Friday, July 28, 2006

Video Game News, Week of July 28

The Escapist Issue #55: Against the Gods

PluggedIn: Gamers Bend Gender for a Winning Edge
by Lisa Baertlein, Reuters India 7/28/06
"In an About.com poll taken last summer, nearly two-thirds of the 920 respondents said they play characters of the opposite sex in online role-playing games."

Video Games Help Give Brains A Workout: Part Three Of The 'Exercising Your Brain' Series
WISC-TV 7/26/06
"In part three of WISC-TV's "Exercising Your Brain" series, we take a look at how technology can help keep minds sharp."

eMediaWire 7/26/06
"Gamershare, the premier peer-to-peer (P2P) service whereby members can legally trade and swap video games in the most cost effective way with no limits or subscription fees, announced today the beta release of their website."

STUDY: VIDEO GAMES ARE RACIST: Negative images of minority groups are ‘blatant,’ says researcher.
EURWeb 7/26/06
"University of British Columbia researcher Robert Parungao, who graduated this spring with a B.A. in Sociology, completed an eight-month analysis for his thesis and found that negative portrayals of minority groups are "blatant” in most of the popular games."

Violent Video Games Numb Players to Real Violence
by Nate Anderson, Ars Technica 7/26/2006
"Whether we see this desensitization as a bad thing is a political question."

Reading, writing and video games: Students will build on gaming skills at new Dayton high school, say administrators.
by Scott Elliott, Daytona Daily News 7/24/06
"Capitalizing on youthful passion for video games, school leaders hope to keep more kids in school by offering the chance to conceive, design, build — and sell — their own video game."

Monday, July 24, 2006

For your next gaming event...

Why not serve gaming themed goodies? Like these, by Rakka

Sunday, July 23, 2006

New Issue of Games and Culture Online

A new issue of Games and Culture (1 July 2006; Vol. 1, No. 3) is available online at

The below Table of Contents is available online at: http://gac.sagepub.com/content/vol1/issue3/?etoc

The Mangle of Play
Constance Steinkuehler
Games and Culture 2006;1 199-213
http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/3/199

Restricted Play: Synergy and the Limits of Interactivity in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Video Game
Robert Alan Brookey and Paul Booth
Games and Culture 2006;1 214-230
http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/3/214

Hybrid Reality Games Reframed: Potential Uses in Educational Contexts
Adriana de Souza e Silva and Girlie C. Delacruz
Games and Culture 2006;1 231-251
http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/3/231

Live Action Role-Playing Games: Control, Communication, Storytelling, and MMORPG Similarities
Anders Tychsen, Michael Hitchens, Thea Brolund, and Manolya Kavakli
Games and Culture 2006;1 252-275
http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/3/252

Video Game News, Week of July 17, 2006

The Escapist Issue # 54: In Spaaace!

Video Games Are Showing a Social Side
By Matt Richtel, New York Times 7/22/06
Interview with Robert Kotick, the chairman and chief executive of Activision since 1991.

Comic-Con 2006: Video games lure Comic fans
by Humphrey Cheung, TG Daily 7/21/06
"Comic-Con may look like it's turning into a miniature version of the Electronic Entertainment Expo; however, hardly any hardware and game developers made announcements or showed new content for Comic-Con."

Video Games June Sales up 25 Percent: Report
Reuters 7/13/06
"Overall U.S. video game sales jumped 25 percent in June to $844.5 million..."

The World is Not Enough
The Sunday Times 7/16/06
"The virtual reality of the game Second Life looks like a marketer’s dream, but what does it offer the player? Is it a game, a trading floor, a 3-D retail outlet, a music-content provider — or all four?"

Video Games Racist, Says Study
Deborah Jones, Agençe France-Presse 7/21/06
"...while blatant racism is not tolerated in mainstream films or television, in video games "it's below the radar."

