Author: Jesper

So here’s a brief report from the floor at the Tokyo Game Show 2007:

I met Bomberman.

That was quick. According to vgchartz , the Wii has now outsold the 360 despite its one-year lead.

This is a historic moment in video game history: The clearly graphically inferior console, launched later is outselling the graphically superior console.

This is good, of course.

(Bring on the historical arguments about other graphically inferior consoles coming out on top.)

Coming out this month, Space Time Play is a new anthology on video games edited by Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz and Matthias B?ttger.

My contributions are:

• The essay “Variation over Time: The Transformation of Space in Single-screen Action Games” where I discuss the historical use of changing level layouts to create variation.
• A (critical) review of Asteroids.
• A review of Defender.

********************

The richly illustrated texts in “Space Time Play” cover a wide range of gamespaces: from milestone video and computer games to virtual metropolises to digitally-overlaid physical spaces. As a comprehensive and interdisciplinary compendium, “Space Time Play” explores the architectural history of computer games and the future of ludic space. More than 140 experts from game studies and the game industry, from architecture and urban planning, have contributed essays, game reviews and interviews. The games examined range from commercial products to artistic projects and from scientific experiments to spatial design and planning tools.

“Space Time Play” is not just meant for architects, designers and gamers, but for all those who take an interest in the culture of digital games and the spaces within and modeled after them. Let’s play!
_________________________________________________________

With contributions by Espen Aarseth, Ernest Adams, Richard A. Bartle, Ian Bogost, Iain Borden, Gerhard M. Buurman, Edward Castranova, Kees Christiaanse, James Der Derian, Stephen Graham, Ludger Hovestadt, Henry Jenkins, Jesper Juul, Frank Lantz, Bart Lootsma, Winy Maas, Lev Manovich, Jane McGonigal, Kas Oosterhuis, William J. Mitchell, Howard Rheingold, Katie Salen, Hans-Peter Schwarz, McKenzie Wark, Mark Wigley and many more.
_________________________________________________________

“Space Time Play” will be available in bookstores as of October 2007
(USA November 2007). The following can be downloaded:

> Cover (JPEG, 150 dpi, 1.2 Mb)
> Table of Contents (PDF, 444 Kb)
> Introduction (PDF, 436 Kb)

Review copies can be requested from Birkh?user Publishing from Gisela Graf. Please direct questions about presentations and interviews as well as any other queries to the editors.
_________________________________________________________

Space Time Play
Edited by Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz and Matthias B?ttger
In cooperation with Drew Davidson, Heather Kelley, Julian K?cklich
496 pages, 352 color illustrations.

The new Eludamos Journal for Computer Game Culture has launched its inaugural issue.

From the introduction:

We all play, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, or social status. Some of us play chess while others play golf. Children play catch or hide and seek. Americans play football, Europeans soccer. Actors play theatre, musicians play instruments. Comedians play their audiences, politicians the media. Lawyers play the legal system, economists the economic game. Whether we like it or not, play is one of the most fundamental activities in human life, it is immersed in our language and has a substantial influence in how we define our culture. It is sometimes unintentional and informal like the unorganised play of children on a playground, other times it is intentional and formal such as the play of baseball players in the World Series. Play is always subject to rules, even if these rules change over time. Play has a beginning and an end; it is creative and always voluntary. If we are forced to play we can withdraw by spoiling it. Play is fun and motivating; it challenges us and makes us learn about ourselves and life in general. Through play we exit reality and experience a make-believe world. When we are done playing, play disappears and we return to reality. Everything that was important during play has then somehow lost its meaning seemingly leaving no serious consequences of play in real life.

Introduction

Introduction	HTML PDF
Emma Westecott, Andreas Jahn-Sudmann, Gareth Schott, Michael Wagner

Articles

Ordinary Gamers – The Vanishing Violence In War Games And Its Influence On Male Gamers	Abstract PDF HTML
Hartmut Gieselmann

On the Liberation of Space in Computer Games	Abstract PDF HTML
Edvin Babic

(Dis-)integrative Effects of MUD-Usage as Seen by the Players	Abstract PDF HTML
Susanne Keuneke

Real Player Manifesto	Abstract PDF HTML
Marguerite Charmante

?Translating Narrative into Code? ? Thoughts on a Technology-Centric Model of Digital Games as Programmable Media	Abstract PDF HTML
Stefan Werning

Reviews

Think smooth! The challenges, pleasures and pitfalls of WarioWare: Smooth Moves	HTML PDF
Doris Carmen Rusch

Emotion and Story in “Shadow of the Colossus”: A Meta-Review	Abstract HTML PDF
Peter Purgathofer

Electroplankton revisited: A Meta-Review	Abstract HTML PDF
Martin Pichlmair

Reports

Black and White: Attending the Games Convention 2007

HTML PDF

From the Leipzig Games Convention, Telespiele exhibition comes this list of the most influential games of all time. Tetris was voted #1, but here is the chronological list:

1972 Pong (Dexterity/Arcade)
1978 Space Invaders (Dexterity/Arcade)
1979 Pac-Man (Dexterity/Arcade)
1980 Ultima (Role Play)
1984 Elite (Space Trading Simulation)
1985 Tetris (Dexterity/Puzzle)
1985 Super Mario Bros. (Jump’n’Run)
1986 The Legend of Zelda (Action/Adventure)
1987 Maniac Mansion (Adventure)
1989 SimCity (City Building Simulation)
1991 Civilization (Strategy)
1993 Doom (First-Person Shooter)
1996 Tomb Raider (Action/Adventure)
1999 Counter-Strike (First-Person Shooter)
2000 The Sims (Relationship Simulation)
2004 World of WarCraft (Online Role Play)

I am not sure about the word influential here – World of Warcraft has not nearly as influential as, say, MUD or even DikuMud that influenced WOW. And though I have fond memories of Elite – was it really that influential? Perhaps if you count is as an “open game”, that leads up to Grand Theft Auto. And so on.

Still, lists are fun.

Which games are missing here? Which games shouldn’t be on the list?

The pretty amazing-looking Japanese arcade game Arm Spirit is being recalled after three gamers have broken their arms playing it. Here it is:

This comes at an unfortunate time, just a month before I leave for DiGRA and Tokyo Game Show. That’s life for you: Sometimes you just miss the boat, or the arm.

Now, the interesting bit is actually the fact that it is being recalled due to three broken arms, and that I also instinctively believe that this is the right thing to do. It is assumed that games should be mostly harmless, and it is hard to argue otherwise.

Games that actually hurt you just remain associated with dystopian sci-fi (Rollerball), but we wouldn’t want it here? Never?