2017 was an absolutely incredible year for video games, and after helping put together the “Golden Pixel Awards” at Warp Zoned, I thought I’d share also some of my favorites from the past year right here.
Some of the picks, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, won’t be too surprising, but maybe some of them will… Continue reading
Just in time for the Super Bowl, the Games in Schools and Libraries blog at Inverse Genius has offered up a great collection of sports video games that are perfect for four players:
Sports games are always an excellent addition to any video game collection. They see constant play and are nearly always multiplayer. Their appeal to a broad audience brings in a fair number of patrons we wouldn’t see otherwise, as well as being accessible to all ages.
Whether they’re rumbling down the sidelines for a touchdown or taking a last-second shot at the goal, your patrons will definitely enjoy Madden NFL 18, FIFA 18, NBA 2K18, and NHL 18.
Microsoft recently announced which games will be available to download for through the Games With Gold program in February on the Xbox Wire blog, and fans of chaotic car stunts should be pleased.
Shadow Warrior, a “juvenile” first person shooter,” and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, a side-scrolling spinoff of Ubisoft’s history-spanning saga, will be available for the Xbox One. Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Split/Second, a “Reality TV” racer, and Crazy Taxi, a re-release of Sega’s arcade classic.
I spent a lot of time playing Crazy Taxi in my youth, and it’s still pretty great today. It’s a great game to pass the controller and get a whole crowd involved in a game that’s technically only playable by one person.
Click here to learn more about Microsoft’s selections for Games With Gold in February 2018… Continue reading
Did you grow up collecting Dots and dodging Ghosts in Pac-Man? If so, you might want to give a “Life-Size Pac-Man” program a try.
Teen Services Underground recently recruited Casey Chwiecko to describe how she built a Pac-Man maze for her library:
Using our biggest program space, I set up a very simple grid similar to the tradition Pac-Man game without allowing them to out the sides and pop back up on the other side. It was surprisingly easy after I’d sketched it out to eyeball it on the floor of our room. I used paper plates as the objects they had to pick up so it was easy to a) reset and b) grid out the section.
The program sounds like it was a huge success, and hopefully “Life-Size Pac-Man” will be coming soon to a library near you!
I think it’s fair to say that Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One is one of the most popular novels about video games. And with a Spielberg-directed film adaptation scheduled to open on March 30, there’s likely going to be renewed interest in the book over the next few months.
Thankfully, Pamela Penza of Teen Services Underground has put together a Read-Alikes guide for fans of Ready Player One:
The cinematic adaptation of Ernest Cline’s popular novel Ready Player One releases in theaters on March 30. We all know what that means–everyone will want a copy of the novel, and none of them will be available. To cheer up dejected teens, try offering one of these titles.
Pamela’s picks include Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, The Eye of Minds by James Dashner, Warcross by Marie Lu, and and a few others.
The new gaming columnists at Library Journal have published a look at some of their favorite games of the year:
LJ’s new gaming columnists have chosen their favorite games of the year. The titles include board games, video games, and a mobile title that will appeal to a wide range of patrons with differing interests and experience.
In addition to several board games, Bungie’s Destiny 2 and Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp were picked as two of Library Journal’s favorite video games from 2017.
New conventions celebrating “Geek Culture” are sprouting up all over the place, and there’s a place for your library on the show floor whether your local geeky gathering is focused on comics, science fiction, video games, or all of the above.
Sarah Gallagher, the Outreach Librarian at the Whitehorse Public Library in Canada’s Yukon Territory, recently approached Programming Librarian with “Ten Reasons to Do a Pop-Up at Your Comic Convention,” and it’s not all about marketing:
Yukon Public Libraries is big on geek culture. We collect comics, graphic novels, role-playing game rule books, anime, medieval cookbooks and costuming manuals, and we host a popular weekly role-playing game (RPG) drop-in program for teens. So naturally we saw a place for ourselves at YukomiCon, the biannual celebration of geek culture organized by the Yukon Comic Culture Society.
OK, Gallagher does talk a bit about the marketing aspect of running a booth at your local “Geek Culture” convention. But she also looks at the benefits you’ll see by talking to your patrons in a new setting, gaining valuable feedback from congoers, and networking with folks from the community. Also… “It’s super fun!”
Interested in hosting your own convention? Our guide, “Running a Game Convention at Your Library,” can help.