Found among this list of just eight machines is the advent of holographic play fields, the tilt mechanism, flippers, and player mods.

The full list includes Brokers Tip, Humpty Dumpty, Wizard, Hot Tip, Checkpoint, The Twilight Zone, Revenge From Mars and my personal favorite, The Addams Family.

Found among these games is not just a collection of new pinball technology, but a short history of the game that blends so well the mechanical with the virtual.

Top 8 Most Innovative Pinball Machines of All Time [Popular Mechanics]

Similar in concept to our character creator, it allows you, the players, to create missions and story arcs for your characters and others to participate in. You'll be able to pick the map, villain group, and objectives, as well as write the dialog and any clues needed for the missions. When you are satisfied with it, you can upload it and have other players across all servers play it and rate it. Fame will come to the players whose stories rate the best overall.

What Positron so nonchalantly tosses out in a forum post could be one of the most significant advances in the history of the MMO. While games like Asheron's Call 2 toyed around with giving players some degree of control over the game, full-on user-generated content is completely new to the genre. Back at GDC 2007 when Phil Harrison talked about Gaming 3.0, where the experience was driven by user-created content and community interaction, I never thought I would see the concept applied to a game like City of Heroes. I don't like to bandy about the term 'revolutionary', but damn if it doesn't apply here. As Leigh put it, this could very well be the beginning of MMO 2.0.

A Message From Positron - 4 Year Anniversary! [City of Heroes Forums via Eurogamer]

The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies [BusinessWeek via Gamasutra]

Guinness Book of World Records

Publisher:  WB Games

Platform: Wii

Category: Strategy Sim

Release Date: 10/30/08

It is comforting to know that Warner Bros. cares deeply about making a substantive impact on the gaming industry with deep, thoughtful titles.

The biggest difference between the two games is that Assassin's Creed allows the users to do just about anything, moving up and over the whole sandbox environment using Parkour-style moves, but doesn't reward players for the fluidity and beauty that authentic Parkour demands. On the other side, Crackdown has specific Xbox Achievements that encourage players to be more fluid and artistic with their movements, but permits fewer grab points and forces the player into a more linear, less free and experimental path. What Robertson doesn't refer to is the upcoming game Mirror's Edge, based solely around the art of Parkour. If these two elements are married in Mirror's Edge, it could be a big Free Running hit. Then again, if it's only those elements, I can't imagine long-term play possibilities for the game.

Game Culture Vultures: Parkour

The Three Most Important Moments In Gaming, And Other Lessons From Sid Meier [MTV News]

While some of the inclusions will be contested—Warhawk gets props for dumping single player?—and some are certainly recycled—Ultima Online "innovated" with its graphical overhaul years ago—the argument could be made that at least these efforts were successful. Others, like Portal just being Portal, will probably find few detractors.

They might not have been my choices, but I suppose I'll have to back that up with my own list.

TOP 10 GAME DESIGN INNOVATIONS 2007 [Next-Gen.biz]

I'm sure a lot of you have similar stories to this one: New Publisher Division, first six months: "We need to differentiate ourselves! Let's create radically innovative titles. Let's show the other guys how it's done!" A year later, of the 12 titles released, only one is a hit. Another two have been fairly successful, but with flaws.

Sales steps in: "We're not selling squat!" A coup d'etat ensues. Next year's portfolio is 50% clones, and 50% minor incremental innovations. Sales go up, but churn is high because players lose interest. We need to understand and plan this better. We need to realize that incremental innovation is what most players feel comfortable with. But radical innovation brings new players and renews the interest of existing ones who are done with their favorite genre.

The problem is in striking that healthy balance between "Oh god, not another [Bejeweled/Final Fantasy/insert game of your choice here] rip off" and investing in 'different' games that wind up flopping (see: Okami). That line is obviously going to be different for casual developers vs. studios making games for a 'hardcore' audience, but there's got to be a healthy balance somewhere.

