In the world of video games few companies have as long or vivid a history as Nintendo, which turns 125 years old this week. Founded in 1889 as a producer of toys and playing-cards, the company is quite…
New words for today: druid, priest and warrior.
Boy gaming via wckiww/Shutterstock
An hour of homework or an hour of World of Warcraft? It’s not hard to guess what many ten-year-old boys would rather be doing when they get home from school. But now research shows that in non-English…
Are these assaults ‘simply part of the game’ or a disturbing and unwelcome development?
YouTube
Are video games societal microcosms wherein deviant behaviour flourishes and spills into “real life”? Or are they just harmless fun in which nobody really gets hurt? This endless debate usually concerns…
Women play computer games, but they don’t drive the industry.
EPA
An encouraging report by the International Game Developers Association recently found that women now make up 22% of the computer game workforce. This is a massive improvement from the previous figure of…
Recently, I’ve found myself reacting quite strongly against games I haven’t played yet. Occasionally, to games that haven’t even been released yet. I’ve found myself immediately sceptical and hostile when…
As part of the Liberal government’s slash-and-burn budget on Tuesday night was the surprise announcement that the Australian Interactive Games Fund was to be cut, effective immediately. First announced…
Who knew? A simple flap facilitates a well-established psychological theory.
shutterstock.com
The deceptively simple mobile game app Flappy Bird enjoyed immense popularity when it was launched last year, before being taken down in February by its Vietnam-based creator Dong Nguyen, who said it was…
Well-designed games can produce positive social outcomes.
Games for Change
Most of us are only too aware of the seemingly intractable problems we’re facing within healthcare, education, community building, environmental sustainability and regional conflict. But could interactive…
According to a press release sent out by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the end of last week, over 24,000 people attended the conference this year. One of the most interesting things about GDC…
Story design considers game mechanics an expressive part of a game’s story.
JD Hancock
This week’s Game Developers Choice Awards at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco saw some of the usual big hitters win, but also, intriguingly, smaller independents such as puzzle game…
I am currently in San Francisco to attend the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC). It’s the biggest event in the games industry, depending on what measuring stick you use. E3 in Los Angeles is the…
As games get more realistic, discrepancies become more apparent.
Steven Andrew Photography
Repetition is a rare phenomenon in the real world but a sense of déjà vu is common in the game world. Games made by large studios with massive budgets, often called AAA games, have become ever more detailed…
Videogames have the capacity to be complex and engaging in ways not possible in other media.
Koen Van Weel/EPA
Games writers dream up characters, dialogue, motivations and plot much like film screenwriters. But rather than keeping an audience captive for two or three hours at a time as in cinema, gamers will play…