Game Theory 1: Introductions

06/27/12 • 86 min

Recorded on June 26th, 2012 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.

Brian, Jim and Tom talk about beloved games and give some general background on their goals and interests regarding games. They each provide the following background info:

Five games you love
A game you wish you loved, but you can’t
Your most memorable gaming experience
A pet peeve in gaming (something that is easy to fix or avoid)
A wish or dream (something that is hard to fix or do)
What games you are playing now

[Editor’s Note] There was a technical error with this recording and some of Jim’s discussion right at the beginning was lost.

Links to Referenced Items:

Planescape: Torment,
Fallout 1,
Mirror’s Edge,
Assassin’s Creed,
Shadow of the Colossus,
Ico,
The Last Guardian,
Red Faction: Guerilla,
Homefront,
Robotron:2084,
Eugene Jarvis,
Larry DeMar,
World of Warcraft,
ToeJam and Earl,
Geometry Wars,
Inferno,
Portal,
Tempest,
Space Invaders,
Vector Graphics,
Battlezone,
Fake Sponsor: Weighted Companion Cube,
Nethack,
Colossal Caves,
Zork,
Roguelike Games,
Rogue,
Angband,
Ancient Domains of Mystery,
X-Com: UFO Defense,
X-Com: Terror From the Deep,
Hunters (iOS),
Masters of Orion 2,
The Ur-Quan Masters,
Twilight Imperium,
Fable,
Peter Molyneux,
Grand Theft Auto 3,
Mass Effect,
Star Wars: The Old Republic,
Penny Arcade: Backstory in The Old Republic,
Natural Selection,
Natural Selection 2,
Tribes,
Unknown Worlds Entertainment,
Duke Nukem Forever,
Left 4 Dead,
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War,
Rise of Nations,

Recorded on June 26th, 2012 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.

Brian, Jim and Tom talk about beloved games and give some general background on their goals and interests regarding games. They each provide the following background info:

Five games you love
A game you wish you loved, but you can’t
Your most memorable gaming experience
A pet peeve in gaming (something that is easy to fix or avoid)
A wish or dream (something that is hard to fix or do)
What games you are playing now

[Editor’s Note] There was a technical error with this recording and some of Jim’s discussion right at the beginning was lost.

Links to Referenced Items:

Next Episode

Game Theory 2: Suspension of Disbelief

Recorded on July 5th, 2012 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.

Story-driven games and degrees of freedom in games are covered. Is a choose your own adventure interactive story really a “game”? How about puzzle games that are heavily biased towards a cutscene-based story?

Is there a good way to classify or categorize games? Our hosts start to talk about this but do not come to any conclusions.

The way games deal with suspension of disbelief, either elegantly or poorly, is reviewed and the team wraps up with a summary of EvE Online for Jim.

Links to Referenced Items:

Jurassic Park,
Casablanca,
Jaws,
Halo: CEA,
Pac-Man,
Dark Side of the Moon,
F.E.A.R. 3,
Bullet Time,
Modern Warfare,
Half-Life 2,
Bioshock,
Civilization,
Settlers of Catan,
Catan - AI Formulas,
Velociraptor,
Whimsy Land - Diablo 3,
World of Warcraft,
Borderlands,
Dungeon Defenders,
Iron Brigade,
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War,
Resident Evil,
Metal Gear,
God of War,
King’s Quest V,
The Act,
Dragon’s Lair,
No High Scores: 100k Xbox Points,
Tribes: Ascend,
Jetpack Joyride,
Journey,
Fake Sponsor:Grog,
Nethack,
I Love Lucy,
Choose Your Own Adventure,
Metal Gear,
Catherine,
Final Fantasy,
Elder Scrolls,
Uncharted 3,
Mario 64,
Assassin’s Creed,
Mirror’s Edge,
Strategery,
Risk,
Tetris,
Helvetica Clock,
Superbrothers: Swords and Sworcery,
Pixeljunk,
Voxel,
Uncanny Valley,