Innovation in Casual Games: A Rallying Cry

Is it safe to say, though, that Japanese games are more fantastic while Western games are more realistic? What would a realistic Japanese game look like? Moreover, is Western fantasy doomed forever to Tolkien derivatives? If you prefer one to the other, what does that indicate about your personal taste?

My game shelf is mostly full of Japanese titles; I'm not sure it says anything deep, other than the fact I generally prefer what's coming out of Japan to what's coming out of America. I'm sure if I played more of certain types of games, that ratio of Japanese-to-Western would be reversed. But I don't delude myself into thinking that I'm drawn to Japanese games because the vast majority are creative and innovative little gems - they're not.

Stranger In A Strange Land (Part 2): West vs. East [Surreal Game Design via Sexy Videogameland]

10TACLE STUDIOS AG AND 10TACLE STUDIOS BELGIUM ANNOUNCE TOTEMS FOR PC AND XBOX 360

Darmstadt, August 22nd 2007 - Today 10TACLE STUDIOS AG and 10TACLE STUDIOS BELGIUM officially announce the development of TOTEMS for PC and Xbox 360.

Inspired by the urban sport "Le Parkour", TOTEMS is a super-heroic platform game with tactical elements that let the player magically transform the world and story to their own style and skill. This third-person 3D action adventure offers non-linear gameplay in a highly interactive environment and is designed to be accessible to the widest audience while offering depth for the core gamers. The player character as well as the enemy is able to use the environment to full extent thanks to the innovative Semantic Environment Sensing System (SESS). Super-heroic movement and combat c ome alive in a never seen before manner. The Belgian developer's proprietary NeoReality Engine™ sets new standards for next-gen platforms and provides an unparalleled atmosphere and experience. Based on an elaborate and original mythology, TOTEMS offers an exciting new world to explore.

The PC and Xbox 360 release is scheduled for 2008.

I remember pitching the game to one publisher who later told a friend of mine that it was 'just another fucking PC FPS that's going to sell 250,000 units.'

Pitching Bioshock - "just another f**king PC FPS" [CVG]

The guys at Area Code Inc. recently announced that they will be bringing their PC location-aware game Plundr to the Nintendo DS.

In Plundr you sail from island to island aboard a pirate ship buying, selling and fighting for goods. The twist is that your physical location in the real word dictates what islands you'll find nearby. The game is driven by @Loki's Skyhook Wi-Fi positioning system and the DS' built-in WiFi.

The Area Code folks showed off the DS version of the recent Where 2.0 conference. No word yet on when the game might be hitting the DS or if it will get retail packaging or hit the portable as homebrew. Brian Crecente

Plundr DS [Area Code Inc]

The whole thesis is quite an interesting read, presenting several more or less practical methods for integrating eye closing into visual media, such as using closed eyes as a mental display, closing eyes to activate text-to-speech software, and my personal favorite, creating winking emoticons by actually winking. Check it out. Michael Fahey

Those who want to see must close their eyes

Computer and Video Games has posted wan interview with Soren Johnson, the lead developer for Sid Meier's Civilization III & IV at Firaxis, in which he praises Nintendo for the innovation they've brought to the industry.

Obviously, there will always be a place for a traditional console like the 360 and the PS3, but people forget so often that videogames are capable of almost anything. No one's imagination is ever big enough to grasp all the new ways people can play electronically - and great rewards are waiting for companies that actively seek them out.

He also touches on some interesting points regarding PC games, including the fact that most major developers are console focused as of late, the potential of the Games for Windows label to make computer games more consumer friendly, and the importance of digital distribution for the future of PC gaming. It's an interesting peek at the gaming industry through the eyes of an accomplished insider. Michael Fahey

State of play: Firaxis [Computer and Video Games via Blues News]

Electronic Arts took the time during the lull between Christmas and New Year's to flex their Madden sales numbers a bit.

According to the company, Madden NFL 07 sold more than five million copies via the ten versions of the game that hit this year. The company goes on to predict that Madden 07 will be the top selling game of 2006.

Typically, this is the point in the post I'd go off on EA for getting stuck in a rut with sequel after sequel and failing to deliver any real innovation to a wilting franchise, but the thing is Madden for the Wii showed the EA still has some pretty sizable tricks up their sleeves.

