We have been podcasting diligently every week for approximately two years. Now, we decided to take a hiatus to recover a bit and organize some things in our private and professional lives. We look forward to returning, because we have got so many more episodes already planned. It's going to be fun!

If you are a Studying Pixels Plus subscriber, you do not have to do anything. We will pause our Patreon campaign while we are on hiatus, so you will not be billed.

If you wish to stay in the loop, please stay subscribed or join our Discord, which will also be alive and running the entire time.

You are the best and we are looking forward to resume our journey!

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How do we go about analyzing video games? Well, close playing is one of the most prominent methods to do so. Together with Prof. Dr. Theresa Jean Tanenbaum, we discuss what close playing means and how to pragmatically go about it.

Well read: Applying close reading techniques to gameplay experiences (Jim Bizzocchi and Theresa Tanenbaum)

Hermeneutic Inquiry for Digital Games Research (Theresa Tanenbaum)

https://transformativeplay.ics.uci.edu/

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No, you didn’t misread that. Stefan and Dan watched the original Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993 and they… have some thoughts. Was it a good film? No. Was it influential in the video game adaptation space? For better or worse, yes. Let’s see what it has to offer and what we can expect from the new movie coming out in April. 

Bob Hoskins: 'The Method? Living it out? Cobblers!’ (Simon Hattenstone)

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Motion capturing might look so smooth and effortless on screen but it is often the result of an intricate process. Our guest, Jimmy Corvan, can attest to that. He worked at the motion capture studio House of Moves for eleven years and shares his insights on how characters in The Last of Us, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty and many more games (and films) were brought to life.

House of Moves: https://www.moves.com

Room 8 Group: https://room8group.com

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We’ve played so many games recently and barely had the time to squish them all into the show. So that is exactly we are doing with this episode. Here are our impression of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Forspoken, Fire Emblem Engage, Octopath Traveller II, and the Dead Space Remake.

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This is a replay episode, originally aired on May 22, 2022.

How about we advertise a new game by paying off people’s speeding tickets for one day? Or, even better, how about we showcase a dead goat for some extra PR? Or maybe we plaster the inner city with racist billboards? – Sometimes it is truly impressive what publishers come up with to draw attention to their games. We go through 10 of the arguably most terrible marketing choices ever made.

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It is one of the biggest launches this year so far and at the same time one of the most contested one. In our review, we focus on the actual game and discuss how the magic of Hogwarts enthralled us just as much as the incessant repetition of the open world repulsed us.

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Every now and then, video game companies come up with the weirdest, most peculiar, and often entirely unusable gaming gadgets and accessories. Here are our favourites!

Plus 13. Heaven is a Halfpipe: The Story of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (Studying Pixels)

Title image by Marcin Wichary (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/45221968804/) under CC BY 2.0 license; cropped image for title fitting.

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This is a replay episode, originally aired on November 28, 2021.

We might nostalgically look back at the beauty of game boxes and fail to realize how strongly they are linked to the economization of games. With our guest, game studies scholar Claudius Clüver, we trace how games got into the box and how, with the advent of digital distribution, they made their way back out.

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Gamification is one of the most extensively used buzzwords these days. And rightfully so, considering that the logic of play pervades just about all domains of daily life. We discuss Niklas Schrape’s critical reflection, based on the text Gamification and Governmentality.

Schrape, Niklas: Gamification and Governmentality. In: Mathias Fuchs, Sonia Fizek, Paolo Ruffino et al. (eds.): Rethinking Gamification. Lüneburg: meson press 2014, pp. 21–45.

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This is a replay episode, originally aired on August 14, 2022.

Technically, JRPG simply stands for Japanese Role-Playing Game. Yet, it seems like the genre ascription has taken on a life of its own. Is every RPG made in Japan automatically a JRPG? And what differentiates them from Western RPGs? Here’s our take on the matter!

Shownotes

Japanische Rollenspiele: Was macht ein Spiel zum JRPG? – Podcast E054 (Behind the Screens)

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U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, B, A – an abstract sequence of inputs that is deeply ingrained into cultural memory. We explore the history of the Konami Code, with lots of fun trivia and gimmicks to try yourself!

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The Story Of The Konami Code And Early Days Of NES Development (Aria)

Nintendo Power Issue #1, July/August 1988 (Nintendo Power)

What Is the Konami Code, and How Do You Use it? (Benj Edwards)

Konami code explained: What is the code and which games still use it? (Joe Julians)

Konami Code | Full Supported Konami Video Games List (Hanna Synetska)

Konami Code (IGN)

Kazuhisa Hashimoto, Creator Of Famous 'Konami Code' Gaming Cheat, Dies (Jordan Pascale)

Konami posts Konami Code on Twitter to commemorate Hashimoto

Even the Bank of Canada can’t resist the Konami code (Megan Farokhmanesh)

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Oh no, your family has been abducted and your village burnt to the ground! Better start a bloody vendetta…or so the story of many video games starts out. Our guest, Dr. Thomas Spies, argues in favour of more complex and differentiated trauma representations. Here’s our conversation about titles such as Max Payne, Distraint, The Last of Us, Hellblade, and Disco Elysium.

Trauma im Computerspiel. Mediale Repräsentationen mentaler Extremerfahrungen (Thomas Spies)

“Making Sense in a Senseless World”: Disco Elysium’s Absurd Hero (Thomas Spies)

gofundme campaign: Honorare Sammelband Kritische Videospielstudien

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Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - Reunion has been out for some time now, and Dan has really sunk his teeth into a game he’s already pretty familiar with. Join him and Stefan as they talk about how the Remaster stacks up to the original, and what it means for the FFVII Franchise moving forward.

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Merry Christmas! As is tradition, we come together to evaluate our predictions from last year and put up a bunch of new ones for 2023. Will we be even remotely correct? – Join us to find out!

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Great expectations were set for The Callisto Protocol. Is it going to bring back space horror in a major way? Well, it might not, because in our review we discuss how the game is impressive at first sight, but in itself conceptually torn.

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Plus 6. The Rise and Fall of Visceral Games (Studying Pixels)

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This is a replay episode, originally aired on October 31, 2021.

“I am god here.” A strangely unsettling sentence, especially if uttered by a character in a game that might very well be cursed. For this Halloween we collect and retell our favorite gaming-related creepypastas and urban legends.

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The Game Awards have become a mainstay in the annual cycle of marketing and industry celebration. We go over our high- and lowlights of the show!

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The Game Awards 2022 Winners: The Full List (Logan Plant)

The Game Awards 2022: Everything Announced (Adam Bankhurst)

That Guy Who Interrupted the End of The Game Awards Has Been Arrested (John Friscia)

Jason Schreier about his interview with Matan Even

God of War Ragnarok is Being Review Bombed (Dalton Cooper)

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Ah, a new Pokemon game. Scarlet and Violet have quickly shown up on our Switches and have generated some controversy around it’s performance issues. Is all the vitriol really warranted? Kind of. But! It’s also one of the best Pokemon experiences to date. Join Stefan and Dan as they break down why that is!

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Seeing beyond what seems to be real, seeing a ‘truth’ obscured from others—there seems to be a proper fascination with this exclusive gaze. We explore the notion of true sight in video games such as The Cat Lady and Fran Bow with Dr. Sarah Stang, Assistant Professor of Game Studies at Brock University in Canada.

Madness as True Sight in The Cat Lady and Fran Bow (Sarah Stang)

Maiden, Mother, and Crone: Abject Female Monstrosity in Roleplaying Games (Sarah Stang)

This is Sarah’s website: https://smstang.com

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The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster was recently released for PS4 and Nintendo Switch, and you know Dan has some thoughts about it. It’s another solo episode, this time with Dan and his theories about the Final Fantasy series, it’s origins, and how it came to be what it is today. 

