At this year's GDC, I had the opportunity to give a brief talk at the Artgame Sessions, organized by John Sharp and Daniel Benmergui. That session, along with many others, can now be streamed for free at the GDC Vault.
I have to admit that I haven't actually watched any of the other free sessions, but Robert Zubek's "Engineering Scalable Social Games" sounds interesting in a know-your-enemy kind of way.
I can definitely recommend the Artgame Sessions, if nothing else: Iriquois Pliskin gave a great talk about Braid, Jason Rohrer defended Terry Cavanagh's Judith, and Frank Lantz compared Messhof to Sid Vicious. Your enjoyment of my bit about Far Cry 2 is highly dependent on how sick you are of hearing me talk about Far Cry 2 (also, spoilers for Far Cry 2.)
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Contest:
1:00 PM on 03.27.2010 | 
Why does it need defending, I liked it.
You may want to read that article again. Or for a first time.
I loved Far Cry 2. It had plenty of problems, but I the feeling of open world survival trumped it all for me. I also really enjoyed the combat, and the aggressive enemy AI. One of these days I will try a permanent death playthrough.
DON'T STOP
Anyway, i was surprised to see Far Cry 2 in an art game panel. I don't quite agree your rationale on why it's art game, but you've made a great point.
Personally, i think the game's design choices and structure ended up hindering the overall atmosphere and ended up making it feel..."Gamey" is the word, i guess. Or perhaps too artificial.
Regardless, i'm thinking of the game a little differently. I might try it again, and give this "Iron Man" run-through a shot.
Thanks for the link Anthony, I'll be spending the better part of my afternoon listening to these while gaming.
Also, Zebras.
also, i posted this 2 days ago in the blogs but nobody cared. :(
the whole premise for far cry being an artgame seemed to be based on the mechanic that you have to go through your "friends" to minimize risk, how do you know this wasn't just an arbitrary design choice or a coincidence?
maybe i just got it wrong.
You do have to know what the ending is and understand the basics of it, but I don't think that necessarily diminishes the choices you have to make. It may make the choices less obvious and accessible for most players, but regardless of how those choices are presented or how you come to them, they still result in really remarkable gameplay.
Mr Zurkon:
Doesn't really matter if it was arbitrary or coincidental, does it? Death of the author, and all that.
(Also, I think it was a combination of nervousness, having too much to say, and just talking too fast in everyday life.)
Really enjoy your rants and talks Anthony, keep it up.
I find it interesting that you engage so emotionally with games, especially Far Cry 2. Sometimes I feel a bit weird because I find it so hard to get emotionally involved in games, I've only connected with a handful of games throughout years of playing games of varying styles.