Writing

Fashion mogul Marc Eckoâ??s eponymous clothing company now brings in $1 billion a year in revenue. Recently, Ecko has branched out from rhino-emblazoned t-shirts, shoes, and underpants to popular media, including the consumer culture rag Complex Magazine, the extreme lifestyle YouTube knock-off eckotv.com, and the 2006 video game Mark Eckoâ??s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.

There are three ideas I want to share in this short piece on mobile persuasion through videogames. First, how do videogames express ideas? Without understanding how games can be expressive in a general sense, it is hard to understand how they might be persuasive. Second, how do videogames make arguments? Videogames are different from oral, textual, visual, or filmic media… read more

We introduce platform studies, a family of approaches to digital media. In platform studies, close consideration is given to the detailed technical workings of computing systems. This allows the connections between platform technologies and creative production to be investigated. Two short studies of the Atari VCS (2600) and the Nintendo Wii show how close consideration of this sort can inform… read more

Monopoly has a long, complex, and generally unknown history. Perhaps the most surprising historical curiosity about this classic game about being a real estate tycoon is that it was originally created with an entirely different set of values in mind.

Read the entire article in print in Second Person: : Roleplaying and Story in Games and Playable Media On December 16, 2003, popular web magazine Slate published an article by journalist and author Steven Johnson (Johnson 2003). Reviewing simulation games that engage problems of social organization, Johnson posed a question: â??The [2004] U.S. presidential campaign may be the first true… read more

Interest in exergames has grown in recent years, largely on account of their potential to replace sedentary leisure activity with active leisure activity. Instead of sitting in front of the television idle, mouth agape as we ponder our love for Raymond or hatred for House, we might step-to with DDR or jump around with Eye Toy.

Recently Burger King released three Xbox and Xbox 360 titles featuring the creepy King mascot that has graced the companyâ??s advertising of late, as well as memorable former spokescreatures like the Subservient Chicken and Brooke Burke. The titles include Pocketbike Racer, a Mario Kart-style battle racer; Big Bumpinâ??, a collection of head-to-head bumper car games including races, battles, and hockey;… read more

Now that Nintendoâ??s Wii has finally hit the streets, we can really start assessing its potential impact on the future of video games in general, and serious games in particular. With all the fuss after Nintendoâ??s announcement of the consoleâ??s official name six months ago, itâ??s easy to forget that the company promised nothing less than a â??Revolutionâ? â?? the… read more

Imagine a video game about the difficult life of a typical, but troubled adolescent. Heâ??s the product of a broken home and alienated from his parents, who are more interested in the novelty of their new marriage than in the responsibility of raising a child. Heâ??s been in and out of different schools and finds it hard to make friends.… read more

Videogames have dominated popular culture for some time, but only in 2004 did they make a significant break into the world of politics, advocacy, and activism. This paper provides an overview of a variety of types of games used for political speech, from endorsed party messages to activist dissent. After explaining the state of the field, I discuss approaches to… read more