Top Games - Week of Dec 14

Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:


1. Super smash bros. brawl
2. Call of duty: Modern warfare 2
3 (tie). FIFA soccer 10
3 (tie). NCAA football 10
5. Uncharted 2
6 (tie). Ace combat 5
6 (tie). Battlezone
8 (tie). Fallout 3
8 (tie). Halo: ODST
8 (tie). NBA 2K9

Intersession Hours

The last day of operations for the Computer & Video Game Archive this semester will be Friday December 18. We will reopen on Monday, January 4.

In addition, the archive will open late at 1pm this Wednesday (the 16th).

Top Games - Week of Dec 7

Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2. NCAA Football 10 (Xbox 360)
3. FIFA Soccer 10
4. Halo 3: ODST
5 (tie). Ace Combat 5
5 (tie). NHL 09
7 (tie). Battlezone
7 (tie). Evil Genius
7 (tie). Supreme Commander
10. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Top Games - Week of Nov 30

Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2. FIFA Soccer 10
3. NCAA Football 10 (Xbox 360)
4. NBA 2K9
5 (tie). Ace Combat 5
5 (tie). Crysis
5 (tie). Halo ODST
5 (tie). Mario Super Sluggers
5 (tie). Skate 2
10 (tie). Gunstar Heroes
10 (tie). Halo 3
10 (tie). House of the Dead: Overkill
10 (tie). Mario Kart 64
10 (tie). NHL 09
10 (tie). Super Mario Bros. 3
10 (tie). Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Top Games - Week of Nov 23

Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3. NCAA Football 10
4. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Halo 3: ODST
6 (tie). Battlefield 1942
6 (tie). FIFA 09
6 (tie). FIFA 10
6 (tie). Halo 2
6 (tie). Halo 3
6 (tie). Mario Kart Wii
6 (tie). Super Smash Bros. Melee

Serious Games Expo article in AnnArbor.com

Last week's Serious Games Expo was the subject of an article in the AnnArbor.com, with the CVGA featured prominently: "University of Michigan expo shows serious games can be lucrative, too"

Top Games - Week of Nov 16

Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:

1. Halo 3: ODST
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3. Battlezone
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
5. FIFA 10
6. Halo Wars
7. NCAA Football 10
8. Call of Duty 4
9. Ace Combat 5
10. Halo 3

Top Games - Week of Nov 9

Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. NCAA Football 10 (Xbox 360)
3. Halo 3: ODST
4. Ace Combat 6
5. NCAA Football 10 (PS3)
6. Ace Combat 5
7. Call of Duty 4
8. Fifa 10
9. Halo Wars
10. Call of Duty World at War

Top Games - Week of Nov 2

We've started keeping track of which games are being played in the archive. So here at the top ten games for the first week of November:

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. NCAA Football 10
3. Battlezone
4. Super Smash Bros.
5. Call of Duty 4
6. Ace Combat 6
7. Halo 3
8. NCAA Football 10
9. Mario Kart Wii
10. NBA 2K9

Serious Games Expo, Nov 19

Serious Games Expo, Nov 19

Serious games, Simulations and Natural Learning

"Show and Tell"
265 Chrysler Center, North Campus
Ann Arbor 48109

Thursday, November 19, 2009
5:00 – 7:00 P.M.

FREE FOOD

2009 Racing Tournament Results

Here are the final results from the 2009 Racing Tournament. The top four overall racers received gift certificates for Get Your Game On.

1 Cesar Jose Miguel Parra (32)
2 Daniel Ponstein (28)
3 Daniel Thomas Miller (27)
4 Nathan Feenstra (26)
5 Weslie Tigner II (23)
6 Kevin Lapprich (22)
6 Aaron Skolnik (22)
6 Ladante Riley (22)
9 Alan Duanmu (15)
10 Yang Gao (12)
11 Alex Goff (10)
12 Shaun Joshua Levin (9)
12 Brian Chung (9)
14 Dorian Waitz (5)
15 Vlad Voziyanov (4)
15 Raghunath Sai Katragadda (4)
17 Sammy Joe Lee (2)
17 Charles Mercer (2)
19 Douglas William Strait (1)


The top finishers for each game were:

F-Zero: Weslie Tigner II (2:08:40)

Star Wars Episode I Racer: Daniel Miller (3:16:32)

Mario Kart Double Dash: Nathan Feenstra (1:56:21)

Pure: Nathan Feenstra (5:06:00)

Forza 2: Cesar Parra (3:36:27)


Thanks to everyone who participated. We're already planning our next tournament, probably in early 2010...

