Meaningful Play
I’m co-chairing a conference called Meaningful Play which focuses on the design and study of games that matter. Here is the quick blurb:
Whether designed to entertain or for more “serious” purposes, games have the potential to impact players’ beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, emotions, cognitive abilities, and behavior.
Meaningful Play 2008 is an interdisciplinary academic conference that explores the potential of games to entertain, inform, educate, and persuade in meaningful ways. The conference includes thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper presentations, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), innovative workshops, roundtable discussions, and exhibitions of games.
For more information on the conference, check out http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu
Twitter!
I know I haven’t posted in…well…forever. Check out my Twitter feed - http://twitter.com/captain_primate. Huzzah! Another thing not to update!
Interacting with Immersive Worlds Conference
I’m giving a paper at the Interacting with Immersive Worlds Conference at Brock University (http://www.brocku.ca/iasc/immersiveworlds/) called The Ethnography of Tabletop Miniature Storyworlds. If you want to take a look at my slides, you can do so here. As usual, comments are welcome.
Finally…Omega Flight #1
In 1983, Alpha Flight exploded onto the comic scene. With the first 28 issues written and drawn by the famous (and often infamous) John Byrne, Alpha Flight was stocked with archetypal (and perhaps stereotypical) pan-Canadian characters. The first incarnation of the series lasted a respectable 130 issues, and was wildly popular on both sides of the 49th parallel. Unfortunately, fans saw diminishing returns with the next two volumes – the second volume lasted 20 issues, while the third volume only lasted 12 issues (and was widely considered to have been written by a pack of mentally challenged wild monkeys who had lived off of a steady diet of bad acid for the course of the entire series). For years, Alpha Flight fans hoped that Marvel would revisit the team, and give it the kind of tender loving care that it so richly deserved. However, their hopes were dashed when the entire lineup of the original Alpha flight (and a good portion of the both the second and third volume teams) were abruptly and unceremoniously wacked by Brian Bendis in New Avengers #16 (and off panel no less). Suffice it to say that the RCMP immediately issued orders for the arrest (and humiliating body cavity search) when Bendis next stepped foot on Canadian soil.
It wasn’t long, however, before Marvel started leaking details of the next generation of Alpha Flight. But this new series was, as the PR machine proudly stated, “not your father’s flight.” It wasn’t even Alpha Flight – it was Omega Flight. This new Flight would be written by Michael Avon Oeming (Cross Bronx, Thor: Blood Oath, Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill) and artist Scott Kolins (Beyond!, The Flash, Thor: Blood Oath). During the months that followed, Omega Flight was downgraded from an ongoing series to a 5 issue mini-series – much to the disappointment of the Alpha Flight fan community.
The day has finally come, and Omega Flight #1, in all of its mini-series glory, has hit the shelves. Spinning out of the pages of Civil War, Omega Flight takes place in a Canada where super powered villains, fleeing the 50 state S.H.I.E.L.D. initiative south of the border, are running amuck in the great white north. Acutely aware that they no longer have the protection of Alpha Flight, the Canadian government forms the new generation of Alpha Flight: Omega Flight. At first glance, the lineup of Omega Flight isn’t what one might expect. The team is anchored by Walter Langowski, whose superhero alter ego Sasquatch has been a central figure in all incarnations of Alpha Flight. The rest of the team is made up of Talisman (daughter of the slain Shaman), Arachne (who has been given the option of having outstanding charges dropped in exchange for her participation on the team), U.S. Agent (who was sent to Canada by Tony Stark as a S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to Omega Flight in Civil War: Choosing Sides), Beta Ray Bill (an alien with Thor-like powers), and a new Guardian – who, in a strange twist of storytelling, is Michael Pointer, the mutant who, as a host of The Collective, was responsible for the death of the original Alpha Flight team at the hands of Brian Bendis in New Avengers #16. While this first issue doesn’t feature the full team’s roster, the chemistry between the team members that do appear is excellent. The scenes between Talisman and Sasquatch shows the kind of love that you would expect from members of the same extended (albeit super powered) family.
There is no doubt that Omega Flight #1 is a love letter to long suffering Alpha Flight fans. It not only speaks to the death of the original Alpha Flight, but It’s also densely packed with references (sometimes obscure) to the original Alpha Flight series.
For an American, Oeming has a decent grasp of Canadian culture and geography. Decent enough that many Canadian Alpha Flight fans will grudgingly admit to saying “dude, if we can’t have an actual Canadian writing this, Oeming will do.”
