Day: January 19, 2009

One Day at Kotaku: Understanding Video Games and Other Modern Obsessions

kotakuKotaku is a gaming site, full of news, opinion, and lots of readers’ comments. People hooked on video games go there for a steady stream of stories from around the world. On this particular day, January 12th, a range of pieces captured why the video game phenomenon has so much to tell us about our modern obsessions, from sex to shopping, drugs to drinking. These eight stories show us the powerful convergence of people looking for fun and industries looking for profit. From pleasure to despair, this convergence is the story of our post-modern lives. It’s not commodities anymore, it’s activities.

Why not start off with an aircraft carrier? Golden Tee Joins the Navy, Ships Out on Supercarrier covers how Lieutenant Mike Hall wrote to Incredible Technologies, the manufacturer of the popular arcade golf game, “about his love of the game and his longing to play it while at sea.” Incredible Technologies donated the game, the Navy invited the company to the USS John C Stennis to “see just how important the machine will be to recreational life at sea.” A rather straight-forward feel-good story. It’s where most of us live our lives, including the 5000 crew members who can now golf at sea.

The next one, One Man Zelda Band, shows how video games inspire a cultural genre of creativity, how these activities becomes more than a game and move onto artistry, meaning, and, in this case, some inspired music from the composer and gamer Diwa De Leon. But still, in this video we’re talking about a real obsession. Think of the time and effort that went into this production!

Continue reading “One Day at Kotaku: Understanding Video Games and Other Modern Obsessions”

Get Your Encephalon Dosis

craving-brain
You’ve been craving it – four weeks since the last round up of the best mind and brain blogging on the Internet. And The Mouse Trap and Sandy G give us what we want! Get High on Encephalon #62!

There is a definite addiction theme this time – Neurotopia on whether Prozac is addictive, and on the psychological vs physical concepts of addiction. (Might I suggest that perhaps the notion of “physical” is just as problematic as the psychological in Drug Monkey’s comment – it’s right back to the mind/body dichotomy that is really in question…); Mind Hacks on the abuse of laughing gas (it’s a gas!); and Brain Blogger on deep brain stimulation for pleasure.

There is plenty, plenty more. It’s a great addition. One to highlight is Mouse Trap’s own piece on evolution and altruism – a comprehensive overview and some interesting considerations.

So go check out the latest Encephalon.