Magic Pen game

A game that you draw shapes that has "gravity".

http://magic.pen.fizzlebot.com/

TOYSREVIL'S

Another paper toy!
I haven't tried yet (I'm just waiting start summer break!) :)

http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2008/05/dookie-poo-lounge.html

Cubeecraft

Cubeecraft offers a new cube character download every week. It is fun and simple, just print, cut and fold. :) Kirby, Venus de Milo and Domo-kun are my favourites.

le -go, go go!

le - go!

the games we play(ed)

leg godt

games we played

Here is a list of games we played during the module (spring 2008)
Maybe someone would like to update the post with better/missing pictures?

Sevens (card game)

1000 miles / Fast and Furious (I wasn't present this time, is this the correct name?)
(The French name is Mille Bornes or 'Thousand Milestones'. Digital version here.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day




Blocks

Animal Tracks


Flux or Fluxx:


Binatone: TV Master MK IV


LEGO

toy etymology: [Origin: 1275–1325; ME toye dalliance; of obscure orig.]

an update on the Iran / Barbie news story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7371771.stm

call for papers: postgrad games conference

The 2nd Brunel University Annual Postgraduate Games Conference, 16th September 2008

Deadline for abstracts 15th June 2008.

Keynote Speaker: Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios.

Paper proposals are sought for the Digital Games : Theory & Design postgraduate conference at Brunel University in Uxbridge, London to be held on 16/09/2008. The aim of the conference is to provide a forum for postgraduate games studies students to present work or work-in-progress to their peers and more experienced games researchers. Any postgraduate Masters or PhD student whose work includes a focus on digital games is invited to send a proposal.

The deadline for abstracts to be submitted is 15/06/2008, and the review committee will notify successful candidates by 01/07/2008. An abstract should outline the central argument, focus and study area of the proposed paper and be no longer than a page, along with a brief biography. A paper presentation should be maximum 20 minutes long , allowing 10 minutes for Q&A.

The conference will be broadcast into Second Life.

The theme of the conference is "Theory & Design", and some sample areas of interest are listed below: history of games, game theory, combat systems, socio-cultural issues, community, gaming culture, game genre, design possibilities for the next generation, ethnicity, sound, character, immersion, play, widening markets, sex, casual games, agency, time & space, education, economic and industrial analysis, narrative, game auteurs, graphical styles, empirical analysis, gender, intermediality & transmediality, localisation, violence, political/serious games. Other topics related to Digital Game Theory and Design are also welcomed.

A website will be available with more details shortly.

Please submit your abstract to Tanya.krzywinska@brunel.ac.uk

barbie

OMG, i had this one, isn't it so beautiful!! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbU8Vj1PhKQ

I also found out that there are several groups for old toy pictures in flickr, for examle TOYS IN THE 1970-80S group and Barbie group.

So, this all as a reference to our toy talk this week.

Website using webcam

Website that you can navigate purely by webcam.

Very interesting! It's good to think about all the possibilities of using this also to a game.

http://www.hrp.com/

games from last meeting

We had a look at these games during the last Game Culture lesson:

Line Rider
and
Crayon Physics

great games

Have a game at Retro Sabotage! Personally I like Incompatible Visions and What Next? About Incompatible Visions: keep playing until you laugh, do not stop with the first smile. ;)

Playground Play & Games

Short Radio 4 series presented by Michael Rosen about play and games in the school playground. Yesterday's episode revisited the work of Opie that we briefly discussed in the seminar a few weeks ago. Well worth a listen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/peopleintheplayground/pip/oh7p6/

All the Internet's a Game

GameLayers wants to turn Web browsing into a massive game.

Read the article at MIT Technology Review.

Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition

See the link on the title: Guinness World Records now covers game-related records, too. Among others there is a record of 'First Ever Gaming Clan', 'Most Succesful Film Based on a Video Game' and 'The best Civilization player'.

forthcoming events

The Performance and Screen Media Research Group at University of Wales, Newport's seminar series (including one in conjunction with the Play Research Group). Let me know if you are interested in going to any of these - and we'll let you all know if we can offer a lift:

19th March 2008 1700-1900
Room H8 Rathmell
Internal Research Seminar – A response to Geoffrey Batchen “Electricity Made Visible”
Re-animating the Dead - Helen Sear
Bringing the Body back into Play - Emma Westecott
Chair: David Surman

2nd April 2008 1900-2100
Bush House, Top Floor of Arnolfini Building, Bristol
External Speaker in collaboration with UWE
Larissa Hjorth, Lecturer Digital Art, Games Program at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
[Title TBC, but relating to her work with Technology Culture in South East Asia]

16th April 2008 1700-1900
Room H8 Rathmell
External SpeakerDr Diane Carr, Institute of Education, London
[Title TBC, but related to her work with Machinima]

30th April 20081700-1800
Room H8 Rathmell
Reading Group: Widescreen Aesthetics and Mise en Scene Criticism Velvet Light Trap No 21 Summer 1985 David Bordwell [available for download on http://idisk.mac.com/shenerd-Public?view=web]

A Teaser (and an ad)

Referring to our excellent presentations on the borders of play today, here is a sentence from the prologue of our forthcoming book, Extending Experiences: "Chapters in Part 2, Bordering Play, address the forms of computer game play which somehow, either practically or conceptually break out from the ”magic circle”". Sounds familiar? The layout of the book was just finished and the book was sent to the publisher earlier this week. I will tell you when it is out...

