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From Ludonauts: an interesting conversation surrounding Myfanwy Ashmore’s Mario Battle No. 1.

Posted by cloo @ 08:41 PM EST [Link]

Via Terra Nova: Free Play, The politics of the video game (Kevin Parker) explores some of the implicit ideologies embedded in digital games:

Bridging an ideological chasm, libertarian Iain Smedley and socialist Julian Stallabras agree that computer games possess a native individualism. Writing a decade ago, Smedley noted the "heroic and individualistic philosophy" of video games, in which the player "does not merely cheer on the hero in [his] struggle; the player’s actions determine the outcome." Writing contemporaneously in New Left Review, Stallabras concurred: In games, "the passivity of cinema and television is replaced by an environment in which the player’s actions have a direct, immediate consequence on the virtual world." For Stallabras, this makes computer games "a capitalist and deeply conservative form of culture."

Posted by cloo @ 08:22 PM EST [Link]

If you are wise in the ways of observation, you may notice I've been redesigning shinySpinning and everything is still a mess. Thanks for your patience while I get the new site sorted!

If you have no patience and need the old site NOW, NOW, NOW- you can find it here: old design.

Posted by cloo @ 04:34 PM EST [Link]

From June Lester via email: The good people of the Carl A. Kroch Library at Cornell University have been playing games lately, and they have seen fit to make a nice website about the games people play in conjunction with an _in situ_ exhibit that runs through the spring of 2004. The site explores the evolution of games since 1800, and includes a number of sections that examines the various functions of these different pastimes through the past two centuries. In sections such as Pernicious Pastimes, visitors will learn various games of chance, such as the Gay Wolves punchboard and take a look at some interesting circular playing cards. All told, there are thirteen like-minded sections, exploring the various incarnations of games from different cultures around the world, and visitors may test their mettle at the end by trying to complete a crossword puzzle. Visitors will also appreciate the playful nature of the site's homepage, as it features a board that looks suspiciously like a well-known real estate board game based around Atlantic City properties where moving the mouse over various locales reveals historic game pieces.

Visit Pastimes and Paradigms: Games We Play

Posted by cloo @ 04:20 PM EST [Link]