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.

The games of Gabriel Orozco

Pbs.org has an interview with Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco, who, among other media, uses games (and non-games) in his work.

About his work "Horses Running Endlessly", he says:

"I play a lot and I wanted to make a chess game that was about the knight—the horse—and then I multiply it by four. They’re all horses so there are no queens and kings, towers and bishops, just horses. And they’re running endlessly because they are all together running in this open field. You have a game that I didn’t put any rules."

This is not the only game-based piece by Orozco, who also did works around the themes of ping pong and billiards. In the interview, he explains his attraction to games:

"Every game has a connection to how we conceive nature and landscape. How we order and we structure reality."

Read the interview here.

Types of Play, by Evan Robinson

Originally published in 1990-1991, Types of Play, by Evan Robinson, is a short article with some insights on computer games and non-games as well.

"I believe we are trying to categorize the wrong thing. I suggest that the critical element in our taxonomy is the way users interact with entertainment products, not whether or not the product has sub-systems that 'anticipate' the user's moves. In addition, we are attempting to overlay new meaning on words that have common usage, which will invariably result in confusion both among ourselves and among our users."

Check the whole article at Chris Crawford's Library

Google Earth - ultimate non-game?

A colleague friend of mine once called Google Earth 'the ultimate non-game'. I've played with it some time ago, and I have to say that I agree. In fact, I included it as part of the literature review for my MA final project (which I might publish here), and I paste below a passage about it.

Recently released Google Earth is a real-life application that also can be used as an interactive toy or non-game. An interactive terrestrial globe, it allows the user to navigate around the world and zoom in to see, in real-time, detailed territories made from high-resolution satellite photographs rendered into a bump mapped 3D terrain

What seem to attract users to Google Earth is not any practical aspects of it, but the mere pleasure of navigating around the globe and seeing both familiar and unknown places in a very realistic way. This very pleasure, detached from any functional needs, is what makes blurry the line between the application it is and the game or toy it is used as.

Another interesting thing is how it is probably not perceived as a toy by its users - something the game industry could aim for, in order to attract different audiences.

In case you haven't tried yet, the link for the application is http://earth.google.com/.

Old news

During the last 30 days without posting I've finished my MA course and started a new job - having no much time for this website (or the internet in general). I am not being able to catch up with the (non)gaming news, and the Nintendo Revolution controller is the only thing I read about lately.

However, I might keep updating the website weekly or bi-weekly, and maybe post the MA project here.

Let's see how it goes.

Serious Games London Showcase

The prototype of the game I am designing for the MA course will be showcased at the Serious Games London Showcase.

More information about the event at their website.

Pause

For the next weeks at least, this website will not be updated, reasons being the approaching end of MA course and the need for finishing my work.

I hope I can get back to this website later, maybe publishing the final project.

Thank you for everything.

Lack of updates and spam

I still have to post the second part of the NTI* conference report. However, I have been quite busy lately, and I am getting lots of spam posted as comments in this website.

If anyone knows how to limit comments to registered users or delete them easily using geeklog, please, post a comment here.

Thank you.