Tag: Opslag

As we may watch

Ex-co-PhD student Martin Sønderlev Christensen (of nowuseit fame) defends his thesis masterpiece at ITU tomorrow (14:00, Auditorium 4 or 2).

The thesis is here (draft version).

Update:



By stilleben [‘stelle:bƏn] http://www.flickr.com/people/stilleben/

The abstract reads:

Abstract
This dissertation offers a cultural theoretical interpretation of the emergence of personal affective mobile media [PAMM]. By interpreting the apparent cultural changes and representation of mobile devices, the dissertation provides a description that emphasizes a conceptual shift from understanding technology as efficiency to using it affectively.

Continue reading As we may watch

Game Research 2.0 (work in progress)



I’m tweaking WordPress to work as a CMS for www.game-research.com. Updating the old thing has been just too difficult – and so nothing will stand in the way of new content (of which various things are planned).

If you wish to contribute to the site – in the form of a book review etc. – let me know.
The new version is visible at www.game-research.com/2.

Comments? Suggestions? (Put ’em here).

Digra 2007 in Tokyo

Full papers, no abstracts this time. This is quite an interesting development as it will include fields in which only full papers count as worthy (the case for many computer scientists).

The announcement:

DiGRA 2007 First Circular
We, the DiGRA 2007 Local Organizing Committee, are happy to announce
that the third DiGRA (Digital Games Research Association)
international conference will be held in Tokyo, Japan in September
2007. Scholars of digital games from around the world are encouraged
to submit a paper and to participate in the conference. Held in the
world capital of videogames, this conference will be an event that no
game studies scholar can afford to miss. We are working hard for
DiGRA 2007 to be truly special.
The theme of this conference is “Situated Play.” Game play does not
take place in vacuum. For play to be possible, certain social,
cultural, economic, and technological conditions need to converge.
Digital games, therefore, require truly diverse approaches to
illuminate their extremely multi-faceted nature. The goal of this
conference is to shed more light on these various kinds of
situatedness of games. In particular, the conference aims to bridge
professionally and geographically diverse scholars and practitioners.
We therefore welcome panel proposals and papers that describe various
facets regarding the situatedness of digital games and attempt to
combine a range of approaches in innovative ways.
For our participants’ convenience, the dates of the conference will be
set close to the Tokyo Game Show so that participants can take
advantage of both events. The selection of papers will be based on
full papers instead of abstracts, and the deadline will be in February
2007. A second circular revealing more details about DiGRA 2007 will
be issued in late May or early July.
We hope to see you in Tokyo!
– DiGRA 2007 Local Organizing Committee
Akira Baba (Chair), Kiyoshi Shin, Akinori Nakamura, Kenji Ito

To-read

gamingasculture_.jpg

New games book out: Gaming As Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity And Experience in Fantasy Games

From the description:

Since tabletop fantasy role-playing games emerged in the 1970s, fantasy gaming has made a unique contribution to popular culture and perceptions of social realities in America and around the world. This contribution is increasingly apparent as the gaming industry has diversified with the addition of collectible strategy games and other innovative products, as well as the recent advancements in videogame technology. This book presents the most current research in fantasy games and examines the cultural and constructionist dimensions of fantasy gaming as a leisure activity. Each chapter investigates some social or behavioral aspect of fantasy gaming and provides insight into the cultural, linguistic, sociological, and psychological impact of games on both the individual and society. Section I discusses the intersection of fantasy and real-world scenarios and how the construction of a fantasy world is dialectically related to the construction of a gamer’s social reality. Because the basic premise of fantasy gaming is the assumption of virtual identities, Section II looks at the relationship between gaming and various aspects of identity. The third and final section examines what the personal experiences of gamers can tell us about how humans experience reality.

Talk on games+film at ITU

Jack Bauer: From TV2 to PS2
09/03-2006 kl. 4PM-6PM i Auditorium 1

Come to a Master Class about media convergence: Jack Bauer: From TV2 to PS2

TV, movies and computer games are merging. Games are being made into movies, entire TV series are released as interactive computer games, and in the near future we will see a total media convergence.

The latest example is the large scaled PlayStation 2 game 24: The game, which in every detail is an interactive version of the TV series “24” that is currently being shown on Danish TV2 and stars Kiefer Sutherland as the main character agent Jack Bauer.

On March 9th Rob Hill, the lead game designer of the game, and Mark Green from Sony’s Cambridge studio will be in Copenhagen to give a Master Class for Danish IT companies and students of the IT University and the National Academy of Digital, Interactive Entertainment, which focus on the interaction between movies, TV, IT and interactivity. The meeting takes place:

Thursday the 9th of March in auditorium 1 from 4PM to 6PM

Sign up by sending an email to Malene de Bruin bruin@itu.dk

Video games – passion, practice & fresh perspectives workshop at ITU in August

19. – 21. August 2005
Department of Digital Aesthetics & Communication

From 19th to 21st of August 2005, the Department of Digital Aesthetics & Communication (DiAC) will be home to video game aficionados who feel that the subject of their passion hasn’t been exhaustively explored yet and who mind the current gap in video game studies and -design.

See event website

Gonzalo at Copenhagen University tommorow

The opposite of fun is not boredom: Videogames, art and communication

Sure, videogames are fun but is that enough? If television had focused solely on fun, we wouldn’t have news programs, documentaries, commercials or drama. Fun is just one element in the equation of making games, especially when you have a different agenda than just entertaining your players. This talk will review the artistic and communicational potential of videogames by exploring different examples of political, educational and non-traditional games. The language of cinema owes a lot to early art and political films (Griffith, Eisenstein, Riefenstahl): could a similar trend happen in videogames?

Thursday May 26
9.15am to 11.00am
Room 8.3.32 (KUA)

Gonzalo Frasca works at the Center for Computer Game Research at the IT University. He edits Ludology.org and co-edits Game Studies and WaterCoolerGames.org. He is the co-founder of Powerful Robot Games studio, leads the Newsgaming.com project and co-designed the first official videogame ever commissioned for a US Presidential campaign. He is also a former head of game production at Cartoon Network LA.