Critical Distance: Keywords in Play: Recent Episodes
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Welcome to Keywords in Play, a joint collaborative podcast between Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association! In this series, we deliver interviews with writers, thinkers, makers, and critics working with games in an approachable and conversational format, suitable for fans, players, and critical thinkers alike.
This episode we speak with Dr Brendan Keogh, discussing his new book The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist: Why We Should Think Beyond Commercial Game Production (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545402/the-videogame-industry-does-not-exist/). It is the final part of a special 6-episode Season of Keywords in Play, exploring intersections and exchanges between Chinese and Australian game studies scholarship. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Dr Brendan Keogh (he/him) is a senior lecturer in the School of Communication and a Chief Investigator of the Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology. He is the co-author of The Unity Game Engine and The Circuits of Cultural Software (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019; with Benjamin Nicoll), and is the author of The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist (MIT Press, 2023), A Play of Bodies: How We Perceive Videogames (MIT Press, 2018), and Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops The Line (Stolen Projects, 2012). He has written extensively about the cultures and development practices of videogames in journals such as Games and Culture, Creative Industries, and Covergence, and for outlets such as Overland, The Conversation, Polygon, Edge, and Vice. You can check out more of Brendan’s work and games on his website: https://brkeogh.com/, and follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/brkeogh.
The podcast series is part of the Engaging Influencers initiative. This initiative is curated by the Australia Council for the Arts and funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.”
Interviewer: Mahli-Ann Butt
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Emilie Reed, Zoyander Street
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Special Thanks: Hugh Davies, Chloe Yan Li
This episode we speak with Dr. Xavier Ho, discussing his data visualisation and design research, as well as the curation process of the thoughtful queer indie games exhibition ‘Pride at Play’ (https://prideatplay.org/). It is part 5 of a special 6-episode Season of Keywords in Play, exploring intersections and exchanges between Chinese and Australian game studies scholarship. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Xavier Ho is a lecturer and a queer games researcher at Monash University. He received the inaugural CSIRO Medal for Diversity and Inclusion, was appointed as Junior Chair in Sexuality Studies at the Hunt-Simes Institute in Sydney, and was named a 2023 Australian Broadcast Corporation TOP 5 Arts media resident. You can check out his work here: https://jtg.design/, and follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/Xavier_Ho.
The podcast series is part of the Engaging Influencers initiative. This initiative is curated by the Australia Council for the Arts and funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
As a joint venture between Critical Distance and DiGRA, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Interviewer: Mahli-Ann Butt
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Emilie Reed, Zoyander Street
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Special Thanks: Hugh Davies, Chloe Yan Li
This episode we speak with Dr. Stephanie Harkin, discussing the concept of “techno-femininity” from her award winning PhD Thesis (2022) Girlhood Games: Gender, Identity, and Coming of Age in Videogames. You can read her PhD here: https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/86788440-fcec-420a-8df1-b7c35f976066/1/stephanie_harkin_thesis.pdf, follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sa_harkin, and read more of her work on Academia.edu: https://swin.academia.edu/SHarkin. It is part 4 of a special 6-episode Season of Keywords in Play, exploring intersections and exchanges between Chinese and Australian game studies scholarship. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Stephanie Harkin is an early career researcher interested in girls’ gaming cultures and representations of girlhood. She completed her PhD at Swinburne University of Technology where her thesis explored girlhood and the coming-of-age genre in videogames. She has previously published on gender and games in the journals Game Studies, Games and Culture, and Girlhood Studies.
The podcast series is part of Engaging Influencers initiative. This initiative is curated by the Australia Council for the Arts and funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
The podcast series is part of Engaging Influencers initiative. This initiative is curated by the Australia Council for the Arts and funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.”
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Interviewer: Mahli-Ann Butt
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Emilie Reed, Zoyander Street
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Special Thanks: Hugh Davies, Chloe Yan Li
This episode we speak with Dr. Felania Liu. The episode is part 3 of a special 6-episode Season of Keywords in Play, exploring intersections and exchanges between Chinese and Australian game studies scholarship. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Dr Felania Liu is a game researcher, and is founder and curator of the Homo Ludens Archive. She currently lectures at Beijing Normal University and has previously worked at the Department of History, Institute of Humanities, Tsinghua University /Durham University. Felania is also responsible for cultivating the game research community in China and for fostering international collaborations in the field of video game studies from the perspectives and techniques of Social Sciences in China. As a researcher, a historian, a curator, and a gamification designer, Felania specializes in using fun and game mechanics to solve problems in education, recruiting, training, learning, marketing and the designing of events. Felania promotes video games as forms of media that can bring meaningful communication and are able to make positive social impacts to the world.
The podcast series is part of Engaging Influencers initiative. This initiative is curated by the Australia Council for the Arts and funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Interviewer: Hugh Davies
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Emilie Reed, Zoyander Street
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Special Thanks: Mahli-Ann Butt, Chloe Yan Li
This episode we speak with Dr. Tingting Liu, discussing her research as a cultural anthropologist examining digital intimacies, gender, platforms and gaming in China. It is part 2 of a special 6-episode Season of Keywords in Play, exploring intersections and exchanges between Chinese and Australian game studies scholarship. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Dr Tingting Liu is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Jinan University, China. She received her PhD in anthropology from the University of Queensland in 2018. Dr. Liu used to serve as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, as well as a part-time lecturer at the University of Sydney. Dr. Liu’s research interests centre on digital media, video games, gender, sexuality, and their intersections. Her pioneering research on Chinese digital games has been published in leading international journals, including Games & Cultures, Information, Communication & Society, and Television & New Media.
The podcast series is part of Engaging Influencers initiative. This initiative is curated by the Australia Council for the Arts and funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Interviewer: Hugh Davies
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Emilie Reed, Zoyander Street
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Special Thanks: Mahli-Ann Butt, Chloe Yan Li
This episode marks the beginning of a special 6-episode Season of Keywords in Play, exploring intersections and exchanges between Chinese and Australian game studies scholarship. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
This episode we speak with Dr. Gejun Huang. Gejun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. He was a Lecturer in the School of Communication at Soochow University and earned his Ph.D. and MA in Media Studies from the Radio-Television-Film Department of the University of Texas at Austin. His academic interests mainly touch on the digital game industry, media entrepreneurship, cultural policy, as well as digital inequalities and digital privacy. He has published in peer-reviewed journals including Big Data & Society, Cultural Trends, International Journal of Communication, Chinese Journal of Communication, American Behavioral Scientists, and Information, Communication & Society.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Interviewer: Hugh Davies
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Emilie Reed, Zoyander Street.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
This epsiode we speak with Florence Smith-Nicholls about the paper "The Dark Souls of Archaeology: Recording Elden Ring" https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.10949. Florence is a game AI PhD researcher based in London. They also work as a Story Tech, a member of the writers' room at the indie studio Die Gute Fabrik. Building on their background as an archaeologist, they have contributed to the field of archaeogaming through experimenting with archaeological approaches to titles such as Elden Ring and Nier: Automata.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
This episode we are doing something a little bit different - interviewing a group of scholars about their Call for Papers on "The Post-Gamer Turn", which can be found here: https://postgamerturn.wordpress.com/ . Abstract submissions of 500-800 words are due on November 30th 2022.
We discuss with Mahli-Ann Butt, Amanda Cote, Emil Lunedal Hammar and Cody Mejeur the rationale behind the edited collection, their backgrounds doing diversity work in game studies, and their thoughts about the future of the dynamics they identify.
"This edited collection engages with the shifting understanding of “Gamers”/gamers/players in game culture, the games industry, and game studies – which Butt refers to as “the post-Gamer turn” (2022, p. 51) – to address the ongoing issues inherent in the use of a limited identity category. The post-Gamer turn does not signal the end of the “Gamer” identity but denotes a way of recognizing its promises as a sustained fantasy with real power and implications for who plays games and how. Engaging with the limits of the “Gamer” identity and questioning the boundaries of representation in games does not settle, solve, or supersede the concept of a “Gamer,” but instead reveals evolving relations between players and the games they play. Doing this work now is not only important as a matter of theoretical rigor, but also as a means for making game studies a more inclusive and vibrant scholarly community. Recognizing diverse perspectives on games, “Gamers”/gamers/players, and game studies is of urgent practical and political necessity. It has been nearly a decade since the events of Gamergate, where the tensions between “Gamers” and players were violently, publicly highlighted, and this edited collection asks what has changed in games and game studies with regard to conceptualizing players/gamers/“Gamers,” as well as where further change is needed."
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Special thanks to Mahli-Ann Butt for editing this episode.
Everest Pipkin is a writer, game developer and software artist from Central Texas whose work follows themes of ecology, information theory, and system collapse. As an artist and as a theorist, they fundamentally believe in the liberatory capacity of care; care not as an abstract emotion but rather as a powerful force that motivates collective work towards a better world.
They hold a BFA from University of Texas at Austin, an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and live and work in southern New Mexico. They have shown and spoken at The Design Museum of London, The Texas Biennial, The XXI Triennale of Milan, The Photographers Gallery of London, Center for Land Use Interpretation, and other spaces. When not at the computer in the heat of the day, you can find them in the hills spending time with their neighbors— both human and non-human.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
Alesha Serada is a PhD student and a researcher at the University of Vaasa, Finland. Their dissertation, supported by the Nissi Foundation, discusses construction of value in games and art on blockchain. Inspired by their Belarusian origin, their research interests revolve around exploitation, violence, horror, deception and other banal and non-banal evils in visual media. In this episode we discuss Alesha's paper "‘Died from Debeeration’: the Case of the First Belarusian Political Game" which characterises the game MENSKBand in the context of cultural, technical and political change in Belarus.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
In this episode we talk with Gregory Whistance-Smith, an independent scholar based in Edmonton, Canada. The discussion focuses on the book "Expressive Space: Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments" https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110723731/html?lang=en
Video game spaces have vastly expanded the built environment, offering new worlds to explore and inhabit. Like buildings, cities, and gardens before them, these virtual environments express meaning and communicate ideas and affects through the spatial experiences they afford. Drawing on the emerging field of embodied cognition, this book explores the dynamic interplay between mind, body, and environment that sits at the heart of spatial communication. To capture the wide diversity of forms that spatial expression can take, the book builds a comparative analysis of twelve video games across four types of space, spanning ones designed for exploration and inhabitation, kinetic enjoyment, enacting a situated role, and enhancing perception. Together, these diverse virtual environments suggest the many ways that video games enhance and extend our embodied lives.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
Jaroslav Švelch is an assistant professor at Charles University, Prague. He is the author of the recent monograph Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games (MIT Press, 2018). He has published work on history and theory of computer games, on humor in games and social media, and on the Grammar Nazi phenomenon. He is currently researching history, theory, and reception of monsters in games and his monograph Player vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Videogame Monstrosity is forthcoming from MIT Press in 2023.
In this episode we speak with Regina Seiwald and Ed Vollans on paratexts and their forthcoming collaboration "Not in the Game: History, Paratext and Games", soon to be published with De Gruyter.
Regina Seiwald is highly interested in the relationship between literary theory and narratology across the languages. Her focus thereby lies with the Anglo-American and Germanic tradition. In my PhD thesis, she researched metafiction in the postmodern British novel to determine how texts communicate the relationship between fiction and reality. The insights generated have subsequently been applied to video games and digitalisation more generally (also XR/AI/MR), particularly in the context of paratextuality and Cold War narratives.