Oeming’s writing is quite polished. He shows himself quite capable of writing fluid and snappy dialog. He also does an excellent job of characterization. In fact, I think that his characterization is so good that it will keep non Alpha Flight fans coming back to Omega Flight.
While not in the category of many of Marvel’s other more rockstar-like artists, Kolins does a respectable job. In fact, his pencil work is very reminiscent of the art that graced the pages of the first Alpha Flight series. The best example of this is Kolins’ rendering of Sasquatch – which is so close to Byrne’s original character design that one might swear that he’s channeling Byrne himself.
In the final analysis, I think that Omega Flight #1 has two overall problems. First off, the pace of the book seems oddly slow for a 5 issue mini-series. This is most likely a result of the fact that the series was originally written as an ongoing, and was not re-written when Marvel abruptly downgraded it to a miniseries. The second problem is that while fanboys (and girls) will think that the densely packed Alpha Flight references are awesome, non-fans will most likely get a little lost. In the grand scheme of things, this second complaint is not that big of a thing as the main storyline of the book is solid. The main Alpha Flight references exist on a level below the main storyline, and don’t interfere too much with the main storyline.
So, in the final analysis, Omega Flight, despite some slight problems, is definitely worth picking up. Beyond being the spiritual successor to Alpha Flight (and therefore a must read for original Alpha Flight fans), it’s a nice addition to Marvel’s post Civil War Initiative story.
Apollo Alpha Debuts
Adobe Systems Incorporated finally announced that the first public alpha version of Apollo is now available for download on Adobe Labs. Apollo is the code name for a cross-operating system application runtime (Mac, Win, Linux) that allows web developers to leverage their existing skills in HTML, JavaScript and Ajax, Flash, and Flex to build and deploy rich Internet applications for the desktop. Apollo combines the reach of web development technologies with the richness of desktop applications, working seamlessly across operating systems and outside the browser to deliver a more consistent and engaging user experience. The alpha version of the Apollo application runtime and the Apollo Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) can be downloaded for free from www.adobe.com/go/apollo
Omega Flight Covers…
Next month, Marvel will be launching the Omega Flight mini-series (5 issues). The art previews that have been released thus far have been pretty good. Yesterday Marvel released the art for the cover of issue #3. Up until this point, I had been a little underwhelmed with the art for the covers of the first two issues (below). However, I’m blown away with the cover art for #3. The coloring is incredible…and sure to draw the eye of potential buyers (which is the point as the more the series sells, the greater the chance it will be converted into a regular ongoing monthly series). Have a gander:
seriously beautiful. For comparison, here are the covers for issue 1 and 2:
more to come on my fanboy obsession with Omega Flight when the first issue is released (April 4th). Warning: dorktastic geekery ahead.
World Building: Space and Community Slides
I was slated to give a paper at the World Building: Space and Community conference this weekend. However, because of some conflicts, I was unable to physically be there. The organizers graciously allowed me to present my research virtually (in the form of an Articulate Presenter presentation). The paper is entitled The Enthography of Tabletop Storyworlds, and presents the storyworld related HeroClix research that myself and Patrick Shaw (an MA student in our department) did last summer. is the link to the presentation:
http://www.captainprimate.com/slides/worldbuilding/player.html
FYI: The presentation is large, and will probably move slowly over dial-up.
Some Things to Ponder…
- If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
- If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
- Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
- Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
- Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON TV?
- What disease did cured ham actually have?
- How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Cultural Anthropologist Explains Web 2.0
I recently ran across a wonderful little digital video that takes an extremely creative approach to explaining Web 2.0 (and how we got from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0). The whole concept of Web 2.0 is very slippery - and its very nature is a bone of contention for many of those who inhabit the web (either personally or professionally).
What makes the video (below) special to me is that its made by Michael Wesch, an Assistant Professor and Cultural Anthropologist at Kansas State University. Not only do I like the creative approach to explaining Web 2.0, I’m also proud that its an anthropologist who authored it. I love to see anthropologists living in spaces that many people might not associate with my discipline.
Watch and enjoy.
Web 2.0 Logo Re-Designs…
The Web 2.0 movement has been accused (rightly so) of a very recognizable and stereotypical kinds of visual design. Rounded everything, bright colors, large fonts, liquid reflective logos…you know what I’m talking about. So, when this showed up on digg, I just had to laugh (http://flickr.com/photos/gtmcknight/198311028/)
What would the logos of some obviously non-web 2.0 companies look like…check it out for yourself. Some of the results are actually quite interesting.
