Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Video Games 101 for Baby Boomers

I haven't been posting for a while. Sorry. I've been playing Xbox 360. It is awesome.

I realized while thinking of new hip-hop 101 topics that maybe we're done with the intro class. If you've been following along the whole way, you're pretty well schooled in Basic Rap. From now on, hip-hop discussions will move on to advance topics where a basic understanding of the culture is a pre-requisite.

So what then, does this whipper-snapper still have to teach his elders? Where is the next generational gap that needs bridging? Videogames. Duh.

Just like when we started talking about I expect there to be some grumbling and stinkyfaces when I drop the V-bomb. As self-evidently awesome as videogames have been to me, basically my entire life, to many people born before 1965 they are just the most pointless, stupid, irritating little things.

I'm not sure what strategy I'm going to take in terms of designing the curriculum. I could do a survey of the history, or maybe wow you with the latest and greatest and try to work backwards. We'll see. But I do have a goal in mind. And my goal is this:

I want you to be more like Old Granny Hardcore



I want you to be able develop a critical vocabulary, be somewhat knowledgeable about the Great Games and the history of the industry, and I'd really like you to go out and play videogames and enjoy them.

Odds are you probably do play videogames right now, though you don't even think about it. It's called Freecell Solitaire.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe they should give nursing home residents (captives) access to videogames! No, I don't play Freecell Solitaire. Are you familiar with the late (as of 7/10/07) beautiful and brilliant Theresa Duncan? She developed prize-winning, videogames for girls. "Chop Suey" won CD-ROM of the year in '95. Her other girl-centric games were hugely successful. After CD-ROMS tanked, she went on to other art and film projects with her lover, artist Jeremy Blake, who committed suicide a few weeks after she had done the same. A real loss to the artistic world. So! Thought we wouldn't know ONE THING about videogames, huh?

Good to have you back!

Kurtis aka KRS2

11:25 PM  

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