First Wall Rebate

We turn this episode over to Selena Salihovic and Jeff Hutchins, friends from the Writer’s Edge, for their report on the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. They braved legions of sweaty nerds, long lines, and snot-nosed little kids to bring us this ground level view of the conference. Listen as they narrate their experiences with Princess Peach cosplayers, the free-form tournament system, and Game Boy chiptuning rock stars.

As usual, get in touch and keep checking back for new episodes. Thanks for listening.

This epsiode was produced in conjunction with our friend Mez Breeze via her wonderful site, Augmentology.

She elegantly writes:

“This podcast is the first in a series of rolling podcasts which will discuss issues relevant to synthetic ecologies. In this pocast, Trevor Dodge and Shane Hinton chat about First-Person Shooters and what it means to inhabit and play within these types of synthetic environments.

In this podcast, central issues under discussion by Shane and Trevor include:

• Differences between single and multi-player experiences in First Person Shooters and other platforms.
• Acknowledging simulated experiences within Wolfenstein, Doom, Half-Life 2, Halo, Bioshock, Battlefield: Bad Company, Call of Duty 4 andGears of War.
• Wider analysis of specific game variables including the mechanics of cut-scenes, immersion levels and violence coding[s], physic engines, biological reactions, destructible environments, FPS artificial intelligence, ethical agendas, Wii tactility and narrative extensions.”

Thanks to Mez for the opportunity to contribute, and keep your ears peeled for more episodes soon — both here and in the growing Augmentology canon.

Our first FWR Book Club episode is now complete. As some of you already know, the selection for this episode was Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg. This episode is composed of responses that we collected from friends and listeners both here at the site and in our Facebook group. Many thanks to those of you who took time to write in.

Our next Book Club selection is Gamer Theory by McKenzie Wark, available for reading both online and in the traditional dead-tree format.