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<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">Dear Alenda and all,</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"><br></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">Thank you all for
the very interesting conversation that we have been having here for the past
three weeks. Also, so much has happened in these three weeks due to the
Covid-19 pandemic and I hope all of you are safe where you are. I would like to
start with a question that I was asked at an interview recently.
The question I was asked was that videogame plots are usually all about resisting injustice
and tyranny so isn't postcolonialism also coded into them. As
you know, one of my key interests is how videogames respond to the notions of
colonialism and empire. I feel honoured that I have been called to comment on
this listserv discussion. Indeed, the pun Empyre, which I read as 'the pyre of
Empire', is my favourite. I will supplement my position on Postcolonialism and
videogames (I write at length about this in my book <span style="font-style:italic">Videogames and Postcolonialism:<span>
</span>Empire Plays Back</span>) through my answers to the question asked
above.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">I sincerely believe
that the procedural rhetoric (to borrow the term from Ian Bogost) of most
videogames tends to assume the default colonialist position, a deep-seated
position of imperialism, soft or blatant. The popularity of empire-building
strategy games and their gameplay logic of conquering and colonising
territories is a case in point. Also, in other genres of videogames, where
resistance to oppression is a key theme, the point-of-view is very Western and
the protagonist (even if it is the part Native American, Conor or the former
slave Adewale in the <span style="font-style:italic">Assassin's Creed </span>games)
often treats the mission of resistance as the 'White Man's Burden'. In many
games the stereotypes (or to go with Lisa Nakamura, 'cybertypes') of colonial
times are perpetuated; even games that do consciously engage with the narrative
of imperialism locate the centre of agency in the West. I think <span style="font-style:italic">Far Cry 2 </span>has been mentioned here already and
I could also go on at length about <span style="font-style:italic">Far Cry 4</span>
(which is situated in a place that roughly resembles Nepal). In <span style="font-style:italic">Far Cry 2</span>, it is possible to play as
non-Western protagonists (Quarbani Singh from Mauritius but of Indian origin is
a complex example) and in <span style="font-style:italic">Far Cry 4, </span>Ajay
Ghale is a non-resident Kyrati but in both games, the position of the player is
at best of the native informant and it is the West that finally provides the
(non) solution and 'rescues' the country. The fact that the problems in these
countries are caused by the colonial presence is acknowledged but there seems
to be an indication that the departure of the colonial powers have only
exacerbated the problems.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">Certain voices and
points-of-view are rendered 'subaltern' in these videogames. I use the concept
as outlined by Antonio Gramsci and then adapted to the colonial context by
proponents of Subaltern Studies such as Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Chakravarty
Spivak. Regarding the complexity of the term, I would like to refer to Walter
Mignolo's incisive essay 'On Subalterns and Other Agencies' where he states
that 'it is the colonial subaltern that carries on its shoulders the global
colonial difference, the racialised colonial wound […or] the authority and
legitimacy of Euro-centered epistemology, from the left and from the right,
assuming or explicitly declaring the inferiority of non-Christian, coloured
skin, of those who were not born speaking modern European languages or who were
born speaking a surrogate version of a European imperial language'. Mignolo
further points out that the Hardt-Negri concept of Empire nevertheless works in the
context of Western-based epistemologies and he contrasts this with Frantz Fanon
who<span> </span>"breaks away from this by
creating a fracture in the epistemic identity of European ‘diversity’, and by
locating and revealing the coloniality of being".</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">I locate the colonial subaltern in the interstices of gameplay, mainly. There are, of course, some games that deliberately and consciously address the very non-representability and the voicelessness of the colonial
subject. Although not a videogame, Brenda Romero's <span style="font-style:italic">Siochan Leat </span>('The Irish Game') is one such example as is Studio
Oleomingus's<i> Somewhere</i>, which is about a
land where the people are unable to speak ('Can the Subaltern Speak?') because
if they speak their selves are going to be subsumed in what they say
(presumably in the language of the coloniser). Also, imagine non-Western
players reacting to a representation of their cultures in these videogames.
