Randomizer

Lovin’ it.

Fri, 14 May 2010 14:06:10 +0200

Lovin’ it.

So… yeah.

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:09:59 +0200

So… yeah.

BioWare man: FFXIII is "not an RPG"

Fri, 14 May 2010 11:42:46 +0200

BioWare man: FFXIII is "not an RPG":

Final Fantasy XIII is not a true RPG by BioWare’s definition, according to Star Wars: The Old Republic writing director Daniel Erickson.

“You can put a ‘J’ in front of it, but it’s not an RPG,” Erickson told Strategy Informer, after the site suggested FFXIII had an excellent story but slightly tedious gameplay.

Shouldn’t someone who actually works in the gaming industry know the etymology of the JRPG acronym? No, they’re not role-playing games. Yes, everyone and their uncle knows that by now.

BioWare Announces New DLC for Mass Effect 2

Fri, 14 May 2010 11:24:06 +0200

BioWare Announces New DLC for Mass Effect 2:

Time to dust off your Commander Shepard. Cerberus has lost communication with one of its research facilities. Probably just a crossed wire or something, right? Wrong. This is Mass Effect 2, people, and in the upcoming Overlord DLC, Shepard and crew must once again battle hordes of Geth, a homicidal artificial intelligence, and save the galaxy from certain destruction.

Nice.

Thu, 13 May 2010 15:06:54 +0200

Nice.

Patrick Jean's 'Pixels' might hit the big screen

Thu, 13 May 2010 14:23:28 +0200

Patrick Jean's 'Pixels' might hit the big screen:

“Pixels” is a short film which popped up about a month ago featuring classic game characters breaking out of a television and wreaking havoc through New York City. It was pretty damn cool. So cool, in fact, that Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison Productions, has partnered with “Pixels” creator Patrick Jean to develop a feature film based on the concept.

I loved the short film, and it really would be great if it managed to transfer well to the big screen.

DOSBox v0.74 Released

Thu, 13 May 2010 13:52:36 +0200

DOSBox v0.74 Released:

Nearly a full year since the last official release, the DOSBox team has updated the popular emulation software to version 0.74.

PORTAL IS FREE.. IF YOU WANT IT.

Thu, 13 May 2010 12:55:09 +0200

PORTAL IS FREE.. IF YOU WANT IT.:

playerspulse:

Act until May 24th to get a FREE COPY of Portal (FOR MAC USERS TOO!!)

Dead Space 2 coming to PC after all

Wed, 12 May 2010 12:05:11 +0200

Dead Space 2 coming to PC after all:

It turns out that Visceral Games is making a PC version of Dead Space 2 after all.

“Dead Space PC lovers can relax! Dead Space 2 is officially coming to PC,” according to the game’s official Twitter account.

Dead Space was actually a pretty solid game, let’s hope the sequel doesn’t disappoint.

The Making Of: Alone In The Dark

Wed, 12 May 2010 11:16:12 +0200

The Making Of: Alone In The Dark:

Alone In The Dark was made at the point in gaming history in which 3D truly came alive, flat-shaded polys giving way to textures, and requiring the efforts of increasing team sizes to become real. Production staff numbers grew from one or two people to almost ten, each with their own competencies. Structure became key, especially with real businessmen as managers: people who wanted to make money, people able to provide the creators with a relevant working framework. Not too strict a framework, however, as the story of Alone In The Dark reveals.

It's Tuesday

Tue, 11 May 2010 15:36:41 +0200

So go here and vote for your favorite tumblog.

Character Creation, Gender, And Fallout 3

Tue, 11 May 2010 14:42:51 +0200

Character Creation, Gender, And Fallout 3:

Gamasutra is offering up a retrospective-of-sorts for Fallout 3, focusing primarily on the game’s pace, character creation, “environmental storytelling”, and how the team at Bethesda overlooked the female protagonist.

Obama: Gaming A Concern For Education

Tue, 11 May 2010 14:21:48 +0200

Obama: Gaming A Concern For Education:

“With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations - none of which I know how to work - information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said, according to Reuters.

An American president flat-out admitting that he’s not very intelligent? What a novelty.

"Serious Games" Industry Gains Traction

Tue, 11 May 2010 14:18:30 +0200

"Serious Games" Industry Gains Traction:

“So-called ‘serious games’ are gaining traction in military, business, education, and medical applications as Gen X and Y come into power, iTnews reports. While game developers acknowledge the risk of trivializing real-world issues (as in the Six Days in Fallujah controversy), intelligently designed ‘serious games’ could allow complex situations to be presented in a simple way. Cisco, for example, has an amusing online games arcade that prepares networking professionals for a variety of certifications.”

