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pc gaming

An Interview With the Developer of Solitaire for Windows

You know, I can't really argue with the claim that Wes Cherry created the most-played video game ever: Solitaire for Windows (PC) which came out in the early 1990s and was installed on millions of machines worldwide. I think IGN gave it a 10/10 at the time. I kid! I kid!

But the Web site B3TA tracked down Mr. Cherry and, by all appearances, got a legit Q&A with him. A bunch of their commenters sent in questions and according to the article, Cherry got back to them about a year later. The big question, would he play ball with this kind of an interview? Oh yes, he did.

More »

3:00 PM on Sat May 3 2008
By ogood
10,625 views, 41 comments

grand theft auto

Variety: Long Ass Interview With Rockstar's Dan Houser

Rockstar co-founder and VP Dan Houser, notably reluctant to give long interviews, especially about himself, sat down with Variety's Ben Fritz for a 90 minute interview, and from the looks of it, nearly all is transcribed in Fritz's blog on Variety.
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3:00 PM on Sun Apr 20 2008
By ogood
6,172 views, 22 comments

color blindness

Developers Rarely Account for Color-Blind Gamers

As a color-blind gamer, I can't recall having many eye-rubbing hangups over which side to attack, who was friend or who was foe. You don't need colors to tell the opposite side in a game like Star Wars: Battlefront, for example, and the only way to miss red versus blue in Halo would be to lack all color vision. And Guitar Hero is more about finger position than it is the hue of the button to push.

That said, it's a common condition and as Ars Technica points out, one that developers either don't know what to do with, or do too little to accommodate.

More »

9:00 AM on Sat Apr 12 2008
By ogood
13,169 views, 226 comments

Latest by ThatsMrOffDutyNinja: @Owen Good: Glad to meet another color blind gamer. I do not think they take us into account. I got puzzle fighter on my friend telling me it reeked of awesomeness. Sadly i was upset when I found that colors more »

flash games

Teen Dating Violence Design Challenge Extended

The deadline for the Life Love Game Design Challenge, which we first announced back in February, has been extended by a month.

The new deadline for the Flash game design contest, which challenges designers to create a game about teen dating violence prevention without violent content or a violent theme, is May 15.

First prize is $1,000 and judges, besides myself, include Simon Carless, director of the Independent Games Festival; Stephen Totilo, of MTV and huge brain fame, Dr. Ian Bogost, Ph.D., co-founder, Persuasive Games, and Dr. Elizabeth Richeson, a psychologist, Texas Psychological Association Board member, and my mom.

2008 Game Contest [Life. Love.]

2:00 PM on Wed Apr 9 2008
By Brian Crecente
2,822 views, 37 comments

full auto

Eidos Cutbacks Shut Down Full Auto Developer

Full Auto developer Pseudo Interactive has ceased operations, 1UP reports. Apparently cutbacks by Eidos and its parent company are the proximate cause. More »

1:00 PM on Sat Apr 5 2008
By ogood
2,967 views, 39 comments

Arstechnica has a article up about ridiculous gaming patents, a good example being one on the ARROW in Crazy Taxi owned by Sega. Thats right, the directional arrow which points to where you should go next is actually patented by Sega. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080309-patents-on-video-game-mechanics-may-strangle-innovation.html

study

Mag Announces Top 50 Developers

A new study from Gamasutra and sister divisions Game Developer magazine and Game Deveolper Research division has selected the top 50 developers in the gaming industry today. It was based on reputation and sales data, through anonymous surveys and assessments of sales charts in the US, the UK, and Japan, the number of games released each year, and the average metacritic rating. While the sales data is handy, the all-encompassing approach taken by the study to include reputation, as well, makes this study interesting. According to Gamasutra, "the resulting report is the only multi-input empirical ranking available for game development studios."

Hit the jump for the top 20 devs on the list.