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Is it getting chilly in here? God of War: Ragnarök has landed and received raving reviews across the board. We took some time, engaged with it deeply, and yes…it is totally awesome. Here’s our review!

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Our brand new Discord server

Plus 14. How God of War Works (Studying Pixels)

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Gaming communities can be a lovely place of bonding and encouragement. However, and in no contradiction to the former, they can also be excluding, pervaded by extremism, and profoundly hostile towards anything ‘different’. Why is that so and what can we do about it? – Those are the questions we ask Dr. Rachel Kowert, renowned research psychologist, best selling author, and research director of Take This.

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Shownotes

Not just a game: Identity fusion and extremism in gaming cultures (Rachel Kowert, Alexi Martel, and William B. Swann)

Rachel’s website: rkowert.com

Rachel’s YouTube channel: Psychgeist

Rachel on Twitter: @DrKowert

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This is a replay episode, originally aired on October 24, 2021.

Could that school friend really be right about this Pokémon that is not supposed to exist? Is there really a way to infinitely multiply items as this Nintendo magazine suggests? – We're diving back into our childhood to unravel how Missing No. changed the ideas about how video games work and who owns their lore.

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The witch is back in town—frantic, silly, and always in the mood to dance. We played through Bayonetta 3 and consider it exceedingly stylish though some of the shots it fires miss the mark. Here’s our review, including our commentary to the drama that revolved around the change in voice actresses.

Shownotes

PlatinumGames confirms Jennifer Hale is the new voice actress for Bayonetta in Bayonetta 3 (Brian)

Original videos by Hellena Taylor

A Tense Pay Dispute Overshadows Nintendo’s Upcoming Bayonetta 3 (Jason Schreier)

Rebuttal by Hellena Taylor

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Okay, in this Halloween special Dan and Stefan are talking about games that actually scared them. And some of those titles you probably have not heard of so far. Buckle up, it’s pumpkin time!

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From Assassin’s Creed to Civilization and from The Oregon Trail to Valiant Hearts—video games are profoundly fascinated with history. But how can we analyse those representations of history without simply ‘fact checking’ the games? We are joined by the historian and long-running high school teacher Dr. Jeremiah McCall for a conversation about his framework of games as historical problem spaces.

The Historical Problem Space Framework: Games as a Historical Medium (Jeremiah McCall)

This is Jeremiah’s blog: gamingthepast.net

Here’s a link to Jeremiah McCall’s book: Gaming the Past: Using Video Games to Teach Secondary History

Historical Game Design Theory and Practice with Luke Homes (Jeremiah McCall)

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In recent years, we have seen a wave of media nostalgically embracing the 80s. Unusual Findings is the latest entry: a Maniac Mansion inspired point’n’click adventure. Does the crowdfunded project manage to transport us back to the childhood we never had? And what is the appeal of 80s nostalgia anyway? Here’s our review!

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This is a replay episode, originally aired on September 26, 2021.

It is finally time for our very first episode! Our mascot Pixel-kun is celebrating and so are we. For introductions, we share five stories of our gaming biography, only three of which are true. Can you tell the difference?

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Some interesting stories flew under our radar and so it is time to catch up! We are talking about the end of Google Stadia, videogamedunkey starting a publishing company, the turmoil revolving around the GTA 6 leaks, and the unification of chargers in the EU.

Afterwards we are sharing our impressions of games we have recently played: Infernax, GRIS, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R, and Layers of Fear.

6:25 Stadia Shutdown

A message about Stadia and our long term streaming strategy (Phil Harrison)

17:16 Dunkey’s BigMode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEt27Jgp8gs

28:27 GTA 6 Leaks

GTA 6 (Americas) leak - 90+ .mp4 footage/videos (teapotuberhacker)

Huge GTA 6 leak includes gameplay footage of robbery, Vice City locations, and two playable characters (Jody Macgregor)

43:17 EU and the USB-C

48:06 Infernax

50:42 GRIS

52:44 Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R

57:15 Layers of Fear

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The influence of H.P. Lovecraft on the domain of (video) games can hardly be overestimated. The introduction of the sanity meter, the ripples of madness in Bloodborne, and Batman’s Arkham Asylum—the exploration on the fringes of knowledge fascinates today still. We discuss Lovecraftian aesthetics with horror aficionado Richard Mertens, who is not only the newest addition to the Studying Pixels team, but also hosts his own show, titled The Pike Horror Show.