Ed Vollans' research interests explore the promotional culture of the entertainment industries, how they promote, market and position themselves within the wider popular sphere. Specifically focusing on film and videogame promotion, his work has explored the emergence of trailers for the games industry, and audience reception of film promotion.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
Esther Wright is Lecturer in Digital History at Cardiff University. Her work is situated within the field of Historical Game Studies, critically examining how digital representations of the past found in popular visual media have the potential to shape public understandings of history. Her PhD, awarded by the University of Warwick in August 2019, is a study of Rockstar Games as developer-historian, and the company’s long-established project of negotiating and representing U.S. History in their games – in particular, focussing on Red Dead Redemption (2010), Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), and L.A. Noire (2011). This project is forthcoming as a book entitled Rockstar Games and American History: Promotional Materials and the Construction of Authenticity (De Gruyter, 2022). Esther argues for the importance of studying promotional materials, developer branding strategies, and other kinds of paratextual materials associated with the development and release of historical digital games. These materials are important digital sites and spaces through which game developers, like Rockstar, perform the role of historian and manage expectations for "historical authenticity" among players and critics. She uses promotional materials to offer more nuanced interpretations of the influence of dominant understandings of U.S. History on game development and marketing decisions. These hegemonies, established by and through the conventions of pre-existing cultural "genres" like the Western and film noir, and popular narratives long-centred on the white and male experience, lead to games that exclude and marginalise other people and identities, and promotional practices that reaffirm exclusionary stories about America’s “real” past. Esther is also a convener of the Historical Games Network https://www.historicalgames.net/
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
April Tyack is a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University and vice-president of DiGRA Australia. April researches player experience and how games facilitate different types of experiences. In this episode, April discusses the paper Off-Peak: An Examination of Ordinary Player Experience (2021), published with Elisa D. Mekler. The paper critiques the focus in game research, culture and development on extraordinary, optimal or peak experiences, and how this focus has shaped the field of HCI in particular. Ordinary player experience is conceptualised as familiar, emotionally moderate, co-attentive, and abstractly memorable, providing a new model for thinking about and researching digital games.
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture. For more on games writing and culture (as well as transcriptions of each Keywords in Play episode) please visit https://www.critical-distance.com/
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
The paper is available here: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3411764.3445230
This episode we speak with Felan Parker about his work on cultural intermediaries and indie games. Felan is Assistant Professor of Book & Media Studies at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, and a scholar of media industries and cultures specializing in games, digital media, and film. His ongoing research, supported from 2016-2019 by the Indie Interfaces SSHRC Insight Development Grant, explores the production, distribution, and reception of independent or “indie” digital games with a particular focus on the role of intermediary actors like curators, critics, and community organizers in the cultural ecosystem of the game industry.
Dr. Parker is also co-investigator on the Swarming Comic-Con SSHRC Insight Grant, a collaborative ethnographic research endeavour that examines the famous San Diego Comic-Con and its cultural and economic resonance across entertainment industries. Other interests include game development in Canada, transmedia franchises, blockbusters and spectacle, authorship, genre, and analog games. His work has been published in leading journals and presented at conferences around the world, and he co-edited Beyond the Sea: Critical Perspectives on Bioshock, a 2018 anthology of essays on the influential game series. More on Felan's work: https://stmikes.utoronto.ca/about-us/contact-us/directory/felan-parker
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture. For more on games writing and culture (as well as transcriptions of each Keywords in Play episode) please visit https://www.critical-distance.com/
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
This episode we speak with Leon Xiao about the paper "What are the odds? Lower compliance with Western loot box probability disclosure industry self-regulation than Chinese legal regulation", co-authored with Laura Henderson and Philip Newall. This empirical study of loot boxes and probability disclosure is (as of this interview) a preprint and hence subject to change during peer-review. The current version is available here: https://osf.io/g5wd9/
Leon is a Teaching Associate at Queen Mary University of London. He researches video game law, particularly the regulation of loot boxes, a quasi-gambling monetisation mechanic in video games. He has appeared before the Law Commission of England and Wales, and submitted policy recommendations to the Spanish, Singaporean, and UK Governments. His research has been published in peer-reviewed law, psychology, and behavioural public policy journals. He has presented at conferences in various disciplines, including at DiGRA Australia, British DiGRA, and the Chinese chapter of DiGRA. He won the poster prize for student research at the 2020 annual conference of the Society for the Study of Addiction. A full list of his publications is available at https://sites.google.com/view/leon-xiao/.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed, Bettina Bodi.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Transcription: Charly Harbord
This episode we speak with Adrienne Shaw about the paper "Encoding and decoding affordances: Stuart Hall and interactive media technologies". This paper brings Stuart Hall's concepts of encoding and decoding into proximity with ideas of affordance and technology. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0163443717692741
Adrienne Shaw is an Associate Professor in Temple University’s Department of Media Studies and Production and a member of the Lew Klein College of Media and Communication graduate faculty. From 2019-2022 she will serve the first director of Temple’s new Graduate Certificate in Cultural Analytics. Shaw is author of Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture (winner of the 2016 International Communication Association’s Popular Communications Division’s Book Award). She has co-edited three anthologies: Queer Game Studies (2017, University of Minnesota Press), Queer Technologies: Affordances, Affect, Ambivalence (2017, Routledge), and Interventions: Communication Research and Practice (2018, Peter Lang). She is also the founder of the LGBTQ Game Archive and co-curator of Rainbow Arcade, the world’s first exhibit of LGBTQ game history (Dec 2018-May 2019 in Berlin, Germany). From 2011 to 2015 she was also part of the multi-million dollar and award winning CYCLES project, which developed games to train users to identify and mitigate cognitive biases. A full list of her publications is available via Google Scholar.
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture. For more on games writing and culture please visit https://www.critical-distance.com/
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
This episode we speak with Alenda Y. Chang about games, ecology, literature, and environmental relations. Alenda is an Associate Professor in Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara. With a multidisciplinary background in biology, literature, and film, she specializes in merging ecocritical theory with the analysis of contemporary media. Her writing has been featured in Ant Spider Bee, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Qui Parle, the Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, and Ecozon@, and her first book Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games (University of Minnesota Press, December 2019), develops ecological frameworks for understanding and designing digital games.
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture. For more on games writing and culture please visit https://www.critical-distance.com/
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
This episode we talk with Aaron Trammell about challenging canonical thinkers, race, torture and TTRPGs, with special reference to his open-access piece "Torture, Play and the Black Experience" https://www.gamejournal.it/torture-play/. Aaron is Assistant Professor of Informatics and Core Faculty in Visual Studies at UC Irvine. He writes about how Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and board games inform the lived experiences of their players. Specifically, he is interested in how these games further values of white privilege and hegemonic masculinity in geek culture. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Analog Game Studies and the Multimedia editor of Sounding Out! You can get in touch at trammell [at] uci [dot] edu
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture. For more on games writing and culture please visit https://www.critical-distance.com/
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Víctor Navarro-Remesal is a media scholar specialized in games. He teaches History of Videogames and Interactive Narrative at Tecnocampus, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and Game Design at UOC. He’s the author of ‘Libertad dirigida: Una gramática del análisis y diseño de videojuegos’ (Shangrila, 2016) and ‘Cine Ludens: 50 diálogos entre el juego y el cine’ (Editorial UOC, 2019), as well as the editor of ‘Pensar el juego. 25 caminos para los game studies’ (Shangrila, 2020). His research interests are player freedom, Zen-inspired games, gêmu, and game preservation. He is one of the founding members of DIGRA Spain.
https://medium.com/game-studies-espa%C3%B1a/monogr%C3%A1ficos-dedicados-al-videojuego-en-revistas-acad%C3%A9micas-59e08566a8bd
“Ludonarrativas: La complejidad narrativa en los videojuegos” http://www.revistaatalante.com/index.php?journal=atalante&page=issue&op=current
Pensar el juego: 25 caminos para los game studies https://shangrilaediciones.com/producto/pensar-el-juego/
Thiago Falcão is Professor of Digital Media Communication Course and Professor of the Graduate Program in Communication at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). He holds a PhD in Communication and Contemporary Culture from the Federal University of Bahia and was a PDSE/Capes fellow at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He has a Post-Doctorate in Audiovisual Communication from Anhembi Morumbi University in São Paulo/SP. Thiago currently researches themes regarding politics and entertainment, with special attention to the ties between the Brazilian esports scene and cultural dynamics associated to neoliberalism / late capitalism.
Link for the Special Issue CFP "The Colonization of Play by Neoliberal Capitalism": https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/announcement/view/491
Rede Metagame: Brazilian Research network on Games and Political Culture: twitter.com/redemetagame
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture. For more on games writing and culture please visit https://www.critical-distance.com/
C. Thi Nguyen is a former food writer, now a philosophy professor at University of Utah. He writes about trust, art, games, and communities, and is interested in the ways that our social structures and technologies shape how we think and what we value.
His first book is Games: Agency as Art. It’s about how games are the art form that work in the medium of agency. A game designer doesn’t just create a world – they create who we are in that world. Games shape temporary agencies for artistic purposes. And games turn out to be our way of writing down and communicating modes of agency; by playing them, we can try out different forms of agency. (Here’s a summary of the book and Thi's website is https://objectionable.net/.)
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture. For more on games writing and culture please visit https://www.critical-distance.com/
This episode's guest is Sonia Fizek, to discuss a forthcoming book on 'delegated' and 'interpassive' play. Sonia is a digital wanderer and a ludic thinker. On a more formal note, a professor at Cologne Game Lab in media and game studies and a co-editor in chief of the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds. Previously a lecturer at Abertay University, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Digital Cultures at Leuphana University Lüneburg and a guest lecturer at: Leuphana University Lüneburg, Goethe University Frankfurt, Hamburg Media School, and Design School Berlin.
“Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
This episode we speak with Lindsay Grace about love and affection in games. Lindsay is Knight Chair in Interactive Media and an associate professor at the University of Miami School of Communication. He is Vice President for the Higher Education Video Game Alliance and the 2019 recipient of the Games for Change Vanguard award. Lindsay's book, Doing Things with Games, Social Impact through Design, is a well-received guide to game design. In 2020, he edited and authored Love and Electronic Affection: a Design Primer on designing love and affection in games.
“Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
This episode we speak with Mal Abbas, an independent game designer, artist and producer working on experimental and meaningful games. Malath established Scotland's first game collective and co-working space Biome Collective, a diverse, inclusive melting pot of technology, art and culture for people who want to create, collaborate and explore games, digital art and technology.
Work includes Killbox, an online game and interactive installation that critically explores the nature of drone warfare, its complexities and consequences, and Garden, a beautiful music based exploration interactive experience set in space.
“Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
This episode we speak with Dr Jamie Woodcock. Jamie is a researcher based in London. He is the author of The Gig Economy (Polity, 2019), Marx at the Arcade (Haymarket, 2019), and Working The Phones (Pluto, 2017).
His research is inspired by the workers' inquiry. His research focuses on labour, work, the gig economy, platforms, resistance, organising, and videogames. He is on the editorial board of Notes from Below and Historical Materialism.
Jamie completed his PhD in sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London and has held positions at Goldsmiths, University of Leeds, University of Manchester, Queen Mary, NYU London, Cass Business School, and the LSE.
“Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
This episode we have a departure from academia; a different approach to the creation and transmission of knowledge. We interview Eli Smith, Traditional Music Consultant for Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2. In our first COVID-19 recording (you may hear some sirens), we discuss the American music archive both as living tradition and recording technology, and the ways in which these interface with the virtual space of a digital game.
Eli is a folk singer, banjo player and guitarist who grew up in New York’s Greenwich Village. Smith has recorded for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and regularly performs as a solo musician and with the string band the Down Hill Strugglers http://elismithmusic.blogspot.com/
“Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
“Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
In this episode we speak with Rob Gallagher about "digital subjectivity". Rob was recently a postdoctoral researcher with the European Research Council-funded Ego Media Project at Kings College London, and is now a teaching fellow in literature and the digital at Royal Holloway, University of London. His book Videogames, Identity and Digital Subjectivity was published by Routledge in 2017.
