Excerpts from the book Expressive Processing. Reprinted with express permission of the author. Author’s Note: At this year’s GDC Expressive Processing (published by MIT Press) was the only book included in the “Game Studies Download,” a selection of the top 10 game studies publications over the last year. This excerpt from chapter 3 uses two…
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Arcades hold a very special place in my heart. They were, for a child growing up on the move, living in different states, different countries every few years, the one refuge in a constantly changing landscape. While the names, the graphics, even the language of my childhood arcades changed with each relocation, the feeling of…
To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Spring Blizzard As it’s been reported elsewhere, six students at Cornell University have committed suicide in the past six months. (Read more here.) Whether it’s the overcast skies or the intense course work, Cornell has long been known as the suicide capital of the Ivy League. When I was a…
Last week, Sony shelled out US$200 million for for the rights to release 10 new posthumous Michael Jackson albums, DVDs and video games between now and 2017 reports The Independent. This is the largest advanced sum ever paid to a musician. The “new” material was recorded by Jackson over three decades and includes never before…
At one time, Takafumi Horie was the most powerful man in Japan. Now, he’s not. He does have a lot of followers on Twitter. The Tokyo University dropout headed up internet portal Livedoor and attempted to not only buy an Osaka baseball team, but also carry out a hostile takeover of a major Japanese television…
I’m not saying this is worth paying for – no 360 avatar gear is worth paying for – but a Shenmue get-up for the little guys is certainly worth pining for. It’s part of a range of gear released to advertise Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing, and along with a bunch of other rubbish, there’s…
2008 was a blast. Remember that? Non. Stop. Party. 2009? Well… In 2008, Nintendo released Wii titles like Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros and Wii Music. In 2009, it didn’t! When asked by The Economist why Nintendo had a better year in 2008 than last, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario…
There’s a new King of Fighters game coming. And yeah, it’s got Mai in it. Want to see what it looks like? Here’s some shaky-cam footage from the game’s public debut in Japan. It’s hardly high definition, I know (sorry!), but at this stage, it’s all we’ve got. Special thanks to Kotaku Japan for providing…
As seen on Woot
Previous replica Master Swords we’ve seen have been, well, dangerous. Pointy. But this one? It’s soft. Widely available. And you can hit small children with it. It’s a new sword by toy company Nerf, and even a sideways glance will tell you that garish shade of pink’s primary purpose may well be to hold off…
There was something missing from The King of Fighters XII. Make that, there were many things missing from KOFXII. But one of the most notable was jiggly ninja character Mai Shiranui. She did not make it into The King of Fighters XII, but was mentioned as possible DLC last year. “I think the thinking is…
Olivia Munn, host of television program Attack of the Show! and Playboy covergirl, was slated to appear in forthcoming Hollywood film Iron Man 2. Then she ended up on the editing room floor. “As they started to edit they realized it was becoming darker than what they’d expected and what my scenes had allowed for,”…
You know, Red Dead Redemption could be the worst game of the year, and I think I’d still enjoy it. It’s predecessor, Red Dead Revolver was pretty awful, and I loved it. Why? Because Rockstar just “get” Westerns, that’s why. A good Western setting or story can get me past poor gameplay. And a good…
Kingdom Hearts is the Square Enix role-playing series staring Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The series has had several spin-offs, but gamers are eagerly awaiting Kingdom Hearts 3. “About the next title, Kingdom Hearts 3 depends on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but development of the next title is already underway,” Kingdom Heart…
Unless you’re cheating and playing via an emulator on a PC, the Nintendo Wii can’t do high definition. One company, however, claims that by using its new device, it can VDIGI reckons that its new VD-W3 upscaler can take a Wii game, perform a little magic on it then display it in full, 1080p fidelity…
According to Japanese game magazine Famitsu, that is. The publication has crunched the review scores and has listed the platforms in order with the best library of games. In the current issue of Famitsu, reviews until late 2009 were considered. Famitsu grades scores on a scale of 40 points out of 40. For games to…
The PSP turned five today. For some, it was cause for celebration, but in light of other events taking place this week, I’m not in such a joyous mood. My mood is more…optimistic. Why? Because the PSP’s fifth birthday might also be one of its last. Nintendo’s continued dominance of the portable market outside Japan…
For a moment, forget that Nintendo is releasing new portable hardware. Just imagine, there’s you, schoolgirl Manaka and a DSi XL. Dating simulator Love Plus is quite popular in Japan. It is getting an updated version this summer called Love Plus Plus, complete with special DSi XL bundles that come in three colors and three…
Fan site PlanetVB has posted what it claims to be the first ever online footage of two unreleased games for Nintendo’s first 3D system, 1995’s Virtual Boy. These two titles, Mario Land and Starfox, both of which were most likely never completed, were only shown at demonstration events all the way back in 1995. We’ve…
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