Outer space has been recurrently represented in computer games. This phenomenon can, in part, be attributed to the immersive and simulation-oriented nature inherent to the digital gaming medium. Computer simulation provides designers with a vast and flexible canvas upon which they can meticulously craft highly imaginative topographies and scenarios, and one could propose that the coupling of digital games and space science fiction is a perfect match for developing speculative aesthetics. Nonetheless, the relentless repetition of warfare and space colonisation themes in digital games can sometimes make the wondrous imaginings about outer space look pretty dull and boring.
Some developers apparently understood this difference, and seem to explore the elements that connect space exploration and human curiosity in particular. This is the case of Mobius Digital's game Outer Wilds. As a creative game about exoplanet exploration, Outer Wilds promotes some significant but often neglected aspects of space travel in contemporary sci-fi, from the cosmopolitical dimension necessary to produce open knowledge about the universe to the scientific methods developed to assemble images of unknown spaces thousand light-years away. In Outer Wilds the cosmos is not primarily a space for restaging civilisational clashes or highlighting geopolitical disputes. Instead, players are lured to explore the surrounding planetary marbles while waiting for a supernova that will successively reconstruct the universe at each interval of 22 minutes. In an article recently published on Games and Culture, Julieth Paula and I discuss these and other aspects of the space-themed game, while retrieving the media imageries of space exploration and the effects of observational astronomy over media philosophy under Peter Szendy's notion of philosofiction. ps.: The article has also some nice-looking screenshots from the game as well.
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AuthorThis blog is meant to provide a space for discussing the geophysical as well as the the imaginary entanglements between media infrastructures and organic environments. In the coming months, it will be dedicated to my current project, Cloud Gaming Atlas, which is particularly interested in observing and interrogating the infrastructures developed for cloud gaming initiatives in regard to their environmental implications. Additionally, it should also gather information about events and publications related to my project at the Zukunftskolleg and the Department of Literature, Art and Media of the University of Konstanz. Archives
January 2024
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