Friday, July 1 2011
‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’: A Cautionary Tale for Post-9/11 America
Call of Duty isn't about fussy negotiations, the sharing of feelings, or the deliberate weighing of multiple points of view. Call of Duty isn't UN negotiators patiently trying to neutralize Iran’s nuclear weapons program, it’s the Navy SEALS killing Osama bin Laden. It’s not Woodrow Wilson; it’s George W. Bush.
Wednesday, June 15 2011
The Comforts of Home: Defending Applebee’s in ‘Modern Warfare 2’
The sign of a true patriot? Defending your right to a $10.95 steak dinner.
Friday, March 11 2011
A Good Menu Sets the Mood Redux: Three More Memorable Menus
There are three semi-recent games that I feel deserve special mention for their creative use of the normally bland main menu.
Friday, March 4 2011
How Not to Make a Multiplayer Game
Medal of Honor's multiplayer tries to marry elements from Battlefield: Bad Company and Call of Duty but only borrows the surface trappings of these elements and none of the depth.
Monday, March 29 2010
Moving Pixels Podcast: War Stories in Video Games, or Lovin’ the Battlefield
With a focus on combat and bloodshed, many games find themselves telling stories about human struggle of the most calamitous kind. This week the Moving Pixels podcast discusses war stories told in video games.
Monday, November 30 2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The biggest example of the developer’s new confidence can be seen in their desire to depict modern warfare without glorifying it.
Friday, January 9 2009
Call of Duty: World at War
Call of Duty: World at War's catalysts for combat personalize the brutality that the player will mete out on the Axis by dehumanizing and "othering" the Japanese and the Germans as barbarians and monsters.
Friday, January 11 2008
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty 4 is a game that warrants its "Mature" rating for far more complex reasons than simply the degree of violence present.
Thursday, July 19 2007
Call of Duty: Roads to Victory
Call of Duty has nothing to do with the reality of World War II. It is a heroic version of an idea that we hold about being in a war that most us of don't remember, but only understand through movies and books.
Tuesday, January 27 2004
Call of Duty
Is it still in good taste to use the war as material for popular entertainment? Does the idea of playing an infantryman mowing down rows of German soldiers seem more profane than fun in this new era of reverence?
