Ludicidal Tendencies

The National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture is hosting an event next friday at the Cinema School at which I will be speaking, along with several other participants from the film, radio, television, video game and Internet fields.

The discussion will include topics such as:
How will we sustain independent media?
What new funding sources are available?
Who are the next generation of new media professionals?
How do we define success within our organizations?
The role of video games in the new ecology
Tapping into young media makers and more

Hosted by The National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture for the release of: Deep Focus: A Report on the Future of Independent Media.

Speakers
Andrew Blau, Practitioner, Global Business Networks
Peter Broderick, President, Paradigm Consulting
Helen DeMichiel, Co-Director, National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture
Tracy Fullerton, Co-Director, Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab
Leslie Ito, Executive Director, Visual Communications
And more

Friday, October 7, 2005
12:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
University of Southern California
School of Cinema-Television
850 West 34th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211

Free for NAMAC Members, $15 for General Public and Students (lunch included) – participants can pay at the door
Space is limited – confirm your spot by calling 212-245-0510 or e-mailing rsvp_la@promediacomm.com no later than October 4th.

Posted by at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seamus Blackley of CAA brought Anthony Zuiker and his design team over to the game lab last night to playtest a board game the CSI-creator has developed. We were able to get the usability lab up and running, so that made it all the more interesting.

I think we were all happy to see how effective the lab really is -- but damn do we need a fan in there! What ever happened to that construction note? See all those people + machines in the pix? That = too much heat in little room!

Zuiker said he really appreciated the feedback the IMD students gave on the game and I think the IMD students really enjoyed giving notes on a game instead of getting them! Hopefully we can do more tests like this in the future -- Seamus, hook us up!!!

Posted by at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi, I'm posting this for Joe, Melanie and Jeremy because Joe doesn't have an account yet ...

GPS enabled game types brainstorming:
While our brainstorming session did not run its full course, we still have a few things that seem to be in the right direction.

MMO conspiracy:
Use your GPS enabled mobile gaming device to find average people with not so average roles in the game. Your seven eleven clerk could be your next informant or mark.. or you could be his. You'll never know until you speak the pass phrase to him. This type of game would allow people to experience the intrigue of a detective or spy story by simply communicating with other people in person. Possible directions for this game include finding the 'head' of the conspiracy group, discovering a secret plot to , or simply meeting new people via a passphrase (once youve met them and spoken your phrases, you both check in and get new targets and phrases).

Continental board games:
Not only are you a piece, the board is your state(, country, or continent).
To make the next move, someone must report from specific geographic coordinates corresponding to a place on the game-board overlay of a territory (size may vary). Requires little to no interaction with strangers except perhaps online somehow to determine how and by whom the next move will be made.

MMO scavenger or person hunts:
Each person has a goal, be it gathering items scattered around a map area or finding a person using their last known GPS coordniates. Goals can very from attempting to track someone down to simple collection. There was a precedent mentioned where the goal of the game is simply to collect things from random locations.

(new addition)
Virtual graffiti:
Players of this game can take pictures of specific GPS locations and modify them with their own overlaid art (think MS paint style). The graffiti is archived at a site online where users can check for existing art at nodes all over a city. Players would have the option of graffiti-ing over an existing graffiti just like you'd expect in a real graffiti-art battle. This game requires not only a GPS enabled mobile gaming device but one with a camera as well. There would be ways to find art by user as well as by location on the website so fans of an artist can see all of his "works" throughout the city.

Posted by at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For those interested in the Powerpoints, here is the one from Wednesday's class:
Week 3

Posted by at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft Research is providing ten female college students an all-expense-paid opportunity to attend the Women's Game Conference taking place in Austin, Texas on October 26-27, 2005. Attendees will also be able to attend the Game Writers Conference and Austin Game Conference.

For questions regarding this opportunity, send e-mail to Cynthia Freese, cynthia@gameconference.com .

Microsoft Research is sponsoring 10 female students majoring in computer science - with a concentration in game development and research - to attend the Women's Game Conference. The selected Scholarship winners will be invited to convene during a luncheon to meet with an industry luminary and discuss first-hand the issues surrounding female game developers and career opportunities in this field. These students will also be able to attend the Austin Game Conference and the Game Writers Conference. The Austin Game Conference is the leading conference for developers of mobile, MMOG and next generation console games. The Game Writers Conference is dedicated to the art and craft of game writing.

Microsoft Research is committed to fostering the growth of women game developers in this emerging space and developing career paths for those with keen interests. The goal is to gain knowledge on how Microsoft Research can attract more women into the critical fields necessary to move computer science, and fields such as game development, forward.

Students interested in being considered for a complementary pass should complete the following query and e-mail responses to: Cynthia@gameconference.com by Sept. 30, 2005.

1) Full contact information:
Name, e-mail, school, major, areas of studies, address, phone number

2) Tell us about yourself (200-word maximum)

3) Brief essay about your interest in game development, research conducted in this field, or your insights on the importance of women game developers (350-word maximum)

Selected Scholarship winners will be announced at the beginning of October and will be required to submit a post-event paper discussing their experience and providing feedback on the Women's Game Conference.

For questions regarding this opportunity, send e-mail to Cynthia Freese, cynthia@gameconference.com .

For more about the Women's Game Conference please visit:
http://www.WomensGameConference.com/

Posted by at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)