The Games Institute acknowledges that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.
English
"I am researching the ways in which games use nostalgia to take advantage of gamers. More specifically, I am interested in how endless sequels and re-makes contribute very little - if anything - to the series or to the genre, but then cover it up by exploiting the gamer's feels. In other words, through clever manipulation of psychological vulnerabilities and deep associations within the memories of players, a large part of the videogame industry is now in cruise control, demeaning the art and giving love [of videogames] a bad name... making millions of dollars in the process."
- Omar Gutierrez
OG is an OG gamer. He vividly remember his first encounter with Super Mario on NES. As a four year old, after watching his two older brothers struggle with the first Goomba in level 1-1, he cried loud enough to finally get his turn at the controller. What happened next has been told and retold at family reunions since:
With hands barely big enough to hold the NES controller, OG proceeded to jump over the first Goomba. He died shortly after, but the damage was done -- over the next few days, he lived more in Super Mario than IRL, and by the end of the week he was consistently making it all the way to level 8-3. That one took him about 2 more YEARS to beat, because it is a stupid, stupid level. OG has also beaten all the Halo games in Legendary difficulty, and he has obtained all the golden strawberries in Celeste. All of them? Even the ones from the extra levels and the C sides? Yes, ALL of them.
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo