Game studies

Game studies or gaming theory is a discipline that deals with the critical study of games. More specifically, it focuses on game design, players, and their role in society and culture. Game studies is an inter-disciplinary field with researchers and academics from a multitude of other areas such as computer science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, arts and literature, media studies, communication, theology, and more. Like other media disciplines, such as television studies and film studies, game studies often involves textual analysis and audience theory. History[edit] Prior to the late-twentieth century, the academic study of games was rare and limited to fields such as history and anthropology. These influences may be characterized broadly in three ways:[3] the social science approach, the humanities approach, and the industry and engineering approach. The youth of the field of game studies is also another reason for blurred boundaries between approaches. [edit]

Shigeru Miyamoto Shigeru Miyamoto (宮本茂, Miyamoto Shigeru?, born November 16, 1952[1]) is a Japanese video game designer and producer. He is best known as the creator of some of the best-selling, most critically acclaimed, most enduring, and most influential games and franchises of all time. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work. Early life Miyamoto was born in the Japanese town of Sonobe, a rural town northwest of Kyoto,[3] on November 16, 1952. Miyamoto graduated from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts with a degree in industrial design[3] but no job lined up. Western genre television shows had a major influence on Miyamoto.[8] Career 1977–1984: Arcade beginnings; Donkey Kong Nintendo, a relatively small Japanese company, had traditionally sold playing cards and other novelties, although it had started to branch out into toys and games in the mid 1960s. 1990–2000: SNES and N64; Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time

Why gamers are a great fit at the gym "For the first 26 years of my life, I had no idea what exercise was," Fitocracy user Michael Perry says. Fitocracy uses video game techniques to encourage exercise"Glued to Games" authors say motivation is similar in fitness, games Community around online games, or fitness, satisfies a psychological need (CNN) -- They've been trained to focus for weeks at a time on a single goal. They know how to clearly identify obstacles and form step-by-step plans to overcome them. They're obsessed with improving specific skills but judge success only by overall progress made in the world they've decided to conquer -- as realistic or fantastical as it may be. It's precisely these traits that make video-gamers great bodybuilders. Take a moment to laugh, if you must. Brian Wang and Dick Talens were the stereotypical video-gamers in high school. "I literally would wake up and play all day, eating intermittently," Talens said. Dick Talens weighed 230 pounds in high school before becoming a body builder. Why?

Serious Games Games have been on my mind more than usual lately, both because of Jane McGonigal's new book Reality is Broken, and Bruce Sterling's review of The Art of Game Design. Games are fascinating because players perform pointless tasks that under any other circumstances would be considered work, and master arcane skills, all in the name of fun. If the energy put into playing games could be harnessed to external reality, whether economic or political, it'd be like building a social perpetual motion machine. Another side of games is socialization. The last area of games that we're interested in, and on which relatively little research has been done, is the use of games to help collective decision-making.