Caillois and Video Games

Chris Bateman (who it turns out, I used to work with when I started out in the games industry back in the late 90's) has a series of posts about Caillois' terminology for play and games.

Mario Manualist Vs Guitarist: FIGHT!

I think the Super Mario Brothers theme tune is to games music what the Utah teapot is to 3D graphics. It's the litmus test, the reference point to which all forms measure themselves against.



What's your favourite SMB version?



I think I like the Tesla coil best.

The Higher Stages of the Barbarian Culture

I came across an old article on The Escapist called "Theory of the Gaming Class" by Mark Wallace

It begins with a discussion of Thorstein Veblen's 1899 work on economics and society, The Theory of the Leisure Class. Wallace argues that leisure - and gaming in particular - are markers of social status, but I would argue he does so without considering the broader economic constraints in which games are produced and marketed to us as a consumer class. Consider for example, the analysis in Dovey and Kennedy's Game Cultures and Lister et al. New Media: A Critical Introduction

Soon enough, games will be the single most culturally important entertainment medium out there, the yardstick by which we measure our leisure time - and thus our station in society. When that happens, all your cool will belong to us.

Introducing Eludamos

There's a new video game's blog on the block and it's called Eludamos. It's only biannual but still it's good to see a new online publication.