Water Cooler Games

by Ian Bogost February 7, 2009

Guitar Hero Camp

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

Power Chord Academy is a music camp for 12-18 year olds in Los Angeles. This summer, the school has announced a new program, GameROCKERS™. GameROCKERS™ is our exclusive 3-day cutting edge game-musician program for the new age of musicians who play Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Loaded with competitions and ...

by Ian Bogost October 15, 2008

In-Game Obama

Advergames, Console & PC Games, Political Games

According to the AP, Barack Obama has become thefirst presidential candidate to buy ad space inside a game. Nine video games from Electronic Arts Inc., ranging from the extremely popular "Madden 09" football game to the street racing "Burnout: Paradise," feature in-game ads from the Obama campaign. The ads — ...

by Ian Bogost September 9, 2008

Where are the educational games on consoles?

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

Over at Kotaku, Brian Crecente notes the re-release of Math Blasters for the DS, and then wonders why more console makers don't introduce at least a few good educational games on their systems in order to win over schools, parents, and other groups who might like both entertainment and education. ...

by Ian Bogost September 2, 2008

Grinding on the Treadmill

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Last week, Destructoid ran coverage of a couple of guys who fashioned homebrew treadmills and wired them up to World of Warcraft. They then filmed a dorky costumed performance of an obviously exhausting run across Azeroth: Is this exercise? Sure, but it's mostly geekery. I can't imagine the pair will ...

by Ian Bogost August 25, 2008

Gimmickry, or How Exergaming Went Mainstream

Casual Games, Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Health & Medicine Games

I've been thinking about exercise games lately, primarily due to an onslaught of new games, devices, and initiatives. For example, we've got Footgaming, a sort of promotional blog for a student fitness program called Generation Fit. The group hopes to support casual and educational play with a peripheral called FootPOWR. ...

by Ian Bogost August 14, 2008

The Clintons on SNES

Console & PC Games, Political Games

For some reason, it was possible to select then-White House occupants Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, or Al Gore as players in NBA Jam Tournament Edition for SNES. The White House routinely issues cease and desist notices for using the President's likeness for marketing, but this wasn't exactly marketing, exactly. One ...

by Ian Bogost August 11, 2008

Atari Licenses Too Good to be True

Advergames, Console & PC Games, Political Games

Our readers probably know well my interest, even obsession, with both the Atari VCS and licensed games. As Nick and I put the final touches on our forthcoming book on the Atari, I've been doing a lot of final fact confirmation online. In the process of doing so this weekend ...

by Ian Bogost August 7, 2008

Go Buy Braid

Console & PC Games

If you own an Xbox 360, it is imperative that you go buy Jonathan Blow's newly released game Braid immediately. There are lots of good reasons to do this, for example, the game is unique, beautiful, subtly meaningful, and important. But if that's not convincing, or you think it's not ...

by Ian Bogost June 26, 2008

Simulating Torture

Console & PC Games, Political Games

Thanks to an article by regular MSNBC game columnist Winda Benedetti about it today, Torture Game 2 has been popping up on blogs and in my inbox. In the game (which is really more of a toy, if that's a fair word for it), the player can inflict a variety ...

by Ian Bogost June 9, 2008

Pictures for Truth, an Amnesty International Game

Activism Games, Console & PC Games, Newsgames, Political Games

Pictures for Truth is a game about human rights violations in China, and also the first game developed for Amnesty International, according to its developers. Created by a group of professional game developers and volunteers from Quebec in their off time, the game puts the player in the role of ...

by Ian Bogost May 29, 2008

Ubisoft to Publish Smoking Cessation Game for DS

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

According to our friends at Kotaku, Ubisoft is bringing a videogame version of Allen Carr's popular Easy Way to Stop Smoking book/method to Nintendo DS this fall. The press release says very little about the game, and really very little in general, but clearly they are borrowing a page from ...

by Ian Bogost May 20, 2008

Making Room for Wii Fit

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

At the end of the chapter on exercise in Persuasive Games, I briefly discussed the problems exercise games pose to home use. A student and a colleague did a study and wrote an ACM article about how people negotiate space and play with big controllers like those used for DDR ...

by Ian Bogost May 7, 2008

iTunes App Store can reject you for any reason

Business Games, Console & PC Games

Following my occasional series of gripes about Apple openness (1, 2, 3, 4), I thought I'd share a part of the agreement iPhone application developers must accept in order to be able to publish to the forthcoming iTunes App Store: 6.2 Selection by Apple for DistributionYou understand and agree that ...

by Ian Bogost April 30, 2008

Libery City Satire

Console & PC Games, Political Games

In case you didn't notice, Grand Theft Auto IV was released yesterday. The coverage is predictably overwhelming, although standing out among the noise about sales records and politicians is Heather Chaplin's piece on NPR's All Things Considered, which includes a series of interviews with GTAIV writer Lazlow Jones. I've criticized ...

by Ian Bogost April 23, 2008

NASA MMO Update: Brains Pulled, not Funding

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

Earlier this week I reported that NASA had pulled the $3m worth of funding previously committed to an educational MMO project. Other reliable sources ran the same story (1, 2, 3). Sean Hollister wrote a new story on the topic, including some interview material from Daniel Laughlin, one of the ...

