Posts tagged with events

Here is an interesting conference coming up this month:
Different Games is a two-day conference on diversity and inclusiveness in digital games, hosted April 26-27, 2013 at NYU’s Polytechnic Institute in downtown Brooklyn. Different Games is a space for radical discussions of representation in games and the relationship of the medium to designer and player identity.

Since this week is Banned Books Week, we have decided to expand the theme a bit and highlight some video games that have been banned around the world.

Authored by our long-time student worker, Doug Carmichael:
Shooting games comprise one of the most played genres in the Archive. Barely a day goes by without patrons requesting to play shooters like Call of Duty or Halo: Reach. Shooting games have a rich and varied history, first coming into popularity in the early 90s. The Archive is proud to showcase a wide variety of shooting games from all points in the genre’s history.

Did you know that the CVGA has more than just video games? When we moved to our current location in January 2011, we added a small section of board and card games, as well as a couple of tables on which to play them. We now have 120 board and card games in the CVGA. Some of the most popular games are Dominion, Settlers of Catan, and 7 Wonders.

Did you know that the CVGA has a vast array of racing games, as well as a racing wheel controller to go along with our popular Xbox 360 games? We now have over 50 racing games in the CVGA, ranging from arcade style to realistic driving games. Some of them (Forza, etc.) have even been used by students as a driving simulator in research involving texting while driving. A few of our other popular racing games include Mario Kart, Need for Speed, and Gran Turismo. Here are some other interesting racing game series in the CVGA that you may wish to try.

Welcome, new students! Now that you're getting a chance to settle in, we'd like to offer a chance for you to stop by the archive and see what we have to offer.On this note, we've decided to hold a Gaming Week during the week of September 17-22 (the third week of classes), with each day showing off a different type of game that we offer. This is also your chance to stop by and see who else on campus is interested in the same types of games that you are. So drop by anytime on the day that interests you to meet new people that share your interests, discuss potential tournament/event ideas, or just hang out.

Today we had an impressive assortment of incoming freshmen check out the archive in a big tour, about 60 people in total. It's wonderful to see so many new students taking an interest, but we just had to take pictures since we haven't had that big of a crowd in quite some time.

A piece appeared in UM's Michigan Today about Sid Meier's Game Design Boot Camp, which took place earlier this Summer. In it, we discover what gave him the idea for the boot camp, which companies were involved, and a bit about how it was structured. We also learn that not only was Sid Meier's son Ryan involved (a UM graduate), but also his mother, who attended the event as well.

The CVGA was featured today in an AnnArbor.com article entitled "U-M computer and video game archive has lofty goal: Collect every game ever made." In it, our founder Dave Carter describes our purpose and goals for the archive.The article also got a mention on FARK.com, complete with lively and colorful comments about the games that we should have in our collection.

UM is hosting a two-week game design boot camp at the Computer Science Building on North Campus, led by award-winning game designer Sid Meier and UM EECS professor John Laird.It will be held May 7-18, and is targeted at undergraduates in their junior/senior year or recent graduates, with previous class-related or independent game design experience.