Jane McGonigal on The Colbert Report

Jane McGonigal on the Colbert Report

McGonigal is plugging her new book, Reality is Broken. I just added that book to my wish list too.

More McGonigal!

UPDATE: Gamasutra has a short excerpt from McGonigal's new book.

Auctions and More

A collection of links I've read recently, most having something to do with game design.

From Play This Thing!

Auctions as a Game Balancing Tool:
Auctions are a widely used in the board games as an in-game mechanic or as a meta game. Read this if you want to cross train or at least avoid being a vidiot

Battletech players should be well aware of auctions in the Battletech universe - the Clans call it the Batchall. As the article describes, actions and board gaming have a long history together.


From Pulsipher Boardgame Design

Game design is no place for “perfectionism”

No game can be perfect–it depends so much on the audience, the individual player, the mood, the group (if played by a group), even the timing of creation and publication.

From Jon Radoff's Internet Wonderland, where you can view this at full size.

History of Social Games

[Tip-O-Hat 2 The Ludologist]


From Once Upon A Geek:

From TED: Will Wright makes toys that make worlds
SPORE has dropped off my horizon, but his comments about games and toys are interesting.

UPDATE: Because this is too cool not to share:

From Ethical Technology

Epic Win - Jane McGonigal on TED

If you are a gamer and don't already know who Jane McGonigal is, then you should watch this.

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world |
| Video on TED.com



Changing the world thru gaming is an ambitious goal, but it just might work. Could be try fun to try too.

Powered Exosketetons, Wearable Robots

Found on Barking up the Wrong Tree.

My life is complete: Mario performs 'Don't Stop Me Now'

Strange and annoying, but somehow compelling. Click thru for the video.

My life is complete: Mario performs 'Don't Stop Me Now':

Is there a term to describe those Super Mario World levels that play themselves and sometimes make music as a result? I'm sure there is, but I don't know it. 'Automatic Mario' doesn't count, because that sounds silly. At any rate, you surely know what I'm referring to.

The good folks at GoNintendo have stumbled upon what has to be the greatest of them all -- it's Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' as played by four different Mario levels running simultaneously. The more I type, the longer it will take for you to watch it, so I'm going to cease talking.

Gotta love Freddie and the boys tho.

Engine 371

No robots today - This is a short film - Engine 371 by Kevin Langdale about (stay with me here) the Canadian Transcontinental Railroad. It's also a model railroader's dream come to life, and illustratse how model railroad enthusiasts see their creations.

Battletech players Gamers are the same way about their miniatures and the game worlds they come from. The imagination lets it come alive and surpass the borders of the table top.

More images of the 2007 Camospecs diorama on my p-bucket albums. Blame Steven Satak for the incredible Union dropship model.

Games and Reality are Probably Different, Part 4

In the previous posts in this series (1 2 3) I have been describing the probability distributions generated by dice and trying to describe why that doesn't quite match what we experience in reality. Not all games have dice though; some games use physics to simulate the real world, and the only random element might be the actions of the player themselves. Do these games suffer the same problem? - I think they do - but first, I need to tell you about my favorite TV show.

My favorite TV show - Top Gear on BBC television - is a mix of fast cars, testosterone, and the best of British absurdest humor humour. The show is co-hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, BBC television host and professional overgrown child. I can call him that because I am horribly jealous of his job, which seems to consist entirely of driving fast cars and making snarky comments. Here is his mini biography:

Jeremy has often been described as 'the most influential man in motoring journalism', mainly by himself. Estimates suggest that he is slightly over nine feet tall, owns 14,000 pairs of jeans and has destroyed almost 4.2 million tyres in his lifetime. He is best known for possessing a right foot apparently consisting of some sort of lead-based substance, for creating some of the most tortured similes ever committed to television, and for leaving the world's longest pauses between two parts... of the same sentence. He has never taken public transport.

In a recent (recent to me) segment of the show Jeremy takes on "The Corkscrew" at Laguna Seca, perhaps the most difficult corner of any race track in the world. First Jeremy first practices with Gran Turismo 4 to get a good track time, and then tries the same track in real life. (What is there about his job not to be jealous of?) See how well he does:




[The video is broken, but try one of these links:
http://videosift.com/video/Top-Gear-Real-life-racing-vs-Gran-Turismo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_Raceway_Laguna_Seca#Automotive
http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-nsx-laguna-seca_208766.htm
http://www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoaft0ZG.html]

The Gran Turismo games are great simulations, but they miss some of the little things that make race driving harder. While there is no random dice rolling to this game or to driving a car (1), the limitations of human reactions add an element of uncertainty and randomness. Most of the time that random aspect is too small to notice, but when it comes to doing something really hard those little things start to matter. The Game is no longer a good representation of the Reality. One of the things Jeremy points out is that a game can't make you afraid of spinning off the track, and so fear adds another layer of difficulty in the real car.

That's OK, it's supposed to be a game. If every player had to learn all the skills of a real race driver it wouldn't be much fun. As pointed out in the comments to Part 1 of this series, games don't need to have a perfect representation to give players a challenging task and tough decisions to make.


Footnotes:

1. If you want to get picky, then for practical purposes it's not possible to measure or simulate every last detail, and this error could well be described as "random".
   

Related Post: Physics of Racing, and Gran Turismo 2.

Rumours Abound: A new MechWarrior game in the works?

This 9 second video has been making a big splash on the gaming sites:



Lots of people have beaten me to this one, click for the most recent links on this story from Google.

[Kudos to Scrapyard Armory]

[UPDATE 7/8]

IGN seems to have the scoop this morning, and two more 9 second videos.

[UPDATE 7/10]

Rumors confirmed: MechWarrior 5 in in the works. Additionally, MechWarrior 4 is being release for free just to get us all riled up for it. I'm riled!