This is what I term elsewhere, 'playing subaltern'. I find Adrienne
Shaw's essay, 'The Tyranny of Realism: Historical accuracy and politics of
representation in<span style="font-style:italic"> Assassin’s Creed III</span>'
useful in how it points out the Western and white bias in the game even though
the protagonist is Native American precisely because it also hints at the potentially disparate experience of non-western Other.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">I will digress now to the topic
of the pandemic now. This is an especially necessary digression as most of us are under a state
of lockdown. In India, a colonial law first promulgated in 1897 to control the Plague
in Bombay (now Mumbai) is in force. Over a century ago, the colonial administration
oversaw a process of forcibly cleaning and sanitising households without much
regard for the local cultures and particularly, the customs of local women. The
decision was taken in public interest and was as per the norms of British
municipal rules; the colonial authorities failed to realise the ground reality
of the local population despite much protest, some of it quite violent. Today, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, imposed first
a 'janta curfew' (people's curfew) and then a twenty-one day lockdown in an
overnight announcement in Hindi on television, the scenario is grim. India has
a large population of daily-wage earners who have no access to formal
structures of payment, who do not possess television sets and who are
illiterate. Many of them have said that they will die of hunger instead of the
Corona virus. On the streets, the police are beating up or publicly humiliating
people who have ventured out - in scenes reminiscent of colonial rule. Those
who haven't hoarded supplies in advance are in dire straits as the promised
online deliveries or other access to essentials have been blocked by police
action. The daily wage-earner is rendered subaltern here - the logic of
sanitised social distancing will prevail and leave them hungry. Even stranger
is the fact that the world will simply not get it. Just as Winston Churchill's
decision to divert rice supplies to the war effort caused one of the biggest
famines in Bengal in 1943 where around two to three million people died of
hunger.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">I'm reminded of
those planning games that I used to play a lot. <span style="font-style:italic">Democracy</span>,
where moving the slider would so neatly plan an economy that I knew was
ironically not possible. The Deleuzoguattarian model where smoothness is always
undercut by striatedness comes to mind. When I play <span style="font-style:italic">City: Skylines, </span>I am mostly busy in rebuilding where
unemployment has caused a building to become derelict, perhaps due to my<span> </span>bad planning. But then I wonder, where are
the slums? <span style="font-style:italic">City: Skylines </span>is not about
my city or any South Asian 'megacity' such as Mumbai or Kolkata. A game such as
<span style="font-style:italic">Plague Inc. </span>might be based on a logical
procedural rhetoric but then, the subaltern doesn't know the procedure.</p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt"><br></p><p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt">Stay safe all and take care.</p>
<br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>Best regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Souvik</div><div><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font color="#45818e"><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:8pt">Dr SOUVIK MUKHERJEE</span></b><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:8pt"> <br><span style="text-align:left;color:rgb(69,129,142);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10.66px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;white-space:normal;float:none;background-color:transparent"> Assistant Professor and Head of Department <span style="text-align:left;color:rgb(69,129,142);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10.66px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;white-space:normal;float:none;background-color:transparent">|</span> </span>Department of English</span><span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><u></u><u></u></span></font></p><p><font color="#45818e" face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.66px"><b>PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, KOLKATA</b></span></font><br></p><p><font color="#45818e" face="garamond, serif"><font size="2">E <a href="mailto:souvik.eng@presiuniv.ac.in" target="_blank">souvik.eng@presiuniv.ac.in</a> </font><font size="2">W </font><a style="text-align:justify;font-size:small" href="http://readinggamesandplayingbooks.blogspot.in/" target="_blank">http://readinggamesandplayingbooks.blogspot.in/</a></font></p><div style="text-align:justify"><font color="#0b5394" face="garamond, serif" size="2"><a style="font-style:italic" href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/video-games-and-storytelling-souvik-mukherjee/?isb=9781137525048" target="_blank">Videogames and Storytelling: Reading Games and Playing Books</a><i> </i>(Palgrave MacMillan 2015)</font></div><div><div style="text-align:justify"><font color="#0b5394" face="garamond, serif" size="2"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Videogames-Post-colonialism-Souvik-Mukherjee/dp/3319548212" target="_blank"><i>Videogames and Postcolonialism: The Empire Plays Back</i></a> (Springer UK 2017)</font></div></div><div><font size="1"><br></font></div><p><br></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="gmail_attr" dir="ltr">On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 12:31 AM Penix-Tadsen, Phillip <<a href="mailto:ptpt@udel.edu" target="_blank">ptpt@udel.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<div>
