 3 instead of Mario there's going to be twelve guys all lined up to correct you." [23 October 2008] Redefining the Game: A Look at Machinima"Whatever we're doing, it's all story telling -- and if the story's bad then the appeal can't last to the gamer crowd let alone anyone else." [16 July 2008] Play’s the Thing: The Art of Video Game WritingMany of the people who make the video games you play don't like having a plot at all, much less a good one. It constrains their designs and forces them to sacrifice player freedom for something that the player should be doing themselves. [7 May 2008] The Carolina Games Summit Through the Eyes of the Ex-CoreKids, spouses, and jobs are all huge time drains for former hardcore gamers. The appeal of games with unlockable content, beating impossible odds, or even ones that just take a lot of practice no longer work on this demographic. They really play them to kill time. [7 March 2008] Rejecting the Conventional Industry: The Independent Gaming SceneWhat makes the games these people produce so impressive is not just the dedication of the people making them, but the staggering creativity that makes so many of them stand out. [27 February 2008] Olaf Stapledon: Of His Time, and OthersTo sit and complain about the lack of credit Stapledon receives is to undermine the very principle for which he was writing about: mankind's yearning for community. [16 November 2007] Above the Sea of Fog: The New Romantic Era of Video GamesTo this next generation of consoles, a challenge has been declared: that the quality of graphics or sound are not gauges for the quality of a game, that they aspire to more than mere satisfaction of a few basic human desires. [28 June 2007] Columns
The Art of Place in Hitman: Blood MoneyA game isn’t just its content or game design alone, but rather, the space created when all these pieces come together. [2 February 2010] (more Moving Pixels) Philip K. Dick’s Defense of Video GamesPhilip K. Dick’s fiction is a defense of the validity of video games because despite the fact that they are not real, his stories argue that there is still something valid in the artificial. [7 December 2009] (more Moving Pixels) Tools for the Job: Asserting Femininity in Super MetroidSuper Metroid is unique in that it is the only game in the series that addresses something distinctly female about Samus besides her looks: motherhood. [6 October 2009] (more Moving Pixels) TIE Fighter: A Post 9/11 ParableAs the only Star Wars game that has you serving under the Empire without remorse, TIE Fighter lets you experience being a servant to a massive government just after a terrorist attack. [11 August 2009] (more Moving Pixels) King’s Quest VISixteen years after its release, King's Quest VI it is still one of the high water marks of the adventure game genre. [28 May 2009] (more Moving Pixels) Like Movies—with ButtonsLike Edwin S. Porter realizing that a series of shots was how you structured a film, games have to abandon the presumption that they need to obey a linear narrative or controlled message and just let the player loose. [1 May 2009] (more Moving Pixels) Far Cry 2: The Heart of Darkness GameThis is a game that is incessantly hostile. It is constantly pushing the player to become more efficient at destruction. [2 April 2009] (more Moving Pixels) Half Life 2: Giant Ants, Head Crabs and Barnacle CreaturesThe world of Half-Life 2 depicts the aliens, most of them still unintelligent, overtaking our planet and destroying the norms of civilization. [5 March 2009] (more Moving Pixels) The Campbellian Myth of Monkey IslandThe Secret of Monkey Island is one of the '90s' best examples of interactive fiction, and it accomplishes this by using a variety of narrative and game design techniques to deliver a Joseph Campbell experience. [10 December 2008] (more Moving Pixels) Just as Fun to WatchL.B. Jeffries talks to "Boner", a gamer who has managed to build a following simply by allowing an internet audience to watch him play. [9 July 2008] (more Moving Pixels) Reviews
YogaHere is a video game where you are better off getting a cheap DVD than bothering with the interactive version. [3 February 2010] 
Rogue WarriorPlaying Rogue Warrior is like listening to Mickey Rourke mutter to himself about being trapped in a video game for four hours. [1 February 2010] 
GyromancerIt’s hard enough to follow someone using accurate medieval vocabulary in real life without using it to break up a gemstone matching game. [27 January 2010] 
