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Slate's 'Game Club' kicks off third year
Out of the handful of mainstream media outlets that handle video games in a capacity beyond when controversy strikes or the occasional blockbuster's release, Slate.com's "Game Club" annually gets together for a critical discussion on the year in games. This year's crew includes Chris Suellentrop, Leigh Alexander, Mitch Krpata and Jamin Brophy-Warren, and covers everything from the beauty and simplicity of Canabalt to the "shocking and meaningless" Modern Warfare 2 airport scene (their words). Rather than present a top 10 list list like some mainstream publications choose (we're looking at you, Time Magazine!), the group discusses various themes that pervaded their favorite (and less than favorite) games of 2009. You might call it "game criticism," but we just call it "an interesting read."
GDC08: Leigh Alexander introduces us to Worlds in Motion
The Worlds in Motion summit kicked off this morning with an introduction from Leigh Alexander, the organizer of the event. Leigh is the blogger-in-residence over at CMP's Worlds in Motion, a site we've linked to many times here from Massively. In her work there, she does what she can to highlight the work of pioneers in the Virtual World industry. This morning, she asked the basic question: What does gaming have to do with Virtual Worlds? We normally think of VWs as brand experiences, collaborative business environments, or opportunities for social interaction like Second Life. So what do these virtual spaces, the leadup to the 'Metaverse', have to do with gaming?%Gallery-16369%
DS Daily: A week without
The awesome Leigh Alexander, who writes for pretty much everyone (including herself) thinks she has a problem. She has figured out that between playing games, making game-related crafts, and doing other game-related things (like writing about games), she may be a little unhealthily addicted. After all, as shocking as it may be, there is an entire world out there without games (we know, it hurts us to think of it, too!) So what's a girl to do?Clearly, attempt to go an entire week without playing games of any kind. Nothing. None. Not even, as she says, Minesweeper. Having just restarted Puzzle Quest (again), this blogger feels the burn of potential obsession as well, but a whole week? Without any games? That's daunting. Could you do it?
DS Daily: Do game ratings even matter?
With all the controversy surrounding the Wii's Manhunt 2, we're reminded of a question we've been pondering for some time. In fact, since we here at DS Fanboy were discussing the issue just today, it seems like a good time to get your take on it: do game ratings even matter? It seems as though we all had stories that seemed to indicate that they didn't; so many people don't seem to pay attention to the content of games. In her column at GameSetWatch, Leigh Alexander mentioned something along these lines recently when talking about our secret favorite game: "Look at the bright-and-sunny box art-if parents can be dense enough to grab more forbidding-looking games for their inappropriately-aged kids, you can imagine how many weekend dads will try and bring home a pink-haired cartoon witch to their elementary-school daughters."It's funny because it's true. Too many parents don't pay attention to anything except the cover, if that, and sometimes it seems that the ratings don't even matter. Anyone who's worked in retail around games can testify to that. It's much worse than with the movie industry, wherein the rating actually seems to make a difference at times. But that's just our opinion -- we're here to find out what you think.
