Many of us grew up with videogames; our kids are certainly growing up in a world where videogames are a given. But for those of us in our thirties and forties, something else is true: videogames grew up with us, and for that reason I think we feel a special bond with videogame culture. Here are two projects that I think videogame fans will appreciate.
Matthew Kenyon is a graphic designer in the UK who happens to be obsessed with videogames, which inspired him to create Game Paused to promote videogame culture. His current project is entitled Everyday Is Play—it’s a hardcover book celebrating videogames, from game-inspired fan art to interviews to game mods.
What’s more, you can submit your own work for Everyday Is Play. The deadline is August 9, 2013, and there’s a list of the types of work Kenyon has in mind (which includes crafts, chiptunes, speed-runs, photography, and more). Kenyon plans to release Everyday Is Play toward the end of the year. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out! 
And here’s one especially for fans of Nintendo: The NES Club, a documentary currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. Jay Bartlett is a game enthusiast with the goal of collecting all 700+ published games for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 30 days—and Rob McCallum is planning to follow him and document the journey.
I should make it clear: the money raised by the Kickstarter campaign is not for Bartlett to pay for the games themselves. He’s using his own money, and the funding goes toward the making of the documentary as they follow Bartlett, and if necessary for travel to interview other people connected to Nintendo and this quest.
Bartlett has set himself one interesting rule: no online purchases allowed. I suppose it makes for a more interesting story than “Well, I managed to find 650 of them on eBay” but it does feel a bit unnecessarily difficult. Then again, what would be more appropriate to gaming culture than making arbitrary rules you have to abide by? I don’t know how likely it is for Bartlett to hit his goal (he says about 80% in the video) but if the Kickstarter campaign succeeds then we’ll be able to see the results, whatever they are.
