Television HUD Creep

Image from PopMatters

This week at PopMatters, I write about the HUDs I see on TV.

Part of this column was a bit of me on my soapbox talking about cinematic games.  It's easy to see games certain games as becoming more and more like movies, but that doesn't mean that there is some kind of artistic trickle-down effect.  Games borrow from TV and movies, but inspiration flows the in all directions.

I've mentioned it before, but the visual conversion between real sports and their video game representations is striking.  Polygonal players are more realistic every year, whereas live broadcasts incorporate more UI elements all the time.  We see CGI finish lines, dynamic timers, highlighted players whether we're holding a remote or a controller.

Of course, the real inspiration of this post was seeing the pop-up texts that House of Cards uses to integrate texting into scenes.  I just started watching the show and had no idea it employed this technique.  Apparently Sherlock has been doing the same thing:



This doesn't even touch on how video games themselves are used in the show (maybe a topic for another day?).  The point is that the visual language of games and computer systems in general is increasingly shaping the way we digest traditional media.  The nice thing is that it's often for the better.

EXP Podcast #266: Broken Age Debrief

The dual protagonists of Broken Age

Between Double Fine's first steps into the crowd sourced funding landscape and Broken Age's release this past month, Kickstarter came of age. Our expectations have soared to great heights, plummeted back down like a rock, and risen again, depending on the project. This brave new world has seen numerous indie darlings released, does Broken Age still stand out two years after it first captured our collective heart? Find out in this week's podcast! Also, let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below.


- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes
- Find the show on Stitcher
- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 41 min 15 sec

- Music by: Brad Sucks

Octodad: Dadly Descent

With our noodly appendages combined, anything is possible! Will we escape our watery prison? Will we save our family? Will our children find out their Octodad could not possibly sire regular human offspring!?


* Special thanks to Phillip Wong for the opening and closing credits. Check out more of his work here!

The Horror of The Wolf Among Us: Smoke & Mirrors

At the Pudding and Pie

The Wolf Among Us: Smoke & Mirrors, the second episode of Tell Tale's Fables retelling, is absolutely horrifying.

Not in the terror sense per se, but in its painting of a grotesque world. To be honest, I am still not sure it is a good thing for the series. Sure, noir fiction has roots in pulpy gothic horror fiction. Bigby works as a hardboiled detective out to shine some light on the seedy underbelly of Fabletown. Still, having made such a significant thematic shift in Smoke & Mirrors, it will be hard to return to perhaps a more mechanically resonant experience.

In the first episode, the did-I-make-the-right-decision paranoia that comes so naturally to Tell Tale's narrative system works wonderfully with the detective setting. NPCs constantly ask Bigby what he things about one thing or another, and as a player full of self-doubt over their own decisions, players can give no easy answers. Trying to read other characters and making measured decisions with unknown impacts is par for the course for this style of interactive fiction.

However, with Bigby inhabiting an even darker portion of Fabletown, his decisions mean far less, and intentionally so. People ask him, and by extension the player, fewer questions. Other characters command more attention, they talk to Bigby reluctantly, or at him and not with him, or sometimes not at all. The repeated theme is one of exploitation, over and over again, and in the middle of the five-part series, Bigby is stuck in the mire.

 The Wolf Among Us still works, maybe even more so than the first episode, but it is not a fun place to be. Can we really look forward to what comes next?

EXP Podcast #265: Watching Games Play Themselves

Gabe Newell, VGCW Champion

There are some weeks when I swear I spend as much time watching games as I do playing them. Let’s Plays, Twitch streams, and tournament broadcasts are thriving. The usual assumption behind all these types of broadcasts is that there are people on the other end controlling them. What happens when there isn’t? Strangely enough, it’s easy to find game broadcasts in which humans are relegated to the sidelines. This week we talk about the allure of AI vs. AI violence, the allure of gambling, and what happens when thousands of people try to plan a Rube Goldberg machine.

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes
- Find the show on Stitcher
- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 30 min 17 sec
- Video Game Championship Wrestling
- Salty Bet
- Twitch Plays Pokemon

- Music by: Brad Sucks

Spelunky: Treacherous Twerking

It's our mine shaft we can do what we want. It's our mine shaft we can say what we want. It's our mine shaft we can bomb who we want, we can stab who we want, we can rob who we want.

 

From Sochi to 'Spelunky'

Image from PopMatters

This week on PopMatters, I write about the Olympics. Of course, I spend most of the time comparing it to Spelunky, as my obsession with that game is still going strong.

I like watching all kinds of sports, but the Olympics are particularly fascinatiig. The pressure to execute is huge: they only happen once every four years, so even the most talented athletes age only get a handful of tries (if they are lucky). On top of that, many of the events are structured such that even the best players can be knocked out of competition by a single mistake. Clip the side of a wall in the luge or make a bad jump on the ice and your potential to win plummets.

It's also mentally taxing. Many of the sports are solo, which means the audience is doing nothing but watching you. The only variables are your ability to execute on your technique and capacity to remain calm under pressure. So often winning is a function of not inadvertently beating yourself.

These dynamics make for extremely exciting games and are a huge reason I love consequence-heavy games like Spelunky. The rules are easy to grasp and internalize, but the pressure to execute within them is massive. Even the most experienced players fall victim to carelessness or flat out mistakes.

It's easy to get invested in games like these because the choices carry weight. Whether you're playing or watching, you know that any moment can be the key to an amazing victory or a tragic loss.