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?