Call for Papers to the international conference “The Philosophy of Computer Games 2011″,
to be held in Athens, Greece, on April 6th-9th 2011. Accepted papers will have a clear focus
on philosophy and philosophical issues in relation to computer games. They will also attempt
to use specific examples rather than merely invoke “computer games” in general terms. The
over-arching theme of the conference is Player Identity.
Deadline for submissions is 17.00 GMT, February 1st, 2011.
Send your abstract to submissions@gamephilosophy.org.
For more info http://2011.gamephilosophy.org/
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Conference "The Philosophy of Computer Games", Athens, April 2011
Monday, July 5, 2010
Original Pacman sketches
via Alain Dépocas on FB:Original Pacman sketches from Toru Iwatani.
http://control-online.nl/gamesindustrie/2010/06/22/iwatani-toont-gamesgeschiedenis-in-meest-pure-vorm/
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Amiga Gaming Retrospective
Jeremy Reimer on ArsTechnica:
"The Amiga was born a game machine, but it entered a world where the video game industry was well-established and changing rapidly. Long gone were the days where a lone coder would stay up all night in his basement for six weeks and bang out a hit for the Atari 2600. Even the younger and smaller computer game industry had moved far beyond Roberta Williams putting floppy disks into ziplock bags and answering phone calls from players in her kitchen. The success of the Commodore 64 (and on the other side of the pond, the Sinclair Spectrum) meant that more money was available for computer game development, and it was a good thing too, as the more powerful 16-bit machines were starting to seriously test the limits of a one-man development team. For the first time, specialized careers were starting to emerge in game development. The Amiga's rich, 4096-color palette demanded people who were skilled artistically to create the sprites and backgrounds. The four-channel sampled sound chip cried out for musicians to make it sing. The larger size and complexity of the games required that someone other than the programmers be asked to test the games before they were released."
[read on]
"The Amiga was born a game machine, but it entered a world where the video game industry was well-established and changing rapidly. Long gone were the days where a lone coder would stay up all night in his basement for six weeks and bang out a hit for the Atari 2600. Even the younger and smaller computer game industry had moved far beyond Roberta Williams putting floppy disks into ziplock bags and answering phone calls from players in her kitchen. The success of the Commodore 64 (and on the other side of the pond, the Sinclair Spectrum) meant that more money was available for computer game development, and it was a good thing too, as the more powerful 16-bit machines were starting to seriously test the limits of a one-man development team. For the first time, specialized careers were starting to emerge in game development. The Amiga's rich, 4096-color palette demanded people who were skilled artistically to create the sprites and backgrounds. The four-channel sampled sound chip cried out for musicians to make it sing. The larger size and complexity of the games required that someone other than the programmers be asked to test the games before they were released."
[read on]
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
another interesting post on CTheory's section "Resetting Theory":
________________________________________________________
CTHEORY: THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE VOL 32, NOS 1-2
*** Visit CTHEORY Online: http://www.ctheory.net ***
RT 005 06/02/2009 Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker
________________________________________________________
On Game Art, Circuit Bending and Speedrunning as Counter-Practice:
'Hard' and 'Soft' Nonexistence
================================================
Author: Seb Franklin
Intro: "In _The Exploit_ Alexander R. Galloway and Eugene Thacker speculate
that "[f]uture avant-garde practices will be those of nonexistence."
[1] This extraordinary claim is a response to the current ubiquity of
digital technology and its impact on cultural politics; if existence
becomes a question of being classified informatically, the avoidance
of this classification, or nonexistence, becomes of paramount
importance. The discussion of nonexistence in _The Exploit_ opens
with a question, one that forms the basis of this essay: "how does
one develop techniques and technologies to make oneself unaccountable
for?" [2] Directly following this question comes a specific, material
example through which a crucial distinction between "unaccountable
for" and "invisible" or "absent" is made -- the use of a laser
pointer, aimed into a surveillance camera in order to 'blind' it. In
this situation, the camera is not destroyed nor is the individual
shining the laser actually hiding, or invisible; instead, they are
simply not present on the particular screen or data set recorded by
the camera in question. [3] The same is true of the tricking of a
server, causing it to record a routine event when one goes online.
These kinds of tactics, "tactics of abandonment", are "positive
technologies" for Galloway and Thacker. They are entirely distinct
from absence, lack, invisibility and nonbeing because they are "full"
or rather, because they "permeate." [4] The practical consequences of
Galloway and Thacker's formulation of nonexistence are clear: It's
not a question of hiding, or living off the grid, but of living on
the grid, in potentially full informatic view, but in a way that
makes one's technical specification or classification impossible." etc.etc.etc.
