Flora

Sunday times- August 13, 2006
Fight club: how computer games escaped onto the streets

The article began with a scene of a man going around town getting clues on how to reach ‘Mr. Big’. Mr. Big gave the man all the information he needs to know about his target including: photos, telephone numbers, address and suggest he goes to the Toys ’R’ Us to buy his weapon. So he went and bought a super soaker.
This man is actually one of the many adults playing a high concept games on the streets. They are able to locate one another in public through internet and mobile phones
This is called StreetWars: where players (assassin) are given details about their targets (other players) and they hide and stalk their targets around town waiting for the chance to soak them with water eliminating them from the game.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2309829_1,00.html

I find this article interesting because people are actually taking the game and merge it into their daily lives. By merging it into their daily lives they have a live audience, putting them through real emotions because they don’t know what is going on while the event is unfolding.

Abstraction in the Video Game by Mark J. P. Wolf

In the reading Wolf clearly defined the difference between abstract (reduce it to the basic) and representation (to recreate). In the early video games the graphics are abstract but people can easily understand and use the controls. During that time because of technological limitation games are not as realistic and complex as today’s games.
The idea of Surrogate-base player- characters is interesting because even though the graphics are abstract and not realistic people could see themselves being represented by this object/image. The name of the video game also plays a very important role because the graphics in the games are limited, so one might not be able to tell what that specific object represents. For example in Space Invaders, one can tell by the name that the player would be under attack by a massive alien army. So in the game one would be able to see a mass of identical moving objects/images and assume that it represents the alien army. What is left is a single object/image that is different from the rest so the player assumes that it is him/her. It allows the player to make that connection unconsciously

Midterm Project
So far I have only found one game online that I would like to play. The game is call
Tactical Assassin What interest me about this game is that the graphics are very simple and the characters are stick figures. Even though the graphics are not as realistic as today's video game the plot draws the player in. The player plays the role of an assassin and he/she is given a mission to complete, the assassin is given informations about the target and the first priortiy of the mission. The way the assassin complete the mission is up to the player, and because the player is the assassin he/she must avoid being detected by guards.
here is the link to the game- under Arcade- look for Tactical Assassin

http://www.freeworldgroup.com/game.html

there are other similar stick figure games called Brain splatter2, stickman madness,and sift head sniper
here is the site for sift head sniper
http://www.stickpage.com/stickgames2.shtml#games

Video Game Exhibition Announced

Game On
On October 21 The London’s Science Museum is going to exhibit over 120 games, games that date as far as the 1960’s. Most of them would be vintage game like space invader and others are more contemporary. Visitors are able to play the games, see classic artwork and drawings by Shigeru Miyamoto. The exhibit allows people to see the history of games.
The exhibit open on October 21- February 25

I think this is going to be a really cool exhibit where people play and learn about games.
link to article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5354020.stm

From Sun Tzu to Xbox
America’s Army

My first impression of the America’s Army web site is that it’s very easy to navigate. Some of the images displays are from the game, of soldiers engaging in combat and others are of army recruiters interacting with potential recruits or gamers. Then there’s the section about “Real Heroes” those who are in the army fighting real enemies for the sake of freedom. The military use the site to encourage people to play the game at the same time they also learn about the U.S. Army. The game holds people’s attention longer so they are more likely to grasps the information on the site. This reminds me of educational games from PBS kids or Nick Jr, that are able to hold children attention long enough so they are able to grasp the information.

Pro: military can show people what they have to offer
People learn military strategy
Encourage people to join the army
people can play the role of a soldier to feed their curiosity.
Con:The game might cause some to blur between fiction and reality (psycological effect)
The risk of promoting war and violence
Blurring the reality of war, war is not a game.(can be misleading)
War is not always glorious and clear about whos bad or good

Video Games: Medicine For The Body

On September 29, 2006 the Federation of American Scientists will present a prototype for an educational game called “Immune Attack” the goal is to make learning and teaching immunology fun and engaging. It also gives a chance for those who might not have an interest in biology to learn in a fun way. The game is a first person strategy PC game

Plot:
The human body (tissue structure) is the playing field, where the immune cells fight against bacterial and viral infections. The player plays the role of a teenaged prodigy with an immunodeficiency who must teach his immune system to function properly. In order to do that the player must complete various educational mini games.

This is interesting since the subject kind of relates to the military using computer games to get people interested in the army. The difference is that “Immune Attack” is more beneficial because it’s a tool for learning base on real facts and information. Its interesting how computer games are being used in other fields to promote learning.
Link to article
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060921205003.htm
Screen shot of the game

Classic game and Art

Pac-Mondrian is the combination of Piet Mondrian’s style of painting and the video game Pac-Man. Piet Mondrian art works are composed of yellow lines and red, blue and grey color blocks. In one of the Pac-Modrian’s level (Broadway Boogie Woogie), Piet Mondrian’s painting that represent New York becomes the playing field and the music by Boogie Woogie Trio becomes the sound effects.
I think this is an exciting way to map out the city, the player role as Pac-Mondrian is actually exploring the city while trying to escape from the ghost. Artists are able to reinterpret the game through music and mapping. For example in another level it’s actually the map of Detroit, the artist that did the remix for that level is Anonym. He suggest to map out Detroit his birthplace, in Mondrian’s style.The interesting thing is how Pac-Mondrian move in the game because the games are made of color blocks the way Pac-Mondrian moves are like dance steps.

A 1921 painting by Piet Mondrian: "Composition with red, yellow blue and black."

Detroit Techno level

http://pbfb.ca/pac-mondrian/