Games And Books 6/5/2009

A screenshot from the computer puzzle-adventure title realMyst (Cyan, Inc.; 2002-Mac version). A puzzle is shown. This is a copyleft image.

Games And Books 6/5/2009

I am thinking about something which I find rather interesting. A number of computer games are fusing with books. One of these is http://www.projectaon.org/ . It is cross between a choose your own adventure fantasy novel and a roleplaying game. I enjoyed the first five books of the Lone Wolf series. They are free.

In Japan 80% of computer games are what are called "visual novels", a mix of anime art, text, and simple games. I tried out a visual novel earlier called "Fatal Hearts" which is from Hanako Games an independent games publisher. Parts of it were quite interesting. The game is really designed for teenage girls. http://www.hanakogames.com/fatal.shtml

This is an article from Galleycat, it talks about how the online computer game, World of Warcraft spun off a series of paperbacks from Simon and Schuster. The article includes a link to another article by Eric Nylund on how to get video gamers to read books. Eric Nylund writes books based on the Halo computer game. http://paizo.com/planetStories/v5748btpy7x8a&source=search

In a way, I am not surprised there is a built in market for fantasy and science fiction novels for many computer gamers. Many games I have played have built icons for books with short stories inside them. It is also not that uncommon to see people write fan fiction for computer games as well. I enjoyed reading Halo: The Cole Protocol by Tobias Buckell. There are numerous ties in between games and books now.

Paizo Press which has a pulp fiction line with its Planet Stories imprint prints the a series of novels by Gary Gygax the man who created the original Dungeons and Dragons fantasy game. This is a link to his fantasy novel, The Anubis Murders http://paizo.com/planetStories/v5748btpy7x8a&source=search

Games are a form of storytelling. Some games have as much or more text than a novel in them. For example, I am guessing that a large novel will have about 1 megabyte of text in it. If you compare this to a 500 megabyte file for the independent computer game, Geneforge 5, Overthrow there are 500 times as many characters in the file as in an average book. There is probably more text in this game than several fantasy novels. This was produced in a year by a single company, Spiderweb Software.

This is also true of many adventure games. People have a tendency to dismiss this kind of reading as not "real" reading because it is not in the same format as a book. With the newer games they can be multi-gigabyte files which can easily include ebooks, video, anime, comics, audio, and other material inside a completed game.

We have computer games in our library. I think if you understand computer games, it is possible to use them as a lead in to reading books, especially books which tie-in to the games as well as cover similar themes to the stories being told. Books, audiobooks, games, are all a form of storytelling. Games are being sold as a package now. For example with Halo, the computer game, I can buy graphic novels, trade paperback books, and the computer game. Even the older franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars have been turned into a complete package with games, computer games, books, music, ebooks, and other merchandise.

As an afterthought, some of the larger online games include libraries built into them. World of Warcraft has a librarians guild and features several in game sections which are called libraries. Star Wars features the Jedi Archives in some of its games. Also if you consider virtual worlds as games, Second Life has a place in it called Info Island with a virtual library of many of the classic novels as ebooks inside the virtual world.

Got Game How The Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever by John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade

Got Game How The Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever by John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade

This book identifies the strengths which computer gamers have to help business. Through surveys they identify the attitudes which gamers have which will help them succeed in business; an urge to win, a willingness to fail then move on, the ability to try again, the urge to be on top, and immersion in a computerized environment.

The authors tend to mention, but gloss over some of the less desirable traits which many gamers exhibit, a tendency to not read manuals, be a little sloppy, be very egocentric, and demand high compensation. There is very little which talks about how to solve these problems. The surveys given to gamers also seem to be very simplistic at times.

Instead of focusing on problems, the book looks to aim at bringing out leadership traits. It points out the strategy involved in many computer games as well as the focus on team work and exploration in some of the larger virtual worlds.

I found quite a bit in common with what many of the surveys which they did asked. I could identified many of my own personal characteristics in this book. I think Got Game would be particularly useful for business people to read who work in computer or high technology industries. It is aimed at managing gamers.

Some people will have a hard time with this book. Many people do not see any value in playing computer games. They find them counterproductive. There is quite a bit on the value of playing games.

The Wii (ウィー ?)

Wikipedia: The Wii (ウィー ?) (pronounced as the English pronoun we, IPA: /wiː/) is a home video game console released by Nintendo.