<div style="border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;border-color:currentColor currentColor black;padding:0in 0in 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Dear Alenda and all,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">I’ve really been enjoying the conversation over the past few weeks,
thank you! I am an admirer of the work of so many people on this listserv,
thanks once again for including me!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span style="font-size:11px"><span lang="EN-US">In case you would like to read more about games and game development in
Latin America and the Global South, I wanted to share links to my book <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JGwwVvfKWdP6oXtqIk8ccXUfAM05rJDY" target="_blank">Cultural
Code: Video Games and Latin America</a></i> (pre-publication proofs, typos and
all</span><span lang="EN-US">), my edited anthology <i><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZdSQVAr_WXMh7lgAFo0F2wlsKDXkVt1R" target="_blank">Video
Games and the Global South</a></i> and the report <i>Video Games: More than
Just a Game</i> (in <a href="https://publications.iadb.org/publications/spanish/document/Los_videojuegos_no_son_un_juego_Los_desconocidos_%C3%A9xitos_de_los_estudios_de_Am%C3%A9rica_Latina_y_el_Caribe.pdf" target="_blank">Spanish</a>
and <a href="https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Video_Games_More_than_Just_a_Game_en.pdf" target="_blank">English</a>),
which I co-authored and which highlights the work of 50 game studios throughout Latin America.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Given our current situation with the global pandemic (and inspired by a <a href="https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/essential-guide-mobile-games-social-distancing/?fbclid=IwAR0iscViuTBnJfqCExU4WYuOlq0sLh3-rXjS0lzwt6QCqlreDbT5vrHleuM" target="_blank">this
recent piece by Shira Chess</a>), for my contribution I thought I would go in a
more pragmatic direction and offer you this annotated list of casual games from Latin
American and Latinx developers to play on your own or with your family members while
you are sheltered in place, quarantined or otherwise locked down.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">In their own ways, each of these games engages Alenda’s opening
questions about recentering game studies beyond the US / Western imaginary,
discovering neglected games / developers and illustrating concerns related to
localization, colonialism, geopolitics and economics.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span style="font-size:11px"><span lang="EN-US">Cheers!</span><u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Phill<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding:0in;border:medium"><b><span lang="EN-US">Casual Video Games from Latin American Developers for your Pandemic
Cloister</span></b> </p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Casual video games—those played on mobile devices and
social networks—have profoundly impacted the way games are developed and played
throughout Latin America and across the globe, opening doors for small indie developers
to bring their games to the global market while bringing an increasingly
diverse audience into game culture. Right now, it’s an ideal time to broaden
our horizons, increase our gaming literacy and discover what we can learn from these
games from Latin American and Latinx developers.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><a href="http://ludomancy.com/today/" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">Today I Die</span></i></a></b><span><b><i> </i></b></span><b><span lang="EN-US">(2010)<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Web<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Daniel Benmergui, Buenos Aires, Argentina<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><span lang="EN-US">Along with </span><a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/danielben/i-wish-i-were-the-moon" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">I Wish I Were the Moon</span></i></a><span lang="EN-US"> (2008)
and the prototype for </span><i><a href="https://www.kongregate.com/games/danielben/storyteller" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Storyteller</span></a></i><span lang="EN-US"> (2008), this point-and-click pixel art web game helped turn Daniel Benmergui
into an award-winning developer and a darling of the international indie community.
