My course: "The Art, History, and Culture of Video Games"

[Ack]

he already put Mortal Kombat in the violence section. But King of Fighters beats the crap out of Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown.

Yeah, King of Fighters. Fatal Fury: King of Fighters!

[dsheinem]

So how will the games be made available to students to play? Some I can understand via emulation, but will they be given access to things like a free WoW account for that particular week?

I am working on a chart of game availability right now! Yes, they will be required to get a Steam account as well as a free WoW account (and similar things where relevant) for the required games that necessitate them. i've primarily chosen console games with Flash ports, but some emulation (MAME, etc.) will be suggested (if not strictly enforced). I am trying to keep costs down as much as possible for them, so I am not going to be too picky about what ports they choose if I can help it.

I would amend that Duke Nukem suggestion a bit to be anything from Duke Nukem 3D and after. The earlier games don't feature the rampant sexism of the post-3D entries.

Good call. That is what I meant to suggest so, yes, I should change the wording.

If this is focusing on educational games (the title hints at that), I'd also suggest Math Blaster, Reader Rabbit, and even the likes of Battlezone and America's Army to cover how the military uses video games for education purposes.

Good suggestions for additional playing. i will have to look at ease of access...

This is an interesting one. You've left it suspiciously blank!

All in good time!

[Luke]

You're not asking college students to purchase nearly FIFTY video games are you? Please tell me you're bringing the games to class for the students to play.

Would love to see the syllabus.

[dsheinem]

Yeah, some games that might make "more sense" in certain weeks have been delegated to others. I'm also trying to consider ease of access and cost (especially for a student who may not own any consoles). For the most part the "recommended" games are there to offer a fuller field of view (e.g. MGS IS a better pick than Half-Life, but much tougher to access for a student without a console).

Regardless of where they've been pigeonholed, I think the cumulative experience of playing all these by the end of the course (even if only for 15 minutes or so each) should offer a strong base of knowledge of all the topics covered.

[noiseredux]

Would love to see the syllabus.

You already failed the Reading Comprehension section of the OP...

[brunoafh]

You're not asking college students to purchase nearly FIFTY video games are you? Please tell me you're bringing the games to class for the students to play.

Through stuff like Steam and GOG, the total cost probably wouldn't be very much unlike that of a book cost.

[Ack]

If this is focusing on educational games (the title hints at that), I'd also suggest Math Blaster, Reader Rabbit, and even the likes of Battlezone and America's Army to cover how the military uses video games for education purposes.

Good suggestions for additional playing. i will have to look at ease of access...

Here's Battlezone free to play:

http://my.ign.com/atari/battlezone

Here's Math Blaster, though you will have to register with the website first:

http://www.mathblaster.com/

And the Army puts out the America's Army games for free. America's Army 3 is available on the game's website, and America's Army: Proving Grounds should be coming out later this year.

[Luke]

Would love to see the syllabus.

You already failed the Reading Comprehension section of the OP...

That was a description, not a syllabus.

[dsheinem]

You're not asking college students to purchase nearly FIFTY video games are you? Please tell me you're bringing the games to class for the students to play.

Would love to see the syllabus.

They will have to play, not purchase ~50 games.

I am trying to work it out so that they'll have to spend less than $30-$40 or so (if that) to access all these games. Since I am ok with them playing demos or using flash based animation for each title where that's an option, I think they should be ok.

[Ack]

Oh, is Shadow Warrior still free on Steam, and will it remain so? I think it's an excellent candidate for additional playing during the Video Games and Race lecture.