Search Results for “mass effect” – Page 9

This Year In Video Game Blogging 2010

…the Experience Points blog, wrote about the politics of Mass Effect, by comparing the fictional problems to the real world tragedies and politics that inspired them. The Quarian as refugees, the Salarian as Nazi scientists, and culture clash between races.

Luke Halliwell on his personal blog goes into detail the problems and poor decisions that led up to the failure of the MMO All Points Bulletin. It is an extensive three-part write up that is as much a cautionary tale as it is fact.

Kateri on her blog Falling Awkwardly, writes some superbly well written and thought through…

January 9th

…looks at ‘Religion in AAA Releases: Some Thoughts on Real and Fictitious Faith’. Primary targets of analysis are Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

Rob Goodman writing at literary site The Millions tells us about ‘Interactive Art: What Videogames Can Learn From Freud’. Here’s an excerpt:

…every argument about art is about validation, about the assignment of prestige—yet those arguments are still worth having, because they can also be about something else. The argument over video games is about finding a place for choice in art, about respectability, and about empathy. And the best way into that argument

…

January 16th

…at PopMatters writes about ‘One Chance: playing with the notion of irreversible consequences’ discussing the flash game ‘One Chance’ and a particular moment from Mass Effect 2:

Realizing that the action wasn’t in my hands freed me from feeling guilty about it, theorizing that it was reversible spared me from grieving about it. It’s a little ironic that in a series of games promoting the empowerment of the player to make choices, I got my biggest shock from something that I only thought that I could control.

Also at PopMatters, G. Christopher Williams looks at ‘The…

February 13th

…places some biting critiques into the mouths of his characters: Mass Effect 2 and Gears of War both receive very pointed examinations, and as these are delivered via specific characters they feel more… attached to a specific perspective than they would if these criticisms appeared in a critical essay. Fyfe’s ‘Bad Dreams’ is one of this week’s must reads.

But wow, this next piece also knocked me off my feet – one of the great things about doing this job is I occasionally get to share amazing gems like the following: the authors of the ‘They Came From The…

May 29th

…nuclear energy, but coming face to face with even a fictionalized consequence of my political beliefs was a little bit humbling.

At Gamers with Jobs, Rob Zachny writes about why the ‘interrogation’ sections of L.A. Noire are… kinda ambiguous and broken. And a nice companion piece at Significant Bits by Radek Koncewicz says a very similar thing, comparing the dialogue system to two recent Bioware games:

L.A. Noire stars a strictly defined character, so on the surface it seems more suited to a simplified Mass Effect system than a complex Dragon Age one. However, its dialogue…

June 12th

…writes about the newly announced game Blackwater and its potential to ask important questions about private military contractors, however unlikely that may be.

On Your Critic is in Another Castle, K. Cox writes in two parts about the music of Mass Effect and what a good soundtrack can bring to a game:

A good film or game score (and there are plenty of bad ones out there) works in tandem with the visual elements of the story. It reinforces what you know from watching and from playing, it guides your emotional response, it sets the pace and

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July 10th

…Pixels blog have been busy again this week. First from senior editor G. Christopher Williams is an analysis of performance of masculinity and chivalry in Shadows of the Damned, kicking off with the observation that the game’s damsel in distress is a clear nod to Donkey Kong. Our second Moving Pixels piece comes to us from Jorge Albor, writing on the dubious ethics of Tiny Tower.

In this same vein of ethics and morality, we venture over to GameSetWatch where contributor Andrew Vanden Bossche writes about engaging players’ emotions while making moral choices, using AAA title Mass Effect and…

August 7th

…something quite akin to Vincent’s discomfort about what he is going through: a sense of the pressure of time itself.

K Cox of the Your Critic Is In Another Castle blog discusses the reactions to the vote on the appearance of FemShep in Mass Effect 3, in ‘O Commander, My Commander’ (and which also links to a great selection of other reactions to the game, for those interested):

One of the most remarkable things about this franchise to date has been the complete equality of both versions of Commander Shepard. The game, required to accommodate both…

September 11th

…those shortcomings. So be it; these viewpoints are still of great value.

Also recommended from Clarkson’s blog are two relaunch companion pieces: ‘A Tale of Two Chesses‘ and ‘The crying game’.

Going from narrative and emotions within games to heightened emotions surrounding them, this past week has been a… volatile one, to say the least. First was the reveal of the new Mass Effect Liara figure, about which both Go Make Me a Sandwich and The Mary Sue have some strong words. The latter outlet sums up the sentiment quite well in its title: ‘Hey, Bioware: Stop…

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…