Forbidden Planet — a pizzeria and video arcade — held its grand opening Thursday night in downtown Iowa City, serving up pizza and beer (at last!) in the space…
video games
Posted inFood & Drink
Quarter Barrel arcade and brewery to open in Cedar Rapids
There are bars with arcade games and arcades with bars. And then there are “barcades,” establishments that Chris Ellis, co-owner and brewer of…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: New modes of distribution have opened the playing field for local developers
It’s an exciting time for video games. In recent years, alongside the rise of so-called “triple-A” games—like the upcoming Destiny (2014) that cost exorbitant amounts…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: It’s time for video games to enter the humanities curriculum
Ever since the first versions of the video game Oregon Trail appeared in the early 1970s, the notion that video games might have a productive place in a…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Game Geeks to host bone-crunching video game tournament
The first annual Iowa City Fight Club kicks off February 28, giving the area’s best gamers a chance to show off their skills and take home some fat loot. Game Geeks, a video game hobby shop recently opened in the downtown Hall Mall (114 1/2 East College Street, above TCB Pool Hall), is hosting the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
A video game oasis opens this Friday in the Ped Mall
Video game aficionados take note: You’ll soon have a new place to buy and trade games in downtown Iowa City. Game Geeks opens Friday at 5 p.m. in the Hall Mall (114 1/2 East College Street, above TCB Pool Hall), and they’ve planned a full night of gaming goodness in celebration of their new digs. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: Can a few cables and a laptop stand in for an expensive gaming system?
For many consumers, this holiday season will mean making a difficult decision about what video game console to purchase. There’s the recently released…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: An ode to the days of cheating
There are some things missing from most games these days—elements of gameplay that were once essential parts of the home gaming experience. Extra lives, for example, are a thing of the past, obviated by the ability to save one’s game, and by the ubiquitous “autosave.” With extra lives, so too goes the “Game Over,” the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: Mobile devices challenge the traditional video game console
There’s a good chance you haven’t yet noticed, but the next generation of gaming consoles is upon us: Nintendo’s Wii U, which many consumers don’t even recognize…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Will Whitmore as the voice of the apocalypse
As a working musician, William Elliott Whitmore has become a jack-of-all-trades. In addition to six full-length records and a handful of singles, Whitmore has provided music for various movies, documentaries and television shows. In 2010, Whitmore recorded his own version of the old cowboy tune “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” for the emotional […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: The cutscene effect
Let’s be honest: Video game cutscenes—those moments when control is taken from the user so that story information can be conveyed through a cinema-style sequence—almost always disappoint. Dialogue is often stilted and the voice acting is subpar; character expressions are muted at best and immobile at worst, sticking them firmly in the “uncanny valley” of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
EPX Animation & Gaming Con to feature industry pros
The video game industry is a diverse network of creative, design-oriented professionals whose names resonate with millions of video game fans across the world. For every J.J. Abrams, there is a Phil Fish. For every Guillermo Del Toro, there is a Jonathan Blow. Their keynotes draw thousands, and their philosophies on interactive design and player agency are incredibly complex for a hobby that’s often derided as a brainless exercise in destruction.
