I think what interested me in our last class, but we did not really elaborated on was the topic of collectibles in the video game industry, which is kind of cool especially after looking at the time line and seeing how young the industry truly is. About 40 years old and people are crazy for pacman radios, space invaders watches, and don't forget the ever popular lunch box (even I succumbed to having my mom get me a Donkey Kong lunch box to take to school back in my younger years) I mean I just quickly googled to see just how many (I don't want to say crazy) so lets say passionate people there are out there, and well I was SHOCKED! Here was one website I thought was cool. http://pacmanmuseum.com/collection/ I guess all of this browsing/shopping got me thinking- when does something become a collectible? People still play pacman, space invaders, and asteroids (online and elsewhere) so it has not vanished or anything. is it when new technology out does the previous versions, but the public still loves it? Is it the console or the games that become the collectible (because that was another discussion we had in class)? Can it be both? (like arcade games, etc.)
Taking into consideration all the games you play now or grew up playing, and all the systems you played them on, which if any do you for see entering the realm of collectibles? (I know I better start looking for my Pokemon stuff if I haven't already thrown all of it out hehehe.)
Friday, July 3, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Now Sony is going the motion-sensing route?
With everyone in the industry going berserk over all things motion and touch, it appears Sony has decided to tag along. Though still unclear, the rumor states that Sony will possibly be unveiling a motion-sensing controller. According to Ben Fritz, "A good source saw a working prototype several months ago that largely fit what was in the patent. Sony's controller apparently used LEDs (light emitting diodes, essentially little electric light sources) and a small webcam to track the device's movements," who is a Cut Scene correspondent. He mentions that the camera is very accurate in its reading of movement and behavior as it can read different color lights and the shape and angle of each light. Unlike the Wii-mote, it can track movement when players move towards and away from the screen. Something which it does horribly.
Previously news Microsoft and Nintendo also mention they are in works to develop motion-sensing capabilities. Unlike Sony, Microsoft's motion device is a scanner that's placed in front of the TV like a blockier, larger Wii Sensor. Though Nintendo was one of the first to carry the torch of motion-sensing, they are now developing a device called "Motion Plus" that will be an attachment to enhance the motion capturing capabilites of the current Wii-Mote.
Previously news Microsoft and Nintendo also mention they are in works to develop motion-sensing capabilities. Unlike Sony, Microsoft's motion device is a scanner that's placed in front of the TV like a blockier, larger Wii Sensor. Though Nintendo was one of the first to carry the torch of motion-sensing, they are now developing a device called "Motion Plus" that will be an attachment to enhance the motion capturing capabilites of the current Wii-Mote.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
MyLifetime.com - Serious Gaming for Serious Women
On Monday, I interviewed at Lifetime TV for the internship position Dalia Hierro told us about in her guest lecture a couple weeks ago. To prep for the interview, I went to their gaming website on myLifetime.com, and was surprised to see the amount of games they actually had. There are the usual suspects: matchmaker card games, trivia games on some of their shows, and about nine different kinds of mahjong. What I really didn't expect was actual downloadable games, most of them fantasy adventure. They're free to try, but all are available for purchase for about $20 each. Apparently Lifetime has been building up on their demographic and attracting a lot of female gamers. Their gaming site runs like any other casual gaming website, but they actively promote their downloadable games like no other. Lifetime's online gaming division is relatively new this year and it will be interesting how popular their site becomes within their demographic.
Machinima
My memory of machinima has been one that is dedicated to Counter Strike. Although I haven't particularly gotten into the culture of it myself, it is impressive how expansive it has become across so many titles. From the Sims to Halo to World of Warcraft, even various genres of games can fit into this one overarching theme of combining a cinematic experience to video games.
The article and machinima itself made me think of two things. (1) How the culture of gamers expands far beyond just playing the game itself in the way it was produced/marketed, and (2) how video games are ever increasing their existence as an art form.
As a cultural form, machinima is much like fan art and an expressive route of connecting personally with a video game. It represents video games as a much more immersive medium than many other more traditional forms. Also, it represents a medium that is modifiable and extends itself beyond the scope of its original intent. Machinima therefore makes video games more actively and persistently present/current than other media that might be put to use and tired of quickly.
In fact, machinima is like fan culture on steroids. Just looking at machinima.com you can see that the art itself even gets attention in its own blog, forum, news, and even contests. If fan culture is a way for gamers (or other dedicated media users) to express themselves and participate in the medium, then machinima is an overload of that expression in a realm of its own. That says something significant about not just machinima, but gaming culture as well.
The article and machinima itself made me think of two things. (1) How the culture of gamers expands far beyond just playing the game itself in the way it was produced/marketed, and (2) how video games are ever increasing their existence as an art form.