In this episode we speak with Bo Ruberg, who is Assistant Professor at UC Irvine in Film & Media. Their interdisciplinary research crosses media studies, queer studies, the Digital Humanities, cultural studies, and an engagement with computational fields. From 2015-2017, Bo served as a Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar in the Interactive Media & Games Division and a member of the Society of Fellows at the University of Southern California. In 2015, Bonnie received their Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley in conjunction with the Berkeley Center for New Media and the Department of Women and Gender Studies. Prior to entering academia, they worked as a technology journalist, reporting on tech, video games, sex, and gender from 2005 to 2009.
We discuss their books "Videogames Have Always Been Queer" (tiny.cc/e0zkjz) and the forthcoming "Queer Games Avant-Garde" (http://tiny.cc/2yzkjz).
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
“Keywords in Play” is a monthly interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
In this episode we speak to Emilie Reed. Emilie is a recent PhD graduate researching the history of displaying videogames in museums and other arts contexts. Her academic background includes art history, museum studies and creative writing. She is interested in creating exhibitions which highlight overlooked elements of the history and artistic practice behind videogames, and developing more experimental approaches to game criticism. https://emreed.net/
Emilie's paper "Exhibition Strategies for Videogames in Art Institutions: Blank Arcade 2016" is open access: http://todigra.org/index.php/todigra/article/view/91
Please consider supporting Critical Distance at https://www.patreon.com/critdistance
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
“Keywords in Play” is an interview series about game research supported by Critical Distance and the Digital Games Research Association. As a joint venture, “Keywords in Play” expands Critical Distance’s commitment to innovative writing and research about games while using a conversational style to bring new and diverse scholarship to a wider audience.
Our goal is to highlight the work of graduate students, early career researchers and scholars from under-represented groups, backgrounds and regions. The primary inspiration comes from sociologist and critic Raymond Williams. In the Preface to his book Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, Williams envisaged not a static dictionary but an interactive document, encouraging readers to populate blank pages with their own keywords, notes and amendments. “Keywords in Play” follows Williams in affirming that “The significance is in the selection”, and works towards diversifying the critical terms with which we describe games and game culture.
In this episode we speak to Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph.D. Elizabeth is an award-winning designer, writer, artist, and researcher who creates and studies Indigenous-led media such as games and comics. She is Anishinaabe with family from Bay Mills, Métis, and Irish. She is an Assistant Professor of Media & Information and Writing, Rhetoric & American Cultures at Michigan State University and a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow
Production Team: Darshana Jayemanne, Zoyander Street, Emilie Reed.
Audio Direction and Engineering: Damian Stewart
Double Bass: Aaron Stewart
Last minisode of the year for the Critical Distance Confab.
I tried to think of a theme, but really it's just two indie games worthy of some attention and love. Angelina Bonilla aka Red Angel co-hosts with me this month.
We've been able to bring the minisodes back thanks to our listeners' support on Patreon. To help us to add more new features to the site, including foreign-language coverage and videos, please consider supporting us.
In case you don't know, the purpose here is to highlight some games we feel aren't getting the critical attention they deserve for whatever reason. The hope is that one of you intrepid listeners will sort that out by playing and writing about them. The games mentioned will range from itch.io art games, to prestige level indie games, right on up through AAA games that have slipped through the cracks.
Angelina's Pick
Milkmaid of the Milky Way/a> by Mattis Polkestad
Eric's Pick
The Banner Saga by Stoic
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month on the Critical Distance Confab, Angelina Bonilla better known as Red Angel was kind enough to come on.
Red Angel started off as a writer for online publications. However, after some time there, she wanted to for a while to turn her efforts to video. Ignorant of the wider YouTube critical community, she just started her channel. She began her Late Night Ponderings series as an extension of the editorials she wrote for Noobfeed and Game Skinny, but they evolved beyond the constraints of editorial mandates and game journalism "style" into something more personable. And instead of focusing on larger titles, she found she had little to add and instead chose to use her time critiquing smaller indie games for the most part. We talk about her writing sounding "like poetry," wanting to bring different perspectives into this sphere, and owls for some reason.
SHOW NOTES
Red Angel YouTube Channel
Late Night Ponderings: Life Is Strange's Ending and Reception
Death and Photography in Life is Strange
Oxenfree The Duality of Grief in Clarissa and ALex
Why I Cover Indie Games
Late Night Ponderings: Similar Sinews
Angelina Bonilla Author's Page - Noobfeed
Angelina Bonilla Author's Page - Game Skinny
Red Angel Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
I'm not dead, the minisodes are back, back from the dead that is, on the Critical Distance Confab.
In the spirit of October, we bring you another minisode installment on horror games. Co-hosting with me this month is my podcast associate from PopMatters, Nick Dinicola.
In case you don't know, the purpose here is to highlight some games we feel aren't getting the critical attention they deserve for whatever reason. The hope is that one of you intrepid listeners will sort that out by playing and writing about them. The games mentioned will range from itch.io art games, to prestige level indie games, right on up through AAA games that have slipped through the cracks.
We've been able to bring the minisodes back thanks to our listeners' support on Patreon. To help us to add more new features to the site, including foreign-language coverage and videos, please consider supporting us.
Nick's Pick
Downfall by Harvester Games
Eric's Pick
Stories Untold by No Code
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month on the Critical Distance Confab we welcome Alex Carlson from the YouTube channel PostMesmeric.
Alex Carlson is a relative newbie to the world of YouTube video game criticism. He had some experience with written criticism, most notably on Hardcore Gaming 101, but transferred over when he was introduced to the idea that YouTube could be used for more than simple entertainment. His channel is a hidden gem, which I came upon one day when Youtube's algorithm was feeling particularly kind: toiling away in relative obscurity, perhaps thanks to the capricious nature of this algorithm, he nonetheless continues to put out quality videos. We talk about his style of criticism connecting design to theme, his predilection for critiquing horror games, and his more personal video about how certain games exploit his Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
SHOW NOTES
PostMesmeric YouTube Channel
Pyre and Responsibility | PostMesmeric
This Dishwasher: Vampire Smile Analysis - The Art of Control | Postmesmeric
Layers of Fear Analysis - Framing and Perspective | PostMesmeric
Detention Anaylsis - Fear and Reality | PostMesmeric
Evolving Rhythm Gameplay | PostMesmeric
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - An In-Depth Critique | PostMesmeric
Banjo Kazooie vs. Banjo Tooie - Rare's Metamorphosis |PostMesmeric
Gaming With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder |PostMesmeric
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month on the Critical Distance Confab, all the way from New Zealand, is YouTuber Mitch Cramer.
Mitch Cramer, aka HeavyEyed, is a relatively new to the world of YouTube video game criticism. Starting off as a band manager, he moved away from that to put some video production skills to use. He started a channel and steadily plucked away at it until some attention came his way after one video spiked in viewers. We talk about his in depth criticism of the Star Fox games, the local video game development scene in New Zealand and his steady improvement at what he finds the toughest part of making a video, the writing.
SHOW NOTES
HeavyEyed YouTube Channel
Star Fox 64 - Medals & High Scores // HeavyEyed
The Problems With Star Fox //HeavyEyed
Looking At Every Zelda Introduction // HeavyEyedd
Mental Health in Video Games // HeavyEyed
The Language of Video Games // HeavyEyed
Hi-Bit Era - The Future of Pixel Art Games // HeavyEyed
HeavyEyed Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
After a year long hiatus, the minisodes are back on the Critical Distance Confab.
In case you missed them the first time around, the idea behind these minisodes is for myself and a co-host to highlight some games that haven't gotten a lot of criticism or much attention at all. The hope is that one of you intrepid listeners will try one of them out and write about it. The games on the docket range from itch.io art games, to prestige level indie games, right on up to AAA games that have slipped through the cracks.
We've been able to bring the minisodes back thanks to our listeners' support on Patreon. To help us to add more new features to the site, including foreign-language coverage and videos, please consider supporting us.
To keep things shorter and more manageable for our guests, we've changed the format to one game a piece instead of the three games a piece we had previously been doing. Enjoy!
Co-hosting with me this month is our intrepid editor-in-chief, Zoya Street.
Zoya's Pick
Two Dots by Betaworks
Eric's Pick
Masquerada: Songs and Shadows by Witching Hour Studios
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Joining me for this month's interview is author of actual books and YouTube critic Joseph Anderson.
Starting from a desire to build up his online presence to attract a book agent, Joseph Anderson decided to create some YouTube videos to release himself of some "petty gripes" he had regarding the Dark Souls vs. Dark Souls 2 debate. He felt that a lot of what Dark Souls 2 was getting knocked on for was present in the original game. From there the channel grew to surpass his original occupation. We talk about the extreme amount of prep work - including multiple playthroughs - he engages in, the roulette-wheel-like luck of algorithms, and the surreality of success.
SHOW NOTES
Joseph Anderson YouTube Channel
Dark Souls Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5
Diablo 3 and Reaper of Souls
Fallout 4 Analysis
Fallout 4 - One Year Later
Dark Souls 3 Critique
Uncharted and The Last of Us - Great and Terrible Games
Joseph Anderson Vs No Man's Sky
The Witness - A Great Game That You Shouldn't Play
Joseph Anderson Amazon Author Page
Joseph Anderson Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
I managed to snag critic, rhetorician and YouTube vaudevillian Harry Brewis, more commonly known as Hbomberguy for this month's interview.
Mr. Hbomberguy is a bit of an odd duck with regards to YouTube games criticism. He first came to internet prominence through his videos of ridiculing internet dumbasses and that work forms a clear line regarding how he talks about video games. His earlier video game videos we far more conventional, while the videos he made afterwards are far more bizarre, funny and in line with the breaking down arguments and rhetoric displayed in those "measured responses." We also talk about the cultivation of comic personas, the control video allows him over his audience, and the monumental effort that goes into making his videos look like a slapdash production.
SHOW NOTES
Hbomberguy YouTUbe Channel
The Sarkeesian Effect: A Measured Response
Measured Response: Bill Nye VS Pseudosience (Part One)
Fallout 3 Is Garbage, And Here's Why
SHIELD BASH: LORDS OF THE FALLEN REVIEW - Hbomberguy
Why Braid Is Great - Hbomberguy
Bloodborne Is Genius, And Here's Why
What Makes An Action Scene Good?
Perverted Sentimentality: An Analysis of UNDERTALE
SERIOUS SONIC LORE ANALYSIS
Hbomb Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Freshly back from E3, YouTuber Hamish Black, the man behind the Writing on Games channel, sat down with me for this month's interview.
Nearly two years ago exactly, Hamish Black took the plunge and began making critical YouTube videos. He began by tying the academic work he learned at university to video games. However, he soon found his formula a little restricting and began stretching beyond his original conception. At the time, he was ignorant of the larger community of in-depth critics and so was alone in building his channel. But as he continued plugging away, he did become aware of many other critics, both YouTube and otherwise, which helped him branch out his own work. In the interview, Hamish Black and I discuss his start and growth along with his search for the balance between academic theory and approachability, the evolving context of games, and resisting the call of Dark Souls as a YouTube hit maker.
SHOW NOTES
Writing on Games YouTube Channel
'Her Story' and the Birth of the Reader
Revisiting Killer 7 or: Art as Technique
Dark Souls Helped Me Cope With Suicidal Depression
Why Blighttown Really Matters (Dark Souls) - Writing on Games
How the Meaning of Vanquish (and Spec Ops: The Line) Changed
The Real Problem With Steam
Music Games and the Joy of Making Mistakes
Writing on GamesCast
Writing on Games Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
With this interview, we move away from YouTube for the moment to talk with Philip Jones, the director of the 2015 documentary Gaming in Color.
