Happy New Year fellow gamers! As we ring in the New Year, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate all the innovations the industry underwent throughout the last 12 months.
At the beginning of the year, Sony released the handheld PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) to North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Russia. Several months earlier, the PS Vita made a successful debut in Japan. Sony marketed the PS Vita as a portable PlayStation 3 and players enjoyed graphics as […]
Video Games for Cats
Recently, I discovered a game, created by a two-man development team at Hiccup, that made me realize that to be a gamer, one need not be human.
In December 2010, Game for Cats debuted on the Apple iPad. Initially a free download, the game purported to provide a world of entertainment for our feline friends. The official tagline bragged, “All the fun of your cat chasing a laser pointer without any of the work!” The game play in the initial free […]
Costume Quest: Nostalgic Halloween Gaming
It’s almost Halloween. My neighborhood is filled with decorative plastic ghosts, goblins, and skeletons. Advertisements for scary movie marathons inundate television channels, and bookstores carry special displays of Dracula and Frankenstein. As a gamer, this is the best time to play chilling classics like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or Left 4 Dead. But not all Halloween games fall into the traditional survival horror genre. I recently discovered a game that calls attention to my favorite part of this holiday: costumes.
Costume […]
Continue Reading about Costume Quest: Nostalgic Halloween Gaming
Games on a Plane
When I hear the word “vacation” I feel happy and relaxed, but the word “travel” often evokes just the opposite. Earlier this month, I took a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. In order to keep myself occupied during travel, I packed a carry-on bag full of fun diversions, including music, books, and video games.
Despite the compact size of portable video games, I still had to choose carefully among my favorites. I settled on games for the differing circumstances in which […]
Steel Battalion and the Evolution of Video Game Controllers
Video games constantly evolve. Early on, graphics involved simple dots and now, they provide highly realistic, movie-quality images. Music originally consisted of bleeps and buzzes, while soundtracks now contain fully-orchestrated symphonies. My favorite evolution involves modifications to video game controllers, which began with simple joysticks, then morphed into complex control pads, and currently require nothing more than the player’s own movements. In my experience, no game displays this evolution more completely than Capcom’s Steel Battalion.
In 2002, video game console controllers […]
Continue Reading about Steel Battalion and the Evolution of Video Game Controllers
Cataloging ICHEG’s Collections
Museum guests and donors often inquire about what exactly happens to materials that ICHEG acquires for its collections. As ICHEG’s Acquisitions Cataloger, I handle and research electronic game-related artifacts, and I’m always pleased to answer that question.
Before an artifact becomes an official part of The Strong’s collections, it must be researched thoroughly and entered into our database system, known as Argus. Take for example, Myst III: Exile, one of the many games recently donated by 1Up. I begin with the […]
Video Game Fathers
Father’s Day, being right around the corner, reminded me of some of the most and least paternal characters presented in video games. Whether they’re role models, deadbeats, or something in between, I enjoy interacting with all of the characters that came to mind.
My personal favorite video game father is Ethan Mars from the 2010 blockbuster Heavy Rain. The game centers on Ethan’s desperation to save his son, Shaun, from the Origami Killer. In order to rescue Shaun, Ethan drives against […]
Death Race and Video Game Violence
Recently, ICHEG added the controversial arcade game Death Race to its collections.
Released by Exidy in 1976, Death Race became the first arcade game to spur a national controversy over violence in video games. A player of the game navigated a white car across the black screen as white stick figures, which developers called “gremlins,” ran back and forth. The driver attempted to run over the gremlins, which let out high-pitched screams and turned into tomb stones complete with crosses. With […]
The Magic Circle: Cheating in Video Games
Players disagree about what constitutes cheating. In her book, Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames, Mia Consalvo defines cheating as an action that “breaks the magic circle,” meaning players leave the imaginary world to reach outside for answers. This “magic circle” concept originated in Dutch historian Johan Huizinga’s book Homo Ludens, in which he explains how play takes place in a closed-off area, separated either physically or mentally from the rest of the world. Consalvo further defines cheating as an action […]
Continue Reading about The Magic Circle: Cheating in Video Games