Fall Break Hours

Due to the Fall Break, the Computer & Video Game Archive will close today at 3pm. We will be closed Saturday through Tuesday, and reopen Wednesday at 10am, resuming regular hours.

Racing Tournament - Day Four

Here's the leaderboard after day three of the racing tournament:

F-Zero - 1st: Weslie Tigner II ; 2nd: Daniel Ponstein ; 3rd: Cesar Jose Miguel Parra

Star Wars - 1st: Alan Duanmu ; 2nd: Dorian Waitz ; 3rd: Cesar Jose Miguel Parra

Mario Kart - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Daniel Ponstein ; 3rd: Shaun Joshua Levin

Pure - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Daniel Ponstein ; 3rd: Weslie Tigner II

Forza 2 - 1st: Yang Gao ; 2nd: Kevin Lapprich ; 3rd: Daniel Ponstein

Competition continues through Saturday. Remember, you have to complete all five races in order to be eligible to win!

Racing Tournament - Day Three

Here's the leaderboard after day three of the racing tournament:

F-Zero - 1st: Weslie Tigner II ; 2nd: Daniel Ponstein ; 3rd: Brian Chung

Star Wars - 1st: Alex Goff ; 2nd: Charles Mercer ; 3rd: Douglas William Strait

Mario Kart - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Daniel Ponstein ; 3rd: Shaun Joshua Levin

Pure - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Weslie Tigner II ; 3rd: Shaun Joshua Levin

Forza 2 - 1st: Yang Gao ; 2nd: Kevin Lapprich ; 3rd: Daniel Ponstein

Competition continues through Saturday. Remember, you have to complete all five races in order to be eligible to win!

Racing Tournament - Day Two

Here's the leaderboard after day two of the racing tournament:

F-Zero - 1st: Daniel Ponstein ; 2nd: Yang Gao ; 3rd: Alex Goff

Star Wars - 1st: Alex Goff ; 2nd: Yang Gao ; 3rd: Daniel Ponstein

Mario Kart - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Daniel Ponstein ; 3rd: Shaun Joshua Levin

Pure - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Shaun Joshua Levin ; 3rd: Yang Gao

Forza 2 - 1st: Kevin Lapprich ; 2nd: Zhen Li ; 3rd: Shaun Joshua Levin

Competition continues through Saturday. Remember, you have to complete all five races in order to be eligible to win!

Racing Tournament - Day One

Here's the leaderboard from day one of the racing tournament:

F-Zero - 1st: Daniel Ponstein ; 2nd: Yang Gao

Star Wars - 1st: Alex Goff ; 2nd: (none)

Mario Kart - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Daniel Ponstein

Pure - 1st: Nathan Feenstra ; 2nd: Yang Gao

Forza 2 - 1st: Kevin Lapprich ; 2nd: Zhen Li

Competition continues through Saturday, so expect these standings to change as the week goes on...

Tournament Poster

Here's the poster for our upcoming Racing Tournament:



The poster is by Stephanie Grimm, one of our grad students.

Racing Tournament!

We are getting ready to run our first gaming tournament in the archive!

This will be a silent tournament, meaning that instead of several hours of head-to-head competition, the competitors will have to prove their mettle on five different racing games by scoring the best times. The races can be done during any of the designated times over the course of a week.

The games are F-Zero (SNES); Star Wars Episode I Racer (N64); Mario Kart Double Dash (GameCube); Pure (PS3); and Forza 2 (Xbox 360).

Sign-up during the week of September 28.

The tournament is the week of October 5.

Open only to U-M students, faculty & staff. Since this is our first tournament, we are limited participants to the first 50 people who sign-up.

Prizes are gift certificates to local gaming store Get Your Game On.

All the details are online at http://bit.ly/race-cvga

Fall Hours Start Tomorrow

Fall semester begins on Tuesday, and so do the fall hours in the CVGA:

Mon: Noon - 9pm
Tues - Fri: 10am - 9pm
Sat: 3pm - 9pm
Sun: Closed

Yes, by popular demand, we are adding hours on Saturday.

We are also planning our first tournament in the CVGA, for sometime late September or early October. Stay tuned for details soon...

Archive Hours

Bad news and good news:

The bad news is that the archive will be closed all next week, due to the intersession. Regular summer hours will resume the week of August 31, though we'll of course be closed on Labor Day.

The good news is that starting September 8 not only will we expand our daily hours to 10am - 9pm, we'll also be adding Saturday hours of 3pm to 9pm.

