History and Games This Week
Welcome to the week in history and games, a short collection of links to stories and news that we hope you find interesting.
A lot happened this week! Some big news on the academic side but also some fantastic work to share. I will start with a couple of games history pieces that released in the press this past week, this article in The Atlantic about segregation in esports and The Guardian's coverage of the role of black pioneers in gaming history. Both articles came on the same morning! An exciting day in the History Respawned office.
Bret Devereaux continues to discuss the historical assumptions behind Paradox Interactive's Europa Universalis IV. In this article, Bret focuses on war and diplomacy, systems he feels are some of the more successful aspects of the game. Charles Games posted their videos from the recent Ludonarracon event. And Javier Rayon, writer and director of upcoming "story driven Lovecraft+Aztecs" game Dream of Darkness, joined the Historical Games Network this week to talk about his work and how he seeks to integrate historical study and experience into his game.
Some great stuff on the games studies side this week as well! The National Videogames Museum - out of Sheffield in England, a city near and dear to John's heart - discussed the museum's origins and their collection and curation philosophy. Not Even Past, an online project and history magazine out of the University of Texas at Austin, celebrated its ten year anniversary this past week. Bob and John both went to Texas, and both have had experiences working with NEP at various points. We are delighted and inspired by their success.
There is all kinds of good news these days around digital projects in American universities. Ian Bogost, a long time commentator on higher ed, technology and society - and the author of one of John's favourite pieces of games criticism - has joined the faculty at Washington University, where he will take over as director and professor of the Film and Media Studies Program. We are excited to see what Ian leads and helps develop at Wash U.
Some interesting tidbits on online gaming culture to round things out. Apple and Epic have finally met in court and the games media is into it. Kotaku has a helpful roundup here and it is not hard to find various takes, be they commentary or meme. One of the more interesting developments this week for us was Apple's decision to call out Epic's hosting of Itch.io, one of the most interesting places on the Internet. Itch hosts all manner of creative projects, from fully fleshed out indie games to game jam products to passion project inheritors of the old punk zines of the 1980s. Itch rules, basically. So it was a pity, and also hilarious, to see Apple attack Itch for being a horrific den of inequity. Be part of the solution, not the problem: check Itch out. You can start with their "historical" tag.
It has also been a bit of a sad week for a certain corner of the Internet. Video games website Giantbomb is changing, changing utterly. Bob and John have been listening to, reading and watching these guys for almost twenty years. We look forward to future projects but we will miss the band being together. We are not the only ones.
Finally, the Civs 101 train keeps running and will not stop! Bob spoke this past week with Dr. TJ Tallie on the Zulu civ. Another week, another fantastic conversation with a historian professionally and personally engaged in the series. Stay tuned, we have plenty more coming!
