Where the first installment of Games People Play traced games as a real-world activity, Part II of our series finds footing in the virtual world of videogames. From Paul Bartel's Death Race 2000, the film that fathered Carmeggedon and Grand Theft Auto, through the silicon chip trippin' Tron, where players trapped inside of a computer run the deadly game grid, to Cronenberg's oozy eXistenZ, where enthusiasts jack into joy with their MetaFlesh Game-Pods, we look at the often virulent visions of a world hard pressed by cyber gaming. Along the way, there is an intriguing segue into machinima, a new strand of animation by designers who have requisitioned game engines as their motive force.
Curated/Notes by Steve Seid