Ambient Times: Fall Harvest

Posted by on Nov 23, 2009 in Zen/Ambient Gaming | No Comments

Things may have seemed quiet of late on the Hemisphere blog, but we’ve been busy behind the scenes. The Mac port is nearing release, Dave got married(!), I was on the road for several weeks, and we’re almost finished another “secret port”. (More details on that soon.) In that time my ambient gaming inbox has […]

Ambient Times, Part 1

Posted by on Jul 24, 2009 in IGF, Zen/Ambient Gaming | 2 Comments

We’ve been developing Osmos for quite some time now, and — especially in these last few months — it’s been a very head-down, introspective process in many respects. This level of effort and focus has been intense to say the least, and many activities have fallen by the wayside — including blogging. As a result, […]

Zen Gaming, part 2

Posted by on Dec 14, 2008 in Zen/Ambient Gaming | 4 Comments

[…continued from part 1] Last year, Ian Bogost wrote a very interesting article on Video Game Zen, including references to bio-feedback games, flOw, Chuzzle’s “Zen Mode”, gardening games, relaxation through repetition, and his own Zen meditation game. In it he embraces a fairly formal definition of Zen and argues against sensual stimulation. He contributes much […]

Zen Gaming, part 1

Posted by on Dec 12, 2008 in Zen/Ambient Gaming | 2 Comments

Friend and Hemisphere collaborator Andy pointed me to a post today entitled “Sony Introduces New Genre To Video Games…”. The game is Flower, and the genre, “Zen Gaming”. First of all, let me say that Flower looks gorgeous: somewhat like a next-gen Wind Waker without friend Link. Thematically, it sits in good company with the […]