• more about #design
    Nobuyuki: Seriously, two years to design the box to Quake Wars? There's a bald space marine standing in a vaguely menacing way, with explosions behind him. Ma... more »
    Boter: "But like what happened with the music industry in the '70s, the package keeps shrinking, which makes it increasingly difficult to differentiate in a ... more »
    geiko: Two years is better than the two weeks the guys who made MAG's box art spent. Would you rather have cliche guy standing there looking at you, or would... more »
    denki: If it took 2 years to design the box art Quake Wars, then Megaman must have started sometime during the Renaissance, probably by one of the great mast... more »
    Rakkoon: Designing one box is no different than designing any other. It involves the same process, be it for the food industry or bathroom accessories (I've do... more »
    kitsuneconundrum: sponsor an episode on how do they do it on discovery channel. more »
    Sticks Calhoun: It took two years to design this? [www.amazon.com] A cover that's so generic you could put any other futuristic shooter title above it and no one wou... more »
    Yossarian: Two years for Quake Wars? This is probably the real culprit in keeping Duke Nukem from ever releasing. They just can't get the packaging right. more »
    ryoshi: For a game that's been re-released like twelve times, you'd think someone would read the manual. Bowser turned everyone into bricks and coins and stu... more »
    Jonn: If you stop to actually think about it does anyone else consider that Mario might be the bad guy? Yes. Next question? more »
    Relee: I don't have a copy of it anymore, but in the instruction manual for the original Super Mario Bros. it explained that King Koopa (Bowser) used his evi... more »
    ShaSt One: I didn't realize until recently that Goombas are mushrooms. and even then, i had to be told. more »
    Spoony Bard: Ah yes, the lowly footsoldier. Reminded me of this. more »
    Zaranell: From now on, every time I play a Super Mario game, I will imagine myself crushing the rebellion of petty workers and their foolish notions of freedom.... more »
    EmTeeZ: I assume Bowser lures them in with promises of paying for the Goombas' college tuition. more »
    Kobun:   more »
    (Starman) #number257: Oh ♪-wee ♪-oh ♪-wee ♪-oh ♪-weee ♪-oh ♪--wee..... *marching music* more »
    Windrummerboy: Hmm... wasnt Goombario part of a population of "good" goombas? not all of them are working for bowser. more »
    konaa: The Goomba are just casualties of war. It's not like you focus on trying to kill them but they make you bounce higher and move faster. Unless you're ... more »
    RySenkari: I've always wondered this. It's always so frustrating when, for example, in Final Fantasy when weak enemies are still rushing my level 99 party. Do th... more »
  • #design

    Mommy, Where Do Game Boxes Come From?

    Sometimes, the most interesting back-stories can be the ones about the most uninteresting things. Take, for instance, the humble zipper. Or, for a more relevant example, how video game boxes are made. More »
  • #weekendreader

    For the Goomba, What's Their Motivation, Again?

    Boss battles are critically important to most video game genres, providing climactic story points as well as the kind of challenge for which the game was bought in the first place. But what about the minor foes of a game? More »
  • #weekendreader

    The FPS: Where Freedom isn't Free

    As game designers become more like film directors, the paths they lay out for players becomes increasingly scripted and, frankly, downright restricted. Still the illusion of freedom persists in this genre. More »
  • #design

    DualShock, The Concept Table

    Designer Stephane Perruchon has always liked the DualShock controller's design, its "excellent ergonomics". More »
  • #theoldrepublic

    Coruscant, Where Nothing Grows — Except Power

    Oh great. I've been calling it Corrus-kant all these years. Next someone's gonna tell me I've been mispronouncing Eidos, too. Well, however it's said, this six-minute vid shows us how BioWare built the city-planet of the Star Wars Universe. More »
  • #design

    The Rare Art Of Not Explaining Everything

    Some games explain every sword, every planet, and every character's back story. Fewer games leave things to mystery. In recent months I asked two creators at BioWare and Team Ico about how much we gamers really need to know. More »
  • #weekendreader

    Too Much Work or Not Enough Fun?

    In an essay for Gamasutra last week, academic Lewis Pulsipher mused that games have become so complex as to feel like work, and the stratification of hardcore and casual gamers puts games in a far less inclusive posture than other entertainment. More »
  • #pinball

    Lessons From a Pinball Wizard

    At 98, the father of modern pinball still has some lessons to impart to the video game industry. More »
  • #wii

    Wii Graffiti Mod Wins A Design Prize

    We thought WiiSpray - a Wii mod put together by a couple of German design students - was pretty neat. We're not the only ones, as the judges of the iF Communication Design Awards are equally impressed. More »
  • #masseffect2

    Mass Effect Insanity Explained, May not be Locked in ME2

    One gripe among hardcore Mass Effect players is that its toughest difficulty was an unlockable - after playing through the game twice. A design lead explains why, and "insanity" may not be locked in ME2. More »
  • #architecture

    When Architects Critique Video Game Levels

    Video game levels are designed with one thing in mind: fun. But that fun comes dressed as architecture. Cathedrals, castles, office buildings, homes. The kind of stuff architects are best at. More »
  • #kotakuroboto

    WowWee Robot To Delve Into Augmented Reality Gaming

    From a remote controlled dragonfly to their award-winning Robosapien, toy maker WowWee is the master of all things robotic, but the inspiration for their toy creations often come from the world of video games. More »
  • #design

    Blow: Less Focus On Innovation, More On Interesting-ness, Please

    Braid co-creator Jonathan Blow argues that the pursuit of innovation is a prerequisite for making a great game. More »
  • #wii

    Prototyping The Wii Remote, Nunchuk

    No doubt inspired by yesterday's reveal of the MotionPlus prototype process, Siliconera patent trawler Spencer Yip has uncovered a similar process, only this time for the Wii's actual controllers. More »
  • #letsgetiton

    GDC Design Challenge: A Game About Gettin' Lucky

    Picking outfits, buying condoms, setting mood music - the sixth annual design challenge contest at GDC tasked panelists with thinking up a game about "your first time." What didn't win? "Zack & Miri Make a Portal." More »
  • #design

    How a Lightweight Console Lay the Foundations of Game Design

    A book by two professors of media studies examines the challenges of designing games on the Atari 2600, and posits that the infamous port of Pac-Man wasn't a half-assed effort after all. More »
  • #feature

    The Art of War

    War is a theme that has always been found in the video game medium; leaps in game presentation have typically corresponded to some kind of combat themed game. More »
  • #ikaruga

    Ikaruga & Pong Swap Polarities In Pong-Karuga

    "GoS-CPT-Stewart" is a student at game design school Full Sail. As part of his studies, he had to make a Pong clone. So he took Pong and mixed it with, of all things, Ikaruga. More »
  • #xbox360

    This Is The New Xbox Experience That Could Have Been

    Design firm Grid/plane worked with Microsoft on early design ideas for the New Xbox Experience. While the NXE we ended up with is a different beast, it's interesting looking at what could have been. More »
  • #princeofpersia

    In Defence Of Prince Of Persia

    Ah, Prince of Persia. You either love it for what it tried, or hate it for what it tried. We love it, though, and Tom Cross at GSW does a good job of explaining why. More »