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Tag Archive for Videogames

Where are all the rockstars going?

March 27, 2009 People, Videogames Comments Off on Where are all the rockstars going?

This train of thought started because my son (7y) asked if I could get him an autograph from “the guy who made Spore” at the GDC this year.  (Should be you be trolling this underbelly of the blogs sometime, Mr. Wright, know that I am stalking you on behalf of my kids 😀 )

 

In my household, the “rockstars” are the game makers, I encourage my kids to be fans of these people I work with and alongside because, truthfully, I think they deserve it more than the newest slushy-pop-star creation.  So this missive from my number-one beta tester was probably to be expected.

 

And it started me thinking… I have to wonder if they miss it, these original minds of the industry.  GDC used to be a smallish industry event, a couple groups of people getting together to share ideas, to teach each other new and nifty ways to handle the challenges that came with designing and executing videogames.  It was already turning into a major event when I first started attending back in….  1990 (probably dating myself there a bit) and now…  WHOOF…

 

As an event, it’s fabulous.  You get to meet all kinds of cool people, and only rarely do you bump into someone truly anti-social.  But I am seeing fewer and fewer of the old-school guys and gals out in public anymore.  You used to be able to run into the greats totally at random on the expo floor, or in the halls after the lectures.  They were always friendly (if occasionally harried).  They don’t seem to attend as much anymore, outside of popping in for an announcement of something new fabulous, or giving a keynote.  I suppose, on the one hand, there might not be much here for them anymore.  People operating on that rarified level probably don’t get much time off to check out the GDC anymore.

 

Still, it takes a little something away from the whole show, knowing that those bright points of light are missing.

Neural plasticity

January 17, 2009 Sprogglings, Videogames Comments Off on Neural plasticity

It’s a wonderful thing, this adaptivity of the human brain.  My oldest child (7) has been a FPS player since he was 4.  He picked up very quickly on how to navigate a virtual environment, and FPS’es have been his preferred gametype (although now that he can read well, he seems to be developing an affinity for sim games like Civ: Revolution.

Except now there’s Prince of Persia.  Now, my son and I have a long history with the POP titles.  When he was 3, I was playing my way through POP: Sands of Time.  He still remembers it as “the scooching game” and he’s dabbled with the sequels, but never really gotten into them.

Anyway, back on track, he’s been playing this game, for about three hours (over the past two days) and he already seems to be an expert in the game mechanics.  The game is *totally* different from a FPS, the controls are used for different things, but he seems to have adapted right away.  I would have thought, with him being a FPS guy, he would have his reflexes programmed to use the triggers to shoot, etc. but I haven’t heard a single “stupid controller” complaint out of him yet.  In fact, he has the Prince dancing across the walls like he’s only ever played this type of game.

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