Writing on the history of video games is not a new field. Numerous books and website have dissected and investigated the nearly sixty years since a group of MIT students created Spacewar! in the early 1960’s. However, the recent phenomenon of Twitch Plays Pokémon (TPP) falls outside the normal realm of videoContinue Reading
I tweeted about this a couple nights ago but in the last couple weeks Play the Past surpassed the 200,000 all-time view mark, a huge milestone for the website. I believe that the success of this site and other sites like it are indicative of the growing interest in historyContinue Reading
I have taken a particular interest recently in user created histories within video games. My first post on this was on the created history of EVE Online and now I will turn to the interesting case of DayZ. DayZ was a mod for ARMA 2 (2009) and its expansion pack ARMA 2: OperationContinue Reading
This is the second in a four-part series that reflects on a Composition II course taught in Spring 2013 called 20th Century PC Games. You can read part 1 of this series here. Here’s the thing about teaching games as text: it works. But, interestingly, it seems to work betterContinue Reading
There has been a recent blooming of games that place players in narrative-free survival situations (often called “survival sandboxes”). There’s something about the thrill of living when you should be dying. Often, much about these games are taboo in the classroom- hopeless violence, unacceptable language. But games can be studiedContinue Reading
The largest battle in the history of EVE Online took place last month on January 27, 2014. EVE Online is a game built on war and destruction but this battle (dubbed the Bloodbath at B-R5RB) was so massive in scale that it caught the attention of mainstream media outlets likeContinue Reading
Welcome to Assassin’s Creed Week presented by Play the Past, where for a whole week, Play the Past will push content on the most popular historical video game series ever. Part I introduced the Week and asked why Assassin’s Creed mattered, Part II examined slavery and native relations in the series, Part III explored the portrayalContinue Reading
Welcome to Assassin’s Creed Week presented by Play the Past, where for a whole week, Play the Past will push content on the most popular historical video game series ever. Part I introduced the Week and asked why Assassin’s Creed mattered, Part II examined slavery and native relations in the series and Part III exploredContinue Reading
Welcome to Assassin’s Creed Week presented by Play the Past, where for a whole week, Play the Past will push content on the most popular historical video game series ever. Part I introduced the Week and asked why Assassin’s Creed mattered and Part II examined slavery and native relations inContinue Reading
Welcome to Assassin’s Creed Week presented by Play the Past, where for a whole week, Play the Past will push content on the most popular historical video game series ever. Part I introduced the Week and asked why Assassin’s Creed mattered. Part II of the Assassin’s Creed Week series will look atContinue Reading