</span>Deceptively
simplistic but surprisingly complex, <i>Today I Die</i> challenges the player
to intuitively manipulate simple mechanics and animated sprites to transform a chaotic
and turbulent gamespace into a harmonious and peaceful poetic oasis.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><i><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.tap.io/app/143074?region=us" target="_blank">Fhacktions GO</a></span></i></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> (2020)<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">iOS, Android<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Posibillian Tech, Asunción, Paraguay</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Want to use your computer to save a world where all
systems have collapsed and global networks have shut down? Now’s your chance!
Like other multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, <i>Fhacktions GO</i>
pits teams of five remotely connected players against one another in battle.
Unlike others, this game was designed in Paraguay, and it is the first MOBA to
use GPS technology to generate geolocative environments based on the player’s
actual surroundings.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span><span style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><i><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/garfield-survival-of-the-fattest/id789677229" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Garfield: Survival of the Fattest</span></a></i></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> (2015)<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">iOS<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Fair Play Labs, San José, Costa Rica</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">The majority of Latin American game development
projects aren’t modeled on original intellectual property (IP), but rather work-for-hire
and outsourced development for global media publishers, an approach that can
provide stability, help build a portfolio and offer global visibility for relatively
small developers across Latin America. Costa Rican firm Fair Play Labs has also
created games including the casual soccer game <i><a href="http://www.fairplaylabs.com/projects/journey-to-real-madrid/" target="_blank">Journey to
Real Madrid</a> </i>(2012) and the Steam, PlayStation Portable and PS Vita platformer
<i><a href="http://www.fairplaylabs.com/projects/color-guardians/" target="_blank">Color Guardians</a></i>
(2015).<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><a href="http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">September 12<sup>th</sup>:
A Toy World</span></i></a></b><b> <span lang="EN-US">(2003)<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Windows<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px"><a href="http://Newsgaming.com" target="_blank">Newsgaming.com</a>,
Montevideo, Uruguay</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><span lang="EN-US">Having been referenced by everybody in game studies by
now, <i>September 12<sup>th</sup> </i>is a legendary “serious game” or “newsgame,”
a ludic editorial on the U.S.-backed “war on terror.” Around the same time they
published this game, Gonzalo Frasca and collaborator Sofía Battegazzore also designed
the webgame </span><a href="http://www.newsgaming.com/games/madrid/index.html" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">Madrid</span></i></a><span lang="EN-US">, a contemplative homage to the victims of a 2003 terrorist attack in
Madrid, Spain in the form of a whack-a-mole style candlelight vigil published just
days after the incident. I will forever wish I could have experienced playing <i>September
12<sup>th</sup> </i>for the first time without any “spoilers”—so if you can, find
a Windows machine, download it, and discover for yourself how it epitomizes Ian
Bogost’s concept of “procedural rhetoric,” the way video games can make
political statements.<u></u><u></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px"><a href="https://playplayfun.com/the-shade-forest-game/play/" target="_blank"><i>The Shade Forest </i></a> (2015)<u></u><u></u></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">Web<u></u><u></u></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">Amandapps,
Sāo Paulo, Brazil</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><span lang="EN-US">Brazilian drag queen developer Amanda Sparks followed
up on the Android game </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=floppyamanda.com.diefox&hl=en_US" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">Flappy Drag Queen</span></i></a> <span lang="EN-US">(2014) with this “unusual action platformer game where kisses and
slaps are your primary weapon of choice.” It is a great example of a casual LGBTQ
game from a Latin American developer, speaking to serious issues with a sense
