Over the past two-years, I and my colleagues have tried, again and again, to re-open the BOOM, and begin a new-era of perspective, viewpoint, humor/wit, in other words, the ethnography of BOOM. We believe the time is ripe for us to check-in, as it were, with our audience (including all of the site suggestions from China, Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, very useful.)
This process is more or less ad hoc. Not that we do not have material produced and ready. More that we haven’t spent enough time deciding what goes first. So, in the interest of relevance, we offer this first article (only 500+ words) on what we believe will be remembered as the day Apple returned to the throne as the leader of the technological revolution.
The first logo and mascots for BOOM Salad Issue 1.
Editor’s note:
How time flies when you’re having fun. Twelve issues ago, we started the BOOM with a few simple goals in mind. The first was to reclaim the phrase “BOOM Salad” from the idiotic definition it had garnered in the equally ridiculous, quasi-dictionary known as, “the Urban [F]ictionary.” When we began the site, over a year ago, their nonsensical and grossly misogynistic definition was the first link that Google, Bing, Yahoo, and all other search engines would list whenever our brand was searched. Now, it is our content that dominates the search results.
To the world and all humanity: You are welcome.
BOOM Salad header version 2.
Our second goal was to demonstrate that the community of people known as “gamers” was far more intelligent and sophisticated than their societal stereotype would have us all believe. We knew that if we published articles of greater substance and scholarship and research than was currently available from most gaming blogs and video sites, the “gamers” would come, and boy have they.
As of this post, BOOM Salad has witnessed nearly 33,000 visitors, representing well over 20 nations, cross its digital threshold to be informed and entertained. To all who have come and made the BOOM what it is today, we say, “Thank You,” for your continued patronage.
BOOM Salad mascots version 2.
It is with our readers in mind that we present our newest BOOM mascots: “String Bean, Pinto, Grenade!” Like the multivarious legume, visitors of the BOOM are as diverse in their individual tastes as they are powerfully compatible when blended together. Which leads to the third, and perhaps, most important, motivation underlying our efforts: to prove that the worldwide community of gamers is a sterling example of how it is possible to co-exist peacefully and amicably despite differences in race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political ideology, and all the other characteristics that make us unique as individuals, and yet unified in our humanity.
In this turbulent and polarizing time of economic disparity, political upheaval, violence and fear, the world of video gaming stands apart as an oasis of harmony and cooperation, in spite of those that would see humankind fragmented, divided, and mistrustful of one another. And while it may not be a perfect unifying force, no one can deny the power of gaming to join people together, to make allies out of former enemies, and friends of those who were once strangers.
Thus, it is with a sense of pride and hope that we bring to you our twelfth issue, signifying our twelfth attempt to participate in the global society of gamers who’s only ambition is to have fun and play games with whomever wants to join the party. Once again, to all of our readers, we say, “thank you,” for allowing the BOOM to be a part of that effort.
In recognition of our twelfth issue of the BOOM, we will be adding more content before the month is done, including, Part II of our consideration of the technological implications of Virtual Reality. Until then, KEEP ON GAMING!
Editor’s Note: The article below represents another historical milestone for the BOOM for numerous reasons. Over the past few months, we have noticed, in our traffic results, a sharp increase in visitors from China, and the Orient in general. While we anticipated a Japanese appreciation for our work, and have translated articles into their language, we did not expect the remarkable response from our video gaming sisters and brothers from the motherlands of China and Vietnam. You are, both, most welcome to the BOOM.
In honor of their extraordinary participation, we have decided to translate some of our future articles into other languages of the East. Our first, is a translation, into Mandarin Chinese, of our most popular series to-date: “The Panopticon in My Bedroom: Parts I & 2.” It is our way of saying “Thank You” for coming to the BOOM, and allowing us to inform and entertain you.
In a recent GAMESPOT article, Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, encapsulated in a single sentence, the greatest challenge ahead for Virtual Reality. He said, “…there is no market for [an] … entertainment device that requires you to dedicate a room to the activity.” He, then, went on to identify the second major issue, when he jokingly said, “We don’t have a [room] where you stand in a big open space and hold two controllers with something on your head—and not crash into the coffee table. We don’t have that.”
And that my friends, is why Mr. Zelnick, though admittedly not a “gamer,” makes the big bucks.
Figure 1: “…staring at moving pictures on walls.”
As progeny of the television-centric home entertainment ecosystem (HEe)[1] we have grown accustomed to staring at moving pictures on walls (see Figure 1), and not moving while we do so. Certainly there are times when movement is appropriate and expected, but in order to fit within the HEe it must be anticipated, and changes made to accommodate the increased need for space and separation. In other words, you need to move “the coffee table” so no one gets injured.
But in most cases, we watch TV, not moving, and, often, reclining. In fact, there have been numerous studies conducted by the manufacturers of video and audio equipment that indicate the best viewing angle, and thus seating position, for the consumer to fully enjoy a, so-called, “immersive,” entertainment experience. VR will eventually demand more.
In this, the first of a two-part series of the BOOM, I examine the problems inherent in the VR experience, as a duplication and augmentation of reality, in the context of spatial dynamics (the ROOM), room orientation, stabilization, and finally, sound presentation. It is around these fundamentals, along with several others, that the foundations of true, cognitive envelopment, necessary to convince our minds we are really somewhere else, may be established.
