Author Archives: Professor Sample
Working with Omeka’s Exhibits
Here’s a good introduction to building exhibits on Omeka.
On University Libraries Starting Videogame Collections
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting article on academic libraries starting to build videogame collections: http://chronicle.com/article/Video-Game-Rooms-Become-the/127229/ …Would love to see Mason start something like this…
Possible Approaches to Portal (from whiteboard)
Jason Nelson is a Hipster Dog
In response to this discussion on our blog, Jason Nelson made this video:
More details for the “Countergaming” Reading
We can think of countergames as anti-games, or games that are everything that games aren’t supposed to be. In his essay on “Countergaming,” Alexander Galloway outlines six differences between conventional videogames and countergames: Transparency versus foregrounding Gameplay versus aestheticism Representational … Continue reading
A Teardown of “Angry Birds”
This comes a few weeks too late to include in our class discussion of casual games, but this teardown of Angry Birds, explaining on a cognitive level what makes the game so playable, is worth looking at. Too bad at … Continue reading
Survey on Interactive Fiction
Please complete this short, anonymous survey: http://polldaddy.com/s/FF9CF127C05884EA
Survey on Casual Games
Please take this short anonymous survey on casual games.
Survey on First Person Shooters
Please take the following survey: http://polldaddy.com/s/4178EB7B7EE4303D
Articles Reviewed for Inquiry #1 on Game Studies
Here’s a list of all the videogame studies articles HNRS 353 students examined for Inquiry #1: Allen, Robertson. “The Unreal Enemy of the American Army.” Games and Culture, 6.1 (2011): 38-60. Sage Publications. Web. February 8, 2011. <http://gac.sagepub.com/content/6/1/38.full.pdf+html> Arsenault, D. … Continue reading
More on Dead Island
More info on the Dead Island trailer we watched in class: an interview with the creators of the trailer. It sounds like the eventual game will resemble the trailer in atmosphere only. The family we see aren’t even in the … Continue reading
Videogames and Art
We’ll be talking about the question of videogames as art later in the semester, but for now I wanted to point your way toward a recent overview of 10 artists who use videogames as their medium. In a similar vein, … Continue reading
Atari Commercial
An early Atari commercial, emphasizing family fun and togetherness.
Instructions on Using Stella
Here are a few tips on using Stella, the Atari 2600 emulator you need to install on your computer in order to play a few of the required games this semester, such as Combat. First you need to get Stella … Continue reading
Welcome to HNRS 353
Welcome to the course website and blog for HNRS 353:001, an Honors College seminar focusing on the cultural impact and analysis of videogames. Here you’ll find all the course documents, including the most up-to-date version of the schedule as well … Continue reading