I had the pleasure of being on yet another Bad Philosophy podcast before 2011 wrapped up. I was on as a “video game guy” to talk about morality in games – primarily Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
You can find the episode over at the Bad Philosophy website.
Over the course of my usual video game blogging for the Dallas Morning News Pop Culture blog, the idea of my doing a holiday gift guide came up. Doing the gift guide was a favorite task of mine at the Daily Toreador, so I decided to go all out on this one – especially since there were so many good games released this year. Since I was writing for a mainstream publication – and not just for college students – I was able to split the guide into different sections for different age groups.
A much abridged and simplified version of my gift guide will be published in the printed edition of The Dallas Morning News next week.
“Scene It? Movie Night provides fun multiplayer movie trivia and has an appealing price, but it’s not as exciting if you’ve Scene It? all before.” – Read the review at GameSpot
“The War of the Worlds adapts H.G. Wells’ classic novel into a visually appealing platformer that unfortunately falls short in a number of key areas.” - Read the full review at GameSpot
“Skyrim is a game you can literally play forever, and it’s a rare game that you might not mind spending so many hours with.” - Read the full review at the DallasNews.com Pop Culture Blog.
I haven’t posted links here to every DMN Pop Culture blog post I’ve done, but Skyrim? It deserves a spot on my personal blog.
This is a feature I’m pretty proud of, and it’s something I’ve wanted to write (particularly for a mainstream outlet) for a long time. It’s about how many Christians play and perceive games, and why it may or may not be a good thing for us to do. As a Christian who plays a lot of games, it’s something I’ve thought a lot about.
Big thanks to The Escapist for letting me write it (specifically Susan Arendt, who has been extremely kind every time I’ve conversed with her online), and huge thanks to everybody who has read and commented on it. One of the most amazing things about it is that it hasn’t spawned any huge flame wars, but rather pockets of mature discussion. I’m touched by many of the comments I’ve received about it.
“Tides of Destiny makes several good changes to the Rune Factory formula, making for a fun adventure in fantasy farming.” – Read the full review @ GameSpot
“Okabu is a colorful and fun puzzle adventure, though it suffers from a few technical issues.”
- Read the rest @ GameSpot
“You should know that we here at GamesRadar are hella street … um … dawg? We played a lot of Jet Set Radio. We watched Exit Through the Gift Shop. But the truth is you don’t need any reverence for hip-hop or graffiti to realize that Sideway: New York is a great 2D platformer that does some fun things with 3D space; it just happens to sport a unique street aesthetic that helps make it stand out.”
