Ludology.org

My studio's new Star Wars game

 

I'm very happy to announce the launch of "Path of the Jedi", a new online game based on the Clone Wars TV series now available on Cartoon Network. It's a platform game where you play the role of Ahsoka, a young Jedi Padawan. It's been many months of hard work but we are proud we contributed a tiny little bit to the official Star Wars universe. Thanks both to Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network for all their work and support, as well as everybody who worked on it at Powerful Robot. You can play the game here. Many of you may remember that I was never a Star Wars fan (my parents never took me to watch the movies, probably because my dad –an avid movie fan– is not a science fiction fan). However, I did heavily research Star Wars for this project and, even though I haven't yet learned how to speak like Yoda, I now find Wookies much cuter than before :)

Simply Signs

Yesterday, the signs simply read “I am a man”.

When somebody has something to say, he writes it on a sign. And he carries it very high, so everybody can read it. It must be a clear message, so everybody can understand it.

In 1968, there was a huge strike and civil rights demonstration in Memphis, Tennessee. Everybody carried a sign that simply read “I am a man”.

I think about it and I can’t find a most basic demand than this. None. When somebody has to write down a sign to remind the world that he is a person it simply means that all remains to be said.

So many new hands have repainted these same signs for the last forty years. So many new hands wrote and rewrote messages against war, torture and “anything goes” capitalism. Coat over coat of paint, shout over shout, painted and repainted over the very same signs carried by people who wanted to tell the world that they simply were men and women.

When somebody has something to say, he writes it on a sign. And he carries it very high, so everybody can read it. It must be a clear message, so everybody can understand it.

Today the signs simply read “President Obama”.

Vote 4 Doll

Dolls shaped after political figures at not new (I've written about this before). These versions of the current Presidential candidates in Cabbage Patch form are certainly cute (note: the original dolls, now 25 years old, were first manufactured by Coleco, creators of the Colecovision console and ADAM computer). Anyways, what caught my attention today were not exactly the dolls... but how much people were bidding on them. As of now, the lowest bid goes to Biden (no pun intended) with 610 dollars. That is not surprising. What is surprising is that Palin's doll gathered so far more money ($3650) than McCain ($1025) and Obama ($1225). Is this due to Palin's popularity (or maybe I should say "flamboyant unpresidential personality)? Or just because it's the online female doll? I'm not sure. It's telling that Obama is a bit ahead than McCain in terms of bids, even though not by much and this can be reversed any time. I would have thought that he would attract more bids, considering that it's almost a fact that he'll be the winner of the election (well, that is in the case that Americans finally get their Math right and learn how to count votes).

Cute dolls.

Pure beauty: Stick your finger in the hole.

Sometime designers create useful things. Sometimes they create beautiful things. This Japanese "digital" clock (tuttuki bako) literally allows you to stick your finger into the videogame world. If there's justice in this world, every human should get one of these. Click here to watch it in action (thanks Tincho!)

Obama's videogame: Debate Night

 

I'm happy to launch Powerful Robot's new political game. It's called Debate Night and allows you to go face to face with McCain on the debate arena. It combines two familiar gameplays (Zuma meets Bejeweled) so you can refute McCain's arguments by swapping and matching them before the reach Obama.

I'd like to thank the Powerful Robot team for all their work, as well as Espectral for the sounds and music. I sincerely hope you enjoy it!

Digital Art in 15 easy steps

Somebody has been to way too many digital art shows. It's hilarious because it's oh so true.

I'll be at FILE (Sao Paulo) this Thursday

 In addition to my talks in Sao Carlos, I'll be giving a talk this Thursday in Sao Paulo at FILE, the Brazilian Digital Arts Festival. I've been looking forward to visiting the festival for years now, so it's an incredible honor to be speaking at it now. The address where the talk is going to take place is very close to where FILE is taking place: Avenida Paulista nº 1009, 21º andar (floor). The talk will be this Thursday, August 28th, from 19h30 to 21h30. Admission is free, as in free beer. And the talk will be given in Spanish (probably in Portugnol :) If you are in Sao Paulo, I hope you can make it!

Sao Paulo Part II

In addition to my talk and one-day course at the Federal University of Sao Carlos (Monday and Tuesday, respectively) it's likely that I'll be giving another lecture, this time in Sao Paulo, on Thursday night. Additionally, a lot of people have emailed me so we can meet, so it's likely that we'll set up a meeting in some bar/restaurant. I'll post an update once the details are final on both things. 

Update: In Brazil on the 25th

I'll be in Sao Paulo by the end of this month. Sao Paulo = Brazil + Great Japanese Food (it doesn't get better than that).

I'm invited by the Federal University of Sao Carlos, and I'll be giving a lecture on Videogames and Communication at the CECH amphitheater at 20h on the 25th. The 26th, I'll give a one-day seminar on Contemporary Game Studies. More information (em portugues) here.

This is the first time I give a lecture in Brazil. A couple of months ago I gave my first in Argentina, too. It's really exciting being able to discuss videogames with people from the region where I grew up. As far as I've seen there's a lot of energy in young developers to push further the local industry. My visit to Argentina was truly great (I'll be back in a couple of months) and I seriously look forward to being in Sao Paulo, the largest, craziest and probably coolest city in South America.

DiGRA 2009 in the UK

The dates and place for the DiGRA 2009 conference have been set. It'll take place at Brunel University (West London), from August 31st - September 4th. The CFP is not out yet, but you should at least mark your calendars.