Off Book: Video Games | PBS Arts

Video games are important. They are a storytelling medium, a place for self-expression, a sandbox for the human imagination, and an extension of an ages old tradition of gaming. We play out some of the most essential aspects of our culture in games, and we learn more about ourselves and the world around us in the process. From the powerful cinematic experiences of mainstream gaming, to the hyper-personal environments of indie games, we are in the midst of an explosion of gaming activity that, as some predict, will continue to define the way we live and interact with information, and each other, far into the future.


Featuring:

Eric Zimmerman, Game Designer
Jesper Juul, Game Studies Scholar
Leigh Alexander, Game Journalist
Syed Salahuddin, Game Designer and Curator

Music by:

4mat, http://freemusicarchive.org/music/4mat/
The Shortsleeves, http://theshortsleeves.bandcamp.com/
Trash80, http://trash80.net/

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Twitter: @pbsoffbook
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Produced by Kornhaber Brown: http://www.kornhaberbrown.com

US Pre-Order Numbers for Modern Warfare 3 VS. Battlefield 3

From Charlieintel:

 

With less than a week to go for Battlefield 3 and less than 3 weeks for Modern Warfare 3, we thought it would be a good time to compare near final pre-order numbers for one of the biggest FPS wars of the century.
Modern Warfare 3
-Xbox 360: 1,719,144
-PS3: 672,562
-Total: 2,391,706
Battlefield 3
-Xbox 360: 1,072,593
-PS3: 448,616
-Total: 1,521,209
No one really expected Battlefield 3 to outsell Modern Warfare 3 (even according to EA), yet there’s no question that BF3 has created more hype and obtained 6x the amount of pre-orders as its predecessor Bad Company 2. However even with a 5 month head start, Modern Warfare 3 has managed to capture 1,170,497 more pre-orders than BF3… FTW
*Interestingly enough, Battlefield 3 has been marketed as a “PC Lead” title, however BF3 console pre-orders are beating PC pre-orders (146,809) at a rate of 10 to 1.

**Also, Playstation 3 has access to BF3 DLC one week early, yet Xbox 360 pre-orders are beating PS3 at a rate of 2 to 1.

-Original SOURCE: VGChartz