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bioshock

September 11th

…puts it, “I like weird.”

it becomes apparent fairly early on that “stylus” in the case of Deliverance is actually to mean “phallus”…and when you finally realize it, earlier moments in the game—such as the player’s being asked to trace the contours of the young model—suddenly become more potent. A lot of games strive towards “replayability”…Deliverance finds its replayability in continued interpretation.

Roger Travis writes about “immersive learning,” gamification, and Bioshock. And Latoya Peterson at Racialicious comments on the recent Slavery: The Game hoax, remarking that a hoax is still worth discussing.

This week also…

October 30th

…Washington Post. It’s an intelligent discussion about the politics of Bioshock Infinite’s world in relation to that of real world events, particularly the Occupy movement.

‘Off Book’ is a PBS arts-focused web series that in this episode takes a look at videogames. It features comment from a healthy blend of games designers, journalists, and academics, and is worth a watch.

Meanwhile, Dan Cox at Digital Ephemera looks at the concept of “asymmetrical knowledge” in tragic stories. Cox writes,

If “audience member who knows that the big fall is coming, but doesn’t know when” then there is

…

November 6th

…explanation, but it seems to be an email from “Grandpa Aaron” talking about all the games he’s enjoyed, including Castlevania, Red Dead Redemption, and quite a superlative description of his enjoyment of Bioshock.

Mary Flagnahan blogs “The Twelve Propositions” about games at the Tilt Factor blog. These “Twelve Propositions from a Critical Play Perspective” start with the following: “#1 – Values are everywhere, designed into play and into games”. Interesting and provocative.

And two videos to close out TWIVGB this week. First, video blogger ‘Egoraptor’ has an excellent video in his ‘Sequelitis’ series discussing the mechanical changes between…

Now Accepting Submissions for TYIVGB 2011 Edition

…the conversation from critical community surrounding the big games of the year. Last year the big talked about games were with extensive conversations around them were Red Dead Redemption, Heavy Rain, Bioshock 2, Bayonetta and Mass Effect 2. This year we want example pieces highlighting the discussion around that took place around the games this year.

3. The best pieces from some important bloggers or sites that stood out this year. These are the pieces that highlight the critics’ writing that did worthwhile work throughout the year.

4. Any excellent pieces pertaining to gaming culture that highlights a…

July 22nd

…

BioShock admits, and Spec Ops retreats from, the complicity of the designer in the glorification of and lust for violence. This follows a rich tradition of one-sided blame, to be sure. Movies, comics, rock and roll, gangsta rap, and (of course) video games have all been blamed, sometimes simultaneously, for the decline of civilization and morality. These attacks ignore the role audience demand plays in the creation of popular art in a capitalist system. It is no better, however, for someone to spend years creating horrors and then bash the audience for having the temerity to experience, much

…

September 16th

…himself.

C:/Miscellaneous

Damien McFerran’s Crippled by Nostalgia: The Fraud of Retro Gaming. He asks if it’s the gameplay that makes hardcore gamers go back to vintage games or something else? Hint: He posits it might be something else.

Carol Borden’s The Plague of the White Knight. After playing Max Payne 3, Bioshock 2 and Halo 3 she is tired of the trope of the “White Knight Savior” and the “Save The Cheerleader, Save The World” goal of storytelling so prevalent in games.

Zolani Stewart’s An Exploration of “Whore of The Orient.” “Context is everything,” he begins…

October 7th

…the universe drop down around you like a shroud.

But we shouldn’t let that cloud our entire week, as devastatingly depressing as it is.

I don’t have a good transition here.

Anjin Anhut’s “A Man Chooses A Slave Obeys” is a brilliant close reading of Bioshock and critical-favorite Spec Ops: The Line. Anhut focuses in tightly on what it means to perform an action in a game, and comes to the conclusion that maybe we do actually need to turn the machine off sometimes (also, the graphic design in that article is stunning. Go look.) Anhut starts…

Spec Ops: The Line

…the shooter genre broadly, but to Bioshock specifically in his journey from Rapture to Dubai.

Breaking It Down

Various other writers dissected the game in great detail, or took elements or themes of the game and discussed those at great length. At Twenty Sided, Shamus Young and some companions have several long and detailed posts looking in-depth at various aspects of The Line. The first two posts break down the entire game, bit by bit. Another post looks more generally at The Line’s themes and how it conveys them, and another post looks in-depth at The Line’s visual…

This Year In Video Game Blogging 2012

…Francisco, starting with “Magical Realism as a Game Mechanic.”

Destructoid’s Jim Sterling thinks there is more to the gender politics of Lollipop Chainsaw than is immediately apparent due to the treatment of Julia Starling’s boyfriend and how it ends up flipping the script on otherwise tired clichés.

Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance, started off the year by looking in depth at 2011’s indie marvel Cart Life.

Anjin Anhut of How Not To Suck At Game Design compares Bioshock and Spec Ops: The Line in “A Man Chooses A Slave Obeys – from Rapture to Dubai.”

Taylor…

January 20th

…other medium – are not self-evident, especially when they’re buried inside iterative formulations of shooters, RPGs and other well-worn genres. […] It’s a moment for us to bring forward our best stories about games – not as a collective “God, I love this game,” or “This game made me cry,” but as careful observers of the deep and vivid experiences games can provide. We must put our faces and reputations behind the games we admire and explain to a skeptical public why violent games like Bioshock, Metro 2033, and The Walking Dead really are about more than plugging baddies with…