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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 […]

Continue Reading about NCHEG Advisor Tallarico Praises Museum During Visit Published on:
August 6, 2009

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 […]

Continue Reading about Buckleitner’s Great Gift Published on:
August 4, 2009

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 […]

Continue Reading about Preserving Memories Published on:
July 27, 2009

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. […]

Continue Reading about Thinking Outside the (Console) Box Published on:
July 24, 2009

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 […]

Continue Reading about Graphic Violence as a Motivator for Game Players? Published on:
July 16, 2009

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 […]

Continue Reading about Play’s the Thing—Really Published on:
July 14, 2009

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 […]

Continue Reading about Playing in the Stream – OnLive’s New Gaming Service Published on:
July 11, 2009

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 […]

Continue Reading about NCHEG Welcomes Videotopia to Strong Published on:
July 7, 2009

I was getting crushed. There’s no two ways about it—I was being soundly beaten at Ping-Pong by a man forty-five years my senior. I pride myself on being a good Ping-Pong player, but here he was, demolishing me. Serve, miss, point. Serve, miss, point. He was putting unbelievable English on the ball, and I didn’t stand a chance.
Of course, I was playing the master, the man who invented the game—the electronic version, that is. I was playing with Ralph Baer, […]

Continue Reading about Ralph Baer Brings His Brown Box to NCHEG Published on:
June 29, 2009