Some fans of video games today don’t necessarily play the games before they get caught up in the gaming culture. Movies based on video games abound, t-shirts featuring video game characters hang from store windows, and action figures from popular games line store shelves. While growing up, I watched game-related programming before I even picked up a controller. And of all the ways to immerse myself in gaming without hooking up a console, such shows remain top on my list.
My […]
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Gone, But Not Forgotten: Vector Games
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 […]
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Three Degrees of Stop-Motion in Video Games
I’m a Phillip Seymour Hoffman fan, which led me to his performance in Adam Elliot’s stop-motion film Mary and Max, which in turn caused me to think about how video games incorporate this marvelous animation technique. Typically, stop-motion involves a designer moving an inanimate object in small increments and then photographing each separate frame. When the creator plays the series of photographs in a continuous sequence, this creates the illusion of movement. Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Black first […]
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Saving in Video Games
The save feature is something a lot of gamers take for granted these days. Not only can a player save directly to a home console or computer hard drive, the number of opportunities we’re given to save prove higher than ever. This makes death and dying in games a lot less stressful. A player might lose some time and experience, but going back to the last save point is an option in most games. What I find interesting is how […]
Everyone’s a Gamer
The Entertainment Software Association just released their newest data on the current state of video game play in the United States. The document reports that sales of video game software and hardware topped $25 billion last year, the average age of a gamer is 37, and 29% of gamers are over the age of 50. The report also notes that 72% of American households play video games.
Given the popularity of video games and my job title, I’m not surprised when […]
Which Matters Most–the Game or the Name?
As a buyer, I’m surrounded by a myriad of game choices, and each one has about 30 seconds to capture my attention. The easiest way to hook me is with a snappy name. At ICHEG, I see thousands of games every year, but these titles are the ones that stuck with me:
Ninjabread Man: My current favorite is a platformer for the PlayStation 2, Wii, and PC. I love gingerbread men, both to decorate for the holidays or to sing silly […]
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Saving Our Heritage, One Game at a Time
We CHEGheads and everyone else at ICHEG and The Strong are thrilled that we’ve received a grant from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) for $113,277! Here’s what the grant is for and why it is important.
First, some background. IMLS is a Federal agency that supports, as the name implies, museums and libraries. The agency awarded this grant in a highly-competitive category for the conservation and care of artifacts: 136 institutions applied and only 31 received support. As […]
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Adult Swim Video Games
When Rolling Stone mentioned recently that Adult Swim plans to release a wave of new mobile video games, fans of the channel’s crass cartoons responded with uncertainty. Adult Swim dabbles in the video game industry regularly, and its track record makes it difficult for gamers to determine if these new games will sink or swim.
In 2008, Adult Swim released their self-proclaimed “Worse Games Ever: Go Right.” Designers based this online flash game on the network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a […]
By Any Other Name: The Origin of Atari
The year is 1972, and video game innovator Nolan Bushnell and his partner Ted Dabney are fresh from their design of the first commercial arcade game, Computer Space. Before beginning their next big project, they decide to trademark their gaming company, Syzygy, named after an astronomical term for three celestial bodies in a straight line. Unfortunately, a representative for the California Secretary of State reports that the name is already trademarked. Forced to think of another option, Bushnell changes his […]
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