Issue 02: Back to School
School's out forevere
Kent Sutherland and Jamin Warren quiz Don Rawlitsch on the history of The Oregon Trail. Ben Abraham cruises through the Australian outback of Fuel. Ryan Bradley explores the inner play life of babies. Patrick Cassels decodes the mysteries of box art. Rob Dubbin interrogates a trader about the financial lessons of StarCraft. Simon Ferrari wonders if videogames can save the news business. Ed Fries sees beauty in constraint in his game Halo 2600. Ben Fritz disappears in the Shadow of the Colossus. Zack Handlen wrestles with his childhood via an unhelpful Nintendo tip-line operator. Brendan Keogh recreates Halo with his schoolmates. Mitu Khandaker questions her own existence as a videogame academic. Laura Michet bounces through the world of the NASA-created Moonbase Alpha. Emily Short toes the line between learning and designing. Brian Taylor navigates digital worlds and our own. David Wolinsky meditates on the historical accuracy of Assassin's Creed II with its resident historian. Rob Zacny asks why the world wasn’t ready for a Chinese learning MMO Pangea Online.

Game Type: Capture the School
When the power cut the Halo match short, eight teenagers carried its rules across the road and turned their empty high school into the map.

One Small Step
Breathing in Moon Base Alpha

Tradeoffs
Meet Karim Hakimzadeh, financial analyst & StarCraft scion

The Young and the Scoreless
Toddlers step out into the world of consoles

Carol Ann Has Dysentery
Living, learning, and dying on the steps of The Oregon Trail
Credits
President
Jamin Warren
Managing Editor
Chris Dahlen
Lead Designer
David Boni
davidboni.net
Editor
Ryan Kuo
Contributing Editors
Rob Dubbin
Zack Handlen
Jason Killingsworth
Nora Nahid Khan
Back Office
Susan Savory
Founder Emeritus
Anthony Smyrski
Rough Riders
Australia looks different from the driver’s seat.
The Shadow and the Sorrow
Finishing Shadow of the Colossus teaches us why we should never have started.
Trading Spaces
What navigating digital worlds can teach us about our own.
Eye of the Beholder
The creator of Halo 2600 finds beauty in constraint.
Educated Guests
The best game designers are superb teachers. So why are educational games so bad?
Toppling the Ivory Tower
Are videogame academics irrelevant?
Boxed Out
How a golden age of box art sold us worlds the hardware could only hint at.
Breaking Pangea
Jia Xie and Yang Yang wanted to teach the world Chinese through an MMO. But the world wasn’t ready.
Breaking the News
Can videogames save journalism?
The Help Line
A confession, a rotary phone, and a 900-number to Nintendo Power.
Mazed and Confused
Do puzzle games actually teach us anything?
Renaissance Man
Assassin’s Creed II’s resident historian on why accuracy is overrated.
Editor’s Letter: Back to School
These digital objects we spend so much time with—what wisdom do they impart?