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We are all familiar with names such as Sony, Nintendo, Ubisoft, or Konami. But how did these names come about? In this short episode, we explore the background behind some of the most influential company names.

The Stories Behind the Names of 15 Gaming Brands You Know (Kelvon Yeezy)

The History and Meaning of the Ubisoft Logo (FreeLogoDesign)

What's In A Name (1Up.com)

Sony Company History (Sony)

Interview: Former Microsoft Exec Fries Talks Xbox's Genesis (Leigh Alexander)

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Time to return to Monkey Island! For the series’ original creator Ron Gilbert as well as for us—after many years and some mixed experiences. Does Return to Monkey Island hold up as a proper sequel to the original titles? – Here’s our review!

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We are turning 50 years, uhm, episodes old! And at the same time, we are celebrating our one year anniversary. What an occasion! So let’s go ahead and ponder some “would you rather” questions. For fun!

Nintendo Direct, 09/13/2022 (Nintendo)

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Many of us still have vivid memories of 11 September 2001. The worlds deadliest terrorist attack left a gaping wound of societal trauma. Video games are no exception to this. So today, on the attack’s anniversary, we are dissecting how 9/11 changed video game culture, how individual games were altered, and how games actively engaged with the ensuing consequences.

The Post-9/11 Video Game: A Critical Examination (Marc A. Ouellette)

Playing War. Military Video Games After 9/11 (Matthew Thomas Payne)

How 9/11 Affected Games (Rick Lane)

List of entertainment affected by the September 11 attacks (Wikipedia)

How 9/11 Impacted Metal Gear Solid 2 (Shannon Lawlor)

How 9/11 affected video games (Reddit thread by RCizzle65)

Reading Gonzalo Frasca: Simulation vs Narrative (Studying Pixels)

September 12th (Newsgames)

The title image of this episode comes from here. The original link is no longer valid, but the image depicts the box art of Command & Conquer 2: Red Alert before it had been altered following the attacks at 9/11.

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Exploring a cyberpunk dystopia from a cat’s perspective—best idea ever. But does Stray hold up to scrutiny? Or does it cutify the dire setting? – Here’s our review!

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Gamescom, the biggest video game trade show in the world, has come and gone. Of course, we were there to check out a whole range of games and to discuss the status quo of video game culture with experts. Here is our report!

00:05:42 One P I E C E Odyssey (Our hoster does not allow the word to be written normally here, sorry. It is that famous manga/anime series about the guy in the straw hat.)

00:09:24 Floodland (with Kacper Kwiatkowski, Co-Boss and Creative Advisor at Vile Monarch)

00:37:32 Video Games vs Social Media (with Karol Severin, Senior Analyst at MIDiA Research)

00:49:55 Blockchains and the Metaverse (with Michelle Kang, Head of Growth at Nervos Network)

01:01:59 Vikings on Trampolines

01:08:46 Lies of P

01:11:20 Using Games for Citizen Science (with Attila Szantner, CEO & Co-Founder of Massively Multiplayer Online Science)

01:23:21 Conclusion

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With its plague themed setting and its sprinkles of role-play mechanics, Thymesia attempts to employ the strengths of Soulsborne games and run with them. But does it manage to stand out enough? Here’s our review!

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Technically, JRPG simply stands for Japanese Role-Playing Game. Yet, it seems like the genre ascription has taken on a life of its own. Is every RPG made in Japan automatically a JRPG? And what differentiates them from Western RPGs? Here’s our take on the matter!

