Life Through The Pixel Glass-03/07/2013

o we’re aware that LTTPG is late again but with good reason. March is going to be one of the busiest months for us this entire year ladies and germs. March is one of the biggest months for releases between Tomb Raider, Mirrors of Fate, Sim City, Gears of War: Judgment, Bioshock Infinite, Pandora’s Tower, and so many more, it’s a bit much folks. On top of all of that, We have Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developer’s Conference coming up side by side so we’re gearing up for a big month of coverage. With that said, let’s just jump into the latest offerings in this week’s LTTPG, hope y’all enjoy!

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How 1UP gave all of us an extra life

ast Thursday, ironically following the coattails of Sony’s PlayStation 4 reveal and welcome to the gaming public, that very same public was then struck with some unceremoniously tragic news concerning the departure of a certain website. Recently, Ziff Davis Media purchased IGN and all of the properties/brands that were associated with it from News Corp., which soon lead to the almost too familiar and yet oddly poetic turn of misfortunate events to follow. This storm wasn’t just simply a layoff. No, it was a tempest that claimed the entire brand, and 1UP.com is nearing its end.

Where we’ve seen magazines come and go, and other major publications continuing to struggle despite certain consolidation measures taken with brands and editorial talent, 1UP was still among the few bastions of video game journalism that placed focus on the enthusiast and community aspects of the interactive medium. I have blog on 1UP still, though I never followed up with any proper blogs after doing some house cleaning on my page, I was grateful for the new home 1UP gave and kept busy there – Press Pause Radio. All of us here at PPR owe more than a debt of gratitude to the brand, and I’d like to take a moment to talk about why.

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Life Through The Pixel Glass-02/13/2013

nother week, another opportunity to return to our regularly scheduled Wednesday feature, Life Through The Pixel Glass, the weekly culture soaked feature that centers on the video game life style. This particular week will play host to one of the most cherished yet reviled holidays of the year, Valentine’s Day; we were originally going to show off some cool custom valentines cards but Telltale already blew the roof up with that one. In light of this, we figured we would just stick to what we we’re good at and just show you a bunch of cool shit instead…

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Life Through The Pixel Glass-01/16/2013

efore I start the latest Life Through The Pixel Glass, I have some opinions I need to catapult off my chest. They’re heavy and hard, so get ready.

Yesterday treated everyone to some ugly controversy, didn’t it? I expressed my opinions earlier on my personal Twitter and yeah, I may have some peculiar points to make regarding the subject, but bear with what I have to say before you choose to angrily comment.

Do I take offense to the Zombie harlot resin statue? Absolutely, but only because of the context and the purpose of the statue’s existence is the main reason why, and maybe not so much the statue itself. To elaborate, I’m angry towards the manner in which the bust came to be: a shallow marketing device created from nothing more than a tasteless attempt to infuse the theme of the source software it promotes into a sculpt of sexually provocative torso of a mutilated woman, and with cleavage conveniently kept intact.

In another outlet like the venue of modern art from artists such as Danny Dickblood, David Choe, or Alex Pardee, this kind of portrayal isn’t far from out of the ordinary. I’ve seen more "controversial" pieces made, but overall, this statue isn’t art -- it’s garbage.

Why is it garbage? Because it’s an incentive to sell a video game at a higher price, and it’s insulting that Publishers and PR thinks that exploiting sexual objectification of the female body is appealing to consumers, and that this is what sells to the general demographic that is the video game community. So no, the statue isn’t art, and never will be. The portrayal of sex in any aspect has always been a tricky social rope of Do’s and Don’ts, and mistakes happen when we tread this kind of territory. I just hope similar topics in the future won’t be as egregious as this fucking statue since, you know, the industry IS better than what was shown recently, and hopefully took notes on how not repeat this sort of insensitive blunder again.

Anyway, on to the feature, hope you folks enjoy it.

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Life Through The Pixel Glass-01/02/2013

t’s a new year everyone! 2012 has been a momentous year in the realm of video games. From its events to its releases the calendars of gamers everywhere have had their work cut out for them, but we’re pretty sure there’s nothing to worry about with titles like Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider around the corner. This week is a bit slow on the news front but maybe it’s a good time to kick back and relax, and enjoy the latest Life Through The Pixel Glass.

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Life Through the Pixel Glass-12/12/2012

o for those of you who follow the site regularly, you may already be familiar with Life Through the Pixel Glass. This feature belongs to Catie (and it still does, so no worries needed) that focused on the art and culturist aspect of the video game community, and it still does for the most part. We’re currently experimenting with the feature and adding more, like links for other things involving independent studio spotlights or Kickstarter endorsements. We’ll be doing a little bit of both and try balancing the feature to basically be something fun that we can do with the site in order to interact with the listeners and readers of Press Pause Radio.

Life Through the Pixel Glass will be authored by either yours truly or Catie, as we take turns in order to work with each other’s schedule. The goal is to post one every Wednesday since it’s just that awkward day in the week where nothing really happens. Throw in some feedback if you guys have any. We’re totally open to some crowd sourcing for future content. Enjoy!

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