Hit the jump if you'd like to wallow in a page full of marketing speak and self back-patting. Brian Crecente

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - December 26, 2006 - Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced that Madden NFL 07, the EA SPORTS best-selling football franchise with the exclusive videogame license of the NFL and PLAYERS INC, has sold more than five million copies to consumers on a total of ten game platforms. EA believes, based on its own internal data as well as industry sources, that across all game platforms, Madden NFL 07 will finish as North America's most popular game of 2006.

Since its launch in August, Madden NFL 07 has had a record-breaking season, with first week retail sales of more than two million copies.

In November, Madden NFL 07 launched on the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the Nintendo Wii . Innovative use of the Wii Remote created a whole new experience and made Madden NFL 07 one of the most innovative and popular games on the Wii. Madden NFL 07 is also one of the top titles on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. In the first week on that system, players unlocked more than 600,000 achievements and recorded more than two million hours of online game play on Xbox Live .

For 2006, through November, Madden NFL 07 retail sales are currently ranked in the top ten on six platforms and is the top-selling game on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox *. It is also one of the top selling games for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and Wii*.

"Madden NFL 07 is the must-have game for players to realize the full power of the new systems like the Wii, PLAYSTATION3 and Xbox 360," said Todd Sitrin, VP of Marketing for the EA SPORTS brand. "EA's Tiburon Studio has once again set the bar for innovation and consumers have responded. This has been an amazing holiday season for Madden NFL 07."

Madden NFL Football has become a cultural phenomenon with the launch day coined Maddenoliday, becoming a highly anticipated event and holiday for many avid fans. Not only has the franchise become a cultural phenomenon, but Madden NFL 07 has also become the must-have game for many athletes, including the NFL players. The 12th Annual EA SPORTS Madden Bowl will be hosted in Miami, Florida on February 1, 2007 and will showcase NFL players battling it out to earn the highly coveted title of Madden Bowl champion.

Adding to the Madden Phenomenon is the Madden Challenge and Madden Nation, for the most loyal of the Madden fans. The 2006 EA SPORTS Madden Challenge, the fifth annual and only official EA Madden tournament, will crown the best player of Madden NFL 07 and award a check for $100,000 on February 8 in Hawaii. Winners will come from 31 regional competitions. And for the second year, ESPN and EA have teamed up for Madden Nation, a reality show centered around Madden NFL 07. The eight-episode series pits the nation's top 13 Madden NFL 07 gamers along with real-life NFL player sponsors against each other in elimination-style tournaments on a 12-city bus tour. The Madden Nation winner will also win a $100,000 prize.

In its 17th year and with more than two billion in retail sales life to date, Madden NFL Football continues to stand out as the most popular football videogame franchise of all time with a combination of innovative new features and the most authentic football gameplay. Developed in Orlando, FL by EA Tiburon, Madden NFL 07 is available PLAYSTATION 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 , the PlayStation 2, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube , Nintendo DS , PC, PSP (PlayStation Portable) handheld entertainment system and Game Boy Advance. Madden NFL 07 is rated "E" (Everyone) by the ESRB.

Where part one and part two of N'Gai Croal's interview of Electronic Arts CEo Larry Probst was lecture and brimstone, part three is much more Probst dancing around the harder questions.

It's interesting to see the head of EA trying to avoid talking about the microtransactions issue that has so many gamers ticked off.

There's been a good deal of controversy in the enthusiast press and on message boards about the microtransaction practices of EA and other publishers. There's even a blog called GamerFeast, that has an Xbox 360 Microtransaction Tracker. As of early November, EA's fully loaded games—calculated by taking the price of the game at retail and adding to it all of the various microtransaction costs—held 3 of the top 5 spots, with Need for Speed Carbon topping the list at $94.97. Isn't there a concern that EA may be strip-mining its most avid consumers with these strategies, even if it does extend the life of the game additional content?

