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Who’s the baddest of them all? Find out one opinion here. This and each of our next four ICHEG blogs are dedicated to those nefarious antagonists we love to hate—video game villains! For five consecutive postings we will cite five villains, leading up to the biggest baddie of all time. As with all lists of this nature, everyone has individual ideas and personal favorites. I used the following criteria when compiling the list:

Icon status: How recognizable is the character to […]

Continue Reading about Top 25 Video Game Villains 1: Evil Beginnings Published on:
July 19, 2010

As a kid, my summers included family camping trips, excursions to the amusement park, and Fourth of July fireworks. But those were the landmark events that punctuated the extended freedom of June, July, and August. On a day-to-day basis, my activities centered on the fun we created ourselves. And the location for those activities tended to be the small patch of sun, shade, and lawn in our suburban backyard.
 When I was a toddler, my dad built a sandbox in one […]

Continue Reading about Backyard Adventures Published on:
July 13, 2010

As a fan of the hit television series Man vs. Wild on Discovery Channel, I was thrilled by my chance encounter with the show’s celebrity adventurer Bear Grylls at E3. On screen, Bear inevitably finds himself in harrowing situations that test his expert survival skills. Publisher Crave Entertainment is betting gamers will want to walk in Bear’s shoes in their upcoming video game adaptation of the show. From Bear, to Wonder Woman, to Mickey Mouse, countless faces from other media […]

Continue Reading about Traditional Influences on Digital Media Published on:
July 9, 2010

They say that the best things in life are free, and that concept definitely applies to my creative endeavors. I’ve always been a scavenger (and hoarder) of craft materials too pretty or unique to pass up. I picked up the habit at summer camp, where I spent as much time as possible on arts and crafts. Half the fun of those projects was in dismantling them later for parts.
My summer-camp electives tended toward program offerings such as ceramics, wearable art, […]

Continue Reading about Ever the Crafty One Published on:
June 29, 2010

Between individual meetings about our work here at ICHEG, I grabbed an opportunity to wander the E3 conference floor in LA. After interacting with the various displays, I concluded that this year’s E3 encompassed three themes:
1) What’s Old is New Again—Given ICHEG’s mission, I happily noted old video game titles and characters finding new audiences in fresh games. Square Enix showed off Space Invaders Infinity Gene, a high-energy sequel to the classic game and a blast to play! Namco Bandai introduced Pac-Man Party […]

Continue Reading about Three Themes of E3 Published on:
June 25, 2010

Last week, my husband and I took a road trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our drive took us through parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and over the course of our six and a half hour drive, we visited many of the convenient highway stops along the way. While stretching our legs at these rest stops, I happily discovered that the vast majority contained small video game arcades!

Asteroids from ICHEG Collections

In general, I found all these arcade games easy to understand […]

Continue Reading about On the Road with Video Games Published on:
June 18, 2010

Work and play aren’t opposites, far from it. Here’s a story about how it’s sometimes hard to see the difference between a task and a pastime.
On the recent Memorial Day weekend, my “honey-do” list included fetching our fluffy puppy from the groomer; he’d been overdue for his seasonal trim. Walk-ins flooded the salon because Fido needed to look his best for the backyard barbecue. In the waiting room, I flipped through the day-old newspaper weekend section where I noticed that […]

Continue Reading about Haven’t We Seen this One Before? Published on:
June 15, 2010

The CHEGheads are headed to E3 Expo 2010. Both a trade show and a celebration of gaming, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is one of the most talked about industry events of the year. With the opening only a few days away, the E3 excitement is building on the blogosphere as gamers anxiously await news on “what’s next” in the gaming world.
Los Angeles from OSU Fisher College
 

Alternate interfaces for gaming consoles will […]

Continue Reading about CHEGheads Going to Gaming Paradise . . . E3 Published on:
June 11, 2010

Ever been stuck in a game? You’re not alone. Back in the 1980s, when I was cutting my gaming teeth, I remember being stymied by Colossal Cave Adventure. I was playing the Osborne Computer version, written by Mike Goetz I believe, and to win the game you had to amass 580 points by solving a series of puzzles and challenges to acquire all the treasure. I had figured out almost all the problems in the game but couldn’t complete it. […]

Continue Reading about A Generous Gift of Video Game Guides Published on:
June 7, 2010