viz.

Image source: Thatgamecompany.

Probably all illustrations, and certainly the animated images I’ve discussed in Frozen and Lilo and Stitch, come freighted with a vast history of associations. Striking images can literally provide worldviews—complex perspectives from which to view matters ranging from gender roles to cultural identities to ideal body types. Frozen’s visual aesthetic offers a triumphantalist account of traditional images put to new uses, while Lilo and Stitch offers a harder-edged criticism of our lazy, self-indulgent ways of looking at the world, for instance. Yet both deliberately and meaningfully comment upon the mediating power of their own iconography. Both films are, in short, particularly focused on understanding how images have worked in the past, and how they can be made to work differently in the future.

Journey is a video game whose cartoon-like visual aesthetic draws strongly from the same animated tradition as the first two films, yet its aims are quite different. In both its gameplay and its visual design, I will argue, Journey is not focused on what it means, but rather on the raw experiences it can provide. The game reminds us, in short, that while images have deep and rich rhetorical histories, they are also something more than mere arguments.

"1945-1998" by Isao Hashimoto

Originally created in 2003 by the Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto, "1945-1998" maps all 2053 nuclear explosions during that period.

Image credit: screenshot via YouTube

Last week I posted a link to the much discussed Great Gatsby video game that's making the rounds. It's not like me to turn my attention to video games for two weeks in a row--no offense to anyone--but this story on NPR's "Morning Edition" caught my attention. This summer, the French gaming company Ubisoft will release a game they call Call of Juarez: The Cartel. As you might expect, the game is generating a lot of controversy due to the real-life situation of the border city. This news comes on the heels of the bloodiest weekend in recent memory, in which 53 people were killed (as reported by The Houston Chronicle). 

Image Credit: Screenshot, http://greatgatsbygame.com/

All you beautiful little fools, let's have a mid-week party, shall we? In the spirit of good times, I'll draw your attention to the fact that, this week, what we talk about when we talk about Gatsby has changed. I'm not refering to the upcoming film, which will star Leonardo Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan. No, I'm talking about the video game version of the classic novel! Like ol' James Gatz himself, the game has surfaced from complete obscurity only to become the talk of the town. (According to internet buzz, the game was found at a yard sale.) Unless you've been living under a rock, you've likely seen this little gem already. Surely, your lit nerd or gamer friends have posted a link on facebook! In case you haven't taken a peek yet,  play a few rounds here.

The CWRL’s game design / virtual communities workgroup was featured on the local news last night for their participation in STS’s Game Court Design Competition.

You can view the video here. The workgroup’s white paper is also available if you would like to read more about their work.