Link Roundup: Arcade Mode

With the beginning of fall comes a whole new round of TV shows, movies, and other media to consume. I’ve been trying to keep up with series premieres and whatnot, finish King’s Quest and Blues and Bullets, and keep the blog posts coming, but life won’t stop getting in the way so this week I decided to feature other people’s interesting words about pop culture and nerd stuff instead of my own. While this blog covers multiple media forms, video games have been occupying my brain lately so here are some things about games I found on the internet and enjoyed:

+ If you’re a fan of Telltale or have been playing Life is Strange, FemHype’s two-part look at world-building in episodic games is definitely worth the read.

+ In the spirit of Halloween, I also checked out We Know The Devil, the recently released visual novel horror game. It is a thought-provoking experience, and this analysis of gender and sexuality in the game from blogger emberling enhances the stimulating experience.

+ Feminist Frequency put out a new video in their Tropes vs. Women series at the end of August, but it took me until the end of September to watch it because I’ve been slacking on my YouTube binge-watching. If you’re in the same boat, here’s a link to make your life easier.

+ As usual, I’ve been watching a lot of Geek Remix lately, and right now I’m in the middle of their Soma playthrough. It reminds me of the time I demo’d Narcosis on a VR headset at SXSW game expo–there were many screams, flinches, and curse words.

+ Speaking of Soma, Kotaku had an interesting article this week about the game’s conservative use of achievements.

+ The countdown to Mass Effect Andromeda is long and painful, but to ease our sorrows Bioware announced on September 29th that a Mass Effect ride will open in California’s Great America in 2016!!! Have no doubt: I will wear Shepard cosplay on the ride, and I will cry.

Now for a couple of oldies but goodies:

+ Unfortunately I missed it the first time around, but writer/artist/dev/all around good human Chris Solarski’s piece for Gamasutra about the aesthetics of game design has stood the test of time. If you haven’t read his book, I highly recommend it.

+ And lastly, during my research and writing about Morrowind last month, I came across this gem of a series about metaphysics in the game from blogger and game developer Kateri.

Okay, that’s it for now. Keep your eyes peeled next week for a review of King’s Quest Chapter 1, and let me know what other content you’d like to see in the comments. Thanks for reading!

What I’m… Wednesday: Geek Remix, Remember Me, and Glass Animals

What I’m Watching

Since finishing Orange is the New Black last week, my favorite thing to watch has not been a television show or movie, but instead Geek Remix’s YouTube channel. They post Let’s Plays, easter eggs, fan theories, and other videos. Those two never fail to make me laugh, and they have an entertaining and robust social media presence as well. Check out their playthrough of Her Story below.

What I’m Reading

Thanks to the movie Whiplash, I am now mildly obsessed with Miles Teller. Working my way through his filmography, I found out The Spectacular Now is a film adaptation of a young adult novel of the same name, so I decided to give it a shot. I’m not through with it yet, but I can tell you that Sutter Keeley is much more of an asshole in the book than the movie, yet for some reason (maybe because I keep imagining he has Miles Teller’s face) I am sticking with him.

credit: Wilford Harewood

What I’m Playing

I’ve been trying to save money by not buying games lately, leading me back to a few games I gave up on. One of these is Remember Me, the predecessor to indie darling and current favorite of mine Life is Strange. Remember Me is a sci-fi action adventure game by Dontnod and published by Square Enix. The graphics are beautiful and the story, intriguing, but the platforming felt limited to me; the game is set in sprawling Neo-Paris, yet I am only able to follow a fairly linear path as my invisible companion Edge urges me along.

When I picked up where I left off–the boss battle with AV-78 Zorn–I remembered exactly what had soured this game for me. Hours in, I’d still only remixed one person’s memory, the combat had become both clunky and boring, and I wasn’t sure why Nilin was going along with all of this to begin with. Thankfully the detailed world lovingly sculpted by the same people who built Arcadia Bay is enough to push me to the finish, or at least serve as a distraction until I can play Life is Strange Episode 4.

What I’m Listening To

Much like about 78% of the population, I find the song Gooey by Glass Animals to be weirdly mesmerizing. It was in my head so much that I made an entire Spotify playlist in an effort to capture and extend the song’s mood, which is linked below.

What are you guys enjoying this week? What are you counting down to? Let me know in the comments.