Showing posts with label videogames. Show all posts
Showing posts with label videogames. Show all posts
Friday, 27 March 2009
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Games & Learning
Again from the Guardian Games Blog, this article links to a video of Aleks Krotoski interviewing Henry Jenkins on the relationship of games and learning. Most relevant probably for Steven but of interest to all. As I've said in the past, Henry Jenkins is a big name in game studies, particularly in the USA due to his Congressional testimonies.
Link to the video from this article.
Link to the video from this article.
The Point and Click strikes back
In relation to the last post, check out this article on the resurgence of 'Point & Click' games in the Guardian Games Blog (a site worth adding to your live bookmarks/rss feeds)
Charles Cecil talks Broken Sword Directors Cut and why point and click adventures are back
Charles Cecil talks Broken Sword Directors Cut and why point and click adventures are back
Sunday, 22 March 2009
X48 and Game Jamming
I thought that i would draw the class' attention to this event that has been running this weekend... The X48 GameCamp at the University of Derby. I have been following this as it has developed over the weekend after latching onto it as it flew by on my blog dashboard of updates from Wonderland. As an event closely relating to the idea of Indie Game Jams and the Global Game Jam discussed in the first session.
I am not sure how i feel about the corporate sponsorship of these sorts of indie events as it seems to fit somewhere between "Cool Hunting" and good publicity.
I think one of the things that is so interesting is the use of web 2.0 technologies to publicise the event and follow its progress (YouTube, twitter, blogging, facebook, Flicker, daytum, Last.FM play lists).
I think one of the things that is so interesting is the use of web 2.0 technologies to publicise the event and follow its progress (YouTube, twitter, blogging, facebook, Flicker, daytum, Last.FM play lists).
(I think we could all learn a little from this approach)
I think that it is also interesting to see the idea of a Jam with XNA rather than Flash or the ipod dev tools seen at a lot of other Jams.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Charlie Brooker on Gaming. What's not to like?
Charlie Brooker in the Guardian discussing gaming.
Harsh, vitriolic, and amusing all at the same time. Just a short comment on the popularity of videogames and their sometimes deceptively un-intuitive interfaces. Not very deep but Brooker is always, in the very least, perceptive if you can shift through the swear words.
If he could team up with a design team and publisher, do you think a videogame from his imagination would rival his reality TV parody Dead Set (2008)? I'd buy it.
Harsh, vitriolic, and amusing all at the same time. Just a short comment on the popularity of videogames and their sometimes deceptively un-intuitive interfaces. Not very deep but Brooker is always, in the very least, perceptive if you can shift through the swear words.
If he could team up with a design team and publisher, do you think a videogame from his imagination would rival his reality TV parody Dead Set (2008)? I'd buy it.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Damian Redman - Jumping out of the medias scapegoat
Heres my abstract for the essay
Controversy and the games industry have sat hand in hand for years, the most famous and historic example being the Grand Theft Auto series. So many gameplay decisions made by GTA’s creators whether made to be satirical or not have been contested by the media. The biggest scandal surrounding the 2004 adaption Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and it ‘hot Coffee’ Feature.
Naturally when its latest instalment Grand Theft Auto 4 hit shelves April 2008, it was going to also meet the same fate at the hands of the media. However another game that shares countless similarities to the Grand Theft Auto series has emerged and has been able to avoid the controversy scapegoating by the Media, this game in question is Saints Row 2.
Through comparing the four biggest elements to Grand Theft Auto’s controversial status, Violence, Sexual Content, Drug and alcohol abuse with strong examples in Saints Row 2 to reveal in what ways volition Inc, Saints row 2 developers, tackled these highly taboo elements in the media’s eyes and were able to dispense the controversy. As well as the controversy angle both games will be summarised in their genre role to discuss which matches it the best.
Controversy and the games industry have sat hand in hand for years, the most famous and historic example being the Grand Theft Auto series. So many gameplay decisions made by GTA’s creators whether made to be satirical or not have been contested by the media. The biggest scandal surrounding the 2004 adaption Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and it ‘hot Coffee’ Feature.
Naturally when its latest instalment Grand Theft Auto 4 hit shelves April 2008, it was going to also meet the same fate at the hands of the media. However another game that shares countless similarities to the Grand Theft Auto series has emerged and has been able to avoid the controversy scapegoating by the Media, this game in question is Saints Row 2.
Through comparing the four biggest elements to Grand Theft Auto’s controversial status, Violence, Sexual Content, Drug and alcohol abuse with strong examples in Saints Row 2 to reveal in what ways volition Inc, Saints row 2 developers, tackled these highly taboo elements in the media’s eyes and were able to dispense the controversy. As well as the controversy angle both games will be summarised in their genre role to discuss which matches it the best.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
The Starving Video Game Artist
Check out this interview with Jason Rohrer on IGN. Really interesting for those on both sides of the debate regarding art vs product, game artists and the economic decline, freeware vs platform games, and his games in general.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Jason Rohrer: A Close Textual Analysis
We will be forcusing on a close textual analysis of a specific designers work during the session this week... Jason Roher
Rohrer J. (2008) Between [download], PC/Mac/Linux, http://www.sourceforge.net/
This is a full list of Jason Rohrer's videogames
Primrose - A compelling tile-placement puzzle game
Between - about consciousness and isolation.
Gravitation - about mania, melancholia, and the creative process.
Passage - shown at Kokoromi's curated GAMMA 256 event
Cultivation - explores the balance between conflict and compromise.
Transcend - an abstract 2D shooting game that doubles as a multimedia sculpture.
Jason was named one of Esquire magazines best and brightest of 2008
and ran a design journal for Escapist magazine during 2008, Wired have refered to his games as "a superb and tightly crafted sonnet... more than any game I've ever played, it illustrates how a game can be a fantastically expressive, artistic vehicle 
for exploring the human condition." Clint Hocking, best known for his work on the Splinter Cell at the 2007 Game Designers Conference said... "Why can't we make a game that fucking means something? A game that matters? You know? We wonder all the time if games are art, if computers can make you cry, and all that. Stop wondering. The answer is yes to both. Here's a game that made me cry. It did. It really did."
More specifically we will be focusing on 3 games in his ouevre Gravitation, Passage and Between
Rohrer J. (2008) Between [download], PC/Mac/Linux, http://www.sourceforge.net/This is a full list of Jason Rohrer's videogames
Primrose - A compelling tile-placement puzzle game
Between - about consciousness and isolation.
Gravitation - about mania, melancholia, and the creative process.
Passage - shown at Kokoromi's curated GAMMA 256 event
Cultivation - explores the balance between conflict and compromise.
Transcend - an abstract 2D shooting game that doubles as a multimedia sculpture.
Jason was named one of Esquire magazines best and brightest of 2008
and ran a design journal for Escapist magazine during 2008, Wired have refered to his games as "a superb and tightly crafted sonnet... more than any game I've ever played, it illustrates how a game can be a fantastically expressive, artistic vehicle 
for exploring the human condition." Clint Hocking, best known for his work on the Splinter Cell at the 2007 Game Designers Conference said... "Why can't we make a game that fucking means something? A game that matters? You know? We wonder all the time if games are art, if computers can make you cry, and all that. Stop wondering. The answer is yes to both. Here's a game that made me cry. It did. It really did."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
