The design and business of gaming from the perspective of an experienced developer
As per Wonkette, it appears that John Edwards has opened up a virtual campaign headquarters in Second Life. Wonkette’s snide comment:
It’s just like the Dean campaign’s obsession with Meetup, except that instead of actually leaving your house to go to a fundraising party, you can pretend to be a huge-chested Japanese woman.
… is that occasionally, a reader will send you something that makes your head explode. And with that introduction, I present the Abortion-Themed d20 pen and paper sourcebook. Continue reading
With all the hubbub over Super Columbine Massacre, I thought maybe I should play it. Tragically, it’s a lousy game. And by that, I mean in terms of actually having any clue what you’re supposed to do at any given time. My own personal theory is that the guy who runs the Slamdance contest quit in disgust when he couldn’t figure out how to open his duffel bags and get his guns, resulting in him being caught by the hall monitors over and over again. Apparently, you’re supposed to know to go to the top of the hill to watch the bombs get set off. My attempt to do so resulted in, well, nothing happening. Continue reading
Apparently someone in China’s Ministry of Culture got tired of gold farmers in the Plaguelands, because it looks like they are considering banning virtual item trading in the Land of the Rising Sun Communists. Continue reading
Who knew that when Bill O’Reilly would kickstart the annual ‘War on Christmas’, the first battle would be with… all the cool toys this Christmas!
Not content to leave the video game bashing to Democrats like Hillary and Joementum, Bill O’Reilly has decided to turn luddite, and open fire on gaming and technology, in the process demanding that all of you kids get off of his lawn.GamePolitics has the story, complete with money quotes:
Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality – ever. So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine. Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality…
Sara and I spent the evening watching the election results. Right now, the Senate is tied 49-49 with two votes to go. That’s close enough to guaruntee at least gridlock. Good enough me.
We also spent time playing the new Guitar Hero II. Yeah, yeah, I couldn’t wait. First impressions is that … some of the song covers are really bad. In particular, the songs with distinctive lead singers really were jarring: Rage Against the Machine is the worst, with Nirvana, Aerosmith, and Alice in Chains all coming out pretty bad as well. I really don’t remember having this reaction to the first one.
Still having a blast, though. More to come.
So my new company is in the news… thanks to Hugo Chavez. According to him, Pandemic (which is owned by the same company that owns Bioware) is making a simulator designed to, I dunno, give the US youth practice for an upcoming invasion. Continue reading
Marc Woebegone, known in the real word as Marc Bragg, has filed suit in the local district justice court in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a small town located 25 miles west of Philadelphia, PA. Bragg purchased virtual land, known in Second Life as “sims,” using real US currency. Bragg learned of a way to purchase virtual land significantly below market values, and invested thousands of US dollars purchasing land in an attempt to resell this land at a profit. Bragg claims that employees of Linden Research, Inc., the company who creates, manages and maintains this online world, allowed the auction to be created, and after Bragg paid US dollars for the land, terminated Bragg’s account, without explanation, without citing any violation of community policy, and have since refused offer a credit or a refund. Bragg’s calls to customer service and Linden Lab’s legal counsel have gone unanswered. Bragg’s final option? Seek relief in a real world court.
I’ve pointed out before how 25 to Life has gotten abysmal reviews. This article talks about how the game’s sales are being fueled by the controversy stoked by game activists. The part that made me chuckle was this quote from a publicist for the game:
“Frankly, it is not a good title and under normal circumstances it would not be selling as well,” said Michelle Curran, a public relations director for Eidos, the British producer of the game….When the game was released, Curran said, the company did nothing to promote it. There were no TV ads, magazine campaigns or other promotions. The company did not think the game had much potential.
And that’s the publicist talking.
Quick – which review is more likely to make a kid run out and buy 25 to Life? From The Pennsylvania congress, via GamePolitics:
“…and be it further RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives respectfully acknowledge law enforcement officers and honor the memory of the brave men and women killed in the line of duty by expressing support for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and antiviolence campaign…”
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