We're working our way through that. With some of the initial titles, we did hear complaints from consumers, but I think we learned. We did a better job on Need for Speed Carbon, and we're not hearing those same kinds of complaints or negative feedback about that product. It's generating a lot of money through microtransactions. So it's a learning process, it's iterative and we'll get better about it as we go. Need for Speed is the first example of getting smarter about it.

The other complaint that gamers have is that with the next-generation versions of some of your biggest franchises, like FIFA and Madden, they're paying more money for fewer features—fewer leagues and stadiums, no owner mode, etc.—yet those features can be found on the lower-priced current-generation versions. How do you justify the price difference, and how soon should gamers expect feature parity across both generations?

We heard that complaint more frequently on the first generation products. As we get into the second and third iterations, I think that's not so much of a problem. It's more expensive to develop on these [new] platforms. We've got to figure out some way to defer and recoup those costs. The real answer is, when you get these first iterations, it's a rush to the finish line to get these things ready for the launch windows. In year two and year three, we start to catch up and deliver more than what the consumers expect in terms of features.

Better still, though, is Probst's response to EA's dipping innovation. Croal points out that EA is often criticized for a lack of innovation despite coming out with some very innovative titles.

EA is often criticized by gamers and the enthusiast press for not being innovative, that your company only puts out sequels, licensed products and annual sports games. But you're also making games like Spore and Army of Two; there are the Steven Spielberg games which have yet to be shown; and a number of your executives have been talking about the importance of new IP. Why do you think EA doesn't get credit for its innovations?

Because we don't have journalists like you writing articles about us. [Laughs.] Look, I think you're absolutely right. Last year, about 40 percent of our business was wholly owned intellectual property, and our goal is to move that up to 50 percent or better. We've got some great things in the pipeline. You mentioned Spore, there's Army of Two. We're resurrecting the Command & Conquer franchise.

What else have we announced that I'm allowed to talk about? Skate is a really cool-looking game. That should give Tony Hawk a run for his money. Tony's getting old.

I like how Probst mentions Command & Conquer as an example of innovation. Hello... that's an example of EA milking an IP, not being creative. Brian Crecente

Larry Probst Interview, Part III [Newsweek]

I own a disturbing amount of Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh video games for the sole purpose of humiliating my nephew. Like Rocky Balboa taking on the younger boxers to prove he still has it, defeating the chipper young 12 year old has become one of my main goals in life, and one I am reaching with far less frequency than I would like. Thus I practice in my free time, and this morning's session involved the Wii version of Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2. I've spent some time with the PS2 version only to get bored rather quickly, so I picked up the Wii version to see if it was any better, and figuring I would have an advantage since he doesn't have the new Nintendo console yet. I'm crafty that way.

So I spun up the disc to poke around for a few minutes before breakfast. It's now five hours later, and I really would rather be in the next room playing it right now. It is amazing the difference actual physical movement makes in a fighting game.

As with most Wii games, control is awkward at first. I would definitely recommend going through the tutorial or at least reading the manual before playing. The nunchuck stick moves you around. Shaking it while pointing the stick in any directions sends you dashing. Holding the C button and dipping it up and down controls flying height. The A button on the Wiimote punches, the B button kicks, and pointing it upwards blocks.
The most interesting control element has to be the special moves. Once your ki energy is powered up, you hold down the triggers on the respective controllers. Many moves then require you to move the Wiimote off the screen in a particular direction and then back again, triggering a super move. It is really hard not to pose dramatically while doing this. Even better are the moves that make you pull the controllers back in unison, and then jab them both outward. Pretty sure I woke my girlfriend up this morning shouting, "Take that, bitch!" at the television screen as I unloaded a Kamehameha (which amazingly enough was in my Open Office Writer spell check}. It's exhilarating, and it totally makes you feel like a complete bad ass.

It's amazing how much more fun I'm having with this game on the Wii, rather than playing it on the PS2. Not only does the Wii hold the potential to generate some innovative new game play types, it can revitalize older genres, adding a bit more fun to the mix. Plus, if my nephew starts to win I can always deliver a Wiimote to the windpipe. Accidentally, mind you. These old reflexes aren't what they used to be. Michael Fahey

Oh snap! Oh. Oh it's ON now. Electronic Arts Montreal general manager Alain Tascan laid a little smack down on the competition.