by Ian Bogost April 21, 2008

NASA MMO Budget Cut from $3m to $0

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

(Updated here, 23 April) A while back, NASA started talking about a large-scale, well-funded MMO they wanted to make for educational purposes. The organization published a Request for Information (RFI) that claimed "A high quality synthetic gaming environment is a vital element of Nasa's educational cyberstructure." The goals of the ...

by Ian Bogost April 17, 2008

Air Traffic Chaos

Console & PC Games

Finally something to look forward to! Majesco announces Air Traffic Chaos for Nintendo DS! In Air Traffic Chaos, aspiring air traffic controllers use the touch screen to manage takeoffs, gate assignments, and landings for all incoming and outgoing airport traffic for 14 different airlines in varying weather conditions. As someone ...

by Ian Bogost February 20, 2008

GDC 2008: Wii Fit, Creating a Brand New Interface for the Home Console

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

(Takao Sawano on Wii Fit) Wii Fit was released in Japan Dec 1, 2007. This title was first shown at last year's E3 and you may already be familiar with it. Just to make sure, here are some commercials currently being aired on Japanese television. The ads included a demonstration ...

by Ian Bogost January 24, 2008

Wii Fit Sits Still

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Recently I wrote an article about meditation and games, suggesting that most existing attempts to relax through gameplay are broken. Among alternatives, I pointed to Guru Meditation, an Atari VCS game I had made to be used with the Amiga Joyboard. To play, the player sits still on the device. ...

by Ian Bogost December 30, 2007

Will there ever be politics in Second Life?

Console & PC Games, Social Games

Those of you who keep up with game industry news already know that Cory Ondrejka has left his post as CTO of Linden Lab, creators of Second Life. Cory is a respected friend, and I will be interested to see what he does next. On Friday, Cory mused on his ...

by Ian Bogost December 24, 2007

Spoof Research: Wii Not Active Enough Exercise

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Were you lucky enough to find a Wii console to put under the tree this year? Were you planning to engorge yourself at Christmas dinner tomorrow and then work off all that excess with a family session on Wii Sports? Well, it's not gonna work, according to a study in ...

by Ian Bogost December 23, 2007

My new column: The Holly and the Ivy

Casual Games, Console & PC Games

With Christmas almost here, this month's edition of my "Persuasive Games" column at Gamasutra is about holiday-themed games. It's not an attempt to write a complete history by any means, but I mention a few kinds of such games, although mostly I wonder why our medium doesn't follow packaged goods, ...

by Ian Bogost December 20, 2007

Spurn-A-Bear

Advergames, Casual Games, Console & PC Games

You know Build-A-Bear? It's a retail store that allows kids to construct custom plush toys by choosing different styles, parts, and accessories. I recently learned via Leigh Alexander that the company is about to release a virtual world based on their gimmick. As much as I loathe these kiddie virtual ...

by Ian Bogost October 4, 2007

Imagine Game History

Casual Games, Console & PC Games, Women and Games

Brian, Alice, and Leigh all wrote something snarky about Ubisoft's newly announced Imagine line for girls. They are right to point out the explicit, troubling, simplistic gender roles the games endorse. But none of them manage to locate these games historically. Videogame critics, bloggers, players, and journalists have a very ...

by Ian Bogost September 11, 2007

Persuasive Games: The Reverence of Resistance

Articles, Console & PC Games, Social Games

Gamasutra has published my latest "Persuasive Games" column, this one on the Manchester Cathedral controversy in popular PS3 shooter Resistance: Fall of Man. I take a fairly different position than A cynic, unbeliever, or Internet troll might point out the irony of the church pointing the finger, given the millennia-old ...

by Ian Bogost September 9, 2007

Army of Two's Political Agenda

Console & PC Games, Political Games

There's a good interview up at Gamasutra with Chris Ferriera, lead designer of the forthcoming EA Montreal shooter Army of Two. Fans might know the game for its innovations in collaborative play, but Ferriera discusses the title's political content and inspiration -- private military contractors (PMCs) -- in encouraging detail. ...

by Ian Bogost August 21, 2007

Persuasive Games Wii-bound?

Console & PC Games

I've been really hard on Nintendo over the past year about their support for independent development (here, here, and here, for example). So part of me wants to eat my words a bit, since Persuasive Games just got our Wii developer approval letter late last week. At the very least, ...

by Ian Bogost July 2, 2007

Wii vs iPhone product launches

Console & PC Games

I've previously groused about the fact that the Wii's scarcity undermines Nintendo's claims that the console will significantly expand the gaming market. I also argued that the scarcity affected the expansion of licensed Wii developers, an issue that still remains unresolved despite Nintendo's recent announcement of the WiiWare downloadable channel. ...

by Ian Bogost June 28, 2007

WiiWare's Unanswered Questions

Console & PC Games

I have the reputation of the resident cynic regarding Nintendo's long unmet promise to independent developers on the Wii. So, I'm trying to get excited about yesterday's WiiWare announcement. The reason I'm not there yet comes from a number of important uncertainties in the announcement and press coverage of it. ...

by Ian Bogost June 10, 2007

Fils-Aime on Nintendo's Future Move

Console & PC Games

In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime discussed the company's planned move from Seattle to Silicon Valley. Among other justifications were the following comments: Fils-Aime said Nintendo hoped to develop more software that blends an entertainment experience with an educational or informational ...

