Nietzsche chips in:
There are even cases in which a kind of pleasure is conditioned by a certain rhythmic sequence of little unpleasurable stimuli: in this way a very rapid increase of the feeling of power, the feeling of pleasure, is achieved. This is the case, e.g., in tickling, also the sexual tickling in the act of coitus: here we see displeasure at work as an ingredient of pleasure. It seems, a little hindrance that is overcome and immediately followed by another little hindrance that is again overcome—this game of resistance and victory arouses most strongly that general feeling of superabundant, excessive power that constitutes the essence of pleasure.
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Anger is the righteous emotion, and anything worth a shit is worth getting angry about. The games which please us make us furious, the games we hate are disgusting, sad, and, furthermore, boring. Nobody who ever played a video game past the age of five did so because they were bored and frustrated. They did it because they were controller-chewing furious. We know that the Super Nintendo was the best console we ever owned, for the simple reason that there are the most teeth marks in it (our religion is such that we believe everybody goes to Silent Hill, whether they’re good or bad, and enjoy it to varying degrees based on their own comfort with their quirks — in light of this, we strive to get to a place, spiritually, so that when we see the tumor bristling with molars that rolls over King of the Monsters cartridges while shrieking hideously (probably moments before Pyramid Head wanders into view to place a quarter on the urinal, because “he’s got next”) we will feel nothing but pride (so far, it’s not working). You could autopsy any given gaming device this way to determine its age by tree-rings of animalistic rage. It’s very clear to the gamer why some women are beaten. Only something you love can make you truly furious.
If you think we’re mocking spousal abuse, you’ve underestimated how much we love games.
-ABDN
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Tags: game criticism, game culture, game lolz, spousal abuse is no laughing matter, video games
Quote of the Day
I view video games as something of an emotional therapy…it can be a relief, a kind of decompression to just play some video games. If I’m having some negative thoughts or negative feelings, videogames are one way in which I can release that energy in the context of the illusion of the game. I feel better afterwards. The aggression that comes out in the video game satiates whatever desire I might have to express that feeling. For me, that’s very skilful because when I do that I don’t have to go and hit anyone over the head.
–The Karmapa Lama, Trinley Dorje, who according to the Times of India remains “the only senior Buddhist leader recognized by Beijing, the Tibetans and India.” In a 2008 Time Magazine article, he was described as a “baby-faced 22-year-old who may be Tibet’s next great hope.”
(Via Game Politics)
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Tags: game culture, video game virtues
Game Reader is Back!
Game Reader is back after a long hiatus. Unfortunately, I am too busy to write op-eds or particularly long posts at the moment. For the time being you can expect updates that follow the original mission of this site: namely, to scour the web for the best and most thought-provoking gaming articles I can find.
The goal of this site has never been to provide a comprehensive portal of gaming news, reviews, and previews. If you want to discuss the merits of the latest DC Comics gaming adaptation there are plenty of other sites that will suit just fine. Indeed, one could argue that there are too many of these sites around–all covering the same ‘breaking news’ on the same games, at the same time, with the same kind of fanboy hyperbole. The goal of Game Reader is to cut through this clutter in order to highlight important and thought-provoking essays, reviews, and discussions taking place in serious gaming communities around the web. Eventually I want to get back to work on my own commentary and thus hopefully add to this ongoing conversation.
For now, however, I’ll be connecting you to intersting and important game reading from around the web. Since I look at dozens of articles a day, and don’t have time to post about all of them individually, I’ve decided to separate the site into 2 separate sections. The main section (which is the blog itself) covers articles and/or events that I consider especially interesting and strongly recommend you take a look at. The second section is at the bottom of the sites homepage, and is titled “Reading List.” These are worthwhile articles that I’ve shared via Google Reader account and is updated daily (usually more than once). Remember to follow me on Twitter for updates on both of these sections in addition to my Twitter-exclusive commentary.
Lastly, make sure to let me know what you think about the changes to the site!