Resident Evil: The Darkside ChroniclesThe distance between you and the zombie itself is a finite resource. [22 January 2010] 
Cook or Be Cooked!After giving you the ability to bend time and space, Susie Fogelson and Maury Thompson ask you to cook 12 different meals for them and rank you accordingly. [16 December 2009] 
Marvel Super Hero SquadDeciding whether or not to buy this game is mostly a decision based on who you want to play the game with. [23 November 2009] 
A Witch’s TaleEvery character in the game is the epitome of a JRPG stereotype because they never do anything to distinguish themselves from it. [11 November 2009] 
Animal Kingdom: Wildlife ExpeditionIf you’re going to claim that a game is about observing animals and taking pictures, there are certain things a person is going to impulsively want to do. [4 November 2009] 
Our House: Party!The biggest disappointment about the game is how much it fails to actually be an engaging Home Depot commercial. [28 October 2009] 
Women’s Murder Club: Games of PassionThe game is clearly written by someone who thinks that they’re producing a TV episode or book. [21 October 2009] 
SpyborgsStop me if you've heard this one before: a guy with a robotic arm, a sexy lady ninja, and a giant robot that never talks set off on a trip to beat the crap out of hundreds of robots. [5 October 2009] 
Blackwell ConvergenceAt the heart of the game’s story is the struggle for artistic expression to find an audience. [19 August 2009] 
The Secret of Monkey Island Special EditionIf you’re not going to do something significantly new with the game, what’s the point of remaking it? [5 August 2009] 
The ConduitThe Conduit is an assertion that the Wii can still support the more traditional style of games. It succeeds at this. [21 July 2009] 
Wallace & Gromit in Fright of the BumblebeesThe only thing missing from the game is that strange sense of doll house spectacle that the original productions could create. [22 June 2009] 
Plants Vs. ZombiesYou are juggling several things at once, but there is only the one thing that really matters: keeping zombies from getting all the way across your lawn. [29 May 2009] SpelunkySpelunky strikes to the heart of the appeal of casual gaming by rewarding the player instantly and coupling that reward with a very real sense of risk. [13 April 2009] Bit.Trip BeatIn a music game, it is the act of creating music that must come first while the challenge remains optional. Otherwise, why not just devote that time to learning how to play a real instrument? [10 April 2009] Halo WarsThe design abandons almost all of the micromanagement elements of the genre in favor of a purified tactical race. The result has its flaws, but not without proving that there is a unique kind of elegance in its simplicity. [27 March 2009] 
Retro Game ChallengeRetro Game Challenge allows the player to go through the motions of playing various games from the 8-bit era, which it does almost flawlessly. [16 March 2009] 
Mushroom Men: The Spore WarsFor all the innovation in Mushroom Men, it is not applied in a way that suitably overcomes the inherent problems of the genre. [9 February 2009] Crayon Physics DeluxeWhat Crayon Physics Deluxe represents is a game where the author's intent is barely a whisper. [26 January 2009] 
Mother 3Like No More Heroes, this is a game where your own reactions and views are being toyed with. Unlike that game, however, this one is willing to do so with both humor and tragedy. [21 January 2009] 
This is a Cry for HelpEdmund McMillen's collection shows the slow shift from just making games with an artistic edge, through the indie scene, and to the subsequent art games that are starting to become popular now. [12 January 2009] 
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4The story of Persona 4 is about our relationship with the masks we wear to get through life and the ones we observe on television. [5 December 2008] 
Animal ParadiseThe relationship between player and animal is very disingenuous because the player is not really concerned with the animal beyond its basic aesthetic cuteness. [3 November 2008] 
Art Style: OrbientHow does one evaluate the challenge of a game that features an entirely unique play style? [27 October 2008] 
IjiThe thematic choice of the game is whether you wish to play Iji as she first starts out and refrain from violence, or use her newfound abilities to change her into a killer. [10 October 2008] 
Quest for Glory II: Trial By FireThis remake is such a precise recreation of the original, right down to all of the scenes looking exactly the same, that there are no real complaints to make. [22 September 2008] 