by Ian Bogost May 7, 2007

No touching at this dance

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

The folks over at Applied Sciences have designed a prototype for a pressureless Dance Dance Revolution controller. Instead of activating the directional arrows by pressing buttons, the player does so by interrupting lasers beamed across the device. A different pattern of interruptions corresponds with a specific button press. The prototype ...

by Ian Bogost May 3, 2007

Wario Iwata

Console & PC Games

Kotaku points us to the most recent Nintendo investor's briefing, in which Satoru Iwata makes a number of cranky comments. My favorite is this one, about the US lagging behind the rest of the world in sales expectations: When I received a report from the U.S. that they sold 1 ...

by Ian Bogost April 28, 2007

No Marriage, Gay or Otherwise, in Middle Earth

Console & PC Games, Social Games

One of our more popular posts here on Water Cooler Games is a mention three years ago about gay marriage in The Sims 2. Just last week, Turbine and Midway released The Lord of the Rings Online, sure to become an absurdly over-discussed and possibly popular massively multi-player game. The ...

by Ian Bogost April 17, 2007

You can never have too many guitar peripherals

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

I'm fascinated by physical interface peripherals of all kinds. In particular, I'm very interested in how peripherals influence players' perceptions of their living space. A new article from the Reuters wire explores this topic: Game accessories strain relationships, decor. The basic premise is that peripherals like Guitar Hero axes and ...

by Ian Bogost March 27, 2007

How to Extract Mii's on your Mac

Casual Games, Console & PC Games

My Mii obsession continues. Here's how to extract Mii's and use them on your computer. This a Mac OS X only thing, sorry PC goons. Go get the Mii Transfer application. Make sure Bluetooth is on before you run it. Load Mii's onto your Wiimote from your console Run Mii ...

by Ian Bogost March 23, 2007

American Idol Mii's

Console & PC Games, Social Games

I have no idea why I did this. I was writing all day, and my brain started to fry, and I went downstairs to play some Wii Play billiards. I must have been reeling still from the Life of a Mii segment, and I started creating Mii's. Somehow I ended ...

by Ian Bogost February 19, 2007

Indies continue to wait for Wii support

Console & PC Games

Back in November, I revealed in a column at Serious Games Source that despite their stated intention to support independent work, Nintendo wasn't planning to review independent developer applications for Wii dev kits until January 2007. We just got an update from Nintendo of America, and it looks like those ...

by Ian Bogost November 30, 2006

Nintendo: Wii is not an exercise machine

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

There are a bunch of leading articles on Yahoo! this morning about the Wii, including coverage of people breaking their TV's and windows by inadvertently hurling wiimotes. More interesting, though, is a story on "Wii elbow", in which we get an official Nintendo position on Wii as exercise. Short answer? ...

by Ian Bogost November 28, 2006

My new column: Wii's Revolution is in the Past

Console & PC Games, Game Design

Serious Games Source has published my latest "Persuasive Games" column, this one on the Wii and its potential in serious games and indie games development. At the risk of putting a bug in our readers' ears, I think it's somewhat iconoclastic. A small taste of one thread of the column: ...

by Ian Bogost November 23, 2006

Disability and the Wii

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Kotaku posted a letter they received about from a longtime Nintendo fan who also has Muscular Dystrophy. He's having trouble using the Wii effectively. I can't really play some of the games in Wii Sports, because of the broad physical movement required. ... I can however play games with more ...

by Ian Bogost November 20, 2006

Creepy Burger King on Xbox 360

Advergames, Console & PC Games

Thanks to Brian over at Kotaku for reminding us that the Burger King Xbox 360 advergame / promo games are now available. All three feature the creepy King BK mascot. Pocket Bike Racer is a kart-style racing game, Big Bumper is a bumper car game, and Sneak King is a ...

by Ian Bogost November 9, 2006

StrawberrWii Banana Slurpee

Advergames, Console & PC Games

Even though we talk about advergames here, we usually don't talk about videogame marketing itself. But every now and then there's reason to. This morning I awoke to a strange banner ad on my usual visit to CNN.com. For 7-11. And Wii. I can buy a StrawberrWii Banana Slurpee and ...

by Ian Bogost November 2, 2006

Taking Bully Seriously

Console & PC Games, Game Design

Serious Games Source has published my latest "Persuasive Games" column, this one on the controversial Rockstar game Bully. This description sounds like it might have been lifted from a grant proposal for a serious game, one that a researcher might submit to the Department of Education, the National Institutes of ...

by Ian Bogost November 2, 2006

Wii, for non-gamers without jobs or lives

Console & PC Games

Our friends at Kotaku have reported that Nintendo is suggesting that those of us who want a Wii this month should order early. Nintendo will ship 4 million before year's end, but that didn't stop Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime from saying, "The level of demand we're seeing goes beyond the ...

by Ian Bogost October 24, 2006

Ohmigod, I'm like totally going to the virtual mall

Advergames, Business Games, Console & PC Games

Paul Hemp points us to a Harvard Business Review article on the future of e-tailing in virtual worlds. The article claims that e-commerce is going to shift from web transactions to online simulations of shopping, via virtual malls in 3d worlds. The usual references to American Apparel's store in Second ...