Why Walk? Virtual Walkathon Helps Raise Money For Cancer Research
by Stephen Totilo, MTV News 7/20/06
'"Can you have a walkathon where no one actually walks? Can you raise money for charity if you're using play money?"

Virtual Marketing: Firms create online worlds as new way to reach big audiences
by Jenn Abelson, Boston Globe July 21, 2006
When ``The Infinite Mind" opens it virtual doors next month, it will become the first regularly scheduled national media broadcast within the increasingly popular 3-D web space."

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Tournament at Daniel Webster College

On August 5th and 6th Holodek will be hosting Counterstrike 1.6 and Halo 2 Tourneys at
Daniel Webster College in Nashua with cash and prizes totaling over $6000!

For those wanting to practice or just check out the latest games, we will have X-Box 360's on projectors available to try out free of charge and many PC gaming stations available for pay to play at $5 per hour.

There will be a limited number of positions for the Tournament available so pre-register your team right away. You can also save 25% off the entrance fees by prepaying before August 2nd!

There is plenty of room for everyone to play on the 360's and PC's, to try out the High-Def projectors or just to come down and watch what is going on.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Video Game News, Week of July 10, 2006

How to Get the Life You Really Want
by David Smith, The Observer7/9/06
"Hundreds of thousands of people are seeking love, fortune and happiness through their 2D alter egos in Second Life, a new virtual world."

Fact: Video games are bigger than Hollywood!?
by Kim Kaze, Entertainment Wise 7/10/06
"Headline Book Publishing is delighted to announce the signing up of 'GAME ON!: From Pong To Oblivion: The Greatest Games of all Time', - to be published in the Autumn 2006 - written and compiled by Simon Byron and Ste Curran..."

The Escaspist, issue 53: 2020 Redux

Makers of Video Games Face New Challenge
AP 7/12/06
"Video game manufacturers asked a federal judge to block implementation of a Minnesota law that exposes minors to $25 fines if they obtain video games designed for adult players."

Doctors Using Video Games for ADHD
by Dr. Jay Adlersberg, WABC-7 7/13/06
"Dr. MacDonald treats ADHD with SMART BrainGames, a new system that combines brain wave monitoring, biofeedback and video games."

Does Your Life Suck?
by Camille Dodero, The Boston Phoenix, 7/13/06
"This is Second Life (SL), a three-dimensional virtual environment created by Linden Lab, a seven-year-old San Francisco–based company. In this pixelated alternate world — a mainland surrounded by islands that spans more than 42,000 acres in real-world scale, bigger than metropolitan Boston — account holders aren’t users, they’re “residents."

Sunday, July 09, 2006

The YAM bar at McCracken County Library

Great summary of how a library advocated for -- and got -- YA space and services including Snacks, Sodas, and Playstation2s.

Video Game News, July 9 2006

Top 11 Weird Games
Inside the Game video presented by: Verizon
"Katamari is one of the strangest and best games EVER."

Animation: an Interdisciplinary Journal
Sign up for free access of Volume 1 Contents include:
Ub Iwerks’ (Multi)Plain Cinema J.P. Telotte
Image Future Lev Manovich
Platonic Sex: Perversion and Shôjo Anime (Part 1) Thomas Lamarre
Critique of the New Historical Landscape of South Korean Animation Joon-Yang Kim
Comics and the Critique of Chronophotography, or ‘He Never Knew When It Was Coming!’ Scott Bukatman
The Cathedral Is Alive: Animating Biomimetic Architecture Dennis Dollens

Viscious Videos
by Diane Swanbrow, University of Michigan News Service
"U-M Researches have been investigating the impact of media violence on children."

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Video Game News, July 4, 2006

The Escapist Issue 52: Where There's a Whip now available. Read online at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/52 or check out the abstracts at http://blog.escapistmagazine.com/

The Family That Games Together
by Brett Oppegaard, the Columbian 7/2/06
"The Dukarts are among the third of American parents who now play video games, with 80 percent of those players involving their children... Gamers, regardless of age, typically play an hour a day, while parents and children are doing this activity together for an average of nine hours per month."

