“Gamers,” as a demographic group, exist in a different way than “readers” or “TV viewers.” Mostly that’s because everybody reads or watches TV to some extent, and it’s not terribly useful to talk about a section of the population if that section is the population. Increasingly, though, the same thing is happening with gaming. BBC […]
Read more "Gamers? There’s no such thing."(Now, there’s a post title that should get plenty of search hits!) Games are a maturing medium. One day, perhaps, we’ll see games that are significant commentaries on life, the universe and everything – and we’ve gotten some that are better than others in that regard. But on the whole, games aren’t there yet. Daniel […]
Read more "Sex, sex, sex. And video games."So far, no del.icio.us feeds here at just another meme vector (though you can catch mine from the link in the right-hand bar, if you want to cyber-stalk me that way). But here’s two things I found cool this weekend. A great post by Kevin Anderson on the future of newspapers. And a hell of […]
Read more "Sunday Linkage"In a recent article, Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield (right) has voiced some pretty significant concerns about video games. With their explosive growth into mainstream culture, video games are taking up more and more of our collective brain cycles. What effect will this have on our species? Quite a profound one, she suggests. I agree – […]
Read more "Is Gaming Melting our Brains?"Video games are like crack cocaine. In a good way. And that’s why we need to use them for journalism. Yesterday I led a seminar with Paul Dwyer’s Media class at the Univeristy of Westminster. The subject was games as a maturing medium: one capable of great sophistication, depth and variety of expression. I think […]
Read more "Why we need to use games for Journalism"Deisgning games to teach maths? How about health and safety? Not exactly aiming for the top of the charts, are you? Well, math games have already busted through the charts on Nintendo’s DS, and now some folks in Michigan are bringing a similar sensibility to the PSP. But Health and Safety? Yeah. It’s happening. And […]
Read more "Games Teaching . . . Health and Safety?"(Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Play to Victory) Jane McGonigal delivered a really good presentation about game design at GDC this year. It’s called ‘Reality is Broken.’ Game designers pretty much have it all figured out. We’ve invented a medium that kicks every other medium’s ass. As game designers, we own more […]
Read more "How to Fix Reality"You think that headline is a joke? It may seem funny, but check out the best thing to come out of GDC this year: this rant by Jane McGonigal. Here are her slides. Watch it. Awesomeness. It has catalyzed a deep vein of enthusiasm in my mind, now pumping out with caffeine-accellerated energy. More coherent […]
Read more "Design Game, Save World"Imagine a factual game on a console. Tough market? Sure. Prestige? You bet! The potential for impact is high. Releasing to console is a pipeline into 10 million homes, if you’re talking about Xbox. And I am – trouble is that releasing a game to console typically takes years and millions of dollars. Well, not […]
Read more "Journalism on Xbox"It had to happen. In a blog about video games and journalism, here’s a story about someone using video games to train journalists . . . Looks like they’ve modded the eminently moddable Neverwinter Nights, taking advantage of the adaptable conversation tree to make a journalism simulator. It’s all about the procedural learning . . […]
Read more "Using Video Games to Train Journalists"
Philip Trippenbach 