Bookwarm Games

Audio from a broadcast for Signum Academy on Twitch in Fall 2020. After the Summer of Storytelling, it was the Fall of Philip Pullman!

⁠⁠Slides⁠⁠ to accompany the ⁠⁠video⁠⁠ (part 1 and part 2).

Quite a few of these are uploaded to YouTube, and there may be even more still lingering in the Twitch archives. I tried to track the project ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

As Signum is rebranding some of its content in the ⁠⁠Plaza⁠⁠, there may be a more polished version available someday, but I wanted to share it such as it is. My hope is still to incorporate this material into a book about Pullman, which I'm ⁠⁠envisioning⁠⁠ as more of an intellectual biography than the commentaries and analyses I've released so far. Collaborators welcome!

Thanks to the team at Signum for lending me the platform for these experiments in reading video games and playing books on Twitch, and thank you for listening.

Audio from a broadcast for Signum Academy on Twitch in Fall 2020. After the Summer of Storytelling, it was the Fall of Philip Pullman!

Slides to accompany the video.

Quite a few of these are uploaded to YouTube, and there may be even more still lingering in the Twitch archives. I tried to track the project here.

As Signum is rebranding some of its content in the Plaza, there may be a more polished version available someday, but I wanted to share it such as it is. My hope is still to incorporate this material into a book about Pullman, which I'm envisioning as more of an intellectual biography than the commentaries and analyses I've released so far. Collaborators welcome!

Thanks to the team at Signum for lending me the platform for these experiments in reading video games and playing books on Twitch, and thank you for listening.

Audio from a broadcast for Signum Academy on Twitch in Fall 2020. After the Summer of Storytelling, it was the Fall of Philip Pullman!

⁠Slides⁠ to accompany the ⁠video⁠.

Quite a few of these are uploaded to YouTube, and there may be even more still lingering in the Twitch archives. I tried to track the project ⁠here⁠.

As Signum is rebranding some of its content in the ⁠Plaza⁠, there may be a more polished version available someday, but I wanted to share it such as it is. My hope is still to incorporate this material into a book about Pullman, which I'm ⁠envisioning⁠ as more of an intellectual biography than the commentaries and analyses I've released so far. Collaborators welcome!

Thanks to the team at Signum for lending me the platform for these experiments in reading video games and playing books on Twitch, and thank you for listening.

The preview session for Video Game Studies in SPACE.

Inviting students to share their delight in, and deepen their appreciation of, video games, we will discuss examples of the art, music, gameplay, and story from a range of influential titles. We will introduce and experiment with some of the theoretical frameworks that have been applied to video games as media objects and cultural artifacts. But mostly, we will enjoy learning more about the medium and the games we already love. Aside from links and selections shared throughout the module, Gabrielle Zevin’s novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow will be the only required reading.

And for a true expelliarmus from the past, here's some audio recorded at Norwescon 42 with Sarah Miller, for a podcast created by Alexander Schmid, discussing the Harry Potter books.

Thanks to Signum U for hosting my course, to the organizers at Norwescon, and you for listening!

A talk given at Cascade Moot (August 31, 2024) on the theme: "From the Fringe: The Importance of Secondary and Tertiary Characters"

A Tale of Two Tonys: Loss and Recovery in The Golden Compass and EarthBound

Presentation slides - essential for playing Name That Tony! with us and reading text boxes from EarthBound

Reflecting on two secondary characters, Tony from Snow Wood and Tony Makarios, respectively appearing in EarthBound, a video game released for the Super Nintendo in 1995, and The Golden Compass, a book by Philip Pullman published that same year, players and readers of all ages are invited to consider themes of loss and recovery from a new perspective. Both characters are kidnapped, one at the start and one near the end of the adventures in which they figure; both characters have someone important taken away from them in turn. Their responses provide significant symbolic images and gameplay mechanics that draw us closer to the heart of these stories.

Thanks to the team at Signum U for hosting, and to you for listening.

https://videogameacademia.org/

The audio from a discussion held at TexMoot 2024.

Among the voices you'll hear is that of Corey Olsen, the host of the event and president of Signum University.

This one proved more engaging than my talk on Final Fantasy and King Arthur. I don't know if that was because it was more open-ended and participatory, of if it was because the other was at the end of a long day of talks.

For more on the presentations: videogameacademia.org

Thanks for listening.

Inspired by Prof Kozlowski's recent post on FFVIII and IX, I'm sharing the audio from my talk on a not-too-dissimilar essay, Rat Tail and Knights of the Round: Summoning King Arthur in Final Fantasy IV and VII.

Abstract: Video games play a significant role in transmitting images of heroism in contemporary culture. This talk concerns allusions to King Arthur in the Final Fantasy video game series, read in the light of mythic narratives present in the role-playing game genre. I focus on representative Arthuriana in Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VII, which I take to be illustrative of the tension between crystalizing and splintering tendencies at work in the series. I draw comparisons between two major examples, the Excalibur weapon and Knights of the Round summon magic. For a tentative framework of theory, I make reference to Tolkien’s imagery of light as refracted by Verlyn Flieger’s analysis in Splintered Light.

Referenced slides.

For more about my presentations at Signum U's TexMoot: videogameacademia.org

Resolving everything, including seemingly arbitrary AU retelling material, up to the end of Danganronpa 2.

https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/danganronpa/

Thanks for listening!

Exploring the final island and the limits of luck.

Lost in the Funhouse that is Danganronpa 2...

https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/danganronpa/

Apologies for the abrupt cessation of audio. Such are the vicissitudes of the killing game. Thanks for listening!