Game Project Recreates Jazz & Blues Club Scene

June 29, 2007 -

From the Poynter Online journalism site comes word of Remembering 7th Street, a new video game project designed to recreate the jazz and blues club scene of Oakland, California in the 1940's and 1950's.

As reported by Poynter contributor Anthony Wojtkowiak, the project began with a $60,000 Knight News Challenge grant awarded to UC Berkeley journalism professor Paul Grabowicz. Of the ambitious undertaking, Grabowicz said:

Oakland was a Mecca for jazz and blues musicians from all over the country. Over the course of about a decade, the area essentially got wiped out due to a series of ill-fated urban redevelopment projects. We're using a video game to portray that world as it existed and tell the story of the clubs, the musicians, and the people in the community and what happened to them.

Our game defines an important local community and focuses on a very important aspect of that community. In essence, we have used a video game to recreate this community. It's not a broader game like Civilization, [which] attempts to chart historical events...

What's frustrated me ever since is that you could write about it but you couldn't bring back to life what it was like to be there... I found out that the UC Berkeley Architecture School was using video game technology to recreate ancient cities.... A video game is an immersive world; it doesn't seem like someone else's attempt to describe to you what something was like...

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Comments

Submitted by Terrible Tom (not verified) on Sat, 06/30/2007 - 16:52.

It depends on how accurately it depicts the jazz or club scene.

Submitted by G-Dog (not verified) on Sat, 06/30/2007 - 14:49.

So, will this have digi-Reefer?

Submitted by Terrible Tom (not verified) on Sat, 06/30/2007 - 01:38.

This is not the only direction games should head, sure it should BRANCH OFF in this direction but it shouldn't all head in this direction. It should also go in the direction Ian Bogost was talking about and in the direction I speak of and in the direction everyone else speaks of. Diversity is a good thing.

Submitted by Creamy Goodness (not verified) on Sat, 06/30/2007 - 00:21.

Remember the discussion we all had with ian bogost about the direction games should head. This is it............

Submitted by Matt (not verified) on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 21:35.

nice article, a member at www.CharacterPlanet.com linked me here; the applications for games is exciting...can't wait for all these communities to pop up

Submitted by Archgabe (not verified) on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 14:25.

I will have to check this out when they are done with it. I am interested to see what they can do with this idea.

Submitted by Pirra (not verified) on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 11:34.

I'm not relay a fan of jazz but this is an awesome idea. If only they could do this for SoCal during the 70s and 80s.

Submitted by King James (not verified) on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 09:37.

An interesting application of game technology. It's nice to see that people are willing and able to expand what stories "games" are able to tell.

Submitted by ~the1jeffy (not verified) on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 09:26.

Holodeck pre-cursor?

Submitted by Terrible Tom (not verified) on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 06:19.

Ahh, the times where Henry J Anslinger demonized a plant and blamed it all on a race of people and genre of music.

Shout box

Matthew Wilson: https://soundcloud.com/totalbiscuit/weaponised-charity a interesting audio log.10/19/2014 - 12:04pm

prh99: Also there is no story in rational and respectful discussion (where you can find it).10/19/2014 - 10:44am

prh99: Well they are probably doing it on Twitter and probably the GG hashtag so any voice reason gets drowned out by idiocy. Also it's far easier to broad brush a group.10/19/2014 - 10:41am

Wonderkarp: dont fool yourself, Technogeek. Remember Mass Effect 3? How about the ferver against Phil Fish?10/19/2014 - 10:18am

MechaTama31: None of which is the fault or responsibility of the people who are not trolling, harassing, threatening, doxxing, etc. So why is their opinion hostage to the people who are?10/19/2014 - 10:06am

Technogeek: If the developer were male there wouldn't have been a "conversation" in the first place.10/19/2014 - 2:27am

Monte: trolls are just at their absolute worst when it comes to women and feminist. You could bet good money that if the developer were male the trolls would be silent and the conversation would actually focus on the journalism.10/18/2014 - 9:18pm

Monte: Papa: Not the first time we've had a journalism scandals before, but the harassment never got close to this level; the difference with this scandal is that feminists are involved. Without the feminist angle, their would be A LOT less harrassment10/18/2014 - 9:15pm

Papa Midnight: Monte: That's honestly rather short-sighted. As has been proven with other persons who have been targeted, if it wasn't Quinn, it would be someone else.10/18/2014 - 6:26pm

Avalongod: I think that's part of what gives an esoteric news story like this real life...it taps into a larger narrative about misogyny in society outside of games.10/18/2014 - 3:29pm

Avalongod: @Monte, well the trolls made death threats that came to police (and media attention). I think this is tapping into a larger issue outside of games about how women are treated in society (like all the "real rape" stuff during the last election)10/18/2014 - 3:28pm

Wonderkarp: Zippy : Havent tried the PS4 controller. might later.10/18/2014 - 2:37pm

Monte: Seirously, If Quinn was not involved and GG was instead about something like the Mordor Marketing contracts, the trolling would have never grown so vile and disgusting. There have been plenty of movements in the past that never sufferred from behavior..10/18/2014 - 1:57pm

Monte: We have seen scandel's before but the trolling has never been as vile as what we see with GG. Trolls usually have such a tiny voice you can barely notice them, but its like moths to a flame whenever femistist are involved.10/18/2014 - 1:53pm

ZippyDSMlee: Wonderkarp: You might be able to if you had a PS4 controller.10/18/2014 - 1:00pm

MaskedPixelante: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327940/ Night Dive starts charging for freeware.10/18/2014 - 12:21pm

Matthew Wilson: the sad thing is there are trolls on both sides of this. people need to stop acting like their side is so pure.10/18/2014 - 12:19pm

MechaTama31: So, only speak out on a scandal that hasn't attracted trolls? I wouldn't hold my breath...10/18/2014 - 10:49am

Monte: I feel like GG just needs to die. The movement is FAR to tainted by hatred and BS for it to be useful for any conversation. Let GG die, and then rally behind the NEXT gaming journalism scandal, and start the conversation fresh.10/18/2014 - 10:33am

quiknkold: and we dont have a Dovakin to call a cease fire10/17/2014 - 7:37pm

All shouts

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