"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader |
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Great Moments in Community Management Posted: 13 Feb 2008 11:20 AM CST 3rd Place: “Shut up and give me my ten bucks per month, little man. My Porsche needs some performance upgrades.” Other nominations? |
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NaturalMotion's Morpheme Integrated Into Unreal Engine 3 Posted: 13 Feb 2008 08:29 AM CST
  
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Posted: 13 Feb 2008 12:23 PM CST Russell Carroll, of GameTunnel.com and marketing director for Reflexive, posted a fascinating article on Gamasutra yesterday that a lot of people in the biz won't be happy about. It's about piracy. And - while still far from an adequate measure of the effects of piracy, bore surprising results.
Casual Games and Piracy: The Truth Some fascinating numbers that I'm having some trouble getting my head around and reconciling, as they are surprising and don't follow my expectations whatsoever. Did Anybody Actually PAY For This Game? First of all, they discovered that - of the people playing their game, Ricochet Infinity, 92% were pirated copies of the full game. NINETY-TWO PERCENT! That means the pirated, illegal versions outnumbered the legal versions nearly 12 to 1. That doesn't include offline play - which might be similar numbers unless pirates are actually feeling less brazen as a whole. That is staggering and sobering. I've heard numbers like this before (in fact, I've heard numbers around 15:1), but I'm sure it's even more sobering when it's your own game - recognizing how many people out there have ripped you off. While the entire article is fascinating, there are two more key percentages to pay attention to. Better DRM = MUCH MUCH Better Sales. Unfortunately. First of all - their best attempt at fighting piracy - fixing the DRM to close some pretty major loopholes (and developers who have sold games through Reflexive have been griping about those loopholes for years) - increased sales by as much as 70%. This is pretty ginormous. Just think --- if there was one thing you could do at your job that would increase your salary by 70%, would it be worth it to you? Yeah, I probably would, too. If putting the correct TPS cover sheet on my reports would mean an instant 70% raise, I'd do it with a gusto. This bugs me a lot, because - on the whole - I hate most forms of DRM / copy protection. And it's a shame that it works. This means it's gonna be harder to get away from either that, or from required online registration. I don't like that answer, either, because I'm one of those people who likes playing old games. Games that survived the company that originally created them. If those games required some kind of online registration with a server in order to play, I'd be S.O.L. And that's just improving an existing DRM system, not a comparison of non-DRM versus DRM. You can make all kind of theoretical arguments you want here. 70% is a lot of lost sales due to piracy. I expect that when this article makes the rounds and discussions, this factor will get forgotten in light of the fact that this had a negligible impact on piracy. So maybe DRM isn't the clear answer it seems to be. Most Pirates Are Incorrigible There are several ways of looking at that number, however, and none of them really follow anti-piracy FUD that equates every pirated copy as a lost sale, either. One way of looking at it is this: The pirates outnumbered the legitimate players in the above sampling at a ratio of 11.5:1. So if the DRM actually worked and every pirated game was a lost sale, then their sales SHOULD have increased over ten-fold! Not even close. With a 70% increase in sales, that means that 0.7 out of 11.5 went legit with stronger DRM. That's less than 1 in 16 - or 6% - of pirates going legit when forced to. Or, as Russell points out, you can also look at it as a conversion factor, which might be more telling. According to him, the ratio of decreased downloads to increased sales was 1000:1. There is a TON you can read into that one, too. Maybe the pirates all went to torrent the full game instead of brazenly using up Reflexive's bandwidth for a game they intended to crack. Who knows? But here's the kicker: the classic "goal" for downloadable games is a 1% conversion rate. Meaning 1 sale per 100 downloads. The DRM improvement kicked up that conversion rate by only 0.1%. So in terms of conversion ratios, there are probably a lot better things you could do with your time and energy to improve conversion. Conclusions... Still Murky Now, there are a ton of "what if" scenarios that Software Industry scaremongers and pirates trying to justify their rip-off habits will use to throw these numbers into doubt and invoke apples-to-oranges comparisons. These are more casual games, for one thing, where piracy is a lot less mature. Who knows what the pirates were doing after the DRM was enhanced? Why didn't the other attempts to strengthen anti-piracy measures - like making existing keygens and cracks obsolete - have nearly as dramatic an effect? Would even better DRM have had a greater effect (Boy, you can get into a losing battle here...)? Did the pirates just move on to other games that were easier targets? What are the long-term effects of piracy? Does the realization that I'm the only one who legitimately paid for something devalue what I paid for, or does it make me feel like a sucker or chump and resentful of the experience? Will we eventually run out of people willing to pay for games? There's nothing conclusive here, but Russell has graciously provided the entire industry with some numbers that are really, really worth chewing on. (Vaguely) related stories of woe and desperation * A Pirate Story * A Better Way to Fight Piracy? * PC Game Publishers: Hurt Me Some More! Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Latest games at Rampant Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1 |
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Gender brain differences and games Posted: 13 Feb 2008 11:45 AM CST For Males, Video Game Rewards Are All in the Mind - washingtonpost.com
There were relatively few areas of criticism of my book A Theory of Fun. One of them, however, was that it was sexist, in large part because I suggested that many of the core characteristics of most games were things that cognitively biased them towards systematizing minds (to use Simon Baron-Cohen’s term) — which statistically, biases them towards males. As I said in the book, there’s enough evidence at this point about different cognition styles, and of different genres and play styles appealing to different demographics, that it seems silly to argue whether it happens, and more valuable to argue how and why. The article at ScienceDaily is a more balanced and detailed look at the process they took, including a description of the game, which sounds kind of interesting. In particular, it’s good to see the researchers came at this whole thing from the territory angle; many games focus on territory even when they do not seem to. These cognitive biases are one of the reasons why I worry about the core of games being inherently mathematical; to what degree are games by their nature biased towards systematizing brains? And what sorts of games push against this bias? |
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Posted: 13 Feb 2008 10:40 AM CST 腐HP更新画一張，link若干。
BABY☆LOVE http://33paradox.web.fc2.com/ 雖然不到SAKURA盛開的季節…… 吾輩還是手癢畫了SAKURA…… 声明吾輩是好人〜万年的好人〜永久的好人〜去死去死團滿塞！！！ 如果真的遇見上面的場景，估計会冲上去大喊“情侶西奈”， 然后被輪刀剃掉HEAD插在錠槍上任ANIKI?耀…… 又獵奇了，打住囧！ 情人節…………歸類為騙錢的節日！！！ 光棍滿塞！！！11.11滿塞！！！ |
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VCs, GDC Announce Entrepreneur-Focused 'Startup Launchpad' Lectures Posted: 13 Feb 2008 07:36 AM CST
  
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Posted: 13 Feb 2008 10:22 AM CST 问题一，为什么会有那么多的书，放到大书架里去之后，就像长溪入海，我眼前之见海，看不见溪水了呢？
问题二，为什么按照类别区分这些书，想把书世界按照地理疆域，也就是格子架分开的企图完全破灭了呢？
问题二补充，
第一纪元：话说天下三分，陈某创立十一大国。历史和哲学国（好吧，基本上都是历史书）占据了左半球北纬三十度的极好地理位置，但是还不够唷，它们还要将魔爪伸向同一个半球，同一个梦想的文学理论文学史国，文论文史国国力自然也是不弱，坚决抵御了外敌入侵，方法自然是加大利用国土资源，圈地杀羊好不热闹；自然科学国偏居左半球一隅，人口稀少，国土辽阔，将来必然成为霸权主义殖书主义的蚕食对象，左半球唯有艺术史国位居高纬度，无人与之向争。捷克科幻斯洛伐克奇幻国在右半球稳扎稳打，拥有南纬三十度的广阔柚木地表，上临现当代文学国，下拒古典文学国，右半球的高纬度尚是无人地带，捷科斯奇国主早有扩张领土之野心，只恨精锐家将征战在别的星球呢。最精彩的要数中半球了，游戏电影中上国傲视群雄，工具书中中国兼容并包，八方来客都甚为欢迎，圣经和Maya7.0教程隔壁，大前研一和钟芳玲左右临墙，简直就是大杂烩也，杂志中下国当时立国不久，国君享国之日还不长，书口稀少，特别是科幻奇幻杂志一族，在陈某的民族迁徙政策下，全部被迁往捷科斯奇国。
第二纪元：天下大势，合久必分，分久必合，在英明神舞的陈夫人领导下，革命小将们站起来了，横扫一切反动学术权威，把陈某打进书橱的牛棚（底柜），再扣上一只锁。陈夫人以高矮和颜色原则作为划分三个世界的依据，弹指间，工具书国被灭，并入杂志国，科幻奇幻杂志一族回归，杂志国赫然成为三大国；捷科斯奇国元气大伤，好在有全体古典文学国国民补充元气；艺术国，历史国分别有不少高个子的民族被强制迁移到新杂志国；陈夫人最爱的文论文史国举国南下，与自然科学国合并；文论文史国原址上立起了纪念这次大迁移的尤达，俄罗斯陶瓷娃娃，加肥猫等塑像，正如空空如也的原工具国国土上立起了茶犬日历，多样屋陶艺花瓶，诸葛弩手办等纪念物一样。值得一提的是，随着新移民的到来，在陈夫人的安排下，她的Chosen One，《圣传》《左近》等矮人漫画族已经悄然在右半球的高纬度立国了！那么，可以预料的是，右半球现在空下来的南方土地，将来很可能会是传说中的强者进驻……
问题三，为什么双面胶会如此的粘木板，以至于我后悔了半天，不该那么早的把书架上各个格子的内容写在小纸条里，粘上去……现在好难撕啊。   |
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Posted: 13 Feb 2008 10:06 AM CST “战略航空军元帅的旗舰50000Hit达成”的横幅很不搭调地挂在办公室的圆形反核爆门上方。 “涅克·德默耶维奇·罗曼诺夫同志，车里雅宾斯克第一着陆塔已经接待了五万名来访者了。当然，这只是发达资本主义国家空港运输量的几万分之一，我要谈的是另外一些……问题。” 那双饱经风霜的巨手合上了报告，严肃的目光停留在我的脸上。有冷战风格的办公室，窗帘拉着，很难看清办公桌主人的面容。间谍片的大波士一般都是以这种形象出现的。桌上摆着的代号BB据说代表着战列舰Battleship，不过代表着老大哥Big Brother大概也不会很奇怪…… “请问在过去的一年中，战略航空军司令官、信息工业人民委员、有良心的青年心灵历史学家研究委员会主席、艾坎尼亚位面共和国第一书记涅克·罗曼诺夫同志都从事了什么有意义的工作呢？” 嗓音很低沉。我清了清嗓子，开始犹豫该怎么回答。 “读了一大把貌似深奥的书，看了一大叠无聊的片，打了一大硬盘或者好或者烂的游戏，但没看到有什么长进，因为他什么也没写。大概写了那么十万字没人气的奇幻小说，保持了月刊的更新速度。在牛逼软件参与制做了一个世界人民给了平均53.5%或者D评价的游戏，比这家伙那张血口喷过的所有游戏分数都低。然后他辞了职，过着一些颓废的生活，高唱着‘我想成为一个制作人’，准备去做一个自以为能得到80%评价的游戏，并且弄一部能受到广大人民欢迎的国产动画片。旗舰的维护杂乱无章，平均一个月才有一篇文章，里面掺杂了自以为是的游戏评价和不列引用的有良心历史学家观点。没写完的设定就像坑一样盖满了艾坎尼亚的大地，这里已经如同月球表面——不同的是坑里埋不了几个人。” 我讨厌安全部门，这些家伙总是从来不出现脸，只出现声音。你永远也不知道安全部门有多少人，他们都在干什么。大概每个人的心里都藏着一个时刻警惕着的安全部特工。 “这都是有原因的……” 他的话题一转。 “有些人的文字就像海洛因，他们用五百个字就可以让你狂热地迷恋下去。” “我想那东西叫做天分。我好像没有。” “有些人的文字像醇酒，第一次喝会觉得很苦涩，但逐渐你会觉得再也离不开它。” “我想那东西叫做技巧。有些人很快就能掌握，但我还不能。” “有些人的文字如同璞玉，他们反复地打磨后才会为你显示出瑰丽的真相。” “我想那东西叫做努力……” 他的双手重重地落在桌子上，从转椅上弹起身来，转身拉开窗帘。我感觉自己就像要融化在这夺目的阳光里面。 “你很明白自己没有天分的事实，也体悟到自己缺乏熟练的技巧。但你还不够努力。看看你的这艘旗舰！平均下来，它一个月都不会得到一次修缮！看看你的作品！它的结构已经够散漫了，但你还是每三五天才会写下几百个字！这样下去，我不认为你有能力写出哪怕还像样的东西，涅克·罗曼诺夫。看看你过去的作品！如果你觉得那种结构上想到哪里写到哪里的东西也配叫做长篇，那种随手写下的逻辑也能叫做缜密，那种随意发展的情节能叫做悬念，你就继续干下去吧。” 窗帘再一次拉上，室内恢复黑暗。 “是的，过去的几年确实都很失败，但我总是觉得我还可以去试着做些事情。” 他沉默了下来。 “虽然迄今为止写的小说都很失败，但我一定会把他们写到底，而我也相信下一部会比上一部更好。虽然迄今为止还没有真正做过整个游戏的设计，但我相信自己可以作出一套优秀的设定、规则和内容。虽然国产动画看起来毫无希望，但我还是觉得我们应当能做出一些还说得过去的作品。这条道路布满荆棘，但既然已经走了上来，就应该走下去。为什么中国人就不会做游戏呢？为什么中国人就不会做动画呢？我觉得这都是差不多的问题……有些事情需要有人去做，我也相信会有一种办法可以做成。” “你坚信？” “我坚信。” “我们所从事的事业，一定会让世界变得更美好。”他从厚重的扶手椅上站起了身，背对着我再次拉开了窗帘。 “我们所从事的事业，一定会让世界变得更美好。”和煦的阳光照在我的脸上，它不像刚才那么刺眼了。 “要创造人类的幸福，全靠我们自己。”车里雅宾斯克第一着陆塔就耸立在窗外，安提格罗夫号悬浮在它的顶端。 “要创造人类的幸福，全靠我们自己。”我重复，微笑，转身离开，回到我自己的世界。 任何人都需要一份给自己的总结。 新的一年即将开始。 “又花了一个小时写了一篇无谓的东西……” 生活在“1848年的胜利位面”的一个精神学家弗洛伊德说，每个人心里都有三个人格，一个叫司令，他负责人类想要去做一些事情的本能，一个叫政委，他负责反思前一个家伙的所作所为，一个叫安全部特工，他负责抑制那两个家伙的冲动，让他们努力向善，并显得成熟卓越而无处不在。 由于我在遥远的老家度过了春节，我很不幸地错过了五万点整到来的那一刻。但我现在还是找了个由头纪念一下本旗舰的五万点……以上都是在著名的去死去死节前夜写下的半梦半醒间的癔语，请勿当真。 祝所有阅读本旗舰的人的生活变得更美好。 顺手在情人节前夜算一下2008年的运势…… 贫穷的革命者，破灭的恋爱犯罪者，看起来像个山贼实际上是个CIA的诈欺师。 （…………虽然是情人节也不能这样吧！去死吧！去死吧！去死吧！） |
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Metaversum, Simutronics, Stratics Integrate Vivox Services Posted: 13 Feb 2008 05:35 AM CST
  
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Report: Tech Giants To Form PC Gaming Alliance Posted: 13 Feb 2008 06:23 AM CST
  
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Feature: 'Designing Games That Are Accessible To Everyone' Posted: 13 Feb 2008 06:03 AM CST
  
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Qube Offers Discount For Q Middleware Launch Posted: 13 Feb 2008 05:36 AM CST
  
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EA Reveals Pandemic On LOTR, New Sims Slate Posted: 13 Feb 2008 04:54 AM CST
  
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Posted: 13 Feb 2008 08:38 AM CST Normal posting has been disrupted this week by a trip to Cincinnati and the desperate rush to tie everything up before I head off to San Francisco for GDC. I do have a games post drafted that I intend to put up, but it needs some editing and I'm short of time. Bear with me - I'll get something posted before the end of the week I should think. |
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Posted: 13 Feb 2008 09:23 AM CST Cipher Blog：http://blog.sina.com.cn/cipherf
系统繁忙，图片上传不了暂缺
（二）天空与大地的王者——狮鹫
狮鹫，或者叫做“有翼鹰首狮身兽”，这个名字很好地表现了狮鹫的形象。狮鹫是一种传说中的生物，有鹰的头部，狮子的身体，以及一对翅膀。在古代人的想象之中，给地上的强者加上飞行的能力，产生了一种有着强大战斗能力的生物。中文中的“如虎添翼”也形象地说明了这一点。但和中国认为的百兽之王：麒麟以及百鸟之王：凤凰有所不同，在欧洲文化中，狮子作为百兽之王，象征着王权，而鹰则是百鸟之王，同时统治着天空和大地的这种组合使得狮鹫成为一种既强大又高贵的生物的象征。
狮鹫被认为同时拥有鹰和狮子的优良品质：智慧与刚毅，勇气和美德，是骑士精神的象征。鹰首狮身代表着以鹰的智慧为导引，以狮子的刚毅为跟从。因此狮鹫形象经常被中世纪的皇家军队、骑士团、贵族私军们在纹章上引用。
H1：很久很久以前，狮鹫是地城的。 在早期的英雄无敌中（H1、H2），狮鹫是属于地城的第三兵种（3/6）。这是全身棕色的狮鹫，不知道为什么还带了个蓝色项圈，难道是被调教的标记么？这时的狮鹫形象很可爱。狮鹫的无限反击特性是从1代就有的了。
站着的狮鹫 这张是展开翅膀的
H2：白色羽毛的漂亮狮鹫，眼睛很凶，狮子的半身上有了对毛发的描绘。仍然是让人又恨又爱的无限反击。
H3：狮鹫正式加入人类部队。等级略降的第三环兵种（3/7）
说它是同盟也好，驯化也罢，总之在西方魔幻中，狮鹫和人类之间的关系向来密切。指环王、龙枪系列、哈里波特里面都有狮鹫出现。狮鹫的飞行速度在所有的鸟中是最快的，这对于人类来说不论是用于侦察还是通讯，无疑是一种优势。在游戏中体现为狮鹫长大的移动距离（不是行动速度），经常能在一回合内扑到你的脸前。当然，龙枪中提到过狮鹫飞不过龙。龙在传统生物学上很难分类，或许该算是爬虫蜥蜴类，而在奇幻生物学中自然是龙类。
需要注意在哈里波特中的骑乘飞行兽并不是狮鹫，而是Hippogriff，鹰头马身有翼兽，这种生物是雄性狮鹫和雌马杂交的后代，比起狮鹫或许更适合骑乘一些，但攻击性上就要弱很多了。Hippogriff的语源，Hippo来自于希腊语的”hippos”，意思是“马”（例如，河马hippopotamus就是由hippos“马”和希腊语potamos“河”而来的），griff当然来自于狮鹫的”griffin”。
哈利波特中的格林芬多学院”griffendor”，可以确定是来自于狮鹫，其证据，自然在于这个名字的构词本身、其纹章上的无翼狮子形象、金和红的配色（这是狮鹫纹章最常用的配色）、以及进入格林芬多所需要的品质：勇气和美德。
另一个狮鹫加入的主要原因是人类长久以来缺乏飞行兵种，攻城的时候略微吃亏。H3加强了城堡建设，引入了3级城堡和护城河以后，没有飞兵攻城会是件很辛苦的事。因此这次人类一下加入了两个飞行兵种，狮鹫和天使。
H3中的狮鹫形象其实就是1代和2代里的组合，未升级时是1代的棕色狮鹫，升级以后的皇家狮鹫是2代的白色翎毛狮鹫。不过3代的画风是很差的。以当时的机种条件而论，3D化的效果不彰，图像锯齿严重，不如前代那样的2D构图和童话/奇幻风格的夸张用色更讨人喜欢。
H4：狮鹫不知为何投入了精灵一族，或许都是自然生物(?)的关系？ 4代的狮鹫强就一个字，我要说很多次。仅次于最高兵种的第四环（4/5），生命值从之前一直未变的25一下上升到95，能够保持存活数量使得一贯的无限反击的意义大增，仍然是飞行部队，长久以来自然精灵族的唯美中坚力量独角兽和他竞争第四环位置时完全处于劣势。
如果说3代的狮鹫画风是太差的话，4代的风格就是极差。这次的狮鹫一眼看上去像秃鹫，翅膀太大且无精打采，本来昂首挺胸抬前肢的姿势变成四脚站在地上不说，还瘦的可怜。
H5：狮鹫重回人类怀抱，分级略有上升（4/7）。
H5的狮鹫首次体现了飞行兵种的优势。
在迄今为止的英雄无敌中，“飞行”这个概念始终都为“浮游”所偷换。飞行部队在未轮到自己行动时都乖乖地站在地上或是悬浮在离地不过三尺的高度，任由地面部队上来砍人，在攻击/反击中也是完全和地面部队相同，除了移动时摆出一副“我是飞过来咬你”的姿态外，没有任何“飞行”的优势。仅有在攻城战中才有那么一点飞过城墙的好处，千里我独行的潇洒，只是随后就被城内部队围起来用西瓜刀乱砍至死。
H5的狮鹫在无限反击之外，皇家狮鹫可以使用俯冲突袭技能，战狮鹫更是有俯冲扫射一条线的本领，而且在升空过程中不受攻击甚至不受范围魔法影响，而俯冲时更不受反击。这才真正体现了“空军”的绝大优势。不过这是H5狮鹫所独有的，其他的飞行兵种还是老样子。
其实英雄无敌的飞行部队都应当改造成这样，再给地面部队加上是否有对空攻击能力的设定。在很多的即时战略游戏中，比如命令与征服、星际争霸、魔兽争霸中，没有对空攻击力的部队在遭到空中打击时只有逃跑一途，大部队进军时要带上防空力量，不然就要带自己的空军是常识。当然空军加强了，相应的平衡也要做好。在英雄无敌的回合制战斗中，也可以参照大战略那样，设定对空防御射击等，使得处于防空部队射程内的本方单位也能得到一定的对空保护。另一方面，肉搏类地面兵种不能主动攻击在空中的飞行部队，这样就实现了飞行部队和防空的平衡。
在中世纪和魔幻的背景下，自然是弓箭手、远程魔法部队、以及其他一些有特技的单位担当防空的任务，这可以让远程部队从单纯的“炮台”角色转变为对游戏进程更为重要的角色。
另外还可以在战场的地形中增加树林一项，处于其中的部队能够得到防御加成，以及不受空中的攻击，但是也很害怕火系攻击的设定。英雄无敌的战场地形目前仅停留在“障碍物”的状态，不同地形对不同单位的加成和影响还没能体现，值得考虑。
棕色和白色翎毛混合的普通狮鹫。
名称上有微弱变化，原先H3的皇家狮鹫（Loyal Griffin）改成了（Imperial Griffin），中文仍然可以译成皇家狮鹫。这次的进化版本注重了装甲防护，特别是头部和眼部都有厚重装甲，相对的，“驯养”的感觉就重了。 狮鹫的无限反击特性仍然不变。新加了俯冲突袭技能。 具有攻击一条线上全单位特技的战狮鹫。 |
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Analysts Bullish On EA Long Term Growth Posted: 13 Feb 2008 06:12 AM CST
  
