Steven Poole has put up his really good videogame book Trigger Happy as a free download on his website. If you haven’t read it, shame on you. Here is your chance and if you have, it is always good to have a pdf copy and he has put up the 2004 afterword as well which I’ve never read since my version of the book didn’t have it yet. Cool stuff.
Monthly Archives: November 2007
Monday night Starz shows Hollywood Goes Gaming
I don’t have Starz so hopefully someone will make this “available” online. Monday night Starz is going to show Hollywood Goes Gaming. However, based on the description I wouldn’t get my hopes up for a knowledgeable or accurate discussion:
Hollywood makes movies based on video games – “300”, Lara Croft – and hit video games are often created from movies (“The Godfather”, “Scarface”). Meet the stars and players from both industries in this Starz Originals production. 2007, TV14, USA
We all remember that great game that inspired the movie 300, right? It wasn’t as if 300 was based on a comic book and not a game or anything…
Still, I’m sure it will be worth a look for those that have Starz.
What’s in (the lack of) a name?
So I’m doing what most videogame studies people do, reading Edge Magazine and I notice something. This is something that most people have probably noticed years ago but I’m a little slow sometimes. So what did I notice?
The articles in Edge Magazine are apparently created from the hive mind of the magazine’s staff because they don’t list the writer’s name on any of the articles. When I bought this issue of Edge I also bought Games™ Magazine which slavishly follows Edge’s style and layout and they don’t give their writers credit either. Well that isn’t entirely true, because Edge does qive their columnists credit.
So columnists are more important than the person who writes the cover story? Is this common practice in the UK or in certain types of periodicals? I can only assume that they are attempting to give the magazine a uniform style and don’t want to single out anyone. But what does it say about game journalism that the most respected videogame magazine doesn’t tell you who is writing what?
That’s it, I’m transferring!
OK, maybe not, but Northern Virginia Community College has set up something I would love to do here at my school: dedicate a computer lab to gaming. Here’s a video of the Northern Virginia Community College “Game Pit.”
What’s in (the formating of) a name?
I’ve been reading some stuff lately and I’ve begun to wonder about the formatting of titles. In at least MLA citations the titles of books are italicized, and short stories are in quotation marks. There are also conventions for musical albums and songs and poems. So what exactly is the rational for games. Should it be Half-Life? I would say so. However, when we get to non-digital games it gets a bit trickier at least in my mind. What about Monopoly? probably. What about Chutes and Ladders? It is in the public domain, isn’t it? Chess certainly doesn’t seem right. Nor does baseball. But what about Madden 2008? There seems to be some sort of rule or guideline but I’m not sure what it is.
Interestingly, at least whoever last edited the Wikipedia enty for Snakes and Ladders makes some sort of distinction when it states
The most widely known edition of Chutes and Ladders in the USA is Chutes and Ladders…
Of course it is wikipedia so it could just be some random formatting problem. If intentional, however, it seems to be making a distinction between a general version of the game and a maker’s specific version.
Is there a hard and fast rule or are we out there on our own?
Thank you to all the little people…
After several years of having ads on the site I got my first check from Google today. I can now retire comfortably with the $100 I’ve made from this site. I’m big pimpin’ baby!