On "Heavy Rain" and interactive cinema. From my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra.
Heavy Rain is not an interactive film. I know that’s what its creators were after, and I know that’s how it’s been pitched to the market, and I know it’s been critiqued as both a successful and an unsuccessful implementation of that goal. To understand why the game is not a playable film, it’s important to review what makes film… read more
Cover, blurb, price, etc.
MIT Press has put up the informational webpage for Newsgames, and the book should be appearing in the catalog and in books in print (and therefore at Amazon et al) soon enough. You can read the description on the MIT Press site, and I’ve also pasted it below. The list price is $24.95, which I’d guess will translate into a… read more
I would like to return your quote-unquote Critique
Peter Gratton’s letter to a a student, and Graham Harman’s response to it, reminded me of an observation I’ve wanted to share about academic discourse in general. There’s a fictional character from The Simpsons known as Comic Book Guy. Offering sarcastic quips about his “favorite” comics and television shows (often including The Simpsons itself), he epitomizes the nerd-pedant who nitpicks… read more
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
Updated Screenshots and Trailer
As the IGF approaches, I have a few updates to relate about A Slow Year. First, expect to see a number of interviews with me about the game emerging over the next two weeks. The first is on Rock Paper Shotgun, and I’ll report back when the others drop. My favorite line from the RPS piece, “I hope the game… read more
from Videogaming Illustrated, October 1982
One of my students found a bunch of old computer and videogame magazines and shared them with me last week. I’ve been slowly perusing them as time allows, and I found something surprising in the October 1982 issue of Videogaming Illustrated. It’s from a multi-page feature called Star Words, in which different celebrities, mostly actors, offer their impressions of videogames.… read more
Exhibiting Guru Meditation
I spent part of today assembling and testing Guru Meditation cartridges. Some are bound for collectors, but I’m also readying one to ship off to Slovenia for exhibition at Pixxelpoint 2009, the 10th International New Media Art Festival. The theme of the show is “Once Upon a Time in the West,” and it focuses on work made for “obsolete” platforms.… read more
Learning from the jazz pop instrumental
I seem to wind up in the car for at least part of the early afternoon every Saturday. As a result, I’ve developed a habit of listening to the reruns of America’s Top 40 with Casey Kasem that play on satellite radio channel 70s on 7. This week’s chart was from thirty years ago exactly, October 29, 1979. The number… read more
On The Beatles: Rock Band
Last week, the NY Times published Seth Schiesel’s effusive review of The Beatles: Rock Band. Calling the game a “transformative entertainment experience,” Schiesel argued that it “may be the most important video game yet made.” Schiesel’s logic is sensical: the combination of Beatles + videogame gives baby boomers something concrete to share with their kids and grandkids. Harmonix, a company… read more
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