In Digital Culture & Education
Thomas Apperley has written a new review of Racing the Beam in the new open-access peer-reviewed journal Digital Culture & Education. Nick and I are delighted to see a review of our book in the inaugural issue. I was likely delighted to see Apperley trace the steps toward the platform studies project in my earlier writings: The gestures towards a… read more
A medititation game for Atari VCS and iPhone
Guru Meditation is my attempt to create a legitimate zen meditation game. It is also partly (perhaps largely) a reimagining of and homage to the Amiga lore, and for that reason I wrote it in 6502 assembly for the Atari VCS, so that it could be played with a joyboard, an unusual “joystick for the feet” manufactured by Amiga in… read more
On an artistic style in contemporary videogames. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.
Are games art? Last year, what Jim Preston wrote drove the nail into the coffin of this absurd and useless question: To think that there is a single, generally agreed upon concept of art is to get it precisely backwards. Americans’ attitude towards art is profoundly divided, disjointed and confused; and my message to gamers is to simply ignore the… read more
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
An art game for EA's Sims Carnival
A number of websites attempted to capitalize on the user-generated content craze of the late 2000s, but for games instead of text, images, or video. In 2008, Electronic Arts’ Sims division released their go at a community site where users can upload and play games, Sims Carnival. Unlike some of its competitors, Sims Carnival offers three different ways to create… 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
Things people do with videogames
Think of all the things you can do with a photograph. You can document the atrocities of war, as photojournalists sometimes do. You can record fleeting moments in time, as did documentarians like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. You can capture the ordinary moments of family life, as many people do at birthday parties or holidays for an album or… read more
Opinion piece published in Gamasutra
Note: the “Spore Store” description has been updated here to account for misinformation I received researching this material. Full clarification is available at the end of the Gamasutra article. In the games industry, Will Wright’s Spore is surely the most highly anticipated title in recent memory. Everyone knows about it — we’ve been seeing previews and demos and hearing news… read more
On using videogames for practical jokes and gags. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra
In one of the many memorable moments of Ricky Gervais’s BBC television series The Office, troublemaker Tim encases Gareth’s stapler in Jell-O. Gareth is annoyed, and the viewer is amused, because both comprehend the act immediately: it is a prank. Pranks are a type of dark humor that trace a razor’s edge between amusement and injury. The risks inherent to… read more
My keynote presentation at the 2008 Game Developers Conference Education Summit
Note: this is a written version of the keynote address I gave at the Education Summit at the 2008 Game Developers Conference. The original presentation was extemporaneous and included evocative (rather than explanatory) slides. This version has been adapted from the presentation and the slides in a manner that will hopefully preserve the ideas fully while maintaining their original context:… read more