Ludology.org

Paul Johnson @ Postmasters

If you are in NYC, you have until May 1st (hey, that's only 2 days left) to see Paul Johnson's "score" exhibit. If you are, like myself, stuck somewhere else in the globe, well, you can at least check its online description.

And now, for something completely different

After so many years of ludology versus narratology debate (which I have argued that it actually never took place as such, because it has been always been plagued with misunderstandings and misconceptions), I think that finally some interesting debate is going on at GTxA. It all started with a joke by Nick which I think that (unintentionally) went a bit too far. Marie-Laure Ryan posted a comment to the thread, giving her opinions about the whole thing and just posted a reply. I am looking forward to more posts and a nice, clear debate. We deserve it. And by "we" I understand anybody interested in videogame research.
rAnyway, I am as tired as anybody else of fruitless discussion, but mainly because I think it has never been done with enough clarity. I am particularly fed up with the fact that it usually tries to demonize me (as part of the ludological sect) as some sort of radical structuralist who cares about nothing but abstract games. I guess some people picked the word "ludology" to describe their worst fears, and I am the lucky guy who got stuck with the domain name! :) Still, I think that the best way to better understand each other is through communication, and that is why I am glad GTxA has a thread on the subject.

The Italian Game Job, now in English

As my friend Matteo likes to say: Pure Genius! Finally, you can play Molleindustria's games in English. Sure, your sex life would be better if you learned Italian (remember Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda?), but if all your Italian vocabulary came from The Sopranos, then this is great news for you. The games are simply beautiful, engaging and thought provoking.

Bluetooth sex

The Age has an article on games Brittons play: using Bluetooth for finding strangers willing to have sex. Talking about mobile gaming...

Nobody expects the Spanish… royalty.

Let me first disclose that, while playful, this post has little about videogame theory. But it is so funny that I couldn’t resist to share this with you guys. The picture is taking from Spain’s Hola, probably one of the crappiest tabloids to be ever printed. The lady on the left is Doña Letizia Ortiz, soon-to-be Princess of Spain (she’s about to marry the Prince of Spain) and the guy on the right is baby-faced Don Gonzalo Frasca, Knight of the Ludological Order. The truth is that I met Letizia in Colombia about ten years ago, while attending to a journalism conference with my good friend Raquel Oberlander. Anyway, a few months ago I learned that she was going to be the next Queen of Spain (at least eventually) and I thought it was tremendously funny. I even search for some old pics that I took back then. I was surprised at hearing so many people trying to persuade me into selling them to tabloids in order to make a quick buck. Of course, I'd never do such thing. Even though I find the concept of aristocracy to be hilariously outdated (but I do have high respect for the role of the King of Spain during their transition to democracy), I tried to just imagine how hard Letizia’s life must be, harassed by paparazzis and having former acquaintances plotting to sell pictures to tabloids. Of course, not just pictures, but also gossip (I have read the most terrible things being said about Doña Ortiz as I followed her story on different websites. All I can say is that we spend around a week with her, and she stroke me as an extremely smart, charming woman. I was even able to witness her journalist skills and I was really impressed. I guess smart, powerful women can make people feel uneasy. Again, I am not a royalist, but I would rather have a queen than a king. Girl Power Now!)
Anyway, it seems that somebody made those quick bucks after all (probably one of the hundreds of students who attended to the conference), and my face ended up on the pages of Hola. During my career, I had my share of media attention, but this is probably the last magazine where I would have dreamt to be. Life is funny.

COSIGN 2004 deadline

Just a reminder. If you are thinking about submitting an article to COSIGN 2004, the deadline is in 3 days.

EA anounces THE URBZ

Here's EA's press realease on The URBZ, a sort of spin-off to The Sims. I guess that we'll need to get to E3 in order to get more details about it.

Wired on Political Games

Wired.com runs today a story called "Playing Games with a Conscience", answering to the recent Simon Wiesenthal's report on websites and online games and issues of hate, racism and anti-Semitism. Sure, there are hateful games out there, but game design is also slowly moving towards games that try to deal with tolerance and a better understanding of human politics. The article features my own September 12th and Educational Simulations' Real Lives 2004, as well as Noah Wardrip-Fruin (co-editor of First Person), Ian Bogost (my partner-in-crime at watercooler & the Dean game) and yours truly.
rI just wish I had more time to make more games. Still, I do not complain, I have been doing a lot of writing lately here at the Center for Computer Games Research. But, of course, a game is worth a thousand words, right?

Outside In Symposium

Outside In: Emerging Expressions, Interventions, and Participation in Public Space will take place in Göteborg, Sweden, on June 14-15th. It is co-organized by the Play Research Group.

Game Design Position at The City College of New York

(via theredproject) The City College of New York has an open position for: Game Design and Physical Computing Output, in the Electronic Design and Multimedia M.F.A. program
rnrnGame Design envisioned within a fine arts and experimental/interdisciplinary context, encouraging exploration of play; gaming structures; simulation; authored and collaborative, single and multi-participant narratives; and networked communities with possibility of realization as sculpture, installation, performance or online components. Since game design often is realized in physical form, this hire will have a physical computing component. Broadly defined, game-based exploration resulting in installation or physical object can be integrated via physical computing. Build on existing strengths in interactive design, 3D, motion graphics and design at the Bachelor's level. Interfaces with existing Art Department programs and facilities in sculpture, wood and metal design, provides new presentation formats for narrative storytelling projects from MCA and audio environmental design from SAC.