Play’s Republic

This is just a quick entry to give you all a link that I found interesting to my final project and thought I would share.
Check out the links to the photogalleries at the bottom (the first link is just to the book’s Amazon page, but the next two take you to the photos themselves, hosted […]

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This is a brief post to discuss a couple of quirky features that have really stuck out at me when using the Wii interface.
1. If you are playing a game, say Wii Sports, between every third or so game, the console will take a minute to remind you about the other options that are out […]

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A brief video on Second Life was recently featured on blog for the NPR show “The Bryant Park Project”.  This video discussed the importance of social boundaries, even in the virtual world.  NPR producer Win Rosenfeld spent some time immersed in the Second Life culture researching the notion of personal space in the virtual environment.  […]

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A Fox News piece yesterday pointed to a recent Pew Internet & American Life survey to make the claim that “nearly 50 percent of Americans have little use for internet and cell phones”.
The Pew survey, completed in 2006, interviewed just over 4,000 Americans to discuss their views on technology (primarily internet technologies and cell phones).  […]

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In a recent interview, WoW’s VP of game design, Rob Pardo, discussed the creative process behind the development of WoW, its updates and expansions, and its future.
Pardo compared the WoW development process to that of a sitcom. Drawing parallels between his team’s development process and that of the writers of Lost and Seinfeld, Pardo argued […]

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In his 2005 “State of the Industry Address” at the national conference, Douglas Lowenstein identifies six fundamental issues in the video game industry. First, Lowenstein considers the games currently available on the market and issues an open call for games with a wider appeal. In particular, Lowenstein is interested in attracting the female […]

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A quick though in response to Soyoun’s posting (and Rob’s comment), as well as Garrison’s posting on “M”-rated games.
Yesterday’s events shocked the nation and flooded the media.  People are searching for answers and, already, many of the same arguments heard post-Columbine are being voiced again.  Today I’ve had conversations with at least two acquaintances  who […]

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This afternoon I found myself in several game shops in Paris’s Latin Quarter. As I don’t speak French, I couldn’t engage with the shop assistants, but was able to glean some visual information about the video game culture in France.
The first notable distinction was the store window display. More thrift store than electronics […]

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In an earlier posting, Katie referenced the Wired article “Today’s Homework: Make Good Games”. Among other things, this article discussed a new MA program at Michigan State - “Serious Game Design”. After reading this article, I decided to explore this program further, digging into the MSU program’s web page for more insight into […]

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