As a cultural form, machinima is much like fan art and an expressive route of connecting personally with a video game. It represents video games as a much more immersive medium than many other more traditional forms. Also, it represents a medium that is modifiable and extends itself beyond the scope of its original intent. Machinima therefore makes video games more actively and persistently present/current than other media that might be put to use and tired of quickly.
In fact, machinima is like fan culture on steroids. Just looking at machinima.com you can see that the art itself even gets attention in its own blog, forum, news, and even contests. If fan culture is a way for gamers (or other dedicated media users) to express themselves and participate in the medium, then machinima is an overload of that expression in a realm of its own. That says something significant about not just machinima, but gaming culture as well.
Remix and the Rise of the Amatuer Game Developer
One of the interesting aspects of remix culture (to me) is how it enables people who are not traditionally "content creators" to user pre-existing bodies of work to hurdle their own creations to significance. By using materials of parts of culture which already exists, they can focus on creating meaningful bodies of work, rather than reinventing the wheel.
With the advent of Xbox Live Arcade, and possible the advances in cell phone gaming, creating games is easier than ever. I am also taking an iPhone Programming class in the Computer Science department in which our final project is to create an actual "app" to list on the iPhone appstore over the summer. It has been interesting to see how my fellow peers try to create different type of games, and the most amazing part is how easy it actually is to use these tools to create, real live, commercial viable (reachable) games. In a sense, these predefined toolkits are lower this barrier to entry, and allowing for greater variety of individuals to create something which normal people would actually call "a game."
My question is, if mods, which are re purposing existing game engines are considered "remix culture," can high level APIs from more advanced devices also be considered remix culture?
With the advent of Xbox Live Arcade, and possible the advances in cell phone gaming, creating games is easier than ever. I am also taking an iPhone Programming class in the Computer Science department in which our final project is to create an actual "app" to list on the iPhone appstore over the summer. It has been interesting to see how my fellow peers try to create different type of games, and the most amazing part is how easy it actually is to use these tools to create, real live, commercial viable (reachable) games. In a sense, these predefined toolkits are lower this barrier to entry, and allowing for greater variety of individuals to create something which normal people would actually call "a game."
My question is, if mods, which are re purposing existing game engines are considered "remix culture," can high level APIs from more advanced devices also be considered remix culture?
G4 now plugged into gaming!
The off beat television network G4 has recently launched a new show called Xplay. The show is aired weeknights at 6:30 and 8PM ET. Xplay truly steps into the next generation of TV. The show is dedicated to the video games industry and provides videogame reviews, previews, and news. It is likely that TV executives are wising up to the now broad appeal of the videogame business. Such a strategy only make sense when many major video game titles often outperform sales of Blockbuster movies.
Xplay's game reviews are particularly good as they provide an in depth analysis into the drawbacks of certain videogame titles. For example, a review of Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, the critic states that one downside of the game is the fact that there is a draw distance of only 20 feet. A draw distance is the distance at which other NPC render on the screen. The relatively weak draw distance within the game is particularly perplexing since the game runs on the technologically advanced PlayStation 3 system. As a result of the poor character rending distance, enemy fighters seem to pop onto the screen out of nowhere. The Xplay reviewers gave the game only one star as a result of these drawbacks. Such a show could provide meaningful insight into the gaming industry for casual and core gamers alike. The show seems to indicate a growing trend within the industry in which product convergence (fusing of gaming and TV) is becoming more common.
Xplay's game reviews are particularly good as they provide an in depth analysis into the drawbacks of certain videogame titles. For example, a review of Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, the critic states that one downside of the game is the fact that there is a draw distance of only 20 feet. A draw distance is the distance at which other NPC render on the screen. The relatively weak draw distance within the game is particularly perplexing since the game runs on the technologically advanced PlayStation 3 system. As a result of the poor character rending distance, enemy fighters seem to pop onto the screen out of nowhere. The Xplay reviewers gave the game only one star as a result of these drawbacks. Such a show could provide meaningful insight into the gaming industry for casual and core gamers alike. The show seems to indicate a growing trend within the industry in which product convergence (fusing of gaming and TV) is becoming more common.
MODS and MACHINIMA
The readings on remix-culture and user-created gaming made me think about the role of DIY production in games-- many people use the engines to create their own works of art, but the real art, to me, lies in the engine itself. Thus, I am more intrigued by mods which involve tweaks to the game engine than machinima which work within it.
Not all mods are created equal, but the level of ingenuity that goes into some of the more complex ones is really astounding. I remember Natural Selection, a mod for Half Life, making major changes to the multiplayer engine and really using the code from Half Life like a palette to create a vastly remixed experience.
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