Haptics - More than Just a Vibrating Controller

R.I.P. Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax, also known as the father of Dungeons & Dragons games, and therefore the 'grandfather' of MMORPGs and alike, has died at the age of 69. Wired news writes: "Gygax went well beyond the role of game developer and became an icon to gamers, appearing as himself in episodes of Futurama and Code Monkeys and participating in discussions on roleplaying-related message boards".

It is heartbreaking to follow the player commentary on his death here. And how many there are mourning online within this community! Like someone writes on the forum: "All and every gamers in the world are mourning this week". I am also sure Gary would be happy about the kind humour that is been shared on a sad moment.

meet pivotal games

Meet Pivotal Games 1 April 6-8pm Pervasive Media Studio

A Creative Technology Network event: Bath based Pivotal Games are looking to recruit talented individuals for a range of positions - from concept artists to programmers.

At this evening event, Art Manager David Cullinane, will introduce Pivotal, present demos of their games, and give attendees the chance to hear more about the opportunities available.
To book a place, please go to:
http://www.creativetechnologynetwork.co.uk/item/142/93/245/3

Sharkrunners

"Sharkrunners, designed for Discovery Channel's 20th Anniversary Shark Week, is a persistent game of oceanic exploration and high stakes shark research. Players take on the role of marine biologists who seek to learn as much as possible about sharks through advanced observation techniques.

In the game, players control their ships, but the sharks are controlled by real-world white sharks with GPS units attached to their fins. Real-world telemetry data provides the position and movement of actual great white sharks in the game, so every shark that players encounter corresponds to a real shark in the real world.

Ships in the game move in real-time, so players receive email and/or SMS alerts during the day when their boat is within range of an encounter. Players login, choose crewmembers and an approach technique, and then collect various data from the nearby sharks.

Play now!"

(http://www.playareacode.com/work/sharkrunners/)

Boneless girl: Ultimate objectified female body

Try it by yourself here. This casual game works so well that it is just fun to play even if there seems to be no goal at all. Trickiest part is to get her through very tight places. I would like to try a male version of this game, because the girl makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. She is like a dead body .Maybe if she had more clothes it would make a difference...

Oh, here is a Bush-version, fortunately clothes on.

Japan crossword

In case my explantion did not make the idea of Japan crossword (aka Nonogram, Paint By Numbers, Griddler, CrossPix, Hanjie) clear, here is a picture of one in progress. Sorry about the bad quality, my better camera is luckier than me at the moment as it is travelling somewhere around San Francisco bay area. ;)


Try it online here (this one is very easy).

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

I have just started to record my Wii ethnography in a blog and would appreciate any comments or suggestions. It is still in its early stages and I am having a few problems digitsing the footage that I intend to post but hopefully these technical issues will be sorted by the weekend. Here is the URL:

http://y-ope.blogspot.com/

I am currenlty preparing a post that focuses on the relationship between Mii avatars and their creators and will support this using some recordings of my girlfriend and I creating our Miis for the first time.

I found some work completed by Robbie Cooper that investigates avatars and their creators, he photographed game players and contrasted them with the avatars that they had created:

http://www.confundo.net/AlterEgo/index.html

http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts/alterego_4620.jsp

There was recently a documentary on BBC2, although I think it was originally aired on BBC4, that tackles the relationship between real and virtual worlds. It is on YouTube (in many pieces of course!) but has expired on iPlayer already. Here is the first part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PniWHuv9Xko

Doom Rickroller

welcome

Welcome to this year's Game Culture cohort. Please use this blog to comment on the module, your research, your play, or to share games and play related links and resources.

For starters, have a look at Hanna's recent posts to the Power Up blog too.

Pocket Guitar

How about using the iPhone / iPod Touch as a musical instrument?
Download the source from Google Code.

Are Games Art?

Well that debate's settled once and for all.

Wiimote Hacks

The Wiimote's proving a lot of fun for hardware hacks.

Spring Horse - Wiimote Controlled Need For Speed




You might also be interested to read about Johnny Chung Lee's work.





I've actually built the following "Desktop VR" system myself and will be posting some info about it in the near future,