of humor.<u></u><u></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><i><a href="https://hyperbeard.com/game/klep2cats/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Klepto Cats 2</span></a></i></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> (2018)<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">iOS, Android<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Hyperbeard, Mexico City, Mexico</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Mexico City-based developer Hyperbeard focuses on
creating fun, poppy casual games. <i>Klepto Cats 2</i>, like their other games <i><a href="https://hyperbeard.com/game/chichens/" target="_blank">Chichens</a> </i>(2017) and <i><a href="https://hyperbeard.com/game/clawbert/" target="_blank">Clawbert</a> </i>(2017), offers brief,
enjoyable experiences that all types of players can easily get into on their
mobile devices. In this way, it evidences the impact of casual games, which
have created new opportunities for Latin American developers and audiences
alike. Everybody loves cats!<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><span><b><i><a href="http://www.tropicalamerica.com/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Tropical America</span></a></i></b></span><b> <span lang="EN-US">(2002) <u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">Web<i><u></u><u></u></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">OnRamp
Arts, Los Angeles, USA</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Developed as part of an after-school violence
prevention program in an LA high school with a primarily Central American
student body, this interactive narrative uses black-and-white digital images
reminiscent of woodcut prints to take its player on a journey through the history
of violence, power and inequality in Latin American, from Moctezuma to
Subcomandante Marcos.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><i><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://1simplegame.com/games/mucho-taco.php" target="_blank">Mucho Taco</a></span></i></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> (2015)<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">iOS, Android<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">One Simple Game, Zapopán, Mexico<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px">Some developers aim for universal appeal, while others
use their local or national culture as an asset when designing games. <i>Mucho
Taco</i> bridges the gap, combining fluid mechanics that make it a breeze for
players of all skill levels with elements of Mexican mythology and gastronomy,
as the player harnesses the power of the Sun Tortilla and the wisdom of Barbacoatl
to make taco after delicious taco.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><a href="https://www.preguntados.com/" target="_blank"><i>Preguntados</i></a> (2013)</b><u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">iOS,
Android, Facebook<u></u><u></u></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">Etermax,
Buenos Aires, Argentina<u></u><u></u></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Perhaps you’ve played this global smash hit trivia
game, known in English as <i><a href="https://www.triviacrack.com/" target="_blank">Trivia Crack</a></i>.
The secret to its success is crowdsourcing the content of its trivia questions,
allowing Etermax to overcome a classic hurdle for developers of trivia games—the
creation of localized content that is relevant to players in diverse cultural
contexts across the globe.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><a href="http://www.gamehunikuin.com.br/en/" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">Huni Kuin</span></i></a></b><b> <span lang="EN-US">(2016)</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">PC, Mac, Linux<u></u><u></u></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">Bobware,
Sāo Paulo, Brazil</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Developed in collaboration with the Kaxinawa (or Huni
Kuin) people of Brazil, this simple jungle platformer joins the ranks of “indigenous”
console games like <i><a href="https://www.lienzo.mx/mulaka/" target="_blank">Mulaka</a></i>
(Lienzo, Chihuahua, Mexico, 2018), using the medium of the video game as a way
of spreading indigenous knowledge and culture in novel ways to global <i>and</i>
local audiences.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><a href="http://www.kingdomrush.com/" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">Kingdom Rush</span></i></a></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> (2011)<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><span lang="EN-US">iOS, Android, Steam</span></b><i><span lang="EN-US"><u></u><u></u></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:11px">Etermax,
Buenos Aires, Argentina</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">The <i>Kingdom Rush</i> series is popular among fans
