Category Archives: Misc

BioShock seem to be interesting game, as it made Kohler title his review: “Creepy Moral Dilemmas Make BioShock a Sophisticated Shooter“. The review left me wonder are there moral dilemmas, in which all alternatives of a choice have ingame consequences, or are there just choices where a morally doubtful alternative are better (unless you  countContinue reading “BioShock”

I completed the game yesterday and I the game managed to keep me engaged throughout whole game (my first impressions on the game is in old post). Canis Canem Edit uses fundamentally the same game mechanics and system as GTAs. I do not find GTAs very entertaining while Canis managed to do the magic. WhileContinue reading “Canis Canem Edit, More Reflections”

I am on summer vacation and most probably not blogging much before back at work in the beginning of August.

Keith Stuart (Guardian Games Blog) discuss on Manhunt 2 ban in England in Manhunt 2 ‘ban’ – it’s good, but is it right? He raises a question whether games are judged in same standards as film. He points to BBCF report, which, quoting Stuart, “suggested that watching violence on TV could be more upsetting thanContinue reading “Manhunt 2 and BBFC: Prejudice or Not?”

There is a worrying proposal at EU parliament: Motion for a European Parliament resolution on a ban on the sale and distribution in Europe of the video game ‘Rule of Rose’ and the creation of a European Observatory on childhood and minors (B6‑0023/2007). While I share the concern for children and minors, it seems thatContinue reading ““Rule of Rose” or Should There Be a Ban for Fairy Tales?”

There is new open access journal on games: Loading… the Journal of the Canadian Games Studies Association with the first number published. The table of contents look promising, need to go the issues through more carefully later on.

Is Jade (the player character in Beyond Good and Evil)? It seems that that opinion vary (see, Chris Kohler’s “Jade Is Black?!”: Racial Ambiguity in Games). Kohler writes: It’s quite likely that the game’s designers wanted Jade to be racially ambiguous, so that she would have just this effect. By which I do not meanContinue reading “Race and Player Character”

I finished Deus Ex: Invisible War yesterday evening. The game is interesting and it seems contain branching goal structure with various endings. The game balances between offering choices to a player, that will influence how the game progress, and coherent information structure. (I need to play the game again to the how that works.) InContinue reading “Deus Ex: Invisible War”

Wish I could be in Denmark for this lecture: Can you make them cry without tearing your hair out? Emotional Characters, Thursday June 7th. I hope that someone will blog the lecture…

Totally off-topic rant… I have been trying to get flight tickets to DiGRA conference at Tokyo but using travel agency Area, that Finnish universities are required to use, seem to render this very simple task impossible. I asked ticked (at May 23) to Tokyo so that I would arrive to Tokyo before September 24, 2007Continue reading “How Hard Can It Be?”