The design and business of gaming from the perspective of an experienced developer
Twenty years ago, Dragon Magazine printed a review of a little poorly-selling game called The Spawn of Fashan by Kirby Davis. The reviewer was sure, absolutely sure, that The Spawn of Fashan was a parody of role-playing games, that no game would intentionally be this bad.
The reviewer was wrong. The author(s) of The Spawn of Fashan were serious.
You must read this review.
I was ICQ’ed this babelfish translation of Chinese press copy for Shadowbane.
“In the evil spirit sword world, the swarthy skin, glistens the armor, you are the soldier, strong powerful half giant soldier. In the evil spirit sword world, neat sends the hair bun, the red master ��, you are the evil spirit master, attractive humanity evil spirit master. In the evil spirit sword world, aside the body black leopard, commander-in-chief is mad the hunter short coverall, you are the female hunter, fills the jungle breath demon female hunter. Outside evil spirit sword world? I ���� take off the hard helmet, I want to see outside the game world that you.”
Thanks, Babelfish!
A federal judge has ruled that the X-men are not human, and for extra irony points, the link was released on Martin Luther King day. My girlfriend, who is no slouch in the geek department herself, looked absolutely mystified that I would be so troubled by this decision.
And finally, I don’t think I can get away without posting one man’s response to griefing.
Good News for Christian Video Gamers: Unreal Tournament 2003 Bible Based Maps and Characters are on the Way!
“I felt my heart flutter with excitement when Timothy was able to position Jesus in a spot under a tree on the Mount of Olives and get over 20 kills, but I was not pleased when a Muslim character snuck up behind Him and shot His head right off His shoulders!” said Pastor Deacon Fred, “And the character made a derogatory comment about the Lord, calling him a ‘camper.’”
(It’s a joke, son)
I’ve found the most intriguing and addictive online game put up in the last 3 years. Create a nation, determine its level of political freedom, and lead as a benevolent ruler or a tyrannical despot. Unfortunately, the game is apparently running on an old Texas Instruments calculator, or something else that really can’t handle the load, but the game is nice in that it scales well to the level of involvement you want. You can put in a minute a day, and have something very near the BBS games of old, or you can join the United Nations and take part in the debates (which are, I might add, well worth the price of admission). Continue reading
It always warms my heard to see game companies helping their competitors out.
A new Jack Chick Tract is up. Be sure to watch for the angel with the camcorder and the highly amusing Dear John letter.
And now, for those who remember the awfulness that is Jack Chick’s anti-gaming “Dark Dungeons”, I present you Dork Dungeons (thanks, I believe, to Delusion from the extinct Lum the Mad site) and MST3K does Dark Dungeons. Both of these make me think there may be hope for the human race.
One of the nice benefits of being part of Ninjaneering is that everyone sends me random silly ninja links. I wonder at what point Ninjas went from really, really cool to really, really silly. I suspect that it’s around the time that MST3K mystified the pilot episode of the Master, and all of us kids who thought the Master was the coolest thing since, well, the A-Team, discovered just how easily entertained we were as children.
Fortunately, with the announcement of Ninja Boobie Basketball, I feel confident things are heading in the right direction again.
And now Ninjas snarl Detroit traffic.
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