Friday, March 16, 2012

3–6 p.m. – Evolution of Video Games – Panel Discussions
7 p.m. – Nolan Bushnell: Video Games in Retrospect (advance registration required)
8:30 p.m. – Film: TRON

Saturday, March 17, 2012

11:30 a.m.–7 p.m. – GameFest! Day 2: Open play, craft activities, live action gaming with Spontaneous Art and dj MKO, and musical performances by 8 Bit Weapon and Triforce Quartet. See the PDF for the full schedule.
5 p.m. – It’s All in the Design with Robin Hunicke
7 p.m. – Film: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Sunday, March 18, 2012

11:30 a.m.–7 p.m. – GameFest! Day 3: Open play, craft activities, live action gaming with Spontaneous Art and dj MKO, and musical performances by ComputeHer, 8 Bit Weapon, and Triforce Quartet.

See the PDF for the full schedule.

The Art of Video Games

To say that I am excited about the opening is an understatement. There has been close to 3 years of work to get us to this point. While it has been a tremendous amount of work, it has been extremely rewarding as well.

During the run up to the opening I will be posting here on a regular basis. During the opening event, GameFest, I will be posting pictures, links, and updates as well.

If there are any questions, please leave them in the comments section below!

The Art of Video Games website is now open and ready for you to cast your vote on which 80 games out of the 240 listed will make it into the exhibition!

Head on over to http://www.artofvideogames.org and place your votes!

Sort of.

One of the things I was adamant about when developing the concept for this exhibition was that this be an echo of the collective voice of the games industry.  This is not limited to the developers, designers and artists that create these engrossing, exciting and thoughtful works.  This includes you, the game players.  It is important to me that, when you visit the exhibition in 2012, there is a reflection of the games and experiences that matter to you.  So, we are doing something that is not common in the museum world: we are going to let you vote on the games that make it into the exhibition you will come and visit.

There will be more details forthcoming as we race to the deadline we have set for launching the voting website in January, 2011, so hang tight.  However, I can share this bit of information with you.  This will not be a free form, write-in vote system.  240 games have been selected that would follow the narrative we have developed in demonstrating the evolution of genres.  What this means is that you will select the games from the list we have assembled for the exhibition.

What this also means is that there will be games missing.  Games you love.  Games that will have you question as to what the hell we were thinking when we didn’t include them.  The reality is that there is only so much space we can devote to the exhibition and we would need three museums just house every important work.  And we would still be missing someone’s favorite pick.  To be clear, one of my favorite systems of all time was cut due to space limitations.  I am not immune to feeling disappointed just because it was my decision to cut it.

Know that this exhibition is not supposed to be an exhaustive compendium of all great games over the past 40 years but, rather, a mindful examination of the evolution of the form over 40 years, examined as art.  It is my hope that this is the first of many exhibitions to come.

More information coming soon!

Work has been progressing steadily on the exhibition and we are looking forward to launching the public voting site in January, 2011.  A lot of work is going into making this exhibition a success and your voting participation will help ensure that the exhibition you come to visit reflects your choice of games.

There will be more details to come, in short order.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention the contribution of the fantastic advisory group we have assembled. These professionals have provided fantastic insight, generous access to their time and attention and, through their contributions as well, this should be a well balanced exhibition tht carries the collective voice of the industry. Lots of cool things happening.

So, while I still can’t go into details yet, here is a bit of what is currently on the table:

- 300 games have been compiled into a list that you the public will be voting on! It is important to see your choices reflected in an exhibition that is representative of the entire game playing community. More info on the way.

- We have some plans under discussion that should make the opening of the exhibition exciting for all who attend.

- I have already seen preliminary plans for the look and feel of the exhibition. All I can say is “WOW!”

- Work on the book to accompany the launch of the exhibition has begun and I have a fantastic graphic artist working on this with me.

That’s all I can say for now. As more plans firm up, we will be updating this site with announcements, so bookmark us!

Oh, and I have to say again, blowing up Atari VCS screens to huge sizes and DPI is absolutely beautiful. I may have to get a set of prints for my office!

The top ten retro gaming secrets | Analysis | Features | PC Pro.

In theory the idea is simple: inject a system that ensures that only the person who has a license to use the software can use it. The implementations, from root kits to codes that don’t always work, have been less than optimal. Dealing with different configurations, distribution systems, customer service calls, etc. all effect the impression of your title and eat away precious profit margins.

However, one award winning independent game developer, PuppyGames, has come up with a DRM solution that is among the best and most clever I have seen. Not from a technological standpoint, but from their approach of trusting their customers.

I am reposting the first portion of the DRM discussion from PuppyGames site:

Nasty Big Corporation Ltd’s idea of DRM is that you are all thieving piratey scum who shouldn’t be trusted alone in a shop without being closely monitored by a big hairy security guard. Nasty Big Corporation Ltd likes to install rootkits on your PC. They like to insist on always-online validation to a server that sometimes goes titsup and stops you from playing. They’re pretty insistent that if you install the game on a couple of PCs that you’re probably just a filthy pirate, and that if you want to install it on your kid’s computer upstairs as well that you owe them another $59. Certain ones also reckon if you’re dissatisfied with a game in any way and want your money back you damned well can’t have it, and if you then go to the trouble of extracting the money back out of your credit card company, they erase all your games without any comeback, because unfortunately the small print dialog box you clicked through to get to your game said you agreed to this.

Puppygames does it completely the opposite way around!

Firstly and foremostly: if you don’t like our games, or they don’t work, we always refund you. Although we say no questions asked, we do like to ask anyway But we’ll never say no. Though we’d like to point out a couple of things: if the demo works, so does the full game, so you’d be kinda daft to buy the game without trying the demo first; and if you honestly didn’t think the full game was worth the cash, don’t be expecting to play it after asking for a refund, because it will mysteriously turn back into a demo again. What! You have a back door! I hear you cry. No, it’s a front door, and here’s me telling you about it. If your game is refunded because it doesn’t work or you don’t like it, it’ll connect to Puppygames, and find out, and turn back into a demo. Which of course should be just fine with you. Can you ever imagine a position where we’ll abuse this ability? No, because we’d look like total dicks.

To date, only 18 customers have ever asked for a refund in 7 years. Because we use BMTMicro as our payment provider we’ve never had a single chargeback issued to us either, because we always refund.

Click here to read the rest of the story!

Good job Cas!