GX notes - january, 2001

As a "gaming insider" someone who reads magazines and game news daily, going to a Software Store can be a sobering experience.

The Economist, 4 January 2001, Counter-Culture:

"perhaps what is most surprising about Counter-Strike is that it challenges the notion that all people want from online multiplayer computer games is mindless violence. In fact, it seems they want their violence in a more cerebral form entirely."

Jenifer at work asks me to describe some good books for her boyfriend, who loves Moorcock. I wrote up a page of Fantasy Recommendations and Science Fiction Recommendations.

The Future Is a Cheap Plastic Box

Tim Burke sends me to Raph Koster. While I'm in a fantastic environment for learning about games and theorizing about the future of electronic entertainment, I don't have much help narrowing my questions or applying methodology to yeild scrutable results. Talking to my old professor for 72 minutes was wildly helpful in this regard.