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Max Payne 3′s Painful Missteps

Max Payne 3 is one of those “adaptations” where a well-known franchise is used to guarantee sales of an original and untried script. Sure, it’s yet another adventure for the hard-boiled,...

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Anita Sarkeesian Is Not Trying To Take Your Games Away

If you haven’t heard about the Tropes Vs Women Kickstarter, you should really read this article. Regardless of one’s opinions on Anita Sarkeesian’s gender-studies analysis of pop culture, the response...

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Verdict on the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut – Cuts Away the Worst Bits

After three months, Mass Effect 3 actually has an adequate ending. Those of you who’ve actually kept up with my articles may recall that my reaction to the original ending was less than pleased. And...

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Darksiders II brings Death to life

People called the original Darksiders “derivative,” presumably because the solid gameplay beneath the cartoonish bombast of “Grimdark Zelda” was too openly reminiscent of other good games. Not that...

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Uneven pacing staggers Resident Evil 6

Like its rogue’s gallery of shambling horrors, Resident Evil 6’s single-player campaign alternates between roaring charge and lurching stagger. You can’t fault the game for a lack of ambition or...

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Halo 4 torn between old and new

I wonder how difficult it was for 343 Industries to take over Halo with Halo 4. The new “Reclaimer Trilogy” may have originated in a flat refusal to let those sweet, sweet Halo dollars slip through...

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To the NRA, imaginary bullets are deadlier than real bullets

The Sandy Hook school shootings may have triggered a storm of political fervor for gun control laws, but there are those who are determined to distract us with tried-and-true diversions – most notably,...

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Devil May Cry for Dummies – in both senses

DmC: Devil May Cry, Ninja Theory’s new title, bills itself as a Devil May Cry game, but it’s clearly aimed at non-fans and new audiences. If the public-relations trainwreck of its development process...

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Editorial: DC hires bigot Orson Scott Card to Write Superman

My mother once told me that the friends you keep around you reflect back on you.  It’s good advice that DC Comics’ mothers probably never gave them, otherwise they wouldn’t have hired Orson Scott Card...

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Outsourcing works as a partnership – not a hand-off

Why did DmC: Devil May Cry fail and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance succeed? What can we learn from the stark contrast of these two very different attempts to outsource popular franchises? You might...

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State of Play – The Next Generation

  Welcome to State of Play, a new editorial column from Pixelated Geek. In State of Play, we’ll be dealing with major issues in the gaming community, and we’ll be reaching out to our community for...

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[Editorial] Bioshock: Infinite and Privileged Narratives

Bioshock: Infinite is daring in many ways – but when it comes to politics, its appeal to the middle is a privileged statement in itself. Of course, a video game is neither a textbook nor a piece of...

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In The Last of Us, the worst monsters don’t come from bites or spores

When the first The Last of Us trailers came out two years ago, Creative Director Neil Druckmann was quick to say TLoU wasn’t a zombie game. “If it were about the monsters, we would have not showed...

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Killer is Dead and shallow absurdism

Criticizing any Suda51 game for not making sense is a dangerous business. Surrealist, deliberately bizarre narratives are the eccentric developer’s stock in trade. And Killer is Dead’s jumbled mishmash...

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Setting sail is more compelling than stabbing in Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag

I’d guess I got halfway through Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, and I still couldn’t give you a succinct plot summary. It’s not that Black Flag is lacking in interesting characters or topics. If...

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Giving Violence Weight

If I was so pretentious as to try and ascribe themes to my random musings – and believe me, I am– then I’d have to say a growing theme in 2013 for me has been giving game violence weight. No, wait!...

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Fears of FCC Overreach Overblown and Misleading

This Tuesday, A District of Columbia court of appeals ruled against certain key elements of “net neutrality.” The court opinion takes a bit of reading, but can be summed up thusly: That said, even...

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[Editorial] Star Trek: In Defense of J.J. Abrams

On May 16 of 2013 Star Trek: Into Darkness released in theaters. The film was well-received by critics and went on to score the largest box office returns in the franchise’s history. (On a more...

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Lords of Shadow 2 is style over substance

I’m probably way too charitable when it comes to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. It’s a disappointment not because it isn’t engaging but because it so often is, right up until it suddenly falters....

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Why Marvel Should Kill Spider-Man

Last week’s announcement of Sony and Marvel Studios finally coming together will go down in the history books for sure, and may even pave the way for other wayward franchises to find their way back...

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Analysis – The Heroic Mime

Once again it’s time to don those comfortable standard-issue Pontification Hats, ladies and gentlemen, for our next installment of Overused Gaming Tropes.  Our topic for today is a relic almost as old...

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Dead Space 2 – Disaster waiting to strike

Some have said Dead Space 2 is not as frightening as its predecessor; that it is somehow less of a horror game than an action title. They are mistaken. Dead Space 2 is not short on carnage. Unspeakable...

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Dragon Age 2 Aims for Moral Ambiguity

Dragon Age: Origins was about saving Thedas. Dragon Age 2 is about living in it. For all its attempts at grit and moral ambiguity, Origins was a fairly conventional fantasy narrative beneath a patina...

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Op-Ed: The Value of EA

I remember as a child making my mom drive me down to the local movie rental store (a now defunct place called “Ins & Outs”).  It was there I would experience the best that my small town could offer...

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Lawful Good: Altruism through duty

In the forgotten past (which is to say, February), my esteemed colleague Bob wrote an impassioned piece in support of Chaotic Good. He hailed Chaotic Good as the least selfish and most human of the...

