Unlocking Games Podcast
1) Episode 26: Being Big Brother in Orwell
First, an important note: This will be our last episode for a while. Brandon and I have both developed outside commitments that keep us from spending the time to do more episodes right. We might be ba...Show More
2) Episode 25: We Wanted to Be Chicago
Released in early February, We Are Chicago is a serious game with serious goals: to put players in the shoes of a teenager amid the problems of Chicago’s South Side. As Aaron you navigate the la...Show More
3) Episode 24: Getting Punched by Interesting People in This War of Mine
The game is more than two years old and based on an event from the 90s, but This War of Mine still feels fresh and relevant. This War of Mine drops you in the middle of a city under siege. But youR...Show More
4) Episode 23: Naked in the Desert on the Migrant Trail
With immigration and a border wall in the news this week, it’s a good time to look at 2013’s The Migrant Trail. Released as a tie-in for Marco Williams’ documentary The Undocumented,...Show More
5) Episode 22: Freezing Rain and Dysentery on the Voter Suppression Trail
Welcome back to season two! We’re slightly shifting focus to social impact games: games that explore social issues like elections, climate change, homelessness, and immigration. Each episode wil...Show More
6) Episode 21: Agents and Avatars in Final Fantasy XV
Many games put you in the role of someone else. It’s right in the name of at least one genre: Role-Playing Game. We identify with each of these avatars to varying degrees. It’s hard to fee...Show More
7) Episode 20: Putting Console Controllers on Your Resume
We’ve talked often before about how games can use a GUI to teach you a skill or task useful in real life. But is another angle on this idea true too? Is expertise using the buttons on a console cont...Show More
8) Episode 19: Boom, Headshot!
It’s not often there’s breaking news in the world of academic articles on gaming, but a potential retraction of an article is worth talking about. A 2014 study called “Boom, Headshot! Effect of ...Show More
9) Episode 18: The Power of Not Believing in Yourself: Part 2 (Self-efficacy and Bloodborne)
Last week we talked about self-efficacy, particularly how it relates to the high difficulty of the Dark Souls series. But Dark Souls actually goes against lots of advice about the relationship between...Show More
10) Episode 17: The Power of Not Believing in Yourself – Part 1 (Self-efficacy and Dark Souls)
How good are you at Dark Souls? Or put another way: What’s your perception of your related self-efficacy? The Dark Souls series is hard. Really, really hard. We’re just preparing you: You&...Show More