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Tags: Site Updates
A new academic journal focusing on game design pedagogy has been announced on Water Cooler Games. It will be led by Rochester Institute of Technology professor Stephen Jacobs, who described it thusly:
CGER will be a peer-reviewed academic publication addressing issues that concern the teaching of game design and development including, but not limited to, curriculum organization, teaching techniques (e.g., conceptual vs. exemplary), game typology, societal impact, economic and commercial issues, legal aspects, and student evaluation that are of interest to faculty and institutions involved in the education and training of future game developers.
Usually when the words “game” and “education” are found in close proximity, it means that somewhere in your vicinity there is a “hip” school teacher who likes to dilute his lesson plans with a pinch of gameplay. Alternatively, it could refer to the justification a parent gives himself for not doing anything about his child’s gaming habits (“sure, playing for 12 hours seems unhealthy now, but he’s actually getting smarter by the hour!”). The journal in question, however, refers to game education as the study of game-making. Which is probably good news to readers of this blog.
Submissions for the first issue will be accepted until December 1, 2009.
(Hat tip: Game Politics)
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“Easy to Use and Incredibly Difficult: On the Mythical Border between Interface and Gameplay”
An interesting article by Jesper Juul on the complex relatioship between ease of use and challenge in video games. Here’s the abstract:
In video game literature and video game reviews, video games are often divided into two distinct parts: interface and gameplay. Good video games, it is assumed, have easy to use interfaces, but they also provide difficult gameplay challenges to the player. But must a good game follow this pattern, and what is the difference between interface and gameplay? When does the easy-to-use interface stop, and when does the challenging gameplay begin? By analyzing a number of games, the paper argues that it is rare to find a clear-cut border between interface and gameplay and that the fluidity of this border characterizes games in general. While this border is unclear, we also analyze a number of games where the challenge is unambiguously located in the interface, thereby demonstrating that “easy interface and challenging gameplay” is neither universal nor a requirement for game quality. Finally, the paper argues, the lack of a clear distinction between easy interface and challenging gameplay is due to the fact that games are fundamentally designed not to accomplish something through an activity, but to provide an activity that is pleasurable in itself.
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Tags: game criticism, game design, game studies
I received this invite from Gallery Nucleus today and it is somewhat related to game culture so I’ll pass it along. Remember to go to the contact page if you have any similar info on upcoming shows.
A KISS FROM TOKYO Art Exhibition and Book ReleaseJuly 3, 2009 – July 14, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday July 3, 2009 (7 pm – 11 pm)
Admission is free.
Complimentary martinis served with live DJ.Gallery Nucleus hosts a retro-inspired exhibition and official book release of The Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7.
The book and exhibition of the same name, is the brainchild of artist/ illustrator Kevin Dart. Yuki’s world has been brought to life through a collection of artworks, stories, faux interviews and trailers.
On July 3rd, get acquainted with Yuki 7, a cute little 60’s spy girl from Tokyo. Seductive, intelligent, and charming, she romps through each film, vanquishing villains while impeccably dressed and looking fabulous.
Don’t forget to checkout the sweet trailer as well.
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Tags: arts, exhibitions, game culture
The Making of Final Fantasy VII
From Edge:
“This was undoubtedly the game that changed everything.” Yoshinori Kitase, director of the most important RPG ever, has cause for hyperbole. “We felt a wind of change inside the company during the development process. There was this incredible feeling I’ll never forget: we were making a new thing… making history. Imagine.” He pauses. Imagine.
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50 Great Indie Games
There used to be a time when games were made by one individual. In fact, Shigeru Miyamoto is often cited as the first person who designed and directed a game without any knowledge of programming. From then on, games began to get more complicated and the technical challenges during the development process required an ever-greater level of expertise and specialization. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to have hundreds of people working on a game at any one time.
These big budget games will not go away of course, but it is interesting to see how the trend towards larger development teams seems to have slowed down somewhat in recent years, while indie developers–which may consist of a single person working out of his dorm room or a “staff”of a couple of dozen (probably working out of their rooms as well)–seem to be increasing in number by the day. There has never been a better time to be an indie developer, thanks largely to the emergence of affordable and easy-to-use development tools such as Game Maker, not to mention the fact that the internet has made the concept of “distribution costs” all but obsolete. Indeed, it is a great time not only for aspiring game developers, but also for adventureous gamers who want to try more experimental and conceptually expressive approaches to game design.