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Posted: 28 Jan 2008 01:30 PM CST 三年来他们至少曾经帮助过20多家独立游戏工作室,组织他们学习技术,安排他们的发行事宜,或直接同他们作生意,克罗地亚游戏公...知名游戏资讯网站Avault的负责人感叹道:"随着GoD的消亡,整个业界的控制权将再度落入那些巨头的...1997年的亚洲金融风暴让刘柏园 ...
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Game Programming Tests - Fight Or Flight? Posted: 13 Feb 2008 12:39 PM CST
  
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Focus On Korea: T2's Kim Talks Hitmaking With Audition Posted: 13 Feb 2008 05:41 AM CST
  
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Q& A: Codemasters' Cousens Talks U.S. Expansion, Acquisition Possibilities Posted: 13 Feb 2008 04:58 AM CST
  
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3D character animation software developer NaturalMotion has announced that its new graphically-authorable next-gen animation engine package morpheme has been integrated into Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3, as the company joins Epic's Integrated Partners Program. The company says morpheme will build on the existing UE3 character system by offering "unique features for constructing very complex animation setups" that, through its morpheme:connect tool, developers can preview and modify in real time through state machines and blend trees. ...
Venture capital firm Charles River Ventures, in conjunction with the organizers of the Game Developers Conference (part of CMP, as is Gamasutra), have announced a conference series for gaming community entrepreneurs, first set to take place Friday, February 22nd at the event in San Francisco. Called "Startup Launchpad," the CRV-sponsored event aims to foster entrepreneurial culture in the game industry, and to provide "tips, tricks and hacks" for launching a successful game business. It will ...
Audio tool developer Vivox has announced that Metaversum, Simutronics and Stratics have all selected Vivox's voice integration services for their respective technology, and the company has also added enhanced features. Metaversum has integrated Vivox voice services into its Twinity virtual world, enabling users to speak to one another in 3D spatial audio in groups or on private channels. Simutronics will now offer the Vivox Precision Studio SDK as an embedded technology option within its HeroEngine ...
Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, along with other computer companies, will reportedly form a consortium to support the PC gaming market, with the aim of enabling PCs to continue to compete with game consoles. The San Jose Mercury News reports that the industry leaders will announce their alliance to coincide with the upcoming Game Developers Conference, which begins February 18th. PC gaming has declined in recent years, with the 2007 NPD results showing ...
Despite the numerous ways in which the video game industry has evolved to reach new and different audiences, designer Etian Glinert points out that games still have a ways to go before they're accessible to the disabled, such as those with visual impairments. And those that are, he continues, tend not to be enjoyable by the mainstream market also -- for example, a game designed for the visually impaired might not have graphical features necessary ...
Qube Software has announced it will launch its Q content creation middleware at GDC next week, and is offering a promotional 20 percent discount to all companies who sign up before September 1st, 2008. Q includes a number of features, including a renderer that supports arbitrary scene-rendering algorithms, allows arbitrary single or multi-pass programmable custom shaders. The renderer comes with a selection of both standard and advanced shaders, supports background data streaming, and adds a ...
At its recent Analyst Day, Electronic Arts has revealed a number of new properties coming from its various labels and owned studios, including new titles in its MySims franchise, and a new unannounced Lord of the Rings game from Mercenaries developer Pandemic. It was its Sims label that had the most to reveal during the course of the day, with the company saying that its recently launched Wii and DS MySims franchise had shipped 3 ...
Following a visit to Electronic Arts for its annual Analyst Day, several analysts from Lazard, Wedbush Morgan, Opco and Stern Agee have come away bullish on the publisher, which says it can reach sales of $6 billion in 2011 on the strength of its IP slate. "While EA has struggled under the weight of a costly console transition," said Lazard's Colin Sebastian, "we believe the stage is set for solid growth and margin expansion driven ...
[In this detailed opinion piece, veteran programmer Jake Simpson explains the 'most loathed' game programmer tests often used as part of game industry interviews, outlining possible methods and his recommendations for good results on both sides.] Programmer tests are generally one of the most loathed parts of the interview process, on both sides. But every game programmer interview should include some kind of test to make sure the applicant can walk the walk as well ...
With the rise of microtransactions and MapleStory, South Korean gaming has been growing in respect and relevance in the west. There's a lot to learn from this rich, constantly evolving market, which grew up along lines so different from the U.S., Japan and Europe that it's difficult to compare -- and compete with. To that end, Gamasutra has compiled five complete interviews with a variety of members of top companies in the market, conducted principally ...
Veteran British developer/publisher Codemasters is perhaps best known for the Colin McRae/DiRT racing series, but thanks to an influx of venture capital funding in recent years, it's making an attempt to expand worldwide in multiple areas. For example, the firm has launched PC MMOs such as Archlord and RF Online, and operates The Lord Of The Rings Online in Europe. In addition, it's funding high-profile next-gen titles such as Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty, as ...
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 07:16 PM CST 之前记得放在书架上的两张照片居然不见了............= = 哦豁！ 之前电脑文件已经挂了，残留了2张之前冲洗出来的照片，仅存的硕果呀~如今也不知道去哪里了。我记得我应该是放到一个很稳妥的地方，如今看来是太稳妥了，稳妥得我自己都不记得放在哪里了........ 阿弥佗佛，对我很重要的照片呀～！！！！ |
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G4's X-Play To Broadcast GDC Choice Awards, IGF Posted: 14 Feb 2008 07:49 AM CST
  
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Gearbox Licenses Morpheme For Upcoming Games Posted: 14 Feb 2008 06:27 AM CST
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Comcast's G4 has announced it will present 5 days of exclusive coverage of the 2008 Game Developers Conference, including the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards via its video game program X-Play. The nightly program promises to "premiere never before seen gameplay, introduce viewers to the biggest developers, participate in hands-on demos of next-generation games, and take viewers inside with exclusive coverage of the eighth annual Game Developers Choice Awards and the tenth ...
Middleware developer NaturalMotion has announced that Gearbox Software (Borderlands) has licensed its Morpheme animation engine and will be integrating it into upcoming Unreal Engine 3 titles. Morpheme is an animation middleware designed to allow developers to author and preview blends, blend trees and transition graphs in realtime. The product is composed of two core components: the Morpheme:runtime engine, which features blend techniques, hierarchical animation state machine, physics support and compression algorithms, and morpheme:connect, which "lets ...  
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 03:00 AM CST
  
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Questions For Indies, Part III Posted: 14 Feb 2008 09:58 AM CST At the XFire Debate Club a couple of weeks ago, a lot of questions were suggested that weren't asked. Corvus Elrod and I decided to continue the Q&A sessions on our blogs. Just in case anybody from the debate was listening. Well, actually, it made for easy blog-fodder, and I'd rather deal with a topic someone somewhere was actually interested in. So... here we go. Three more questions from the XFire Debate Club about being an indie game developer. You can check out Corvus's take on these questions in this post: XFire Debate Annex Part III Question: Do you create a game for yourself or for your audience? Answer: Can't I do both? As an indie, I am not going to make a game that I'm not excited about. I don't care of hidden-object games are the best-selling rage right now and are a license to print money, I'm not going to make one if it doesn't thrill me and I don't feel passionate about it. Life's too short, especially for something that I'm still doing as more of a hobby than a business. But I also consider myself - to some degree - an entertainer, and a servant. I want to make things that make other people happy. The "other people" should include ME, too, but I'm okay with changing things and compromising my "vision" to make something other people will better enjoy. And frankly, I've been at this long enough to know that my "vision" isn't infallible, that other people might have brilliant ideas I've never thought of, and that my ego is way less important than making a really cool game. Screw this "artiste" crap. What's the difference between this and mainstream game publishers who create pablum for the widest possible audience? My choice of who I'm trying to please. My willingness to address a niche (which includes me!) of people who are hopefully as passionate about what I'm doing as I am. In fact, with Frayed Knights, I have been trying to make it a little bit of a group activity, incorporating feedback and suggestions from those who also want it to be good (and I fear disappointing them!) Question: Does becoming more "mainstream" to hit a wider audience defeat the purpose of being indie? Answer: If you are talking about making a more mainstream-style game, then no. In my opinion, the purpose of being an indie is to take control of your own destiny; to make and sell games without groveling for permission to do so from your "mainstream" lords and masters. It's not so much about flipping off "the man" as it making "the man" an insignificant part of your universe. So if you want to make Barbie-style games or first-person shooters or real-time strategy games that are totally based on "core" or mainstream or popular sensibilities, but you do it your own way without taking your marching orders from the Big Money Guys, you're indie. Indie games can be of any genre. Now, if you are talking about becoming more "mainstream" by entering a publishing deal where you are then paid to make games for somebody else who can then use their Big Money Powers to hit a wider audience... then you aren't indie anymore. Question: Where do you get your ideas / inspiration? Answer: Desperation. I find that when you need ideas and inspiration - you think about it, you work on it, you write it, you sweat over it - inspiration and ideas come. Most of the time they just come out of need. I usually need to sit down and actively try and write down some thoughts for the ideas to flow, but when I need a solution to a problem, and actively work to noodle around on it, the ideas come. Whether it's a sticky game problem, or the need for a blog topic for the day, or a piece of dialog that needs to come together. And then I try and actively look at the world and ask questions like, "How would I make a game out of that?" or "What could I do to take some cool bit of this real-world experience and incorporate it into my current game?" or "How does this relate to games?" I get some blue-sky ideas that way. I also talk to other people. There's nothing quite like bouncing ideas off of other people for things to gel and "cool ideas" to materialize as people force you to look at things a different way or suggest ideas which can then be merged with your own to make something better than either of them. And yeah, I get ideas from other games - or movies or books. Oftentimes it comes out of frustration... I look at something and say, "Oh, sheesh, I could do SO MUCH BETTER than that!" Of course, it's never that easy, but it starts me down a path. (Vaguely) related wastes of electricity: * Questions For Indies, Part I * Questions For Indies, Part II * Why Indie? Indies of the Round Table #1 |
Smaller development houses are attracting talented industry veterans by offering them a breath of fresh air from corporate culture. But is small company culture and creativity enough? Can they survive against big-budget studios?
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Latest games at Rampant Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1 |
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EA Partners With IMG For Sports Brand Marketing Posted: 14 Feb 2008 06:25 AM CST
  
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Kynogon, NaturalMotion Among Eight New Emergent Partners Posted: 14 Feb 2008 06:24 AM CST
  
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 09:04 AM CST
游戏业界历史上的今天（2.15）
首先向2.15过生日的玩家朋友道一声生日快乐！ 下面让我们一起来回顾一下游戏业界历史上的今天吧 1985.2.15 大蜜蜂(NAMCO/FC) 骨灰，又见骨灰。这是“小蜜蜂”的姊妹篇，主要不同之处就是敌人将会以编队形式陆续出现，而不像“小蜜蜂”那样一开始就已经排列好了。游戏中有一种敌人会放出电波，如果被电波笼罩战机就会被抓走，然后下一架战机击落俘获己方战机的这个敌人，就可以双机并排作战（如果不慎击中了战机本身，那就……）。由于敌人的运动方式更加丰富多变，战机的射击速度有所提升，加上这个战机捕获设定，使得游戏的可玩性要比“小蜜蜂”高一些。游戏在街机和FC上都拥有很高的人气度，是NAMCO长期以来难以割舍的经典，一直在各大主机包括掌机上广泛流传。不过对于猪头来说这样的游戏就算在当时也基本属于垃圾。 经典度：7 推荐度：2 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200509/8511.shtml 
 1989.2.15 FAMICOM JUMP英雄列传(BANDAI/FC) 本作中集结了日本最大的动漫杂志《少年跳跃》周刊中出现的众多著名漫画角色，包括“圣斗士”中的星矢、“龙珠”中的悟空、“乔乔的奇妙冒险”中的JOJO、“天使之翼”中的大空翼、“北斗神拳”中的健四郎、“城市猎人”中的寒羽良以及魔鬼筋肉人等等，一起为打败企图支配世界的短笛大魔王而战（用短笛作为BOSS，可见龙珠的影响力毕竟是最大的）。如此梦幻般的阵容也只有拥有大量版权的BANDAI才可以做到。作为《少年跳跃》周刊20周年的纪念作品，游戏获得了110万的销量，是当年唯一突破百万销量的FC游戏。 经典度：6 推荐度：6 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200509/8427.shtml 
 1991.2.15 惑星戒严令(VAP/FC) VAP是一家名不见经传的小厂，但是这部作品却足以让这个厂商被玩家所记住。当初在国内大多称本作为“孤独战士”，甚至还有叫做“魂斗罗四代”的，可见其素质之高。游戏以FC上比较罕见的斜上方强制卷轴进行，印象中同类游戏似乎也只有MVS主板上的“View Point”（曾移植MD）而已。游戏中战士要与来自异星的侵略者作战，按B键射击，按A键跳跃。战士主要使用W与L两种武器，W可以多方向开火，L则是直线密集火力，每吃3个字母可以提升一级威力，而按SELECT键可以更换这两种火力。如果跳起再按A键就可以使用保险，还可以配合方向键向不同方向扔出保险，而保险也是有等级提升的。游戏场面激烈精彩，速度感很强，音乐也比较有特色，是FC上一款难得的异色射击佳作。值得一提的是游戏一共是7关，但必须要打到第二轮才能进入最后的第七关，所以游戏的流程是相当长的。 经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200510/9107.shtml 
 
 彩虹之星(TAITO/PC-E) TAITO对PC-E的支持力度相当高，这款“彩虹之星”就是一款PC-E的原创独占作品。游戏是BUBBLE BOBBLE的系列作品之三，所以国内也称之为“彩虹岛二代”。本作的场景是固定方式，与初代的“泡泡龙”相仿，主角利用手中的阳伞攻击敌人，全灭之后就可过关。画面方面依然是艳丽多姿，流畅度也不错，是一款气氛轻松的休闲佳作。本作后来推出了FC以及GB版，但都是海外厂商的移植作版，并没有日版。 经典度：5 推荐度：5 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200609/16351.shtml（PC-E版） http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200612/20292.shtml（GB版） http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200603/12778.shtml（FC版） 
 PC-E版 
 FC版 
 GB版 汉堡 豪华版(DATA EAST/GB) GB掌机推出以来，移植或者重制FC的作品是其拓展市场的重要手段，众多为FC效力的厂商纷纷将以前的名作搬上GB，本作又是其中的一员。相比5年前的FC版，GB版在流畅度、关卡设计以及角色描绘上都有很大的提高，虽然只是黑白液晶的画面，但图像清晰明了，音效也很清脆，确实称得上是豪华版。游戏的玩法依然如故，踏过各层的原料使之落到下一层，最终全部落到底部的锅里做成汉堡即可，途中可以撒胡椒粉来对付敌人。那个时代那种单纯的乐趣，如今很难体验了。 经典度：4 推荐度：4 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200612/19831.shtml 
  2001.2.15 百剑(SEGA/DC) 早年开发“铁甲飞龙”系列的CS1研仙女小组成员所组成的SMILEBIT，为DC奉献了“死亡打字机”、“喷射小子”等经典名作，而这部作品的推出让人们看到了其实力的另一面。这是DC主机上第一款即时战略游戏，玩家可以操作骑兵、步兵、弓兵、魔导士等基本兵种以及炮兵、哥雷姆、飞空艇等上级兵种协同作战，了解各兵种之间的相克性是获胜的基础。游戏的画面明快清爽，战场并不算大，但难度以及平衡性的设计比较到位，加之可以对应网络对战，是一款值得研究的作品。可惜游戏发售时DC已经停产了…… 经典度：5 推荐度：6 下载： 
 
    2007.2.15 宿命传说2(NAMCO/PSP) NAMCO（应该已经叫做NBGI了）的传说系列量产化以来，在各大平台层出不穷，在PS2上连续推出了“仙乐传说”、“重生传说”、“神话传说”、“深渊传说”，GBA上是“世界传说 换装迷宫3”，PSP是“永恒传说”，NDS上则有“风雨传说”，如今又一口气公布了3款PSP上的新作：“幻想传说”、“世界传说 光明神话”和“宿命传说2”，几乎让人喘不过气来。本作是PS2主机上的首个传说系列作品，也是系列中销量仅次于PS版“宿命传说”的一作。PSP移植版除了调整画面比例外，还追加了画廊模式、新的BOSS以及新的购买道具，秘奥义的特写镜头也变得更加细腻。游戏的销量是12万，虽然难以再现往日的辉煌，但随后跟进的PS2版“宿命传说”、NDS版“圣洁传说”、Wii版“仙乐传说2”、PSP版“重生传说”等等依然表明了系列还将继续量产下去。 经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载： 
  明日话题预告：多拉A梦 野比和复活之心、怪物猎人2 |
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Kuju London Gets EA Vet Crooks As Studio Head Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:26 AM CST
  
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Sparkplay Gets $4.25 Million For Earth Eternal MMO Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:23 AM CST
  
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Feature: 'Stories From The Sandbox' Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:34 AM CST
  
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Focus, Firebrand Bringing TrackMania To DS Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:18 AM CST
  
