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8.10.14: The Game Show!

mbiebusch via flickr Creative Commons

Welcome to the show, and come on down! Wait. Rewind. This isn't that kind of game show - but it is a show all about games. From video games, to board games, to game culture, we spoke with the industry game changers. Our adventurous host Virginia Prescott even took a dive into the virtual world of gaming with a Skyrim sesh for better ("I just swiped at someone pretty mightily!") or worse ("I'm getting slaughtered!"). Check out her experience and gaming pointers here. Is she now a self-proclaimed gamer? Find out on today's show - join us for the fun and games here and on our Twitterand Facebook!

Listen to all the fun of our full show and click Read more for individual segments.

Rage Quitting

  • For years, parents and pundits have worried that playing graphically violent video games leads to aggressive or hostile behavior among players.  A new study suggests it may not be the content that drives players’ anger, but frustration. That would mean that controversial games like Grand Theft Auto may have less impact on player behavior than the 1980 arcade classic Defender, commonly ranked among the most difficult video games of all time. Andrew Przybylski, is a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute and a co-author of the study.

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Rage Quitting

Province

  • After decades of re-hashed Monopoly boards and revised editions of Candyland, the board game renaissance is in full swing – led in part by the ability of tabletop gamers to discover and support new games through crowd funding sites like Kickstarter. Clayton Grey and Sam Strick are the designers behind Laboratory Games –so far they’ve successfully funded two games on Kickstarter… most recently, Province, a two-player miniature board game about the size of wallet.  

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Province

Anti-Monopoly

  • Word of Mouth continues with a fresh perspective on an old classic… Monopoly. Turns out, its creator was anti-monopolist.

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Anti-Monopoly

PAX East

  • As the appeal of gaming diversifies, game advocates and industry professionals have struggled to address a persistent streak of misogyny that’s developed inside game-culture.  Clay Wirestoneis the arts editor for The Concord Monitor. He recently attended PAX East – one of the biggest gaming festivals in the country, to find out what they’re doing to try and address this “toxic culture” in gaming.
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PAX East

Award Winning Video Game Composer

  • Winifred Phillips is a multiple award-winning composer who’s created music for such games as Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, The Da Vinci Code, God of War, and many more. Even if you’re not a gamer, these compositions and game culture have become extremely influential and we are happy to talk with a star in the field. Winifred’s book, A Composer’s Guide to Game Musicwas recently published by MIT Press.

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The Music of Video Games

Credit via Winifred Phillips
Composer Winifred Phillips with a "real life" Kratos from God of War.

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