Earlier this year TAG hosted a 5a7 symposium on gendering games. The event was such a huge success, I’ve been asked to run another 5a7 on the same topic. This time, however, I want to push things just a little bit farther. While it’s important to talk about gendered representations of videogames and gamers, and to think about their repercussions, coming up with real solutions to these problems means talking about power in a much …

At this week’s 5a7, Jason Begy will recount his experiences serving as an expert witness for the defendants in Tetris Holding Company (THC) vs Xio Interactive. This case was a copyright lawsuit wherein the defendants, Xio Interactive, were sued by THC for cloning Tetris and selling it on Apple’s App Store. Xio admitted to cloning Tetris, but their defense was that the elements THC claimed under copyright were not copyrightable under US law. This presentation …

Having just moved here, I recently discovered the Canada Centre for Architecture here in Montreal. Imagine my joy when I found out that it’s FREE on Thursdays after 5:30! What’s more, they offer free public events as well. This thursday, Sept 5th there’s a talk by Mariana Siracusa (Ph.D, Politecnico di Milano), called An operating manual for the obsolete machine. Here’s the description from the CCA website:
“Mariana Siracusa talks about computers and their relation to …

Come on out this Thursday as we bid a fond farewell to our wonderful coordinator and co-conspirator Jane Tingley. Jane will soon be taking off for Waterloo, where she’ll be teaching digital media design and production at the University of Waterloo’s Stratford Campus. While we’re sure we’ll see her again, we also happen to think this is a great excuse for a party!

What: Hang out, make merry, and wish Jane farewell before she sets off …

Following up on our last 5a7 about games and mobilization with MOB Montreal, we’ll be hosting an open discussion on games for change this Thursday from 5-7pm. As Wikipedia points out, games for change refers to a movement, a community of practice, a non-profit organization, a festival, and any game that targets the ideal of using games to foster social change. While we’d like to talk about all of these things, we’re going to focus on thinking …

Carolyn Jong and Paj Saraf will be running a 2-day introductory workshop on Skyrim modding entitled “Making Strange.” Over the course of this workshop we’ll be using the Skyrim Creation Kit to modify Skyrim and “make strange” familiar locations such as Dragonsreach in Whiterun, the Ratway in Riften, the Throat of the World, and so on. There are no restrictions in terms of what you decide to do, where in Skyrim you decide to do …