Raph Koster

Cool event at Harvard tonight
June 2, 2010June 2, 2010 Game talk
5 Comments

I am flying off to Austin tonight, but I kind of wish I could attend this event in Boston! if you happen to live there, stop by and then post a comment here telling us all about it, please!

Who Plays Games and Why: Evolutionary Biology Looks at Videogames

A discussion with Harvard Human Evolutionary Biology Professor Richard Wrangham, Emmanuel College Psychology Professor Joyce Benenson, and game developers Noah Falstein and Kent Quirk.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010. 5:30 -7:30 p.m. (registration begins at 5:00 p.m.)

Location: Harvard Science Center, One Oxford Street, Cambridge

Full description after the break:

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Read More Cool event at Harvard tonight
Game Developers Choice Online Awards
May 27, 2010May 27, 2010 Game talk
9 Comments
GDC Online is getting its own awards, specific to online games! This builds on the Game Developers Choice Awards that have been given for the last ten years at the main GDC.

The award ceremony will honor the accomplishments of the sometimes overlooked creators and operators of online video games – from large-scale MMOs through free-to-play titles to social network games. Awards span excellence in live services, technology, game updates, online game design, and more.

via Game Developers Choice Online Awards official site

Game development professionals with a Gamasutra.com account can submit nominations in a bunch of categories. A big thing in the awards is that they recognize live operations as well as launches, so the categories include:
- Best Online Game Design Award
- Audience Award
- Best Online Visual Arts Award
- Best Community Relations Award
- Best Online Technical Award
- Best Social Network Game Award
- Best Audio for an Online Game Award
- Best New Online Game Award
- Best Live Game Award
There are also a couple of special awards: an Online Game Legend award recognizing an individual and their career; and a Hall of Fame Award for a game.
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Study: casual games help cognition
May 26, 2010 Game talk
4 Comments

Researchers measured and tracked the participants’ brain waves via electroencephalography (EEG) — one group played the games, and a control group didn’t. The study found that subjects who played casual games for 30 minute periods showed an 87 percent improvement in cognitive response time and a 215 percent increase in executive functioning. This makes it, according to ECU, about as effective as other medical treatments for cognition.

via Gamasutra – News – Study: Casual Gaming Helps Cognition.

This comes on the heels of a BBC study challenging brain games’ efficacy. This new study was oriented around Popcap games like Bejeweled rather than custom-made brain games, though.

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GDC Online reg open!
May 26, 2010 Game talk

Time to go register! This is the same conference as GDC Austin, just renamed to “Online” and now covering all sorts of online games including social games and MMOs.

Ticket prices are at a 40% early registration discount until September 1st, with a 55% alumni discount for those who attended last year. Five different pass options and prices are available on the GDC site.

via Austin’s GDC opens 2010 registration under new name – Massively.

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The Sunday Song: Tarboy
May 23, 2010 Music
2 Comments

This is another piano improvisation from a few weeks ago.

– Tarboy download

It has nothing to do with the animated film, which I have never seen nor heard of until just now. The title actually came from an evocative word in the fantasy novel The Red Wolf Conspiracy (which I quite enjoyed, by the way).

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Cool event at Harvard tonight

Game Developers Choice Online Awards

Study: casual games help cognition

GDC Online reg open!

The Sunday Song: Tarboy

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