Three-dimensional games proved the hot topic at this year’s Game Developers Conference. Attendees experienced a plethora of 3-D technologies on the exhibit floor and participated in various 3-D related sessions. I’m not referring here to three-dimensional renderings of graphics in a two-dimensional display, the quality and prevalence of which have risen since 5th-generation console games ushered them in during the late 1990s; rather, I’m referring to stereoscopic technologies used most often for 3-D movies. My unofficial count at GDC revealed a dozen vendors […]
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GDC 2010: Game Psychology 101
Ever since 1986, when Chris Crawford invited leading game designers to his home to discuss their work, the Game Developers Conference has been an annual forum for the world’s foremost innovators to share ideas and consider the future of the industry.
Each year at GDC, I am drawn to sessions that explore what makes for good play. This held true for GDC 2010, which I attended with my fellow CHEGheads, Marc and Eric.
Three presentations stood out in this regard. In his […]
The Spirit of the Game?
A game is never only a game. Here’s a story about how play and culture and history are never far apart and how it’s easiest to discover this when you encounter unfamiliar rules.
Some years ago my daughter’s soccer team traveled to a tournament in Canada’s beautiful capital, Ottawa, to make a brave stand against some of Canada’s fiercest provincial players. Go Rockets! Go Blue! Hope stirred during the first half of a match with the Ontario champs as the Rockets […]
Katamari Damacy: What’s a Pint-sized Prince to Do?
Your father, the King of All Cosmos, had too much fun partying last night and accidently destroyed all the stars and constellations. Whoops! Being a mighty king, you’d think he’d be able to rectify this problem easily, but he’s never been a particularly effective king. As a matter of fact, he’s not a good father, either—he definitely never liked you. He’s as big as a planet, and he doesn’t consider you, at 4 inches tall, much of an heir to […]
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Neo Geo is Big
Growing up, I never owned a single video game console. I owned a few sports games that I played on my old Apple IIe computer, and I recall playing Super Mario World when I was at my babysitter’s house. But that was about the extent of my gaming knowledge. All this changed when I got married, however.
My husband is a hard-core gamer. He favors RPGs, puzzle games, and platformers and also plays his share of shooters and fighting games. But […]
I’m NOT a Bozo: My 15 Minutes of Fame on Children’s Television
I remember the roar of the crowd as I confidently gripped the ball and took aim—the way the noises faded as I focused on my target—and the broad smile on Bozo the Clown’s face during my successful run on the Grand Prize Game.
Though I am competitive, I’m not well coordinated or graceful. You probably wouldn’t have guessed that my greatest victory was even vaguely athletic. After all, I was the pitiful child who crossed the finish line dead last in […]
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Super Mario Brothers: Doki Doki in Disguise
Cataloging a large collection of video games and related materials involves a ton of research and leads to game development stories that often are as fascinating as the games themselves. ICHEG’s recent acquisition of a group of games and game systems from Japan brought Super Mario Brothers’ history to the forefront. Mario, the Italian-American plumber designed by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, is one of the most iconic video game characters of all time. Mario began his career in 1981 as the […]
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CHEGheads Head to GDC
The CHEGheads are heading to San Francisco for the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest professionals-only game industry event. The conference, which attracts more than 17,000 attendees, is a forum for industry professionals to exchange ideas on the future of electronic gaming. This is a special opportunity to meet with game designers, producers, programmers, and others who are the creative force behind games currently in the ICHEG collection and others we will collect in the future.
We are looking […]
A Final Fantasy and International Gaming Revolution
Over the past year and a half, I’ve had the privilege of cataloging more than 10,000 electronic games for ICHEG. As a gamer, I’ve found this a great way to learn about the various genres and mechanics that make up the history of electronic games.
One of my favorite games is Final Fantasy XI (ファイナルファンタジーXI, or FFXI,), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) published by Square Enix. Like World of Warcraft and EverQuest, FFXI is composed of multiple online servers […]
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