Gamasutra has a nice article about creating a newsgame, Creating A Newsgame – Bin Laden Raid. Gonzalo Frasca of September 12th fame coined the work “newsgame” for a game that responds to current events. This Gamasutra article describes how Jeremy Alessi quickly created Raid on Osama bin Laden Compound where you can replay the raid.
I can’t say its a particularly gripping game, nor does it feel accurate, but there is something disconcerting about playing a recreation of such a raid. Does it give a better context for the event? I’m not sure, but I do think the idea of games responding to events is worth pursuing. Time to read Ian Bogost’s book Newsgames.
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