Video Games Archive

Video game design often involves sophisticated software and complex coding that results in a visual and auditory experience for the user. Several designers today incorporate tactical play into video game design. Plasticine, a non-drying, non-toxic, malleable clay, developed by art teacher William Harbutt in 1897, has become an experimental tool of the trade.

Filmmakers were the first to use plasticine to sculpt and mold objects for their animated films. The style, referred to as claymation, requires the animator to arrange the […]

Continue Reading about Claymation: From the Movie Screen to the Video Game Screen Published on:
April 30, 2015

Last month, while attending the Game Developers Conference, I couldn’t help but notice the giant booths advertising Oculus Rift, Sony Morpheus, Steam VR, and other new virtual reality headsets that are the hottest trend in gaming. While I didn’t stand in any of the long lines to try these devices, like many people I’m curious about what impact these virtual reality devices will have on the future of gaming and entertainment. It got me thinking about earlier forms of virtual […]

Continue Reading about Lessons from the Past for the Future of Virtual Reality Published on:
April 6, 2015

The limits of computing hardware of the 1980s required game designers to use pixel art, a 2D graphical style that is enjoying a revival today. Games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, and The Legend of Zelda consisted of 2D images with low resolutions and limited color palettes that many designers and gamers considered pioneering. The introduction of consoles like the Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64 in the 1990s enabled game designers to render 3D images that made earlier […]

Continue Reading about Pixel Art: Nostalgia or Visual Style? Published on:
March 9, 2015

“Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.”                
~ Admiral James T. Kirk

Continue Reading about Beam Him Up, Scotty: Remembering Leonard Nimoy Published on:
March 3, 2015

As a kid, I loved playing hide-and-seek. My favorite variation was a team-based game in which a dozen of us hid and chased each other through the streets and backyards of my densely packed neighborhood. Because we all knew the best places to hide, no one could stay in the same spot for more than a few minutes. In such an environment, the game hinged on making difficult choices such as when to sacrifice one of our slower teammates for […]

Continue Reading about Morality at Play in Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead Published on:
February 20, 2015

We are excited to announce that The Strong has launched the World Video Game Hall of Fame to recognize individual electronic games of all types (arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile) that have been popular over a sustained period and influenced the video game industry or popular culture in general.

Continue Reading about The World Video Game Hall of Fame Published on:
February 17, 2015

In 1981, Atari released Centipede—a shoot ‘em up arcade game comprised of pixilated creepy-crawlies—created by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, one of the first female game designers. To play the game, a player used a trackball controller and a single firing button to shoot at a large centipede as it wound its way down the screen and through a field of mushrooms. The player also needed to steer clear of spiders, fleas and scorpions. The game quickly became one of […]

Continue Reading about From Pixel to Paper: The Centipede Board Game Published on:
January 20, 2015

I recently listened to independent researcher Paul J. Hale’s Disney Story Origins podcast. In each episode, Hale seeks to understand the historical facts or origins of folklores, myths, and tales adapted by Disney for the big screen. Hale’s podcast presents amusing factoids and comparisons. In Disney’s Mulan, for example, the heroine has a token sidekick, Mushu, the fiery, feisty dragon. In Chinese folkore, Mulan does not have a sidekick. After her Uncle Mu Shu refuses to go to war, Mulan […]

Continue Reading about Never Alone: Protecting Cultural Heritage through Interactive Play Published on:
January 5, 2015

I lost a friend this past weekend.
I first got to know Ralph Baer a little over seven years ago when he reached out to us at The Strong to see if we might be interested in preserving materials documenting his lifework. We, of course, were interested—after all, he was a legend, the man who patented the idea of playing a game on a television, the creator of the first home video game system, and the inventor of Simon, one […]

Continue Reading about Remembering Ralph Published on:
December 12, 2014