Half-Real - New book from Jesper Juul

Published by MIT Press, Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds, the new book by (the) ludologist Jesper Juul, has now been published. From his own website:

Half-real is a book on video game theory, but it is generally readable. As for method, the book is an eclectic mix of theories on games, film and literary theory, computer science, and psychology.

Just recently I noticed, reading website of the the IT University of Copenhagen, that Juul's current research interests include "The borders between games and non-games". I wonder if he explores this subject in his book.

Electroplankton's lost ancestor (not really)

(via Avantgaming.com - According to SomethingSwful.com, the Nes Cover project is a series of 16 popular songs remade with a "synthesizer based on the classic nintendo entertainment system's psg audio system".

I assume that they did not use the NES system to actually re-write the songs. However, it makes you wonder how succesful a game Elektroplankton could have been if released back in the NES days (maybe except for the fact that those sounds are regarded as "retro" today, which gives them a little bit of a status).

Additional note: it could be a nice soundtrack for Cory Arcangel's Super Mario Clouds (a NES-based art made with a modified cartridge of Super Mario where only the clouds are displayed against a blue sky).

Adver(non)games

It is amazing how many nongames can be seen at any time at the Macromedia Site of the Day archive. Interestingly, some of them (most of them?) are advertisements or part of marketing campaigns. Some are pretty well done (like the Cheerioke and Sprite Refreshing Wall ones).

I suppose there is one thing or two that the game industry could learn from advertising. But that would be a subject for future postings.