For me, the highlight of this year's Playful was Russell's laugh-out-loud talk on Pretending. It made a lightbulb go off in my head, one of those duuuuh of COUUUURRRSE moments that are so wriggly-joyful. It's better when he presents it, of course, but he's done a neat job with the picture footnotes.
A sample:
I listen to a lot of chat about games and hear lots about story and play, but very rarely hear about pretending, when, of course, pretending is central to the whole business. That's how video game reviews should start - "In this game you are pretending..."
And a sample slide, possibly my favourite, because of the gag that goes with it (I won't spoil):
Wonderful stuff.
Perhaps I just haven't been to the right games-related conferences, but the British ones seem like a lot more fun than the American ones...
Posted by: bob_d | November 16, 2009 at 21:47
Hmm, I'm trying to think of US equivalents. It's true that the UK tends to do a lot of "gatherings" and "festivals" and tries to break out of the AAA-games-only bracket, a lot.
Anyone? Indiecade, probably - this year's lineup was amazing - but I know little about more lighthearded festival type things over there.
Posted by: Alice | November 17, 2009 at 11:10