RoogooRoogoo simplifies several puzzle game concepts while adding a variety of challenges to sustain the interest of its players. [8 September 2008] 
Randy Balma: Municipal AbortionistThe concept of video game design and architecture has been expressed by several academics and yet within it there doesn't seem to be much room for Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist. [18 August 2008] 
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the RiftIn Final Fantasy Tactics A2 there isn't really a point at which you can stop grinding and say, "I'm ready to hear the plot now". [11 August 2008] 
The Political Machine 2008It’s like playing Monopoly without the dice or the satisfaction of ever owning property. You just go around and around the board bidding on things. [30 July 2008] 
Summon Night: Twin AgeSummon Night: Twin Age has just enough of that engaging "Gotta explore the whole map" appeal that playing never feels like a chore. [7 July 2008] 
Everyday ShooterThe player has complete control over what he shoots and kills, but the sounds manage to combine in such a way that you feel like you're contributing to a collective whole. [25 June 2008] 
InsecticideThe most interesting element of the plot is the fact that humans have become subservient to insects. [18 June 2008] 
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon SwordThe entirety of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is controlled with your stylus. That's it. Every single button on the DS causes you to block. [28 May 2008] 
Naruto: Ninja DestinyThe very point of having a huge roster of characters to play is the change of tactics and style that different characters bring with them. With Naruto, none of that exists. [5 May 2008] Immortal DefenseEnemies becomes friends, religions decay, and the universe you went into heaven to defend becomes unrecognizable. [30 April 2008] 
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were NoneWhy shouldn't a port at least remove things that were flawed in the original game? [9 April 2008] Sam & Max: Season 2The comedy routines between Sam and Max run a bit like Calvin & Hobbes humor taken to a freakish extreme. [21 March 2008] AudiosurfThe real joy of Audiosurf is picking a song, any song, and seeing it literally appear before you as you travel and listen along. [17 March 2008] game, game, game, and again gamegame, game, game, and again game isn't so much a game trying to be art as it is a work of art borrowing from games. [12 March 2008] 
No More HeroesWhether you'll enjoy No More Heroes really boils down to whether you're the kind of person who can make fun of yourself or you take yourself so seriously that you don't get the joke. [22 February 2008] 
Blackwell UnboundLauren Blackwell is a woman with a pack-a-day habit and a growing emotional apathy that comes from constantly staring at the end of existence and sending people there. [20 February 2008] 
Trilby: The Art of TheftGiven that his game is free, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw can actually toy with the idea of creating moments in the game that are expressly meant to piss you off. [21 December 2007] 
Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal SkullTwelve-year-old girls are champs at this stuff. I know because the GameFAQ I used was written by one. [11 December 2007] 
Namco Museum RemixPlaying classic titles is often like reading a dense Victorian novel. [7 December 2007] 
Dementium: The WardRenegade Kid basically took the game concept of Contra and hooked it into a survival horror FPS. [3 December 2007] 
Chibi Robo: Park PatrolEven a ten-year-old could grasp that harvesting an entire forest at once is not as good as harvesting it in sections by simply comparing it to Chibi Robo's carefully balanced flower economy. [27 November 2007] 
Mega Man Star ForceAll of those strategic elements and nuances that the average card player must master simply aren't necessary when you're fighting in Mega Man Star Force. [15 October 2007] 
Carnival GamesIf there is one rule that Wii Sports outlined for all future Wii mini-games, it's this: always err on the side of the player winning too much. [26 September 2007] 
Resident Evil 4: Wii EditionResident Evil 4 is the best action game to yet be released on the Wii, and will probably be the first of many games to be made in this fashion. [30 July 2007] 
Mario Party 8One of the key features of Mario Party 8 is that the game is an elaborate exercise in Marxist game play. [16 July 2007] 
Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds EndPirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is actually awful enough to inspire appreciation for the games that get its flaws right. [4 June 2007] 
American Idol Talent ChallengeWhat's really key in the American Idol "Talent Challenge" is the little machine that comes with it. This thing is high magnitudes of awesome. [21 May 2007] 
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessThe most successful parts of the game are the moments that travel outside the formula; being chased by boar-riding Orcs or being trapped in wolf form. [17 April 2007] BlogsMoving Pixels: The Problem With No More Heroes 2 [9 February 2010]Moving Pixels: Orbital, Lemon Jelly, Philip Glass Appear in Emergent Music Game [6 February 2010]Moving Pixels: Jesper Juul’s New Book ‘A Casual Revolution’ [2 February 2010]Moving Pixels: ZA Critrique: Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space [26 January 2010]Moving Pixels: Jim Rossignol’s ‘This Gaming Life’ [19 January 2010]Moving Pixels: The Style of Cel Shading [12 January 2010]Moving Pixels: The Perpetual Value Machine [5 January 2010]Moving Pixels: Odds and Ends from 2009 [22 December 2009]Moving Pixels: Playing at Video Game Analyst [15 December 2009]Moving Pixels: Gauging Load Times in Games [8 December 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critrique: Crackdown [1 December 2009]Consuming Consumables: Retro Game Challenge [25 November 2009]Moving Pixels: Tech Bubbles in World of Warcraft [24 November 2009]Moving Pixels: The Merits of Linear Narrative [17 November 2009]Moving Pixels: Diablo 2: Still Grinding After All These Years [10 November 2009]Moving Pixels: The Modern FPS [3 November 2009]Moving Pixels: Cybertext [27 October 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critrique: Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor [20 October 2009]Moving Pixels: Two Books on Games & Violence [13 October 2009]Moving Pixels: Moving Pixels Plays Telephone Part 1: Considering “Ganking” the System in Video Games [6 October 2009]Moving Pixels: Jesper Juul’s Classic Text ‘half-real’ [29 September 2009]Sound Affects: The Modest Mouse Bluegrass Tribute [24 September 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Left 4 Dead [22 September 2009]Moving Pixels: Kickstarting the Iran Protest Game [17 September 2009]Moving Pixels: Essays on Algorithmic Culture [15 September 2009]Moving Pixels: Strange Encounters of the MMO Kind [10 September 2009]Moving Pixels: Misconceptions About the Female Avatar [8 September 2009]Moving Pixels: Applying Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics to Video Games [1 September 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Mass Effect [25 August 2009]Moving Pixels: Unit Operations: An Approach to Video Game Criticism [18 August 2009]Moving Pixels: Movies That Wish They Were Video Games [11 August 2009]Moving Pixels: The Design of Everyday Things [4 August 2009]Moving Pixels: Wii Fit vs EA Active [28 July 2009]Moving Pixels: Remake Culture [21 July 2009]Moving Pixels: Games for Girls [14 July 2009]Moving Pixels: Enhancing Narrative Delivery [9 July 2009]Moving Pixels: Sloppy Arguments in Game Reviews [7 July 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: The Path [30 June 2009]Moving Pixels: Why the Angry Face? [23 June 2009]Moving Pixels: Getting Burned Out on Games [16 June 2009]Moving Pixels: The Hipsters of Gaming [9 June 2009]Moving Pixels: Art Patronage in Games [2 June 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Rez HD [26 May 2009]Moving Pixels: Illusionary Choices in Games [19 May 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Bejeweled 2 [12 May 2009]Moving Pixels: Travelling in Video Games [5 May 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Gears of War [28 April 2009]Moving Pixels: 2009 Game Developers eXchange [21 April 2009]Moving Pixels: Six Days in Fallujah [16 April 2009]Moving Pixels: Short Games [14 April 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Beyond Good & Evil [7 April 2009]Moving Pixels: Good Tutorials [31 March 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men [24 March 2009]Moving Pixels: Facebook vs Twitter [20 March 2009]Moving Pixels: Video Game Connection to Tragedy [18 March 2009]Moving Pixels: Protest Games [17 March 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Psychonauts [10 March 2009]Moving Pixels: Sex Games II [6 March 