CTHEORY: THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE VOL 32, NOS 1-2
*** Visit CTHEORY Online: http://www.ctheory.net ***
RT 005 06/02/2009 Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker
______________________________
On Game Art, Circuit Bending and Speedrunning as Counter-Practice:
'Hard' and 'Soft' Nonexistence
==============================
Author: Seb Franklin
Intro: "In _The Exploit_ Alexander R. Galloway and Eugene Thacker speculate
that "[f]uture avant-garde practices will be those of nonexistence."
[1] This extraordinary claim is a response to the current ubiquity of
digital technology and its impact on cultural politics; if existence
becomes a question of being classified informatically, the avoidance
of this classification, or nonexistence, becomes of paramount
importance. The discussion of nonexistence in _The Exploit_ opens
with a question, one that forms the basis of this essay: "how does
one develop techniques and technologies to make oneself unaccountable
for?" [2] Directly following this question comes a specific, material
example through which a crucial distinction between "unaccountable
for" and "invisible" or "absent" is made -- the use of a laser
pointer, aimed into a surveillance camera in order to 'blind' it. In
this situation, the camera is not destroyed nor is the individual
shining the laser actually hiding, or invisible; instead, they are
simply not present on the particular screen or data set recorded by
the camera in question. [3] The same is true of the tricking of a
server, causing it to record a routine event when one goes online.
These kinds of tactics, "tactics of abandonment", are "positive
technologies" for Galloway and Thacker. They are entirely distinct
from absence, lack, invisibility and nonbeing because they are "full"
or rather, because they "permeate." [4] The practical consequences of
Galloway and Thacker's formulation of nonexistence are clear: It's
not a question of hiding, or living off the grid, but of living on
the grid, in potentially full informatic view, but in a way that
makes one's technical specification or classification impossible." etc.etc.etc.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
latest post on CTHEORY
CTHEORY: THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE VOL 32, NOS 1-2
*** Visit CTHEORY Online: http://www.ctheory.net ***
RT 004 05/13/2009 Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker
Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter:
Empire@Play: Virtual Games and Global Capitalism
"Amidst the current convulsions, global capitalism has one consolation
left for its increasingly desperate subjects: you may have lost your
job (or will never be able to retire from it), you can't afford to go
out, but you can always stay home (if you still have one) and play a
video game. As Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Merrill Lynch fell
and General Motors, Ford and Chrysler reeled round the edge of their
grave, North American sales of game hardware and software hit
all-time highs in 2008. Forecasters claimed virtual play was
recession-proof; a maturing audience of stay-at-home gamers would
cocoon around the Wii, Xbox360 or PS3, or migrate to ~World of
Warcraft~ or ~Second Life~, to enjoy a diversion from economic
disaster. Such estimates of game-business resilience may prove
optimistic: by 2009 job losses were hitting industry behemoths such
as Sony and Electronic Arts (EA). But this latest iteration of
bread-and-circuses culture-theory nevertheless provides a timely
entry for a discussion of digital games as exemplary media of
contemporary Empire."
warm recommendation
*** Visit CTHEORY Online: http://www.ctheory.net ***
RT 004 05/13/2009 Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker
Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter:
Empire@Play: Virtual Games and Global Capitalism
"Amidst the current convulsions, global capitalism has one consolation
left for its increasingly desperate subjects: you may have lost your
job (or will never be able to retire from it), you can't afford to go
out, but you can always stay home (if you still have one) and play a
video game. As Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Merrill Lynch fell
and General Motors, Ford and Chrysler reeled round the edge of their
grave, North American sales of game hardware and software hit
all-time highs in 2008. Forecasters claimed virtual play was
recession-proof; a maturing audience of stay-at-home gamers would
cocoon around the Wii, Xbox360 or PS3, or migrate to ~World of
Warcraft~ or ~Second Life~, to enjoy a diversion from economic
disaster. Such estimates of game-business resilience may prove
optimistic: by 2009 job losses were hitting industry behemoths such
as Sony and Electronic Arts (EA). But this latest iteration of
bread-and-circuses culture-theory nevertheless provides a timely
entry for a discussion of digital games as exemplary media of
contemporary Empire."
warm recommendation
Monday, April 14, 2008
homo ludens ludens
symposion at LABoral (Gijon, Spain) from 19th to 20th of April 2008
http://www.laboralcentrodearte.org/seminarios/proximos/3
speakers include: Roy Ascott, Laura Beloff, Julian Oliver, Mackenzie Wark and Margarethe Jahrmann
The symposion is accompanied by an exhibition that runs until September
http://www.laboralcentrodearte.org/seminarios/proximos/3
speakers include: Roy Ascott, Laura Beloff, Julian Oliver, Mackenzie Wark and Margarethe Jahrmann
The symposion is accompanied by an exhibition that runs until September
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