Yesterday, news reported of scientists artificially creating out of body exeriences. This is extremely cool! One interesting thing is that the newscast I watched approached the news from the gaming side. “A discovery that may revolutionize the gaming industry,” they called it.

Well, I’m not sure I see that coming anytime soon. The discovery made by these scientists is probably important, but if you put it into perspective, there are a couple of interesting questions that come to mind.

1. Have people already experienced out of body sensations while playing games? I think it’s fairly probable that it might happen in the right circumstances. The experiment referenced above is extremely simple so an out of body experience while playing Half Life, for instance, might happen by accident. It might also be possible to induce the experience by other, equally simple, means. Does it have to be visual and physical input that matches? How accurate need it be?

2. How easy is it to ruin the sensation? Firstly, I suspect that the VR goggles used in the experiment are really important since they visually isolate the subject from the “real world”. Secondly, the physical sensation that induce the out of body experience will, most likely, need to be consistent. This means that in a game, everything that happens to the player character must be felt by the player. Furthermore, I suspect that no other physical input than those the game induces should be experienced while playing. It might work if the player is put into a float tank with some nifty suit that can induce physical input, but this sounds like lots of new technology that I believe are still pretty far off.

3. How adaptive is the brain to these types of sensations? Can humans learn to separate the sensation from the induced experience from real life? If so, it would probably be possible to make better equipment to get more accurate results, but if the brain can adapt to that, we have an arms race going. And then – is there a reachable border where we can’t make that distinction anymore?

Still, I think it would be very interesting to create a gaming experience that utilizes this experiment’s results in a clever way. Maybe all it takes is a pair of VR goggles, a Wiimote with rumble and some clever game design?

Persuasive games receives quite a lot of attention, and rightly so. The videogame “platform” is in many respects ideal for conveying messages in a powerful way. The idea, as I understand it, is this: if you could turn your message into an interactive experience, that will make your message more contagious. This is because games add interactivity to the power of ordinary video (sound and moving images) and interactivity done right engages us. This seems to be what people are doing with games such as “Fatworld” and “Airport Security”.

I have just begun reading “Persuasive Technology” by B.J. Fogg and cannot say that I know anything about the theories and ideas behind persuasion in interactive media, but I hope that the book will shed some light on the subject.

There is, however, one thing that immediately came to mind as I browsed through the foreword. I played a lot of “Brain Trainer” on my Nintendo DS a few months back and I was stunned with the efficiency the game captivated me and persuaded me to come back to it time and time again. At the time I thought a bit about what the game was doing and how it affected me. I came to the conclusion that the key was the guy on the screen – Dr. Kawashima. He actually got to me like he was a real person.

When I started up the game and the good old Doc greeted me, he said something like “Hello Mikael, good to see you again. It seems like you have been away for almost five days now.” He could as well have added “Shame on you!” because that’s how I felt. The next day I fired up the game. I must confess I did it partly to keep the Doc happy.

That, to me, is persuasive power!

Of course, there is a fine balance here. The good Doctor in that game is a double-edged sword. It’s been months since I played the game. It sits in a drawer at home and I am reluctant to start it up again. Why? I am half-expecting the Doc to tan my hind for being away for so long.

I feel that there are immense powers here that just waits to be unleashed. Cleverly designed games can convey powerful messages efficiently. Furthermore, I believe more “traditional” games can benefit by applying techniques for making better tutorials, create more intuitive interfaces and generally hook the player to the game.

I played about four hours into “Okami” this weekend and boy is the game cool! Some initial impressions:

The game is absolutely stunning visually. The graphic style is beautiful. Radiant! The only setback was the lack of 16:9 support.

The controls feel a little “flimsy” at times. I noticed it mostly when getting inside houses and trying to maneuver through doors, up ladders etc. In combat they are absolutely spot on, though, and while running around, they do feel very good – not as tight as in “Twilight Princess”, but almost there.

Storytelling is good. I played “Animal Crossing” and was already somewhat used to the semi-synthetic bubble-bobble voices. The main problem is that the game opens with a lot of cutscenes. The first two hours or so are heavy with narrative but after that the game loosens up and becomes more about gameplay.

Some of the puzzles are overly simple and the game goes a long way totally explaining exactly what you should do to solve a puzzle, and it does so several times.

The “Celestial Brush” gameplay feels fresh and tunes extremely well into the tone and style of the game. There are so extremely much about “Okami” that makes it a close cousin to “Twilight Princess” and the Zelda series. “Ocarina of Time” had the ocarina, “The Windwaker” had the windwaker and “Okami” has the brush.

The RPG elements are certainly interesting and adds a layer to the game that is different from Zelda. I guess I need to play more until I get a grip on how it works in the long run.

I picked up the game for a bargain. It was released in the EU early 2007 and can be bought for about 20-30 Euro (at least here in Sweden). Although I haven’t played that long, I can definitely recommend the game. It’s very interesting and one of the most beautiful games ever.

I picked up the Wii version of RE4 two days ago. I have only spent some 4 hours with the game so far, but I am extremely pleased with how the port turned out. It looks exactly like the GC version (which was beautiful), but plays much better. The Wiimote is spot on for aiming and shooting and although the controls are not as good as mouselook for look and aim it is definitely blowing two-stick controls to pieces.

