Human development
I should not put everything in the title, it leaves me nothing to post in here.
Well, if you're remotely interested in game studies, you might want to check out eludamos's new issues, where you might find articles about World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, GTA IV as well as Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. And as an added bonus: hyper-ludicity, contra-ludicity, the magic circle and the mundane circle.
Found, of course, via Jesper Juul.
There was the conference about the Art History of Video Games, which was organized by Ian Bogost, one of my secret heroes.
Now all the non-attendants can watch the presentations as well – head over here and bask in the knowledge of people like Jesper Juul, John Romero or Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn.
Or: How Much Are We Letting Reality Getting Into the Way When Designing Games?
Yes, by now Robert Yang's article about the gay plot in Dragon Age has made the rounds elsewhere, but I think the issue is important enough to warrant publishing it here as well.
So, Robert Yang mods Dragon Age so his male character can play out the romance plot with another male character, Alistair – something, which only can be done by modding the game, even though the dialogue is surprisingly gender neutral. All is perfect, until ...
Jon Radoff created a beautiful visualisation of the history of social games, reminding us that those kind of games are not exactly a new invention. There have been social games before World of Warcraft and Farmville.
[via Jesper Juul]