More »

12:00 PM on Fri Mar 7 2008
By torif
6,711 views, 71 comments

Latest by Biscuitcleaver: I always hear great things about neversoft. They don't work weekends, which is kind of a common thing in the gaming industry. I've always heard my friend talk about Insomniac and how great it is. (especially if you like volleyball more »

seriously

Apple Has Democratized Platform-Specific Game Design

In all of the major announcements that hit during Apple's software development kit (SDK) meeting today, it's easy to overlook what may have been the most important aspect—the SDK itself. Formerly Apple's internal development tools, the software package is being released to the entire public for no charge starting today. It doesn't need an expensive or hard to acquire development kit. You don't need to pitch Sony on why you're worthy for a dev kit during times of shortages. More »

1:40 PM on Thu Mar 6 2008
By Mark Wilson
8,531 views, 83 comments

Latest by DaiMacculate: @HAL9triple0: Hey don't get too down, the upshot of this is iTunes is going to be fully set up as a Games Distribution platform now! Its a long way from Steam for Macs, but its a good first step. more »

wiiware

WiiWare: Smaller Companies Welcome

Nintendo dropped us a line to clear up a bit of misconception in our write up of WiiWare from Wednesday. They aren't just looking for games from small teams from big-name developers - in fact, a good number of upcoming WiiWare titles are from up and coming or little-known developers getting their first shot at having a game appear on a console. The requirements aren't nearly as difficult to achieve as we imagined. Your company needs to register with Nintendo and have a basic office address, which is relatively easy to acquire. I mean hell, I work out of an office all day long - it just happens to be down the hall from my bedroom, and if you really need to make a game in it, just be sure to pay for half of the pizza when you come over. Fear not, tiny developers - Nintendo welcomes you with open arms!

10:20 AM on Fri Feb 22 2008
By Mike Fahey
2,991 views, 51 comments

Latest by Fortyseven: Whew. :) more »

i'll form the head

Volition Force Forms Blazing Lizard

Fresh off of the massive success of Saint's Row, which overcame the label of GTA clone and several amusing bugs to become one of the best Xbox 360 games of 2006, former Volition developers Sandeep Shekar, Jiovanie Velazquez, and Christopher Stockman have joined forces to form Blazing Lizard, a new studio dedicated to "producing high quality and compelling console downloadable games for all ages and demographics". The team has over 30 years of experience between them, having worked on games ranging from the Red Faction series to The Punisher to Elite Force 2. All games that I have gotten a big kick out of, so I am hoping for big things when they unveil their first original IP project on August 13th. More »

8:20 AM on Wed Aug 8 2007
By Mike Fahey
805 views, 10 comments

Latest by JohnnyLA: These guys are really good friends of mine and I wish them all the best! more »

feature

Sony's Online Gambit


By: Brian Crecente More »

Feature

we know jungles

Crytek Begins Crafting Something New

Now that Crytek has gotten their CryENGINE 2.0 middleware to the point where it can be used across multiple platforms and genres, it's time for them to create an original IP game of their own. The smoke stacks at their Kiev studio have sprung to life and truckloads of raw code are being delivered hourly, ready to be crafted be expert developers into something all-new and all-different.
"Now that our CryENGINE 2 middleware has reached the point of maturity where it can be used to support both different types and styles of games, and run on multiple platforms, we thought it was the optimum time to begin work on a new project based on our own new and original intellectual property, and elevate the Kiev operation to full studio status," revealed Faruk Yerli, MD of Crytek.

Full studio status! "Put on your Sunday best, boys! We're on Full Studio status!" More »

11:20 AM on Fri May 11 2007
By Mike Fahey
915 views, 25 comments

Latest by Runna: @Virduk: I know scary huh.. Epic is shaking in their boots! Crysis on the DS for teh WInz11!!11!111!!!!! more »

redifining the mmorpg

MMO Vets Form Colony

There's a new MMO studio town, and they're making a name for themselves based on the names they've made before. The new Colony Studios consists of a group of ten developers who have worked on titles like EQ, City of Heroes, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, and World of Warcraft, all headed up by Michael Wallis, a former senior producer for Eve Online.
"Most dev teams - including Colony's - have gone through the process of learning what doesn't work in game development, but our team members have also been intimately involved with creating what does work in several successful MMOs and that combination will serve us well.

