Ian Bogost, author of several books including How To Do Things With Video Games, spoke to Forbes recently in an interview about video games as a medium. He discusses the strengths of video games as a medium, the power of games in politics, and how the industry is handling adult themes in games. He also mentions the varying answers that people give to the question "what is a video game?" and how that affects whether they consider themselves gamers.
Phil Minchin of Port Phillip Library in Australia shares his views on why games are an overlooked but important addition to libraries via a blog post on the Library Journal blog. In it, he points out a number of reasons why games should be in the collection, including that they are important elements of culture, that they foster community, and that they are art - the poetry of system.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 7-2 in the Brown v. EMA (formerly Schwarzenegger v. EMA) case that a California law barring the sale of violent video games to minors was unconstitutional, saying that video games are a creative medium deserving of first amendment protection.
An article on KCET.org describes how researchers of the newly-released video game L.A. Noire used library and archive materials to inspire ideas for the game, from using old photography and maps to inspire the visuals, to scouring old newspapers for real-life crime stories that inspired the plots in the game.
Because of a ruling by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts, video games are now legally considered to be an art form.
Professor Sheila Murphy is teaching her class again this semester, entitled "Video Games as Culture/Form." Besides a trip to our archive to get up close and personal with some of the more violent games in our collection, students from the class are also contributing to the course blog at http://videogameform.blogspot.com/, where they give their unedited perspectives on a variety of topics related to video games and culture.
Students in Sheila Murphy's class SAC 368: Video Games as Culture/Form are this semester blogging about video games on their blog at http://videogameform.blogspot.com. There are some great posts there and I invite you to give it a look-see.
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