At some point in his reflections on the coming information society (better, société de contrôle), Deleuze pointed to the American highway system as a metaphor for the affordances, and phantasmatic freedoms, of technology. At first, he says, the highway system seems to grant you unlimited freedom. But upon further reflection, you realize that the system [...] Read more – ‘Kinect-ing to Deleuze’.
Reading Owen Good’s (excellent!) short article on the difficulties presented in bringing pro wrestling to the game console (The Spectacle Of Pro Wrestling, Played With A Straight Face), I came across this little gem: “Calling pro wrestling ‘fake’ is neither accurate nor informed. The term is ‘kayfabe.’ Kayfabe isn’t a euphemism for false. Kayfabe is [...] Read more – ‘The Spectacle Of Pro Wrestling, Played With A Straight Face’.
Unable to sleep, Gail Nichols spent a lot of time in front of PopCap’s Bejeweled, a game notable for its non-competitive, flow–inducing modes. According to the Washington Post, Nichols liked the game so much that she got in touch with the manufacturer, PopCap Games. The inventors of the game were surprised to hear about its [...] Read more – ‘PopCap funds study on games, mental health’.
In The Handbook of Inaesthetics, Alain Badiou assembles ten “Theses on Theater,” which, at first glance anyway, offer game studies some compelling parallels. Indeed, he begins generously, furnishing us with the very link that we require. The purpose of the theses? “To establish—as we must for every art—that theater thinks” (72; emphasis mine). In a [...] Read more – ‘Badiou and Theatre’.