They plan on creating a game using an original IP that isn't a clone of World of Warcraft. Novel idea. More »

9:20 AM on Tue May 1 2007
By Mike Fahey
644 views, 12 comments

Latest by Sharpless: "Redifining"? Are you kidding me? more »

mr. greedy-selfish

Game Developers Greedy According to the BBC


Over at the BBC is a long and detailed article about how surprised it is that the business of video games is much like any other business - one that needs to put out a good product at a good price to succeed. Although the article is packed full of good information, it ultimately makes the developers sound like a bunch of whiners, complaining about how much harder it is to make a game over all platforms now because they aren't as similar, or that they have to rely on sequels to ensure a good return for a company. Yet, there is no mention of how developers are trying to cut the cost of the video games themselves sell as a solution to make their franchises more popular and accessible. Apparently, it's easier for them to go online and make more money off their franchises after the game is bought, you know, to even out their losses. More »

2:40 PM on Mon Apr 16 2007
By Kim Phu
1,977 views, 43 comments

Latest by L_K_M: Two things astonish me: That so many people can't read a simple graph, and that the predictions for the next generation were proven so wrong so quickly. Other than that, the article itself is just a big flamebait. more »

develop 100

EA Canada Gets Develop 100 Number One Slot


Develop, a magazine for game developers, is releasing with their April issue a list of what they consider to be the world's top companies making games today. However, the list is based on the sales at UK retail, so there is room for argument. More »

2:40 PM on Wed Apr 4 2007
By Kim Phu
722 views, 13 comments

japan

Western Devs Don't Get the DS

Japanese developers so get the DS. Western ones, it appears, do not. A feature over at Pocket Gamer shows that while a ton of non-Japanese companies are making DS games, most of them just aren't very good. The site took all of Metacritic's 201 DS scores and tried to see where American and Japanese games rated on the review scale. Their results? More »

7:00 AM on Wed Mar 14 2007
By Brian Ashcraft
2,514 views, 46 comments

eidos

Eidos Invades Canada

The company that brought you Tomb Raider, Hitman, and Deus Ex, Eidos has set their sights on North-est America, announcing a plan to create a brand new development studio in Montreal, Qu bec. The new studio's focus will be working on 'undisclosed next-generation projects.' Definitely good news for Canadians with game development aspirations, as the company plans to create 350 job positions over the course of three years. St phane D'Astous has been recruited to head up Eidos Montr al.
""I'm really delighted to be joining Eidos who deserve their worldwide recognition for some fantastic games. I look forward to establishing a brand new studio that will continue this legacy and develop AAA, next-generation titles that will demonstrate once again the expertise and knowledge we have in Montreal."

I'm the first one to agree that the world needs more AAA titles, if anything to foster respect for roadside service and towing in America's youth. Michael Fahey More »

9:20 AM on Fri Feb 16 2007
By Mike Fahey
888 views, 14 comments

Latest by royter: Does anybody knows how much does Eidos pays for senior artist for the first year? more »

france

France Approves Game Tax Credit

In a move that could have oppressed German game developers looking jealously towards the southwest, the French Parliament has approved a plan to allow game developers creating games with a "with a cultural dimension" a tax credit equaling 20% of development costs up to 3 million euros a year. That's a pretty sizeable chunk of change aimed at keeping developers in the country, providing a sharp contrast to Germany, where some game developers are looked on and treated like borderline criminals. More »

9:20 AM on Wed Feb 7 2007
By Mike Fahey
235 views, 8 comments

Latest by dtrain: "Richer game devs" Ha. Yeah, as if that subsidy is going to be passed down through all the layers of management right on down to the people actually make the games. No, I think it's more like "Richer game publishing executives" more »