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News of the Week; November 13, 2013
1. Huge Xbox losses hidden by patent royalties, says analyst 2. PSN: We Reserve the Right to Monitor and Record Your PSN Activity 3. 9 Ways Video Games Can Actually Be Good For You 4. Witness Blames Malicious Act on Oakland Public Bus on Video Games 5. XBox, Watch TV: Inside Microsoft’s Audacious Plan to Take Over the Living Room 6. The […]
Week 9 – 11/6/13: “Controlling Originality” & Andy Moore
It’s all here. Sorry for system mandated video cut off at the end. And for the fact that the way we connected Andy’s slides into the system through a secondary didn’t allow the video system to pick them up so you will have to download them and advance manually. jon
Games, Violence, and Your Brain
The ongoing battle over the psychological effects of violent games continues in a recent study published in the most recent edition of Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking. From the abstract: Christian Happ and his colleagues recruited 60 students (20 men) with varied video gaming experience and had them spend 15 minutes playing the violent and bloody beat-em-up game Mortal […]
Week 10 Guest Commentator – Dr. Kimberly Voll
Dr. Kimberly Voll joins us next week as we explore social issues, including violence and sexism in games. Kim holds a PhD in computer science, and an honours degree in cognitive science. She spent six years as faculty at the University of British Columbia, and has taught everything from software engineering to video-game development to […]
News of the Week; November 6, 2013
1. Zynga Wins ‘Scramble With Friends’ UK Lawsuit, But Must Alter Game’s Logo 2. Video game controller manufacturer Scuf Gaming files patent infringement claim against French competitor BURN controllers 3. Lewis v. Activision Blizzard 4. German Court Says MMOG Publisher Can Set Game Rules, Regardless of Consumer Rights Legislation 5. Nintendo says this amazing Super Mario site is illegal. Here’s […]
Week 8 – 10/30/13: “From Wheelbarrows to Holodecks” & Jennifer Kelly
The mysterious “missing first 20 seconds of audio” bug has made an unscheduled reappearance right at the front end. Apologies to Jennifer for a slightly over aggressive edit at the end. Since Jennifer was remote and our system only picked up her slides in class, you will have to download her slides and advance them […]
That EULA is Barely Worth the Paper It’s Printed On
Oh the EULA. The EULA (or End-User License Agreement) is that annoying pop-up we are all forced to agree to when we install new software. These contracts permeate and govern many relationships in our life, but who actually reads all of them. According to people who study this stuff, it would take between 200 and […]
Professor Ron Deibert @ UBC Liu Institute Nov. 5
Professor Ronald Deibert of U of T is one of the most thoughtful and knowledgeable academics in the world on the subjects of internet censorship,surveillance and information warfare. His latest book is “Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace” published in May 2013. In the wake of the Snowden revelations, the ubiquity and relevance of […]
Week 9 Guest Commentator – Andy Moore
Andy Moore will be joining us as a Guest Commentator in class next week. Andy is a programmer by trade (but a teacher at heart), and has helped game studios and other digital-media companies as a consultant, contractor, and specialist; focusing in the fields of rapid development, prototyping, data collection & analysis, and the “lean […]
News of the Week; October 30, 2013
1. Glen Greenwald: Edward Snowden’s Actions Inspired by Video Games and Comic Books 2. Star Citizen reaches $25 million in funding 3. How Forza 5 and the Xbox One use the cloud to drive machine-learning AI 4. Wind Waker, GTA V, and the beauty of the videogame selfie 5. “Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies” Review: Still appealing 6. AT&T Files Patent […]