by Ian Bogost October 17, 2006

Dave Perry working on Dance MMO

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

According to 1up, former Shiny chief Dave Perry is working on a multiplayer online dancing game called Dance!. Details are very thin, but according to the report publisher Acclaim will offer the game for free, although players will be able (or need?) to purchase clothing and other accessories for their ...

by Ian Bogost September 26, 2006

Right to Bore Arms (and new columns)

Advergames, Console & PC Games, Public Policy Games

Gonzalo and I each have a new column at Serious Games Source, the serious games arm of CMP's popular website Gamasutra. The first installment in my "Persuasive Games" column is up now, titled The Right To Bore Arms, about a new NRA-licenced game. ... By making firearms boring, slow, and ...

by Ian Bogost August 17, 2006

Have a Paris Riot

Console & PC Games, Political Games, Social Games

I've been increasingly interested in so-called documentary games (or docu-games), such as JFK Reloaded and Escape from Woomera and Waco Resurrection. In fact, Cindy Poremba and I wrote an article on documentary games that should be out in the coming months (click over to her blog for more links on ...

by Ian Bogost August 14, 2006

Roll Your Own XBox 360 Games? Maybe...

Console & PC Games

As you have probably heard by now, Microsoft announced yesterday that they would offer a consumer-grade version of their XNA Game Studio product, allowing ordinary people to make games that run on the Xbox 360. XNA Game Studio Express will cost $99 (some say it's a required flat fee, some ...

by Ian Bogost July 28, 2006

Hand me the wiimote, stat!

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Kotaku reports that the Japanese surgery-adventure title Trauma Center: Second Opinion will be a Wii launch title. The game is being developed by Atlus, who created Trauma Center: Under the Knife for Nintendo DS, which I reviewed last year. A surgery game on Wii sounds like a sure thing, and ...

by Ian Bogost July 19, 2006

Video Game Evangelism

Console & PC Games, Religious Games

Brian Crecente of Kotaku and the Rocky Mountain News just wrote an article on Left Behind: Eternal Forces, which we've discussed here before (and he also blogs it at Kotaku). Brian asks if the game might be "the first mainstream PC agenda game," and also offers a preview of the ...

by Ian Bogost July 16, 2006

Microsoft offers Massive services to Nintendo and Sony

Advergames, Console & PC Games

As regular readers will remember, Microsoft recently bought in-gae ad network Massive, Inc. A few weeks ago, Hollywood Reporter columnist Paul Hyman reported that Microsoft is interested in Sony and Nintendo using Massive's services, rather than locking its competitors out of the market. From the article, "If there are three ...

by Ian Bogost July 10, 2006

A paean to Dogz, at whose heels Nintendogs nips

Casual Games, Console & PC Games, Game Design

Author's note: Nintendo has created a community at Gather.com to facilitate discussion of their "Touch Generations" series of games. I have cross-posted this article there, and readers may want to view the other articles in that series. Nintendogs, as many of you already know, is a pet puppy simulator. You ...

by Ian Bogost June 24, 2006

Rock out Guitar Hero-style with Bratz

Advergames, Console & PC Games

What with the commercial success and popular acclaim of Guitar Hero, it was only a matter of time before we'd see knock-offs. That time has come, and it comes wrapped in a license from Bratz, everyone's favorite sassy, Botox-lipped, fashionista dolls for young girls. Yes, I give you Bratz Groovin' ...

by Ian Bogost June 16, 2006

Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, but train it for what?

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Health & Medicine Games

Author's note: Nintendo has created a community at Gather.com to facilitate discussion of their "Touch Generations" series of games. I have cross-posted this article there, and readers may want to view the other articles in that series. I know the game isn't new, but we never covered it properly here, ...

by Ian Bogost June 14, 2006

Own a piece of Exergaming history

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

One of the things that bothers me about videogame research is the lack of a sense of history. Sometimes you'd think that the only videogames that exist are EverQuest, WoW, and Grand Theft Auto. I've tried to do my part to correct this in my own research, and to that ...

by Ian Bogost June 9, 2006

The Rapture will be Advertised

Advergames, Console & PC Games, Religious Games

Left Behind Games, creators of the forthcoming Left Behind: Eternal Forces, have announced a deal to include in-game advertising via the Double Fusion network. The game is based on the wildly popular book series of the same name, in which believers left behind after the rapture battle the army of ...

by Ian Bogost April 27, 2006

A Merger of Demons, or, Microsoft to buy Massive

Advergames, Console & PC Games

Reportedly, Microsoft is poised to buy in-game ad network Massive Inc. for somewhere in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars. The Wall Street Journal has the scoop, but both sides have refused comment. More coverage at 1up, Kotaku. In case you need a refresher, we aren't very fond of ...

by Ian Bogost April 19, 2006

Bodypad, the full-body controller

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Is DDR not enough for you? You may need (?) the Bodypad. It's "a fighting simulator actuated by your arms & legs that you plug as a gamepad on your best Playstation & Xbox games!" You attach movement sensors to your arms and legs, connect the thing to your game ...

by Ian Bogost April 11, 2006

Burger King on Xbox 360

Advergames, Console & PC Games

Rumor has it that market research company Greenfield Online is preparing a plan for Burger King to sell promotional Xbox 360 games in their stores. The games would apparently riff off "the most popular game types," adding the super-creepy Burger King character to an action, fighting, and racing game; customers ...