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Game Developer February GDC Issue Exposes Ratchet & Clank Future Posted: 14 Feb 2008 08:19 AM CST
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Electronic Arts has announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with sports software brand IMG, to bring its EA Sports label into the IMG sports marketing and licensing global network. Through the partnership, IMG will license and market the EA Sports brand in a variety of product categories, which could include sports camps, gaming lounges, publishing products, performance apparel and more. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. A spokesman for IMG highlighted ...
Emergent has announced that eight additional companies have joined its partner program, which integrates partners' middleware technology into the company's Gamebryo development framework including AiLive (LiveMove Pro), Allegorithmic (ProFX), Anark (Gameface), CRI Middleware (CRI Movie), NaturalMotion (Morpheme), Kynogon (Kynapse), soVoz (ProScena) and Umbra. Each of the partner products will be integrated into Gamebryo with the aim of providing developers using the engine a modular solution they can customize to their needs. Gamebryo is a part ...
UK-based Kuju Entertainment has announced it has appointed Bradley Crooks as studio head of its London studio, where he will lead development of the Nintendo-published Battalion Wars games for Wii. Prior to joining Kuju, Bradley held publishing and production roles at Electronic Arts where he oversaw the release of titles including Crysis, Black & White 2, The Godfather and The Sims franchise. He has also worked in new media and film over 15 years in ...
Startup developer-publisher Sparkplay Media has announced that it has secured $4.25 million in financing from Redpoint Ventures and Prism Ventureworks. The company says it will use the funds to expand development of its first MMO, Earth Eternal, as well as other browser-based 3D multiplayer games. Sparkplay was founded by former Iron Realms (Achaea) principals Matt Mihaly, Chris Kohnert and David Kaye, and the management team also includes veteran development consultant Martin Best as VP of ...
In Gamasutra's latest in-depth design feature, veteran game designer Neil Sorens examines the 'sandbox game' genre, advocating - with plenty of practical examples - that "designers can and should do more to exploit player-generated stories." Sorens says he decided to focus on the "sandbox" genre because it leaves room for players to create their own stories. Player behavior in games like these, he says, creates a personal chronicle. The key for designers, Sorens says, is ...
French publisher Focus has announced that UK developer Firebrand (Race Driver: Create & Race) will be bringing Nadeo's cult racer TrackMania to the Nintendo DS in the fourth quarter of 2008, including a full-featured track editor. Focus says Firebrand, the studio behind Codemasters' recent Race Driver DS title, has already been working on the title for several months, and will bring all of the "incredible tracks made of jumps, loops, turbo boost pads and many ...
The February 2008 issue of Game Developer magazine, the sister print publication to Gamasutra.com, and the leading U.S. trade publication for the video game industry, has shipped to subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and single-issue formats, as well as a single physical issue. The cover feature for the issue is 'Postmortem: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction' by John Fiorito, and it's explained of the exclusive ...  
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GameTap Cancels Galactic Command Publishing Deal Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:19 AM CST
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When Gamasutra recently spoke to GameTap content VP Ricardo Sanchez to discuss his advice on the episodic content trend, we also got the opportunity to ask the exec at the Turner-owned PC game subscription service a few questions about the state of its union and its future plans. Sanchez is pleased with the performance of Sam & Max and very enthusiastic about the upcoming unveiling of American McGee's Grimm. But last year, GameTap announced it ...  
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EA Bringing Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 To PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:20 AM CST
  
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Q& A: GameTap's Sanchez On The Three Episodic Rules Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:17 AM CST
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Electronic Arts has officially announced the return of Red Alert, the alternate history spinoff of its real time strategy franchise Command & Conquer franchise with Red Alert 3, in development at EA Los Angeles for release on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. EA says the game "takes players on an epic adventure to a breathtaking alternate future spawned by time travel run amok" with, for the first time, a full co-op multiplayer campaign mode, ...
Following a recent Gamasutra column opining on the promising future of episodic game content, we caught up with GameTap content VP Ricardo Sanchez to get his thoughts. The Turner-owned PC subscription gaming service has been a major advocate for episodic content since it started publishing Telltale's Sam & Max in episodic format - the popular adventure series is now on Season 2, with regular episode updates. In addition, GameTap helped to fund episodic updates for ...  
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Educational Feature: 'The Indie Scene' Posted: 14 Feb 2008 04:00 AM CST
  
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THQ Announces Wii Exclusive Arachnid Thriller Deadly Creatures Posted: 14 Feb 2008 05:21 AM CST
  
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Opinion: Be My Valentine - The Top 5 Game Romances Posted: 14 Feb 2008 04:39 AM CST
  
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Posted: 14 Feb 2008 11:00 AM CST
  
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Independent game developers aren't the scrappy bedroom programmers they once were. A new article on sister site GameCareerGuide.com explores how they've changed. In this excerpt, author Albert T. Ferrer explains one of the causes: "One of the causes of this trend is that major developers such as Electronic Arts are investing in the talent of the surrounding community, producing experienced employees who have been through the rigors of game development cycles. In Vancouver for example, ...
THQ has announced a new Wii exclusive property with Deadly Creatures, an action thriller due for release this year by internal developer Rainbow Studios (MX vs ATV), which puts players in control of a scorpion and a tarantula in "a venomous world of desert terror, where the greatest victory is survival." The publisher says players follow the adventures of a scorpion and a tarantula as they "struggle against a variety of creatures including vicious Gila ...
[In a special Valentine's Day feature, Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander looks at the most memorable romantic relationships in the history of video games, in a feature originally printed on Gamasutra editor weblog GameSetWatch.com.] Last week's GameSetWatch column wondered how games might mature enough to allow for believable sexuality, and concluded that aiming for intimacy is a good start. Plenty of games already use intimacy, or the emotional connection created for the player between their character and ...
In this in-depth design article, veteran game designer Sorens examines the 'sandbox game' genre, advocating - with plenty of practical examples - that "designers can and should do more to exploit... player-generated stories"."game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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OC3, Softimage Partner For FaceFX Lip Sync Plugin Posted: 15 Feb 2008 08:07 AM CST
  
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 10:01 AM CST
就像标题写得一样。07年的 极品扑街（NeedForSpeed ProStreet）尽管卖的依然不错，但是风平却相当低。周围的竞速游戏爱好者几乎没有谁说自己喜欢 ProStreet。若不是打着极品飞车的旗帜，恐怕就是一款普通的赛车游戏而已了。 EA总裁 Frank Gibeau在近日召开的产业分析会议上表示。将会在2009财年——也就是从今年的 4月份到2009年3月这段时间内。加大在 赛车和滑板（driving and skateboarding series）两种类型游戏上的投入。EA的赛车游戏主要就是 BurnOut 和 NeedForSpeed 两个系列。相比来说，BurnOut的口碑和玩家群体近两年来增长迅速。而 NFS 则持续叫座不叫好，原因大抵还是靠卖老面子的原因。 在 ProStreet 的问题上，EA的总裁把问题归结于极品飞车游戏在一代之中的变化太大而导致了玩家无法继承的缘故。尽管说这也算是一个方面，但我想觉大多数玩家对 Porstreet 最失望的应该就是 “界面设计，车辆设定” 这两个方面上了。 新一代的极品飞车投入开发不是一件令人惊奇的事情。毕竟从 HP2 热力追踪2 开始，极品飞车的一年一作也已经成为了传统。 新一代的极品飞车将会迎来一些特性的回归，同时题材将再次更换。可以肯定的是，开放城市的探索以及比赛形式。就目前得到的微量信息而言。这一次新的极品飞车将会是 “首都高” 式的。即在一个开放的环境中活动，同时具有一个以往没有过的高速公路对战模式（HighWay-Battle）。 不知道这次EA那边的策划会怎么设计比赛模式。单纯从比赛的方式上来看，ProStreet想我们展示了EA策划们的实力——还是有不少不错的点子的。如何在高速公路的对抗中超出 元气（Genki）RacingProject 发明的 SPBattle 看来是一个真正有挑战的课题呢。 相信车辆的改装依然会有进化。怎么说呢，感觉从意思上来品。有点像想要出 UnderGround3 的意思。警车这个要素应该也还是会保留的毕竟环顾整个竞速游戏圈，警车真的算是 NeedForSpeed 系列的独家特色呢。 就像标题写得那样，尽管 FXCarl 今年狠狠的骂了极品飞车，但还是忍不住期待极品飞车在 2008 年的表现。一个系列跟的时间长了，多上会有一些习惯性的。就好像每个月都会去买《家用电脑与游戏》杂志一样自然了。 第二个极品飞车的事情是，这两天 EA 刚刚放出了一个 ProStreet 的 2008 试玩版。试玩版中的两款车型是 Porsche 911 GT2 和 Porsche 911 GT3RS 两台“破鞋”的牛车。至于赛道，则来头更大了，还是 破鞋 的……Porsche Leipzig Test Track !! Oh my god ! 看到这些的瞬间，FXCarl热泪盈眶。EA，Nice Boat ！ 花了几个小时把 DEMO 从 EA 拖下来装上。刚进游戏就给泼了盆冷水。虽然引擎版本号提高了（用的是最近正式版做的新 DEMO） ，但是 ProStreet 在 FXCarl 的机器上效能依然非常令人崩溃 …… 没得设置，直接选车子进去开。Leipzig 的赛道虽然路面时原样还原了，但是周围的景物免不了要被 proStreet 化，多了很多气球什么的。不过有两点还是让人欣喜的。 第一，赛道的还原度还是相当高的，车子在里面走的感觉确实不同凡响。 第二，地面的路径指示器终于在赛道上发挥作用了。相比这条线在现实中也是最佳线路，而不是那些原创赛道般是人工弄出来的。 以及附加的，上了真实赛道，AI就果然不是对手哇…… 这里附上下载地址，如果有闲的话，弄上看看吧。 题图提示：这是EA早年的标记，它意味着什么？意味着极品飞车最辉煌的时代啊……同时缅怀 Jane's 系列 相关文章：flOw，陈星汉 与 《游戏中的沉浸理论》 2008-02-08 格调 气质 仪式感 —— 体验微软模拟飞行X 2008-01-27 GT赛车的模拟进化 2008-01-06 PS3 Burnout Paradise DEMO 2007-12-28 PS3 GT5 Prologue 2007-12-24 收藏到：Del.icio.us |
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Analysts: Wii's Slim NPD Lead Due To Smash Bros, Wii Fit Launches Posted: 15 Feb 2008 07:49 AM CST
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Developer OC3 has announced that in partnership with Softimage, it has created a new audio lip-syncing plugin for Softimage Products called FaceFX, to help game developers and 3D animation artists create realistic talking characters with more precise facial expressions and lip-synchronization. OC3 notes that the plugin uses only a sound file and optional text file to generate highly realistic facial animation data for use in video games and 3D animations. The company notes that FaceFX ...
Following NPD's release of January hardware and software sales figures, analysts from Wedbush Morgan and simExchange have said lower than expected Wii sales likely were part of a plan to support Japan's Smash Bros and Wii Fit launches, and that Sony's Blu-ray support may be turning the tides in the PS3's favor. "January overall sales were much higher than our expectations," said Wedbush's Michael Pachter. "Continuing the strong growth trend in 2007, January saw strong ...  
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 09:24 AM CST ps2《POISON PINK》
ps2《キミキス》
nds《心跳回忆Girl's Side 2nd》
nds《乙女的恋革命 ラブレボ!! DS》
psp《MEDAL OF HONOR HEROES 2》
Wii《MEDAL OF HONOR HEROES 2》 |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 08:33 AM CST 美国市场2008年1月的一些统计数据（来源：npd）：
主机 2008年1月销量 累计销量
2008新年第一个月美国主机销量榜出现了比较奇特的情景：居然每台主机销量都在20-30万之间，处于旗鼓相当的状态，这再次证明了“一枝独秀不是春，百花齐放才是春”（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01008dq5.html ）。
游戏销量排行：
1 360 使命召唤4 (ACTIVISION) - 330,900/累计3,370,900
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 07:02 AM CST Wii《马里奥赛车Wii》日版发售日定在2008年4月10日。
   
上次提出了“《大乱斗X》之后，还有什么游戏撑场面？”的问题（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01008dq5.html
），现在看来有答案了，始终还是要靠任天堂自己——不过还要等2个月未免久了点，这个空窗期不短啊……
 ——随软件赠送的方向盘，不知道手感如何
 ——玩家自己的Mii形象也可以参加比赛
 ——和系列作不同的地方是也有摩托车登场 |
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IBM Announces Environmental Learning MMO For Kids Posted: 15 Feb 2008 06:53 AM CST
  
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 09:44 AM CST Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is due out in June. This is after rumors that Guitar Hero is releasing a few versions focusing around one band per game (though the initial rumor was U2.) Are there really big enough Aerosmith fans who want to buy a whole game of their stuff? Why isn’t this just extra downloadable content for GH3? Does anyone really want to see a rendered Steven Tyler? Wouldn’t this be better for Rock Band? Color me unimpressed. |
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Q's Mizuguchi: The Cross-Media Future Is Real Posted: 15 Feb 2008 05:57 AM CST
  
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Eidos Announces Death Jr.: Root of Evil For Wii Posted: 15 Feb 2008 04:44 AM CST
  
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Scaleform, Gamespy Reveal Multiplayer Lobby UI Posted: 15 Feb 2008 07:48 AM CST
  
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 09:07 AM CST Here are a few links to agile related sessions at GDC.
My talk - An Agile Retrospective BioWare/Rich Vogel's 3 day roundtable - Agile Development – Is it the Silver Bullet? The Good, the Bad and the Ugly There are lots of experience stories this year as well. Transition to Scrum Midway through a AAA Development Cycle: Lessons Learned Agility and Mobility: Applying Agile Practices to Mobile Game Development The World within - Building Social Environments in EVE Online's Space Stations "Using agile methodologies such as Scrum to navigate a unique production design paradigm, this project brings together a host of disparate disciplines including fashion designers, architects, industrial designers, artists, programmers, and game designers." Writing Great Design Documents "Discussion will also include how to manage design documentation in a project that uses Scrum, or other Agile philosophies." How to Break All Rules and yet Make a 90+ Game Enjoy! |
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EA Sports To Bring NCAA Football 09 To Wii Posted: 15 Feb 2008 05:00 AM CST
  
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 08:24 AM CST 新春新气象，潜龙也不敢偷懒，虽然现在人还飘在上海，但却很努力地爬上网，写几句废话当做是2008年新春的第一篇文章，与兄弟们共同探讨。 一直以来，我都蛮喜欢探讨文化，一方面是因为个人的爱好和从小的教育，让我对中国传统的道家文化和儒学有种偏好，另一方面也是想让网游产业有更多的声音，而不只是钻在钱眼里，仿佛网游产业真的是异端邪说电子毒品…… 正如已基本退隐江湖的Ali大人几天前说的那样，刚过去的2007年和以前几年一样，整个社会充斥着对网游产业妖魔化的论调，相信在刚刚到来的2008年，产业也将会面临相类似的境况，而不会有太大变化。 在这，我并没有讨论网游妖魔化的打算，而只是想把一些个人对文化的理解，整合到网游业中，以期让更多人明白，网游产业和电视电影产业，和软件产业，和包装业，和毛纺业。。。其实并无本质区别，一些文化观点，放在网游这个更强调文化创意的产业中，只会更加的合适，而对于青年人和成年人的影响，也是积极而非消极的。 废话就不多说了，进入正文。 南师 呃，南京师范的同学要失望了，因为这个标题并不是南京师范的缩写，而是一个专属名词，指代在近代玄学、道教和东方哲学方面有着巨大影响的南怀瑾。 显然，在传统文化氛围日渐弱化的现在，在更强调流行意识和市场成效的网游产业，了解甚至知道南怀瑾这个名字的从业人员，应当不是太多。因此，很认真地推荐所有看到本文的从业者，有时间的话，可以去读一读南师的书，诸如《老子他说》、《论语别裁》等作品，应当会有意想不到的收获，毕竟能够把哲学著作写得通俗易懂的人，在地球上还是不多见的。 南师对中国传统文化有着深刻的见解，说句实话，这样的人古往今来并不少见，不过南师在对这样的一些文化进行阐述的时候，却有着与众不同的观点，以下引用南师在《老子他说》中开篇的一段话，让大家看看。 “对这三家(潜龙按：指儒、释、道三家)，我经常比喻：儒家像粮食店，绝不能打。否则，打倒了儒家，我们就没有饭吃——没有精神粮食；佛家是百货店，像大都市的百货公司，各式各样的日用品俱备，随时可以去逛逛，有钱就选购一些回来，没有钱则观光一番，无人阻拦，但里面所有，都是人生必需的东西，也是不可缺少的；道家则是药店，如果不生病，一生也可以不必去理会它，要是一生病，就非自动找上门去不可。” 当然，我并不是想在这个日志中，向诸位介绍南师，只是想通过引用这样的一段话，来配合我想说明的产业文化。 产业 产业发展越来越快，一些产业积累也就越来越杂，从杂乱无章到有条有理，必须要有的一个过程，就是理论化和学术化。曾仕强老先生曾经说过，中国人擅长乱中取胜，这在网游业里，体现得更加清楚。。。。因为网游业，现在没有成型的理论和学术，在未来蛮长的一段时间内，估计也很难形成。。。 仔细想想，单机时代，不知道怎么成功，于是别人怎么做，我也怎么做。。。。什么好卖，我们做什么。。。。为什么好卖呢？不知道。。。仙剑大卖，我们做RPG。。。C&C火了，我们做生死之间。。。大菠萝火了，我们做秦殇和封神演义。。。为什么好卖呢？？记得99年有位达人在电脑报上的某个角落里说过：因为玩的人多呗。。。 网游业，产业飞速发展，发展速度甚至快到很多人连抄什么都没有想明白，就开始动手拿纸拿笔拿电脑开始抄。。。传奇火了抄传奇，奇迹火了抄奇迹，发现技术抄不了，于是只好转回头抄魔力和红月。。。。后来3D火了，抄EQ，抄天堂II。。。最后终于WOW火了，大家一起抄魔兽。。。。一堆的团队，一堆的公司，一堆的运营商研发商渠道商。。。甚至连自己在抄什么都不清楚。。。 于是以前搞包月，俺们也包月。。。韩国搞道具，俺们也道具。。。韩国卖广告，我们也Free to All。。。韩国人抄了个Avatar，上海人也学“啊，哇塌”。。。究竟在学什么，究竟什么为主什么为次，究竟什么是核心竞争力，究竟什么是可积累什么要变革，绝大多数人和公司是不知道的。。。更可怕的是，绝大多数人认为，不用知道这些，因为：“知道怎么赚钱就足够了。” 盛大成功了，大家使劲骂。。。就TMD因为老陈，搞得产业乌烟瘴气的。。。征途大赚特赚。。。一群人使劲骂，TMD的老史就是一超级大忽悠。。。。很多人甚至都不明白自己在骂什么，也不知道自己在拥护什么。。。网易起先闷声发大财，等到天下II出状况了，立马就被舆论包围。。。而曾经风头无两的目标，却不知道为什么，有一堆的真正大作，却偏偏发不了大财。。。 于是渠道开始大吼。。。渠道为王。。。。运营开始叫嚣。。。去TMD渠道，产品才是第一。。。光通说，盛大传奇成功了，所以我们玩传奇3。。。小胜一回后，欢天喜地的。。。一败涂地时，内部却连个理由都找不出来。。。到最后，低价当给了中华网。。。 出了什么问题？？哪里有状况？ 老子他说 正如前文引用南师的那段话中说的那样，潜龙也援引那段话的比喻，做一个与网游产业有关的，并不恰当的类比。 用户群就象儒家，是粮食店，没有用户，任何一家公司都要饿死，这个只能慢慢积累，积累得不好，死路一条，积累得好，怎么都可以吃饱吃好，不会有什么问题。。。偶尔遇上个粮食多的主，比如腾讯之类。。。怎么着也是大地主，发财那是早晚的事。。。 研发是释家，是百货店，有钱就进去选购一番，没钱进去看看，也死不了人。。。研发做得好，就象是木鱼敲得响，听的人必然多，但却不见得能够化到缘。。。看看目标，多可怜一和尚。。。像素也是一真正的贫僧。。。勉强出了完美这个花和尚，也得结合着分析，不可一概而论。。。。 运营则是道家，是药店，没出毛病的时候当然好，但生病了，没这玩意那就是一个字——死。。。。当然，开错了药方，吃错了药。。。也会死得更快。。。 看，现在赚钱的这些主。。。有哪个没粮食店的，又有几家不上百货店买日用品的，而出问题的这些个公司，有哪家是不开方抓药的呢？ 具有中国特色的…… 中国有中国的特色，大陆有大陆的规则。。。这句话，所有的日本和韩国公司、多数欧美公司和好几家台湾公司体会很深。。。 在中国，搞什么赚钱？卖粮食？倒腾百货？开药店？。。。其实谁也不知道。。。更多人都在摸着石头过河，有些，甚至连石头都没摸到，就冲进了河里。。。被水冲走。。。呃，那是必然的说。。。 中国本土的企业，其实也不明白。。。不明白自己为什么成功，不明白自己为什么失败，甚至，不明白自己为什么要这样或那样决策。。。。呃，这是。。。为什么呢？。。。 就象绝大多数的父母都要让孩子“读好书”。。。但却完全不清楚孩子达到什么效果，才叫做“读好书”一样。。。 大家做竞技休闲，我也做。。。。大家做社区，我也做。。。大家做横版格斗，我也做。。。大家做WebGame，我也做。。。大家是谁？其实大家都不知道。。。 内用黄老，外示儒术 罗嗦了半天，其实只是想说这句话罢了。。。。正如南师所说：“细读中国几千年的历史，会发现一个秘密。每一个朝代，在其鼎盛的时候，在政事的治理上，都有一个共同的秘诀，简言之，就是‘内用黄老，外示儒术’”。 网游产业也是如此，在国内，运营做不好的公司，不太可能兴盛。。。而运营做得越好，就越加“重视”用户群。。。研发是什么？？研发是百货商店嘛，就算这家没有，那家也不会缺。。。 想当初，盛大想搞百货公司，发现进不到货，生产不出多样化和受欢迎的产品。。。废话，网游产业还是个病人，药还没吃饱吃好，哪有时间买这买那？肚子都还没填饱，粮食不够，温饱没解决，谁会去买电视机和煎批萨的铲子？ 九城不也是这样，运营要是搞不定，赚个毛的钱？没有庞大的玻璃渣的Fans，哪来WOW的火暴？腾讯又如何？网易又怎样？难道天下II真的是产品出了问题？只怕还是出在吃错了药，没买好粮食。。。没有良好的用户基础上吧。。。 完美时空？去掉洪恩固有渠道，只怕走得没那么顺畅。。。 征途？有谁不知道脑白金和黄金搭档呢？。。。日，别提恒源祥行不？我承认那是最脑残的广告，相比起来，脑白金智商一定超90的平均值。 无厘头 刚过完年，又开始接触不少厂商和新兴的大小公司，以及一堆堆新人老人，总有着做着发财梦的人和规划着美好未来的研发运营渠道公司。。。 怎么成功，其实我也不清楚，因为我也在为自己的团队和2008年的团队计划而头痛。。。昨天温习了整晚南师的文章和讲演，多少有些感触，而上面的一堆杂乱文字，不过是这些感触的记录而已。。。看过就算了，表认真。。。当做是潜龙又一次的无厘头发言好了。。。 唉。。。内用黄老，外示儒术啊。。。。百货商店，多找几家就是了。。。
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 08:53 AM CST 注：本文完成于2007年12月，发表于《家用电脑与游戏》杂志2008年2月刊。原稿略作修改，转载请注明出处。
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IBM is set to launch a free multiplayer online game, titled PowerUp, which challenges teens to save a fictional planet from ecological disaster. Part of the company's broader educational initiative, the MMO will launch February 16th, 2008. The game features three missions for solar, water and wind power that must be solved, either by players alone or in groups, before various environmental crises destroy the planet. IBM says it developed the online world to support ...
As part of an in-depth new Gamasutra interview, Q Entertainment's Tetsuya Mizuguchi has been discussing his opinion that "breaking and melding" the game industry with other artistic industries is vital to the medium's future. Mizuguchi has been a notable proponent of this theory, working on his Genki Rockets musical project - whose 'Heavenly Star' video can be seen in the Lumines series - and even creating a holographic Al Gore for the recent Live Earth ...
Eidos has announced it will publish the latest title in the Backbone Entertainment-developed Death Jr. franchise, titled Death Jr.: Root of Evil, for Wii in Spring 2008. Again starring DJ, son of the Grim Reaper, Root of Evil finds him and his friends accidentally freeing a bitter woodland nymph, and are challenged with containing the creatures she unleashes. Players can take either the role of DJ or his sweetheart, Pandora, as they attempt to rescue ...
Gaming, mobile and desktop middleware provider Scaleform, which specializes in hardware-accelerated user interfaces and vector graphics engines for the gaming industry, has partnered with IGN's GameSpy division to create the Scaleform Lobby multiplayer networking interface. Scaleform Lobby is a multiplayer interface solution designed to be employed out-of-the-box with the aim of reducing development costs. It is built on the Scaleform GFx vector graphics interface, allowing developers to customize the UI using Adobe Flash studio. It ...
Electronic Arts has announced NCAA Football 09 for Wii, the first title in the franchise for that console. EA will inaugurate the debut with a platform-exclusive college team mascot, to be selected by fan vote. NCAA Football 09 for Wii will feature EA Sports Family Play, as with NBA Live, Madden NFL and FIFA. Family Play is designed to allow novice users to compete against advanced players and still succeed, highlighting a multiplayer social component. ...
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Saling The World: Professor Layton Tops North American DS Charts Posted: 15 Feb 2008 04:43 AM CST
  
