CBC.ca is currently featuring a special report called Pushing Buttons: How Video Games are Changing Our World on their front page. Highlights include a short interview with Extra Lives author Tom Bissell, an examination of the culture of digital games in the Middle East, an exploration of the role game developers have played in revitalizing / gentrifying Canadian cities, and a photo gallery ranking of the top ten Canadian video games (though I’m not sure what criteria they are using to determine their choices, not that I’m disagreeing with their number one…)
Using ESA Canada data, CBC also paints a profile of the Canadian Gamer, which suggests that the average age of a player in Canada is 35.8 years old, the gender split for gamers is roughly 2/3 male to 1/3 female, and 48% of Canadian households have one or more gaming consoles.
Other points of interest:
- The evolution of video games in Canada, featuring interview with collector Syd Bolton.
- A feature that explores if game addiction is misunderstood myth or reality.
- A multimedia feature that plots out the history of music in games.
- A report on the gay gaming experience by GayGamer.net’s David Edison.
- An exploration of the social side of online gaming.
- Speculating on the future of digital games, with a focus on what nano-tech can contribute.
- Several video and audio features, including a profile of Ubisoft Toronto’s Jade Raymond.
A lot of hard work has obviously gone into creating this series of features, addressing games from the perspectives of education, technology, business and culture. It is certainly one of the most detailed and thoughtful treatments of gaming from a mainstream media source. This should not be surprising: Peter Nowak, who seems to be behind much of the content, has done much thoughtful writing about games for CBC in the past. Unfortunately, however, this series has gone under reported in the enthusiast gaming press.
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