Job – Thanks for the kind words. To be honest, I sometimes think that recycling stuff I find on video game message boards is rather pointless and stupid, but then I just remember that most people don’t spend as much time doing “research” as I do. As my good friend Joe Simko likes to say “The internet was made for Matt!”

And speaking of George, besides being a super cool guy, I haven’t talked to the guy in ages and now I’m definitely going to have to bother him about Lumines.

Also, recently I was going over some old notes of mine and I came across a sheet of paper in which he dotted down his email address. George also wrote: “If you want to know what I think about other gamers: http://www.pwned.nl“

Umi – Oops! I forgot to include a link to the page where you can download the custom made covers. I just added to there it should be, but now that site down (I’m assuming its becoming so popular that bandwidth has been exceeded).

But you can find a link to Nintendo’s online store to get the cases here.

dhex – Gee’s focus wasn’t on age, just the fact that games could be used as an excellent teaching tool since they are rule systems that convey complex structure and syntax that is easily grasped, despite any age really.

Granted, it is “easier” to learn at a younger age, hence why young kids who can read and comprehend instruction manuals that are far above normal level of reading was used as an example, but all people are pre-programmed to find patterns, such as ones that deal with shape, movement, and combinations. Pattern recognition is primal, and games do this inherently. And this was what Gee explored.

As for a child’s perception of consequences in both the game space and real life, and how that affects learning, is a major point, but it wasn’t covered in his lecture, but one would have to assume that its been touched upon in his work, which unfortunately I’m not all that familiar with, but I intend on changing that.

David – Yeah, I’ve been really bad about passing word onto others about game related events (which is really bad since, as you might recall, that’s going to be my new duty at the IGDA via the new NY chapter website). But then again, it seems like most folks are super busy these days, with the GDC coming up, plus I know lots of folks who are slammed with finals and the such.

Its funny how there’s now this small explosion of things happening in NYC to the point that its sorta becoming hard to keep track, which is a good thing in my book. I just wish I could go check them all out, but there’s a limit to everything. So on that note, enjoy tonight’s Gamers Nite Groove! I’m assuming that Steamboy’s been sold out for a while now, unless you have tickets, and in that case, you lucky bastard!

-David

keep it up on the posts…

for every 3 hours Matt spends on the web.. I only need to spend one.
I never miss it.

also… i confess that just 2 weeks ago, i converted all of my GBA cases to DS cases… i’d post a pic… but is nearly identical to whats already up.
(it’s so satisfying having them all lined up on the shelf..)

also.. George K has Lumines.
i hate him.
(that’s why i won’t leave him alone…. or his PSP)
I never really liked puzzle games beyond Tetris Attack until now…
so cool.

Plus I used to be very concerned that my memory was failing, so another reason why I started doing this was help improve it, and it’s totally done wonders (now I have a reason to remember every tiny little thing).

And ultimately, I think I’ve become a better writer because of it, though I think everyone can agree that I’m still the kind of writer who just needs an editor.

Another added benefit? I can now type like crazy fast; I don’t even look at the keyboard anymore!