The documentary started with an intent to focus on the then-new Gaymer X convention. But as the original crew fell away due to lack of funding, Philip Jones and others picked up where they left off and expanded the scope of the film. With a focus on the intersection of the queer and gaming communities, the documentary seeks to answer the question of many outside observers, why is something like Gaymer X necessary? Philip Jones and I also discuss the logistics in putting together a documentary with the crew spread across the US, whether it's still relevant given how fast the community moves in this day and age, and the specific choice behind the positive tone the film puts forth.
SHOW NOTES
Gaming in Color Homepage
Gaming in Color on Steam
Gaming in Color Kickstarter
Philip Jones' Twitter
Gaymer X
Midboss
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month I interview YouTuber Kevin John, also known as Cagey.
Cagey is a small time YouTube essayist, a jolly old soul from Scotland. From writing at fan sites he struck out on his own with his own YouTube channel. His output is much shorter than many of the other people we've featured here as he prefers concise arguments. We discuss his worships of the temple of the red pen, ambiguous channel iconography and what he has learned during his time making videos.
SHOW NOTES
Cagey Videos YouTube Channel
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders - Last Stand
"Great Level: Kingdom Under Fire EXTRAS
Game Feel Part 1 (of 2): Controls
Game Feel PArt 2 (of 2): Presentation
Mercenaries and The Deck of 52 - Cagey Videos
X-Men: Legends: Sibling Rivalry
The Magic Maze
Red Barrels are Awesome (And We All Know It)
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
In this episode, I interview the newly crowned Critical Distance 2016 Journalist of the Year, Heather Alexandra.
Each new interviewee seems to bring some new aspect to the video criticism form. Heather Alexandra instead of jumping straight into video essays, began with the longer form of Let's Play, but with a critical bent. From there she continued to evolve her voice down two paths, the more structured video essay we are familiar with, and a more casual conversation format developed from the Let's Play style. We discuss that two pronged approach as well as her freelance work, new job at Kotaku, and speculate on the future of video game commentary.
SHOW NOTES
Heather Alexandra's YouTube Channel
Kotaku's A Critical Look Playlist
"Let's Crit": Far Cry 4
"Let's Crit": Shadow of the Colossus
Let's Remember Skies of Arcadia
Vanquish: Why Ya Gotta Do More Than Just Play Games
ZAM - The Witness Review
A Closer Look At "The Harvester" in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Reviting Red Dead Redepmtion
MGS2 Livestream w. Zolani and Austin!
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Our first interview of 2017 is with Great Levels in Gaming YouTube producer Max Barnyard.
Like our previous interviewee, Max Barnyard focuses his criticism on specific elements of video games; in this case, the construction and purpose of exemplary level design. video games. But what is a level in a contemporary video games? We discuss that question, along with how he chooses what levels to showcase, his work with Achievement Hunter, and his penchant for puns.
SHOW NOTES
Max Barnyard YouTube Channel
Great Levels in Gaming at Achievement Hunter
Great Levels in Gaming - Episode 1 - Journey
Great Levels in Gaming - Episode 2 - Far Cry 3
Great Levels in Gaming - Episode 5 - Final Fantasy XIII
Great Levels in Gaming - Episode 8 - Halo: Combat Evolved
The Last Cave & The Labyrinth - Cave Story - Great Levels in Gaming
Egoraptor - Sequelitis
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
We end this year of interviews with Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit.
Mark Brown went a different direction with his video based video game criticism. Instead of interviews, opinion shows or holistic game examinations, he devoted his channel to the exploration of craftsmanship in video games. Devoting his energy to explaining a singular thing in each video, what it does and how it is accomplished. We discuss how he explores a game design concept, the use it has found in various different audiences, and where he hopes to take the channel into the future.
SHOW NOTES
Game Maker's Toolkit YouTube Channel
Adaptive Soundtracks| Game Maker's Toolkit
Half-Life 2's Invisible Tutorial | Game Maker's Toolkit
Analysing Mario to Master Super Mario Maker | Game Maker's Toolkit
A Super Mario Maker Super Spin-Off Episode
Point and Click Puzzle Design | Game Maker's Toolkit
Boss Keys
Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X
Every Frame a Painting YouTube Channel
Game Maker's Toolkit Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Continuing on with our series of video in video game criticism, this month, I have Sam Gronseth, the Game Professor of the YouTube channel Games as Literature, on to talk.
Sam Gronseth taught a class to teach literary analysis using video games instead of novels or short stories for several charter schools. He then turned those lesson plans into a YouTube channel. His videos are filled with accessible explanations, from basic 101 concepts to understanding the deeper meaning of video games. In addition, he has created Literary Analysis videos that go in-depth on a specific title. We talk about that original class, the struggle of keeping up a schedule for a hobby, and the pleasure that teaching and video making have given him.
SHOW NOTES
Games as Literature YouTube Channel
Games as Lit. 101 - Syllabus
Games as Lit. 101 - Literary Analysis - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Games as Lit. 101 - Literary Analysis - Bioshock
Games as Lit. 101 - Literary Analysis: Gears of War Trilogy
Games as Lit. 101 - Literary Analysis: The Stanley Parable
Gaming Symposium YouTube Channel
Games as Lit. 101 Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Somewhat late, we present this month's interview of the Critical Distance Confab! I interview Ian Danskin of the Innuendo Studios YouTube channel.
In 2014, Ian Danskin made his first YouTube video about celebrity in internet culture, This is Phil Fish, and what that means. He expected a few views and he would build his audience over time, except that video went viral and is to date, by far, his most viewed video. Since then, he's mostly trekked his own path and talked about whatever interested him. We cover some of those interests in talking about adventure games, the challenge of discussing theory that was mostly self taught and, of course, the virality of YouTube videos and the efforts of tracking what an audience is looking for.
SHOW NOTES
Innuendo Studios YouTube Channel
This is Phil Fish
Why Are You So Angry?
Who Shot Guybrush Threepwood?
Things of Beauty: Super Smash Bros. as Spectator Sport
Story Beats: Ben There, Dan That
The Artist is Absent: Davey Wreden and The Beginner's Guide
It's Not Easy Being Blue
Innuendo Studios Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
We are back with another interview on the Critical Distance Confab! This month we are joined by Bob Whitaker, associate professor in Modern History at Louisiana Tech University and founder of History Respawned.
In 2013, he started the YouTube channel by looking at video games from a historical perspective. Not content to focus only on games portraying histories within his wheelhouse, he soon began bringing on other scholars to share their expert insights into the histories portrayed in games. In the process, he has brought their knowledge to a wider audience, beyond the confines of the academy. We talk about the insular nature of academia, the challenges of getting guests to come on to the show, as well as looking to the future of history-based games.
SHOW NOTES
History Respawned YouTube Channel
History Respawned: Assassin's Creed IV
History Respawned: Diablo III
History Respawned: Valiant Hearts
Hisotry Respawned: Bioshock Infinite and the Boxer Uprising
Hisotry Respawned: Uncharted 4
Backwards Compatible: Gamers as a Public History Audience
This History Respawned Podcast
Hisotry Respawned Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome back for another interview on the Critical Distance Confab!
This month our guest is Noah Caldwell-Gervais, a video maker who is skilled at creating richly layered arguments. He started making long-form video essays on games in 2013 with a thorough look at the Fallout series. Since then he has been applying his critical lens in videos that examine an entire franchise, or games connected by a common theme. We talk about these advantages of his long form style, how he chooses games, and his plans to branch out into travel writing.
SHOW NOTES
Noah Caldwell-Gervais' YouTube Channel
A Thorough Look At Fallout
The Complete Call of Duty Single Player Campagin
Game Natures: Firewatchand The Long Dark
Postal, Hatred, and Weighing the Worth of Asshole Simulators
Mad Max in Close Critique
What's Been Going On With Alien: Isolation's DLC?
Noah Caldwell-Gervais' Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
The good, the bad and the ugly with the Critical Distance Confab.
For those who don't know, the idea behind these minisodes is for myself and a co-host to highlight 3 games each. These are games that haven't gotten a lot of criticism or much attention at all. The hope is that one of you intrepid listeners will try one of them out and write about it. The games on the docket range from itch.io art games, to prestige level indie games, right on up to AAA games that have slipped through the cracks.
Co-hosting with me this month is games and digital art creator, Lauren Schmidt.
Lauren's Picks
The Tamperdrome Collection by G.P. Lackey
Soup 0.9 by Yaruhara
Legacy of the Wizard by Broderbund
Eric's Picks
off?ine by Pol Clarissou
The End of the World by Sean Wenham
Kathy Rain: A Detective is Born by Clifftop Games
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to another episode of the Critical Distance Confab!
We are taking a mid-summer break from our series on video producers and critics to talk about Critical Distance. Senior Curator Zoya Street and I have decided to talk about the site and our process of curation, mainly in the This Week In Videogame Blogging feature.
Every person is different with what they curate and why, and so we felt it might be a good idea to introduce our newest Senior Curator's views on the matter now that he's settled into the role. We discuss what we're looking for in TWIVGB entries, how standards of inclusion have risen over the years, the behind-the-scenes logistics, as well as touching on the other features Critical Distances publishes.
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Time for a few games more on the Critical Distance Confab.
The purpose of these minisodes is for two of us to highlight 3 games each. These are games that haven't gotten a lot of criticism or any at all. The idea is that one of you listening right now will try one of them out and write about it. The games we talk about range from itch.io art games, to prestige level indie games, right on through AAA games that may not have tried.
Co-hosting with me this month is independent game critic, Nick Capozzoli.
Nick's Picks
Reap by Daniel Linssen
Barrier X by PINKAPP
Rusty Lake Hotel by Rusty Lake
Eric's Picks
Composition in a Minor Key by Aleks Samoylov
1979 Revolution: Black Friday by iNK Stories
Pony Island by Daniel Mullins
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to another interview on the Critical Distance Confab!
This month our guest is Chris Franklin, aka Campster, talking about his YouTube series Errant Signal. Over time, he has innovated on an established YouTube format to evolve his own personal style, featuring holistic close readings on games as well as video essays on theoretical concepts. He has also experimented with short form, quick-turnaround content, and he reveals what this experience taught him about criticism and video creation.
During our interview, we talk about his process, the technical challenges he faces in creating a video essay, as well as the "logjam" created by trying to reconcile different facets of his personal approach to criticism.
SHOW NOTES
Errant Signal
Half-Life
Commentary - Half-Life
Errant Signal - Mirror's Edge
Errant Signal - The Stanley Parable
Errant Signal - Gamification
Errant Signal - "Keep Your Politics Out of my Video Games"
Errant Signal - Hotline Miami (Spoilers)
Errant Signal - (Spoilers) Fallout 4 and Role Playing
Errant Signal - The Beginner's Guide (Spoilers)
Errant Signal Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
A fistful of games on the Critical Distance Confab.
These minisodes highlight games that haven't gotten a lot of critical attention, in the hope that one of you intrepid listeners will try one of them out and correct that oversight. The games we talk about range from itch.io art games, to prestige level indie games, right on through AAA games that might have slipped through the cracks.
Co-hosting with me this month is editor of CreativeFluff, Fred McCoy.
Fred's Picks
Salt by Lavaboots Games
Choice of Robots by Choice of Games
Kingdom by Noio, Licorice
Eric's Picks
Hotel Dusk Room 215 by Nintendo
Gathering Sky by A Stranger Gravity
Shadowrun Hong Kong by Harebrained Schemes
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome another interview here at Critical Distance!
This month we interview the host of Matt Chat, English Professor at St. Cloud State University, Matt Barton. Inspired by the books he published on the history of video games, Dungeons & Desktops and Vintage Games, Matt Chat became a channel focused on older game. As the episodes went on he was fortunate enough to get the creators of these older games on for interviews and has been doing so for 6 years. He has interviewed such gaming luminaries as John Romero, Ralph Baer, Chris Avellone, Brian Fargo, Lord British and many many more you've never heard of.
