I really enjoyed this week’s readings. The Aarseth, Bogost, and Dyer-Witheford pieces all provide nice insights into the ways in which academics approach the study of video games. One aspect that particularly struck me was Bogost’s section on texture in video games. Bogost focuses on the visuals and sounds contained within the game environment as well as rumble technology that has become a part of console gaming in recent years. Bogost introduces his discussion by mentioning something that has come up in class a few times this semester, the feel of the stones and the sound of their placement on the board in Go.

I wonder, though, if Bogost overlooks other aspects of texture in video games. He mentions that video game players to not feel the texture of the game environment, “but only the cold plastic of the controller” (p.79). I think, though, that the controls used in gameplay could constitute a form of texture, much like the stones in a game of Go. The mouse and keyboard control schemes of PC games create a drastically different experience than console game controllers. Console controllers themselves have significant variance, too. For instance, consider the traditional two-handed controllers used with consoles like the Playstation and the Xbox compared to the one-handed Wii remote. These differences contribute to different styles of gameplay. Granted, these differences are also built into the design of the games themselves, they don’t solely stem from controller schemes, but nevertheless I think it might be something worth considering.

We can also see aspects of controller texture at play in Microsoft’s attempts to sell the Kinect with their Xbox console. Microsoft advertised the Kinect, a body sensor that allows for controller-free gameplay, as a significant new development in the evolution of gaming. Gamers, however, roundly rejected the Kinect for the most part. I think this speaks to the fact that the texture of controllers is an important aspect of gaming for many players, just like the satisfying feel of the stones and sound of their placement on the board for Go players.