Leapfroglog

I’m not a huge fan of Tale of Tales’ work (I think the focus on artistic graphics, story and immersion are red herrings), but I commend them for providing a podium to Frank Lantz, whose ideas on the nature of games are in some ways completely opposite to theirs: “Immersive environments and real-time 3D are spectacular and revolutionary new ingredients, but I don’t see them taking over and replacing everything else. Because the everything else is also pretty spectacular: the beauty of non-linear dynamic systems, stylized social interaction, the alchemical transformation of violent impulse into articulate complexity, collaborative exploration of possibility spaces, madness and randomness dancing with logic and structure, these are the things that I love most about video games and they’re also at the heart of games in general.”

The poster James and the guys at BUROPONY have created as part of the Dutch open government data initiative is now available for download. Content and presentation are both spot on.

Kevin’s AR ghost hunting game has hit the App Store. Go check it out.

Very interesting piece of kit.

A Dutch company that develops tangible interactive toys for educational purposes. Their first product is TagTiles, a tablet that responds to play pieces.

I am taking a day off and watching all of these. Looks to be bloody brilliant stuf. I am jealous of the Umeans.

An excellent writeup by Iskander of the fourth edition of This Happened – Utrecht. Interesting how he keeps finding themes while we plan none.

Bleecker and Nova argue for an alternative to the synchronous, real-time city. I can definitely get behind the idea that there is more to city experience than the hygienic, computational model that is currently being imposed by technologists. Also, the examples they show from their own practice are inspiring works that demonstrate the value of thinking through making.

An interesting take by urbanists on urban games: “The big issue of urban games is the sudden appearance of unexpected actions within an urban context. The public space is reset and reinterpreted as a playground for adults. The disturbing role that those games have on ‘normal’ space use, seems to be the main purpose. In the context of the flexible city the games show the need of another perception of space. Organisers must be sick of formal city forms and legislative terms of use. The city has to become fun again, not as a playing field for civil servants making plans, but for people using it.” The whole blog seems worth following actually, if you’re interested in new forms of city planning.

A Dutch article on the state of the serious games industry. A pretty decent overview, with just a few minor inaccuracies: Surgeons who practice using Trauma Center on the Wii? Not likely. Also, it’s a shame the researcher of TU Delft who is quoted says games need to have appealing visual design, but neglects to mention the importance of proper game play design…

Paper is a wonderful ‘platform’ for social games at conferences. Here’s another example of a game idea involving sneakiness.

What a wonderful resource for physical games designers: quote after quote from diverse sources that illustrate uses of touch across cultures and times. Via Mr. Webb.

“Social means showing off and sharing, and politeness and play, yes. But social also means healthier, wealthier and happier, and that’s a big, big deal. I believe that’s why social matters.”

The guys at BUROPONY have started blogging. This first post outlining some of the thinking behind their own identity is a nice example of their approach to things: based on crafting physical materials and playfulness.

Chris quotes Bridget Riley on sketching who in turn quotes Stravinsky on constraints.

Starting small, making sure participating is worthwhile to the first few, all things that seem so logical but are so easy to forget once you’re deep into something.