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I’ll admit it, I was wrong!  All this time I have thought, hell, fervently believed there were only three ways to get rich: (1) Inherit it, (2) Steal it, or (3) Earn it. Except for the first choice, none of those sound particularly fun; but, it turns out there is another way, a far better way and one that can be a bucket of fun, gaming enthusiasts. Did you know that computer gaming is now considered a professional sport?  For example, just last month U.S. immigration officials classified the world’s top video-game players as professional athletes. Wow, does it take forever for the U.S. government to wake up, or what?  We all knew how special gaming was, but all we got from the government was a lot of crap.

Unequivocally, I say Rockstar is greedy, selfish and without remorse. They make it difficult, even impossible for a customer to receive satisfaction when there is a problem. The truly ironic thing is, they pretend they are trying really hard.  One gets the impression, early on, that he/she is being helped.  But, before long, you realize that your emails don’t seem to have been read, by real eyes in any case. I cannot help but believe there are thousands of others who feel as I do.

“A future in which almost every aspect of your life includes a game like experience is all but inevitable.” — Jesse Schell, Video game designer/researcher, Carnegie-Mellon University I just got around to reading the December issue of Scientific American.  Bad mistake, I should have gotten to it earlier because therein is a fascinating article by John Pavlus called “The Game of Life.”  He makes the very simple claim that games will become part of our …

It has been a lifetime since I contributed to Tap, but Steerpike’s/Matt’s latest IGDA article called “The Facts of Life” got my blood boiling.  It had little to do with what Steerpike said, but a whole lot to do with the philosophy so current in our marketplace.  The article pointed out a series of glitches and faux pas in Obsidian’s latest, Alpha Protocol, while indicating that he was able to “overlook its many, many, many, …

Has it ever occurred to you that you can use you hands for an infinite number of activities?  I mean, really think about it, anything you can imagine using your hands for, you most likely can.  I know that may sound pretty silly but consider that a moment.  For years we have been playing computer games with “a hand” that can only do one thing.  Think I’m crazy?  Well think about it.  If you want …

Life sometimes has a way of biting us in the ass! Brilliance has it rewards, but if brilliance is far ahead of technology, or if you have secondary objectives, that bite can really hurt.   While there are circumstances where being bit in the ass can be pleasureable, it can also create a slow burn that never quite goes away, eating at your psyche as well as your pocket book.  If we have learned nothing over …

If we didn’t love gaming none of us would spend a couple of hours each day here, checking out what’s new at Tap-Repeatedly.com.  The fact is, we love not only the process of playing the games, but are equally mystified and fascinated by the process of game design, development as well as production.  For years we kind of hid in the dark, listening to our parents’ criticisms about our seemingly insatiable desire to play our …

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games are all the rage now-a-days.  But here comes one that threatens to change the world of MMORPG gaming?  …so say the producers, at least.  Supposedly a big hit in Asia for the past few years, Aion will soon be dumped, if it hasn’t been already, onto servers in the U.S.  Word on the street is that there have been over 300,000 pre-release orders placed in Europe alone.

Part 3: The Third of the Great “Imaginators” In this, the final installment of “Literature, Gaming, and Tomorrow,” (first two articles here and here), I will examine the final of my three proposed “Great Imaginators” – that is, authors, dreamers, and creators of literature who in their so-called “fiction” actually proposed a world that has come to pass nearly in lockstep with their vision. Our third imaginator is almost a contemporary of ours, and his …

Part 2: Turning Dreams into Reality This is the second in the series on literature, gaming and tomorrow.The importance of imagination in game development was discussed and related to literature.More specifically, the relationship was made between science fiction lit.This seemed a natural fit since one of the curious things about our lives on this planet is that virtually every innovation we now take for granted had its birth in literature that was science fiction based.All …

Part 1: The Wonder of Imagination Every once in a while I get really irritated at those who criticize without the benefit of knowledge. It makes me wish I were God so I could force them to drop their pants, bend over and accept ten swats with a paddle (with holes drilled through it). Too often, the value of gaming is muddied because critics look at it through unenlightened eyes instead of learned, rational ones. …

Sometimes I think I am losing it. Stuff is happening that I thought, at one time, would never happen. But, here we are, a bunch of old farts starting to discover video games. Now, understand, when I say old farts, I am referring to people in their fifth, sixth and seventh decade. One has to wonder what that will mean to the future of the gaming industry, much less to the future of civilization. Will Gramps turn into a rapist or a murderer?

In a recent New York Times Magazine article by Tom Vanderbilt, he wonders how the Internet data centers we have built can keep up with our massive use. After reading the article, I felt like crawling into the fetal position, covering my head and eyes, and just waiting for the end of the universe to arrive. For surely, the end of the universe as we know it is near.

In a recent posting, I expressed curiosity about what makes a game a sure fire winner.Statistically, only two percent of games actually return a profit to their developers, so I asked the question, “Why do some games, like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Max Payne and others become such winners in the marketplace?” One of you supplied an answer that intrigued and pleased me.The response agreed with the theories I had proposed in my article while …

Recently, I asked the question: “Why do some games, like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Max Payne and others become such winners in the marketplace?”  Ever since then I have been trying to unlock the secret to developing and selling winning games.  So, the question for today should be pretty obvious.  What makes gamers line up at midnight before a release to purchase these games?