This week the podcast crew got together with writers from The Border House, Gay Gamer, and The Vorpal Bunny Ranch to discuss inclusivity in video games and these sites that provide a voice for gamers that exist on the margins.

With Chris recovering from a tonsillectomy, Kris graciously filled in to host our discussion with Alexandra Raymond of The Border House, faePuck of GayGamer.net, and Denis Farr who has worked at both sites and also writes at his own blog, Vorpal Bunny Ranch.

From campy exploitation to the exploitation of addiction, the Moving Pixels podcast discusses a few of this year’s flash game releases.

You can find free-to-play versions of the three titles that we discuss in this episode below:

Of course, we here at the Moving Pixels blog are fans of the work done over at the Critical Distance web site, a site interested in serving in a curatorial role in highlighting and maintaining various discussions in video game criticism.  Conceived by Ben Abraham and launched in 2009, Critical Distance provides a weekly update of some of the best video game criticism published around the internet.  Additionally, they provide a number of critical compilations of writings done by various critics, journalists, and academics on significant game titles.

We wanted to sit down and talk with Ben and fellow Critical Distance contributor, Eric Swain, to talk a little bit about the site, what purpose they see it serving in the emerging conversation about games, and how they manage the Herculean task of locating and managing such a vast array of voices.

A few weeks ago the Moving Pixels podcast crew revisited 2007’s Portal in anticipation of the impending release of its sequel.

Well, the sequel has arrived, so we have gotten together once again to consider how well the follow up works in terms of its extended narrative and its various gameplay tweaks.

Given how much Dragon Age II occupied our thoughts on so many of our blogs in March, it seems inevitable that the Moving Pixels podcast crew would gather to discuss our varying takes on the game.

Despite its more limited geographical scope, Kirkwall is a game world well suited to an expanded discusssion.  Bioware’s ambitious efforts to tweak combat, experiment with narrative, and present one of the most inclusive casts in gaming are just a number of topics worth returning to in our expansive chat about the game.