Ashton, my five-year-old son, loves playing video games on his Nintendo Wii. His favorites include Disney Epic Mickey, Hot Wheels: Beat That!, and Wii Sports Resort; he plays the New Super Mario Bros. Wii the most. I’m also a huge fan of the game, and we often team up as Mario and Luigi in the game’s multiplayer mode to save Princess Peach from Bowser and company.

Like most children his age, Ashton enjoys diverse activities. He plays cars with his Hot […]

Continue Reading about My Son’s Video Game Art and Level Design Published on:
October 21, 2011

Although vector technology in gaming lasted less than a decade, some of the designers from the industry’s Golden Era utilized this revolutionary display technology to create classics. Bright, crisp graphics gave vector games a distinctive look and their fast-moving game play mesmerized arcade-goers who lined up to drop quarters for titles such as Space Wars, Battlezone, and Tempest.

Vector games burst onto the arcade scene during a time of rapid innovation and creativity within the industry. In 1977, pioneering game designer […]

Continue Reading about Gone, But Not Forgotten: Vector Games Published on:
August 5, 2011

Think for a moment about some great video games. Consider coin-ops such as Atari’s vector-graphic Star Wars, Bally/Midway’s James Bondesque Spy Hunter, and Cinematronics’ laserdisc Dragon’s Lair.  Search your memory and recall playing early PC games like Dan Bunten’s M.U.L.E., Bill Budge’s Pinball Construction Set, or Richard Garriott’s Ultima III: Exodus. Return for just a minute to the shag carpet in front of your family television set where The Activision Decathlon, World Series Baseball, and a port of Zaxxon sat alongside […]

Continue Reading about What Video Game Crash? Published on:
April 26, 2011

If you’ve seen me grinning as I drop tokens in ICHEG’s eGameRevolution exhibit, you’ve probably concluded I’m a huge retro coin-op fan. Games like Galaga, Tron, and Centipede keep me coming back in hopes of a new high score. In my book, playing “Golden Era” arcade cabinets never gets old.
My attachment to these classics makes me worry when I read about the pending release of a new version of one of these timeless games. It’s hard to live up to […]

Continue Reading about New Pac-Man Game Coming to ICHEG Published on:
March 4, 2011

Farmville

As a video game researcher, I love talking about all sorts of games with all kinds of gamers. Obviously my job at ICHEG affords me many such opportunities to do so. Yet, I often talk gaming with acquaintances who don’t consider themselves gamers. There’s actually a lot of gaming buzz among them—and it isn’t just about playing Zynga’s Farmville on Facebook.
Here is what they are talking about: mobile gaming apps. While games for mobile devices certainly aren’t new, the touch […]

Continue Reading about The Buzz Surrounding Mobile Gaming Apps Published on:
February 11, 2011

As the college bowl season draws to a close and the NFL playoffs begin, I’ve noticed myself playing more simulated football. From classic paper football with my son to Madden NFL 10 with friends, I just can’t seem to get enough lately. Controlling the action in these games seems to help counter the sense of helplessness that goes along with watching the sport this time of year. During a recent session of Madden with a friend and fellow gamer, we […]

Continue Reading about Are You Ready For Some (Electronic) Football? Published on:
January 7, 2011

Whether the advertisements we see all around us are the brainchilds of Madison Avenue or of the local lawn care company, we cannot seem to dodge the onslaught. And it extends well beyond traditional product placements in newspaper, radio, and television.  Corporations now place their advertisements on escalator steps, sidewalk trash receptacles, and even on restaurant bathroom stalls.
As if all that were not enough, now we increasingly find advertisements embedded into video games. Historically, few companies used product placements in […]

Continue Reading about Advertising Real-World Products in Video Games Published on:
December 3, 2010

Part of a recent conversation with a friend focused on his concerns about which video games his daughter is currently interested in. Are these the right games at her age? Do they contain violent material that isn’t implied by the title? Will she be able to get online through the game console and chat with people she doesn’t know? As both a curator and a parent of young children, I share his concerns and have given them a great deal […]

Continue Reading about Age-Appropriate Play Published on:
September 3, 2010

As legendary game designers David Crane, Steven Cartright, and Garry Kitchen spoke at the recent Classic Gaming Expo, I couldn’t help but reminisce about some of my favorite Activision titles from the early 80s. As the first third-party developer in the video game industry, Activision released fascinating titles, such as Barnstorming, Keystone Kapers, and Kaboom!, for the Atari VCS. Crane’s classic platformer Pitfall! came to dominate my play experiences—both on the screen and off.

Pitfall image from GameFAQs

Our building efforts began […]

Continue Reading about Taking Video Games Outdoors Published on:
August 13, 2010