Category Archives: Games and Gaming

The Gathering Twilight, Part the Second

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Gary Jones at Muck and Mystery takes on a piece about Jaron Lanier’s new book that caught my eye as well. My negative reaction to Lanier’s views wasn’t quite as strong as Gary’s was, but I had some similar feelings. … Continue reading →

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Dragon Age

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I finished a full run through Bioware’s Dragon Age. I’ve always liked Bioware’s approach to RPG design, and this is definitely their best to date. Not because of the setting, which is at times painfully generic or derivative. (The dwarven … Continue reading →

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I Had to Burn the Park to the Ground to Clean It

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Timothy Burke

So my daughter and I were playing Scribblenauts for the first time last night. Based on our experience, I think it’s one of those rare digital games that people who don’t often play or like games will like. (As well … Continue reading →

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A Facepalm Moment

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Timothy Burke

There’s a lot of discussion going around gaming sites about Stardock CEO Brad Wardell announcing that his company would boycott UPS because UPS was pulling its ads from Fox. Wardell’s backtracking since the story began to circulate is the kind … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Game Movies

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I’m pretty surprised that Sam Raimi has agreed to make a film based on World of Warcraft. I still enjoy World of Warcraft as well as find it intellectually interesting but the idea that its mashed-up, derivative, internally contradictory, heavily … Continue reading →

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Gaming Roundup

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Timothy Burke

So I’m catching up after a week of household projects and hiking with family. First, some miscellaneous thoughts about digital games and virtual worlds after State of Play. 1. The theme for State of Play was “Plateau” and unlike most … Continue reading →

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Liveblogging State of Play, Day 2, Lunch Session

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Talking about new media reporting and games. Julian Dibbell: the hook of these stories is maybe completely done in the terms that we’ve seen so far (e.g., “this is the future! there are people with stores in Second Life!!!!” but … Continue reading →

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Liveblogging at State of Play, Day 2, Session 2

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Session on kid and tween worlds. Joost van Dreunen. Stepping away idea of designer as author, moving towards the idea of supplying tools to players or participants. Video games as meaning-making experiences. Interested in how kid worlds/tween worlds actually make … Continue reading →

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Liveblogging State of Play, Day 2, Session 1

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I’m at the developer roundtable. Dan Norton, Raph Koster, Jesse Houston, Nick Fortugno, Mike Sellers [Me: Thank god for these guys, just as an aside: developers interested in exploratory conversations about the form, who don’t just stare at people and … Continue reading →

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State of Play, Day 2

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Trying to think about yesterday’s sessions before we get started. What is sticking with me is this: 1. No application, design or game can live up to the utopian imagination of potential users or players, and that utopian imagination is … Continue reading →

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