Ludology.org

Germany restricts sale of Command & Conquer: Generals

The NYTimes reports (free registration required) that the German government restricted the sale of the EA game because "It portrays war as the only way to resolve conflict" (It is important to notice that the game features a siege of Baghdad).Banning games or any other media is a quite stupid thing to do and Germany should know better. If they really wanted to ban what causes war, they should ban oil.

"How They Got Game" blog

The "How they got game" Stanford research group just launched a blog devoted to thoughts on game design, game research, trends in play, among other interesting things.

Nokia and Ludology

Here's Games without Frontiers, Nokia's Reasearch featured article on ludology. (link updated)

Coming soon to a bookstore near you...

The Video Game Theory Reader, edited by Mark J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron.According to Amazon.com, the book is scheduled to be released in August.One of my articles will be included in it but, of course, I am dying to read all the other's since I know Mark and Bernard have been doing a hell of a job at editing this book.rrUpdate: According to the publisher's web site, here's the list of contributors (thanks jccalhoun):rrMia Consalvo, Chris Crawford, Patrick Crogan, Markku Eskelinen, Miroslaw Filiciak, Gonzalo Frasca, Walter Holland, Henry Jenkins, Kurt Squire, Torben Grodal, Alison McMahan, Bernard Perron, Bob Rehak, Ragnhild Tronstad, and Mark J. P. Wolf

MA degree in Computer Game Studies

(via Computergamestudies) From September 2003, Northumbria University will be the first in the English speaking world to offer a Master of Arts degree in Computer Game Studies.nnThe degree will look at computer games such as 'Centipede', 'Black and White' and 'Grand Theft Auto' as cultural artefacts worthy of serious interpretation, analysis and reflection.nnThe course has the following aims:

Pro-Palestinian FPS

Well, maybe this is not the best time to put this link online, but I thought that, in spite of the war, there are still people out there interested in game rhetoric and political games. I just heard of "Under Ash", a pro-Palestinian game where you fight the Israelis and the American lifestyle. From the English section of their web-site you can tell that the designers do not hide their goal of creating a means for political propaganda. For example, they say that the game is targeted at young people, as a way to replace American videogames with Arabic ones. From their screenshot page you can tell it's basically another FPS.Anyway, I just want to state that it is a coincidence that I am posting this link right after the start of this war, which, as you guys know, I despise (the link was just posted to the Digra mail list some minutes ago).As many of the politically-themed games that I have been discussing for a couple of years now, this one makes you think about the characteristics of simulation and how people can use games for conveying their ideas.

F U C K THE W A R

Pardon my French.

GAME-ON 2003

This just in. The 4th Annual conference will be held from November 19-21 at the IEE Head office, Savoy Place, London. (www.iee.org) The website for this event will come online in the next couple of weeks.I will post the CFP as soon as it becomes available.

GDC 2003 Academic Summit info

Make sure you guys check this link out. You will find hand-outs, slides, pictures and links from the GDC Academic Summit.

Don't Cry for Games, Argentina

I was in Buenos Aires for the weekend and I ran into the ADVA people (Argentine Association of Videogame Developers).rrMost of these guys belonged to NGD Studios and they are currently developing Regnum-Online, a MMORPG.rrJust like it is currently happening at Eastern Europe, South American game developers are working hard at convincing publishing houses that they can provide professional products at competitive prices. This may not happen overnight, but when it happens I am confident that this part of the world has a lot to contribute to the industry.