• starcraft ii

    Blizzard Wants Starcraft II To Be 'Mom Friendly'

    "Yo momma plays Protoss at Starcraft" would make a devastating, if rather surreal riposte when playing the dozens. If Blizzard's Chris Sigaty gets his way, though, it could just be a perfectly acceptable thing to say because, you know, she might.

    Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, the game's producer made it clear that although Starcraft II was intended to please the hardcore audience that still flocks to the original game for its strategic depth, some effort was being made to open the game up to the more casual player.

    “We’ve trying to make sure that it’s perfectly balanced for e-sport," said Sigaty, "but look — I’m going to try to get my mom to play this game. I know she can’t [micromanage] at the level that these pro gamers can, so we’re actually experimenting back in the opposite direction… so that even the layman can come in and get a grasp of these cool things in the game.”

    Producer: ‘StarCraft II’ To Be Mom-Friendly [MTV Multiplayer]

    4:40 PM on Thu Oct 30 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    6,212 views, 83 comments

    Most discussed Dexyn: Isn't that what the Wii is for? more »

  • gatheryn

    Gatheryn - A Steampunk MMO For Casual Gamers

    “Gatheryn welcomes players into a world where steam powers everything from vehicles to mechanical monkeys, and mystery enshrouds a romantic landscape reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ Victorian London.”

    Stop. You had me at 'steam powered monkeys'.

    Gatheryn seems to be pitching itself as a sort of World Of Warcraft for people who hate endless grinding and enjoy casual gaming. The game is set in the aforementioned steam monkey paradise and promises to offer in-engine versions of “the 50 most popular casual games of all time.” More »

    3:20 PM on Wed Oct 29 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    9,233 views, 47 comments

  • Fable II

    Molyneux Frets Over Dangers of Casual Gaming

    "I don't like this divide we are building," Peter Molyneux tells me. "More and more we are saying these ones here are core games and these one here are casual games. Actually I think that is an incredibly divisive thing and if we're not careful the amount of attention we put into these core games will get less and less because they are so expensive to make. Less and less people will be able to afford to make them."

    This comes minutes after Molyneux explains to me why he asked reviewers to get casual gamers to check out Fable II before writing their review.

    I point that out to Molyneux and then say that I agree with him about the dangers of separating the "core" games from the "casual." It's the Wii effect, I say. I don't say this to attack the Wii, but it was from Nintendo that I first started receiving requests to have "casual" gamers check out their games and not hardcore gamers. It was Nintendo that, I think, was first to argue that hardcore gamers didn't "get" their Wii games.

    Molyneux seems to agree. More »

    9:00 AM on Fri Oct 10 2008
    By Brian Crecente
    8,438 views, 155 comments

    Most discussed HikariOblivion: The "core gamer" is a whiny plague on gaming. Complaining about everything and never content unless the game is so more »

  • Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures

    Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures on Facebook

    Dungeons & Dragons-mongers Wizards of the Coast have come up with an uber-casual version of the venerable role playing game that just might make it worthwhile signing up for privacy-siphoning office time-sink that is Facebook.

    Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures is a Facebook app that lets you create a character, equip them with potions and weapons and them set them off on a (hey!) Tiny Adventure.

    Your character will send you regular updates from your chosen quest, and because FB is a Social Networking site you can ask your friends to buff them up by throwing potions and other kit your way. Success in the various game events is determined by dice rolls modified by your initial choices.

    The game server is down at the moment due to heavy demand, but should soon rise again, stronger and more powerful than ever.

    D&D Tiny Adventures [Facebook via Tor]

    6:40 PM on Fri Aug 22 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    5,469 views, 32 comments

  • wii

    Kellogg's: Wii Makes Your Heart Stronger

    First they slip their way into Tropic Thunder and now I stumble across this commercial for Kellogg's Smart Start. In it a soccer mom says she's trying something new to make her heart stronger... and it's Wii Sports. It's interesting to see that Nintendo continues to woo the casual market so fiercely even in the face of increasingly disenfranchised hard core gamers.

    Update: Turns out that while Tropic Thunder was indeed product placement, this goofy cereal commercial was 100 percent Kellogg's.

