I always get such a thrill when I see new gaming innovation from Norway – and this time they’re even from beautifully gorgeous Bergen!
These three Bergenese lads have designed a homebrew game for PSP, which I sadly do not own – so someone else will have to judge it. It’s called Kosmodrones and is downloadable for free!!!!
There’s a trailer – and a podcast. Looks great!
(via IT-Avisen)
I’ve been toying around with an idea for months now, not actually getting anywhere – but it’s still there on my list of priorities.
I want to rent a cinema theater for a day and show Machinima films. A kind of mini-Machinima festival. My idea is to make it as commercial as possible so that people who aren’t avid gamers will be interested in attending as well.
I’ve decided that this is possible if I can organize machinima films in forms of genre. Drama – action – horror – a.s.o. I know! It’s a headache. But I think if I separate the films from the games, people might be more open. The whole point is to give an introduction to the magnificence that can come out of user-generated content. And of course the relevant fact that games are being used as a medium to express something.
Yay!!!
Bergen Media By is organizing a social event on Wednesday for the local media industry and they’ve invited Espen Aarseth to speak. The title of his talk is “The Games Industry – skills needed (kompetansebehov) and trends”.
I’m still trying to define what skills I have to contribute to the industry – do I in fact have any? I’m feeling a tad lost in the dark hoping that I’m going to stumble on to some job description that just screams Linn! So these events are truly important to me and I’m so glad they’re organizing them. And it’s so lovely seeing Bergen involving itself!
Networking, networking, networking! One should’ve thought I had the knack of it now, but I still have trouble selling myself. I feel like such a desperate geek and wish I could just lean back, nod my head knowingly and just casually say “You know, you should hire me because I could do this and that and thingamabob for you” and then completely relaxed just hand them one of my flickr cards with a little wink and a “give me call”. I sometimes blame a university education for my insecurities, because they, at least my department, don’t exactly scream to the world “look at all the incredible wonderful stuff our students are doing”! Instead we just walk around feeling like disturbances in the faculty’s research time. I still feel the pain I got when I realised that there was a gaming conference going on at my department without anyone telling me about it. Meeting someone who had finished his thesis over a year ago and being asked “Why weren’t you upstairs? I was sure you’d be there!” – was just devastating!
But where are my manners? I shouldn’t be pouring my hurt feelings onto this blog! I should be looking ahead and beyond into the bright glowing future! I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that I actually do know a few things. And I’m loving the fact that I can now write articles because I have a degree that says “Linn knows what she’s talking about” that gives me the right to well…write! Hehe! It’s a nice feeling!
So – Wednesday! Espen Aarseth! I’ll be there! Digital cinema, Its Learning and Bergen in the Movies (Varg Veum) are also on the agenda. Looks to be an inspiring night!
First Tuesday has a branch in Bergen and they’ve organised a talk about Second Life on Tuesday. Imagine my excitement! It seems like the talk is based on discussing whether this virtual world is worth exploring for local businesses. My thought is: “Give me one good reason why not!”
Speakers will be IBM Sales Director, Bjørn Roksvold, the Project Manager of Design Containers Second Life, Ela Oliva and Severin Roald from Burson-Marsteller (this guy intrigues me, because his title is “Digital Media Champion” – which is a completely new word in my dictionary – I’m keen to learn what that’s all about).
Personally, I feel that the local businesses in Bergen don’t really have a sufficient web presence. It’s like they want people to have a hard time of finding out what they’re about, which has to be destructive on so many levels – or have I missed something here? I think it would be lovely for them all to get more involved with Second Life.
Magnet and Funcom’s Dreamfall have been nominated for ‘Best Video Game Score’ at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards’! Excellent, excellent, excellent!!!! I’m so proud!!!! Oh…how I hope they win!!! Maybe then things will start blossoming in this country – and investors will be running after game designers!
Magnet being a ‘Bergenser’ makes my heart pound even harder!!! Hats off to them and congratulations Funcom!!! I shamefully haven’t played it yet! But is number one on my list!!!
Nina Svane-Mikkelsen is a Ph.D. fellow (umh…I still get confused by university titles, so…) at my department (Information Science and Media Studies) and is working on a project entitled: Affinity and Battlefield. New media and museum communication – Communication design under imperative of database. Artistic intervention as a narrative grip.
They’re working on a computer game which is for the time being called, Maretind.
The research project represent a vast collection of data to the inspiration of the game plot. As one of the maritime researchers put it: ”Our data collection have ranged from oceanographic and acoustics, to various studies on organisms that range in size from microscopic plankton to large whales. Dephts ranged from the surface to 3000 meters and extended from the cold-water environment south of Iceland to the tropic environment north of the Azores.” (mar-eco cruise journal 1. july, http://www.mar-eco.no/)
Good games combine a number of complex elements such as situations, where decisions must be made, challenging goals and a satifying feedback. Without these basic elements a game will easily become boring. The result must be that the way the gamers interact with the game, the game process, is parallel with what the game is about. (almost-quotes from “Learning to play to learn” by Nick Fortugno and Eric Zimmerman, Learning Lab Newsletter)”
I’m so pleased that this is going on at my department! And oh what fun it would be to be a part of it!!! Anyways….they’re still at the starting line and I just wanted to wish them good luck! I just love the combo of museum, art, information communication and learning through gameplay!!
This year, we’re commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Henrik Ibsen (is it just me or isn’t it a bit odd celebrating a great man’s death instead of his birth, although I’m sure we do that as well?).
Lots of innovative stuff is blossoming out of the woodwork from all over the world! I’ve truely been amazed several times.
i1277 sent me (oh how I adore being a part of this ‘secret’ Infomedia blogging network) this BBC produced Peer Gynt game! I think it’s great! Short and pointless, to be sure, but a lovely homage to the music of Peer Gynt!
Photo: From the visual profile for the Ibsen Year 2006
Remember What The Dormouse Said 