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Disney Announces Off-Road Racer Pure Posted: 15 Feb 2008 05:05 AM CST
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Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide. This week's charts, with data taken from February 14th, 2008, find the recently released Professor Layton and the Curious Village triumphing over tough competition like New Super Mario Bros. and the Brain Age series on the Nintendo DS in North America. Data for "Saling The ...
Disney Interactive has announced that Pure, an extreme sports off-road racing title in development by Black Rock Studio (MotoGP), will be released for Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 in Fall 2008. Players can choose among a variety of male and female character riders, and will be able to race in either single-player mode or against up to 16 online players in races and freestyle competition. Gameplay focuses on aerial jumps and airborne tricks, against ...  
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Road To The IGF: Clean Asia! Takes Aim At Innovation Posted: 15 Feb 2008 05:37 AM CST
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Activision Reveals Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Posted: 15 Feb 2008 05:04 AM CST
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Continuing Gamasutra's 'Road To The IGF' feature, we talk to Cactus Soft developer Jonatan S?derstr?m about his 2008 IGF Excellence In Visual Arts and Excellence in Audio finalist Clean Asia!, a uniquely-presented and stylish vertical shooter. Known for his broad variety of small freeware games, Swedish designer Jonatan "Cactus" S?derstr?m says that much of his work is "small experiments dressed up as games." He borrows elements from titles he admires and builds on their mechanics, ...
Officials from Activision have officially announced a new spin-off from the company's bestselling rhythm action series, with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The game is scheduled for release this June in North America with a simulation of the band's career from their first gig to international success. To promote the game, the Aerosmith song Dream On will be available for free download via Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock from February 16th to 18th on Xbox Live ...  
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Take-Two Announces Board Reshuffle Posted: 15 Feb 2008 04:47 AM CST
  
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Officials from Take-Two Interactive have announced several new executive appointments, with current non-executive chairman Strauss Zelnick becoming executive chairman of the company. At the same time, Karl Slatoff has been named executive vice president with key responsibilities in the areas of general management, administration and corporate development. The company's board of directors has also come to an agreement with current CEO Ben Feder for him to remain in the position until 2012. The services of ...
"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 10:30 AM CST 2005.2.17 鬼泣3(CAPCOM/PS2) 本作的名称虽然是3，内容却可以称为0，因为游戏的故事发生在但丁成为职业恶魔猎人之初，我们可以看到年少轻狂的但丁那放浪不羁而又赏心悦目的表现。本作中除了继承系列一贯的近身斩和远距射击两种攻击方式外，最大的改进之处就是引入了形态切换，不同的形态有着不同的侧重点，Gunslinger擅长射击、Swordmaster长于近身格斗、Trickster易于移动和躲闪、Royalguard的特点是防守反击，途中还可以获得可以控制时间的Quicksilver以及能以影分身攻击敌人的Doppellanger。随着使用的频率各形态也会逐渐的强化，这有些类似“铁甲飞龙ORTA”。由于不少玩家对于前作中动作的迟钝表示不满，CAPCOM在本作中特别加快了动作的节奏，并加入了攻击评价系统，惊险刺激的BOSS战是系列三作中最精彩的。不过由于无法自由转换视角，游戏在某些场合还是存在盲目乱砍的情况，这也是该系列不及XBOX“忍者龙剑传”的地方。FAMI通给本作打出34分金殿堂，与初代相同，但不足30万的销量却是系列最低。 经典度：8 推荐度：8 下载： 
   星球大战 共和国突击队(LUCAS/XBOX) 本作是星战系列游戏中继“旧共和国骑士”系列之后又一款XBOX独占作品，大概，只有XBOX的机能才可以胜任本作的表现吧。游戏的故事发生在电影版“克隆人战争”和“西斯复仇”之间，玩家所扮演的就是依照赏金猎人詹果.费特所克隆出的突击队战士，为了揭露西斯的野心而在各个战场上进行战斗。游戏是XBOX所擅长的FPS类型，如同“光环2”一样可以使用多种枪械，也可以从敌人身上获得武器，此外还可以进行近身攻击以及向队友下达指令。除了网络联机模式外，游戏还支持单机4P分屏作战，并有着各种充实的多人模式，这一点是“光环2”也没有做到的。本作的战场相当辽阔，场景也很丰富，从星际舰队到荒漠星球，从丛林到山谷，画面十分强悍，绝对对得起XBOX的机能。XBOX不愧是FPS的专用主机啊。比较有趣的是，本作是星战游戏中少有的日版先行推出的作品。 经典度：6 推荐度：8 下载： 
   明日话题预告：西部枪手、光明使者 |
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 10:24 AM CST 游戏业界历史上的今天（2.17） 首先向2.17过生日的玩家朋友道一声生日快乐！ 下面让我们一起来回顾一下游戏业界历史上的今天吧 1989.2.17 飞行英雄(EPIC SONY RECORD/FC) 这个游戏在画面上颇有一些当年GAME&WATCH手掌机的风格，玩家操作消防员在失火的大楼下利用担架进行弹跳来营救受灾者，操作方式有些类似TAITO的名作“打砖块”。游戏出自索尼旗下的EPIC SONY RECORD子公司，是当时索尼试图参入电视游戏行列的先行者，不过其成就对于当时的FC阵营来说基本上是可以忽略的。 经典度：4 推荐度：4 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200509/8495.shtml |
 
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1995.2.17 斗士历史 沟口危机一发(DATA EAST/SFC) “斗士历史”是DATA EAST推出的2D对战游戏，曾经引发过该厂和CAPCOM之间关于抄袭问题的著名纷争，虽然CAPCOM在纠纷中占据了有利地位，但不可否认的是DATA EAST早在1984年就推出了街机版“空手道”，确实要比CAPCOM的初代“街霸”早了3年，因此双方最后还是选择了庭外和解。游戏的初代曾经移植到SFC主机，而在街机上又发售了加强版的“斗士历史震撼版”，本作就可以视为这个版本的移植。游戏中大幅更新了对战的场地，增加了组队战模式，并专门为主角“万年留级生”沟口诚设计了一个冒险模式，这也是游戏副标题的来历。游戏的系统与“街霸”系列相比有较多的不严密之处，不过独特的弱点设计还算有些创意。猪头很不喜欢该系列的人设，尤其是女主角之一的刘飞玲，看了让人觉得恐怖。 经典度：5 推荐度：6 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2004/200409/5021.shtml 
 外星王子(SEGA/MD.GG) 这是SONIC TEAM为MD制作的一款极为精彩的平台式动作游戏。主角是好奇心旺盛的外星王子RISTAR，这个有着流星外貌的小子拥有一双伸缩自如的手臂，可以向8个方向挥出，不仅可以抓住敌人并猛撞过去消灭之，亦可以进行攀援或者抓住一个支点来玩荡秋千，并针对这种特殊能力设置了许多精巧的关卡。游戏的画面是一大看点，色彩运用十分绚丽，比起“索尼克”系列犹有过之，角色的动作柔和流畅，场景宛如童话世界般漂亮，如此精美而又有着高度可玩性的动作游戏在MD上是相当难得的。此外，同时发行的GG版素质也非常之高，可以说是这台掌机上画面最美丽的游戏之一。 经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200507/7491.shtml（MD版） http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2007/200702/21906.shtml（GG版） |
 
 
 
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 2000.2.17 世嘉GT(SEGA/DC) SCE的“GT赛车”系列获得了空前的成功，作为此类游戏原本的霸主世嘉自然不会甘心，这款“世嘉GT”从名称上就是针对“GT赛车”系列而来的，当时PS上刚刚推出了“GT赛车2”，PS2和传说中的“GT赛车2000”正蓄势待发，世嘉抓住这个时机在DC上推出本作，试图以此来削弱PS2的声势。当然我们都知道这个愿望没有实现，但并不意味着本作的素质就不高，相反，FAMI通33分的评价只比“GT赛车2”低1分，16万的销量也比稍早的“疯狂出租车”更高。游戏的画面自然要比PS高出许多，即使是今天看来也不算落伍，驾照考取模式也同样存在，难度方面要比“GT赛车2”更高。以猪头拿到了本作以及GT系列全驾照的经验来看，本作的操作性要比GT系列更好，车子开起来很有实体感。曾经有过“只有世嘉的赛车才需要使用手排挡”的说法，在本作的驾照模式中就有很好的体现。不过在车厂的支持度方面，世嘉就远远不能与索尼相比了，无论是赛道还是车辆，本作与GT系列都不在一个档次。 |
经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载： 
 
