Maybe you think that I mean “research about roller coasters,” but you’d be wrong. Sometimes, when you work as a curator at the National Museum of Play, you need to put down the scholarly books about play and head out to do a little hands-on research. There’s nothing like ratcheting up the first steep incline of a roller coaster and then screaming down the drop on the other side to prove what’s fun about amusement parks.
When I want a quick […]
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NCHEG Advisor Tallarico Praises Museum During Visit
Tommy Tallarico, Executive Producer of Video Games Live, made a special visit to Strong National Museum of Play recently to spend time with the CHEGheads and museum President and CEO, Rollie Adams. After touring the museum and the NCHEG collection Tallarico remarked, “This museum is the most amazing thing I’ve seen in my entire life!”
In the area for a performance of Video Games Live, Tallarico talked with the CHEGheads about issues ranging from the role of music and composers in […]
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Buckleitner’s Great Gift
NCHEG’s collections have grown rapidly, and I wanted to take a moment to highlight one of the largest recent additions: more than 5,000 educational children’s computer games donated by Dr. Warren Buckleitner, Founder and Editor of Children’s Technology Review.
The games themselves range widely over different computer formats, from games on 5 1/4” floppies like Fisher-Price’s 1985 Alpha Build (front side runs on Apple, flip it over and it works on the IBM!) to 3 ½” disks like The Berenstain […]
Preserving Memories
I was a kid once, too. I spent every summer, between the ages of seven and ten or so, with my Mom’s parents at their big house in the country. There were four of us kids, and I think it was a favor to Mom to have us out from under her feet for a few weeks.
My grandparents—the sweetest grandparents a kid could want—lived inside a huge Greek Revival house. They were far from rich, but in my mind, their […]
Thinking Outside the (Console) Box
In my last blog you read about OnLive’s new streaming games-on-demand service (now in beta, expected to be launched in winter 2009). That entry discussed OnLive’s potential for changing the way games are played, which got me wondering about the possibilities for changing how games are developed and distributed.
OnLive claims that the market is ripe for games-on-demand service because there is a trend of “unprecedented innovation, creativity, and expansion within the video game market.” This is easy to agree with. […]
Graphic Violence as a Motivator for Game Players?
The debate over violence in video games is one that has shadowed, and at times nearly overshadowed, the electronic games industry (despite the fact that they account for a relatively small percentage of the game market). When did all this fuss begin and where has it led?
Ever since Exidy Inc. released Death Race—a mid-1970s arcade game where players steer pixilated race cars around a graveyard in an attempt to run down undead monsters—there has been increasing public concern about […]
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Play’s the Thing—Really
Some years ago, I watched Maggie Jane, my four-year-old niece, play with a few of her toys. She was seated on the living room floor, surrounded by talking adults who occasionally directed questions to Maggie about things like her preschool and her swimming lessons. Maggie respectfully answered their questions, but she was clearly engrossed in playing with her Barbie dolls and the plastic giraffes from a zoo play set. She had paired them—one doll with one giraffe—and made up stories […]
Playing in the Stream – OnLive’s New Gaming Service
This could be the game-changer… or perhaps not.
I’ve been following the news about OnLive with great anticipation. OnLive, if you haven’t already heard, is launching a high-performance, streaming service that could be the first of its kind to offer a true online gaming experience previously relegated to PC or console play. Let’s face it—one of the biggest limitations to gaming is the choice of platform, and the affordability of each. Having an X-box 360, PS3, and a souped-up gaming PC […]
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NCHEG Welcomes Videotopia to Strong
Prior to the museum opening of Videotopia, I was assigned to “test” the vintage arcade games that were arriving as part of the exhibit. That’s right—I got paid to play arcade games for the better part of a week. I know what you are thinking, but this is research. At least that’s what I keep telling everyone.
It’s hard work navigating virtual asteroid fields, battling predatory insects, and saving the planet from pixilated alien invaders, but someone had to ensure the […]