Japanische Rollenspiele: Was macht ein Spiel zum JRPG? – Podcast E054 (Behind the Screens)

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Each year a new, mainline Pokémon game comes and goes. This time, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet promise a continuation of the series’ tradition while also integrating the innovations of recent titles. We discuss what we know so far.

Our Pokémon Legends: Arceus review

Everything we know about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (Nicole Carpenter)

Pokémon Presents Showcase August 2022 (The Pokémon Company)

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Some games are designed to be played over and over again. And others, we just return to every once and while for comfort, insight, or even self-reflection. We discuss how we replay games and how our approaches have changed over time.

We mentioned that Dan was a guest on last week’s episode of The Pike Horror Show to talk about a whole range of horror movies. Here’s the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode image by BugWarp, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Some games deliberately hide certain mechanics to make player actions feel more satisfying—such as barely escaping death—or secretly track player actions to determine the ending they are going to see. In this episode we are opening some black boxes for a sneak peak!

Shownotes

Games aren’t always fair, the magic lies in making you think they are (Jennifer Scheurle)

The genius of Silent Hill 2's endings (MegaBearsFan)

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E3 was the event that kept the entire video game industry in suspense for a whole week. It brought for bouts of joy and sighs of disappointment. Now, that E3 might be no more, we reflect upon its history.

E3 (Wikipedia)

A Tale of Two E3s - Xbox vs Sony vs Sega (Christopher Dring)

Geoff Keighley will not participate in E3 2020 (Christopher Dring)

E3 Has Been Canceled (Rebekah Valentine)

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Video games have repeatedly intersected with fake news. Whether it is the absurd claim that Hideo Kojima assassinated the former prime minister Shinzo Abe, the deliberate use footage from Arma 3 by Russian media, or the mishaps of CNN and BBC who included video game footage in news reporting. We discuss these cases and many more in order to discern why it keeps happening and what the detrimental consequences might be.

Legal action threatened as Hideo Kojima falsely linked to Shinzo Abe assassination (Andy Robinson)

Video game misrepresented as footage of Ukraine invasion (Josh Kelety)

Some Of The Most Popular 'Ukraine Footage' Is Actually A Video Game (Luke Plunkett)

Russian News Accidentally Airs Video Game Clip During Segment On Syrian War (Cecilia D’Anastasio)

CNN Shows Fallout Computer Terminal In A Video About Russian Hacking (Ethan Gach)

News Station Uses Metal Gear Solid V Pic For Report On Child Soldiers (Gergo Vas)

Russian Military Uses Video Game Screenshot To Allege US Support For ISIS (Ethan Gach)

Russian State TV Airs Video Game Clip as Real War Footage (Matt Novak)

Russian 'Proof' That the US Is Helping ISIS Is Actually From a Video Game (Matt Novak)

Russia Just Tweeted a Video Game Screenshot to Show Chemical Weapons Trucks (Matt Novak)

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Have you ever played a game and just thought to yourself: “wow, I would really love to take a vacation in that world”? – Well, we certainly have! Here are our top picks, ten game worlds that would make for a splendid getaway.

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Most of us have done it at some point, possibly without any awareness of the harm it might cause. After all, piracy has for a long time been an integral part of video game culture. To discuss whether there is any moral angel from which piracy can be justified, we collaborate with Shlomo Sher, Philosophy professor at California State University Fullerton, and Andy Ashcraft, veteran game designer and lecturer in Game Design and Screenwriting at the New York Film Academy, from the Ethics and Video Games podcast.

PC piracy survey results: 35 percent of PC gamers pirate (Wes Fenlon)

How Serious is Piracy in the Videogame Industry? (Nobuya Fukugawa)

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Men must be strong, show little emotion, and speak with violence—that is an exceedingly common trope in video games, referred to as hypermasculinity. We explore the concept of hypermasculinity to then focus on games that subvert or deconstruct it.

Measuring a macho personality constellation (Donald L. Mosher and Mark Sirkin)

Walking, Talking and Playing with Masculinities in Firewatch (Melissa Kagen)

Studying Pixels Plus 2. How Yakuza works

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