Pushing Buttons

NPR’s ‘On the Media’ Covers Gaming

The latest episode of WNYC/NPR’s On the Media radio show concerns the cultural and technological influence of digital games.  The show features input from New York Times Magazine technology writer Clive Thompson, games historian Steven Kent, and Kill Screen’s Jamin Brophy-Warren, among others.  Like CBC.ca’s “Pushing Buttons” feature last fall, it is very nice to see digital games addressed in the mainstream press with thoughtful attention.  Archived audio, in .mp3 form, as well as episode transcripts are available now.

CBC News Examines Video Games, Gamers and Game Cutlure

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.

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