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Dance Dance Revolution 2nd
Mix(KONAMI/DC) KONAMI红遍全球的DDR，在PS上两作都获得了百万销量，现在在PS2未发售之前，也应景来到了DC主机上。游戏与PS版并无太大差别，不对应VGA显示，用DC的手柄来玩的话还不如PS的好使（这个游戏可以说是PS系手柄的专长）。唯一的可取之处就是收录了一些新的奖励曲目，此外，训练模式也有所改进。但是，令人很奇怪的是，DC版的音质居然远不如PS版那么富有动感，对此，猪头宁可抛开诸如厂商用心程度、原作本来就是为PS量身打造乃至PS和DC的音效对比之类想法，只当作是D版音质缩水聊以自慰一下好了。 |
经典度：5 推荐度：6 下载： 
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Treasure Strike(SEGA/DC) 这是由KID开发的一款对应网络的3D动作冒险游戏，画面方面有些类似经典名作“时之笛”，玩家需要在版图中寻找钥匙开启宝箱来获得宝物，当然需要抢在其他角色之前才行，有时还需要对一些问题进行回答。不过即使被别人抢先了，也还可以通过攻击他人来夺回宝物，这个设定使得偷懒的玩家甚至可以干脆守株待兔不劳而获。游戏画面不算出众，但色彩看上去还比较舒服，音乐也轻松可爱，可惜现在已经无法享受其网络服务了。 经典度：3 |
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 09:39 AM CST JOY阿宝：大小公司的整合收购是近一年的趋势，大到暴雪与VVD，小到盛大买锦天，游戏行业的逐渐规范和方向明确只是时间问题。
因日本游戏公司Gungho成为《仙境》系列开发商韩国Gravity公...
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 06:15 AM CST 原文地址：http://bbs.92wy.com/thread-17995866-1-2.html
英文命令/中文命令 /描述（无选定对象） /对选定对象 |
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Movaya Brings Try & Buy Model For Mobile Games Posted: 16 Feb 2008 07:01 AM CST I’m convinced that the best ideas are the ones that can be stolen. Just see how these guys figured out that the “try & buy model” that’s been used in shareware & downloadable games can work on the mobile games area as well. Movaya, a mobile content distribution and services company, announced the BETA launch of Movaya TryNBuy, the first off-deck, cross-carrier, try-before-you-buy system for mobile game sales in the US. TryNBuy allows consumers to play mobile phone games before purchasing using a free download trial. Check out more information from their website. If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles. |
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 07:18 AM CST Go around town and take on other kids. Use ARROW KEYS to move. Press "A" KEY to throw snowball to ...
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 06:26 AM CST Or how to efficiently plan your route when you have a project to tackle. Why are there so many developers who start their engines even before they have any idea on where they are heading, or any idea on how they could get there.
Is failing to plan planning to fail?There’s an saying “Failing to plan is planning to fail”, and I think there’s some truth in this statement. In my humble opinion, the most important aspect in game production is pretty simple: to produce games (and bit of profits while doing that). There are some developers who spend years planning their next generation MMORPG game, just to realize that all they have is one heck of a long design document. Writing design documents can be fun, no problem with that, but planning too much can be a problem as it might never get your project anywhere. On the other hand, there are some developers who are so concentrated on their superb idea that they simply start doing it without almost any planning. These are the people who end up asking their development partner “don’t tell me your forgot the map”. They forgot to spend little time on planning. Balance is necessary. Planning too much gets you nowhere, and planning (or preparing) nothing gets you to some place where you probably wouldn’t want to go. Map tells you the distanceWhen you get an idea about a game (or feature for a game) it makes sense to draw the plan. After you get the feature ideas and sketch out a brief plan, you can see how much work it would require to get it done. When asked about deadlines, some studios tend to say “when it’s done”, but the problem with that approach is that unless you have unlimited funding, it might mean that you never get things done. By having a plan, you get a better idea on how far you need to go and how long it takes to get there. When you start planning and “don’t forget the map”, you’ll start to see whether your project makes sense in the first place. You’ll see dead ends and can decide the route. Don’t forget the map. If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles. |
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 03:37 AM CST I've talked quite a bit about attribute systems in the last few posts. So, let me step through the initial steps I would to create an attribute system in a game. I'll only cover the basics, since after this point a lot of the decisions would be different for different games. I'll also make comparisons to WoW's system for comparison and to show the different design philosophies. So, to recap, in a previous post I talked about some flaws in attribute systems in general, specifically about the WoW attribute system. Then, the most recent Weekend Design Challenge dealt with listing possible attributes. So, before we dive into this, I want to define some terms. Note that these also define the major points of a combat system in a game. Offense - Inflicting something (damage, a status effect, etc) on an opponent. Let's dig into an attribute system. Of course, some of this might be different for different genres. For example, in a modern setting you might not have "magic" ratings. It might make more sense to make more of a distinction between melee/hand-to-hand and firearm combat. In most fantasy games, you have three major types of effects: physical damage, magical damage, and special effects. Special effects includes things like stuns, polymorphs, etc. So, consider each affect with the list above. Physical damage is the easiest since that is what the list is based off of. Let's take a moment to see what stats affect these basic elements for physical combat in WoW: So, what do you notice? First, Agility is overrepresented in that list. Also, notice that no attribute helps to-hit, it's primarily affected by a skill that needs to be maximized with each level. Also notice that there are many different attributes that can increase physical damage; although the different attributes will raise the damage in different amounts for different classes. Also note that you can have different types of attributes. For physical offense magnitude, you have things which give a constant improvement (+damage), and things that give a chance at an increase magnitude (+crit). As +crit increases, the damage becomes more reliable, but it's still just a chance to get an increase in the amount of damage. Offensive resources are perhaps the most interesting aspect of WoW physical combat. Warriors have Rage which is not affected directly by attributes. Rogues have Energy which is not affected by attributes; they can increase their maximum energy pool through different special equipment effects. Other physical classes, including Hunters, Shaman, and Paladins, have mana which can be increased by Intellect. Druids, being an odd beast (or two), have all three resources, but only one at a time depending on their shapeshift form. This is different than previous games where all classes had a generic mana pool that was drawn upon and replenished over time. This is one area in which WoW was really unique and interesting. Now, let's take a look at magical combat in WoW: Defensive endurance is the same pool of hit points used for physical defensive endurance, so the attributes are the same. But, notice how there are fewer attributes that control magical effects. In fact, at launch there was no way to increase offensive to-hit. There was also little way to increase offensive magnitude of effect beyond buying new spells, the only major element was increasing spell crit. The only attribute that affects any aspect of magic is Intellect. On the defensive side only one attribute really matters for magic-specific damage: resistance. Increasing this attribute increases both avoidance and mitigation. Resilience reduces some damage over time (DOT) magical effects. However, note that it is hard to get a very good resistance to more than one type of magical damage, and even getting good resistance to one type of magical damage usually reduces a lot of other (usually offensive) attributes. Regeneration is handled by the Spirit attribute. But, due to the way resources and endurance regenerates, this stat has limited use. In WoW, some of these factors were affected by Talents; for example, Druids in a special form get a bonus to magical healing ability from Spirit, but that's a very special case. These quirks are beyond the scope of this discussion. So, now let's talk about special effects. This is interesting, because there is no direct example of these stats in WoW. special effect offensive to-hit - the chance to land a special effect. Now, the issue about special effect resources and endurance is interesting. Usually these are the same as whatever the character's primary resources (mana, etc.) and endurance (hit points, etc.) But, what if these were separate pools? One game that did something like this was Star Wars Galaxies with its HAM (Health, Action, and Mind) pools; although there were some balance issues, particularly in PvP, that exposed some flaws in that system. Now, you can divide each of these areas into sub-divisions. For example, for special effects you might have a variety of effects: blind, stun, knockdown, bleed, etc. You could have special Offensive and Defensive values for each of these types. A more common division is to have different values for melee and ranged physical Offense/Defense. Now we face a problem: that's a lot of attributes! We're looking at 18 different attributes to track, if we keep resources and endurance separate, before we even start talking about regeneration. This is one of the reasons why games use attributes to derive the stats. In D&D, for example, melee damage and to-hit are affected one stat: Strength; of course, level also affects base to-hit. Strength also affects carrying ability and other derived abilities. The six basic D&D attributes (plus classes and levels) are easier to remember than 18 or more attributes. Also note that sometimes you don't need some attributes: D&D has no physical offensive resource that a player notes on their character sheet; instead they have to use time and allocate actions in a round to accomplish physical damage. So, the next step is to see how each of these attributes can be eliminated through alternative mechanics, combining attributes, or other tricks. Your best bet is to pick a theme that fits within your game world. For example, using a system of elements is pretty common. (Of course, this could cause localization problems if you pick themes that aren't appropriate to the cultural assumptions.) Associating one or more of these attributes with an element can allow players to remember the attributes easier. Or, you can provide interesting game decision: if water can affect both physical to-hit and magical defense, then how important is this attribute to a player? Is this overpowering if to-hit is a major attribute in your system and a high magical defense shuts down magical damage-focused characters? In the end, this is all about the player. How should they build their character? The job of the designer is to make sure there is no one, universal "right answer" for all players; although each player may think there is a "right answer" for his or her style of play. You also need to make sure that this system doesn't make it too easy to counter one particular build or another. Hopefully this has given some insight to the design process and how attributes can work in a game system. What are your thoughts? What questions would you ask in this process? What next steps would you take for your ideal game? |
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 05:23 AM CST 原作者：Clinton
Keith
译者是自GAMASUTRA的链接上看到这篇文章的
链接地址如下：
原文如下（由于字数限制，这里只能贴出一部分，详细麻烦大家点入链接内查看。
译文在原文之后，烦点击进去阅读）：
From The Ground Up: Creating A Core Technology
Group
It's not every day a studio gets to reinvent the game development wheel by setting up a brand-new technology group. Combining awareness of tomorrow's trends with the knowledge gained from game development's past, Sammy Studios chose to invest in a new technical infrastructure. Hardware and technology are changing rapidly. Game development teams and budgets have grown to keep pace. However, our methods for creating game technology have often not kept pace. We waste millions of dollars and years of time to create games that don't meet the gameplay or visual quality bar that consumers expect.
以下省略
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以下译文
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 05:39 AM CST Move around the maze eating all the dots. Avoid the ghosts, eat power pills to eat ghosts!
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 05:26 AM CST Q is a hidden puzzle game inside Ericsson T68i. Push the coloured marbles into their corresponding holes. Drag a coloured ...
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 03:21 AM CST 下周我又要前往旧金山参加一年一度的游戏开发者大会了。过去四年中，我没有一次错过。因为每一次去都会感觉彻底的被启迪了，兴奋间还有些被别人赶超的危机感。总之回来后就有一种被鞭策的动力。今年一样会在大会上发言，唯一不同的是我们的游戏《流》在游戏开发者大赛上得到了三项提名。虽然我觉得最后获奖的希望几乎为零，我仍然觉得非常的高兴。维持一个星期的行程可以在我的公司博客上看到：）
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 02:26 AM CST Woo hoo! It's that time again - it's GDC time! Here are the things TGC has going on next week, so if you can, pencil us in!
Monday, 10am: @Independent Games Summit, Kellee Santiago, Jonathan Mak, and Pekko Koskinen talk about how to push the discussion of games past the words "good" or "better" or "fun." Looking for "better" games seeks uniformity of value. Yet we need to understand the variety, potentiality of games first, to know where we are going.... or could be going. Tuesday, 8:00pm-1:30am @The Cellar, thatgamecompany co-sponsors, along with Flashbang Studios and Gastronaut Studios, 9Bit: Indie Party Extraordinaire. See flyer below! We hope to see you there. Wednesday, 6:30pm @Game Developer Choice Awards, flOw has been nominated for three Game Developer Choice Awards, including Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable, and the Innovation award. Please come and show your support! Make sure to holler when they announce flOw – I found out at DICE that game developers aren't schooled in the ways of cheering for your own games. Thursday @ Audio G.A.N.G. Awards, flOw has been nominated for an award for Interactive Score, and Austin Wintory has been nominated for Rookie of the Year!! Friday, 1:00pm @GDC, Jenova Chen will be participating in the annual Game Designers Rant, hosted by Eric Zimmerman. He's pitched some ideas to Eric, but they all apparently need "more gas." So you will have to come to find out what his rant is about. =)  And, in case you missed it, flOw PSP has been announced. I'm not sure what Sony has planned, but I'm hoping they put it out on the floor so you guys can check it out! |
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《山姆和迈克斯第二章》(Sam and Max Season 2)完整硬盘版 Posted: 15 Feb 2008 10:54 PM CST  游戏名称： 山姆和迈克斯第二章 英文名称： Sam and Max Season 2 游戏制作： Telltale Games 游戏发行： The Adventure Company 游戏语种： 英文 游戏类型： 冒险解密 官方网址： http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax 做源：Razorback3.0 [quote]风险提示：硬盘版资源不能进游戏的几率较大，且需要下载者有一定的计算机操作水平 硬盘版游戏报错常见解决办法： 1、下载并安装最新版的DirectX9.0c 2、下载并安装Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0再试 3、游戏安装目录最好全英文 4、操作系统用户名最好全英文 5、彻底关闭瑞星及其后台程序 6、更新XP补丁、更新显卡驱动[/quote] 【版本说明】 1、英文版 2、完整无删减 3、自动识别路径生成注册表，可以使用任何补丁或MOD （绿化压缩小组：RAS） 【安装说明】 1、解压缩 2、运行setup.bat开始安装 3、运行桌面快捷方式进游戏 4、如果不能进游戏，可能是你的操作系统缺少一些软件:点我下载 【游戏简介】 telltale公司成功的从卢卡斯买入了sam and max续作的开发权,同时该系列漫画的创始人steve purcell也辞去了他在皮克斯动画公司的职位,与telltale games合作开发这款sam and max的新作.这次他们将不会采用自由警察的副标题,而是开发一款更接近于原著漫画风格的全新的章节式的作品. 【游戏截图】 ... ... ............ .................... .................. ... ... ............ .................... ................. .. ... .. .. ... ... .. ... ......... .. .. ............ ... ... ............ .. ... ......... .. .. ............ ... .. ........... .. ... ... .. .. .. ... ... .. .. .. ... ... .. .. .. ... ... ... ... .. ... ......... .. .. .. ... ... ... .... .. ... . .. .. ..... ... ... .... .......... .. ... .. .. ... ... ... ... .. ... ............ .. .. ... ... ... .... .. ... .. .. .. ..... ... ... .......... ... .. ... . .. .. .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. .. .. ... ... ... .. ... ... ... .. .. .. ... ... ........... . ________ . _______ ........... ... \ ___ \ /_\ / _____) ... | __ / _ \_____ \ .................. | | \ \ | / / ................... | : | Sam and Max Season 203 | | | <+======================== LANGUAGE =========================+> | | | en | | | <+=========================== RiP ===========================+> | | | nothing | | | <+========================= INSTALL =========================+> | | | 1_unrar | | 2_setup.bat | | 3_desktopicon | | | <+======================== THE FORCE ========================+> | | | RAZOR73 - KOOLMAN - PC GAMER - RENCHONGYI - PRTTI | |___________________________________________________________| |-------------========|###############|========-------------| | | | -+- R.A.S.GROUP RIP -+- | |_____________ __ _ _ __ _____________| +-----------------------------------------------------------+ This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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CNet on my brief remarks at Metaverse Roadmap Posted: 15 Feb 2008 01:56 PM CST That was fast! Areae’s Raph Koster: Virtual world cash to go to entertainment My comments were pretty brief — nothing like a full session, more like a bunch of us here getting up and giving ten minute takes on where things are and where they are going.
Other stuff — we saw a brief walthrough of a Multiverse-based virtual Times Square covered in ads. And Mitch Kapor thinks that we need 3d cameras and gestural interfaces to break open the virtual worlds market. I’ll try to post other brief notes as the weekend progresses… |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 09:45 PM CST
这两天不知道是怎么了,总是很早就醒来然后就睡不着了.算一算每天睡眠就4,5个小时,这怎么行.
前段放假的时候每天睡好久都觉得醒不了,我一直说我睡觉就象骆驼喝水,有贮备的,大概是休假的时候储备过剩造成的
每天起来就打两盘游戏,昨天由于一局打太久,竟然把粥烧糊了,等我想起来的时候,厨房已经迷茫在浓烟当中,粥没喝成,还多了一堆事.
年后上班3天,一点不悠闲,新的节目在制作当中,压力有点大.
接下来,NSL2和WCG外卡都要开打,还有两个其他的赛事,专题栏目也要同时进行,所以下周开始,就不间断的会有赛事节目播出,希望到时大家可以喜欢.
发现最近论坛里面还是挺热闹的,对不起大家,有日子没去搀和了,要改进
 好了,上班去了  |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 08:41 PM CST
游戏业界历史上的今天（2.16） 首先向2.16过生日的玩家朋友道一声生日快乐！ 今天是猪头一个特别重要的日子，因为今天是猪头的爱妻的生日。 “你的星座是？” “水瓶座。” “情人节？” “情人节那天买礼物，自己看一天，然后送给我就好了。” 这是猪头和爱妻刚认识时的对话，是我的珍藏。在这里，向我的爱妻深情地说一句：老婆，生日快乐！ 下面让我们一起来回顾一下游戏业界历史上的今天吧 1988.2.16 刺激足球 KONAMI杯(KONAMI/FDS) KONAMI在FDS磁碟机系统上连续制作了“乒乓球”、“刺激篮球”和“刺激棒球”后，终于轮到了足球游戏登场。本作以上方俯视视点进行，视野显得比较宽阔，操作也比较轻松。利用磁碟媒体的特性，游戏可以实现球队的编辑和球员的培养，这是当时的一个创举。追溯KONAMI的足球游戏历程，最早从1985年的MSX版就开始了，能够在今天发展成为日本足球游戏的顶梁柱，其间的付出可想而知。 经典度：3 推荐度：4 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200604/13528.shtml 
 1989.2.16 兔子罗杰(KEMCO/FDS) 这个长着大刨牙的明星是华纳公司的代言人之一，被改编成游戏也是理所当然。玩家操作罗杰避开版面中的敌人获取全部的心来过关，要合理利用各层的门进行规避，也可以推动箱子砸死敌人。KEMCO后来推出的FC版“宾尼兔”以及GB版“米老鼠”都是同一类型的作品，除了角色有所不同外完全是换汤不换药，在鄙视之余对于该厂可以如此毫无顾忌的使用这些著名角色，不禁还是要感到钦佩。 经典度：2 推荐度：3 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200604/13716.shtml 
 1996.2.16 多拉A梦 野比和复活之心(EPOCH/PS.SS) 多拉A梦是藤子不二雄为机器猫最终确定的官方中文名称，这个有着神奇口袋的蓝色大头猫无论在日本还是在国内都有着近乎无敌的人气，猪头的LP就是它的忠实观众，经常霸占电脑用来看它的动画片。EPOCH社是将这部名作改编为游戏最卖力的厂商，刚刚在SFC上推出了“多拉A梦4野比与月之王国”，次世代主机上的“野比和复活之心”就接踵而至。这是新主机上的第一个系列作品（不过并不是系列的第一个光碟媒体作品，第一个是PC-E SCD版），玩家可以选择的当然是大家所熟悉的那五个主人公，以宇宙中的未知星球为舞台展开冒险。基本进行方式是横向卷轴，但是角色却是由多边形绘制的，给人耳目一新的感觉。游戏画面和音乐都超越了卡带媒体的水准，并加入了精美的开场CGCT，操作方面也相当出色，是次世代主机上少有的横向平台式动作游戏精品。本作的PS版是今天发售的，SS版则是3.15发售，这有些类似3年前SFC和MD版发售时的情况。另外，这也是SS主机上唯一的一款多拉A梦游戏。 经典度：5 推荐度：7 下载：http://down.99inet.com/s/%E6%9C%BA%E5%99%A8%E7%8C%ABPS 
 2001.2.16 POP N POP(TAITO/GBC) 以泡泡龙为主角的益智游戏。向上方的彩球阵发射各色彩球，只要有3个以上同色的球相连就会消去，同时也可以连带位于其下方的球一起消去。这是在街机以及家用主机上推出了多个版本的作品，在PC上也相当吃香，是猪头LP的拿手好戏之一。GBC版作为新的作品，加入了丰富的游戏模式和更多的变化，登场的角色也都是TAITO的著名形象，版面非常多，但是，唉，这是骗女孩子的东西，我怎么能玩呢…… 经典度：4 推荐度：5 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200611/18580.shtml 
  2006.2.16 怪物猎人2(CAPCOM/PS2) 前作虽然获得了CESA年度最佳游戏大赏，但FAMI通34分的评价和不到30万的销量显得还缺乏王者之气。在经历了“怪物猎人G”的强化后，本次的正统续作可谓是扬眉吐气，一举获得了FAMI通37分的超白金评价和60万的销售佳绩，再次印证了CAPCOM“原创品牌第二作必是精品”的定理。本作中加入了昼夜变化和季节更替，使得野外狩猎的活动更加真实，不同地域的不同怪物需要玩家在接受任务时有所选择，当然那些想单凭一己之力一味砍杀来制服强敌的固执者除外。武器和防具的种类比前作增加了不少，各种强化指标也更多，此外，加入了村落建设的内容颇为精彩，也使得游戏更加具备一款网络大作的风范。“怪物猎人”已经成为CAPCOM近年来最成功的系列，PSP版两作都达成了百万销量，是该主机上最畅销的作品，而原定于PS3推出的3代转投Wii平台也不禁让人想起当年的“生化危机”系列GC独占事件，CAPCOM总是那么让人又爱又恨。 经典度：8 推荐度：8 下载： 
RADIRGY(MILESTONE/DC) DC，又是DC，这台苦命的主机虽然早已离我们远去，但是不时出现的“最后大作”依然带来一次又一次的惊喜，对于猪头来说尤其如此，因为这些作品几乎全都是猪头最爱的卷轴射击游戏。本作是制作过“混沌领域”的MILESTONE利用NAOMI主板再次开发的新作，其主旨是“电波系SHOOTING”，游戏画面完全没有使用3D技术，而是柔和的2D卡通渲染风格，配合游戏中层出不穷的一圈圈电波爆炸效果，给人十分独特的感觉。不过游戏的流程偏短，而且竟然没有双打，这对于一款纵版射击游戏来说是难以容忍的，不过MILESTONE的作品似乎都是如此。FAMI通只给了本作23分的评价。基本上，在DC自“斑鸠”以来的11款射击游戏当中，本作的水准大概只能跟“TRIZAEL”相比。（附，这11部作品包括：2002.9.5的斑鸠、2003.9.25的BORDER DOWN、2004.2.26的PSYVARIA 2、3.25的式神之城2、12.16的混沌领域、2005.4.7的TRIZEAL、2006.2.16的RADIRGY、3.23的UNDER DEFEAT、2007.1.31的LAST HOPE、2.22的TRIGGER HEART、3.8的KAROUS，猪头会陆续提到的） |
经典度：5 推荐度：6 下载： 
 
