Episode 22 - On ’Killing is Harmless’

In 2012, critic and Royal Melbourne Insitute of technology PhD candidate Brendan Keogh released his long form critical piece on Spec Ops: The Line in the form of an ebook. Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line was at the time the first known published book of criticism on a single game. In the years since a cavalcade of books of video game criticism has been published and more to come in the future.

Two years after initially publishing the book, we decided to interview Brendan to get his perspective on the book, the reception and how things have change over time in his critical methods. We also get into musing on the book's cultural and historical placement given the recent boom in video game criticism books.

SHOW NOTES

Brendan Keogh

Critical Damage

Darius Kazemi Review: Killing is Harmless, by Brendan Keogh

Cameron Kunzelman's On Killing is Harmless

Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation

Noal Carroll's On Criticism

David Sudnow's Pilgrim in the Microworld

Spec Ops: The Line Critical Compilation

Opening Theme: 'Close' by The Alpha Conspiracy

Closing Theme: 'Wishing Never' by The Alpha Conspiracy