Newsgames Book Jacket

Extra! Extra!

Behold the book jacket for Newsgames: Journalism at Play, to be published this summer.

Playing Political Games

On the White House and Videogames

In a large theater at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, ten thousand game makers gathered for the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice awards ceremonies, where the best indie and mainstream games of the year are celebrated by and for their creators. In between the two, an unusual video was shown. Aneesh Chopra, the United States’s first Chief Technology… read more

Exergames, Microtalks, Nuovo Sessions, and More

My 2010 Game Developers Conference schedule

This week is the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. For those of you who want to catch up with me there, here’s my speaking schedule for the week: Tuesday and Wednesday I’m co-hosting the Serious Games Summit (with Ben Sawyer and Jane McGonigal). I’ll be moderating two panels there, as follows: Wednesday 3:00- 4:00 Room 133, North Hall, Seriously,… read more

Shell Games

On the achievementalization of the world. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.

In a widely disseminated talk at DICE last month, Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center professor Jesse Schell made a provocation: can game-like external rewards make people lead better lives? To answer the question, Schell explored hypothetical scenarios that might combine awards of XBox Achievements-like scrip with emerging sensor networks that would track our everyday behaviors. Teeth brushing might earn… read more

The Art History of Games

Day 2 and Exhibition Opening

We’re already into the third and final day of the Art History of Games symposium, and as an organizer I haven’t even tried to blog the talks. You’re best bet is to check out coverage online (Gamasutra covered part, but not all, of yesterday’s sessions), or to review the Twitter stream on hashtag #AHoG. Last night’s exhibition opening was great;… read more

The Art History of Games

Day One

This evening we began the Art History of Games symposium here in Atlanta, organized by Savannah College of Art and Design – Atlanta and Georgia Tech. After introductions, myself and my co-organizers John Sharp and Michael Nitsche presented a discussion of the concept of an art history of games. Then John Romero presented his keynote “Masters among Us,” about learning… read more

The Art History of Games

A Symposium, hosted by Georgia Tech and SCAD

The Art History of Games is a three-day public symposium in which members of the fields of game studies, art history and related areas of cultural studies gather to investigate games as an art form. Speakers include me, Brenda Brathwaite, Jesper Juul, Frank Lantz, Henry Lowood, Christiane Paul, John Romero, and more. Also featured in the conference is the premiere… read more

Videogames are a Mess

My DiGRA 2009 Keynote, on Videogames and Ontology

What follows is the text of my keynote at the 2009 Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) conference, held in Uxbridge, UK September 1-4, 2009. The text corresponds fairly accurately to the address I gave at the conference. In a few cases, I’ve added some clarifications in square brackets, where additional context or commentary was relevant. Videogames are a mess So… read more

Water Cooler Games

Videogames with an Agenda - website archive

From 2003-2009, Water Cooler Games served as the web’s primary forum for “videogames with an agenda” — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment. The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca from 2003-2006, and by me alone from 2006-2009.… read more

A New “Platform” for Games Research

Henry Jenkins interviews us

Henry Jenkins recently interviewed Nick Montfort and me about Racing the Beam and the Platform Studies series. The two part interview is online now at Henry’s site: A New “Platform” for Games Research?: An Interview with Ian Bogost and Nick Montfort (Part One) A New “Platform” for Games Research?: An Interview with Ian Bogost and Nick Montfort (Part Two) I… read more