During our interview, we talk about the facts of interviewing, setting them up, the behind the scenes work going into them and how to develop a rapport with the subject. We also go into the hopes for future uses of the material he has produced and archieved on his remarkable channel.
SHOW NOTES
Matt Chat
Dungeons & Desktop: The History of Computer Role Playing Games
Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario and the Most Influential Games of All Time
GamePlay: The Story of the Videogaame Revolution
Matt Chat 40: Sword of Fargoal with Jeff McCord
Matt Chat 44: Ralph Baer, the Father of Videogames
Matt Chat 51-55: Interview with John Romero
Matt Chat 78: Arnold Hendrick Interview
Matt Chat Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
More undiscussed games on the Critical Distance Confab.
For those who may not know, the purpose behind these minisodes is highlight some games, 3 a piece, that haven't got a lot criticism or any criticism at all. The hope being that it will inspire some of you to go out, play them and write something about them. The games we highlight run the gamut from itch.io art games, through prestige level indie games, right on through AAA games that might have slipped through the cracks.
Co-hosting with me this month is critic, Heather Alexandra.
Heather's Picks
Hylics by Mason Lindroth
Memory of a Broken Dimension by xra
Jet Set Radio by SEGA
Eric's Picks
Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment
Prune by Joel McDonald
The Hobby Shop by Jacsn - Myst Jam
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome another new podcast here at Critical Distance!
Continuing with video-based criticism, we have one of the original videogame pundits, Bob Chipman. His Game Overthinker series began in 2008, making his one of the few early voices to set up shop on YouTube. The original run of the show ran for 100 episodes, during which time it started with the angry young man shtick that was popular at that time, before incorporating skits and ongoing storylines. Now the show has been revamped using a personality-driven, pundit-like presentation style.
During the interview, we talk about his influences, his evolution in production, as well as his place in the landscape over the years, and how said landscape itself has changed regarding both the style and the culture of internet video.
SHOW NOTES
Game OverThinker Playlist
GAME OVERTHINKER V1
Game OverThinker V2
GAME OVERTHINKER EP 25: VIOLENCE IS GOLDEN
Game OverThinker V32: I Heart Bayonetta
GAME OVERTHINKER V45: AntiThinker - Mega Man
Bob Chipman Patreon
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
New year, new games to discuss on the Critical Distance Confab.
With the minisodes, every month, both I and a co-host, go back and forth listing off a game we think hasn't gotten the critical attention it deserves until we've each done three. The hope being that some of you listening will take the initiative and fix that oversight. These games can be from anywhere. Itch.io art games, prestige level indie games or even AAA games that fell through the cracks for whatever reason.
Co-hosting with me this month is lecturer and critic, Professor Todd Harper.
Todd's Picks
Xenoblade Chronicles X by Monolith Soft
Dragon's Crown + Odin's Sphere + Muramasa: The Demon Blade by Vanillaware
Super Robots Wars Z by Namco Bandai
Eric's Picks
Sunless Sea by Failbetter Games
Knee Deep by Prologue Games
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist by Crows Crows Crows
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to the new year of podcasts here at Critical Distance!
Last year we went over publications, both books and magazines, in the critical video game sphere. Having, for the most part, run out of those we turn our eyes to different forms of criticism. Now we turn out eyes to video. Joining me this month is game designer and the writer behind the Extra Credits series, James Portnow.
Starting out as a final course project for fellow Extra Credits creator, Daniel Floyd, the series has only grown in the years since. Every week the crew at Extra Credits creates a short cartoon Youtube video as a basic introduction of design concepts, craft implementation and surrounding issues of the video games industry. Over the years, supplementary shows have been added. You can check them all out (as well as specific episodes we discuss on the podcast) below!
SHOW NOTES
Extra Credits Channel
Extra History
Extra Remix
Extra Play
Design Club
Video Games and Storytelling
Call of Juarez: The Cartel
Spec Ops: The Line Pt. 1
Spec Ops: The Line Pt. 2
Power Creep in Hearthstone - What it teaches us about games
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome back to another end of year podcast! 2015 is behind us, so just lean back and listen as myself and a couple of colleagues skim over some of the major discussions that came up during the year.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Riley MacLeod: Twitter
SHOW NOTES
Colorblind: On The Withcer 3, Rust and gameing's race problem by Tauriq Moosa
Battlefield Hardline Review: Cop Out by Austin Walker
Undertale Is Tearing GameFAQs Apart by Patricia Hernandez
Hideo Kojima Is the Jonathan Franzen of Video Games by Kevin Nguyen
Punk Games by Zoe Quinn
We are not colonists by Gita Jackson
The queer masculinity of stealth games by Riley MacLeod
Video Games' Blackness Problem by Evan Narcisse et al
Peter Molyneux Interview by John Walker
The vast, unplayable history of video games by Gita Jackson
Should I Stay or Should I Go: How To Stay Afloat in the Games MEdia by Luke Winkie
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to the last minisode of the year on the Critical Distance Confab.
How this works is that each of us will go back and forth listing off three games each that we feel haven't gotten the critical attention they deserve in the hopes one of your will take it as a challenge. These games will be anything from Ich.io art games to prestige level indie games to AAA games that fell through the cracks for whatever reason.
On co-hosting duties with me this month on this chilly November day is Giant Bomb writer and critic, Austin Walker.
Austin's Picks
Invisible Inc. by Klei Entertainment
Cradle by Flying Cafe for Semianimals
Cibele by Nina Freeman
Eric's Picks
The Cat Lady by Harvester Games
Tales from the Borderlands by Telltale Games
NaissanceE by Limasse Five
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Concluding this year's series of interviews of the authors and editors of video game criticism publications we turn our eyes to gonzo. Cara Ellison's Embed With Games: A Year on the Couch with Game Developers brings the long form, lifestyle gonzo journalism to video games as she chronicles her year long journey around the world to see various small and independent game artists in their element. Come and listen to us discuss the influence of an artist's location, the Hawthorne effect, the process of choosing who to cover in the first place and much more.
We hope you enjoyed our year of interviews looking into the books and periodicals of video game criticism and also hope that they managed to add something to the conversation. Next year, we're moving on to criticism in a different form.
SHOW NOTES
Embed With Games
Embed With tumblr
Gaming Made Me: Tomb Raider
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to a new minisode on the Critical Distance Confab.
This month we have a special Halloween edition where we will be focusing on quote/unquote horror games to highlight. As usual these are games that haven't gotten what myself and a co-host feel is a fair shake in criticism and attention. We each will bring three such games to the table. They can be anything, Ich.io games, indie games or even AAA games you might not have tried.
With me for this theme month is fellow cohort of PopMatters Games' section and indie horror guru, Nick Dinicola.
Nick's Picks
Uncanny Valley by Cowardly Creations
Dead Space: Extraction by Electronic Arts
Dark Echo by RAC7 Games
Eric's Picks
The Cursed Forest by KPy3O
The Charnel House Trilogy by Owl Cave
Fingerbones + The Moon Sliver + The Music Machine + A Wolf in Autumn by David Szymanski
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome back for a new minisode of the Critical Distance Confab.
If you don't know, the minisodes are a chance to introduce and highlight a bunch of games that hasn't gotten criticism...yet. Myself and a co-host will list off 3 such games each. They can be anything. Ich.io art games, prestige level indie games, all the way to AAA games that might have slipped between the cracks.
Joining me this month is critic and writer, Gita Jackson.
Gita's Picks
Siren for Hire by Maddy Myers
We Know The Devil by Aevee Bee and Mia Shwartz
Grow Home by Ubisoft
Eric's Picks
Framed by Loveshack
Technobabylon by Technocrat Games
Unwind by Jijjy
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month we turn our attention to the genre anthology book, Shooter. Edited by Patrick Lindsey and Reid McCarter, the book bought 15 essays and a forward by Clint Hocking placing a wide variety of shooter video games in a historical and cultural context. We discuss their focus on a broad genre as opposed to a single game, what they were trying to say with the book and the process of putting together such an anthology.
Unlike previous books, as this one is an anthology and in that spirit we decided to get some of the writers for some micro interviews. Thank you to Robert Rath, Corey Milne and Javy Gwaltney for making the time.
CAST
Patrick Lindsey: Han Freaking Solo
Reid McCarter: Digital Love Child
Robert Rath: Rob Writes Pulp
Corey Milne: The Serious Work of Play
Javy Gwaltney: Antagonize The Horn/p>
SHOW NOTES
Shooter
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
We have a new minisode of the Critical Distance Confab.
These minisodes are a chance for myself and a new co-host each time, to highlight some games that have gotten virtually no criticism written about them. This is our chance to correct that. They can be anything. Ich.io art games, prestige level indie games, all the way to AAA games that might have slipped between the cracks. Though generally they will skew a little smaller.
Joining me this month is Critical Distance's own senior curator and my boss, Kris Ligman.
Kris's Picks
Shall we date? The Neflheim+ by NTT Solmare Corp.
Killing Time At Light Speed by Gritfish
Tour de Akiba by AM Cosmos
also Six Japanese Dating Sims to Fall In Love With by AM Cosmos
Eric's Picks
Unrest by Pyrodactyl
Monument Valley by ustwo
Escape from the Man Sized Closet by Stephen Colbert
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Continuing our vaguely in chronological order of video game critical publications, we turn our lonely eyes to a site that last year turned itself into a weekly e-zine. This month Stu Horvath was gracious enough to join me to talk about Unwinnable, Unwinnable Weekly and all the other Un-labled projects that he grants a platform to. We get a little silly near the end, hope you wont hold that against us.
SHOW NOTES
Unwinnable
Unwinnable Weekly
Unwinnable Weekly Special Summer Fun Issue
Unlistenable
Playable
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to another minisode of the Critical Distance Confab.
Unlike our main podcast series, the minisodes are a chance for myself and co-host to highlight some games that have gotten virtually no criticism written about them. This is our chance to correct that. They can be anything. Ich.io art games, prestige level indie games, all the way to AAA games that might have slipped between the cracks. Though generally they will skew a little smaller.
Joining me this time is freelance writer for Paste Magazine, Imran Khan.
Imran's Picks
Petrichor by Sundae Month
Fallow by Rook
Rain, House, Eternity by Kitty Horrorshow
Eric's Picks
EDDA by Diane Mueller
Small Worlds by David Shute
The Graveyard by Tale of Tales
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
With us this time is founding editor of The Arcade Review Zolani Stewart.
Coming up on a year now, The Arcade Review is a publication that situates itself as an arts magazine first and a games magazine second. Wanting to break away from the stagnant circles of what is traditionally considered games writing, Zolani, with some help, created a space where he could foster the type of writing he wanted to see. We go into his sharpening focus over time of both the philosophical bedrock as well as the more physical aspects of its improving design. Enjoy.
SHOW NOTES
The Arcade Review
The Arcade Review Patreon
Why Weird Games Are Important
Glitches: A Kind of History
We Who?
Predatory Queerness: A Response to "Neighborhood Bondage"
Lana and Zolani Visit A Gallery
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to another minisode of the Critical Distance Confab.
These minisodes are something different than our main podcast series. At the end of every month, myself and a guest, will list off a few games each that haven't gotten the attention of critical discourse we feel they deserve. These games can be anything from ich.io art games to prestige indie games to left by the wayside AAA games.
This month I'm joined by the editor-in-chief of the micro zine ZEAL, Aevee Bee.
Aevee's Picks
Drakengard 3 by Square Enix
DaganRompa: Trigger Happy Havoc and DagenRompa 2: Goodbye Dispair by Nippon Ichi Software
Odin's Sphere by Atlus
Eric's Picks
Hand of Fate by Defiant Development
Memoria by Daedalic Entertainment
ICBM by REPVBLIC
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month we have a double, yet related, feature.
