Hey readers! It's been a while since I last posted -I'm working around the clock on my PhD dissertation. I wanted to let you know that my new column at Serious Games Source is out. It deals with three different kinds of traditional Christmas games played in different part of the world. The article reviews popular activities such as bribing mythical figures (Denmark), burning down images of Judas (Uruguay) and, er, a wooden log that defecates candy (Spain, more specifically Catalonia). I seriously hope these stories provide you with some playful anecdotes to spice up the holidays (in return, all ...

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I was talking to Nick the other day about a decade-old attempt to use neurofeedback in games. MindDrive was supposed to "harness the brain's impulses" to control simple movements in games. The device was developed by Ron Gordon, former Atari chief executive. He was actually attempting to create a kind of biofeedback remote control for just about anything. He never managed to get further than detecting lateral movement, which is maybe good enough for opening the fridge (maybe) but certainly not good enough to detect complex physical and emotional states. Anyway, that was back in the mid 1990s. It seems ...

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Following up on some my previous comments about film license games, various Hollywood rags have printed Francis Ford Coppola's comments about the forthcoming EA-produced videogame based on The Godfather. Coppola says that he had no prior knowledge of the game, and added this comment based on his preview of the game: They use the characters everyone knows ... and then for the next hour they shoot and kill each other. I had absolutely nothing to do with the game and I disapprove. I haven't seen the game so I can't really comment, but the controversy suggests a question: what role ...

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With the Oscars poised to air tonight, it seems an appropriate time to meditate on the fate of film license games. I've written before on Hollywood's propensity to use games as a film marketing tool, as have I mused on the dangers of games mixing themselves up with film licenses. A new set of film licenses for games suggests that this stagnation might be ending... or worsening. For example, EA bought the Godfather license, promising to bring Brando's voice to the small screen. Majesco bought the Jaws license. Warner Bros. announced its plans to adapt the Dirty Harry franchise, with ...

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CNN has a story about the new sexy games anounced at E3. I was really disapointed at seeing that Leisure Suit Larry looks awful (it was a great game back in the days. Scratch and Sniff, you can't beat that. Al Lowe, we love you. Btw, check out this interview at e-boredom). Non-American players will find the fact that Singles got an AO rating quite dumb, but, hey, keep in mind that here in Denmark they show porn movies on open TV at after midnight on saturdays... ...

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Universal has published a new advergame, Go, Fish, Go! promoting the Pay Per View/On Demand release of The Cat in the Hat. It's a Frogger or Chicken-inspired cross-the-road game; you play as the fish in a bowl. The game adds some interesting variations on Frogger, including a low-friction bowl that loses water if you steer too quickly. The game has high visual production value, but it has major design flaws. For one part, it's quite hard; it took me several plays to actually get the bowl across the road. There is also poor balancing of vehicles, speed, obstacles, and water ...

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Thanks to Andrew over at GTxA for reminding me to post about the "Love Story Challenge" at this year's GDC. Raph Koster, Will Wright, and Warren Spector were challenged to outline a rough design for a love story game. Slashdot has a description and their usual wry discussion about it. ...

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There's a good article on the future of emotion in games at MSNBC, featuring Ion Storm's Warren Spector and our friends Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern from Grand Text Auto. The article both mentions and shows a screenshot of Facade, the interactive drama Mateas and Stern have been working on for the past four years or so. Facade is also an Independent Games Festival finalist this year. From the article, "Facade" could represent a new step in gaming. Its artificial intelligence could be adapted by other genres, bringing a new realism to games.  nd as the technology improves, what's to stop what ...

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Andrew stern reopens the continued discussion on the absence of human emotion in games. There's a lot to be said on this topic, but I'm only going to make a few comments right now. First, I think it's a dream to think that there will be some renaissance, some incredible simultaneous tear through which truly emotionally impactful games will flow forth like rain over scorched earth. Rather, this will be a slow, deliberate process of incremental change. Andrew hints that a still forthcoming independent game movement might take big risks to tackle the challenge, but I think the risks will ...

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