by Ian Bogost February 8, 2006

All Things Africa

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Political Games

A few bits of Africa-related videogame news to report. First, you can now play and vote for the four finalists in the MTV crisis in Darfur student game design contest, which we mentioned last year. The contest asked student teams to design a videogame to build awareness about genocide in ...

by Ian Bogost February 7, 2006

Disaffected Update, T-shirts

Activism Games, Advergames, Console & PC Games

I wanted to give our readers a few useful updates on the state of Disaffected!. First and most importantly, we've rev'd the game to v. 1.0.3 on both PC and Mac. The update fixes several bugs, changes some awkward joystick controls (not the intentionally awkward ones), and corrects a few ...

by Ian Bogost January 30, 2006

What worries the Virtual Magic Kingdom? Impropriety, but mostly sex.

Advergames, Console & PC Games, Social Games

A little more than a year ago, I mused open-mouthed at Disney's intention to create a Habbo Hotel-like virtual world. Then back in May we announced the launch of the beta of Virtual Magic Kingdom (I was so disappointed they didn't call it Marketingland). We logged over 100 comments on ...

by Ian Bogost January 17, 2006

Persuasive Games launches Disaffected!

Activism Games, Advergames, Business Games, Casual Games, Console & PC Games

I'm happy to announce that my studio Persuasive Games has released Disaffected!, a videogame parody of the Kinko's copy store. The game puts the player in the role employees forced to service customers under the particular incompetences common to a Kinko’s store. It gives the player the chance to step ...

by Ian Bogost January 7, 2006

The Trouble with Handhelds for Indies

Casual Games, Console & PC Games, Game Design

Gonzalo and I love handhelds. Especially the Nintendo DS and the GameBoy Advance, but the PSP has grown on me too despite its lack of interesting software. I've always been fond of handhelds, from the Mattel eletronic games to Game and Watch. I remember lusting over the NEC Turbo Express, ...

by Ian Bogost November 14, 2005

Volvo Drive for Life

Advergames, Console & PC Games, Educational Games

The NY Times reports that Volvo and Microsoft have collaborated on a game for Xbox called Volvo Drive for Life, "a showcase for the Volvo nameplate, three Volvo models and the longtime Volvo brand identity as the car designed with safety foremost." Clearly, this won't be a Burnout clone -- ...

by Ian Bogost October 25, 2005

DDR finally comes to GameCube

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

For those of you intrigued by the potential health benefits and den-floor fun of Dance Dance Revolution, but who chose Nintendo's GameCube as your family console, you've been out of luck. Either you needed to add the requisite PlayStation or Xbox console necessary to play the numerous versions of the ...

by Ian Bogost October 18, 2005

McNintendo

Advergames, Console & PC Games

Thanks to our friends at Kotaku for digging up this nugget (har har): apparently Nintendo is about to announce that free DS WiFi service will be available in McDonalds. Perhaps they will later replace the Playplace with a big pile of beanbags for our increasingly large cheeseburger-stuffed lads and lasses ...

by Ian Bogost August 25, 2005

Anti-Japan War Online

Console & PC Games, Political Games

According to Interfax China, a Chinese online gaming company called PowerNet is creating Anti-Japan War Online, about the Japanese invasion of China during WWII. Players can only play as Chinese in the game. Here's what the article says about it: "The game will allow players, especially younger players, to learn ...

by Ian Bogost August 2, 2005

Farming, Gender, Narcotics, and other related things

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Social Games, Women and Games

Last week Natsume released new versions of Harvest Moon: Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life for GameCube and Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town for GBA. I hesitate to say that I'm a "big fan" of Harvest Moon, but like Animal Crossing it's a game that charms and allures me, ...

by Ian Bogost July 28, 2005

Islam games, Christian games, ...

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Political Games, Religious Games

We recently reported on the 4th Christian Game Developers Conference, happening this week in Portland. On a related and unrelated note, I recently came upon this op-ed (thanks to Andrew), by NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Friedman cites a WCJ report that the Iqra Learning Center, a site investigated after ...

by Ian Bogost July 5, 2005

Façade Ships!

Console & PC Games, Social Games

After 5 years of development, Andrew Stern and Michael Mateas have released Façade, their one-act interactive drama, under their new aptly-named shingle Procedural Arts. You can download Façade for free, or if you don't want to wait for all 800MB of it, you can order a 2-CD installer. Those of ...

by Ian Bogost June 27, 2005

Virtual World Tourism

Console & PC Games, Social Games

Wired News just published a story in which I'm quoted on the new GamePal account rental service, a system that allows players to pay a fee to visit MMOGs with characters of their choosing. Here's how Wired explains it: GamePal customers pay a $300 deposit, $150 for the first month ...

by Ian Bogost June 2, 2005

E3: Gamics software

Console & PC Games, Social Games

I'm finally getting back to posting my E3 news. Newcomer Planetwide Games is releasing an MMOG called RYL: Path of the Emperor. It's main novel features are guild wars and player-to-player combat, plus a $1 million tournament. But the most interesting feature doesn't have anything to do with the game ...

by Ian Bogost May 26, 2005

DS Brain Training

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

A few weeks back I wrote about the similarities between Lumines and performance intelligence tests, and then I fell upon some rumors of mental workout applications for Nintendo DS. No sign of them at E3 this year, so I wasn't sure if it was for real. Now comes word of ...

