Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

From Edge: a short interview with New York based artist and game designer Mark Essen, whose game Flywrench will appear at the New Museum’s The Generational: Younger Than Jesus. An excerpt:

I’ve gotten more respect, and people know me now more, which has been useful and good. I’m getting game gigs, and that kind of stuff. [...]


As my minutes at MTV come to an end, I’d like to share some experiences about my time covering games here for all the aspiring or thriving gaming reporters out there.
Totilo ran one of the better gaming blogs on the internet, and will assume the role of Deputy Managing Editor at  Kotaku on May 4.


A game that time forgot:

Socket: Time Dominator is an interesting game to look at from a cultural and historical point of view, as it shows the lengths that some developers have gone and will go in order to cash in on a popular videogame gimmick. Unfortunately, there were many rip-offs of popular games before Socket, [...]


Douglass Perry remembers the N64 years:

With the wildly successful Nintendo DS and Wii hitting record sales month after month, Nintendo looks like a million bucks. All of Nintendo’s well calculated strategies and inventive risks look like–and may very well be–genius.
Going against the grain of more sophisticated machines such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, [...]


The GayGamer wants Western ideas to stay out of his Japanese RPGs. An article on proper point (e.g., coins, rings etc.) placement in platforming games. An article on adventure game puzzle design.
A compartamentalized review of Contact and (something of a) justification. The problem with game of the year awards. Stephen Poole on the pleasure [...]


An essay on the state of video game reviewing and criticism. Keith Stuart on gaming’s relationship to rock ‘n’ roll. Has Nintendo betrayed the core gamer, or is it the core gamer that fell out of love with Nintendo? Hide and Geek affirms the latter; the GayGamer responds.

The N-word makes its way into Animal [...]


Being Easy

29Oct08

What the writers of Multiplayer are not playing. More with Shigeru Miyamoto. From Edge, the importance of being easy. Remembering Doom 3. 
An interview with Dan Houser. A review of Fallout 3 and a video interview with Todd Howard.
Should developers be able to sell the rights to unlock levels? Journalists speak on game hype. In defense of WiiMusic


Defining Play

28Oct08

From Man Bytes blog: defining play, and more on defining play. Beyond gamerdom. The storyworld of Fable 2: an introduction, and minigames vs. storytelling. Are we at risk of a digital dark age? How important is the game designer?
Tom Bissell profiles Cliffyb for the New Yorker.
Obama targets gamers, again.


Gamestown

28Oct08

Building Social Communities For Your Game: A Primer from Gamasutra. Also from Gamasutra: what missing gamers want. Leigh Alexander on the dysfunctional relationship between game journalists, the industry and gamers. The Brainy Gamer on contemplative play. An article on co-op mechanics. A discursive map of Super Mario Bros.
Two interviews with Shigeru Miyamoto. Concepts and designs of [...]


Are game over screens a thing of the past?
Two years later, Brice Morisson reflects on the Wii’s successes. The musician behind LittleBigPlanet’s Koran controversy responds. Dan Hsu adds to his recent comments on conflicts of interest in video games journalism.
From IGN, a transcript of Miyamoto’s discussion of WiiMusic at a recent appearance in San Francisco. [...]