First, in side A, I talk with Alan Williamson and Lindsey Joyce, the editor-in-chief and managing editor respectively of Five out of Ten. We chat about the creation and ongoing process of creating the magazine, what it's like working with a hand of experience and what it's like learning the ropes.
Then, in side B, Alan Williamson returns, this time, with his co-author Kaitlin Tremblay to talk about their book, Escape to Na Pali: Journey to the Unreal, that came out of an upgraded Five out of Ten pitch. They explain their love of the game and the collaborative process for crafting the collection of essays.
SHOW NOTES
Five out of Ten
Escape to Na Pali: Journey to the Unreal
Five out of Ten Patreon
Reality Check: Murder We Wrote
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month we have a double, yet related, feature.
First, in side A, I talk with Alan Williamson and Lindsey Joyce, the editor-in-chief and managing editor respectively of Five out of Ten. We chat about the creation and ongoing process of creating the magazine, what it's like working with a hand of experience and what it's like learning the ropes.
Then, in side B, Alan Williamson returns, this time, with his co-author Kaitlin Tremblay to talk about their book, Escape to Na Pali: Journey to the Unreal, that came out of an upgraded Five out of Ten pitch. They explain their love of the game and the collaborative process for crafting the collection of essays.
SHOW NOTES
Five out of Ten
Escape to Na Pali: Journey to the Unreal
Five out of Ten Patreon
Reality Check: Murder We Wrote
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to a new minisode of the Critical Distance Confab.
In case you are just joining us or need a refresher, we here at Critical Distance are trying something new with a series of minisodes in the podcast. Here, each month, myself and a guest, will list off a number of games, aiming for a minimum of three each, that have not gotten the spotlight we feel they deserve. These are games that haven't gotten any criticism or otherwise aren't part of the conversation for whatever reason and we think they should be, even if just a little. These can be anything from itch.io art games to prestige indie titles to AAAs that have fallen through the cracks.
This month's guest is editor-in-chief of Silverstring Media's critical publishing arm, Zoya Street.
Zoya's Picks
Say When by Kaitlin Tremblay + Emilie Majarian
CHYRZA - Sunset Spirit Steel by Kitty Horrorshow
Brick Block - Island - Procedural planet customiser by Oskar Stalberg
Eric's Picks
The Fall by Over the Moon
Life Flashes By - Coffee: A Misunderstanding - Domique Pamplemousse by Deirdra Kiai aka Squinky
Steve Jackson's Sorcery! by inkle Studios
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month we are joined by game historian, University of Lancaster PhD candidate and editor-in-chirf of Silverstring Media's Critical Publishing arm, Zoya Street. Zoya has written two seminal books on games, Dreamcast Worlds and Delay, and is the founder of the wonderful free e-zine, Memory Insufficient. Here, we talk about his background in design history and what that lens means for video games as artifacts as well as what isn't said by the artifact itself, but rather is left to the community surrounding to interpret and define. Have a listen.
SHOW NOTES
Dreamcast Worlds
Delay: Paying Attention to Energy Mechanics
Memory Insufficient Back Catalog
Memory Insufficient at Silverstring Media
e:>_
"Between excessive fantasy and selfish disillusionment" - Reading a Japanese essay from 1999 about visual novel 'Captain Love'
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to the first Critical Distance Confab minisode!
We're trying something new with the podcast. There are so many games coming out at every level, everyday. So many of them fall through the cracks for one reason or another. Everybody has asked themselves the question, "How did this game not get talked about? How is there no criticism on it?" We are a curatorial site. As curators we see the conversations that happen and as individuals often the conversations that do not happen.
In an effort to combat this in our own small little way, we have decided to do a series of minisodes, on a trial run, that will specifically highlight those games that fell through the cracks. Every month, myself and one guest will list off three games each in hopes that the critical community sees them, tries them and maybe write about them, giving them the criticism we think they deserve. Anything goes. They can be anything from ich.io art games to prestige indie games to missed AAA titles, just so long as they are games that missed the boat for one reason or another.
This month's guest is Polygon Senior Editor, Danielle Riendeau.
Danielle's Picks
Dyscourse - Owlchemy Labs
Disorder - Swagabyte Games
VA-11 HALL-A - Sukeban Games
Eric's Picks
Journal - Locked Door Puzzle
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut - Harebrined Schemes
Beneath Floes - Kevin Snow + Patrick Bonaduce
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Continuing on with our theme of notable published video game books, we turn our eye to the other major work on 2012, Anna Anthropy's Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreams, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You Are Taking Back an Art Form.
As much as it was a manifesto and a revelation back in 2012, it feels even more prescient now with all the changes and advancements that has occurred on the fringes of videogame creation since its publication. I talk with Anna about not only Rise, but also her other books, games as well as her self-published zines and how they all revolve around this do-it-yourself ethos.
SHOW NOTES
Anna Anthropy's Patreon
Anna Anthropy's Zine Distribution Patreon
Anna Anthropy's Twitter
Rise of the Videogame Zinesters
ZZT
Choose Your Own Death: Star Wench
A Game Design Vocabulary
Zine Store
Calamity Annie
Queers in Love at the End of the World
Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars
dys4ia
Annarchive
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Continuing on the theme of video game book publishing, we decide to talk with Gabe Durham, the founder and editor of BossFightBooks, right now, the leader in single game book criticism. As of recording he had just wrapped up the Second Season Kickstarter and was taking pitches for the backer chosen game, Shadow of the Colossus.
We talk about where the idea for BossFightBooks came from, how their publishing system works and what he's looking for in both authors and pitches to continue providing a variety of voices, styles and games.
SHOW NOTES
BossFightBooks
Ludologica
Fuck Videogames
Rise of the Videogame Zinesters
Extra Lives: Why video Games Matter
Some Thoughts on Darius Kazemi's Jagged Alliance 2 and my own Killing is Harmless
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
In 2012, critic and Royal Melbourne Insitute of technology PhD candidate Brendan Keogh released his long form critical piece on Spec Ops: The Line in the form of an ebook. Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line was at the time the first known published book of criticism on a single game. In the years since a cavalcade of books of video game criticism has been published and more to come in the future.
Two years after initially publishing the book, we decided to interview Brendan to get his perspective on the book, the reception and how things have change over time in his critical methods. We also get into musing on the book's cultural and historical placement given the recent boom in video game criticism books.
SHOW NOTES
Brendan Keogh
Critical Damage
Darius Kazemi Review: Killing is Harmless, by Brendan Keogh
Cameron Kunzelman's On Killing is Harmless
Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation
Noal Carroll's On Criticism
David Sudnow's Pilgrim in the Microworld
Spec Ops: The Line Critical Compilation
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
It's that time again, the end of the year is upon us. Rather than exhaustively go over everything of note that happened in 2014, instead we more skim over several various broad topics of interest. 2014 hasn't been a pleasant year overall, but in the spirit of glader tidings we decided to focus as much as we can on better things.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Lana Polansky: Sufficiently Human
SHOW NOTES
Flappy Bird is Making $50,000 A Day on Mario-Like Art
You Are Mountain
Twine, The Video Game Technology For All
Cat Petting Simulator
The Terror Aboard The Speedwell
The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo
Support Games Criticism
Critical Proximity
Video Brains
Does Twitch Plays Pokemon Give YOu Hope For Humanity?
Opening Theme: 'Close' byThe Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Full list of games mentioned at end: Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8, Shovel Knight, Curtain, 2:22 AM, LaLa Land, Kitty Horrorshow's games, Aeryne Wright's games, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, The Fall, 80 Days, Gods Will Be Watching, The Niflheim, Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, Coffee: A Misunderstanding.
Our regular podcast host Mattie Brice needs a bit of extra time for her latest interview, so we've dug into our archives again for yet another heretofore unheard Critical Distance Confab episode. In this installment, Eric Swain interviews our very own founder and former head curator Ben Abraham.
Part of the original games blogger boom in 2007-2008, Ben Abraham has always found himself focused on the community of critics. It led him to try and bridge many of those working unknown and segregated by the internet's distance to eventually founding a curation site (this one!) to bring all the best writing.
Also in this podcast, we discuss some of his other notable projects and his obsession with Far Cry 2, the focal point of a few of those projects.
SHOW NOTES
SLRC
Permanent Death - The Complete Saga
Frank Bilders is Dead
A Post-Comment World
i am ben abraham
Replayabilty is NOT a word
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month we bring you another interview from the unheard archives. A few years ago Kirk Battle, going under the pseudonym L.B. Jefferies, was one of the most prolific critics of the burgeoning amateur bloggers arising from the boom of 2007 and 2008. Now he is retired from the video game criticism game. We look back on his time as a critic and his view of criticism itself.
In addition to being a personal inspiration to podcast moderator Eric Swain, Kirk Battle was named Critical Distance's 2010 Blogger of the Year.
SHOW NOTES
Banana Peppers Martinis
PopMatters - L.B. Jefferies
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Review
Zarathusra Analysis
ZA Critique: The Darkness
ZA Critique: Okami
Lester Bangs rant
Pauline Kael - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Samuel Johnson and Video Games
Does Video Games Need a Lester Bangs?
The New YouTube Video Games Criticism: An Interview with "moviebob"
Does Video Games Need a Pauline Kael?
On Design Centric Criticism
Telling Tales in Gabriel Knight 2
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
This month's podcast is all about a subject near and dear to our hearts: curation.
Here at Critical-Distance we curate games writing and other forms of criticism. We go through the massive amount of output on the internet that we can find and put it into a regular roundup. But what about curation of the games themselves. Steam is getting flooded with new releases to say nothing about the games that never seem to get the spotlight at all, hidden away individual projects scattered around the web.
For this month's podcast, Mattie brings two curators of small, free indie games (Merritt Kopas and Chris Priestman) to discuss the process and the philosophy behind what games they try to give the spotlight to and what audience they are trying to reach.
CAST
Mattie Brice: Alternate Ending
Merritt Kopas: mkopas
Chris Priestman: Warp Door
SHOW NOTES
Forest Ambassador
Forest Ambassador Patreon
Forest Ambassador Twitter
Warp Door
Warp Door work in progress
Warp Door Twitter
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Due to some unforeseen circumstances (namely, an impromptu digital game conference), Mattie Brice is unavailable to bring us a podcast this month.
Fortunately, we dug into the archives and found this gem: an unreleased interview with Michael "Brainygamer" Abbott. Recorded about two years ago, most of what we talk about is his historical perspective from the beginning wave of internet bloggers and critics and his own view on video game criticism.
We hope you enjoy!
SHOW NOTES
Brainy Gamer Podcast
Bloody Play
I'm your huckleberry
A conversation about Braid
Prince of quitting
RPG Syllabus
Unplayable
Portal on the booklist
Seeking the light
Look at the camera and smile: No More Heroes and the New Wave
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Welcome to the first podcast in the brand new Critical Distance Confab!
We were so impressed with Mattie Brice's moderation of our Black History Month podcast that we've asked her back to helm a new, monthly series. Each month on the 15th, Mattie will be tackling exciting, weighty topics flanked by special guests from across the critical landscape - and perhaps a few surprises as well!
This month, Mattie sits down with fellow critic-developers Lana Polansky and Cameron Kunzelman, to discuss how they got involved in game design, why game development interests them, and how becoming a developer has changed how they write about games.
CAST
Mattie Brice: Alternate Ending
Lana Polansky: Sufficiently Human
Cameron Kunzelman: This Cage is Worms
SHOW NOTES
Rise of the Videogame Zinesters
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
In honor of Black History Month or maybe, as the discussion recognizes, in submission to it, we at Critical Distance are honored to be host to a discussion of three highly intelligent black critics to discuss both the concept of Black Hisotry Month and what it means to be black in video games and the wider culture. Now, I'll just get out of the way and let them take it from here.
