Video Games 101
If you haven't played a videogame since Ms. Pac-Man, you probably have some catching up to do. Kurt makes it easy with a quick guided tour of the state of the art. Produced by Curtis Fox.
Iraq and the XBox
In the mid-90s, the U.S. military discovered that Marines were customizing the video game Doom to practice warfare, which prompted the Marine Corps to develop its own version of the game as an actual training tool. Now the military is busy developing incredibly realistic video games that help soldiers anticipate the confusion of peacekeeping and the massive complexity of real urban warfare. Rachel McCarthy reports.
- Visit the Full Spectrum Warrior website
- Read "All But War is Simulation," Professor Timothy Lenoir's article on the Military-Entertainment Complex
- Purchase Urban Chaos
Super Mario Clouds
Imagine walking through an art gallery and finding a single wall of digital clouds lifted from the classic "80" Nintendo game Super Mario Brothers. Cory Arcangel, the young artist behind the project, explains to Rebecca Cascade why reprogramming video game software comes as naturally to him as wielding a paintbrush.
- Visit the website for Shanna Compton's book Gamers
- Purchase Gamers: Writers, Artists, and Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels
Richard Linklater
He lives in Austin, not L.A. He enjoys a level of creative freedom few filmmakers can afford. He jumps from quasi-animated philosophical films like A Scanner Darkly to mainstream comedies like School of Rock to classic romances like Before Sunset. Writer-director Richard Linklater talks with Kurt Andersen about the choices he's made and why they don't define him.