by Ian Bogost May 24, 2005

Virtual Magic Kingdom Beta

Advergames, Console & PC Games

The beta version of the perverse Disney virtual marketing world thing we previously discussed is now available, although as of 10am EDT this morning the site was "too busy to process my request." Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom is a free online multi-Player game that lets you experience the awesome magic ...

by Gonzalo Frasca May 23, 2005

The Hollywood Game

Console & PC Games

The Guardian runs a story on the game industry's Hollywood envy. Well, actually maybe I should say "synergy" rather than "envy", but you get the message. The article quotes yours truly and features this noble website. My point, basically, is that the game industry may believe that its following Hollywood's ...

by Ian Bogost May 19, 2005

E3: The Bible Game

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Religious Games, Social Games

I'm running a bit behind with E3 coverage, but I'm going to try to catch up today. While everyone else covers the predictable stuff, I'm going to try to share my impressions of the more unique games on the floor this year. I knew about The Bible Game from Crave ...

by Ian Bogost May 16, 2005

Two new medical sims for DS

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

The E3 chatter has begun. Among the more interesting, two new medical sims for Nintendo DS, Caduceus from Atlus Tendo Dokuta from Spike. I find it interesting that so much early coverage has remarked on the novelty of this game... doesn't anyone remember Life & Death from back in 1992? ...

by Ian Bogost May 14, 2005

Does expression come in HD too?

Console & PC Games, Featured, Social Games

By now, most of our readers have heard and seen Microsoft's official unveiling of the Xbox 360, their next-generation console. Following through on Xbox chief J Allard's depressingly trite future vision for videogames at GDC, the focus of the Xbox 360 is visual resolution and graphical clarity. Microsoft's Robbie Bach ...

by Gonzalo Frasca April 25, 2005

Take it easy, it's just a game

Console & PC Games

What if somebody decided that you are the bad guy/gal? Would you like it to happen to you? What if you are just a fictional bad guy? The obvious answer if that you should take it easy, since it is just a game, right? Everybody knows that you are not ...

by Ian Bogost April 1, 2005

Mental Exercise with Nintendo DS

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

Wow, talk about timing. Following on the heels of my musings about Lumines on PSP and performance intelligence, Spong News reports that Nintendo has announced a set of non-gaming applications for DS, including "a mental workout application featuring mathematical and linguistic problems, a logic-driven selection of puzzles and perhaps most ...

by Ian Bogost March 27, 2005

PSP and Performance Intelligence

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Featured

So, I admit it, I bought a PSP. I hadn't planned to, but there were tons at Target yesterday, and I figured it was either now or later so might as well make it now. I had and continue to have doubts about the device. Again and again Sony tries ...

by Ian Bogost March 20, 2005

Halo for Jesus

Console & PC Games, Religious Games, Social Games

This is different. The Christian Post writes on How to Witness Using Halo 2, a rather bizarre account of how youth ministers are teaching kids to use Halo 2 to "testify the faith." Apparently the ministries really don't like Halo 2 (on account of its violence), but they perceive the ...

by Ian Bogost March 17, 2005

Drug Power-Ups

Console & PC Games, Social Games

Today's NY Times reports on new games that allow players to take drugs as a part of the gameplay (thanks to Jane). Narc, a game about arresting drug dealers, allows the player to take the drugs they confiscate. Each drug temporarily improves gameplay but also has side effects. A digital ...

by Ian Bogost February 23, 2005

Gaming for Peace (sort of)

Console & PC Games, Political Games

I have a feeling that we've covered this before, but maybe I'm just starting to see all the military games bleed into one. To be fair, this is a bit different than the average military game. Virtual Environment Cultural Training for Operation Readiness (VECTOR) is a game that provides cultural ...

by Ian Bogost February 21, 2005

Pepsi-branded Nintendo DS

Advergames, Console & PC Games

I was traveling in Europe and thus a bit disconnected, so this news isn't brand new, but it is branded (that's jetlag humor right there). Anyway, Pepsi and Nintendo have created a cross-marketing campaign around a Pepsi-branded Nintendo DS. The Japan-only console is Pepsi blue and comes with Pepsi-branded earphones. ...

by Ian Bogost February 7, 2005

Maoist game reviews

Console & PC Games, Political Games

For those of you bemoaning the lack of red reviews available, you can now read Maoist Game Reviews. Most interestingly, as Clockwork Grue points out over on Game Girl Advance, the maoist reviews focus almost entirely on content and story, while most western reviews focus almost entirely on technical aspects ...

by Ian Bogost January 7, 2005

Wireless Dance Pads have Two Left Feet

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

I hate wires. Hate them. One of the main advantages to the early GameCube days for me was the WaveBird, in my opinion the first good quality wireless controller. So, I was thrilled this holiday season when I saw Datel's PS2800D Wireless Dance Pad. It's got the same non-slip bottom ...

by Ian Bogost January 4, 2005

Studieren une langue étrangère con The Sims

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

The Journal of Language Learning and Technology has published an article in this month's issue about learning a foreign language through a modded version of The Sims, written by MIT Comparative Media masters student Ravi Purushotma. (via Slashdot) ...

