Weekly 5 – 3/16/13

Hi folks. Our Weekly 5 may be a day late, but it is still full of interesting reads from across the internet lately. Here you go!

1. Grown Up Gaming – Philip

This is an interesting piece over at Kotaku from Tina Amini about being an adult, with all the resultant adult responsibility, but also making time in life for leisure activities like gaming. Perhaps the best, and most truthful line in the piece to which a number of us at the Game Lab can relate:

If your baby is screaming wildly in need of a diaper change, this is not the time to try that new DLC that just came out for your favorite game. Go change poopy butt over there first.

2. Shameless QUILTBAG Promo – Abe

Okay, this is a kinda shameless self-promo to link to a blog post on our own site, but it is for a great event. We’re hosting the QUILTBAG Jam!, a game jam to design games with LGBTQ themes. Todd’s writeup is not just the details about the event, but also about why a game jam with an LGBTQ theme is important.

3. Story of FTL – Philip

Polygon has a piece about the creation of the great space game Faster than Light. The game was a spectacular hit that had humble beginnings, and the story is a great example of how a Kickstarter campaign can be well done.

4. OMG Frozen Endzone – Abe

So Mode 7 made this great game Frozen Synapse, which is a nice tactical turn-based strategy game that we highly recommend trying out. Well, I’ve often said that american football has many elements of a turn-based strategy game, and what do you know! The Mode 7 folks announced they are developing Frozen Endzone, what they call a “tactical future sports game.” Well, not surprisingly, my curiosity has been piqued.

5. Jesper Juul’s New Book –  Philip

Our good friend Jesper Juul finished his new book about failure in games, for which he did a good amount of his research with us here at MIT. He’s an exceptional academic mind in game studies, and The Boston Globe has a nice write-up about his new book which includes an interview with Jesper. Check out the Globe article, and pick up a copy of Jesper’s work.