Of course, a select few of these “experiments” end up as truly great games. Some of these games will fail miserably, while others might present a novel gameplay concept that may be fleshed out in a later effort. But there are also some real gems that surpass our expectations and expand our notion of what games can achieve as a medium. This is what drives us to keep searching for the next great indie game, even though we know all too well that most of what we’ll encounter along the way will be mediocre at best.
The hard part is beginning the search, which is why this list of 50 great indie games (first published by Derek Yu in this guide) is such a godsend. For newcomers, it serves as an excellent introduction to the indie game scene; and for non-newcomers, it remains an excellent guide to the many great games we’ve yet to play. Better yet, there is a brief description next to every game that explains why each is important in its field. Oh and did I mention that most of them are free? There’s really no excuse not to try them out.
Speaking of which….I should probably end this post now so as to keep working my way down the list. Okay, post ended.
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Tags: free games, indie games, video games
Tetris Turns 25
Ever played a Soviet video game? Of course you have! It’s Tetris, quite possibly the most played game of all time, and arguably the closest thing to a “perfect game design” that the world has (will?) ever seen. Alas, the game’s creator, Alexey Pajitnov, never saw a penny from the unprecedented global phenomenon that he created (everything went to the Soviet government).
The way in which Western game companies discovered and acquired the rights to Tetris has to rank as one of the strangest Cold War-era stories ever. David Sheff’s amazing biography of the early days of Nintendo dedicates an entire chapter to this insane East-West encounter, where several important players in the game industry fought each other while trying to charm the Soviet government, which in turn grew increasingly suspicious of their motives, since they could not understand why a bunch of random capitalists appeared so eager to purchase rights to the game.
By the way, Sheff’s book is an absolute must-read for anyone that’s even remotely interested in gaming or Japanese culture in general.
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Author
JRGBruno
Reading List
- The wrong thing: The player is played November 17, 2009Have you ever played a game where you end up being the bad guy at the end, and you had almost no idea that you were doing anything wrong? Well, you’ve just been played, and the game itself was the player. This can be an extremely engaging mechanic when used in a game, but it’s immeasurably hard to pull off. Even then, it’s much harder to accomplish this in a […]
- Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii Is Nostalgic, Chaotic November 17, 2009Don’t let the name fool you. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is actually a little old. This traditional, 2-D action game brings back everything you loved about classics like 1991’s Super Mario World. Hey, it’s the totally ’80s, totally radical Koopa Kids! Fire Chomps! And Micro-Goombas! See also: Miyamoto: New Mario Tests Your Hard-Core Gaming Chops The big innova […]
- 3D Dot Game Heroes Goes Retro on PS3 this May November 17, 2009Many words and terms are frequently thrown around in relation to classic gaming: retro, old school, and so forth. Often, games will be referred to as throwbacks, praised for their ability to induce nostalgia and capture the magic of the golden era of gaming. But really, what does “retro,” or any of those terms for that matter, really mean in reference to a g […]
- Reflecting On Uncharted 2: How They Did It November 13, 2009As Uncharted 2 tops U.S. console retail charts, Gamasutra sits down with Naughty Dog's lead designer on the project, Neil Druckmann, looking back over the sequel's creation, polishing,character honing, plotting, and more.
