xBlog: The visual thinking weblog » Games

The eyeballing game

Bill — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:40:40 +0000

“Some people are bothered by pictures on the wall hanging slightly crooked. Others may not even be aware that something may be amiss. If you are somebody who is into woodworking or construction, its good to be one of the people who notice when things are crooked. But I suspect the ability to notice that things might be just a little off square, off centre, or not quite straight, varies greatly. I thought it would be fun for people to try to test their abilities to see if things are straight or crooked in a little game.” (Thanks kottke.org!)

Bill — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 16:10:16 +0000

“I mean I know it�s a photo sharing site, but what makes it so damn interesting? Then, last night, I finally figured it out: flickr is a MMORPG.”

NYT Election Day crossword — November 5, 1996

Bill — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 06:12:48 +0000

“On Tuesday, November 5, 1996, a standard 15 by 15 crossword puzzle constructed by Jeremiah Farrell appeared in The New York Times that the editor, Will Shortz, said was the most amazing puzzle he’d ever seen.” (Thanks Waxy.org!)

Porting McCloud to Games

Bill — Tue, 14 Sep 2004 16:05:40 +0000

“One of the writers at Game Girl Advance is reading Understanding Comics, and wonders if it would be possible to create a game that explains gaming in the same way that Scott McCloud created a comic that explains comics.”

Adge’s Visual History Of Gaming

Bill — Wed, 11 Aug 2004 05:20:14 +0000

“Just click on the arrow and it will take you to a page that explains the links, the lists show what I feel to be milestone games.� These are games that either offered something completely new to a genre and enabled it to grow in a new direction or were just so good that they upped the profile of that genre.� So if you are new to gaming or an old hand this should offer enlightenment or tears of nostalgia. It’s amazing to see such change in an entertainment medium in such a short space of time, just looking at the pictures above amazes me how far we have come in such a little space of time.�I wonder if in 15 years we will be talking about the gap between Quake 2 and id’s latest total immersion game.”

the history of video games

Bill — Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:00:00 +0000

“…at MIT circa 1961 there’s a group of hard core computer nerds calling themselves the tech model railroad club: wayne witanen and j. martin graetz, along with 25 year-old steve russell, they develop the idea to pit two spaceships with limited fuel supplies against each other in a missle duel. the program becomes ’spacewar !,’ the world’s first fully interactive videogame, with russell as main programmer (1962)…”

Sims, BattleBots, Cellular Automata God and Go

Bill — Thu, 22 Aug 2002 08:00:00 +0000

A Conversation with Will Wright by Celia Pearce: “Well, actually, the way to put it is that I’m trying to build the maximum possibility space in your head, not on the computer. (Laughter.) Okay. Because the possibility space on the computer is just a huge pile of numbers, but as far as you’re concerned that pile of numbers is the same as another pile of numbers…”

The History of Video Games

Bill — Thu, 31 Jan 2002 08:00:00 +0000

“In 1949, a young engineer named Ralph Baer was given an assignment to build a television set. He wasn’t supposed to build just any television set, but one that would be the absolute best of all televisions. This was not a problem for Baer, but he wanted to go beyond his original assignment and incorporate some kind of game into the set. He didn’t know exactly what kind of game he had in mind, but it didn’t really matter because his managers nixed the idea. It would take another 18 years for his idea to become a reality, and by that time there would be other people to share in the glory…”

The Art World Starts to Pay Attention to Video Games

Bill — Fri, 10 Aug 2001 08:00:00 +0000

“Museums, for their part, see video games as a medium that encourages visitors to interact with art at a fundamental level. ‘Museums are followers,’ said Mr. Manetas, the New York artist, in an e-mail message. ‘Digital is fashionable, and they also hope to attract sponsors and public.’ But he added: ‘They are also like mothers who want to play Doom with their son, hoping to communicate with him. They just ruin the game.’”

usablegames.com

Bill — Wed, 30 May 2001 08:00:00 +0000

“This is a forum to discuss the user experience of interactive entertainment. Interactive entertainment is becoming an increasingly important feature of the wired and wireless world. Entertaining content offers the kind of engagement and stickiness that creates devoted and frequent users. This group is interested in how end users can be involved in the design and evaluation of interactive entertainment such as games, gambling, interactive advertising, and electronic toys. It is a ‘platform independent’ forum, discussing user experiences across (and between) Web, mobile, interactive TV, and dedicated appliances.”