About
Jeff Watson is an artist, designer, and Assistant Professor of Interactive Media and Games at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
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Category Archives: Blog
Spooky Action Heroes
Physicists at the University of Geneva achieved the weird result by creating a pair of ‘entangled’ photons, separating them, then sending them down a fibre optic cable to the Swiss villages of Satigny and Jussy, some 18 kilometres apart. The … Continue reading
Architecture of Density
Hong Kong architectural photographs by Michael Wolf
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Tagged architecture, michael wolf, urban space
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The Antikythera Mechanism and the Olympics
Researchers have finally figured out (some of) what the mysterious Antikythera Mechanism does. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in The Lost Ring… The world’s first known scientific instrument plotted the positions of celestial bodies nineteen … Continue reading
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Ultimate Optimal Villager Strategy
Jane McGonigal is giving away Werewolf tricks on her blog: Avi Bryant and I worked out on paper an Ultimate Optimal Villager Strategy for a Small Village playing “no reveal” (12 or fewer players, with both a seer and a … Continue reading
ryugyong.org
In June 2005 the prestigious international monthly architecture magazine Domus launched the Call for Ideas on architecture and geopolitics for the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang (Boeri et al. 2005). This was the aftermath of Stefano Boeri, Armin Linke and Andrea … Continue reading
EBR: Puppet-masters, Designers and Academics
Two recent EBR posts worth looking at when thinking about pervasive gaming: Jane McGonigal’s The Puppet Master Problem: Design for Real-World, Mission-Based Gaming… The gamer’s exercise of free will has long been assumed to be a core and constant experiential … Continue reading
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Tagged arg, christy dena, ebr, jane mcgonigal
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Kilometer-High Solar Tower
A new energy concept called a solar tower could generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes. Looking like a giant smokestack, it would release no noxious fumes — just sun-heated air. Demonstrated more than 20 years ago, the basic design calls … Continue reading
The Trons
The Trons are an all-robot band, composed of little machines named Ham, Wiggy, Swamp and FiFi. They have a MySpace page and play gigs in their native New Zealand. Here’s a poster featuring them from an upcoming show:
Magnetic Movie
Naturally, magnetic fields are invisible, but the scientists from Space Sciences Laboratory at NASA have made animated photographs to make them visible. To create this, they use 3D compositing along with sound-controlled CGI, that make the fields dance in an … Continue reading
Chaotic Communities
Some early findings on running a global ARG are coming in from Lost Ring puppetmaster Jane McGonigal. If this thesis statement grabs you, then read the full article on designing and playing in “chaotic communities” here: …in videogames, sandbox mode … Continue reading