Recently my wife and I heard Michael Feinstein in concert. Feinstein has earned fame not only as a pianist and singer of popular songs from Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood, but also as a dedicated researcher into the history of popular song in America. His knowledge was on full display during the concert, when he would often pause between songs and recount the back story of the next number. He explained, for example, why the movie Casablanca featured the […]
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Creating an Ideal Community
The games I love to play as an adult—strategy games such as Age of Empires: The Asian Dynasties and Sid Meier’s Civilization IV—are clearly influenced by my childhood favorites, perhaps most significantly Utopia for Mattel Intellivision. If you’re not familiar with this groundbreaking simulation game, I suggest you check it out.
Will Wright revolutionized the game industry, yet nearly a decade before his city-building classic SimCity launched, legendary game designer Don Daglow produced Utopia, the industry’s first construction and management simulation […]
Is Fantasy Football an Electronic Game?
Autumn in upstate New York is not my favorite season. I’m a summer guy. I enjoy the heat, swimming, golfing, landscaping, fresh air blowing through open windows, and light clothing. Autumn abruptly ends all of these things, and each year I suffer more than your normal New Yorker from Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Sure, I love the autumn leaves and landscape, the first batch of chili, and Halloween. However, these are small consolations as I count the many days until the return […]
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Dr. James Paul Gee Speaks on Gaming and Learning in the 21st Century
Six years ago, James Paul Gee announced at the beginning of his book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy, “I want to talk about video games—yes, even violent video games—and say something positive about them.” It was not quite as provocative as Martin Luther nailing his ninety-five theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, but it was nonetheless a bold statement at a time when few scholars promoted the educational value of […]
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NCHEG Has Acquired the Videotopia Collection!
I’m psyched! Today, the National Center for the History of Electronic Games is announcing that we’ve acquired the Videotopia Collection. The 114 arcade games in this group include pioneers like Computer Space and Pong, crowd-pleasers like Space Invaders and Galaga, icons like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, rarities like Tank and Time Traveler, racing simulation games like Sega’s Super GT, and landmark titles like Breakout and Tron. This unique group of arcade games represents the heyday of arcades in all its […]
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Retro Arcade Gaming…in the Adirondacks?!?
My recent family vacation to the Adirondacks was a great respite from work, school, and the seemingly endless yard work that has consumed the better part of my summer. The weather was great—just right for a scenic boat ride on the lakes—and other than a marauding bear outside the inn in which we were staying (yes, a real bear), the trip was filled with quality family time, relaxing evenings, and great gaming.
Great gaming? This is not a concept normally associated […]
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Why collect gaming magazines?
Game enthusiast Joseph Qualls recently donated more than 750 back issues of video game magazines to NCHEG. The magazines, mostly from the 1990s, wonderfully document the industry’s transition into the 32-bit era and beyond. Select almost any time from that decade and you will learn about the state of video games from this collection. Take January, 1995, for example. Want to know what was hot that month? Electronic Gaming Monthly thought it was Killer Instinct; GamePro featured Earthworm Jim; and […]
Alternate Interfaces and Project Natal
The first time I played a video game without holding or stomping on a controller was at a 2002 traveling museum exhibit. There was no joystick, no steering wheel, no pads to stomp on–simply cameras that sensed my body movements. The interactive graphics were fairly primitive, but they allowed me to transform into a soccer goalie using my arms and legs to defend my goal from an onslaught of soccer balls. In another instance, I was able to snowboard around […]
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Game Boy’s 20th Birthday, Already?
Can it be 20 years already for Game Boy?
In 1989, Indiana Jones embarked on his “Last Crusade,” Joe Montana and Jerry Rice led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl victory, and Milli Vanilli lip-synced their way to the top of the charts. That year wasn’t simply about landmarks such as those or Arsenio Hall’s rise to fame and Pete Rose’s fall from grace, however. It also marked the beginning of the Game Boy era.
This summer marks the 20th […]