Game Developers Choice Awards 2017: Winners
Back in January the GDC announced their 2017 game award nominees and I went through a few of the categories, going over the games I thought would win in each as well as the ones I thought should in fact win. Yesterday the actual winners were announced, so now it is time of course to recap, see how…
Dies Irae: A Shining Example
“Dies Irae” (That Day of Wrath) is a Gregorian Chant which dates back to the 13th century. It is probably one of the oldest and most recognized pieces of early music, and its use throughout the ages has been predominantly for religious music, starting with Catholic and then other Judeo-Christian masses.
Resident Evil 7: Evil Comes Home
It’s been slightly over a week since Resident Evil 7: Biohazard released, shipping 2.5 million copies in that time, and all I have to say is- goddamned right. Headshots off to Capcom for finally giving us a Resident Evil that returns to its survival horror origins. RE7 is a triumph, taking a spot in the higher tier of the…
Game Developers Choice Awards 2017: Nominees
The GDC recently announced its nominees for its 2017 awards, which will be held March 1. Separate from simply The Game Awards back in December, one can perhaps argue the GDCAs are more ‘prestigious’ although I think that’s somewhat of a false dichotomy. They share many of the same games, and I’m fairly certain I can predict what will win…
Westworld: “This Place is the Future”
[Spoilers for Westworld Season 1] Westworld drew the curtain on its opening season the other week (in a rather dramatic and devastating manner) and we covered some of the interesting philosophical implications contained in it on our review. Throughout the season and leading up the finale, there were also a great many things written, said, theorized…
The Game Awards 2016
The Game Awards for 2016 were announced earlier today, so it’s time to take a look at the winners in a few of the categories I’m particularly interested in. I’m going to just focus on those specific ones, but you can check out the full list here. The big one, Game of the Year, went to…
Drake’s Legacy: A look back at the highs and lows of the Uncharted series
(Contains spoilers) The Uncharted series came to a close earlier this year with the release of the fourth title in the series, A Thief’s End. Developer Naughty Dog stated that this is the definitive conclusion to the story of smarmy pretty boy treasure hunter/Indiana Jones Academy of Archaeology graduate, Nathan Drake, and his band of recurring allies. After 9…
There’s Something about SOMA
It was recently announced that after just over a year of release, SOMA has sold 450,000 copies. Originally released in September 2015 by Frictional Games, SOMA attempts to grapple with an ancient yet timeless slice of unsettling metaphysics, via the viewpoint of a layman encountering it for perhaps the first time. The central conceit confronts…
Music as a Supporting Character in “Star Trek Beyond”
In our podcast about “Star Trek Beyond,” I argued that Michael Giacchino’s score could be considered a supporting character. He teases the main theme throughout the movie, using its buildup [0:00-0:42–theme starts 0:43] and variations to support the progression of the story, as well as character locations, emotions and actions.
Betraying Morality Sans Empathy
In the latest batch of ‘casts, we covered three topics in games that are broadly related–the ethics of betrayals, morality choices, and empathy-inducing characters/moments. We discussed the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of many instances of each, and why we thought some worked while others fell flat. Each of us had a number of examples that were, if not impactful,…
Apocalyptic Antics
What exactly “counts” as an apocalypse? This is what we attempted to define in this week’s podcast. While the answers and viewpoints varied, this I believe is tied to the general aura surrounding the concept itself. A point brought up in the discussion that I would like to expand on further here is the idea of…
Underground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 5 (Finale)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5:...
Read MoreUnderground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 4
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4: ‘M’ is...
Read MoreUnderground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 3
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3: Cosmic Catharsis It’s time...
Read MoreUnderground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 2
Previously in Part 1 Part 2: Wandering the Wastelands ...
Read MoreUnderground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021– Intro & Part 1
As we put 2021 in the rearview, I wanted to...
Read MoreData Dump: 2020 Games Lists At-a-Glance & Raw Thoughts/Impressions
With our Top Games of 2020 episode out now, here...
Read MoreNarrative Timbre: How the f**k I got here. Three records that changed my life.
For his first vlog entry, Chris talks about the first...
Read MoreThe Joys of Junk Food Games
Since I’ve been quite quiet on the article side of...
Read MoreCitizen Fincher: A Rewatch Retrospective
Joe Soria Twitter – @airosah Letterboxd – https://letterboxd.com/airosah/ Anyone who...
Read MoreNarrative Timbre: Interview with Film Composer, Tyler Kitchens
Chris conducts a remote interview with Tyler Kitchens, composer for...
Read MoreNarrative Timbre: Interview with Amanda Bocchi
For the premiere episode for his blog extension, Chris has...
Read MoreThe World According to Bobb
by Joe Soria Follow on twitterJoe’s Letterboxd As a wise...
Read MoreData Dump: 2019 Games Lists At-a-Glance & Raw Thoughts/Impressions
Now that our games lists episode for 2019 is out,...
Read MoreGame Developers Choice Awards 2020: Nominees/Predictions
A new year (and decade) has blown in, which means...
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