The PopMatters Multimedia Blog 2012-02-09T15:22:34Z Copyright (c) 2012, PopMatters.com ExpressionEngine tag:popmatters.com-moving-pixels,2012:02:10 tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154325 2012-02-09T17:00:00Z 2012-02-09T17:00:00Z Mark Filipowich It’s odd to think of such an expensive hobby that is so often associated with a privileged class as designed purely for escape. What could such an audience have to escape from? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154360 2012-02-09T13:00:00Z 2012-02-09T13:00:00Z Scott Juster Despite sharing many of the same problems, I'm willing to cut Mirror's Edge more slack than Sonic CD. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154154 2012-02-08T13:00:00Z 2012-02-08T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams 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. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154296 2012-02-07T13:00:00Z 2012-02-07T13:00:00Z Eric Swain Two men dictated by driving: one driven by an intense focus on the calm precision necessary to master the physical science of it all, the other driven by the raw emotional power that a two ton extension of the self provides. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154207 2012-02-06T13:00:00Z 2012-02-06T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams The Moving Pixels podcast crew get together to discuss the varied approaches that they took to exploring the vast world of Skyrim. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154122 2012-02-03T13:00:00Z 2012-02-03T13:00:00Z Nick Dinicola It’s interesting that the AC-130 makes a return in Modern Warfare 3, and it's impressive that it’s not just a repeat of what’s come before. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154023 2012-02-02T13:00:00Z 2012-02-02T13:00:00Z Jorge Albor Rayman Origins utilizes a gradual teaching method with amazing finesse and offers a great opportunity to explore the risks and rewards of gated learning. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.154015 2012-02-01T13:00:00Z 2012-02-01T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams 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. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153722 2012-01-31T17:00:00Z 2012-01-31T17:00:00Z Mark Filipowich Batman: Arkham City is often criticized for being too open to tell as good a story as Arkham Asylum. But the lack of focus reveals a side of Batman that Asylum couldn't show. Arkham City isn’t a prison district, it’s a playground for a billionaire wearing rubber tights. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153895 2012-01-31T13:00:00Z 2012-01-31T13:00:00Z Mattie Brice If game mechanics are meant to provide players with experiences such as fun and anxiety, then narrative actually is a game mechanic, as much as game mechanics can also be narrative elements. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153898 2012-01-30T13:00:00Z 2012-01-30T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams In which the Moving Pixels podcast considers the merits of the sometimes zany, sometimes puerile, most often both, Saints Row: The Third. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153770 2012-01-27T13:00:00Z 2012-01-27T13:00:00Z Nick Dinicola Tank controls, bad checkpoints, and awkward combat can be good things. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153692 2012-01-26T13:00:00Z 2012-01-26T13:00:00Z Scott Juster After a weekend of football and board games, I'm finding that video games have more in common with the former. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153443 2012-01-25T13:00:00Z 2012-01-25T13:00:00Z Chris Gaerig After settling into the competitive, online playing field of some games, I find all other functions of the game superfluous, especially single player mode. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153637 2012-01-24T13:00:00Z 2012-01-24T13:00:00Z Eric Swain The player is given a power to behave like one would in an exaggerated 1970s cop show. That's the implied memories that that era imbued on culture in our collective memory, a cultural meme that exists in both the real-life player’s mind and evidentially in the mind of the fictional John Tanner. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153575 2012-01-23T13:00:00Z 2012-01-23T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams Batman: Arkham City is so much bigger than the Asylum, but is that a good thing? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153477 2012-01-20T13:00:00Z 2012-01-20T13:00:00Z Nick Dinicola If I'm looking at a mini-map instead of the world around me, it's not actually helping. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153143 2012-01-19T17:00:00Z 2012-01-19T17:00:00Z Mark Filipowich Zelda could not succeed as a business venture if it were to change too radically. But should art evolve beyond business concerns? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153435 2012-01-19T13:00:00Z 2012-01-19T13:00:00Z Jorge Albor To tap the potential that historical systems have to offer, we must be willing to step on fragile ground. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153118 2012-01-18T13:00:00Z 2012-01-18T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams Skyrim most often seems to me like a fantasy veneer spread over the most boring occupation that I can think of, managing and prioritizing tasks at an office. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153338 2012-01-17T13:00:00Z 2012-01-17T13:00:00Z Mattie Brice Video games reflect themes and skills found in boys’ styles of play as children, and any introduction of qualities that are different from that (especially if tagged as feminine) are cast out as inferior “casual” games. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153318 2012-01-16T13:00:00Z 2012-01-16T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams The Moving Pixels podcast talks about what the open world genre means to the last decade in gaming and what kinds of worlds most compel players to explore them. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153240 2012-01-13T13:00:00Z 2012-01-13T13:00:00Z Nick Dinicola Battlefield 3 is neither a cynical war story, nor a heroic one. By failing to take a stand either way, it stumbles along with a painfully inconsistent tone. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153101 2012-01-12T17:00:00Z 2012-01-12T17:00:00Z Eric Swain Magical realism becomes a means of deepening an otherwise standard crime story. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153106 2012-01-12T13:00:00Z 2012-01-12T13:00:00Z Scott Juster Skyward Sword's design raises a simple, yet important question: Who did Nintendo think was going to be playing this game? I don't have the answer, and I don't think Nintendo does either. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.152923 2012-01-11T13:00:00Z 2012-01-11T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams League of Legends is an excellent multiplayer experience. Unfortunately, you do have to play it with a lot of other people. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.153026 2012-01-09T13:00:00Z 2012-01-09T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams The Moving Pixels podcast discusses not just our own picks for game of the year, but what significance (or lack thereof) such declarations about our most beloved games have. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.152922 2012-01-06T13:00:00Z 2012-01-06T13:00:00Z Nick Dinicola Collecting Riddler Trophies is one giant puzzle game within an action game, and those puzzle aspects bleed into all other areas of Batman: Arkham City. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.152823 2012-01-05T13:00:00Z 2012-01-05T13:00:00Z Jorge Albor To venture into Dark Souls, even for a moment, is to remind yourself of a universal truth: everyone has the capacity to transcend expectations, even you. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2012:pm/blogs/moving-pixels/35.152756 2012-01-04T13:00:00Z 2012-01-04T13:00:00Z G. Christopher Williams The interesting thing about the Catwoman alternate ending in Arkham City is what doesn't happen if you don't choose to have Catwoman help Batman out. ]]>