Drew Davidson, who is clearly better than me with deadlines (given that I kept him waiting 21 weeks past mine to deliver an article for Well Played 3.0), returns to us with another fascinating cross-cultural look at games. Inspired by the concept of bite-sizability and just as low on time to game as the rest of us, today talks about how snacks and games can co-relate, and what we can learn from each when thinking about good design. You’re on, Drew!
— S
I’ve started to utilise the Auction House for the first time in my MMOG history. I’ve always adopted trade skills in any MMOG, to their maximum ability, yet have never actually used it to weigh down my pockets with gold, only to ever benefit myself in the form of potions (for personal use)…
Chalk this one up to another prediction Steerpike got wrong. Microsoft’s motion sensing Kinect hardware has moved a stunning eight million units in 60 days… far, far more than the company’s prediction (one that I at the time thought bombastic, absurd, and unbelievably out of touch) that it would move three million units by the end of 2010.
Professor Drew Davidson, Ph.D., Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie-Mellon University, can be a little intimidating when seen from across the room. A big bear of a guy with a beard and long dreads, he doesn’t match the traditional vision of “college professor.” I’d be quite surprised to learn Drew owned anything with elbow patches.
I first met him at SIGGRAPH several years ago, when I was sitting on a panel and he was giving some papers. We happened to share a table at the evening’s drinking and snacks networking event, and as we got to know each other I found that while he may look intimidating, he’s one of the nicest, most sharply curious, and most intellectual people you’ll meet in this field. He loves discussing games, chewing them like gummi to break them down and find their meaning. It’s no surprise that he’s the mad genius behind the Well Played series, which thanks to him I had the honor to be part of. In this Celebrity Guest Editorial, Drew remembers the time before the end of secrets, and what it will mean for game design. Take it away, Drew!
— S
Former Infinity Ward (Call of Duty, Modern Warfare) founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, now founders of Respawn Entertainment, are calling foul over their foe Activision/Blizzard’s latest legal tactic. The pair were fired from Infinity Ward because – according to A/B – they were illegally colluding with EA to sell the company… which wasn’t theirs to sell. You doubtless remember the crazy news flood that followed. West and Zampella sued Activision for unpaid royalties, wrongful …
Civilization V Lead Designer and Programmer Jon Shafer has apparently left his job at Firaxis and moved to Plymouth, Michigan, to join Stardock Entertainment – makers of the Galactic Civilizations series and, more recently, the somewhat disastrous Elemental: War of Magic. For starters, Big Download reports, Shafer will be helping the Elemental team get that game up to some semblance of snuff; later on he’ll helm his own dev team at Stardock on another game. …
From all of us here at Tap-Repeatedly to all of you out there in the ether, may a joyous yule season be upon you. If you’re not into yule seasons, may a joyous other kind of season be upon you. Perhaps a joyous winter solstice, or a joyous late December. Bear in mind that egg nogg is not – repeat, not – a faith-based beverage.
Once a year, something horrible happens. A cash-draining monstrosity we at Tap-Repeatedly refer to as the Steam Holiday Sale. $60 games for $0.99. Whole bundles – five and six games – for $4.99. And every year we queue up, faces hidden in shame, to buy games we already own, buy games we never intend to play, buy games we don’t even want. And why? Because! We. Just. Can’t. Stop. Ourselves.
Shame on me. I finally succumbed to purchasing my first Team Fortress 2 item several weeks ago. I justified the transaction by wanting to pad out my Steam wallet with £10 so I could buy A.I. War, while still having enough change left to get my grubby mitts on a vanity item of my choosing. Having sunk hundreds of hours into TF2, absorbing its free content like a sponge in water, I told myself it’s …
Two Mothers Of All Patches came out in the last day – Stardock Systems has released a monstrous 1.1 patch for its bomb Elemental: War of Magic, and Firaxis unleashed an update they’re actually calling The HUGE Patch to Civilization V, tweaking nearly every aspect of game AI. As the patch notes, linked above, indicate, neither of these are little bitty fixes. They are huge tracts of patch. Elemental 1.1 apparently ups the game from …
Time magazine has named Remedy’s horror shooter Alan Wake 2010’s Game of the Year. Our own Mat C also thought highly of it, as the above review indicates. Time talked about the game’s inherent maturity and complex storyline, even using the word “Hitchcockian” at one point: Lots of video-game covers have a bold M on their lower left corner, but none have felt as mature as Alan Wake does… Its mix of meta-awareness and Hitchcockian …
Behold! Well Played 2.0, a college textbook on video game theory, has been published by Carnegie-Mellon’s imprint, Etc Press. You can and should buy a digital or book-shaped copy here. Why? Because it includes a chapter by me, about me. Not about me. About STALKER. Because that’s a more interesting subject than me. Seriously, me would bore you to tears. And so might this STALKER article. But buy the book and read it all. Published …
Can you feel it? The crazy train is rolling into town again. And not a crazy Steam powered train either, no, one fuelled by Wolfire. Yes it’s the return of the Humble Indie Bundle: five sweet indie games each compatible with Windows, OSX and Linux, DRM free, individually giftable and all going for whatever price you like. Choo choo indeed. The best bit is that your payment can be split any way you like between …
Well kids, it’s mid way through December, which means you’re soon going to be seeing a lot of the following three things in particular: 1.) Father Christmas, and/or adults pretending to be Father Christmas 2.) Drunk relatives 3.) Game Of The Year lists So what is 2010’s Game of the Year? More to the point, who cares? I’m calling this one right now; Fighters Uncaged has got this years award in the bag. What’s more …
It’s difficult to know where to even begin when covering World of Warcraft’s latest expansion set. The game is already so vast as a result of its unprecedented success that to add further content becomes a daunting prospect for anyone wanting to jump in… (warning – may contain spoilers)