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'Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning' Twists Videogame Tropes

Kingdoms of Amalur takes all of the principles of videogames – agency, choice, exploration, conflict – and turns them into an expansive experience of testing the conventions, and even the technical framework, of videogame fiction itself.

Games

Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring the Mind-Body Connection in 'Soma'

Soma explores human identity and human consciousness through its slow burn sci fi horror.

Games

'A Machine for Pigs' and the Failure of Psychological Horror

When a game removes a physical danger, its psychological danger has to be even more effective than before. If not, all horror is lost.

Games

'The Dark Descent' and the Limits of Psychological Horror

Amnesia: The Dark Descent experiments with the limits of psychological horror, but it can't find a way around them.

Games

The Moving Pixels Podcast Finally Gets 'Amnesia'

Just in time for Halloween, the Moving Pixels Podcast revisits the 2010 cult horror game Amnesia.

Games

'Unknown' Will Probably Remain That Way

Missed opportunities lurk around every corner of this messy production.

Reviews

But Who Am I?: Schizophrenia as a Metaphor for the Player-Character Relationship

Deadly Premonition makes the idea clear that the player serves as the voice in the head of the schizophrenic, and these moments remind one that all input in a video game is fundamentally like this.

Games

Pop Ten

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 - 1

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 3: 60 - 41

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 4: 40 - 21

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'Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning' Twists Videogame Tropes

Kingdoms of Amalur takes all of the principles of videogames – agency, choice, exploration, conflict – and turns them into an expansive experience of testing the conventions, and even the technical framework, of videogame fiction itself.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring the Mind-Body Connection in 'Soma'

Soma explores human identity and human consciousness through its slow burn sci fi horror.

'A Machine for Pigs' and the Failure of Psychological Horror

When a game removes a physical danger, its psychological danger has to be even more effective than before. If not, all horror is lost.

'The Dark Descent' and the Limits of Psychological Horror

Amnesia: The Dark Descent experiments with the limits of psychological horror, but it can't find a way around them.

The Moving Pixels Podcast Finally Gets 'Amnesia'

Just in time for Halloween, the Moving Pixels Podcast revisits the 2010 cult horror game Amnesia.

Measuring Success: The Unsatisfying Notion of "Good Endings" and "Bad Endings"

Sometimes stories need to end badly in order to be really good.

'Unknown' Will Probably Remain That Way

Missed opportunities lurk around every corner of this messy production.

But Who Am I?: Schizophrenia as a Metaphor for the Player-Character Relationship

Deadly Premonition makes the idea clear that the player serves as the voice in the head of the schizophrenic, and these moments remind one that all input in a video game is fundamentally like this.

Rebelling Against the Rebellion: British Punk's Second Coming

The Ugly and Unlistenable Death Spiral of Eddie Van Halen

Punk Rock's V98 Channel Their Fury Stunningly on "Conversation Killer" (premiere)

Americana's Midnight North Take the "Long View" with New Single (premiere)

Rachel Mazer's "Is It So Wrong" Is a Celebration of Love (premiere)

"She's Older Now" Is a Previously Unreleased Tune From Roger C. Reale and Rue Morgue, Featuring Mick Ronson (premiere)

Pinto Bennett Dishes the Lonely Blues on "I Like Singin' the Blues in a Honky Tonk Song" (premiere)

Deep Tan Amplify the Groove on New Single "Shimmer" (premiere)

Signe Marie Rustad Finds Companionship In "A Thousand Lights" (premiere + interview)

Andrea von Kampen Crafts Reflective, Picturesque Folk on 'Twilight & Evening Bell' (EP stream) (premiere)

John Salaway Celebrates "The Beauty That Surrounds Us" (premiere)