- The cartoonist made Mario magical November 12, 2009The animation is just fantastic in the above commercial, and it bleeds into all the Super Mario Bros. 3 (and Super Mario World’s) artwork. Looking back, it is the animator that really made Super Mario Bros. 3 magical. Without his work, the game wouldn’t have been the same. For a company that likes the cartoony, I am curious why Nintendo hasn’t tried to make […]
- The Mario Suits That Were, Are And Should Be [Mario] November 12, 2009With New Super Mario Bros. Wii around the corner - a game that introduces yet more suits to Mario's burgeoning wardrobe - we figured it was a good time to look back, and forward, at some of his sharper outfits. We're not going to catalogue every suit he's ever worn; that would be boooooorrrring. Instead, we'll just touch on the highlights […]
- X marks the future of game narrative? November 6, 2009A new 'alternative reality' game from Canadian studio Smoking Gun may just show the way to the future of videogame story telling...For the last few years an increasing number of developers have grown frustrated with the standard methods of telling stories through games. Animated sequences have gradually evolved to use in-game visuals, but now these […]
- Interview: The Melancholy Of Keita Takahashi November 6, 2009[GSW correspondent Simon Parkin sits down with eccentric Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, to learn about his work on children's playgrounds, and why he's begun to feel like he's "just not suited to the games industry."] Keita Takahashi sits alone, six thousand miles from home, in a damp, vacant house set within the grounds of […]
- Tetris Building Blocks November 6, 2009Designer Sergej Hein, currently studying fine arts at University of East London, animated this real-world version of Tetris by combining a time-lapse video of the sky and a photo of a "block building" shot from his bedroom window. The project took him two weeks to complete. "The idea is based on a kind of parody about the former socialist buil […]
- tetris (****) (abdnm #30) November 5, 2009a review of tetris a videogame by alexy pajitnov published by probably every software company ever for any device with a screen text by tim rogers score: (out of four) Bottom line: Tetris is “psychology”. (more…) Tweet This Post
- noby noby boy (****) (abdnm #32) November 5, 2009a review of noby noby boy a videogame by keita takahashi and friends published by bandai-namco games for the sony playstation 3 computer entertainment system text by tim rogers score: (out of four) Bottom line: Noby Noby Boy is “delicious eye taffy”. (more…) Tweet This Post
- canabalt (****) (abdnm #31) November 5, 2009a review of canabalt a videogame by semi secret software play the full game for free at canabalt dot com or purchase it via the iPhone / iPod Touch App Store for $2.99 text by tim rogers score: (out of four) Bottom line: Canabalt is “Super Mario Tetris”. (more…) Tweet This Post
- 15 Free Guides That Really Teach You USEFUL Stuff October 31, 2009Over the past months, we’ve written quite a few PDF manuals for you, on all kinds of diverging subjects, including BitTorrent, iTunes, iPhone, Twitter, Mac, Linux, Photoshop and several other topics. Initially available only for subscribers, there are now multiple manuals released every month, for everyone to enjoy. After releasing 15 manuals and nearly half […]
- FINAL FANTASY VII (***) November 1, 2009a review of Final Fantasy VIIa videogame by Squarepublished by Squarefor the PlayStationtext by J. Jonathan Brettscore: (out of four)Bottom line: Final Fantasy VII is “probably the closest Square has come to making a worthwhile game”. (more…) Tweet This Post
- The Way to a Man’s Heart October 27, 2009If you missed Morrowind, one of the observations you make when starting The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the sheer number of discreet objects in the world. Every shelf is loaded with books and every table set with candles, plates and goblets, each of which can be picked up or taken. It occurs to you to proceed in the normal role-playing game way, gathering […]
- Analysis: The Path And Story Pacing October 28, 2009[Writer and designer Emily Short looks at Tale of Tales' mysterious The Path, particularly its much-discussed slow pacing, and how that slowness serves various interpretations of the experience. ] A few weeks ago I wrote of Terry Cavanagh's Don't Look Back that the game works because it is hard. Because it is hard, some people only see the end […]
- Off the path October 21, 2009A funny thing happened on my way to the latest AAA game. I wandered off the path. I'm sitting here with two games on the table next to me, both still in their shrink-wrap: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Uncharted 2. Batman has been out for two months; Uncharted 2 appeared a week ago. I've played neither, and here's the funny thing: it doesn't […]
- World leaders October 26, 2009Guest collaboration with Okaythen.
- Not quite legendary October 30, 2009A music fan, particularly a fan of a musical style that has acquired additional cultural trappings, asserts individuality by membership in a group. The contradiction has given rise to familiar parent-teenager fight scenes in a hundred tired family dramedies. Though the story stays the same from decade to decade, the music changes, and understanding the fan m […]
- The Friday Game: Crazygame.exe October 30, 2009Format: PCDeveloper: ? "The strangest part about this game is that no-one is really sure where it came from," says Jaybird, on his Crazygame.exe fan-page. "It just seems to circle through people by word of mouth and sending it from friend to friends via AIM." read more