What is Gears of War? I mean Gears of War brings nothing in terms of innovation to the shooter... Like, zero. Only two very brave UK-based journalists said, 'You know what, Gears of War is a great game but it's like what Quake was a few years ago.'

Dude. Army of Two had better be the best game EVER or you're going to hear about this for a long time.

Tascan admits that he hasn't actually played Gears yet—and neither have I—but is in essence calling out the industry for being putting graphics before gameplay. I can get behind that, Alain, but you really ought to focus on your own game a bit more. Michael McWhertor

Gears of War has 'zero innovation', says EA exec [Eurogamer]

This sort of makes me sad. I was randomly selected to participate in a Sony survey for the Playstation Portable. The questions read like something that comes up in the tailend of a really bad break up with a needy girlfriend.

I grabbed a couple of screenshots of the survey, just to highlight the thrust of the questionnaire. I found the third question to be quite interesting:

What statement best characterizes your opinion of Playstation overall (console & portable entertainment system) in terms of delivering a quality gaming experience?

*Playstation lags behind the competition in terms of gaming innovation.
*Playstation is no different than any other gaming manufacturer.
*Playstation is the technological leader in gaming innovations.

I kept expecting a question that read: Will you go to the dance with me?

*Yes
*No

Second screen grab after the jump. Brian Crecente

Hit the jump for the full load of Harrison BS.

In a way I understand why people say [we stole Nintendo's idea], but it is a little stupid, if you forgive the remark."

When we brought the PlayStation to the market in 1994, we introduced real time 3-D graphics for the first time," he noted. "When Nintendo launched its N64 in 1996 it also had 3D graphics, did we say, "Nintendo stole our idea!"? Obviously not. Such innovations become possible because of a combination of technology, cost and manufacture capacities.

We've been working on [motion-sensing technology] for a long time and Nintendo has certainly likewise already been working on something similar. The difference between our strategy and that of our competition is that our controller is still similar to the Dual Shock, the industry standard controller. I estimate that nearly 400 million Dual Shock controllers have been sold worldwide.

Weird, because I've been thinking about motion sensing controllers for a long time too. So there you have it, the motion sensing concept was invented by Nintendo, Sony and I. Brian Crecente

Hunter sends word of a cool little game he's created for the Experimental Gameplay Project's CONSUME competition.

In The Pit is an "audio-only" stealth action game, in which you play a nasty creature living at the bottom of a pit, hunting down people who fall in. The "audio-only" part means that there are absolutely no graphics at all.

The black square above is a screen shot from the game. Hunter explains that he developed it for use with the Xbox 360 wired controller because of the things scalable vibration. He says the controllers ability to minutely control its shakes is integral to the game and was also very easy to implement. Hunter also points out that his game was inspired by the audio-only Spaced Invaders type game that we've written about in the past.

If you have a controller, or can spare the $30 to buy one, check out the game at the link below.

In The Pit [Studio Hunty]

Business Week points to Spore as EA's possible salvation from franchise glut. But Spore is just the beginning, according to the article:

EA's ambitious goal is to create more such innovative, internally developed games while lessening the company's dependence on professional sports and Hollywood movie franchises.

I couldn't agree more. I know big companies like EA have it in them, they've just gotten too comfortable and complacent. I was talking to a insider at one of the more successful publishers out there recently about this.

We were talking about a post I had written about the need for his company to be more innovative. He said that it wasn't the duty of a developer to make innovative games, their duty is to make games they like.

His argument, I believe, is that like works of art, game creation should come from the heart.

While I see what he's saying, I do think that developers have some responsibility to the industry as a whole and gamers in particular to create things outside their zone of comfort.

I see game development more akin to movie making than painting or sculpting. And as with Hollywood, gaming needs to have a vibrant indie scene to thrive.

Can Electronic Arts [Cathode Tan]