by Ian Bogost December 28, 2004

Swing your plastic peripherals with Xavix

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

I fell upon the Xavix XaviXPORT at Best Buy this week. It's a small game console that seems to be focused on games that use wireless, external peripheral controllers. More specifically, XaviXPORT seems to be designed for sports games; currently, they offer a bowling game with green wireless bowling ball, ...

by Ian Bogost December 22, 2004

Review of Yourself! Fitness

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

This was a big year for the dance fitness game, with significant numbers of new consoles sold after NBC's Today morning show ran a feature about how gamers were losing weight -- significant weight -- playing Konami's Dance Dance Revolution. Sony's Eye Toy has made strides in this direction, and ...

by Ian Bogost December 13, 2004

Politics as unusual

Console & PC Games, Political Games

Last week, China banned the seemingly prosaic game Soccer Manager 2005 because it depicted Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet as countries, and thus "harmed China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," according to a Chinese news service. This week, South Korea's media rating board announced that it will not approve Tom ...

by Ian Bogost December 6, 2004

Other Playing

Casual Games, Console & PC Games

I'm in Copenhagen for Other Players, which starts today. My talk is on casual multiplayer games, and the paper is available in the online proceedings, here (509k pdf). In addition to general coverage of the interplay between games and the world, the paper covers some of my games, including the ...

by Ian Bogost December 4, 2004

Dance Pads for GameCube

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Peripheral manufacturer MadCatz has just released the first dance pad peripheral for Nintendo GameCube. They've bundled it with their first published game as well, MC Groovz danceCrazy, for $49.99. The dance pad and game supports 8 directions instead of the normal 4. I'm constantly hedging on console recommendations to parents ...

by Ian Bogost November 16, 2004

Play thy enemy

Console & PC Games, Newsgames, Political Games

WCG friend Clive Thompson writes at Slate on Halo 2 as a statement about military politics. ... the ideological payload here comes merely from the act of flipping sides in medias res. In jumping across the foxhole, you're forced to acknowledge that your enemy has its own subjective, if flawed, ...

by Ian Bogost September 10, 2004

Hyrule Music School now open

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

I'm now officially the world's biggest geek. I just got my Ocarina of Time from Songbird Ocarinas. If you had a Nintendo 64, you probably remember it from The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Those of you who were under a ...

by Ian Bogost September 3, 2004

Games Gone Wild

Console & PC Games, Social Games

Aptly named Topheavy Studios has released The Guy Game for XBox and PS2. It's basically Girls Gone Wild meets You Don't Know Jack, a quiz game in which spring break girls expose themselves. But pay attention Guys ... during the Bonus question, you must play as a team to boost ...

by Ian Bogost August 2, 2004

Japanese have weirder fun with Rice Bowl and Curry House games

Advergames, Console & PC Games

More evidence that the Japanese are having more fun, or at least weirder fun. Two popular Japanese restaurant chains, curry house CoCo Ichibanya and rice bowl chain Yoshinoya both have their own PS2 titles. Yoshinoya should be familiar to many Westerners  — they were everywhere in Los Angeles, and I ...

by Ian Bogost July 19, 2004

Chris Crawford needs Java Developers

Console & PC Games, Political Games, Public Policy Games

Well-known game designer and political game pioneer (Balance of Power) has announced that he has released the code for his 1990 enivronmental strategy game Balance of the Planet into the public domain. His goal is to get a version working on contemporary equipment. But the project needs Java developers. If ...

by Ian Bogost July 12, 2004

Kuma\PR : more on the reception of newsgaming

Console & PC Games, Newsgames, Political Games

Important note: Kuma and Kuma\War has no affiliation with Gonzalo's Newsgaming project; I am adopting the term "newsgaming" here in a more general sense. Inc. Magazine ran an interesting piece in their August issue on Kuma\War, the subscription-based game that lets you play recent events in the continued conflicts in ...

by Ian Bogost July 2, 2004

No gay marriage in The Sims 2?

Console & PC Games, Social Games

WCG friend and cool cat journalist Clive Thompson wrote an article for Slate a while ago about gay marriage in videogames. Now he's noticed that the Maxis FAQ on the game no longer talks about gay marriage. Sez Clive, I wonder if Maxis has changed its mind on this -- ...

by Ian Bogost June 20, 2004

Opinion changing games

Console & PC Games

A couple months ago, the Guardian ran a story on opinion changing games, featuring me and Gonzalo among others. This month, PC Gamer Magazine invites you to tell them about your own opinion-changing game experiences. I'm having a go, you should too. Has a PC game ever changed the way ...

by Ian Bogost June 2, 2004

Ubisoft to publish US Election Game

Console & PC Games, Political Games

This just in, Ubisoft has announced that it will publish The Political Machine, "a new game for PCs that puts players in control of the 2004 presidential campaigns of either incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush or Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry." From the release: Players will also have the ...

by Ian Bogost May 9, 2004

LucasArts engineer and 9 year-old create cancer game

Console & PC Games, Health & Medicine Games

Ben Duskin, a 9 year-old in remission from Leukemia wanted to create a game in which the hero kills cancer cells. The Make-a-Wish Foundation teamed Ben up with Eric Johnston of LucasArts. As the press release says, "For months, Ben and Eric have been meeting on a regular basis to ...

