By Ryan Van Etten on 04/21/2010
Game designer/researcher Jane McGonigal asserts that collaborative videogames are the key to solving our real-world problems. In the video here, she outlines why she considers World of Warcraft to be an “ideal collaborative problem-solving environment.” She discusses four key factors in gaming culture that give gamers an edge at problem-solving—urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning.
Posted in Activism, Education, Gaming, Infoculture | Tagged collaboration, counterculture, creativity, culture, game design, gaming culture, innovation, Jane McGonigal, mindset, MMO, MMORPG, motivation, problem-solving, psychology, social gaming, social intelligence, TED, trust, urgent evoke, video, videogame, virtual worlds, WoW
By Ryan Van Etten on 02/02/2010
Piano music is as popular in Second Life as it is in real life. The setting is a virtual world—the music is real, interactive, and on key. This vivid photoset features pianos and players (avatars) in Second Life. 11 photos and 1 video.
Posted in Gaming, Music, News, Photo Journal | Tagged avatars, culture, music gaming, nightlife, photos, piano, pianos, Second Life, videogame, virtual piano, virtual worlds, virtuality
By Ryan Van Etten on 11/17/2009
I saw this interview of Dhani Harrison on Conan O’Brien the night before The Beatles Rock Band’s debut in September, and until then I had not realized that George’s son, Dhani Harrison, had played such a major role in the development of the game. In the interview Dhani describes how he ended up working on creation of The Beatles Rock Band, which started with his 5-year-long Guitar Hero obsession.
Posted in Design, Editorial, Gaming, Interviews, Music | Tagged alternative, band, band websites, Conan O'Brien, development, Dhani Harrison, facebook, game design, interaction, interview, music gaming, musicians, MySpace, Rock Band, rock/pop, social media, social music, stickam, The Beatles, The Beatles Rock Band, thenewno2, video, videogame
By Ryan Van Etten on 11/16/2009
The Beatles rock on in 2009 and players of The Beatles Rock Band have posted YouTube videos to show it. Here you can compare a video of Revolution from the videogame with the video of Revolution performed by The Beatles in 1968.
Posted in Gaming, Music | Tagged arts, band, comparison, fans, flashback, gamers, generation, live music, music gaming, players, revolution, Rock Band, rock/pop, The Beatles, The Beatles Rock Band, video, videogame, virtuality, YouTube
By Ryan Van Etten on 10/09/2009
Musicians will soon be able to submit their original tracks into Rock Band via the Rock Band Network. This looks to be a promising virtual platform allowing indie artists—creators—to contribute songs to the game in a democratic fashion—each new track is reviewed and voted on by peers in the community before being accepted into the game. This is great news for players and indie musicians alike.
Posted in Editorial, Gaming, Music, Music Flux | Tagged creators, entertainment, Harmonix, indie, Microsoft, music gaming, music industry, musicians, platform, revenue, Rock Band, Rock Band Network, videogame, Xbox
By Tanya Robertson on 08/19/2009
SpaceJunky is a real-life band who have been performing live shows in the virtual world of Second Life. SL is about creating your dream, and the ability to creatively visualize a music concert is wonderful, as you can do things here you cannot do in RL.
Posted in Gaming, Music | Tagged band, bands, interaction, Izzy Cole, music gaming, performing, rock/pop, Second Life, social music, spacejunky, videogame, virtual bands
By Ryan Van Etten on 07/20/2009
Music and videogames were made for each other. Here’s a videogame concept that’s been virtually bouncing my mind, called either VirtualBouncer, or VirtualVenue. There would be two main player types—bouncers and club-goers—and there would be character options for each.
Posted in Design, Editorial, Education, Gaming, Music | Tagged behavior, concept, crowdsourcing, data, game design, idea, ideas, information, interaction, licensing, mashups, music gaming, revenue, robots, social intelligence, venue, videogame, virtualization