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明日话题预告：外星王子、鬼泣3
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 06:55 PM CST I’m excited to announce our new, and FREE, update for Warhawk – the v1.3 Patch! There are 5 key additions in this update that add a ton of value for our current and future Warhawk players. First, I’ll cover the 2 new troop items that we are adding to the game.
So far, Warhawk players have logged over 7.3 million hours of gameplay and have scored over 206 million kills! And during this time, we’ve keenly observed the battles, looking for opportunities for us to further balance Warhawk’s gameplay and over-arching “combat economy”. The result of our observations comes in the form of two upgrades for ground troops – to help promote teamwork, lengthen troop lifespan, and expand Warhawk’s fast-paced, emergent gameplay that players around the world have come to love.
This is gonna be a long post and I want to give you all a rundown of the new equipment but I can’t ramble on for pages about it so I’ll just write a quick summary here. I can always follow-up with you guys later in the comments….you know how I love to respond to comments
#1 Mechanic’s Field Wrench:As you might expect, this piece of equipment is used to repair vehicles. Once you get the pickup, you swing it just like the combat blade. Then, just walk up to, or onto an allied vehicle and “whack” it with the wrench. It repairs wicked fast so it’s very effectively during combat. On the offensive side, not only is it still a one-hit-kill against troops, but it can be used to damage enemy vehicles as well!
#2 Bio-Field Generator:To use a Bio-Field, grab the pick up and throw it down like a proximity mine. It sticks to walls, ceilings, anything…including vehicles. Then, if any ally stands within its bio-reactive field, his health will quickly regen. Alternatively, and this is where some neat tactics emerge, if an enemy walks into the bio-field (yes, bio-fields are color coded), they’ll take damage – their lungs sizzling like bacon….mmmmm bacon.  |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 06:45 PM CST
If Kyle and Ron had released all the chapters to World of Goo, I would have probably just said “Screw GDC, I’m staying home playing World of Goo and Audiosurf”. Lucky for me they didn’t. Anyway if anyone reading this will be at GDC, come by the IGF booths and say hello. I’ll be there playing World of Goo and Audiosurf. I also have my own game there that I’m supposed to be demonstrating and representing. But to be honest I’d rather just surf through my Fantomas collection, which I’m planning of installing on Dylan’s computer as soon as he moves away from it. Oh and didn’t get the Grammar Nazi update done in time. I blame Tim and his interview! |
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Opinion: PS3, Blu-Ray, & Sony As 'Global Infant' Posted: 15 Feb 2008 02:21 PM CST
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Lucky me, in a couple of hours I’m off to the 
[In a fiery opinion piece, game designer/author Ian Bogost examines NPD chart trends to suggest that Sony's lack of unified message on PS3, Blu-ray and the 'average consumer' is rendering ineffective its pitch to users.] Sony is a global conglomerate which is significantly different from its hardware competitors in the video game industry. It makes consumer electronics ranging from telephones to computers to GPS units. It publishes video games, movies, and music. It also maintains ...  
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 08:30 AM CST  換了新LOGO〜姫若子です〜=3= 以前的顏色完全不治愈〜站子也做的很倉促，慢慢的會換掉框架，顏色也會換回吾輩喜歡的暖色〜配合新バナー。 全圖〜小尺寸……大尺寸等主頁更新吧〜  |
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 07:24 AM CST Very unique motorcycle jumping game featuring cool physics, simple game. play and a sense of humor. Very addictive and fun!
When ...
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 08:36 AM CST
虽然和游戏没有关系，但自从上次“重拾集邮乐趣”（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01007tzt.html
）之后，花了很多时间和精力在收集邮票上面。其实说是“收集”，主要的途径就是“买”，因此投入的财力也不小了。这种东西就是个无底洞，邮票是永远买不完的，当然，从中也得到了不少乐趣，以至于游戏都很少玩了……
新中国成立快60周年了，这期间出过的精品邮票有很多，这里只列了几个近期个人比较喜欢的邮票，虽然不见得值钱，但倒也很适合我的口味。
《石湾陶瓷》，2007年2月3日发行，设计者：任国恩
 ——图片为《石湾陶瓷》小版张
这套邮票乍看不觉得怎么样，但越看越耐看。石湾陶瓷的特点是釉色丰富、流动自然、题材广泛，尤其是陶塑人物，刻画细腻、神态生动、具有高超的艺术表现力。两枚邮票的图案分别是“踏雪寻梅”和“昭君出塞”，是清代末年、民国初期的著名陶瓷艺人潘玉书作品。
《鼠年》，中国澳门2008年1月23日发行，设计者：林子恩
 ——图片为《鼠年》小版票
这五枚邮票设计概念以五行的“金、木、水、火、土”来表达（图案分别是鼠型金首饰、鼠图木雕作品、鼠图水墨画、鼠型焰火和鼠型陶壶），采用天干算法推算五行属性，而今年鼠的五行属性为“土鼠”，所以五枚邮票中“土鼠”是主角。如果说前面的《石湾陶瓷》比较朴素，这套邮票则相当华丽，尤其是整张小版票设计出色，简直令人爱不释手（可惜上图表现不出实物的效果），所以我忍不住买了几版放家里了。和这套邮票对应的《鼠年》小型张参见：
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01008bie.html
《四路劫法场》，1991年11月19日发行，设计者：周峰
 ——图片为《四路劫法场》小型张
新中国《水浒传》题材的邮票一共出了5组，其中三张小型张，最喜欢的还是这张《四路劫法场》。据说作者为了更好地突出人物、强化气氛，数易其稿，最后把十字街头的打斗场面改为桥上的追逐画面，气氛显得热烈明快。尽管出场人物众多，但李逵是显要位置。顺便说一下，该作者的画风我很喜欢。 |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 10:01 AM CST |
就像标题写得一样。07年的 极品扑街（NeedForSpeed ProStreet）尽管卖的依然不错，但是风平却相当低。周围的竞速游戏爱好者几乎没有谁说自己喜欢 ProStreet。若不是打着极品飞车的旗帜，恐怕就是一款普通的赛车游戏而已了。 EA总裁 Frank Gibeau在近日召开的产业分析会议上表示。将会在2009财年——也就是从今年的 4月份到2009年3月这段时间内。加大在 赛车和滑板（driving and skateboarding series）两种类型游戏上的投入。EA的赛车游戏主要就是 BurnOut 和 NeedForSpeed 两个系列。相比来说，BurnOut的口碑和玩家群体近两年来增长迅速。而 NFS 则持续叫座不叫好，原因大抵还是靠卖老面子的原因。 在 ProStreet 的问题上，EA的总裁把问题归结于极品飞车游戏在一代之中的变化太大而导致了玩家无法继承的缘故。尽管说这也算是一个方面，但我想觉大多数玩家对 Porstreet 最失望的应该就是 “界面设计，车辆设定” 这两个方面上了。 新一代的极品飞车投入开发不是一件令人惊奇的事情。毕竟从 HP2 热力追踪2 开始，极品飞车的一年一作也已经成为了传统。 新一代的极品飞车将会迎来一些特性的回归，同时题材将再次更换。可以肯定的是，开放城市的探索以及比赛形式。就目前得到的微量信息而言。这一次新的极品飞车将会是 “首都高” 式的。即在一个开放的环境中活动，同时具有一个以往没有过的高速公路对战模式（HighWay-Battle）。 不知道这次EA那边的策划会怎么设计比赛模式。单纯从比赛的方式上来看，ProStreet想我们展示了EA策划们的实力——还是有不少不错的点子的。如何在高速公路的对抗中超出 元气（Genki）RacingProject 发明的 SPBattle 看来是一个真正有挑战的课题呢。 相信车辆的改装依然会有进化。怎么说呢，感觉从意思上来品。有点像想要出 UnderGround3 的意思。警车这个要素应该也还是会保留的毕竟环顾整个竞速游戏圈，警车真的算是 NeedForSpeed 系列的独家特色呢。 就像标题写得那样，尽管 FXCarl 今年狠狠的骂了极品飞车，但还是忍不住期待极品飞车在 2008 年的表现。一个系列跟的时间长了，多上会有一些习惯性的。就好像每个月都会去买《家用电脑与游戏》杂志一样自然了。 第二个极品飞车的事情是，这两天 EA 刚刚放出了一个 ProStreet 的 2008 试玩版。试玩版中的两款车型是 Porsche 911 GT2 和 Porsche 911 GT3RS 两台“破鞋”的牛车。至于赛道，则来头更大了，还是 破鞋 的……Porsche Leipzig Test Track !! Oh my god ! 看到这些的瞬间，FXCarl热泪盈眶。EA，Nice Boat ！ 花了几个小时把 DEMO 从 EA 拖下来装上。刚进游戏就给泼了盆冷水。虽然引擎版本号提高了（用的是最近正式版做的新 DEMO） ，但是 ProStreet 在 FXCarl 的机器上效能依然非常令人崩溃 …… 没得设置，直接选车子进去开。Leipzig 的赛道虽然路面时原样还原了，但是周围的景物免不了要被 proStreet 化，多了很多气球什么的。不过有两点还是让人欣喜的。 第一，赛道的还原度还是相当高的，车子在里面走的感觉确实不同凡响。 第二，地面的路径指示器终于在赛道上发挥作用了。相比这条线在现实中也是最佳线路，而不是那些原创赛道般是人工弄出来的。 以及附加的，上了真实赛道，AI就果然不是对手哇…… 这里附上下载地址，如果有闲的话，弄上看看吧。 题图提示：这是EA早年的标记，它意味着什么？意味着极品飞车最辉煌的时代啊……同时缅怀 Jane's 系列 |
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Posted: 08 Feb 2008 06:06 AM CST 从去年开始，就间断的了解了 flOw —— PalyStaion3 网络上提供下载的游戏作品。其实这款游戏作品在国内的知名度并不高。直到有媒体开始报道，flOw 这款游戏的原型出自于国人设计师陈星汉之手后，这款游戏才开始在国内的小圈子内获得一定的知名。 前两天在PSN上看到 flOw 高居在 PSN 下载排行榜的首位位置上。忍不住好奇的下载来体验。结果这次体验变成了一项比玩一款游戏深得多的旅程。 PS3 上 flOw 不得不说，PS3 版本的 flOw 是一个美丽的游戏。玩家使用六轴手柄控制自己所扮演的生物在液体中游荡，吞噬比自己弱小的生物来进化自身。
游戏没有所谓的界面，游戏开始，玩家可以选择自己扮演的生物（第一次玩的时候只能使用默认的生物）。接着进入深层的水中开始自己的成长之旅。当一层一层的深入时，玩家扮演的生物将会遇到自己进化途中的竞争对手，可能是相同的物种，也可能是不同的。玩家扮演的生物将会应证弱肉强食的进化理论来通过消灭自己的竞争对手来进化自己。 当击败最终的竞争对手之后，玩家将会解封新的生物品种。游戏总共有 虫形，花形，鱼形，毒虫和进攻虫 五种重要形态。名字都是 FXCarl 自己随便取的。每种生物在进化的过程中都会面临不一样的挑战。虫形有着难以保护的长尾；花型自己的关键部位暴露在身体外围，没有好的攻击姿态；鱼形的生命值少的可怜；毒虫在一般状况下行动迟缓，且一样有长尾巴。进攻虫移动速度不快，尾巴依也然很长……相比来说，毒虫的培养是较为困难的…… 因不成功给对手下毒，几乎没法发起进攻…… 和一般游戏不同的是，flOw 中并没有某个挑战是玩家必须面对的。也就是说，玩家可以越过所有的挑战直接向下层钻，直到出现新物种。 类似贪吃蛇玩或者吃豆人玩法的 flOw 上手很简单。音乐画面极度唯美。可以说令人陶醉。对PS3 版本 flOw 的好感直接提供了研究这款游戏背景的动力。 在Google上，搜索关于 陈星汉和flOw 的资料非常容易，几乎可以用铺天盖地来形容。或者说，陈星汉已经成为了一些梦想成为游戏设计师的热血青年们的偶像。尽管搜索介绍和采访相对容易，但是真正的想要找到陈星汉的作品却不那么简单。 Cloud 雲 功夫是不负有心人的。找到了陈星汉的站点。自然的，也找到了他的几个作品。有一款在各种媒体上常常出现却没有实际的 《雲》，和一款Flash8版的 flOw —— PS3版本flOw 的原型。 Flash版的 flOw 和 PS3 的版本几乎不是一个游戏。或者说，真的非常“原型”。艺术价值和PS3版本不可同日而语，但是设计的核心是一致的。Flash 版本更清晰的标记了玩家跳过挑战的和重整旗鼓面对挑战的可能：会以红色或蓝色的圈状标记提示玩家哪里可以返回上一层，哪里可以直接前往下一层。Flash 版本的 flOw 操控上有着和 SIXAXIS（PS3的六轴手柄）不一样的别扭。且帧速率低，同时游戏的系统也有着一些区别。总体难度上 Flash 版本要更高 —— 和操控有关系。因此 FXCarl 没有玩通 Flash 版本，不知道原版是否也有多种生物品种可供选择。 Cloud 是一款 Windows 平台的游戏。容量比 flOw 的原型要大很多，40M。游戏的完成度更高一些，更接近于一款游戏。
Cloud 是一款“讲述病床上的孩子对云的梦想”的游戏。玩家需要扮演这个男孩的梦中的形象来帮他实现对云的梦想。游戏包含着一种博爱，对病痛，对洁白的云朵，对蓝天，对碧海，对金色的沙滩和绿色的陆地。 游戏的玩法很简单，玩家是一个可以在天空中飞行的小孩。天空是一个假象平面。玩家可以聚合白色的云朵，可以存储和释放白色的云朵。可以把浅灰色的云朵变成白色的云朵。可以带领白色的云朵和黑色的云朵对抗，变成雨滴落向地面。操控白色云朵的策略会对两种颜色云朵的消耗速度有区别 —— 玩家需要尽可能少的消耗白色云朵。 玩起来的感觉其实和 flOw 区别不大……有量变，可以说没有本质变化 —— 虽说这说法可能不太负责任。 吸引人玩 Cloud 的主要原因，FXCarl 觉得一半以上是因为其具有感染力的艺术风格。在 flOw 和 Clound 两款游戏的设计中，都非常注重音乐对玩家的感染力。毕竟音乐是一种能够穿越一切障碍直达心灵的力量，利用合理，对游戏来说自然事半功倍。而在画面上，两款游戏也是极尽唯美之所能。尽管我们知道没有最美只有更美。但是如果 FXCarl 说 Clound 这款游戏大有 ICO，汪达与巨像 的气质，怕是很多人就不敢相信了。事实胜千言，大家可以去找 Clound 来研究一下。很棒的游戏。 沉浸理论 Cloud 和 flOw 都是出自陈星汉之手。在陈星汉的论文《游戏中的沉浸》中，这两款游戏都是这篇论文观点的实践。只是在实践的方向上有些不同。其区别在于 “我看到我们当前的行业有两个大方向应该更进一步。首先，扩大电子游戏引发情感的范围。如果一个人不喜欢感官刺激，又不喜欢要求反应的游戏，那么他们可以选择游戏非常局限。 其次，针对不同类型的玩家来设计游戏。很多时候，人们不玩游戏了，并非是因为他们没了兴趣。而是因为多数传统类型游戏不能满足不同类型玩家的各种品位和期望。” —— 陈星汉 Cloud 是前者，flOw 是后者。两者的共性在于游戏没有给予玩家任何强加的挑战。游戏也没有所谓的真正意义上的输赢胜负 —— 关注的，只是体验。 说起沉浸，不得不插入一些介绍。引自陈星汉的论文： [M.Csikszentmihalyi在解释“快乐”的过程中，发现了“沉浸”——当人们在进行活动时如果完全的投入情境当中集中注意力，并且过滤掉所有不相关的知觉，即进入一种沉浸之状态。 Csikszentmihalyi发展出了一系列的理论来帮助人们进入沉浸的状态。之后，这些理论便被应用于各个不同的领域以改进交互体验。在众多成就当中，最令人鼓舞的成就之一是“沉浸区域”的定义，用我们熟悉的话说就是“有感觉” 。 为了维持一个人的沉浸感，他所参与的活动需要在“活动本身的难度”和“参与者的能力”之间达到一个平衡点。如果活动的难度超过了他的能力，那么参与者将因 为受活动的压制而产生焦虑；反之，如果活动的难度低于他的能力，参与者又将感到沉闷。幸运的是，人类拥有忍受的能力，这使得在“难度过高”与“太沉闷”之 间存在一个模糊区域，一个不会产生焦虑和厌倦的区域。]
《游戏中的沉浸》的核心在于“自适应挑战”。即作为一款游戏，最好可以针对不同的玩家需求，自动的给予合适的挑战。同时在面对挑战时，玩家具有选择面对怎样的挑战的能力。 但其实这篇论文所想表达的思想绝非止步于此。 从论文中的观点来看，陈星汉认为作为一款游戏。可以让玩家产生沉浸的方式是多种多样的 —— 游戏可以借用以往的影视，文学，音乐等等任何艺术形式的表达技巧使玩家开始投入其中。同时利用游戏的互动性，让玩家在 “不断面对自己选择的挑战并亲自战胜挑战" 的循环中了此不疲。 即在强调游戏乐趣本身的同时，也强调 “其他方面的感染力” 的运用。 至少从陈星汉目前的几款实践作品来看，都具有这样的共性。通读论文，不难发现陈星汉个人对于游戏的理想。在陈星汉现在的公司，thatgamecompany的介绍中，我们可以看到。公司针对的用户是 Dormant Gamers 和 不玩游戏的人。FXCarl 倾向于将 Dormant Gamers 译作 隐玩家。 Dormant Gamers ：Dormant gamers love gaming but spend little time because of family, work, or school. They like to play with friends and family and prefer complex and challenging games.（隐玩家：喜欢游戏，但是因为家庭，工作，或学校等原因用于游戏的时间并不多。他们喜欢和朋友或家人一起游戏，同时喜欢复杂和有挑战性的游戏。） 针对隐玩家的游戏需要较高的艺术造诣，较完善和自持的游戏系统。游戏的时间不需要很长，可以随时暂停和退出。不需要很强的连续性，需要能够很快的投入其中。 某种程度上来说，这不仅是对游戏的追求，甚至是对完美的娱乐形式的追求。 一些想法 从 FXCarl 个人的角度来说，是非常欣赏 陈星汉 的理论的。因为这套理论将会对游戏的设计产生一个方式上的影响。尽管在网络上，特别是国内的社区中，对 游戏中的沉浸 的批判比褒奖要多。 其实在国内的反对声中，最主要的声音来自于这种理论在网络游戏中的不适用。 在FXCarl看来，这种声音的观点是相当片面的。网络游戏的主要乐趣在于人与人之间的互动这一点本身FXCarl就有着独立的观点。当然这一点我们先不提，姑且认同一个普遍的观点——网游的乐趣来自于游戏中的人与人之间的“攀比”。那么，网络游戏如何才能让人与人之间的“攀比”行为变得有意义？自然是需要一定的付出得到一定的，具有公正性的结果。 更进一步来说，也就是能够挑战别人挑战不了的困难。这样说来，似乎挑战的意义就变了。游戏中的挑战成为了评定玩家能力的一道准绳，而不再是一种获得游戏愉悦感的手段。《游戏中的沉浸》所提到的动态难度调节的意义这样一来岂不是就消失了？ 但恰恰这样的想法就是 FXCarl 所说的片面的想法。游戏不是高考……本身用一个标准来衡量所有的玩家就是不正确的想法。作为一个游戏设计师，首先应该想到的是如何给玩家制造乐趣。 以经验值等级系统为例。目前主流网络游戏的经验值奖励办法是，做任务和砍怪。而等级直接和经验值挂钩。我们不改变这个系统，为什么不能在砍怪这个环节上做出差异？譬如说我们可以用很多工具来达到击倒挂物的方法，除了用武器，我们可以用捕兽夹等等…… 可能读者已经找到漏洞了。对，平衡问题。网络游戏玩家一定会选择性价比最高的成长路线来培养自己的角色的。《游戏中的沉浸》将会止步于此么？不！ 将游戏角色的产出作为最高追求，而不应该把角色本身作为游戏的最高追求。较高等级的玩家可能可以做出较低玩家做不了的事，而不应该仅仅是是提升战斗力。能够在游戏中的河岸上架起桥梁的玩家一定会比可以杀死服务器中任何一个玩家的杀手要更受人尊敬，不是么？在玩家最求角色的产出的过程中，如何追求生产能力，将会是 《游戏中的沉浸》 最好的发挥空间。 其他 不知道是不是陈星汉的原因，进来想做独立游戏的朋友在周围也渐渐多了起来。读了陈星汉的论文，对自己的设计也有了一些新的想法。当然现在还不能透露。或许之后会有一些什么改进的想法。届时没准也可以写成属于 FXCarl 的论文呢。 陈星汉的个人网站 独立游戏中文网志 |