All I know is that Wii (ウィー ?) is a lot of fun!

A little reluctant to make such a large purchase, I finally gave in at Christmas and let this be "our" one present. Wii (ha-ha) started with Game Party (darts, hoop shoot, shuffleboard, skill ball, table hockey) and graduated to Carnival MiniGolf, Endless Ocean and the ultimate challenge, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09. Hubby was pumped for this one, and probably invisioned his skills to equal Tiger's successful return after knee surgery.

We didn't even make it to Tiger before discovering the ultimate challenge...trying to get our Wii remotes to work! I'm sure if a 16-year-old, or even an 8-year-old had been here, we would've been playing in a matter of seconds. Took us about an hour to hit the first shot off the # 1 tee at LaQuinta.

Another challenge was keeping from spraining our wrists with the remotes or throwing them through the TV screen on the follow-through! As we learned, Wii injuries/accidents are pretty common. (See Utube video below)

Had any mishaps? Broken TV's, wrist or head injuries. Share!


Mary Cunningham
Discover the Magic in Cynthia's Attic
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Quake

Games In the Lbrary Setting

Games In the Library Setting

One of my personal weaknesses is a liking for video games. I can get very obsessive about them. They have a kind of hypnotic effect on me much like tabletop games do everything from strategy to roleplaying.

I have seen a rather interesting thing happen. Libraries are purchasing video games for the teenagers. There was a Halo tournament at one of the local libraries. In a way this bothers me a little bit. I am still not sure the exact place of videogames in the library. The type of games being purchased are Xbox, Wii, and PS3 (Playstation 3) games. Nothing like Grand Theft Auto because of the problems with sexual innuendo and the M rating for mature content, but other things.

A few libraries have SimCity 4, Lego Starwars, and Starcraft on CD-ROM to check out. I think one of the local libraries has uploaded a variety of games for use for the teenagers in the teen section, things like Spiderman 3, and Ghost Recon for the Xbox. A different library has Playstation 2 games, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, and God of War among their titles. So they are just starting up on this process. I checked the catalog for the library system I work at and these are there.

Considering there are a variety of different formats for games, buying for a variety of different systems, pc, playstation, xbox, and nintendo could get complicated. I could see libraries buying for the two major systems, xbox and playstation.

CD-Rom games have been part of the childrens room for quite some time. They are mostly things like Little Bear, Thomas The Tank Engine, Reader Rabbit, Dr. Seuss's Kindergarten Learning System, and Carmen Sandiego. They are learning games to teach children geography, spelling, and similar things. I also can see where buying typing instruction software would not be a bad idea to lend out.

I am not sure the exact value the games would offer. I know it would be entertaining. In fact something like historical simulations could have value in a vague way like Civilization for the PC, Zoo Tycoon, or the various business simulations.

I am really not sure how a library would select videogames. There are some sites like http://www.gamerdad.com which rate games for children and parents. This is the ideal situation, some guy wants to play a game with their kid.

I have been looking at the concept. Apparently, the American Library Association started covering games on their website. http://gaming.ala.org/news/

What is more important is that there is a new program being created to combine gaming with literacy sponsored through the American Library Association. I think this is where it could get quite interesting.

Ah, here is where it gets interesting, American Library Association is mentioning a gaming night at a public library for teenagers. The games are not your typical shoot em ups, they are Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero II, and Sports Videogames. This is something which could be quite interesting if done right. The title of this articles gaming @your library.
http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/presscentera/piopresskits/nationallibraryweek2008a/gl08.cfm

I don't think I would have much of a problem with the Sims, sports, games, historical simulations, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero and Karaoke style games. I am still not too sure about the heavily violent war games like Halo in some ways.

I found a blog which looks kind of interesting. It covers games and libraries. The site looks to have been created in 2005, about the time when games were pushed as a format to enter libraries. http://libgaming.blogspot.com It lists lots and lots of resources on games in libraries.

I almost think this is a logical extension of librarians becoming fascinated with virtual worlds. I still am a little bit shaken by how many librarians are heavily into Second Life.

The reason I originally wrote this is that I went into Gamestop yesterday to see if there was anything which I wanted to buy. There was a game I tried out, Ufo Afterlight, the controls were so terrible that I plan on returning the thing.

This is just some thoughts.