Chris Bateman (of Only a Game) has a thought provoking article on his new, games only blog on whether or not a game has ever made you cry.
The contention here isn’t that people have never cried while playing games, but either that it’s an irrelevant question or that it wasn’t the actual game part that made you cry — it was the narrative elements, which are not exclusive to games. I’m not at all convinced I agree with his argument entirely, but it’s an interesting proposition:
This is the nub of the issue here: a story can make you cry by empathising with the protagonist (or another character), but a game (when viewed as a formal system) cannot do this.
Games as art? BORING QUESTION. Rooms as art? Much more sensible. And appropriate, when you consider the faithfulness of this Super Mario Bros. installation art.
The work of Antoinette J. Citizen, it features neither Mario nor coins. But that’s OK. Chicks kicking the shit out of each other and coin boxes that splurt out authentic sound effects more than make up for it.
In the annals of largely pointless Flash games with something to say about the hidden rules that govern social interaction… well those annals pretty much start and end with Metro Rules Of Conduct.
PC World Business Center has an interesting article up about gaming in the workplace that looks at the way some companies are using games as team building tools, rewards and incentives.
Nope. It’s a console! And not some crummy Lego model of a console, a Lego model of a console that hides a working PlayStation One console.
…it would look a lot like this. Well, crusty hippies or industrious 19th century sailors. They’re the only types aside from 
Yes, hemp string. The exterior of this Wii Remote and Nunchuk are made out of “100% natural hemp”, giving them a rustic, fuzzy, organic appearance. But the insides? 100% Nintendo-manufactured Wii Remote insides. This remote’s accelerometer, infra-red and buttons are all fully armed and operational (if also exceedingly delicate).
People drop out of college for all kinds of reasons - relationships, drugs, joining a band, deciding to follow The Dead around in a camper van.. the list is long and varied.
I’ve got a final in two hours, my gas tank is empty and I have absolutely nothing wear.
Sorry if that spoils half the “punchline”, but if you go into this clip unprepared, you may not make it back out again.
Don’t know his name, but the dad who runs Lunch Bag Art is one of the good guys. Each day, he draws a fancy piece of art on his kid’s lunch bag.