The Atari Video Computer System
An accessible book about the Atari VCS as a platform. Co-authored with Nick Montfort. This book is available in digital or physical format. Buy from Amazon Racing the Beam is a study of the most important early videogame console, the Atari Video Computer System (also known as the Atari VCS or the Atari 2600). Through its main example, the book… read more
A Review of the iPhone
Despite attempts to maintain my geek cred, despite my propensity for gadgeteering, despite my favor for the cult of Apple, despite my lust for shiny things with microprocessors, I didn’t get an iPhone when it first came out earlier this year. Indeed, I also didn’t get one when the new versions were released this month. It’s not that I wasn’t… read more
Referral reports and privacy, insight, surprise
Like many, I use the Amazon Associates affiliate marketing program when linking to books and some other products from my websites. It’s a simple referal service. Users can create links and when readers on their websites follow those links and make purchases, Amazon pays a referral fee. There are lots of ways to use the Associates service, but I mostly… read more
My experience with Make My Own Monster
I received a Make My Own Monster kit for Christmas last year. It’s a service offered by the North American Bear Company, which has the distinction of having the worst shopping site I’ve seen in some time. Anyway, the Make My Own Monster concept is great: kids (of all ages, in my case) draw a monster, send in the drawing,… read more
Photography, Flickr, and Me
As regular readers may have noticed, I have an interest in photography. I’ve started a photography section on this website, where you can view some of the photographs I have taken. Right now I’ve added galleries for Objects, Places, and People, as well as a photo project I’m slowly working on called Street Portraits. Over the last year I’ve gone… read more
Why Facebook Ads are Stupid
From a business perspective, it was my impression that one of the great promises of Facebook and other social networking sites is that they can offer extremely selective ad targeting. Facebook users willingly provide large amounts of enormously specific information about themselves, from their age and location to their artistic interests and sexual preferences. Why, then, are Facebook ads targeted… read more
The vices and virtues of selective color shift at high ISO in the Sigma DP1
One of the problems with digital SLRs is their large footprint. Not only the size and weight of the camera, but also that of the lens attached to it, especially for serious photographers interested in large apertures and high-quality glass. This is an issue that affects professionals and amateurs alike, since both groups might want to have a smaller, more… read more
The future lasts forever
This spring I was awarded tenure at the Georgia Institute of Technology and leveled-up to Associate Professor in the School of Literature Communication and Culture. As I tried to think about an appropriate way to announce this accomplishment to my readers here, the phrase that kept entering my head was the one reproduced in the subtitle above: the future lasts… read more
I got a barrage of text messages and emails and Facebook messages this afternoon, all telling me their senders were listening to me on NPR’s All Things Considered. The segment isn’t about me but rather about the broader topic of videogames and depth. The correspondent is Heather Chaplin, co-author of Smart Bomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks… read more
Co-authored with Cindy Poremba, in the Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon collection
This article also appears in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers, Wars Without Tears Digital games are commonly celebrated for their realism, but this is typically a reference to their visual verisimilitude rather than an association with something actual. As games begin to push past traditional boundaries and contexts, a new genre, of sorts, has begun to… read more