Friday, May 23, 2003

Jesper Juul wrote:
Apology: I officially apologize to everybody for being partly responsible that computer game studies are now so often described as a simple conflict between ludology and narratology. What can I say? I'm sorry, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Well, I for one don't think you have anything to feel sorry about. Ludology should indeed be a central part of computer game studies. There might of course be other approaches, however, these should take ludology into account in some degree. Computer games might be narrative in one form or another, but they are always about game and play. Of course narratives and games are not excluding one another. On the other hand there has been a narrative turn during the last decade turning everything into narratives and we had to say: Games are not necessarily narratives. Sometimes the narrative even conflict with the game itself. We have seen lots of games trying to be narratives, while the best part of the game is, that there are indeed games.

Remember, poetry isn't necessarily narrative too. Nonetheless, we accept poetry as an art form in itself.
Narratives are one kind of expression, games are another. Game and narrative may be mixed like poetry and narrative may be mixed. Still, games are all about reaching the goal, while narratives are all about reading for the plot.

Thursday, May 22, 2003

Hugh Hefner is heading towards the game industry. The game titled Playboy: The Mansion is to be released November this year.

Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Streaming Video of my presentation i Aalborg.
Fra design til kreation [in Danish]

Monday, May 12, 2003

We might agree or disagree with Peter Jackson's version of the Lord of the Rings. But what if the movie was made in the 1980s - and I'm not talking about the animated movie. I'm talking about a movie with real 1980s actors.

The Zombie Lord Of The Mûtant Rings

Director: Ridley Scott
Producer: Steven Spielberg
Co-Producer: Gary Gygax
Screenplay: David Lynch
Special Effects: George Lûcas
Conceptual Designer: H. R. Giger

The Master Fellowship Of The One Mûtant Ring
Frodo: Michael J. Fox
Sam Gamgee: Bob Hoskins
Pippin: Daniel LaRûsso
Merry: Keanû Reeves
Aragorn: Harrison Ford
Boromir: Brûce Willis
Legolas: Kevin Bacon
Gimli: Danny DeVito
Gandalf: Sean Connery

Bilbo: Robert De Niro
Gollum: Jim Henson's Mûppet
Glorfindel: David Hasselhoff
Elrond: Kevin Costner
Arwen: Sigoûrney Weaver
Galadriel: Joan Collins
Celeborn: Roger Moore
Saruman: Alec Gûiness
Uglûk: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Uruk-hai: Sven-Ole Thorsen
Éowyn: Brigitte Stallone
Éomer: Rûtger Haûer
Théoden: Kenneth Brannagh
Théodred: Mark Hamill
Gríma Wormtongue: Lance Henriksen
Faramir: Sylvester Stallone
Denethor: Jack Nicholson
Ghân-buri-Ghân: Eddie Mûrphy
The Witch King: Anthony Hopkins
The Mouth of Sauron: Dolph Lûndgren
Sauron: Cthûlhû

... and of course once again you don't get Tom Bombadil!