2009]Moving Pixels: Games & Film: The Wizard [3 March 2009]Moving Pixels: Forum Game: Wikipaths [26 February 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: The Thing [24 February 2009]Moving Pixels: Video Games and Their Impact on Dreams [20 February 2009]Moving Pixels: Game Explanations for Beginners [17 February 2009]Moving Pixels: 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness [12 February 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem [10 February 2009]Moving Pixels: Emergent Music Games [3 February 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Halo 3 [27 January 2009]Moving Pixels: Abstract Symbolism in Games [20 January 2009]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Braid [13 January 2009]Moving Pixels: 11th Independent Games Festival [12 January 2009]Moving Pixels: Gaming Trends for 2009 [6 January 2009]Moving Pixels: I Made This. You Play This. We Are Enemies. [18 December 2008]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Manhunt 2 [16 December 2008]Moving Pixels: Weapons in Games [9 December 2008]Moving Pixels: Web-Browser Doom [4 December 2008]Consuming Consumables: Immortal Defense [3 December 2008]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Okami [2 December 2008]Moving Pixels: Art Style: Rotohex [26 November 2008]Moving Pixels: A Standardized Controller [25 November 2008]Moving Pixels: Machinima FilmFest 2008 [21 November 2008]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Call of Duty 4 [18 November 2008]Moving Pixels: The Graveyard [14 November 2008]Moving Pixels: Games as Language Systems [11 November 2008]Moving Pixels: Sex Games [6 November 2008]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: The Darkness [4 November 2008]Moving Pixels: Relevant Settings [28 October 2008]Moving Pixels: Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City [23 October 2008]Moving Pixels: The Console War [21 October 2008]Moving Pixels: Matt Hazard: The Legacy You Never Knew [16 October 2008]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Silent Hill 2 [14 October 2008]Moving Pixels: The Political Machine 2008 [9 October 2008]Moving Pixels: ZA Critique: Ico [7 October 2008]Moving Pixels: Flash Game: Storyteller [2 October 2008]Moving Pixels: Future of Video Game Litigation [30 September 2008]Moving Pixels: Crafting Linear Game Plots [23 September 2008]Moving Pixels: Gameratis [16 September 2008]Moving Pixels: Games Into Space [9 September 2008]Moving Pixels: Super Mario Galaxy Poem [4 September 2008]Moving Pixels: Reality and Virtual Reality [2 September 2008]Moving Pixels: C*** [28 August 2008]Moving Pixels: Game Revenue Issues [26 August 2008]Moving Pixels: To Ken Levine [19 August 2008]Moving Pixels: Universal Game Design [12 August 2008]Moving Pixels: How to Make Non-Linear Reactive Stories [5 August 2008]Moving Pixels: Learning to Love the Wii Fit [29 July 2008]Moving Pixels: How, then, shall we Hype? [22 July 2008]Moving Pixels: Baby Boomers & Video Games [15 July 2008]Moving Pixels: The Great Divorce [8 July 2008]Moving Pixels: The Difficulty with Difficulty in Games [1 July 2008]Moving Pixels: How to Talk to Fans [24 June 2008]Moving Pixels: Something Completely Different [17 June 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics Synopsis [13 June 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 10: The Value of Player Experience [10 June 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 9: Flaws in Criticism Today [3 June 2008]Moving Pixels: Execution - An Experiment in Game Consequences [30 May 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 8: The Factions of Gaming [27 May 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 7: Application of Forms [20 May 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 6: Accomodating Nonconformity [13 May 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 5: The Four Forms [6 May 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 4: Player Input via the Silent Protagonist [29 April 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 3: Plotting the Plot [22 April 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 2: The Role of Depth [15 April 2008]Moving Pixels: Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 1: Finding Identity [8 April 2008]Moving Pixels: The Zerg Through the Eyes of Marx [1 April 2008]Moving Pixels: Thou Shalt Kill: A Look at Violence in Video Games [25 March 2008]Moving Pixels: Broomsticks for Boomsticks [18 March 2008] |
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