CAST
Mattie Brice: Alternate Ending
Zolani Stewert: The Fengxi Box
Evan Narcisse: Kotaku
SHOW NOTES
Bow Nigger
The Arcade Review
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And comes close another year and along with it our fourth end of year look back podcast. 2013 is behind us and we at Critical Distance look one last time at the major points that occurred along the way. We did our best to keep the podcast as manageable as possible, time wise. This year, instead of breaking it up between the events that happen and games that came out we've done them all at once in a single chronological run through of the year.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Cameron Kunzelman: This Cage is Worms
SHOW NOTES
FUCK VIDEOGAMES
Tropes vs. Woman in Video Games
The Creepy Side of E3
The Collapse of the Animal Crossing Economy and the Rise of Villager Trading
Video Game Therapist
Opening Theme: 'Close' byThe Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And comes close another year and along with it our fourth end of year look back podcast. 2013 is behind us and we at Critical Distance look one last time at the major points that occurred along the way. We did our best to keep the podcast as manageable as possible, time wise. This year, instead of breaking it up between the events that happen and games that came out we've done them all at once in a single chronological run through of the year.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Cameron Kunzelman: This Cage is Worms
SHOW NOTES
FUCK VIDEOGAMES
Tropes vs. Woman in Video Games
The Creepy Side of E3
The Collapse of the Animal Crossing Economy and the Rise of Villager Trading
Video Game Therapist
Opening Theme: 'Close' byThe Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
For quite a while now Lara Croft and her Tomb Raider franchise has been wallowing in irrelevance. One too many subpar games with date control scheme and sensibilities holding it down. Then, earlier this year, the reboot of Tomb Raider launched the franchise back into the public eye and brought with it much examination and discussion. Three people were driven to have a voice-to-voice conversation about it. They did so. This is that conversation.
CAST
Zach Alexander: Hailing From the Edge
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Cameron Kunzelman: This is Cage of Worms
SHOW NOTES
Tomb Raider Review Mutliplatform
The role of her life.
Legends Of The Hidden Template
Regarding The Pain Of Avatars
Tomb Raider: Lara Croft and the Secret of the Tenth Death Totem
Tomb Raider: How long does it take to become an axe murderer?
Why The Fearful Hero Is A Good Thing For Video Games
Notes on Tomb Raider
This isn't the article I wanted to write about Tomb Raider
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Back in March of 2011 I played Deirdra Kiai's recently released Life Flashes By and wanted to talk to her about it. I asked for an interview and she graciously accepted. Through a series of semi-ludicrous events that interview has ended up here for your enjoyment. You can download and play Life Flashes By at Deirdra's site as well as check out her other work.
Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And here it is. After much loss of sleep and sanity the 2012 end of year podcast has finally arrived. After last year's hopefulness of things being better, on one front 2012 proved to be an even worse year than its predecessor. And on the other hand, proved to be one of the best years in gaming. Those of us willing to brave the recording hours tackled it all.
The first three parts deal with the events and controversies in the gaming community. The third one was a trigger warning for the entire thing. Then in the last four we talk games from Katawa Shoujo to Far Cry 3.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
SHOW NOTES
38 Studios Downfall: The Gamasutra Report
Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos
Game Theory
Why are we still so bad at talking about video games?
Killing is Harmless
Five out of Ten Magazine
Take This Project
Image Based Harassment and Visual Misogyny
1 Reason Why
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And here it is. After much loss of sleep and sanity the 2012 end of year podcast has finally arrived. After last year's hopefulness of things being better, on one front 2012 proved to be an even worse year than its predecessor. And on the other hand, proved to be one of the best years in gaming. Those of us willing to brave the recording hours tackled it all.
The first three parts deal with the events and controversies in the gaming community. The third one was a trigger warning for the entire thing. Then in the last four we talk games from Katawa Shoujo to Far Cry 3.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
SHOW NOTES
38 Studios Downfall: The Gamasutra Report
Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos
Game Theory
Why are we still so bad at talking about video games?
Killing is Harmless
Five out of Ten Magazine
Take This Project
Image Based Harassment and Visual Misogyny
1 Reason Why
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And here it is. After much loss of sleep and sanity the 2012 end of year podcast has finally arrived. After last year's hopefulness of things being better, on one front 2012 proved to be an even worse year than its predecessor. And on the other hand, proved to be one of the best years in gaming. Those of us willing to brave the recording hours tackled it all.
The first three parts deal with the events and controversies in the gaming community. The third one was a trigger warning for the entire thing. Then in the last four we talk games from Katawa Shoujo to Far Cry 3.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
SHOW NOTES
38 Studios Downfall: The Gamasutra Report
Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos
Game Theory
Why are we still so bad at talking about video games?
Killing is Harmless
Five out of Ten Magazine
Take This Project
Image Based Harassment and Visual Misogyny
1 Reason Why
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And here it is. After much loss of sleep and sanity the 2012 end of year podcast has finally arrived. After last year's hopefulness of things being better, on one front 2012 proved to be an even worse year than its predecessor. And on the other hand, proved to be one of the best years in gaming. Those of us willing to brave the recording hours tackled it all.
The first three parts deal with the events and controversies in the gaming community. The third one was a trigger warning for the entire thing. Then in the last four we talk games from Katawa Shoujo to Far Cry 3.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
SHOW NOTES
38 Studios Downfall: The Gamasutra Report
Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos
Game Theory
Why are we still so bad at talking about video games?
Killing is Harmless
Five out of Ten Magazine
Take This Project
Image Based Harassment and Visual Misogyny
1 Reason Why
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And here it is. After much loss of sleep and sanity the 2012 end of year podcast has finally arrived. After last year's hopefulness of things being better, on one front 2012 proved to be an even worse year than its predecessor. And on the other hand, proved to be one of the best years in gaming. Those of us willing to brave the recording hours tackled it all.
The first three parts deal with the events and controversies in the gaming community. The third one was a trigger warning for the entire thing. Then in the last four we talk games from Katawa Shoujo to Far Cry 3.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
SHOW NOTES
38 Studios Downfall: The Gamasutra Report
Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos
Game Theory
Why are we still so bad at talking about video games?
Killing is Harmless
Five out of Ten Magazine
Take This Project
Image Based Harassment and Visual Misogyny
1 Reason Why
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And here it is. After much loss of sleep and sanity the 2012 end of year podcast has finally arrived. After last year's hopefulness of things being better, on one front 2012 proved to be an even worse year than its predecessor. And on the other hand, proved to be one of the best years in gaming. Those of us willing to brave the recording hours tackled it all.
The first three parts deal with the events and controversies in the gaming community. The third one was a trigger warning for the entire thing. Then in the last four we talk games from Katawa Shoujo to Far Cry 3.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
SHOW NOTES
38 Studios Downfall: The Gamasutra Report
Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos
Game Theory
Why are we still so bad at talking about video games?
Killing is Harmless
Five out of Ten Magazine
Take This Project
Image Based Harassment and Visual Misogyny
1 Reason Why
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And here it is. After much loss of sleep and sanity the 2012 end of year podcast has finally arrived. After last year's hopefulness of things being better, on one front 2012 proved to be an even worse year than its predecessor. And on the other hand, proved to be one of the best years in gaming. Those of us willing to brave the recording hours tackled it all.
The first three parts deal with the events and controversies in the gaming community. The third one was a trigger warning for the entire thing. Then in the last four we talk games from Katawa Shoujo to Far Cry 3.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
Alan Williamson: Five out of Ten
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
SHOW NOTES
38 Studios Downfall: The Gamasutra Report
Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos
Game Theory
Why are we still so bad at talking about video games?
Killing is Harmless
Five out of Ten Magazine
Take This Project
Image Based Harassment and Visual Misogyny
1 Reason Why
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Yes, only 6 months late Critical Distance is proud to bring you episode 9 of the CDC podcast.
This time we decided to focus on an actual game: Braid came out many years ago and sparked critics to write a megaton of criticism. 3 years after its initial release we bring you a panel of people with strong opinions on the game. Some loved it, some with not so kind feelings towards it. Consider this a companion piece to our Critical Compilation on the game.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Zach Alexander: Hailing From the Edge
Tevis Thompson: Tevis Thompson
Maggie Greene: The Wayward Historian
Scott Nicols: Gay Gamer
SHOW NOTES
Braid Critical Compliation
Braid Official Walthrough
AV Club's Jonathan Blow Interview
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
No, you did not read that incorrectly. This is indeed episode 10. Episode 9 is in the works still. (It's a little more evergreen of a topic.)
Another year has come to a close and with it another year-end podcast to try and catalog it all. This time around we got the whole Critical Distance crew around the Skype fire to chat. This being that time of year a few of our panelists had to leave for family and friends, but the rest of us stuck it out. We don't get around to talking very often, but we sure make up for it in volume.
The first two parts are on the events of the year from the Supreme Court to SOPA, from Sonic to Suparna Galaxy and everything in between. And the we wrap up with all the major releases this year from DC Universe Online to The Old Republic.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
David Carlton: Malvasia Bianca
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
Katie Lloyd Williams: Alive Tiny World
SHOW NOTES
Suparna Galaxy
The Many Faces of Tim Schafer
A blunt critique of game criticism
Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer
The Best Gaming Podcast Ever: Episode 19 [SOPA Special]
Debacle Timeline
Final Fantasy VII Letters
On the first person military manshooter and the shape of modern warfare
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
No, you did not read that incorrectly. This is indeed episode 10. Episode 9 is in the works still. (It's a little more evergreen of a topic.)
Another year has come to a close and with it another year-end podcast to try and catalog it all. This time around we got the whole Critical Distance crew around the Skype fire to chat. This being that time of year a few of our panelists had to leave for family and friends, but the rest of us stuck it out. We don't get around to talking very often, but we sure make up for it in volume.
The first two parts are on the events of the year from the Supreme Court to SOPA, from Sonic to Suparna Galaxy and everything in between. And the we wrap up with all the major releases this year from DC Universe Online to The Old Republic.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
David Carlton: Malvasia Bianca
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
Katie Lloyd Williams: Alive Tiny World
SHOW NOTES
Suparna Galaxy
The Many Faces of Tim Schafer
A blunt critique of game criticism
Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer
The Best Gaming Podcast Ever: Episode 19 [SOPA Special]
Debacle Timeline
Final Fantasy VII Letters
On the first person military manshooter and the shape of modern warfare
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
No, you did not read that incorrectly. This is indeed episode 10. Episode 9 is in the works still. (It's a little more evergreen of a topic.)
Another year has come to a close and with it another year-end podcast to try and catalog it all. This time around we got the whole Critical Distance crew around the Skype fire to chat. This being that time of year a few of our panelists had to leave for family and friends, but the rest of us stuck it out. We don't get around to talking very often, but we sure make up for it in volume.
The first two parts are on the events of the year from the Supreme Court to SOPA, from Sonic to Suparna Galaxy and everything in between. And the we wrap up with all the major releases this year from DC Universe Online to The Old Republic.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
David Carlton: Malvasia Bianca
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
Katie Lloyd Williams: Alive Tiny World
SHOW NOTES
Suparna Galaxy
The Many Faces of Tim Schafer
A blunt critique of game criticism
Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer
The Best Gaming Podcast Ever: Episode 19 [SOPA Special]
Debacle Timeline
Final Fantasy VII Letters
On the first person military manshooter and the shape of modern warfare
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
No, you did not read that incorrectly. This is indeed episode 10. Episode 9 is in the works still. (It's a little more evergreen of a topic.)
Another year has come to a close and with it another year-end podcast to try and catalog it all. This time around we got the whole Critical Distance crew around the Skype fire to chat. This being that time of year a few of our panelists had to leave for family and friends, but the rest of us stuck it out. We don't get around to talking very often, but we sure make up for it in volume.
