The Harlem Shake

If you've been anywhere near a computer, there's a good chance you've seen the internet's latest phenomenon, the Harlem Shake. The first few videos gained such resounding approval from the deep web that a format was created and hundreds of videos were made and uploaded. Usually, I'm not into the social media hype, but there's something about the Harlem Shake that is strangely attractive. First started in New York by a man named Albee, the dance became popular through various artists and music videos, even possibly inspiring the chicken noodle soup. Albee stated that it was "a drunken shake anyway, it's an alcoholic shake, but it's fantastic,...

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The Art of Video Games: South Florida's First Video Game Exhibition

This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Boca Raton Museum of Art, mostly to see its newest exhibition and the Smithsonian's travelling exhibit, The Art of Video Games. I was excited, as giddy as a school girl. Just could not wait! Unfortunately, we got there an hour early, but at 12PM sharp, we were at the doors, advancing towards the first video game exhibition to ever visit South Florida. Needless to say--excited. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a sign that said "No Photography." Ouch. My ego was hurt quite a good bit, being that I had already perused the website about this particular topic and found nothing that would...

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Posted in: art,art of video games,boca raton,culture,exhibit,Florida,games,gaming,museum,video games

#1ReasonWhy: A Hashtag for Sexism in the Gaming Industry

I wrote a post a while back on female characters in video games, and between that and the hate attack on Feminist Frequency's kickstarter project, it seems the conversation has been even more alive. Last week, tweets from women in the game industry explained the top reasons why there aren't more female game designers. After sitting down and reading through most of them, I can't say I'm not feeling a little depressed. See more mood-killing gold at Kotaku. And yet, I also feel a strange sense of excitement that these women are standing up for themselves and making their voices heard. Hopefully, this is the first event of many more to...

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The Game is Alive

All right, guys. Let's play a game. The name is The Game is Alive. You play it on Twitter, through tweets, and it'll feel like a text-adventure game(think of Zork). Imagine that we are the "game engine" and the players. The game has two concepts: lines and commands.  If you want to tweet a line, you have to include @Game_Alive #line in your tweet.  If you want to tweet a command, you have to include @Game_Alive #comm in your tweet. Your tweet will then be retweeted and appear on @Game_Alive's twitter feed. Here's an example of four tweets: LINE: It's dark. You feel something clenched in your fist. @Game_Alive #line COMMAND: Examine fist. @Game_Alive #comm LINE: You make out the shape of a piece of glass and you're bleeding. @Game_Alive #line COMMAND: Put...

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The DLC Debate: Part 1

Recently, I asked readers over at the Facebook page if they'd pay $70 dollars for a game that included Day-1 DLC, kind of like Game of the Year Editions. Out of 11 votes, no one answered yes. A lot of people purchase and enjoy downloadable content (DLC), and then some complain about it. The debate around DLC encompasses more than just pricing, however. For certain games, like Call of Duty or Battlefield, preordering a game means gaining an edge over other players. This means guns or stats that other players will never be able to obtain. In competitive play, this is the difference between being on top and being average. There's quite a bit...

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Posted in: borderlands 2,DLC,gamers,games,gaming,money

Political Games: A Gift and a Curse

The gaming world has often tried to keep its wires from getting tangled up in politics, but since 2004, political video games have begun to surface. According the Entertainment Software Association, the amount of political games has tripled since then. Some liberal, other conservative, political video games aim to entertain and educate at the same time. Strategery 2012 is one such game, where you can play as Romney's election team during the primaries and then as Obama's team during the general election. It follows the format of Nintendo's popular military turn-based strategy games, the Advance Wars series. As the player,...

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Posted in: community,democrats,election,eve online,game,gamers,games,MMORPG,politics,republicans,statistics,video games,world of warcraft

From Horror, With Love

With 1.3 million copies sold, Amnesia: The Dark Descent ushered in a new genre for indie games: Horror. Soon, the market flooded with chilling features like Deep Sleep and Hide. But there's something eerily different between indie games and the mainstream titles we love. Indie game developers have more leeway in terms of what they can and can't do in their games. This means more opinions, more vulgarity, and most importantly, more gore. Even pixelated games like They Bleed Pixels don't skip out on the guts. That's not to say that indie games are bloodier than mainstream games, but they can forgo a narrative and only leave a world...

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