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Designer Intent vs Emergence: Nissan Edition

By Chris Lewis | Published: January 4, 2010

Forza Motorsport 3 is, as described by one of the designers, “car porn.” And, well, that beauty above? That delicious, glistening, throbbing piece of machinery? That’s a Nissan Datsun 510 from 1970. You’re free to take a moment right now, if you need one… imagining yourself astride the seat, hand gripped on the gear shift, […]

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Uncharted 2‘s Sloppy Fiction

By Noah Wardrip-Fruin | Published: December 30, 2009

The design of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves should make integrating gameplay and fiction easier in two particular ways. First, it’s linear, so there’s no need to worry about unexpected traversals of the fictional space. Second, it’s almost entirely scripted — a matter of how adeptly things are accomplished, rather than what approach is taken or […]

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Time Travel: What Google Wave and Braid have in Common

By Sherol Chen | Published: December 2, 2009

At this point, most people should know of Google Wave.  Fewer have had an opportunity to start “waving,” as Google Wave is still in a “limited preview” stage.  Usually, I’m not the first in line to adopt a new technology, because I always need substantial convincing for why I should bother.  In the case of […]

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Call of Duty: Secret Spielberg Level Unlocked

By Chris Lewis | Published: November 18, 2009

Call of Duty: Secret Spielberg Level Unlocked Only with the absurdity of this video can you accurately capture the almost-entirely failed message of Call of Duty. Choice quote: “My girlfriend has walked in front of the telly again.”

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Reimagineering

By Chris Lewis | Published: November 3, 2009

Last week, the second and final installment of the Episodes of Liberty City downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV, The Ballad of Gay Tony, was released. Unlike the more sullen story of Nico Bellic, clawing his way up from nothing, Gay Tony’s Luis begins with a crisp suit, good job, plenty of cash and […]

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It’s All (About) Fun and Games

By Peter Mawhorter | Published: October 28, 2009

I’m a new member of the lab here, and that means that I’ve got a lot of learning to do. I need to learn about the different projects in the lab, learn about the various systems involved in those projects, and even about programming languages used in those systems. But I also need to learn […]

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