Bookwarm Games

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.

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. https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/danganronpa/ Thanks for listening.

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!

Somewhere in the ocean, an island paradise named after the Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky" hosts the sequel to Danganronpa. https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/danganronpa/ Between our last release and this, a few discussions went unrecorded, but we're carrying on undeterred. Thanks for listening!

Just published in the journal Humanities, Contrapasso, Violence, and Madness in Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Westworld, by Alexander E Schmid, is freely available to read: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/13/5/109 We discuss reveries and memory, freedom and madness, truth and representation, and how they connect these medieval and contemporary works of art. For a related project touching on FF6 and Dante, see Gamelogica's video series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TdWFirsgHc Thanks for listening!

The Ultimate Summer School Discussion treads carefully though intrepidly through the manly bonds and broken promises of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Chapter 2 - Boys Life of Despair. https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/danganronpa/ Spoilers and CW: be ready to talk about gender, sexuality, jealousy, transphobia, and "Gentleman" Genocide Jack. Thanks for listening!

A discussion of the opening case of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, with appropriate levels of hope and despair foreshadowing major philosophical stakes ahead. https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/danganronpa/ Spoilers and CW: see the M rating on the game. Thanks for listening!

Sorry, no Tom Bombadil here. Well, a brief mention... Moses Norton, aka the Well-Red Mage, joins me to dig into the recent film adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Tolkien, Dune 2, Dragonslayer, and lots of Gamelogica references round out our discussion of the film's visuals, characters, story, and themes. Enjoy! Gamelogica youtube channel The Pixels We're still hoping for a Criterion Collection of video games, but in the meantime, we'll do our part to bring you thoughtful critique and analysis of games' deeper meaning, with a healthy dash of the ridiculous. https://videogameacademia.org/

Dylan Holmes joins me to discuss his history of storytelling in video games, A Mind Forever Voyaging. Read his book if you're interested in games like FF7, MGS, Deus Ex, and Dear Esther, or in questions about cinematic technique, player choice, power and escapism. Read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin all the way to the end and you'll find it among her acknowledgments. Plus, it's translated into French as ⁠Little Big Stories: Voyage au coeur de la narration⁠ (surely not a reference to another great novel, Little, Big, by John Crowley?!) Read more from Dylan at Nightmare Mode and Augmented Vision. See my review over on ThePixels. The Secret of Monkey Island audio comes from the SCUMM Bar fansite. Thanks for reading and listening.

We come full circle, as it were, Alex and I, discussing his recently published paper "Popularizing Paradiso: On the Difficulties of Podcasting Dante’s Most Academic Canticle" and his work bridging popular culture with the field of comparative literature.

At long last, Alex and I wander off on another side quest, discussing Miyazaki's recent film, The Boy and the Heron, and its resonances for us with myth and history. (As always, I wish I knew more about the language, like how to translate "How Do You Live?") Other episodes in this series on the storied Studio Ghibli can be found most readily on Alex's youtube. Thanks for listening.

Concluding thoughts on the visual novel. Thanks for listening! More resources at https://videogameacademia.org/courses/video-game-studies/intro-to-visual-novels/

Home stretch! More at https://videogameacademia.org/courses/video-game-studies/intro-to-visual-novels/

More at https://videogameacademia.org/courses/video-game-studies/intro-to-visual-novels/

Twists! https://videogameacademia.org/courses/video-game-studies/intro-to-visual-novels/

Onward! https://videogameacademia.org/courses/video-game-studies/intro-to-visual-novels/

Continuing discussion of the sequel to AI: The Somnium Files. More on visual novels at https://videogameacademia.org/courses/video-game-studies/intro-to-visual-novels/

The lost audio recovered, continued. More at https://videogameacademia.org/courses/video-game-studies/intro-to-visual-novels/