Moving Pixels Podcast: Of Plumbers and Princesses, or Love Stories in Video Games

A lot of the discussion in the media on the kinds of relationships that video game characters foster can be boiled down to discussions of Tommy Vercetti beating up hookers and taking back his money following an “initmate encounter.”

This week we continue in our series on storytelling in video games by discussing a broader sample of the kinds of relationships that are explored in the stories told by video games. We consider the centrality of “getting the girl” to player motivations in many gaming experiences and whether or not games can tell more complicated stories of love and romance.

Our contributors, Rick Dakan, G. Christopher Williams, Nick Dinicola, and Thomas Cross, confront issues of intimacy between plumbers and princesses, monkeys and maidens, and other lovestruck pixelated heroes and heroines.

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Moving Pixels Podcast #3 Love Stories [MP3]

     

This podcast is also available via iTunes.

Join us next week as we consider the way that games ask us to come up with solutions in stories of mystery and puzzlement.

Our podcast contributors:

G. Christopher Williams is the Multimedia Editor at PopMatters.com. You can find his weekly updates featured at the Neuromance blog.

Rick Dakan is a regular contributor to the Moving Pixels blog as well as to the Gamma Testing podcast.

Nick Dinicola is also a regular contributor to the Moving Pixels blog.

Thomas Cross contributes frequently to the Multimedia section at PopMatters.com, and he also pens the Diamond in the Rough column for GameSetWatch.