The design and business of gaming from the perspective of an experienced developer
As if I didn’t have enough things to worry about (deadlines at work, daily physical therapy for the pooch, the complete ineptitude of the Cowboys), here’s another one: downtown Austin has been shut down due to dead birds.
If the terrorists have decided to strike in Austin, there’s seriously something to be said about their lack of ambition.
So the first 360 game to hold my extended attention has been Rainbow Six: Vegas, on the recommendation of people I trust, including this guy. This is a desperate attempt on my part to actually master controlling a shooter on a console controller. Some observations: Continue reading
My dog may not be as cool as the one that likes to suck on psychedelic toads (okay, I had to sneak that link in there somewhere) but we’ve been together a long time, and I knew that something was wrong when she didn’t hop off the couch to greet me when I got up a couple days ago.
She seemed to be limping, but oddly not in pain, as if her back leg didn’t work anymore. When I took her out back to do her business, she didn’t want to climb up. A trip to the vet was necessary. The vet confirmed the not-very-good: Dizzy had torn a knee ligament – a ruptured left cranial cruciate ligament, to be precise. The fix, apparently, is looping a nylon rope through the knee in such a way that it mimics what the ligament used to do, although oddly enough, the rope goes on the outside of the knee, meaning Dizzy will have a tubular scar around her knee for the rest of her life. Continue reading
A couple bits of news today, from two companies hoping to be the first thing people talk about.
First off, Tabula Rasa is taking beta requests. Note: don’t look for this information at tabularasa.com, which apparently is a ‘fansite’ so ad-infested that the popups have popups. You need to go to NCSoft’s home site if you want to see crucial information, such as pictures of the art director dressed as a banana. Continue reading
Some time ago, I wrote that living in UO in the early days was like living in a Dali painting. Dan Rubenfeld has something pretty similar to say, with, I might add, a mention of evil sewing kits of death.
And yes, this is positive reinforcement aimed at getting him to post more.
Whose winning this generation’s console wars? According to VGCharts, a site I just found, the answer is the XBox 360. Unless you count the DS, in which case the DS is winning handily. Take a looksee.
Also of interest is their top games of 2006 in North America. While these numbers do not include December yet (which should vastly inflate them, as Christmas is prime time for the games industry), a quick glance at the numbers shows the industry as being in quite a slump. In 2004, 13 games sold more than a million copies, with 4 besting the 2 million mark. In 2006, by comparison, 8 games bested the million mark, with only Madden crossing into two. Consider: GTA San Andreas was, according to this list, the 10th best selling game of the year. It shipped in 2004.
Hopefully we’ll see a rebound this year, as all three new consoles hit their stride.
There are rumors and whispers that Battlestar Galactica Online is in the works, being put together by Vivendi.
Whether or not it is an MMO or a lighter online experience remains to be seen, although early indication is that it will be an XBox 360 exclusive. That being said, Scott’s talked in the past about why Battlestar Galactica would be hard to develop as a classic MMO, and I’d tend to agree with him down the line.
I’m afraid I’m not as exciting as some people, including the people who have memed me. So you’ll just have to blame Lumand MMOGNation for being subjected to this. Edited to add: “this” being “a list of five things most people don’t know about me.” Continue reading
As we enter the new year, it’s worthwhile to talk about where we came from, and how it will affect things moving forward.
In many ways, 2006 was good for me, at least personally. I got married, which I should definitely mention in the ‘good’ category. Also, I got the best job I’ve ever had, and am in the midst now of developing some of the core gameplay systems for a very cool game. It’s always a pleasure to wake up looking forward to work. Continue reading
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