Featuring the Ouya: A New Bulletin Board Display

Our new bulletin board display features the Ouya console - a game console powered by an Android OS that was built to bring games that were formally playable only on phones onto your television.

We had an opportunity to check out several free games that were installed on our Ouya, and chose to showcase some of them here. My personal favorite is EVAC, which I like to describe as a souped-up game of Pacman, with a guy trash talking you the whole way through. It gives the old game a fresh feel.

A Brief History of Horror in Video Gaming

In anticipation of Halloween, one of our student workers, Josh, created a display that highlights the horror genre in gaming. Here are a few pictures to commemorate the occasion:

Banned Books Week

Since this week is Banned Books Week, we have decided to expand the theme a bit and highlight some video games that have been banned around the world.

Video games may be banned in parts of the world for several reasons, including excessive violence and/or cruelty, adult content, political or religious themes, etc.

So stop by this week and check out our display to learn more about it.

Displaying Game Ephemera

We've been working on sorting through some of the game ephemera that we've collected over the years and finding a good way to display it. Some of this stuff is just too good not to have out there for people to see.

A lot of our games come with little graphic novels that add to the plot.

We've already gotten a lot of comments on the glove from the Michael Jackson Experience (Wii), including a kid wondering if it was Michael Jackson's actual glove.

Card sets with some great art.

And our new black bookcases, for housing strategy guides and displaying our ephemera.

Street Fighter Display

To go along with our recent redesign of the archive bulletin board, we've updated our featured game section to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Street Fighter series. So far, all of the series that we've featured are celebrating 25th anniversaries, so we'll see how long we can keep it up.

Featured Board Game and Staff Picks

We have redesigned our bulletin board to include a couple of new feature sections, including "Staff Picks" and "Featured Board Game." Our staff picks for this round are Final Fantasy X (PS2), Star Wars Tie Fighter (DOS), and Chronocross (PS), all of which are available to play in the archive. The board game we chose to feature first is Forbidden Island, a fun cooperative game that is easy and quick to set up, teach new players, and play through in a limited amount of time.

New Display Cases

Last week, we managed to add five display cases to the (previously empty-looking) wall just outside the archive room, which are large enough to hold some of the larger video game posters in our collection.

They will also give us the chance to showcase some of the neat video game ephemera that we don't often get to show off, including a t-shirt for Dragon's Lair, signed by its creators, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman.

(Thanks to Britain for donating the shirt, and to Shannon for coming up with the great blurb.)

Celebrating 25 Years of Final Fantasy

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Japanese release of the first Final Fantasy game, we have a display commemorating some of the popular cast and themes that have presented themselves throughout the series. A few pictures:

Some general information about Final Fantasy:

And some information about recurring cast and themes:

Which parts of Final Fantasy were your favorites?

Video Game Book Display

Stop by and check out our new book display, which showcases novels and art books based on video games:

Selections include Halo, Alan Wake, Silent Hill, Myst, Warcraft, and many others. Books may be checked out normally by asking at the service desk.

Video Game Book Table Display

Our library table display for March is books about video games:











The books were selected by the ULAs (Ben, Rebecca & Stephanie) and me; Stephanie put together the presentation. Come by the 2nd floor to check it out, and there are many more books in the stacks!

Exhibit

One of our graduate students, Meredith Kahn, put together an exhibit of computer and video game items for the display cases in the basement of the Duderstadt Center. (The items are are mostly non-working or currently unused games; boxes/packaging; and books.)

Here are some pictures (sorry about the glare!) or drop by the basement of the library sometime in the next couple of weeks and take a look: