1979
Latest
Video games are more important than ever
When Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, it shocked the humanitarian world. What's more, Dylan himself hasn't behaved like a traditional Nobel winner: He hasn't commented on the honor and has yet to give an acceptance speech. At least one member of the Nobel panel has called Dylan's silence "rude and arrogant," and the public has been reminded that if he doesn't give a lecture within six months, he won't receive the $900,000 prize money. It's a new kind of strange in-fighting scandal for the Nobel community. However, it's not surprising. Selecting Dylan as a Nobel laureate may be contentious, but it's mostly a sign of growth for intellectual society -- at least in Literature, no one is off-limits, not even mumbling masters of wordplay and songwriting. Growing pains are expected as the world of mainstream politics, activism and academia is suddenly forced to consider the potential of new industries and vice versa. Songwriting might just be the beginning. With the growing accessibility of high-end living-room consoles and virtual reality headsets, it's easy to imagine a video game on a list of Nobel nominees in the near future. Nowhere was that more apparent than at IndieCade 2016, an annual festival celebrating independent video games held in Los Angeles, California.
1979 Revolution tells the true story of Iran protests
Indie developer Ink Stories recently launched a Kickstarter project for its iOS adventure game 1979 Revolution. The game takes place during the riots and protests in Iran in that year of history, which Creator Navid Khonsari lived through personally before his family moved to North America in 1980. Khonsari first told Joystiq about his vision for 1979: The Game in February 2011, though it's not clear whether Ink Stories has overhauled the previous open world-style game or if 1979 Revolution is a new adventure entirely. 1979 Revolution is an episodic, 3D adventure game that has players avoiding authorities and making consequential decisions during the tense historical period. As Khonsari describes in the crowdfunding pitch video, the game features triage and photography mini-games, the latter granting players access to real-life photographs of the Iranian revolution. The Kickstarter project is seeking $395,000 by December 16 to launch the first episode, titled Black Friday, in spring 2014. With enough support, Ink Stories hopes to bring the game to Android, PC, Mac, Linux and other consoles.