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Posted: 06 Feb 2008 09:06 AM CST 祝自己新年快乐，也祝看到这篇Blog的你新年快乐。 今年虽然和去年一样也是在北京过年，但是又有很大不同。一个是有了自己的屋子，一个是有一个同事作伴。同事因为今年特别的雪灾，回家不便，只能在北京过年。为了让自己的年过得更有声色，掏钱毫不犹豫的买下了一台 42 寸的 液晶电视，算是给自己的新年礼物。嘿嘿，FXCarl 的 PS3 终于可以摆脱那该死的 AV 线成为一台真正的 高清游戏主机了。 春晚不知道还有多少人再看，为了看新电视，自然的把节目挪到了CCTV。隐约中觉得小品的成分比以往多了很多。今年的小品有很多非常现代化的话题，关于房子之类问题的讨论很多。 对于烟花爆竹，北京人可是比南京人热衷的多。从今天下午开始，鞭炮声就不绝于耳。到了晚间，窗口更是闪烁不止。隔着两层窗户仍然可以倾斜的听见声声炮响。如今的烟花个头都不小，一小箱一小箱的。感谢那些买烟花的人们，便宜咱们这种不掏钱的主咯！ 假期，就该休息。要研究的东西，年后再去研究吧 …… 做世界一流的游戏设计师，2008，继续努力！ 引用一张来自 TomicArt 的思考状米老鼠来共勉吧
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Posted: 27 Jan 2008 06:52 AM CST 最近忙完了公司的版本，刚好又同时接到了小飞捎来的 Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2 摇杆。这款杆子的优劣在 Baidu 上一搜索就知道。4个轴8个键带力反馈带苦力帽……没啥可以挑剔的。一个赛车游戏爱好者借这种杆子来干嘛呢？就是为了玩 微软模拟飞行X 嘛。
其实FXCarl从 微软模拟飞行98 开始就尝试过……只是，反正就是没像样飞起来过就好了。这次下定了必须起飞的决心开始了学飞之路。 花了一些时间，完成了所有的初级课程。在初级课程里，玩家学习从驾驶动力滑翔翼到驾驶支线客机的基本驾驶，以及简单的了解直升机。 在很多人，包括FXCarl的映像中，学习飞行模拟应该是一个很痛苦的过程。而在周围的朋友中，虽然很多人尝试过模拟飞行，但是这种乐在其中的却寥寥无几。但不长的一段时间接触下来，FXCarl才发现以往对于模拟飞行的认识，完全错了。
其实飞行模拟的学习过程是有趣而惬意的，飞行中的一切其实都是循序渐进的。只要按照程序一步一步的来，并没有什么难度。 譬如说起飞，启动引擎，把推力开足。到达离地后拉起摇杆，保持一个速度不会降低太多的上扬角即可。而比较复杂的降落，其实也并不困难。首先是下滑线一定要选好。大致对着跑道的方向，减小发动机的输出，保持稳定的下降速度。适当配合减速板。一边下滑，一边修正方向。接近机场后稍稍拉高机头即可。当然，如果需要精准的操控需要大量的锻炼，但是简单的起降并不复杂。通常大家玩模拟飞行最常见的问题就是没有给下降留下足够的距离。同时，对自己的飞行线路没有信心。 其实只要放开了，认真的体会，还是不难掌握的。特别是滑翔机的飞行。非常让人上瘾的！
在游戏的内容方面，这次的微软模拟飞行X增加了任务模式。除了教学之外还有很多有趣的主题活动，譬如参观夏威夷。从夏威夷的一个机场起飞前往另一个机场的过程中，玩家可以自由的在夏威夷群岛周围随意飞行。当接近风景名胜时游戏不仅会标注位置，还会做一番导游说明。这种把游览和飞行模拟结合在一起的方式让飞行的过程无比惬意。  为了避免游戏过程中的无聊，微软模拟飞行在教学的阶段，总是不让玩家的飞行冷场。譬如在滑翔机的教学中，玩家从地面开始就会听到教官对周围环境的详细介绍。操作说明结束帮助玩家升空的过程中，又会向玩家逐一介绍滑翔机驾驶的基本知识。与领航飞机断开连接之后，教官又会引导玩家如何找到上升的暖流，如何在暖流中爬升。介绍能够产生升力的地形所产生升力的原理。直到返航重回机场都会让玩家觉得意犹未尽。这种从头到尾的关怀是以往游戏中所感受不到的。
微软模拟飞行并不注重游戏的结果，而更在于有过程的正确性。或者说不按照正确的方式来进行，你可能无法完成游戏。而如果精确的按照程序来进行，完成任务总是不困难的。譬如一次在苏格兰的短距离转场。玩家驾驶着支线客机。按照塔台的引导跟随一架737滑上跑道，起飞飞往目的地。在起飞，飞行，着陆的全程都有着精确的引导，告诉玩家应该达到什么速度，应该达到什么高度。甚至如何达到这些参数都给出参考。如果玩家按部就班，那着陆在机场停个稳稳当当是顺利成章的事情。而这个过程并不拘泥于是否遵循与航线，是否按时抵达这些要求。甚至你可以随便到处乱飞……
自由的游戏方式，详尽的玩家陪同指导，注重过程的任务设定以及富有仪式感的驾驶体验想必是微软模拟飞行的最大乐趣来源了……记下来记下来，以后设计中没准用的上。 如果有机会的话，你也可以尝试一下它？ |
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Posted: 14 Jan 2008 05:44 AM CST 现在很多人都会在业余中做一些有兴趣的事情，就好像兴趣小组。通过网络，人们交流的圈子扩大了，可是协作上却没有本质的改变。尽管现在已经有了不少的面向小团队协作的网络产品甚至微软都拿出了像Groove这样面向小团队的Office组件，但是令人满意的还是屈指可数。在这里不妨就聊聊FXCarl理想中的协作平台好了。 项目-群组-用户的结构 在以往的经验中，在网络上成就一个项目的难度是最大的，而不是组织一个群组。因此把金字塔的最顶端，也就是吧最高目标定位项目是必须的。以群组为单位进行项目参与，这样有利于专业分工的实现……毕竟一般的网络群组都是针对某个特殊兴趣或目标的群体。 但是要完成一个项目往往需要数个专业的人才携手才能最终完成（相信大家都不缺少满网络找专业论坛的经历）。一个群组可以支持若干个项目，同时一个群组也可以拆分成若干个更小的小组。单一的用户作为一个独立个体，明确的自身价值定位是在网络协作项目中贡献力量最直接的向导。通过加入群组进而加入项目可以免除很多以往被无谓消耗掉的沟通时间成本。同时在群组中还可以认识很多同道中人。同样如同群组和项目的关系，一个用户也可以加入多个群组。 项目 拥有 任务管理，文档，里程碑，黑板报 和参与群组 群组 拥有 Wiki，讨论版，项目任务 和参与用户 用户 拥有 笔记本，行事历，任务列表，留言板 和友邻 用户层主要提供的是PIM的功能和社会化网络。而群组层则提供一般论坛或更先进一步的交流平台。项目层则是由群组发起的大型或多。其实纵观网络上的各种自发性的项目，大抵也是按照这样的规律支撑起来的。 NameSpace 命名空间 以前有过一年的 DokuWiki 的使用经验，其方便程度还是令人满意的。FXCarl觉得 namespace 的方式很方便精确的定位文档的位置。而如果能够把 namespace 的功能再进一步就更加有趣了。譬如说给一个文档加入多个 namespace，将会带来更大的自由度，这种体验就好像如今 Vista 等操作系统提供的虚拟文件夹或者说更常见的大家用的媒体播放器的媒体库。譬如说我们有一个讨论会——既可以在 [project:项目名称:meeting:会议分类:会议名称] 这样的地方找到论题，也可以在 [group:群组名称:discuss:讨论分类:会议名称] 中找到这个论题。 由于 NameSpace 的精确定位特性，文档之间的动态引用关系也能够得以实现。就像一样而不再需要为了保持若干文档的部分内容始终一致而反复来回修改。文档处理工具集 强大的引用功能是必要的，无论是文字还是表格的单元格。 笔记本这个东西很多产品都有提供，但大多数更像一个富文本编辑器，而不是很随意。作为笔记本，可以往里面塞的东西自然越多越好。而且最好可以是像Office Onenote 那样可以随意涂鸦的……这一点似乎连很多人说和 OneNote 相似的 EverNote 都没有这么做。或许这样太过于类似白板了？行事历没有太多好说的，Google的行事历就是最高的代表。自然的，除了事件之外，还有别人给你的行事历事件，以及自己任务的截止日期等。iCal 似乎是个比较完美的行事历工具。TodoList这个待完成任务列表很多PIM都有提供，和任务管理同步，以及可以自己添加项目。不过前文说到过基于 Namespace的动态引用，最好任务可以和文档的完成度捆绑。 FXCarl觉得留言板和悄悄话应该是一个相同的东西。如果别人觉得这个留言只可以留言板主人可见，则就成为了悄悄话了嘛。而回复留言板的内容会自动反馈到留言用户的留言板上，这和 Gmail 的会话原理是一致的。 友邻的关联模式还用说么，有的话最好，没有的话也无碍，反正是个社会化网络的东西。豆瓣这个东西做的不错。 群组工具上，Wiki将会是关键。因为不仅讨论版的发帖会有回复，每篇Wiki文章也是会有回复和讨论的，也就是说，Wiki页面只是一种特殊的帖子。基于Wiki的特征，其实Wiki是有可能支持逐片段“迁出”的。在DokuWiki中，用户就可以单独的修改文章的某个段落进而达成多人同步修改。Wiki也是一个广义概念，因为GoogleDocs的电子表格也是 Wiki 式的，多人可以共同在同一时间维护一张电子表格，甚至连每个人的操作步骤都可以互相看见。 在Wiki的编辑中，用户应该可以和正在同时进行编辑的用户之间交流，这个和 GoogleDocs 是一致的。也是一个很有用的功能。功能足够的 Wiki 页面时足够当一张会议白板来使用的，这在使用 DokuWiki 的时候就有体验（有一款支持涂鸦绘画的Doku插件）。 群组的项目任务将会显示出群组在所有参与项目中所被指派的整体任务列表。如果群组可以确定任务完成的时间，则上层的项目任务结束时间将可以在群组设定完成时间后的任意时间完成。群组的任务可以在群组内被进一步拆分，以及指派到群组成员。指派的任务完成时间则由任务承担人员反馈确定或强制确定。指派的任务会被添加到用户层的任务列表中。当然整个任务分发过程都是透明和可查的。 项目工具是最最高端的工具集合，文档，里程碑，和任务管理的结合是关键所在。 项目中的文档应当不允许进行编辑，而是只能由群组进行编辑和递交。而在项目文档区域，只负责版本控制。项目文档中的每一个文档都具有一定的权限，有权限的群组将会在群组Wiki中发现这个文档。当需要进行文档修改时，群组需要迁出文档的修改权，在群组内确认修改无误后可以迁入项目形成一个新的版本号。（当然如果项目只有一个群组，这个群组只有一个用户的话，是可以很快速的完成确认过程的）迁入后的文档版本经过确定有效之后（根据需要加上“需审核”标签这样子）。便可以对应完成一个任务细项。譬如某某文档的第一版，第二版之类。里程碑工具可以直接和任务拆分工具整合。即把若干任务作为里程碑标记。同时设定里程碑时间。当任务按期完成则里程碑会自动进行调整和修改，而不再需要人工干预。以行事历的方式提供的里程碑工具固然可以满足一定的要求，但是如果支持甘特图方式，将会更有全局的把握。 黑板报是项目目前情况的一个公告栏。是Wiki形式的。只有项目管理人员才可以修改。用于项目的对外公示。群组列表则是参与项目的群组列表，可以了解到哪些群组参与了这样一个项目。 其他 贡献度的透明化对于一个网络协作活动来说还是相当重要的……通过文档更新次数和内容数量是较为容易统计出一个参考值的。 同时尽管我们主张大家自由的匹配合作，但是没有好的管理结构，自然不能完成项目，因此这个设计中，一定的组织结构还是有的……可能很多人会不喜欢…… ------------------------- 基本上，FXCarl理想的写作平台就是这样一个方式的了。它主要适合的人群是一些在网络上进行数字内容创作的用户。譬如说我们了解的字幕组啊，汉化组啊，独立游戏开发啊，小工具开发啊，短片制作啊等等领域中，这样的结构都是很合适的。不知道将来的网络协作平台究竟会怎么发展呢？ |
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Posted: 12 Jan 2008 09:48 AM CST 在以前写道 GT5P 的时候，记得提到过关于GT5P的ASM问题（auto steability management ，自动稳定辅助）。原本一直觉得这个东西比较新鲜，主动式的辅助驾驶系统挺好。结果这两天在跑 A 级赛事的时候，令人恼火的事情逐渐上来了。关键时刻油门顶不上去！ 每每在弯道中间车子给不上力自然要寻找原因……恩，这个现象是怎么弄出来的。 经过一些反复的实验之后发现，其实GT5P中ASM用来自动限制油门的方法也并不复杂。是一个基于轮胎滑移率的油门控制系统。在轮胎模拟的算法中，有一个叫做滑移率的东西，是 轮胎的实际运动距离 与 轮胎滚动距离 的差 与 轮胎滚动距离 的比值。毕竟在车辆的日常行驶中，总是会有极为轻微的打滑现象。 而当我们听到轮胎有声音，也就是所谓响胎的时候，一般要么就是车子横走啦，要么就是刹车抱死啦之类的情况。这个时候，轮胎的转动距离和方向和实际轮胎的运动距离和方向有很大的分歧，滑移率就变得很大了。GT5P的ASM工作原理是，当滑移率开始升高的时候，ASM系统就自动扣除油门的上限。滑移率越高，上限降低的越多。 这个方法是没有错误的，因为有动力才会产生滑移率，因此限制动力是最有效和直接的办法。也许实际中的ASM（ESP之类的东西反正都是一样作用的）也是这样工作的吧…… 这个东西带来的郁闷在哪里呢……主要就是集中在高速赛道上。譬如说富士高速。这条赛道的大部分弯道都是必须高速通过的。借着车辆的惯性，以很一种放的很松的滑行状态过弯时提升这条赛道成绩的重点。而如果打开ASM的话，简直会让人疯掉，一打方向动力就被抽掉。Nissan Skyline R34 在这条赛道上由 FXCarl 驾驶，开关 ASM 会带来至少两秒的单圈时间差距！ 其实在较高级别的车种驾驶中很多时候车子都不是稳稳的趴在路上的，但偏偏 ASM 会在轮胎腾空，车身姿态不准等其实车手可以控制的状态下介入，然后不分青红皂白的抽动力。所以这玩意对于大马力车会很讨厌！ 比较有趣的是，貌似 PD 本身也不是很推荐玩家打开 ASM。原因在哪里呢，在于比赛的难度上。 在 A 级赛事的比赛中，有一场富士高速的 3圈 赛，限定 300马力。玩家最后一名出发（排名第16），需要一点一点往前追。而这场比赛下来，排名第一的 AI 全程大约是 5分55 秒左右，也就是单圈 1分58秒的样子。目前 富士高速 300马力左右的世界纪录大概是使用 R34 的 1分53 秒（写博当天）。玩家在比赛中还得超过15台赛车 …… 要想拿到第一名得有什么样的功力大家是否已经有了概念。 而如果玩家用的赛车要是使用 ASM …… R34 破 2分都需要相当的技术，而达到 AI 的单圈 1分58 都是非常具有挑战性的。还想要金牌？趁早洗洗睡吧。 |
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Posted: 05 Jan 2008 09:21 PM CST 本文为《游戏机实用技术》约稿，So，无插图……请勿转载 -------------------- 概览 GT赛车系列是个比较奇怪的异类。相比同类游戏的前期宣传，GT赛车系列的宣传很少针对核心。与不厌其烦的提醒玩家游戏有什么新系统的其他作品相比，GT赛车总是简单的放出截图来应对。若是说这款号称 TheRealDrivingSimulator 的游戏没有进化显然有失公允。这里FXCarl会简单的从物理拟真这个角度来和大家一起探究一下GT系列在GT赛车4之后的最近几年中的改进。 赛车游戏的内部有三种帧速率。第一是常见的画面渲染帧速率，尽管游戏制作时都会尽量让这个帧速提高并且稳定，但保持恒定始终是不太现实的。第二是很多专业玩家所了解的逻辑帧速率，这一帧速率在优秀的游戏中独立于渲染帧速率且绝对保持恒定，以保证细微计时的准确，速度上和画面帧速率区别不大。次世代赛车游戏具有第三个帧速率也就是车辆模拟内部帧速率。即游戏在处理车辆与环境的交互上，是以标准的逻辑帧速率在运转。而当进行车辆的行驶状态计算时，将会采用更高的帧速率。 Forza2号称内部帧速率高达逻辑帧速率的6倍。尽管GT5P中没有提供相应的数据，但也应采用了类似的多重帧速率处理方式，且帧速率不会很低。这一点从GTHD至GT5P中的进化变可以摸出端倪。这需要一个反向对比，以同样的瑞士赛道为例，尽管GT5P的画面帧速率平均比GTHD要稍稍低一些，但对于车辆的状态描绘上，GT5P明显要更加敏感。追求细节的玩家可以感觉得到在画面两帧(大约0.02秒)之间车辆的状态已经有所改变。这一点在漂移的过程中尤为明显，以往微弱的操控间断感在GT5P中已经改善。 GT5中的物理模拟核心是完全重新构建的，和GT4没有继承关系。GT4的模拟核心在GT4欧版最终完成调整之后已经彻底完成使命。从GTHD开始，GT系列启用了全新的模拟核心。GTHD算是一个预演，GT5P是第一次大范围的测试。 GT4中轮胎模拟使用的是Pacejka方程的某种简化版本而悬架的模拟则更为简陋一些。尽管经过精密的校调后结果也算令人满意但仍然不能掩盖其不够精密的本质。在GT5中，PD希望能够更细致的模拟一台车的行为，因此在GTHD中就迫不及待的测试了一些新引擎的新特性。其中不仅包含有车辆的基本驾驶、漂移还有车辆改装的影响等。 实际是GT5新的模拟核心比起以往有了很大的进步，但是却也因此而造成了和以往相比，玩家的上手难度陡增。这和GT想要降低游戏的上手门槛是背道而驰的。因此在GTHD中不仅默认的车辆设定中ASM和TCS两项驾驶辅助功能默认是开满的状态。还为游戏增加了一个新的油门辅助系统，游戏会在车辆过载接近失控时自动消减油门的最大值。玩家会在油门显示槽的上半段看到红色的封闭空间。只有红色以下的部分才是玩家可以操控的油门范围。实际操作GT5P中，会有按住方向踩油门后车辆的引擎被强制锁在低油门下的情况。 GT5的新模拟核心为直观的部分是大幅度强化了对奇异情况的处理。竞速游戏的奇异值有两类，一类是数学计算上的奇异点问题会导致游戏的操纵感受不平滑，一类是由于游戏设计上的小瑕疵导致的奇异现象但又因为不违反游戏的基础设定因此不是BUG。在以往的GT4中，这两类情况都有存在。 竞速游戏在车辆的不同状态下往往需要切换一些计算公式。而在公式的衔接和处理上，常常会遇衔接不畅甚至到数学上的奇异点无定义点等。GT5新模拟核心在这类问题上显然做出了优化。玩家在进行任意的输入下，车辆操控绝对不会产生不确定的手感。而不同状态之间的变换，譬如打滑状态下方向的作用和未打滑状态下方向的作用之间的变换过程也更加随和自然。而这些变换在以往GT4上的感觉是带有生涩的——在马力大到一定级别以上的赛车会有可以被感知的差异。 在奇异现象上，GT5的改进明显而有效。就以富士高速赛道中的直道前的最后一个弯为例，这个逐渐收缩的半径相当大的弯角在GT4中有着不止一条通过时间相似的行车线，而在GT5P中，最佳路线变更突出而唯一。一旦错过了路线之后，玩家将会清晰明确的知道问题的存在。而不会像GT4中著名的神奇弯角Nurburgring的Bergwerk弯一样出现某种特殊漂移方式居然还能比标准最佳路线快出将近半秒的灵异事件。 从GTHD到GT5P，新模拟核心的进化已经走到了一个新的阶段。尽管已经取得了良好的成果，但将来PD仍然会在也需要在更多的方面进行改进。首先是GTHD中手感颇为怪异的改装车。在GT5P中，所有的车均没有改装版，也不能改装，校调也只能在几个电子设备之间权衡。距离GT5预订的深度改装这一目标还有距离。 第二是在新玩家上手与老玩家尽兴之间的差异把握上，仍然有改进和提高的空间。这一点是个矛盾体，现在GT5P中的模拟级别之间并没有太大的差异这种设计可以保证玩家可以轻松的从新手成长为老手，但是老手却又觉得挑战不足。如果把两者差距放大，针对老玩家把所有的辅助系统全部关闭直接面对新模拟核心苛刻的拟真标准也许连老玩家群体本身都受不了巨大的变革更不谈新玩家更换模拟级别之后带来的落差了。 第三是在外物理表现上。尽管有了新的模拟核心，但外物理特性却比GT4更加脆弱。在GT5P中赛车与赛车之间的碰撞反应以及赛车与障碍之间的碰撞反应让人觉得仿佛一夜回到解放前。上天入地还经常团团转的格式花样层出不穷，碰撞的真实感甚至不及自身系列老前辈的表现。这理论上来说不应该是什么不可解决的难题。但是GT5P已经发售，只有等待将来更新或正式版的表现了。 从实际体验来说，玩家上手GT5P以及将来GT5的门槛将比以往的GT系列都要略低一些。但是想要精通的话，以GT5模拟核心的进化来说，是更加困难的。可以说如果不愿意狠下心来在汽车动力学上用点功，想在国际排名上图个露脸怕是不那么简单。 在GT5P中车辆对玩家操纵的细腻反馈让玩家有信心相信，汽车驾驶感受的模拟还远远没有进化到头，在GT的带领下玩家们将会体验到更多更丰富的驾驶体验。是不是苛刻的仿真并不是关键。让各种各样的汽车在玩家的操控下更具有存在感才是GT存在的真正意义。 |
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Posted: 01 Jan 2008 02:38 AM CST 继承出单行本就要做播客的传统，尽管迟到，但还是要做。赶在新年的第一天发布，也祝愿大家 2008 年好运。 36册单行本下载还是要看VeryCD的……中文版！ 《头文字D》(Initial D)[连载中][漫画][玉皇朝出版]讲谈社授权中文版 以往总有人回复说FXCarl还不够罗嗦。这次算是足够罗嗦了……30分钟满载。包含头文字D单行本36册，头文字D C73 本，头文字D 街机第四季，湾岸 Midnight 等众多内容。可以选择这里的播放器或者右边的大播放器收听…
盗链自VeryCD的封面
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Posted: 28 Dec 2007 05:10 AM CST 虽然算不上第一时间，但是FXCarl将在这里放出第一手的文字试玩报告。 为啥要特地强调文字呢……理由很简单，FXCarl没有条件进行屏射……
-------------------- Paradise 的游戏方式和以往有不同，不再有封闭赛道的概念，几乎所有的比赛都是在一张开放大地图上进行。 比赛的流程中不限制路径，只确定起点和终点……试玩版中的比赛不多，只有标准的 Burnout 模式和 FreeDrive。Burnout模式下，一切以排名顺序为最高指示，胜者王败者寇，手段不限。另一个模式则是给定一定的得分要求，争取得分的方式不限。 在 Paradise 中，增加氮气的方式和以往没有太大区别，仍然是 Drift InAir NearMiss OnComing TakeDown 之类。
