Digital Cowboys: Episode 128

James Portnow on Games and Gamers/Brutal Legend/Scribblenauts

This week we welcome to the show; James Portnow - CCO of Divide By Zero games and accredited game designer. We're talking about the words 'Game' and 'Gamer' after an article on Gamasutra by Tynan Syslvester prompted us to ascertain if new words and descriptions could be used for them in the face of an ever-changing medium.

James lends us his considerable experience and expertise as we chew over public perception and how we cling to the idea that games are more than just frivolous entertainment.

After that there's some frivolous entertainment in the form of our Brutal Legend and Scribblenauts in-depth reviews. Two of the most hyped games of 2009. Find out if they meet expectation. Also discussed are the Beatles and Queen Rock Band DLC.

Check out James' work in conjunction with Daniel Floyd in brilliant animated lectures here.

The music at the end is Rain by Mark Tschanz from his album Blue Dog, since we talk about how important Heavy Rain is likely to be in the case of serious games.