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Op-Ed: Say What You Mean, Activision!

I was a nerdy kid in high school.  My three main activities were: debate, academic challenge, and gaming.  Debate I found incredibly challenging and intriguing.  Spinning facts, remaining purposefully...

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Why The Kinect Isn’t Innovation

It’s the Kinect’s first anniversary, and doesn’t Microsoft want you to know it. Our favorite mummery-based-interface device was undoubtedly front and center at Microsoft’s E3 booth; ensconced in its...

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Op-Ed: Say What You Mean, Nintendo!

This year’s E3 represented an opportunity for Nintendo to take back the hardcore with a new console.  “Project Cafe” was supposed to be Nintendo’s answer to all of the critics who lambasted the...

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inFamous 2 Delivers on its Predecessor’s Promises (Largely-Spoiler-Free)

inFamous 2 is, like the first game, one of the best arguments that sandbox games can be more than crime sprees or player sociopathy for laughs. Had the game been precisely what it seems to be for...

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inFamous 2 Ending – Good Intentions [SPOILERS]

In the past week I’ve had over an hour of discussion with my brother over the final decision — and endings — of inFamous 2. Not bad, considering that the ending itself consists of maybe a couple...

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Speak for Yourself

By all rights, gamers and geeks should be free of shows like The Big Bang Theory by now. Let’s start with some figures, courtesy of the Entertainment Software Association’s 2011 survey. Seventy-two...

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Agency and Constraint – How Much is Too Much?

While at PAX Prime, I was lucky enough to attend a Dragon Age panel held by a group of Bioware’s creative team for discussion of the series’ future. The room was packed. Fans cheered at most of the...

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The Way Down: EA’s Origin

Everyone hates DRM. Not only do gamers see it as an unnecessary invasion of their enjoyment of a video game, but they see it as a publisher attempting to retain some sort of control over a product they...

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Gears of War 3 – Tender Emotion for Real Men

Without even going into a discussion of its mechanical achievements, Gears of War 3 is a compelling work of narrative and the most polished entry in the franchise. It is a rejection of the concept that...

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Ace Combat Assault Horizon Flits in and out of the Danger Zone

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon places me into an awkward position. On the one hand, it is damned hard to make flying a jet fighter through epic dogfights not exhilarating. My inner child, the one who...

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The Rare Art of Gaming Perfection

Hopefully everyone has played a game that when you experience any particular part about the game or just the product as a whole you think to yourself, “Wow, that game really does (x-feature) really...

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Excuse Plots have No Excuses

Observant readers – assuming I’ve got readers; please, don’t divest me of the illusion – may have noticed that even though a lot of my reviews focus on games as storytelling, few of them cover...

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State of Play: Mac Vs PC

Most of us have probably seen the previously ubiquitous all-white background commercial contrasting a trendy, young, and known actor who representing an Apple computer with the stodgy, suit & tie,...

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Uncharted 3 – More Gold is Still Gold

I could save us all a lot of time and just say that Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is at least as good as its predecessor. I could say it sparkles with witty character dialogue. I could say once the...

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State of Play: Expectations

This week's column is dealing with a topic that everyone is currently being exposed to thanks to our position as being in the middle of holiday release season. The sheer amount of hype being pushed by...

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Assassin’s Creed: Revelations hasn’t many new revelations

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations feels tired. In part, this is a thematic choice. Ezio Auditore’s an old man now- a genuinely old man, not simply artificially aged or decrepit, which makes him relatively...

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Played video games? Red Cross says you might be a war criminal

Well, folks, it’s official. Some delegates at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent have begun to consider extending the reach of “International Humanitarian Law” – the...

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MMOs and the Trouble Of Eternal Life

There’s been talk of a Mass Effect massive-multiplayer-online-game going ’round, much as there’s talk of an MMO any time a franchise is successful. On the surface such talk is often tempting. An...

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The Darkness 2 – Commentary on Shooter Gameplay?

The Darkness 2‘s valiant straddling of poignancy and savagery is so deliberate it makes me wonder if it isn’t a commentary on the shooter genre. This is something of a trend these days with shooters,...

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Asura’s Wrath – Always Angry, All the Time

It’s hard to review Asura’s Wrath like any conventional game. Thanks to long years of clichés, you’ll think this is a fancy way for me to praise it. It isn’t. Asura’s Wrath at times tests its...

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Mass Effect III – Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Seldom has a game infuriated me so as Mass Effect 3, and it’s not even because the majority of the game is bad. If anything, the remarkable quality of the rest of the game is just the salt in the...

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Journey – Wandering in the Wilderness

Like Flower before it, thatgamecompany’s latest opus Journey features only elemental game design – yet that’s enough.  Also like Flower, it’s interactive in all the ways that matter. It’s no surprise...

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Sincerity in Short Supply

You’ve probably heard about George Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, even if only because of Star Wars. Campbell argued that the myths that have survived for thousands of years share a common,...

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This Is a Joke, Right?

There are times, when words are not enough. I am an eternal proponent of the written word, and I am at a loss when I find myself in a position where this happens. I admit this only under times of...

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Well, Why Shouldn’t We Call Black Widow A Slut?

So Jeremy Renner is in “internet trouble” because in an interview last month he called Black Widow a slut, and then this week on Conan he defended that statement; Black Widow is definitely a slut. The...

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