by Ian Bogost May 7, 2004

Homestar Runner for Atari 2600

Console & PC Games, Social Games

For those of you who enjoy social criticism the Homestar Runner way, Paul Slocum has announced that the first official Homestar Runner video game will be available in June... only for the Atari 2600. The game was designed by Slocum and Homestar Runner creators Matt and Mike Chapman. According to ...

by Ian Bogost May 4, 2004

Getting Off in Virtual Worlds

Console & PC Games, Social Games, Women and Games

Ah, irony. Just as TL Taylor launched a discussion on Terra Nova about women players' ability to birth in-game offspring in the forthcoming Wild West SIM MMOG, I got an email about the new Massively Multiuser Online Adult Environment, The Red Light World (warning: nudity). If you're over 18 and ...

by Ian Bogost April 21, 2004

Interactive Design & Children Conference

Console & PC Games, Educational Games, Game Design

The 3rd Annual International Conference for Interaction Design and Children (whew, call it IDC) takes place June 1 - 3 at the University of Maryland. Keynote rockstars include: Marvin Minsky (MIT), Alan Kay (HP), Seymour Papert (MIT/U. of Maine), Alice Cahn (Cartoon Network), Henry Jenkins (MIT), and Alice Wilder (Blue's ...

by Ian Bogost April 20, 2004

Army not so bad, say gamers

Console & PC Games, Political Games, Public Policy Games

Wagner James Au wrote a story last week for Salon called John Kerry: The Video Game, about how video games have influenced young people's opinion about the armed services. Here's a good tidbit: A third of the country's young people have an elevated view of the Army, not foremost for ...

by Ian Bogost April 8, 2004

WSJ on monetizing ad space in videogames

Advergames, Console & PC Games

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Nielsen's new Video Game Ad Tools (paid registration required). Update: you can also read about it via Activision's press release. Nielsen Entertainment and Activision have rolled out a suite of new tools that promise to track the number of gamers who see ...

by Ian Bogost March 18, 2004

Gay video game characters

Console & PC Games, Social Games

The second issue of Armchair Arcade is out, including an article on Gay Video Game Characters by Matt Barton. ...

by Ian Bogost January 31, 2004

Playstation for the Superbowl

Console & PC Games

Apparently for the last eight years, the Playstation has correctly predicted the winner of the Superbowl. From Sports Illustrated (SI.com). An annual competition between two Super Bowl participants playing 989 Sports' NFL game on a PlayStation 2 has become a perfectly reliable predictor of the real game: All eight winners ...

by Ian Bogost January 22, 2004

"Save the Whales" for Atari 2600

Activism Games, Console & PC Games

Apparently someone made a game for Atari 2600 called Save the Whales, whose proceeds were supposed to benefit Greenpeace. The game was never released (follow the link above for screenshots). You control a submarine that must "Save the Whales" by shooting the harpoons or nets thrown by the ship at ...

by Ian Bogost January 15, 2004

Sony/EA music crossmarketing deal

Advergames, Console & PC Games

An interesting music cross-marketing deal for "NFL Street" which I guess is a street football game (?). This is particularly intriguing and, in my opinion, deeply deluded: Two songs from the soundtrack, EA said, will be turned into music videos featuring gameplay footage and will be released as singles for ...

by Ian Bogost December 10, 2003

This is not a game - the known and the unknown

Console & PC Games, Political Games

Today I got my copy of PC Gamer in the mail. Right inside the cover I found a striking fold-out ad spread; the first two pages show a giant American flag, with the words This is Not a Game etched over the stars. Folding out the panel transforms the flag ...

by Ian Bogost November 17, 2003

Who are you? ... Nintendo and the identity of political games

Console & PC Games, Political Games

This isn't really what we have in mind when we talk about Political Games, but Nintendo has been running a promotional campaign for Mario Party 5 in which Mario runs for president. The official game site ressembles a political campaign site (in a certain way). Mario's platform is simple: More ...

by Ian Bogost November 9, 2003

The future of women gamers

Console & PC Games, Game Design, Social Games, Women and Games

A new, longish article on Game Girl Advance talks about the future of women gamers. It focuses specifically on the future of women console gamers, and I'd like to submit that this is the primary flaw of the article. Put more simply, I'm suspicious that the future of women gamers ...

by Ian Bogost November 3, 2003

An alternative to fun

Console & PC Games, Game Design, General

I gave a talk today at the ITU on persuasive games (I'll post a version here in the near future), and afterward we had an interesting discussion about fun in games. One of my precepts regarding rhetorical games is that they reject fun as a first principle of games. This ...

by Ian Bogost November 1, 2003

Leapster, the educational handheld gaming device

Console & PC Games, Educational Games

Educational electronics manufacturer LeapFrog announced the availability of their new Leapster educational gaming handheld, calling it an alternative to Nintendo's GameBoy system, offering "educational alternative for portable game playing." Slashdot also reports on a LeapFrog spokesperson's comments on the launch: ...

by Ian Bogost October 22, 2003

The Light-sensitive GameBoy game

Advergames, Console & PC Games, Game Design

Konami has released Boktai, a GameBoy game with a solar sensor that uses sunlight to alter gameplay. According to the publisher, the game has a solar sensor built into the GBA cartridge. Certain monsters can only be destroyed by harnessing sunlight. According to game reviewer Gene Emery, artificial light isn't ...