Video Games Take on Humanitarian Twist
Bureau Report, Zee News 7/4/06
"Scores of game designers and poliical activists gathered at Parsons The New School for Design at New York City recently to showcase games that are trying to save the world, by addressing issues as diverse as cybercrime, poverty, the death penalty and even the slack office culture at Kinko's stores."

Addicted to Video Games: Escape from Reality Often Stems from Depression, Leads to More Pain
by Laura Schreier, Dallas Morning News 7/3/06
"...experts say what starts as a harmless pastime can become an escape from reality -- an emotional coping mechanism -- that turns into an addiction."

Video Games to Lead Entertainment and Media Industry Growth
Digit 7/3/06
"The worldwide video game market should grow to $46 billion by 2010 from $27 billion in 2005, equating to an average 11.4 per cent compound annual rate, predicts PricewaterhouseCoopers in its latest report on the global entertainment and media (E&M) industry"

Violent Video Games Make Room for Morality
by Dave Thomas, The Grand Rapids Press 7/3/06
"Two recent games from Eidos provide the perfect chance to consider the whole regime of killing and wonder about all that on-screen hurting."

Monday, July 03, 2006

Video Game News, July 3 2006

The Family That Games Together
by Brett Oppegaard, The Columbian July 2 2006
"Computers in three side-by-side cabinets and a 27-inch TV flash and flicker with different video games. . ."

Detox for Video Game Addiction?
by Sherry Rauh, CBS News July 3 2006
"The more we looked at it, the more we saw [gaming] was taking over the lives of kids."

Game On! Travels to Seattle
The Pacific Science Center is the most recent host of the Game On! interactive exhibit that explores the science, history and culture of video games through the end of August. Listen to the podcast of a local game developer.

Video Game Sale Ban Still Suspended-Baton Rougeby Mike Hasten, Shreveport Times July 1 2006
"The video game makers 'cloak themselves in free speech but under that cloak is murder, simulated murder,'. . ."

Wake Tech to offer Video Game Development DegreeAP, June 30 2006
"Wake Tech designed its curriculum with the help of the Triangle chapter of the International Game Developers Association. . ."

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Public Perceptions of Libraries

"Library for books? Don't you mean my gaming library! LOL!!!" by Brazil la Zamba

"Hey, Brazil la Zamba. Library doesn't mean books, you idiot! " by Tom

Comments from Joystiq's article about Prey

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Video Game News, July 1 2006: Seriouser & Seriouser

Can Social-Change Video Games Tackle Divorce, Poverty, Genocide?
by Stephen Tolito, MTV News 06/29/06
"...200 game developers, social activists and representatives for international groups from charities to the United Nations discussed, debated and demonstrated games designed to do good: fighting homelessness, promoting world peace and helping children deal with their parents' divorce."

Video Games Get Serious by Video Games Get Serious

Gary Shapiro, New York Sun 6/29/06
"One way in which the genre is becoming more serious is with nonviolent strategy games..."

Game Design: Getting Activist Video Games to Market
by Reena Jana, Business Week 6/30/06
"A popular online video game, Darfur is Dying, defies the generic first-person-shooter formula, placing players in the role of escaping violence rather than perpetrating it."

Indian Video Games Battle AIDS
by Mary K. Brunskill, All Headline News 6/29/06
"...ZMQ Software Systems says it plans to globally release four games that began as part of a effort to raise funds to increase HIV/AIDS awareness."

Second Life Library featured in Serious Games Source

Enjoying Your First Life? Why Not Add a Second? Developing Library Services in Second Life
by Lori Bell, Tom Peters, and Kitty Pope, Serious Games Source 6/30/06
"...we have been waiting and looking for the right opportunity to get our libraries involved in gaming and virtual worlds – to make library collections and services available where the users already are."