    2:00 PM on Thu Aug 14 2008
    By Brian Crecente
    1,431 views, 38 comments

    Latest by GodKiller1: Yeah, just looking at hot women is good for the heart! Haha jews!! ;p more »

  • casual

    You Betcha We're Getting A Hardy Boys Wii Game

    The announcement that you knew somewhere in the back of your brain for that the game that you've all been waiting for is here: Yes, that's right, the Wii is getting a Hardy Boys game. Titled Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft, the game is already slated for the PC and follows Frank and Joe as they investigate a vault burglary — only to find themselves at the center of a major investigation! Jesse McCartney and Cody Linley (who?) from Hannah Montana (oh) will do the voicing duties. Don't think of this as a point and click adventure but a waggle and click one.

    The Hardy Boys to appear on Wii [CVG] [Pic]

    4:00 AM on Tue Aug 5 2008
    By Brian Ashcraft
    1,822 views, 43 comments

    Latest by phatnacky: @Trai_Dep: maybe so ...I'm dyslexic thanks for being an ass. i will admit to my lack of punctuation...but im just more »

  • facebook

    Majesco Hits Facebook With Bananagrams

    Majesco's getting on board the Facebook game craze with Bananagrams, an anagram game hitting the social networking site for free on August 18th.

    The game starts you off with a batch of selected tiles, and then players have to make up as many words as possible, as quickly as they can, from the available letters. Friends can compete against one another live, and the person to use up all his or her tiles first is the winner.

    Facebook users can play alone or with up to eight friends at a time. The single-player mode provides a timed race for users to try and beat their own best time.

    Full announcement after the jump: More »

    7:40 PM on Thu Jul 24 2008
    By Leigh Alexander
    1,156 views, 13 comments

  • News

    Hasbro Sues Over Scrabulous Facebook Game

    Hasbro is suing the creators of the popular Scrabulous Facebook game, after a request the toy company made to the social network earlier this year to pull the game went unanswered.

    In January when Hasbro first began to fuss about Scrabulous, many were perplexed — wasn't the prolific Facebook board game an homage to the original, arguably even a sort of viral marketing? But today's infringement suit announcement comes just after Electronic Arts, through its partnership with Hasbro, launched its own official Scrabble game on Facebook, a launch no doubt complicated by the existence of an unlicensed, competing game.

    Hasbro says Scrabulous infringes on its intellectual property rights, and is suing creators Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, while requesting that Facebook pull the application immediately.

    Full announcement follows the jump. More »

    11:00 AM on Thu Jul 24 2008
    By Leigh Alexander
    5,037 views, 79 comments

  • EA

    EA Announces Operation Mania

    The next title to come out of the partnership between Electronic Arts and Hasbro is Operation Mania, a reworking of that surgery game we all used to play when we were kids — remember the poor patient with the light-up nose?

    The video game version seems to have added a bit more than just pulling out plastic organs from a precarious piece of human-shaped plastic machinery, though. You play as up-and-coming surgeon Dr. Humerus, who diagnoses patients with wacky illnesses at five different hospitals on his way to becoming an expert surgeon through microgames "reminiscent of the board game," but it's also got a story mode, upgradeable hospitals, and multiplayer.

    EA's launching it on its casual Pogo site in North America and Europe in August, and in a retail box in North America in September. Full details after the jump.

    More »

    10:20 PM on Wed Jul 23 2008
    By Leigh Alexander
    3,788 views, 21 comments

    Latest by kidCasey13: @aestheticity: I won't lie, Theme Hospital remains as one of my top 10 favorite games ever. If this is anything like more »

  • nickelodeon

    Nickelodeon Expands Its Games Biz With New Divisions

    Nickelodeon is expanding its moves into the areas of virtual worlds and games with the formation of two separate divisions, the company announced today.

    The Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games Group includes all of its gaming initiatives, both paid and subscription, for online, PC, handheld and console, and will be led by senior VP and GM Dave Williams. It also includes Nickelodeon's Addicting Games and Shockwave sites, for which the company recently promised 1,600 new casual games in 2008. The company will be seeking new game developer and publisher partnerships under this division.

    The virtual worlds group, which includes the company's Nicktropolis and Neopets online worlds for kids, will be led by Neopets SVP Kyra Reppen to support its kids and family-friendly online worlds efforts and casual MMOs. Nickelodeon has several virtual worlds in the works based on Nickelodeon IP as well as existing properties.

    Full release follows the jump. More »

    3:20 PM on Tue Jun 17 2008
    By Leigh Alexander
    1,059 views, 20 comments