Pint-Size Battling Robots at Engadget

Pint-Size Battling Robots at Engadget



Click-thru for several more videos.

Understanding Comics

This book is one of the optional texts for Ian Schreiber's Game Design Concepts class I signed up for this summer.

Ian Writes: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, by McCloud. While this book claims to be about comics, many of the lessons within can be applied to game design and other forms of art. It also happens to be a comic book itself, and fun to read.
[image scottmccloud.com]

Ian is correct, it's a great little book and I can easily see how most of it can be applied to games as well as comics. I did a little web searching on Scott McCloud and quickly came up with even more good stuff: Scott McCloud's Web Site including a blog and much more, Scott McCloud's TED lecture, and of course you can pick up your own copy Understanding Comics for $16.55 + shipping at Amazon.

Here is the Scott McCloud video from TED:

PacMac LARP

[Via Jesper Juul at The Ludologist]

PAC MAN (REMI GAILLARD)
by nqtv

~

Visit Scenic Hakodate

Visit scenic Hakodate, Japan, a city well known for its frequent alien attacks, and witness the rampaging mechanical squid battling the gigantic guardian robot! ... OK, so this is kinda weird, and perhaps a few details are in order:

The invaders here are alien cephalopods from the planet Ikaaru, who seek revenge on the people of Hakodate for eating too much squid. The aliens hijack an enlarged version of Hakodate’s tourism mascot — a mechanical squid named “Ikabo,” which was built by Future University-Hakodate (FUN) in 2007 — and send it on a rampage through the city.

No, it's still weird. Watch the video, then go read the full story behind it at Pink Tentacle. It's good fun.



On second thought, maybe go read about it FIRST, then it might make a little more sense (a very little).

The Greatest Game, EVER

Question: What is the greatest game, ever?

The answer, of course, is that there is no best spaghetti sauce.

That link will take you to 17 minute TED video with Malcolm Gladwell (and his hair) explaining how market researcher Howard R. Moskowitz realized that offering more variety allowed more people to be happier with the product they chose. It wasn't that one type of spaghetti sauce was better than any other, it was that people have differing preferences.

I think the same sort of argument can be made for games. Once you get past the basic mechanics of how the game is presented, it comes down to what the player wants. Simple or complex. Platform type (computer,box,tabletop,etc.). Solo or social. Stand alone or "collectible".
I could probably list a lot of other aspects of games, but I think you get the idea.

This post is inspired by a comment someone made to my November post about Netrek being the greatest Star Trek game ever. This might tell you something about how long I tend to sit on ideas, and that I am a terrible procrastinator.

Battletech Videos

On the Critical Hits I found a Youtube video titled "Hitler's Battletech Game Goes Awry", which was fairly amusing. However, between the time I found it anf the time I could post about it the video has been pulled (possibly due to copyright issues or verbal naughyness in German). Fortunately, not all is lost, because I hit on a cool Battletech video in the process. Enjoy the Large Embattled Mecha (and Aerotech too).

Erno Rubik, Old Dog, New Tricks

Erno Rubik has a new puzzle coming out this summer.


[Hat Tip 2 Critical Gamers]

Forestry Mechs, Almost.

If only they had legs.


No trees die, but this thing is kind of cool. Watch it climb the hill.


A toy skidder!

Game Theory Week: Barry Nalebuff

Barry Nalebuff (1 2) is a Professor ... excuse me ... the Milton Steinbach Professor at Yale School of Management. He is an expert in business strategy and game theory, author of a numbers of books, and is rumored to run a 9.86 second 100-meter dash (that last one is a rumor I am starting). He also has some video comments on BigThink. In this first one he talks a bit about the history of game theory:



Next up, Dr. Nalebuff tell us how game theory can be applied to relationships:



Barry Nalebuff on Game Theory and Poker --- (This one is for Brandon):



More video ideas from Barry Nalebuff can be found on BigThink.

The next best thing to being there

Wouldn't it be great if you could hop into the cockpit of your very own 10 meter tall walking war machine and cruise the battlefield just looking to cause trouble? Well you can ...



... after a fashion. Virtual World Entertainment is a Michigan company that builds the Tesla II^TM System cockpit for the BattleTech: Firestorm game, sometimes known as Battletech pods.

From Marmalade Dog: To help celebrate the 25th year of BattleTech as well as the 20th year for its BattleTech VR attractions, Virtual World Entertainment, LLC is taking 4 of its critically acclaimed Tesla II BattleTech: Firestorm cockpits to entertainment events around the United States.

The Tesla II cockpits, featuring the BattleTech: Firestorm software, are fully enclosed military style simulators that feature 7 screens, over 90 control systems, and a 12 speaker surround sound system. When seated in the cockpit or 'pod', the player will pilot his or her own walking tank known as a BattleMech onto the virtual landscape to compete with those seated in the other cockpits for battlefield superiority.

The first stop of the 2009 tour will be at the Western Michigan University Bernhard Center during the annual 'Marmalade Dog' Game Convention hosted by the Western Michigan University Gamers Guild.

I didn't know about this convention, and now it's too late to consider attending. Maybe next year?

[Hat Tip: ConventionFans.Today]
[Edit: 7/16/09 - removed dead links]

The Science of Dice, with Colonel Louis Zocchi

[via Science Punk, via Loquacious at MetaFilter]
Part 1:

and Part 2:


Louis Zocchi is a great one ... but now I may have to replace all my dice.

[Update] Critical Gamers (whom I just discovered) have a post on this topic too, and a favorable review of Game Science dice in use.

Mecha Terminators

Catch this T4 teaser
at
IO9.com.

(Maybe Mecha Moses will save us from the Mecha Terminators?)