On Saturday, November 3, libraries all over the world will celebrate International Games Day by playing games. This year, at Mid-Manhattan Library, we'll have a variety of board games as well as a special line up of music video games from 2012 in Room 101 from 1-5 p.m.

Dyad (2012)

Hand-selected by NYPLarcade, we will be playing a different game each hour. Come play, watch, and talk about these unique music titles. No prior gaming experience necessary!

Rock Band Blitz is a return to Harmonix’s earlier experiements in combining music and video game mechancis such as Amplitude (2001) and Frequency (2003), both developed for the PlayStation 2. Using a conventional controller, players can switch between different lanes of a race course, each representing the rhythm of a different instrument.

Sound Shapes was designed by Jonathan Mak (Everyday Shooter) and Shaw-Han Liem (I Am Robot and Proud). In the game, platforming levels with art by Vic Nguyen, Pyramid Attack, PixelJam, and Superbrothers are skillfully synchronized with music by Beck, Deadmau5, and Jim Guthrie.

Dyad was designed by Shawn McGrath with music by David Kanaga. At turns hypnotic, beautiful, and fiendishly compulsive (with its ever-present leaderboards) Dyad is a synaesthetic racing game that draws equally from games like Wipeout, Rez, and Tempest.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an adventure game featuring the distinct pixel art of Superbrothers and music by Jim Guthrie. Originally released for the iPhone and iPad, Edge Magazine called it "a brand new page in the dusty book of adventure games, and an inarguable statement as to how much art and music can give to gaming." It was re-released this year for PC and Mac.

Please feel free to contact Thomas Knowlton at thomasknowlton@nypl.org if you have any questions. You can also friend NYPLarcade on Playfire and Steam.