Stefan H. Simond

Review Round-Up: Wo Long, Forspoken, Fire Emblem Engage, and more

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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Like a Dragon: Ishin!

Dan has played Like a Dragon: Ishin, and is very excited to share not only his thoughts, but a bit of a history lesson on the Bakumatsu period, Modern Japanese history, and the ramifications of a game that uses real history for it’s narrative. Don’t miss it!

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Hogwarts Legacy

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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How to do research (online) fast

This is one of our monthly plus episodes. You can access it by subscribing to Studying Pixels Plus. You will then receive an individual plus feed that you can add to your favourite podcast app. There is so much information to parse that even getting an overview can be quite dazzling. Here are some crucial…

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Bizarre Gaming Gadgets

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! Shownotes 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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Surprising Post-Games

Rolling the credits usually marks the end of a game. But some titles effectively flip the script. The credits are just the beginning of another adventure. We discuss games that present us with surprising, memorable, or simply extensive post-game content.

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Reading Schrape’s Gamification and Governmentality

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. Shownotes Schrape, Niklas: Gamification and Governmentality. In: Mathias Fuchs, Sonia Fizek, Paolo Ruffino et al….

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The Origins of Nintendo

This is one of our monthly plus episodes. You can access it by subscribing to Studying Pixels Plus. You will then receive an individual plus feed that you can add to your favourite podcast app. We all know Mario and Donkey Kong, the NES and the Game Boy. But the origins of Nintendo reach much further…

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The Konami Code

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! Shownotes The Story Of The Konami Code And Early Days Of NES Development (Aria) Nintendo…

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Trauma in Video Games (with Thomas Spies)

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…

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