The first two parts are on the events of the year from the Supreme Court to SOPA, from Sonic to Suparna Galaxy and everything in between. And the we wrap up with all the major releases this year from DC Universe Online to The Old Republic.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
David Carlton: Malvasia Bianca
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
Katie Lloyd Williams: Alive Tiny World
SHOW NOTES
Suparna Galaxy
The Many Faces of Tim Schafer
A blunt critique of game criticism
Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer
The Best Gaming Podcast Ever: Episode 19 [SOPA Special]
Debacle Timeline
Final Fantasy VII Letters
On the first person military manshooter and the shape of modern warfare
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
No, you did not read that incorrectly. This is indeed episode 10. Episode 9 is in the works still. (It's a little more evergreen of a topic.)
Another year has come to a close and with it another year-end podcast to try and catalog it all. This time around we got the whole Critical Distance crew around the Skype fire to chat. This being that time of year a few of our panelists had to leave for family and friends, but the rest of us stuck it out. We don't get around to talking very often, but we sure make up for it in volume.
The first two parts are on the events of the year from the Supreme Court to SOPA, from Sonic to Suparna Galaxy and everything in between. And the we wrap up with all the major releases this year from DC Universe Online to The Old Republic.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Kris Ligman: Dire Critic
David Carlton: Malvasia Bianca
Ian Miles Cheong: Gameranx
Katie Lloyd Williams: Alive Tiny World
SHOW NOTES
Suparna Galaxy
The Many Faces of Tim Schafer
A blunt critique of game criticism
Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer
The Best Gaming Podcast Ever: Episode 19 [SOPA Special]
Debacle Timeline
Final Fantasy VII Letters
On the first person military manshooter and the shape of modern warfare
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
So a podcast that was recorded in April about a conference in March, is finally released in May. Here we have our two part GDC podcast. We asked developers, journalists, academics and critics to join us in multiple round tables to discuss the panels and the overall feel of GDC '11.
Hear us talk about the GDC trifecta of Hocking, Hudson and Worch, the fan-gasming over SWERY, the fawning discussion of Brenda Braithwaite, the exasperation caused by Brian Moriarty, the disappointment in the keynote and much much more. (Plus a special celebrity guest voice.) All from the people who actually attended. We may be late, but the second word in the title is Distance.
Host
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Side B Cast
Nels Anderson: Above 49
Matthew Gallant: The Quixotic Engineer
Mitu Khandaker: Mitu.nu
Courtney Stanton: Here's a Thing
Side B Show Notes
Clint Hocking's Dynamics: The State of Art
Randy Smith's Leave Enough Room: Design that Supports Player Expression
Brain Moriarty's An Apology for Roger Ebert
SWERY's Game Design in the Coffee. Lovable Game Design
Designing Limbo's Puzzles
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
So a podcast that was recorded in April about a conference in March, is finally released in May. Here we have our two part GDC podcast. We asked developers, journalists, academics and critics to join us in multiple round tables to discuss the panels and the overall feel of GDC '11.
Hear us talk about the GDC trifecta of Hocking, Hudson and Worch, the fan-gasming over SWERY, the fawning discussion of Brenda Braithwaite, the exasperation caused by Brian Moriarty, the disappointment in the keynote and much much more. (Plus a special celebrity guest voice.) All from the people who actually attended. We may be late, but the second word in the title is Distance.
Host
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Side A Cast
Jorge Albor: Expirience Points
David Carlton: Malvasia Bianca
Chris Dahlen: Kill Screen
Annie Wright: Gamer Melodico
Side A Show Notes
Satoru Iwata Keynote,/a>
Social Game Developers Rant Back
Brenda Braithwaite's One Falls for Each of Us: The Prototyping Tragedy
Eric Chahi's Another World Postmortem
Matthias Worch's The Identity Bubble: A Design Approach to Character and Story Creation
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
It's time for another episode of the Critical Distance Confab. Before we get into it, a little background information. Right around the last podcast a debate sprung up over Ben's refusal to allow comments on his personal blog, finding them not worth worth the time and effort. This had been his policy since starting his new blog, but after reading his post Rhetorical Questions many wanted to engage with the post and found they couldn't. The discussion/argument moved to twitter, as it often does, and became one about the nature and usefulness of comments.
This episode sees the two sides come head to head to tackle this point in person. (Okay, not quite in person, but you know what I mean.) Do we live in a post comment world or a post-comment world?
A note: the audio sounds strange at certain points (aka every time I try to say something) because of a recording error. All other audio was unaffected and I managed to get most of what I said unwarped and pieced back together. I left an untouched segment of my voice after the closing music to give you a taste of what I fixed.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Ian Miles Cheong: Stillgray
Adrian Forest: Three Parts Theory
SHOW NOTES
Rhetorical Questions
Why Daring Fireball is Comment Free
Derek Powazek on Comments
Rock, Paper, Shotgun, And Why We Need To Make Publications Into Homes OR Maybe Just Local Pubs
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And so comes to pass the resurrection of the Critical Distance Confab podcast. We've been away for almost a year and a half. We decided to return in a big way. We gathered our panelists to review the year 2010: the biggest stories, events and of course games of the past year. We discuss them, from Bayonetta to Cataclysm. You can download it here or wait the few days till it gets up on iTunes.
Being this is the first time I've done audio editing on this scale I hope you all enjoy it. Please critique and give an suggestions you feel can improve it in the future.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Ian Miles Cheong: Stillgray
Kirk Hamilton: Gamer Melodico
Denis Farr: Vorpal Bunny Ranch
SHOW NOTES
Rhetorical Questions
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter (and Why They Don't Matter More)
Hills and Lines: Final Fantasy XIII
Critical Compilation: Jesse Schell, 'Design Outside the Box'
"No Cheering in the Press Box" and Other Rules Game Journalism Needs
Why Are So Many Indie Darlings 2D Platformers?
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And so comes to pass the resurrection of the Critical Distance Confab podcast. We've been away for almost a year and a half. We decided to return in a big way. We gathered our panelists to review the year 2010: the biggest stories, events and of course games of the past year. We discuss them, from Bayonetta to Cataclysm. You can download it here or wait the few days till it gets up on iTunes.
Being this is the first time I've done audio editing on this scale I hope you all enjoy it. Please critique and give an suggestions you feel can improve it in the future.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Ian Miles Cheong: Stillgray
Kirk Hamilton: Gamer Melodico
Denis Farr: Vorpal Bunny Ranch
SHOW NOTES
Rhetorical Questions
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter (and Why They Don't Matter More)
Hills and Lines: Final Fantasy XIII
Critical Compilation: Jesse Schell, 'Design Outside the Box'
"No Cheering in the Press Box" and Other Rules Game Journalism Needs
Why Are So Many Indie Darlings 2D Platformers?
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
And so comes to pass the resurrection of the Critical Distance Confab podcast. We've been away for almost a year and a half. We decided to return in a big way. We gathered our panelists to review the year 2010: the biggest stories, events and of course games of the past year. We discuss them, from Bayonetta to Cataclysm. You can download it here or wait the few days till it gets up on iTunes.
Being this is the first time I've done audio editing on this scale I hope you all enjoy it. Please critique and give an suggestions you feel can improve it in the future.
CAST
Eric Swain: The Game Critique
Ben Abraham: i am Ben Abraham
Ian Miles Cheong: Stillgray
Kirk Hamilton: Gamer Melodico
Denis Farr: Vorpal Bunny Ranch
SHOW NOTES
Rhetorical Questions
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter (and Why They Don't Matter More)
Hills and Lines: Final Fantasy XIII
Critical Compilation: Jesse Schell, 'Design Outside the Box'
"No Cheering in the Press Box" and Other Rules Game Journalism Needs
Why Are So Many Indie Darlings 2D Platformers?
Opening theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy
Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy
AND WE ARE BACK! After a long hiatus the CDC Podcast has returned with a force-music and an icon. This week we talk about under privileged voices in games, specifically women in games, where all your questions will be answered and the issue will finally be put to "rest." Of course I am joking but please come continue the discussion in IRC. We have moved to the irc.quakenet.org server, the room as always is #GBConfab. For those wondering why this hasn't been updated on iTunes yet, we changed hosts for the podcast and the RSS is still in the process of updating.
CAST:
Alex Raymond: Iris Network
Olivia Luna: Cerise Magazine
Regina Buenaobra: Acid for Blood
Simon Ferrari: Chunking Espresso
SHOW NOTES:
Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape
Brainy Gamer - OMG, Girls in Trouble
DoveArrow's Blog - Oh Goddess, My Goddess
Tracy John of Mtv Mutiplayer
Gender Swapping and Socializing in Cyberspace: An Exploratory Study
Women in Games: The Gamasutra 20
This episode of the CDC Podcast is extra long to make up for the missed days in releasing last week's CDC Podcast. This week we discuss genre in videogames by starting off with the Western and eventually interrogating the role of genre between videogames and other medium, videogame genres in general, and the role of genre and videogame hardware. After this week's episode the CDC Podcast will be taking a brief hiatus, but stay tuned for future episodes. As always, I urge you to leave feedback in the comments thread and don't be shy to drop by IRC to chat. The room is #GBConfab under the freenode.net server.
Cast:
Michael Abbot: http://www.brainygamer.com
Travis Megill: http://www.theautumnalcity.com
D. Murray: http://www.graduateschoolgamer.com
Roger Travis: http://livingepic.blogspot.com/
Show Notes:
Braingamer on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Judith
The XBOX Live community "Seasoned Gamers"
It has arrived! Episode 3 of the CDC Podcast. This week we discuss the approaches to videogame narrative, specifically the differences between showing and telling narrative in games. We have a very special international cast this week. So sit back and enjoy as once again we interrogate game narrative, go off on an array of tangents, and eventually come back to the question of "show and tell." Feel free to leave us feedback on the Critical-Distance comments thread and continue the discussion on IRC. That is the freenode.net server, the room is #GBConfab.
The Cast:
D. Murray: http://www.graduateschoolgamer.com
Erik Hanson: http://www.elementsofmeaning.blogspot.com
Justin Keverne: Arthur Tellurian: http://tellurianspetshop.wordpress.com
Eric Swain: http://www.thegamecritique.com
Show Notes:
Corvus Elrod's article on "Show and Tell"
Ken Levine's GDC 2008 Keynote
This week on the CDC Podcast we discuss Bioshock and narrative dissonance. Join us as we attempt to wrap our heads around the subject and come up with the definitive answer to the question "How do we define narrative dissonance?" You don't need to go to GameFAQS or Youtube to discover the ending of this conundrum; we don't end up coming up with a consensus on the subject! My apologies to Roger Travis who become disconnected midway through the podcast and could not return due to prior obligations.
CAST:
D. Murray, Denis Farr, Travis Megill, Alex Myers, Eric Swain, Roger Travis.
Show notes:
Iroquois Pliskin on Bioshock
Clint Hocking on Bioshock
Michael Abbott on Theater and Videogames
Corvus Elrod on Fabula
Welcome to Episode 1 of the Critical Distance Confab. The CDC podcast is a weekly discussion with a cast drawn from an irregular pool of videogame bloggers and contributors to the Critical Distance website. We discuss issues of design, culture, art, and the industry viewed through the lens of videogame criticism.
In this, the first of a tentatively scheduled weekly podcast, we have an extended discussion about the daunting topic that is Games Criticism.
Our cast for this episode includes:
Ben Abraham, Randy Ma (aka demonicmurry), Travis Megill, Alex Myers, David Sahlin, and Eric Swain.
I apologize for the audio quality as this is our first attempt at a podcast - rest assured that the quality of the recording will improve in subsequent episodes. With that in mind we hope you enjoy the first episode and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.
Show notes:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Sparky Clarkson's Bioshock Compilation
Corvus Elrod's Man Bytes Blog
String Theory: The Illusion of Videogame Interactivity
Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist
You Have to Burn the Rope
The Passage
The Marriage