Huong Nguyen

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games
the extensions of man.
i kept thinking about, is it Freud? who went on about how man is repressed and that he should be left in his natural state?anyway... i road on this thought about man and his primal instincts and how games could be a major outlet for the constant stress and submission to culture and the work world. and it was making sense. So if man is pretty savage and raw when stripped of the layers and layers of laws, constraints, and moralities, in theory can these games work as hidden desires being played out possibly?
in the end of the reading he says, "games are extensions not of our private but of our social selves", i believe it could be both. i'm thinking this because could it not be possible that yes these games or choices of games be a reactions to similar situations that an individual come into contact habitually, but in the same social ways create barriers therefore resulting in inner aggressions or control issues? So when is good game playing considered bad or over. maybe i don't play enough but I agree with games in the same way that it keeps the mind pushing and pulling working and releasing. I found the part when he compared games and art interesting. i haven't been exposed to that idea yet. i definitely would like to give it more thought and observation.

my sister told me to try out some games shes been playing while studying for her LSAT. a friend of hers lent it to her and told her it was a great way to relax her mind after studying and a great way to keep it excercised before the test or during the time she had to spare. i guess its just to keep her mind from getting lazy maybe so when the time comes she is not over working it to get results. So i played it. the nintendo ds. i think it was called brain age. she started me off slow, with math games and drawing from memory. these work the prefrontal cortex and act as visual stimulations. then she moved on and i played two other games that had to know which numbers go in what box and the other was in 1 minute rewrite the 25-30words it gave me. how sad i didn't do to well on all the games. my sister didn't say anything when i showed her my scores... then she would laugh and say ok lets try again. i don't know if its the pressure of playing and/or that the games moved to fast for my brain to process. whatever it was i felt like a slow failure. but i played a couple more times by the third time i was doing better. whatever it was it made me think of what i think about and do and how i generally use my mind. brain age was fun though, i can see how it was functioning two ways for my sister while studying as a relaxer and as a constant stimulator. i would play it again.

Abstraction in the video game. Mark J.P. Wolf
i had a talk with a friend the other day about animated movies and how i think it kills it when animators try to make characters look real close to humans. i can understand how hard it is to do that , but its just something about trying to make things look real when it was probably better looking at the beginning stages of building the characters that i feel gets lost. so in a way i feel the same about video games. i love the way the old school vector or abstract stuff looks. but i can't deny some character based video games because they are very fun or silly looking. i think its the i look 87% -94% look human games that i lose interest. i'm not to good with names of video games but nowadays i see some of the games my friends play or my cousins and after a few minutes just get disinterested. i turn off but i notice when its more abstract or simplified games i stay to participate or try to figure out the game, or play it in my head. maybe all the extra graphics just are too distracting for me or i can't relate.
in the reading it mentioned the high demand for representational games caused the increase in realism in the games for a few reasons. technology, another one was just out of programmers competition and the other is mainly that people can relate to it better. do these realistic games offer us a realistic world we know? or maybe it just looks cool. i don't know. there were a couple things he mentioned about how some abstract games were packaged with a great cover but the game looks nothing like it. i thought it was pretty cool because i think as you play it you might have this idea in your mind and then be able to continue this imaginary abstraction as the game goes from memory. but why is this abstraction in games more rejected. i think abstract games helps to work your imagination, to strategize, to somehow force you play the game with a different mind set and emotion. i think that representational games can do that to and i do like that idea of a whole visual world with characters etc, but i do think that at times some games are overdone. that the goals in the game is too based on how it looks or how you look in the game than how you play it. but i could be totally wrong because i don't play a lot. but there are game types for everybody right? is abtraction in video games gonna have a comeback? i['d love to see what programmers would come up with now.

if possible i would like to become obsessed with the game tetris again. its been over a few years sinced i played it compulsively.

maybe i'm one of the last to know about video games being offered on airplanes but in any case i thought it was really cool. a friend of mine told me about it when she flew on japan airlines (JAL) and was moved to the businessor executive class section and saw that they offered the mario bros. video games and a bunch more she was shocked. i think just the idea is in itself rad. so i looked up japan airlines and i guess depending on what flight you are on domestic or international they offer you the games which come from JEN which is the JAL Enertainment Network. you get a range of different remote controller looking things called MAGIC(I,II,III,IV) with varying programs depending on i'm guessing how much you paid for your flight and where to. makes sense, its probably pretty expensive to have. so i wanted to see if there were other airlines offering this kind of thing. so i typed in airlines with video games. what i came across i just got stuck one for awhile. VIRTUAL AIRLINES... what the hell is that? i mean tones of sites for it. i didn't know you could get that into it. but i guess its a good simulator for new pilots and those who want to learn. i don't know i was just amazed at this new world i found. Also found out about a game called Air traffic Controller developed by Technobrain and that game is placed in many japanese airports. i never really noticed, does anyone know if we have games at our airports? SF, LA, NY?

where do i go from here? i kept going in circles. ended up geting pretty nauseated. had to focus my attention elsewhere or i'd feel really sick for the rest of the day like last time i played in class. i left with a weird headache too. i'm fine watching other people play but when i play i starts. It was fun though last time i played i was continueing someone elses game and got further than i thought but today i don't even know where to go and what to do. What was up with the pick up the can thing? how do you pick stuff up?

my sister works at corporate company and this is what they are going to do next week as a team. i thought it was a good idea for the team to get and take a break together. sounds fun. shes gonna give me the update on the variety of games and overall experience.
http://www.dailycandy.com/san_francisco/