Blow has since mentioned that there are several themes and elements of the story and art that haven’t really been picked up on[citation needed]; I haven’t come across any comments specifically w.r.t. the theory above, however.

Spoilers below. Of course, now that both Jordan and Mike have completed this there’s kind of not many readers left to spoil, now is there?

I think the “its about nukes” theory is both overthinking things (in that it tries too hard to find something succinct, treating the story like some elaborate code to be deciphered) and underthinking things (in that it latches on to the most obvious textual reference (I mean, it’s footnoted for crying out loud) but ignores other references, allusions, and just seems to punt on 90% of the text as being an elaborate smoke screen.)

Frankly, if it is indeed the “real” meaning, the game is worse off for it. I’m quite confident it is not, however, as it runs pretty much 100% counter to my reading of most anything Blow has said on the topic of game design.

More later, running late. In the meantime, fun fact about that World 2 puzzle that people either love or hate:
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=1441176&postcount=155

Vern and I played through the Epilogue a couple of times. Only on our second trip did we discover the second set of books revealed be interacting with the scenery. But, even then, we were kind of at a loss piecing together the plot. So, we sat for a few minutes, tried to piece together what we could internally, then gave up and decided to check GameFAQs to see if we’d missed anything.

I’ll refrain from spoilers, but when I told Vern what the game’s story was actually about, she thought I was lying. I guess it’s not essential that we figure out what it is about in order to enjoy it, but it really made me feel as if I was too stupid for it. Are we the only ones? If anyone’s finished the game and isn’t certain what it was about, I encourage you to look online and see if you’re as blown away as I was. <– Apologies for the joke.

Not to mention the “stars”. Did either of you (Mike & Nathan) know that there’s a complete second set of 8 collectables? The requirements for getting them are crazy. They remind me of the skulls in Halo 2. I read how to get some of them, and officially decided that I want no part of it. I gather that they only provide one extra scene for gathering them all, and I’ve read what it is, so I can do without.

I was convinced it had something to do with a solitary cloud drifting painfully slowly towards where it might be usable, but I got frustrated and left to get the other puzzle pieces I’d missed on my first pass. Needless to say, those other missing puzzle pieces were essential to that particular puzzle’s ingenious solution. I was grinning from ear to ear when I figured it out.

I think this is a game, more than any I’ve ever played, that can take the Games as Art argument and actually win people over. People say that about games all the time but usually I think they’re grasping at straws. This game was visually stunning, the music was wonderful, the gameplay inventive, and the story vastly different than anything else in gaming in general.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

My 2 Cents.