Ian Bogost - Water Cooler Games - Intimate Controllers

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Water Cooler Games

Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.

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Intimate Controllers

by Ian Bogost May 4, 2007

categories: Game Design , Social Games , Women and Games

Think you've seen every kind of alternate interface? NYU ITP student Jenny Chowdhury has devoted her masters thesis work to making a videogame controller out of a bra and undershorts. She calls it Intimate Controllers. Players have to touch each other in intimate places to play games created for the device.

There's a video of one of the prototypes on her website, which seems to be a rhythm matching type of game tied to an abstract fiction about compatibility with one's partner. Great stuff.

(thanks to Nico)