Aug 30 2008

Deus Ex gets Brainy

Some of the best commentary about games and gaming culture to be found anywhere on ye ol interwebs is produced by Michael Abbott. We’re big fans of both his Brainy Gamer blog and podcast, and excited to see he is ramping up his Vintage Game Club to go a few rounds with a little game called Deus Ex.  Shane and I are both tracking down copies of the game (which, apparently, is available to play *for free* over at Gametap) next week, and looking forward to jumping on the VGC discussion board for some high-octane playin and prattlin.

Tangentially: McKenzie Wark dedicated a full chapter of Gamer Theory to Deus Ex. Bet your bottom dollar we’ll be flipping through that soon as well.


Aug 11 2008

FWR Episode 005

In Episode 005 we talk Grand Theft Auto IV in a noisy hallway, wandering through such topics as:

The narrative structure of the game and comparisons to Edgar Allan Poe’s vision of story crafting.

Graphical representations, the timelessness of game space, and fear of art overtaking reality.

Troubling characters based on stereotypes and Three’s Company.

More episodes are coming soon. Thanks for listening.


Aug 7 2008

an open invitation to talk World of Warcraft

Shane and I will be recording the Book Club episode of FWR within the next week or so and would be delighted to have you participate.  If you’ve already picked up a copy of Corneliussen & Walker-Rettberg’s book Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft reader, please post your thoughts here on our blog or in our Facebook forum and we’ll incorporate them into the show. If you haven’t read the book but would still be willing to share your WoW thoughts/observances/experiences, we’d love to have you chime in as well.

More than anything, we are way more interested in facilitating a conversation about WoW and issues raised in the book than “reviewing” or critiquing.  If you are even passingly interested in World of Warcraft, we want to hear from you.

Cheers!


Aug 4 2008

FWR Episode 004

The dust has settled on the personal interferences, vacation plans, and marathon sessions of Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear Solid that have blocked our podcast progress for the last few weeks. We invite you to explore FWR Episode 004, in which we:

Record in a tiny closet during the Writer’s Edge conference in Portland, Oregon, and forget to introduce ourselves.

Discuss the portrayals of war in games in reference to the Call of Duty and Metal Gear Solid franchises.

Think about the labor issues involved with the recent controversy regarding voice actors in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Look for our GTA Blowout episode soon, and thanks for listening.