May 11, 1951: RAM Is Born

Tue, 11 May 2010 14:16:08 +0200

May 11, 1951: RAM Is Born:

1951: Jay Forrester files a patent application for the matrix core memory.

RAM, yeah, it’s pretty important.

gamefreaksnz: nevver: 15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About...

Tue, 11 May 2010 14:13:48 +0200

gamefreaksnz:

nevver:

15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Star Trek [more]

gamefreaksnz: gamejournos: ronworkman: The state of online...

Tue, 11 May 2010 14:11:33 +0200

gamefreaksnz:

gamejournos:

ronworkman:

The state of online journalism (thanks Sam)

This is alarmingly accurate.

JOURNALISM IS DEAD.

A Fine Line: Making RPGs Accessible

Mon, 10 May 2010 12:45:20 +0200

A Fine Line: Making RPGs Accessible:

The latest entry to 1UP’s RPG Blog examines the growing trend of role-playing games being made “more accessible” in order to appeal to a wider audience, and how gamers can help reverse the trend by having more patience when learning a game’s mechanics. Several JRPGs are referenced, though Mass Effect 2 comes up for a bit as well.

Why the fuck would you want to make RPGs more accessible? Don’t like the number crunching? Go play your auto-level-up PlayStation ‘RPGs’. I remember coming face to face with the D&D system for the first time while playing the first Baldur’s Gate - a daunting experience. But actually taking my time to learn the system played a huge part in making me the person I am today: teh ultymate pwnerer.

Pro tip: never be afraid of learning new stuff (okay, actually, ALWAYS be afraid of learning new stuff that has nothing to do with gaming, cause that stuff is useless, but, yeah, learn new gaming stuff. Explore, educate yourself, always aim to be the best gamer you can possibly be). Also, RPGs with lotsa lotsa numbers are generally better than the ones without.

Quick Guide: Remove the Google 'Everything Bar'

Mon, 10 May 2010 12:35:37 +0200

Quick Guide: Remove the Google 'Everything Bar':

At the start of May 2010, Google began forcibly implementing a new look for its world famous search engine which has quite a few people scratching their heads in wonder. Given that Google shot to tremendous fame and fortune based in large part on its minimalistic yet highly useful interface, it comes as a bit of a surprise to see that interface steadily becoming more cluttered, and some might say ‘dumbed down’, as feature creep sets in.

…

At present there is no way to remove the Everything Sidebar using the Google Search preferences, so this quick guide provides you with the details required to do just this in the four major web browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Chrome. The guide also provides some other general Google customization tips. First make certain that you are running the latest version of your browser, then follow the relevant instructions below.

…

Historically, as companies have grown and diversified, they have often lost sight of their original vision. Google was founded on a simple yet extremely powerful and streamlined Internet search tool. It would be sad to see them slip into the realm of other less successful search engines which through the combination of a cluttered interface and too much interference with their user’s desires to undertake searches, all lost their position in the hearts and minds of Internet denizens.

Check the link for instructions.

Google, do not become fail.

Achron: indie RTS where time is your plaything, and enemy

Mon, 10 May 2010 11:14:27 +0200

Achron: indie RTS where time is your plaything, and enemy:

Time travel is a tricky thing to implement in a video game, especially when it fundamentally affects the title’s play mechanics. What if time travel is not only an active part of play, but its use constantly changes the game’s experience? Independent game developer Hazardous Software is figuring out the answer to this question with Achron, a real-time strategy game that requires players to think in four dimensions instead of three.

…

This is a very smart game, involving some extremely advanced concepts based on real theoretical physics. Case in point: aside from incorporating time travel into the strategy, players will also have to account for the paradoxes that result from sending units through the fourth dimension.

Let’s say you decide to take the sneaky route and destroy an enemy’s factories in the past, thereby nullifying the armies they have in the present. However, before a time wave (explained later) reflects the changes in the present continuity, your opponent manages to pull the same move with you. This creates a paradox: both players’ units shouldn’t be around in the present, but each result will periodically dominate the present timeline when a time wave hits the present timeline, canceling out the other; the outcome oscillates between each player’s favor.

If you’re advanced enough, you can time out the time waves’ patterns so the events work out for you. Paradoxes in Achron are resolved when an event falls off the observable Timeline, thereby locking them into the level’s permanent continuity.
…

For an indie game that’s in an alpha release, Achron looks pretty good, albeit a little simple. At the same time, it’s incredibly stable and the gameplay is very solid. As I worked my way through the demo levels that are available, I found myself replaying many of them so I could understand how to use teleportation nodes and time travel better. It was somewhat difficult to grasp at first, but it was interesting and became a ton of fun to play with once I got the hang of it.