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buzzcut.com -- Video Game Theory and Criticism
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Sent to you by: David Thomas, david@buzzcut.com
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WHAT'S NEW
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Text Message
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After fiddling with using pages from my portal as the source of a really nifty HTML email, I have abandon that approach and decided to go with an all text newsletter. Why? The HTML send was busy, some people prefer not to get HTML mail and, frankly, the results were not worth the time to prepare two versions of the email. However, I will post the text of the newsletter on the site, so they will still be available if for any reason you are looking for something in a past mail.
The 10 Most Dubious Claims About Video Games
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There is a very good piece on the IGDA site providing some "talking points" on the issue of games and violence. This got met to thinking about all the misunderstandings and dubious claims made by the other side, out side, the video game industry, fans, crtiics and academics.
Frankly, I thought this article would generate a little more attention than it did. Maybe my efforts to be provocative only turned out to be good at pointing out the obvious!
Buzzcut link: http://www.buzzcut.com/article.php?story=20030915024918707
IGDA link: http://www.igda.org/violence/points.php
On the Border
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I got an email the other from someone local who is actually doing some very cool video game research. Rafael Fajardo is on the faculty at the University of Denver. He has recently released two games that deal with the subject of illegal immigration, but from a very wry take-he and his team built two games based on "Frogger" and "Space Invaders" that pit Mexicans crossing the border against American border police. This week I get a chance to meet with Rafael, so I hope to post a more informed update. But for now, check out the buzzcut article and the link to Rafael's paper on the games.
Buzzcut link: http://www.buzzcut.com/article.php?story=20030918152841486
Link ot Rafael's paper: http://www.intelligentagent.com/archive/Vol3_No2_gaming_fajardo.html
This Couldn't Be Good
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In August, the game sales charts show a disturbing fact-not a single game in the top 20 best-selling console games is truly original work. They are all sequels, derivatives and spin-offs. As the title says, this couldn't be good.
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OTHER THINGS
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Virtual Guest Speakers
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As a resource for my class on critical video game theory at the University of Colorado, Denver, I have added a new discussion group to buzzcut and have begun to invite people to participate in asynchronous "guest speaker" opportunities. Because the class is 100% online, the benefits of using a discussion forum for the class are pretty obvious. I ended up hosting the discussions on buzzcut because the eCollege software I use to run the class does not have an easy way to host an external guest. And I actually hope that over time I'll have a pretty decent bank of these "guest lectures".
To kick it off, Todd M Fay has graciously agreed to come on the boards and talk about game audio. He is the director of development at the Game Audio Network Guild (GANG) and the author of "DirectX 9 Audio Exposed: Interactive Audio" published by Wordware.
Buzzcut link: http://www.buzzcut.com/forum/index.php
GANG link: http://www.audiogang.org/
Wordware link: http://www.wordware.com/computer/
Comments, Questions and Feedback
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As always, I'm interested in what you think. Want to post an original article to buzzcut. Great! Just feel like chiming in on the discussions. Bring it on! Rahter send me an anonymous note in email. Excellent! Just want to get off this mail list. Just follow the directions below.
Thanks!
David
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