Archive for March, 2009

Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives Update

[I recently contributed a literacy narrative to The Ohio State University’s Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives and now my story is available for viewing on its website. Any person may make a contribution at any time and researchers (undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate) will make use of them. From Cynthia. BK]

category: Gaming, Life, Literacy, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

“Rock Band” Franchise Exceeds $1 Billion In Sales Before Beatles Game Arrives (Rolling Stone)

Whatever the revenue gap between RB and GH is now, expect it fluctuate as both titles release big-name versions this year: Guitar Hero: Metallica hits shelves March 29th (James Hetfield talks that game here) and The Beatles: Rock Band, perhaps the most-anticipated game in either franchise’s history, will be released on September 9th, 2009. To […]

category: Gaming, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Cloud Computing Games: The Future? (Red Herring)

If, when the device launches, the servers can still retain the lag-free instant-stream gameplay, then OnLive will have successfully redefined the video game industry. PC gamers will no longer have to spend thousands of dollars in order to play a game at maximum settings–they can simply stream it onto their screen. And there’s great potential […]

category: Gaming, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Farrelly Brothers’ Three Stooges Saga: The 13-Year Backstory (MTV News)

Almost 40 years after the final Three Stooges movie, “Kook’s Tour,” was released, it appears the Farrelly brothers are finally on their way to bringing the slapstick trio back to the big screen. As Variety reported earlier this week, Sean Penn has signed on to play Larry, negotiations are under way with Jim Carrey for […]

category: Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

New York Museum Opens National Center for the History of Electronic Games (Gamasutra)

The new National Center for the History of Electronic Games houses a 15,000-item collection — one of the largest in the United States, it claims — including some 10,000 games as well as every major system released since the Magnavox Odyssey, recognized as the first video game console. –Chris Remo

category: Gaming, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

Chrome only browser left standing after day one of Pwn2Own (Ars Technica)

The contest awards security researchers with hardware and cash prizes for finding efficient ways to trick browsers into executing arbitrary code. During the first day of the competition, the contestants are required to do this in default browser installations without plugins such as Flash or Java, which are commonly used as vectors for attacks. Researchers […]

category: Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology    

CCCC 2009 Recap

[Elizabeth and I made it back from San Francisco for a third time this year. Unfortunately, I do not have as many highlights because I spent most of the trip preparing my paper and presentation, which greeted me with poor attendance and one question from a BGSU colleague. BK] Day 1-3 SWAG! All conference attendees […]

category: Life    

CCCC 2009 (Discourse Chronicle)

[No blog this week. I’m presenting a paper titled “Composing in Castlevania: A Process Look at Playing Video Games” at the National C’s conference in San Francisco, CA. BK]

category: Life    

Microsoft to see if shoot-em-up games can enhance education (El Paso Times)

Microsoft has put up $1.5 million to start The Games for Learning Institute, a joint venture with New York University and other colleges. The goal of the research is to see whether video games — and not just software specifically designed to be educational — can draw students into math, science and technology-based programs. The […]

category: Gaming, Literacy, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Technology