You can always find the hours for the archive online at http://www.lib.umich.edu/unithours/82.unit/

GISE Playing Games

Over the course of the summer, various camp groups from here at U-M have made use of the video game archive for their campers, including Camp CAEN and GISE (Girls in Science and Engineering) Summer Day Camp.

Here are a few pictures of the GISE campers playing games in the archive:















(more photos from the camp can be found on PhotoBucket)

Games Will Rot Your Brain

From the July 2009 issue of Scientific American:

“A pernicious excitement to learn and play [this game] has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked. We answer, [this game] is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body. [This game] has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises—not this sort of mental gladiatorship.”

Another screed against video games? Hardly. SciAm is reprinting a paragraph from their July 2, 1859 issue, and the game in question is: Chess!

(The full article is available in an almost-legibile online edition from Making of America.)

Holiday Closings

The Computer & Video Game Archive will be closed Thursday & Friday July 2-3.

Homeless in Sims 3

Robin Burkinshaw created a homeless family in Sims 3 and has been blogging their story at Alice and Kev: The story of being homeless in The Sims 3. Start at the beginning; you'll find their story fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking.

Getting Our Game On

Local gaming store Get Your Game On is now a University of Michigan vendor, so I went down there this afternoon and picked out some old games for the archive: Atari, Intellivision, Genesis, NES, SNES, PS1, etc. A big thanks to Manager John for all his help!

The Blackbird is Back

After a long absence, the HP Blackbird 002 is back up and running, so you all can play your PC games again!

Spring/Summer Hours

The archive will be on reduced hours for the spring/summer. Starting April 27, the archive will be open M-F Noon - 7pm.

The Rise of Indy Console Games

This weekend's On the Media show from NPR has a segment about the rise of independent console game developers: "DIY Gaming"

Now with More Networking

We finally got an ethernet line run down next to the large flat panel display. The Xbox 360 is online and ready to go (though the PS3 still doesn't connect properly). So if you want to play online Halo 3 on the large 46" screen, you can!

We also added a new Nintendo DSi this week, for your handheld gaming pleasure.

Update: Forgot to mention that the PS3 is now networked as well.

Little Power Surges

Little power surges/spikes were running through campus today, including the Duderstadt Center where the game archive lives. The only thing we seem to have lost is one of the base stations for the remote headphones; it still charges, but no longer gets a signal from the tv. Luckily we have a couple of back-up base stations, so all is well.

CVGA Facebook Page

The Computer & Video Game Archive now has a page on facebook; become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-Arbor-MI/Computer-Video-Game-Archive-University-of-Michigan/58951879764

'Spring' Break Hours

During U-M's 'spring' break, Feb 23 - Feb 27, the archive will be open only for the hours of Noon - 5pm.

Education 222 article in Michigan Daily

Today's Michigan Daily (the student newspaper) has an article about the class Education 222: Videogames & Learning, taught by Prof. Barry Fishman (who is on our advisory committee for the archive): "Gaming in the classroom? New class says yes" The archive gets a brief mention near the end of the piece.

1000 Games

We've passed the 1000 games mark for the archive's game collection!

That's the 'in-the-pipeline' number, so it includes games available in the archive to play right now—over 400—plus games on order, at cataloging, or waiting to go to cataloging.

Over 650 of those games have been donated to the archive. Thanks!

Resurrecting Cartridges

I spent the morning resurrecting old non-working SNES cartdiges that had been donated to the archive. This involved opening them up, applying polish & fixer to the contacts, then re-sealing. I went six-for-six in getting the old cartridges working again!

Here's the inside of the SNES game Zombies Ate My Neighbors:




Buoyed by my success, I went back this afternoon and resurrected another seven NES cartridges and eight Atari cartridges. That's twenty-one games in all; pretty good for a few hours' work!

Commodore 64

Last week we received a donation of a Commodore 64 (actually a later-model Commodore 64C), including a disk drive, monitor and joysticks. All of which works, and also came with about thirty-five games.

Here are some pictures:

Watching

I'd been pretty stoked about Mirror's Edge since first reading about it many months ago, but when I sat down to try to play it I sadly learned that I don't have the chops to effectively manage the controls (I got stuck on an early part of the training!)

Yesterday I spent some time in the archive watching a student play Edge. I don't normally get too excited watching someone else play, but Edge was definitely exciting to watch. Faith (the character) was trapped in an office building with several gunmen searching for her. She had to find a way out of the building, and then travel over the rooftops to safety, all the while being chased and fired at. I felt myself getting involved in the action, even though I wasn't the one running the controls.

So while I may never be able to play Edge myself, I can still experience it vicariously!