The game’s controls really prove that the Wiimote has enough precision for shooting games (I can’t wait to play “Metroid Prime 3: Corruption”). And with this precision it also proves that it would be great for controlling games in other genres in a more intuitive way. I would, for instance, love to see “Pikmin 3” on the Wii.

Yesterday I went downtown and finally bought myself a Wii. The night was spent with Wii Sports and Rayman: Raving Rabbids and today I am a bit sore in my arms – throwing cows in Rayman can be exhausting…

The Wii is the latest in a long string of videogaming computers and consoles that I have owned or had around. Currently I have a Wii, a PS2, a DS, a Gamecube and a Gameboy Advance at home. There have been others as well. Here is a timeline on my gaming history.

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

My father broughts home one of those around 1981. I was about 9 and I was instantly hooked. Initially, we played TI Invaders (A “Space Invaders” clone) on the family black and white TV, but soon I picked up other games, such as:

• Muchman (A fast-paced “Pac Man” version)
• Parsec
• Scott Adam’s Pirate Adventure

Soon I wanted to do my own games, and did a few – in TI Basic.

Commodore 64

I never owned a C64, nor did my father buy one. I had friends that did have one, however, and we played tons and tons of games on that machine. A few gems that come to mind are:

• Boulder Dash
• Suspended
• Paradroid
• Archon
• International Karate +
• The Last Ninja
• Elite
• Wizball

Me and a friend wanted to make games for the machine, but we aimed too high and never finished anything.

Amiga 500

Bought around 1987, this was my first own computer. I sticked with it for the upcoming years and played lots and lots of games on it.

Games I especially remember from the Amiga period was:

• Populous
• Kick Off 2
• Elite (again)
• The Guild of Thieves
• Silent Service
• Pirates
• Silkworm
• Lemmings
• Wizball (again)

Amiga 1200

I upgraded to the A1200 in 1993 and focused more on programming, but there was a lot of games played as well. A few of them were:

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Flashback
• SimCity

Nintendo 64

When I bought the N64 in 1998, it was because of the fantastic “Ocarina of Time”. Since then, gaming has changed a bit for me. It has moved away from the desktop and into the livingroom. Notable N64 games:

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Super Mario 64
• Banjo Kazooie
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

The PC

I bought a PC in 1999 and ran Linux on it from the start. I also kept a Windows installation for the occasional game, but most games were played from the sofa by this time.

• Grim Fandango
• Riven
• The Curse of Monkey Island

Playstation 2

I bought the PS2 around 2001. The reason? Well, if you like games you can’t affort not to have one. There are just too many fantastic games out there for this little machine. Just to name a few:

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
• Ratchet & Clank (the whole series)
• ICO
• Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Fahrenheit
• God of War

Game Boy Advance

I bought the GBA around 2001 and played it a lot while commuting to Uppsala and my work at Starbreeze. It was also handy to bring along on vacations. On the GBA, I had the chance to pick up some classic Nintendo releases, for example:

• Super Mario Advanced
• Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advanced 3
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the past

Apple iBook

Bought in 2003 to replace my PC. I looked for a system that allowed me to run the stuff I ran under Linux and also allow me to run programs such as Photoshop. OS X was my choice and I have never regretted it. Not much games are played on my macs, but there are a few:

• The Edifice
• Another Earth, Another Sky
• The Secret of Monkey Island (I love emulation)
• Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge

Gamecube

I bought the Gamecube in 2003, again because of the latest Zelda game. The machine has brought a string of great titles, for example:

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• Metroid Prime
• Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
• Beyond Good and Evil
• Resident Evil 4
• Pikmin
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest

iMac G5

This machine bought in 2005 is now my main workstation. I don’t do almost any gaming on it, though. Just the occasional interactive fiction or emulation.

Xbox 360

I was never even tempted to buy an Xbox, and when the 360 was released I never bothered too much. Starbreeze, however provided me with one in 2006 and I had it at home until I left the company in March 2007. I didn’t play very many games on the 360 and the following list is actually all the games I played on it (including one Xbox title).

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Didn’t like it so I traded it for “New Super Mario Bros”)
• Tomb Raider: Legend
• Fable (Xbox game)
• Prey (I didn’t like it)
• Halo 2 (Xbox game – I didn’t like it)

Nintendo DS Lite

I really liked my GBA, but hated that the screen was not backlit. Then the DS came and it seemed nice, but looked like s**t. But the DS Lite was love at first sight and I bought one as soon as it was released in 2006. Now, I have not played very many original DS games, but mostly replayed a bunch of my old GBA titles.

• New Super Mario Bros
• Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?

Nintento Wii

Bought yesterday (May 9, 2007). I initially wanted to get one at launch with “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess”, but there was serious shortage of consoles and the game was available for the Gamecube. So I bought the GC version (I’m almost finished) and postponed the Wii purchase until now.

It is too soon to list any games for the Wii, but I suspect that I will use it as I have used my other machines – to play both new games and classics that was originally released for another older console. For one, I really want to play “Wind Waker” again.

[EDIT: Eventually, I bought a Xbox 360 and a couple of months ago, I purchased a Playstation 3. Half a year ago, I also got an iPod Touch.]