Intrigued by yesterday’s Rock, Paper, Shotgun writeup of two highly unique mods for Half-Life 2, I scampered over to ModDB to get them for myself. The first, Dear Esther, didn’t work correctly on my computer, so I set it aside until I have time for troubleshooting. The second, Korsakovia, it worked fine. I kinda wish it hadn’t, because despite the fact that 30 minutes with this mod had me gelatinized with fear, I have a …
Take-Two has finally announced a firm release date for the highly anticipated BioShock 2. February 9, 2010. Checking my calendar and I see nothing else booked that date so I just made a big X for the whole day.
As I am not too sure how I would do a review of a free, Internet-based game that strokes both my basest gaming urges and my basest sexual urges, I decided to forego a classic form of a review and just do a freeform take on Taboo Snaps, a game that tickles and giggles amusingly but never strays towards uncomfortable.
It’s in vogue these days after Kris Graft eloquently defended the various malignancies of Activision/Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick to support the man, claiming he does all he does as an effective executive officer and not as an imp of Satan himself. Of course, then Kotick goes and does something like giving a speech to the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference, during which he said – didn’t imply, said – that his goal is to “take …
Tap reader and good buddy Igor Hardy of A Hardy Developer’s Journal clued me into his latest interview, this one with Andrej Bevec of Clever Hans Productions. The two-man team’s been hard at work on a new click adventure called Briefcase Romanin, a Microsoft Dream Build Play contestant. Hand drawn and lavishly detailed, Briefcase Romanin won’t be limited to the 360 platform, either – there’s to be a PC release, and the luscious HD trailer …
Ben Heck continues his reimagining of gaming hardware with this nifty little laptop version of the Atari 800. This is making me seriously reconsider my upcoming iPhone purchase. Too bad there is only one of these in the world.
GamePolitics.com reports that Dennis McCauley, longtime overlord of that site and tireless fighter for free speech protection for the games industry, is stepping down as of today to pursue another opportunity. McCauley was also a freelance journalist for several more traditional outlets, but has indicated that he will be leaving the profession of journalism entirely. GamePolitics is owned by the ECA and as such won’t be shuttered; we’re expecting the announcement of a new editor …
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 …
I know, I know, I am perhaps a little over-enthusiastic about STALKER and its follow-up. Flawed though they were, both games captured atmosphere like essentially no other, and as such I am enthusiastic over the looming release of GSC Game World’s latest Chernobyl-drivern installment, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. According to GSC, the team listened carefully to the complaints about Clear Sky, and have put some degree of effort into correcting them.
The H1N1 piggy flu has struck at the Penny Arcade Expo, reports… everyone. At a gathering that attracts something like a bazillion people, this could be a major issue, and PAX organizers are taking it seriously. Penny Arcade has a list of known-to-be-infected flights and rail lines relevant to PAX, and while all medicos agree that the flu is comparatively mild when gotten by healthy people, anyone feeling symptoms are encouraged to stay home (or …
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 …
Tap-Repeatedly’s Week Old News Service continues (I’ve been busy) with the alert that long-time Ubisoft producer and Assassin’s Creed project honchette Jade Raymond has been tapped to run the company’s new Toronto studio. Here’s the frustrating thing about Jade Raymond – no, not that Assassin’s Creed was a crappy game, the other frustrating thing: despite deserving it, she will never be taken seriously by this industry; despite all her successes, despite her intelligence and capability, …
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. …
In a terse press release, the International Game Developers Association announced that Dr. Tim Langdell of Edge Games has voluntarily resigned his position on the IGDA board. As such, the recently announced special membership meeting to vote on Langdell’s possible ouster will no longer take place. Regardless of your position on the recent furor over Dr. Langdell’s and his company’s behavior, it is interesting that Langdell’s resignation comes at a time when public opinion was …
This week’s Wii Virtual Console treat is the original Phantasy Star, first seen on the Sega Master System. It costs 500 “Wii Points,” but I’m not sure of the exchange rate on that. This is where it started, people, the console RPG that spawned a franchise and still claims devotees to this day. Phantasy Star is a dark and often disturbing tale of heroism, revenge, and power-mad governance with distinct overtones of Nazism, Big-Brotherism, Fascism, …