Category Archives: Games and Gaming

The Same Game

Raph Koster has an interesting post covering many of the major game releases of 2007. The gist of his argument, as I see it, is that underneath their graphics and storytelling, games like God of War 2, Bioshock, Mass Effect, … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming | 8 Comments

Traveller IQ Challenge and Learning

The Traveller IQ Challenge, besides being a great little bit of casual-game design, strikes me as showing how potentially useful certain kinds of instant-feedback quizzes and games could be in a fully wired classroom, while also showing the limitations of … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Africa, Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Popular Culture | 8 Comments

BTW on Mass Effect

I really am looking forward to playing Mass Effect, especially now that the word on some other big releases this month is mixed. (However: Super Mario Galaxy? Exceptionally fun. One of the best multiplayer set-ups I’ve seen. More to come … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming | 4 Comments

Memoirs of Play: Any Ideas?

I’m putting the finishing touches on my syllabus for next semester’s History of Play and Leisure, just trying to find one or two more perfect or unusual readings to round out a few of the weeks. (And then I need … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming | 25 Comments

On the Road

I’ll be in Washington DC tomorrow for a talk to alumni on virtual worlds. See you there, Swatties.

Posted in Games and Gaming, Swarthmore | 6 Comments

Bugs and Puppy Faces

We took off for a late summer trip to a New Jersey amusement park today, which was fun. At one point, my daughter wanted to get her face painted. I was kind of struck at the catalogue of choices. They … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming, Politics, Popular Culture | 24 Comments

Wii Wii Wii All the Way Home

Since the beginning of summer, I’ve been occasionally stopping by various local retailers and asking if they have a Wii in stock. Nope, nope, nope. I’m not going to go chasing the thing like Ahab after the white whale, nor … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming | 15 Comments

Fold ‘Em

I think Wil Wheaton (who has become quite the online renaissance man: his retrospective reviews of Star Trek: The Next Generation are hilarious) is right that recent changes in US law, along with some prominent law enforcement, mean that online … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming | 5 Comments

The History of Virtual Worlds

I’m going for a first-time event here: a triple cross-post here, Cliopatria and Terra Nova. I’m at a meeting on law and virtual worlds at the New York Law School, and there’s a really interesting panel discussion of methodologies in … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Games and Gaming | 6 Comments

World Cup

This is not a novel or unusual opinion, but I’m not really enjoying this World Cup much because of the combination of bad officiating and my terminal impatience with the diving and histrionics, especially when said dives are rewarded by … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming, Popular Culture | 3 Comments