of the casual “tower defense” genre, where players situate defensive and
offensive structures in order to block the path of an invading force. It is
also a reflection of the strength of Uruguay’s game development scene, which
has been bolstered by factors including taxation and immigration policies
favorable to developers, higher education programs in game design and an ever-expanding
community of like-minded professionals.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><b><a href="https://gonzzink.itch.io/borders" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">Borders</span></i></a></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> (2017)<br>
Windows / Mac<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11px">Gonzalo Alvarez, Port Arthur, USA</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11px"><span lang="EN-US">Artist and illustrator Gonzalo Alvarez was a college
student when he created <i>Borders</i>, a retro-style 2D adventure game that
pits the player as an undocumented immigrant attempting to cross the desert
into the United States on foot, as a recognition of the hardships his own
parents and others have faced. Like other “immigration games”—think of the remarkable
<i>Monopoly </i>modification </span><a href="http://www.thing.net/~cocofusco/StartPage.html" target="_blank"><i><span lang="EN-US">Turista Fronterizo</span></i></a> </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size:11px">(Ricardo
Dominguez and Coco Fusco, 2006), or <i><a href="https://vimeo.com/14929009" target="_blank">Crosser</a>
</i>and <i><a href="https://vimeo.com/14929591" target="_blank">La Migra</a></i> (Rafael
Fajardo and SWEAT, 2000 and 2001), which are modifications of the arcade
classics <i>Frogger </i>and <i>Space Invaders</i>, respectively—<i>Borders</i> tackles
immigration and life in the US-Mexico borderlands with brilliance, imagination and
procedural grace.</span><font size="2"><u></u><u></u></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Best regards,</p><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal" dir="auto"><div><div>Phill<br><br>---<br>Phillip Penix-Tadsen<br>(he/him/his)<br>Associate Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies<br>Game Studies Minor Advisor<br>Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures<br>University of Delaware<br></div><br><a href="http://press.etc.cmu.edu/index.php/product/video-games-and-the-global-south/" target="_blank"><i>Video Games and the Global South</i></a> (ETC Press, 2019)<br><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cultural-code" target="_blank"><i>Cultural Code: Video Games and Latin America</i></a> (MIT Press, 2016)<br></div></div>
</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>El mar. 22, 2020, a las 7:04 p. m., Alenda Chang <<a href="mailto:achang@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu" target="_blank">achang@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu</a>> escribió:</div><br><div><div>----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br>Hello, empyre--thank you for sticking with us for this month on games<br>during a time when it's especially hard to reach our innate sense of<br>play and wonder.<br><br>For our final week, we have a deep bench of guests with expertise in<br>games and their multinational contexts. Tara and Chris and I were due<br>to celebrate our recent book launches together at the now cancelled<br>SCMS conference (along with Bo and Amanda), Kasyoka I met at last<br>fall's SLSA, and Souvik and Phill I know primarily through their work.<br>I know they can all help us to think about these questions and more:<br>how can we expand or recenter games beyond a certain<br>Anglo/Western/American imaginary? What are some neglected games and<br>game histories? Geopolitical implications of games? How do we talk<br>about games in relation to localization, region, translation, and<br>colonialism and its aftermaths?<br><br>Or, another possible starting point... in the foreword to Video Games<br>Around the World (edited by Mark Wolf), Toru Iwatani (best known for<br>the game Pac-Man) writes, "Most players appear to be playing games<br>according to a set of rules, but they are actually playing with the<br>developers' itareritsukuseri, which in Japanese means 'a gracious<br>hospitality that is more fun and kindness than people expect'"<br>(translated by Bryan Hikari Hartzheim). Does this apply to all games?<br>Do we need comparative or regional game studies? Wouldn't that run<br>into the same debates that have beset more traditional kinds of area<br>studies?