“Playing at history”. A few generations ago, science fiction writers seemed almost alone in entertaining the thought. Today, the very idea of going on a trip in a virtual historical setting has gone mainstream, thank in good part to the spread of video games. This success comes at a price.Continue Reading
On May 7, 2021 at the 88th ACFAS congress, I delivered a presentation on replayability in video games in a conference organized by Simon Dor from University from Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Julien Bazile from the University of Sherbrooke, entitled “Controlling the Past: Design and Critique of the Mechanics ofContinue Reading
This interview is the part three of a three-part series on teaching historical game studies at the undergraduate level, and the second half of our interview with Julien Bazile. In this interview, we discuss with Julien his research into Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise, the use of historical sources in gameContinue Reading
This interview is the part two of a three-part series on teaching historical game studies at the undergraduate level, and part one of our interview with researcher Julien Bazile. In this interview, we discuss with Julien his role in co-designing the HST 287 “History, video games and gamification” course, offered inContinue Reading
This article is part four of a four-part series on the future of quantification in history. For the thematic introduction to the series, please click here. Or click on the following links for part one, part two, or part three. Kaplunk: “Your reserve in tools is low.” Kaplunk: “Your reserve inContinue Reading
This article is part three of a four-part series on the future of quantification in history. For the thematic introduction to the series, please click here. Or click on the following links for part one, or part two. It’s when your favorite character gets pointlessly killed that you truly beginContinue 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
Welcome to Assassin’s Creed Week. After my plans for reading week fell through, I figured I would put some time into finally writing out some thoughts I have had on the Assassin’s Creed series and never had the chance to put to digital paper. So from Monday to Friday thisContinue Reading