RECENT COMMENTS

ADVERTISERS

Advertise via Culture Pundits





Water Cooler Games

a forum for the uses of videogames in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment



ABOUT
About This Site - RSS Feed

Ian Bogost (editor)
Gonzalo Frasca (editor emeritus)


SPONSORS
Visit Persuasive Games
Visit Powerful Robot


COMMUNITY

Free Political Game for Politicians
January 5, 2009 - by Ian Bogost

Positech, the single-man UK developer of simulation games like Kudos and Democracy 2, has announced that it will give away copies of the latter game to any politician worldwide.

In his Free Copies for Politicians announcement, Positech proprietor Cliff Harris describes the need thusly:

The problem with running a country is that everyone who does it is entirely unqualified for the job. Every new president or prime-minister is having his or her first go at it. There are no 'practice' countries for people to have a go with before they try doing it for real. Thoery is great, but experience is better...

The press release I received was even bolder: "Video game developers save global economy, Usher in age of politician gamers." Publicity stunt? Sure, Harris has a history of 'em. But a clever stunt, one that frames games as positive cultural tools in what is arguably a more sophisticated way than the industry usually musters.


Make a Serious Game, Win Cash
December 30, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Whosegame, another make-your-own-game website tool things, is sponsoring a contest to create a serious game using their tools. The game must deal with one of the following topics:

  • improve your knowledge in the telecommunications field
  • be an eco-citizen with the help of telecommunications
  • acting against isolation and exclusion thanks to telecommunications

Yeah, sort of strange topics huh. Anyway, the prizes are cash money: first prize is €5,000, second is €2,500, and third is €1,000. The deadline is March 31, 2009.


Speak & Spell, 30 Years Later
December 28, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Vintage Computing and Gaming has published an interview with Richard Wiggins, one of the developers of Texas Instruments' 1978 electronic toy Speak & Spell. This device was among the first electronic educational games, and for better or worse it may remain among the best.

As the author admits, the interview was meant to be fodder for a proper article marking the 30th anniversary of the device last summer, and as an interview it is rough reading. But read through the whole thing; there are a lot of interesting observations, including a discussion of the speech chip and its limitations.

(via Kotaku)


AIG UFO Exec Catcher
December 25, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Remember that whole financial bailout thing? And remember how AIG got in some hot water for spending almost half a million dollars on an executive retreat just after the government's $85 billion takeover of the insurance company?

Here's a little newsgame about it, called AIG UFO Exec Catcher. It's like one of those carnival crane catching machines, except your goal is to remove or otherwise disable misbehaving AIG execs.

There's certainly some editorial at work here, but the game serves another function too: a type of simulated retaliation. That's certainly something that might warm the heart of the everyman who didn't get a bailout this holiday.

Which reminds me, Merry Christmas from Water Cooler games!

(thanks to Paolo)


An MMORPG for Learning Chinese Characters
December 22, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

hanjamaru.jpgFrom South Korean company Eduflo comes Hanjamaru, an MMORPG designed to teach elementary school children Chinese characters. Characters are depicted on the monsters in the game, and the pronunciation and meaning is said aloud to the player as he attacks. There are rewards for collecting different characters, which are chosen to match a popular standardized test for school children in Korea.

The website is in Korean, but the company also maintains a blog in English.


Bush Shoe Tabloid Games
December 17, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

In case you didn't see them elsewhere, a few of the tabloid games based on last week's shoe attack on President bush:

Flying Babush
Bush's Boot Camp
Can you throw a shoe at Bush?

Any more that I'm missing?

Update: Ok, here's some more:

Bush's Shoe Dodge (in this one you dodge the shoe!)
Sock and Awe
Ninja Bush: Master of Ninjit-shoe


Free Market Capitalism: The Game
December 15, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has announced a new Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government Fund, which has created quite a stir at the institution. Its supporters see it as a place to study "Western civilization and free market economics," while some faculty have accused the project of imposing ideology on courses and research.

No matter, the case, here's something interesting: in Inside Higher Ed's September report on the center mentions the possibility that it will pursue educational videogames as a part of its charge:

Another goal for the program is to develop video games for children — but not standard games. "We're going to try to develop game technology to teach Western civilization and teach free market capitalism, and especially financial literacy and entrepreneurial capitalism,” he said. “There is potential to develop all kinds of games that would have a profound influence on everyone who plays them. They could change young kids," [center founder James E.] Vermette said.

In my book Persuasive Games, I noted that videogames had not yet been made partisan, in the way that talk radio or documentary film has, for example. I think that's still true... save for the US Army, most government and institutional videogames are really quite liberal in their approach. Perhaps the balance is poised to shift. Then again, perhaps it's just talk.

(thanks to Alessandro Braidotti)


Nintendo DS Spa
December 7, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Here's a different take on games for health: the Nintendo DS Spa, which I spotted recently at Lenox Mall in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood. The service offers complimentary massages, during which time massagees are invited to play DS games.

dsspa.jpg

If in-mall massage-demos weren't enough evidence of Nintendo's commitment to advertising their wares to women, an accompanying brochure available at the pavilion offers the following invitation:

Nintendo DS is all about moments. Those moments between class or before work. Those moments just before you head out on the town with your girlfriends. ... And if you've always thought video games weren't made for you, you're in for a pleasant surprise. Just like Carrie Underwood, America Ferrera, and Liv Tyler were.

The three celebrities named appear inside the brochure, playing DS games. Nintendogs, New Super Mario Bros., and Brain Age 2 are shown in particular.


jOGging In Place
December 4, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Kotaku disdainfully points out New Concept Gaming's jOG controller, a motion-sensing belt-clip that promises to translate physical movement (e.g. jogging) into character motion on-screen in any game. A video appears after the jump.

... Continue reading "jOGging In Place"


Today and Tomorrow: Living Game Worlds IV at Georgia Tech
December 1, 2008 - by Ian Bogost

Georgia Tech is hosting the fourth iteration of our Living Game Worlds conference today and tomorrow, December 1-2. This year's theme is "Interplay: Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds"; speakers include Raph Koster, Chris Klaus, Richard Bartle, Randy Farmer and more. The program is online, and you can watch via live video stream or join in on Second Life.



SELF PROMOTION

MORE RECENT ARTICLES
Thanksgiving Special! PETA's Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals - November 27, 2008

As those of us in the States gluttonize on Thanksgiving turkey, those of you who haven't seen it might want to try out PETA's "unauthorized" ...

Make a Flood Management Game - November 25, 2008

One of the interesting things about serious games development is the opportunities to create titles about unusual subjects, topics that might not otherwise find their ...

My New Column: Disjunctive Play - November 21, 2008

Gamasutra has published my latest "Persuasive Games" column, Disjunctive Play. The column mostly discusses Jason Rohrer's new game Between, but also tries to extrapolate a ...

Missile in the HASTAC

Pekid Oil

Announcing the Journalism & Games Research Project

Politics and Games at Harvard

Click Archaeology

One More Election Game

My New Column: The Birth and Death of the Election Game

Truth Invaders

Mad Men Jeopardy

A Home for Tabloid Games

FAVORITES

ALSO VISIT
  Copyright © Ian Bogost & Gonzalo Frasca, unless otherwise noted. Re-printing for commercial purposes by permission only (contact us: ). Re-printing for educational purposes is allowed with proper attribution.