Twitchdoctor
twinhits
waltersthegreat
Broadpaw
aegisfang
An open letter to all my FaceBook friends. Is this really the best we can do?
Author Archive
On Not Feeling the Love
Posted: September 9, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in Game Research, Games and LifeTags: cloud computing, Crowdsourcing, cultural studies, Cyberculture, Gamer, Newsweek, Video game, Wikipedia
There are many occasions in an ongoing discussion or debate where you know that the better thing would be to take the high road. Unfortunately, this often involves having to switch off your brain and wear a blindfold. Therefore, low road it is.
Slaying the Lone Gunman
Posted: June 21, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in Games and Life, Games and the Media, UncategorizedTags: Avatar, Galaxy Quest, games, Last Starfighter, science fiction, The Fellows Hip: Rise of the Gamers, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, The Matrix, Tron, Video game, wargames
Can a film that celebrates the geekiness of gaming succeed in a culture that pathologizes it?
Childhood: A Delusion of Adulthood
Posted: June 10, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in CensorshipTags: censorship, children's literature, media, parenting, videogames, young adult fiction
Adults in general and parents in particular need to face up to the fact that due in no small part to their own efforts, childhood is a dark time
Not Quite Appily Ever After
Posted: April 21, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in game design, Games and MarketingTags: Amazon App Store, Amazon.com, casual games, Droid, game development, International Game Developers Association, smart phones, video games
In addition to being an interesting discussion of Amazon’s problematic pricing and compensation policies, this advisory from the IGDA should also be of interest to writing teachers. It is a wonderful example of how to make a respectful but very assertive argument. Rhetorically, it is a very savvy piece of work. Game developers do have a lot to gain from Amazon’s app store, so the IGDA doesn’t want to alienate Amazon. Hence this piece includes some wonderful examples of how to qualify the argument in a way that is designed not to attribute evil intent to your opposition. As such, it is an example that is all too rare nowadays.
The Future is Always Living in the Past
Posted: April 14, 2011 by Twitchdoctor in Games and Life, New MediaTags: augmented reality, Christopher Dede, Futurology, games, Geoffrey Nunberg, HP, Information Age, mediascapes, Microsoft, Mscape, Technology, The Future
Last time I flew it was nothing like the Starship Enterprise cabin that Microsoft offers in its vision of the future. Instead it resembled an overcrowded and singularly malodorous Turkish bath, except that I probably would have had more leg room in a Turkish bath and wouldn’t have had to put up with some snotty ankle-biter kicking the back of my seat while their parental unit lay passed out after too many $15 rum and cokes. Microsoft and their ad agencies really need to get off their corporate jets and try flying commercial once in a while.