<br><br>Excited to learn from this week's conversations. Sending the best to all,<br>Alenda (Chang)<br><br>--<br><br>Guest bios:<br><br>Tara Fickle<br>Tara Fickle is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of<br>Oregon, and Affiliated Faculty of the Department of Ethnic Studies,<br>the New Media & Culture Certificate, and the Center for Asian &<br>Pacific Studies. She received her Ph.D. from the University of<br>California, Los Angeles, and her B.A. from Wesleyan University. Her<br>book, “The Race Card: From Gaming Technologies to Model Minorities,”<br>(NYU Press, 2019), explores how games have been used to establish and<br>combat Asian & Asian American racial stereotypes. More information can<br>be found at <a href="http://tarafickle.com" target="_blank">tarafickle.com</a>.<br><br>Souvik Mukherjee<br>Souvik Mukherjee is Assistant Professor of English Literature at<br>Presidency University, Calcutta, India. Souvik has been researching<br>video games as an emerging storytelling medium since 2002 and has<br>completed his PhD on the subject from Nottingham Trent University in<br>2009. He did his postdoctoral research in the humanities faculty of De<br>Montfort University, UK and at the Indian Institute of Technology in<br>New Delhi, India where he worked on digital media and narrative<br>analysis. Souvik's research examines their relationship to canonical<br>ideas of narrative and also how video games inform and challenge<br>current conceptions of technicity, identity and culture, in general.<br>His current interests involve the analysis of paratexts of video<br>games, the concept of time in video games and the treatment of<br>diversity and the margins in video games. Besides game studies, his<br>other interests are (the) digital humanities and early modern<br>literature.<br><br>Kasyoka Mwanzia<br>Kasyoka Mwanzia is interested in cultural studies and digital media in<br>the global South including: production, distribution, use, and<br>consumption of video games; video games as active archives that make<br>local knowledge discoverable and reusable; and critical making based<br>on situatedness. At heart she is interdisciplinary and interested in<br>real world linkages between scholarship, practice and use. Kasyoka<br>received her MA in Media Arts Cultures from a consortium of<br>universities in Austria, Denmark and Hong Kong. She will begin<br>pursuing a doctorate in Cultural Anthropology at Duke University in<br>Fall 2020.<br><br>Christopher Patterson<br>Christopher B. Patterson (Ph.D., U of Washington) is an Assistant<br>Professor in the Social Justice Institute at the University of British<br>Columbia, where he researches transpacific discourses of literature,<br>video games, and new media through the lens of empire studies, Asian<br>American studies, and queer theory. He is the author of Transitive<br>Cultures: Anglophone Literature of the Transpacific (Rutgers<br>University Press, 2018), and Open World Empire: Race, Erotics, and the<br>Global Rise of Video Games (NYU Press, 2020). His articles have<br>appeared in Cultural Studies, American Quarterly, Games and Culture,<br>M.E.L.U.S. (Multi-ethnic Literatures of the United States) and other<br>venues. He writes fiction under his alter ego, Kawika Guillermo, and<br>his stories have appeared in The Cimarron Review, Feminist Studies,<br>The Hawai’i Pacific Review, and other magazines. His debut novel,<br>Stamped: an anti-travel novel (Westphalia Press, 2018), was a Finalist<br>in Literary Fiction for American Book Fest, and won the 2020<br>Association for Asian American Studies Book Award for Fiction. His<br>upcoming queer speculative novel, All Flowers Bloom, is forthcoming<br>from Westphalia Press in March 2020. As an organizer and public<br>scholar, Chris founded the podcast New Books in Asian American Studies<br>where he is a current co-host, and serves as the Prose Editor for<br>decomP Magazine.<br><br>Phill Penix-Tadsen<br>Phillip Penix-Tadsen is a specialist in contemporary Latin American<br>cultural studies and regional game studies, focusing on the<br>intersections between politics, economics, digital media and visual<br>culture throughout Latin America today. He earned a Ph.D. from<br>Columbia University and is Associate Professor of Spanish and Latin<br>American Studies at the University of Delaware, where he regularly<br>teaches courses on Latin American cultural studies and game studies.<br>Penix-Tadsen is the author of Cultural Code: Video Games and Latin<br>America (MIT Press, 2016) and editor of the anthology Video Games and<br>the Global South (ETC Press, 2019). He has published work in journals<br>including Feminist Media Histories, Letras Hispanas and Latin American<br>Research Review.<br>_______________________________________________<br>empyre forum<br><a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au" target="_blank">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a><br><a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu" target="_blank">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a></div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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