Column: 'The Esoteric Beat: Uni-Dogs'

In this week's edition of The Esoteric Beat, regular columnist Jim Rossignol's examination of the esoteric side of game design, we take a look at Uni-Verse, the "distributed interactive audio-visual virtual reality system," as well as a new Japanese arcade game about the hazards of walking your dog. In the following extract, Rossignol discusses the open-ended possibilities of Uni-Verse: What's most exciting, at least from the perspective of a gamer and commentator, is that the knock-on effects of what persistent-world gaming is capable of being are only just being realised. So while there might be a lot of noise being made about Second Life right now, it's actually the games and interactive projects that will emerge from people being inspired by Second Life that really excite. This new arena could end up being far more radical than anything the Lindens have yet brought to light, and that's what makes this the most exciting era of technology to be involved. Future gaming projects could be more radical in their development than they are in their play. Perhaps Uni-Verse offers a hint of what those projects might look like. Check out the full Gamasutra column for more (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).