Pokemon is inescapable. Pikachu has become one of the most recognizable characters the world over, and is even speculated to be able to surpass the current king, Mickey Mouse.1 The franchise, initially starting out as an understated title on the original Game Boy, has grown to include seventeen feature films with one soon to release,…
BoRT March: My Last Gaming Binge
by Patrick Anderson •
Designing Competition
by Patrick Anderson •
Taylor’s book provided a useful and in-depth look at the emergence and evolution of e-sports. Her discussion of the culture likely helped a lot of people (or at least some people) begin to recognize the potential, or at least the significance, of e-sports. It was interesting reading about the divide between higher and lower skilled…
BoRT February: Single Player Co-op
by Patrick Anderson •
BoRT April: I’m white Sheik, white Sheik is me
by Patrick Anderson •
Most of the time when people talk about palette swaps people are talking about ways the age old practice of recycling modes or sprites in order to cheaply and efficiently create more content. However, the thing that most interests me about this prompt is the relationship palettes swaps have with players and their characters. Specifically,…
Unlimited Potential
by Patrick Anderson •
Bogost’s article on what games are capable of is a very necessary read for a large swathe of people who want the medium to grow and for those who simply don’t understand the value, or at least use, of the medium. It also provides some actually useful delineations between different aspects of games’ varied aesthetics,…
A Blast From the Past (and Paper Sources)
by Patrick Anderson •
As a WoW veteran, this was an enlightening and simultaneously all too familiar book. While I actually can’t say I’ve ever participated in Raid culture myself (I only think I ever actually reached level cap once, despite several peer-pressured attempts made through Azeroth), much of the interactions Nardi discusses I have witnessed first hand. Sadly,…
A Pokemon is You!
by Patrick Anderson •
Allison’s book provided a lot of nice detail, theory, and research regarding a topic I’ve been both actively and passively exposed to over the years. Naturally, being a Japan studies guy, I have a lot of experience with many of the ideas of Japan’s post-war economic and cultural transformation(s). On top of that I have…
Fail States vs Failure
by Patrick Anderson •
Jesper Juul’s discussion was really interesting, and provided a lot of insight into the background of the philosophical dissection of failure. However, I have one central issue with his arguments and ideas. Basically he never discusses the conflict of seeking a ‘negative’ ending when given the choice between multiple outcomes. In recent years many games…
Speculation on China’s Uncertain Future (and topic)
by Patrick Anderson •
I don’t think a very hard idea to grasp from Brownell’s book is that sports are important in China. Both individuals and the state use sports to further specific motivations, like upward social movement for the former and international competition for the latter. The level of dedication to ideals of the body and sport present…