重点介绍一下开放地图和联网模式。 开放地图是 Paradise 的重点。Paradise 中 天堂城 ( Paradise City ) 的色调活生生的就是 NFS:Mostwanted 的翻版，强烈阳光下的城市透出灰黄的尘土之感，充满了重工业气息。DEMO开放了一段沿着海滨的地块，从地图的面积来看，大概不到整个地图面积的 1/10 ，从海岸线的长度来看，大约也是整个城市海岸线长度（大致是城市的总边长）的 1/10。 沿着 DEMO 中的海岸线激素狂飙的话，大致需要花费半分钟到40秒左右的估计时间，和在 GT赛车中驾驶改装车通过 萨特赛车场 长直线 的 时间近似。将来 Paradise 城全开的话，预计换成一圈的基准时间大致会在 10 分钟左右(将来游戏中显然还会出现快车)。 显然 天堂城 的总面积超过 NFS 系列中任何一代的开放城市面积。但在城市中却完全不必担心冷场。从地图可以看出，在广阔的城市空间里纵横交错着密如蛛网般的道路网。这样的形式不同以往的 NFS 系列，而更加接近 GTA 系列的地图感觉……到处路口，处处可行！ DEMO 的地图面积虽然不大，但可探索时间就已轻松超过一个小时以上。想必将来城市全开，谋杀 15 至 20 个小时是轻而易举的事情 …… 当然，前提是你得对这部作品足够有爱，赛车游戏的后半程通常不会轻松愉快。 在开放地图上，有一些全新的设计。例如修理厂和加油站。穿过修理厂可以几乎不减车速的瞬间修理好已经受损的赛车；而穿过加油站可以瞬间增加氮气至大约 X3(Paradise没有准确数值)足够撒开奔驰好一会。 可以撞坏而不损伤赛车的固定物体 和 Burnout 宣传广告牌都是收集要素。撞毁这些东西即可达成手机。自然的，想要把所有的细碎都收集齐全并不容易。需要上天入地穿楼钻洞……
赛车本身的操控是一如既往的简便，速度表这种过时的玩意当然要拆掉……所以，除了氮气，啥都没的看。 车辆碰撞后的效果极具煽动性。特别是这次的车身溃缩设计。车身溃缩本是汽车的一项重要安全措施，但在 Paradise 中被用来作秀。当你以极高的速度撞向障碍的时候，系统会自动在不可挽回的瞬间切换成慢镜头摄影师视点。你会看到你的爱车如何和障碍物亲吻，接着巨大的力量贯穿整个车身，接着车头部分开始被压扁、整个车身开始缩短、表面钣金件开始起皱、车玻璃崩碎喷射、悬架崩溃后车轮子依着自己的性子肆意飞散。如果车身反过来扣在地上还能看见整个车顶是怎么被压扁下去的…… 破碎的效果很赞，摄影机的设计更显不凡。纯技术角度的佩服。因为虽然车祸瞬间的镜头是自动生成的但却几乎见不到任何穿帮。关键的瞬间总是毫无遗漏的抓住，镜头的推拉摇移浑然天成。 Paradise 的 DEMO 就包含了联机游戏部分。只是内容并不算丰富，只有 FreeDrive 一种模式。 模式的内容很简单，就是制造各种积分行为来创造得分纪录，譬如最多 NearMiss Combo 啦、最长 Drift 距离啦之类的。进行联机游戏完全不需要中断单机的游戏过程，只需要随时随地的按下手柄的右方向键就会弹出联机菜单。可以随时随地的邀请最多 4 个好友 (DEMO 版本只能 4 人联机) 来和自己进入同一世界 ( 互相可见，如果只是想聊天，则不需要进入同一世界 ) 。如果只是想和别人一起玩也可以简单的选择随机加入一场联机游戏。 介入联机的过程需要稍稍暂停游戏，但是完全不改变车辆在场景中的位置，也不会要求读盘。流程大致是： 按右键出现 FreeDrive 联机模式，此时车辆的行驶不受影响 -> 选择邀请朋友还是进入别人的游戏，此时车辆依然不受影响 -> 确认连接，此刻整个游戏会暂停，界面半透明覆盖游戏画面显示连接过程 -> 3 至 5 秒的等待 -> 连接成功或失败，恢复车辆驾驶状态，继续原先的车速方向等等。连接成功的话，右上角会显示已经连接上的其他游戏玩家。 联网游戏中支持 VoIP 的聊 …… 昨晚游戏中一老外总是在 VoIP 频道里唱歌 ……语音的品质和手机在一个水准上，清晰度满足基本交流。值得一说的是，在 Internet 的环境下， Paradise 的网络同步品质依然不错。几辆车排成一队游车河的时候既没有看见车辆有跳跃或瞬移的情况也没有出现莫名其妙的交通事故 ( 譬如什么看上去没碰到的东西被撞飞了之类的 )。更妙的是，貌似街上的无关车辆也是有同步的，至少大家游车河的时候，能看见前面的车在躲避街车……而两辆玩家赛车迎面互撞即使速度再高也没有碰到过什么错开之类的常见问题。 一句话概括就是，除了对手的车顶显示的是对应的真人昵称之外，你不会觉得和玩单机的体验有太大的出入！
最后还是不得不感叹一下家用主机的好，FXCarl已经很多年没有玩到如此画质下帧速率如此稳定的游戏了。如今的PC游戏，难道不偶尔打俩嗝就浑身不痛快么？ |
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Posted: 24 Dec 2007 09:23 AM CST 不停的点击下一页往回翻，在仿佛远古的角落里会找到一篇文章： 《2006-12-23 昂贵的圣诞礼物》。我们在那里聊到了PS3，聊到了 GTHD。回想当时写文的场景还历历在目，仿佛成文就在昨日。 一年的时间眨眼就过去了，如今看着面前陶瓷白色的 PS3 40G 港版主机和 GT5Prologue Blu-Ray Disc 包装盒。心中的感觉已经没有了惊喜和激动，这是一个已经没有了悬念的组合。尽管相对于 FXCarl 的微薄收入来说……价格不菲，但最终还是出现在了 FXCarl 的面前。
GT5P 是一个先需要安装才能玩的游戏，实际上可以说下载版和蓝光版的区别并不是很大，只是蓝光版一定需要用蓝光的光盘来引导启动而已。以及或许一些视频资料不需要额外下载了…… 安装需要 5G 的空间，但是蓝光速度有够快。不需要太久。 第一次实验是接在店头的 50 英寸 等离子 电视上以 1080P 的方式呈现的。可以看得出来 GT5P 拥有极高的画面分辨率。而且车身的建模也的确不是吹出来的精密……无奈清晰度逼近显示器之后，PC游戏常见的问题终于也在家用机上出现了……譬如锯齿——众所周知，如今的显卡渲染方式决定了其低精度的输出结果，只要是几何体的边缘，都不免会呈现出锯齿状。无奈GT5又是一个建模精度非常高的游戏（单车状态下20W面），因此所有车身缝线之类的地方都令人无奈的出现了锯齿。至于一些细节位置的光照错误，也完全是因为几何模型精度太高的缘故…… 不过，当把GT5P从HDMI接口上拔下来，换上分量端子的时候，奇迹发生了。不知道是PD小组没法搞定HDMI还是已经把机能活用到了机器的每个细节了，前文所说的画面瑕疵，基本上都销声匿迹了……真是神奇到不行。 GT5P的游戏流畅度一如既往的优秀，完全没有很多高速运动游戏中常见的游戏速度不均匀的情况。就像众所周知的，游戏的流畅度是由游戏画面的帧速率和游戏逻辑的帧速率两个部分组成的。GT5P在画面的帧速率上，是有着少数不稳定的情形的。但是在游戏逻辑上几乎始终稳定。 逻辑稳定是营造一流手感的基础。首先，稳定的逻辑帧速率保证了GT的手感始终如一，永远不会有操纵延迟的感觉。在以往GT4的基础上GT5P细化了不少操控上的细节，和 GTHD 在手上的感觉是有着区别的。车辆的反映更加细微。同时以往的奇异点问题也更加得以优化，整体感觉更顺畅。隐约中觉得GT5P中还加入了一些新的模拟细节。但是一时无法确定，待将来锁定了问题点在针对讨论好了。 实话说，GT系列的音效一直不能说是完美。甚至可以毫不犹豫的说，GT系列的音效品质是劣于NFS极品飞车系列的（NFS的游戏虽然拟真上不怎么地，但是音效却是业界翘楚）。尽管每台车都经过了实车录音，不会有一半游戏的音效大路货问题，但是在音效的细微上GT始终还不及完美。在GT5P中，尽管听得出来音效也已改变了一些做法。但是轮胎和地面摩擦的啸叫声依然让人觉得不舒服…… PS3的游戏分区不是很严格。使用港版的机器玩日版的GT没有出现任何兼容性问题。这两天，GT的联网对战系统新上线。下载升级的速度很慢。希望能尽快搞定……然后就可以聊聊GT5P的联网对战咯！ |
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 07:40 AM CST
周星驰的新作《长江七号》褒贬不一，不过我还是去电影院看了，毕竟看了他的作品多年的盗版碟，正版也该支持一下的。
今天去书店看到了全套的中国少年儿童出版社版《龙珠》，虽然已经看得滚瓜烂熟了，但还是买了下来。想起当年也曾为这部漫画废寝忘食，不过那时候买的都是盗版书，现在也要弥补一下的。这种经典大作买了也不会过时，以后还可以留给子孙后代看（笑）。
——这套书外面包着塑料袋（上写“中国少年儿童新闻出版总社，拆封不退”）
如果说到游戏，现在国内也有厂商推出了行货主机和行货软件，我倒也买过两台行货主机，可惜最大的遗憾就是目前的行货软件出得太少，而且也不是自己想要的，有时甚至因为销售渠道的问题根本买不到（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010004lk
）。只希望各大游戏厂商今后能够继续给我有“微不足道的弥补”的机会。 |
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 07:47 AM CST 跟老蒋吃完中饭回来，已经没其它事情可做了，在电脑边枯坐了了一下午，打字都打得有点机械了。 心情算不上好，年前的两个入职计划，都出了些状况，年后只怕还要继续失业的日子，想想银行卡上差不多只有个位数，再想想信用卡上负了接近五位数，任谁的心情都不会很好。。。。你说呢？ 如果没有必须完成的任务——仿佛永远写不完的文档。。。这个周末，也算是蛮悠闲的周末了。。。很象好几年前。。。 天色渐暗，终于到了不开灯就看不到桌上餐巾纸的地步，于是跟几年前的那些日子一样，我起身下楼，栖山路吃饭。。。 04年的夏秋和05年的夏秋，我每天都过着一样的生活，早上11点半起床，洗漱吃饭，下午的时间，或者上网聊天，或者和办公室里的人斗地主，一直到下午5点钟办公室的人全部下班，我开始变得悠闲。。。或者说是孤单。。。发呆或者说是思考几个小时，当天色渐暗，我下楼吃饭。。。。8点多再回来时，把灯关上，开始工作。。。写那些有用没用的东西。。。。一直到凌晨四五点。。。然后吃泡面睡觉。。。。 那个时候，栖山路就是每天给我带来不一样生活的地方，因为这段路上，有超过30家不同的餐馆，因为每天必须费神去想吃什么，但日子却因为这种费神，而变得不同。。。 从21楼往下看，栖山路很象是两节一直没有开出的火车，在火车前一节的中段，有家叫阿明的餐馆，算是比较有特色的小菜馆，两个厨子都是湖南人，炒出来的菜口味重，虽然在上海做菜不敢太辣，但却是栖山路上最合我胃口的餐厅。。。。现在再回想起来，当时我能够在那种单调枯燥的生活里活下来，栖山路确实帮了我不少忙。。。 下楼慢慢地在栖山路上转，一直没想好吃什么。。。一回上海就有些着凉，今天更是咳嗽得不行，也没什么胃口。。。。走在看似熟悉其实陌生的地方，路边的餐馆大多换了样子、招牌、甚至是经营项目。。。只有阿明餐馆还是老样子。。。 酸菜腊肉还是跟以前一样，辣中微微有些甜，让我不太适应的同时，又有点回味。。。餐馆太小，桌子也不够，于是我对面坐了一对明显还在读大学的小情侣，男的有些害羞，小MM看上去倒是很大方。。。 其它感觉，都跟以前一样，轻微的疲倦，轻微的失落，却有种淡淡的对生活和工作的期待，因为几年前的这个时候，也是我马上要开始一天写作，全身心投入创作的时候。。。唯一不同的，或许是付钱时的心情。。。那个时候，我总在计算口袋里的钱，还能够吃几天的酸菜腊肉。。。 生活往往就是这样，从前的日子，似乎总是自己想过的日子，从前的感觉，似乎总是自己想抓住的感觉，从前的MM，呃。。。。没什么，没什么。。。 也许是怀念辣中有甜并不正宗的酸菜腊肉的味道，也许是怀念当初生活虽苦却苦中有乐的单调生活，也许是追忆那不可能再重新体验的拼搏感受。。。。 反正从栖山路往回走的五分钟，我一直有些恍惚，仿佛日子又是从前的日子，而我则跟很多网游小说的主角那样，穿越了好几年的时光。。。 生活无非如此，怀念着过去，体验着现在，规划着未来。。。
唉。。。肚子好痛，难道酸菜腊肉跟几年前一样，放多了点糖？？
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 10:37 AM CST 周末在写 demo ，为了给同事示范我希望得到的操作手感。作为一个能写点程序的游戏设计者，自己随时实现出来看看恐怕是不可多得的优势了。 我们的游戏有一定的动作成分在里面，所以我不想采用鼠标控制角色的行动，以对拍砖头的形式表现格斗场面。本质上我更偏好 console game 和游戏手柄的操作感。不过在 PC 平台上，手柄并不普及，只能在最普及的输入设备——键盘和鼠标上下点工夫了。 手柄控制方向主要有两种： 其一是模拟杆，在 PSP ，PS ，Wii 等手柄上均有安装。好处是至少可以感知两级力度，并可提供非常细的方向信息输入。控制游戏角色行动时，操作感很不错。 鼠标通过移动可以提供方向信息，甚至通过移动速度可以模拟出力度的差别。但毕竟鼠标缺乏力的反馈，且必须通过移动才能提供信息，本身不能保留状态（鼠标的 button 可以提供状态，所以很多 fps 把前进操作设置在鼠标的按键上），和手柄的感觉还是差了很远。 btw, IBM 的 TrackPoint 如果特别针对去开发，其实是个不错的游戏输入设备，可惜还是太专有化了。 其二，就是类似任天堂的十字键。由于有专利，到别的厂家那里换成了其它形式，不过大体还是差不多的。这类设备可以精确的输入八个方向，在格斗游戏中用的最多。比如我的最爱 VF4 EVO 的 PS2 版，干脆就禁止了模拟杆的输入，只允许用八方向键。 对应到 PC 上，大多数游戏用 WASD 四个按键模拟这个设备。不过要小心的是，由于键盘硬件设计的缘故，大多数键盘处理三个以上按键同时按下时，会发生所谓锁键问题。比如我的 DELL 键盘，同时按下 W 和 D 键后，再按 E 键，系统就接收不到 E 键的消息。这类情况试硬件决定，不同键盘处理能力不同。据说有比较强悍的键盘可以处理任意 7 个按键同时按下的消息，我就没有试过了。 好在现在的键盘处理两个按键的能力还是绰绰有余的，用 WASD 模拟八个方向的输入足够了。 游戏和普通应用软件是不同的。道理大家都明白，但是很少人仔细考虑。虽然游戏依旧是程序，只需要人来提供输入（鼠标键盘的控制），软件提供输入（明白显示）。但是，我们不能忽略人。人在游戏时是系统的一部分，我们提供的输入不仅仅是数据信号，而是恰当的时机提供的恰当的数据序列。这也是我反复强调过的，时间因素在游戏软件中的重要性。 普通的 OS 并不是为游戏设计的，输入设备的界面能获得的仅仅是数据而已，而缺乏时间上的控制（需要我们在应用层上额外编写代码实现）。当然也不绝对是这样：比如 Windows 可以在 OS 级处理双击消息就是一个例外。 console 平台上，也能看到双击这种操作。许多动作游戏把双击前进设定为跑步或冲锋。不仅如此，我们还能找到操作跟时间相关的很多例子。比如在许多游戏里，长按和短击按钮往往是有区别的。例如在 PSP 版《怪物猎人》中，短击 L 键是切换镜头，而长按 L 键则和镜头控制完全没关系，变成了切换物品。 操作手感是许多种类游戏的灵魂所在，如果你不同意这点，也该看看 Wii 和 NDS 是怎样改变游戏机市场的格局的。当然我们也不必过于埋怨 PC 的输入设备的落后，很多情况只是做游戏软件的态度。许多游戏之外的软件其实已经做了许多，比如我最爱的浏览器 Opera ，让我钟情于它的就有方便的鼠标手势。好好想想，键盘鼠标上都可以做许多文章呢。 下面写写周末做的一些工作和想法，做个记录： 当我们用 WASD 来模拟八方向键时，会遇到一些问题。 通常，我们有两键同时按下来模拟斜向的方向。比如 W 和 D 一起按下，相当于右上。可问题在于，“同时”这个概念本身就不存在。莫说人不可能同时做到把两个按键“同时”按下；实际上 OS 提交的键盘输入数据里 W 和 D 键总有个先后到达。 如果这个问题还不足以引起你的注意，那么看下一个：如果我们同时按下了 A 键及 D 键，逻辑上应该如何处理？在游戏手柄上我们永远无法同时触发左方向和右方向，但是键盘上却可以轻易做到。 最终，我是这样做的。 我们必须记录所有按键的先后次序，并保留每个按键的状态（是按下还是松开）。用一个队列来记录按键次序，每次一个新的方向键（WASD 四个键中的一个）按下，都把这个键放到队列的顶端。然后依次检查队列，查找是否有关联键存在。所谓关联键，就是可以与当前按键发生联动的按键。比如 W 键可以和 A 键或 D 键联动。由于一个键可能和多个键联动，那么，就应该按按键次序来处理，只保留最近的一次联动。 当接收到按键送开的消息时，遍历队列，将相关的所有按键及按键组合去掉。 程序从队列顶端拿到当前的按键或按键组合信息。 这个设计保证了所谓格斗游戏的键盘划弧的正确性，当你依次按下了左（A）和下（S）后，继续按右（D）键时。如果没有即使松开左键，导致三键同时按下，我们可以取到最自然的逻辑：右下（下和右联动）而忽略掉多余的按键“左”。当我们按住左和下，同时点击右键（注意：这种操作输入三键同时触发，不是所有键盘所有按键组合都可以正确处理）时，也可以有自然的视觉反馈：它相当于在右下和左下两个方向间切换。 此外，我还做了另一些尝试。 键盘无法做到手柄那样识别力度，那么我们只能从时间控制上做点文章。比如，我们可以区分按键的快速击打与长时间压放。并能够记录指令的次序。 例如，可以将长压 W 来控制角色前进。如果在前进的过程中按 S 的话，则可以认为是后退。但若立刻松开 W 这个前进按纽则认为是要做转身向后的动作。如果只是在前进过程中速击 S 后退键，又可以认为是闪避。仅仅只是两个按键，通过不同的时序组合却可以做出三种以上的动作来。 好好挖掘的话，键盘甚至可以做出比手柄更灵活操作方式。不要把键盘上的键看作一个个独立的按键，而应去想象五根手指的运动（暂且认为另一支手要握着鼠标），我想能发现更多。 切莫以为设计的复杂会给最终用户带来困扰。用四个键去控制八个方向，比设定八个（甚至更多）方向键在很多环境下要更体贴。毕竟人只有五根手指，通常我们只使用其中的三根操作方向键。用户比你想象的善于学习，只要给他们的操作提供足够的视觉反馈，并且让所有的操作都有最自然的含义，而非惊奇。这样，用户在学习操作的过程中就不会有太多的记忆负担，乐于接受。 最后谈谈鼠标。 不知道有多少人记得很多年前的《刀剑封魔录》，不知道它是否借鉴了 Opera 中的鼠标手势，用鼠标划大招的设计终归是很不错的。可惜制作组去了搜狐后没有在游戏的操作感上继续挖掘下去。 我们总觉得鼠标是一个 2D 定位设备，操作系统总能提供鼠标光标的绝对坐标。但实际上，鼠标本质上只能提供相对运动信息。就好比 Wii 的手柄，它提供的仅仅是你挥动它的加速度，并不能感知手柄在空间中的移动速度。是 OS 提供的编程接口误导了程序员。我们要挖掘鼠标作为游戏输入设备的能力，就要先看清这个本质。 用鼠标画过图的人应该有体会，就算是画个简单的圆，不借助软件工具也是很困难的。甚至远不如笔方便。我想拿是因为，手握着笔时，是用三跟手指在控制，可以做出精细的角速度变化。而捏着鼠标则是用手腕，手腕能提供的移动的直线速度控制。也可以做到较为精确的平面定位。但不容易把握角速度。而可惜的是，鼠标本身并不能获得绝对坐标。我们用鼠标操作 FPS 游戏时，也多利用的是直线上速度控制这一点。 我们采集鼠标的输入数据时，就不可以孤立的记录每次的运动绝对方向。要知道短时间内，两次方向数据即使有区别，那很可能是人手腕的局限性造成的。足够可信的数据是鼠标在短期内速度方向的大幅度改变，例如逆向移动，和顺/逆时针切向运动。大体上，我们能采信的角度改变只此三个状态而已，而不能把角速度作为线性变化的输入数据来看待。 但另一方面，鼠标线速度的区别则可以相对可信一些。不少台球游戏用它来控制出杆力度，玩家经过适应后可以获得不错的手感。 今天累了，不往下写了。 |
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 07:16 AM CST 无意中看了一部音乐片，跨越苍穹（Across the Universe），十分喜欢。吸引我去看的原因，是它的1960年代背景。越战和反战游行，黑人暴乱和马丁路德金遇刺，等等。电影的剧情主要围绕着异国男女在大时代下的感情戏，间或穿插了60年代纽约音乐家和美术家，乃至革命青年的一些事迹。最赞的是，每到关键剧情开展之时，男女主人公开头就是披头士当年的名曲，而歌词也往往能和剧情完美镶嵌，可惜我对披头士的歌曲完全不熟悉，除了“黄色潜水艇”就是“昨天”。说到我心仪的Yellow Submarine，本片的导演显然向这部披头士参与的动画电影致敬，《跨越苍穹》中的许多夸张的过场MV都具有浓厚的黄色潜水艇风格：是那种恨不得把电影色彩元素揉碎了摊开了摔烂了捏爆了的那种疯狂。一方面刻意的炫耀这种将音乐和磕药后的幻象结合起来嬉皮画面，另一方面又还有从现实画面提炼升华后的唯美影像。最后，在反战这一块，还应用了一些令人印象深刻的电脑特效，大有库布里克老爷子的全金属外壳和发条橙子之风。总的来说，无论是从青春爱情片，革命青年片，披头士怀旧片，各个角度都可以对《跨越苍穹》加以欣赏。
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 07:24 AM CST Very unique motorcycle jumping game featuring cool physics, simple game. play and a sense of humor. Very addictive and fun!
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 07:41 AM CST Warzone 2100 2.1-beta1 is out, with plenty of new features (changelog). Internationalized, improved/additional AI, 64-bit support, in-game video options, and multi-turret support are the picks of the bunch. "Additionally there are many parts of the game that have been completely or partially rewritten. So old bugs may have been made completely irrelevant and new ones most certainly have been introduced. So new bug reports are most certainly very welcome, even [for] bugs that where present in 2.0.x already. Any suggestions are welcome as well of course." You'll have to compile the beta yourself. Here's a slightly out of date youtube showing what the fuss is about:
LordsAWar
FreelordsLordsAWar 0.0.8 is also available to download. The LordsAWar homepage is a bit spartan. It's a continuation of the C++ version of FreeLords, which has since been rewritten in Java and recently released 0.0.2 of the Java version. The games are not going their different ways graphically with many new tiles and other artwork added in recent LordsAWar releases, which has a top-down view. FreeLords is now isometric. This is what is good about Free Software. From one project, we now have two; after the original author changed direction, others could continue the initial effort. Both games share the goal of creating a modern Warlords style of game. Anyway, it's a sunny day, no time for computer games! |
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Posted: 17 Feb 2008 05:30 AM CST 又年佳节，回眸圈圈年轮，不知何日得以相喁？
二月天寒，窗外人影阑珊，不知何物得以相伴？ 网上群内头像闪动，掀起了深夜大海狂澜。无言以对，此时无声胜有声。 街道两两相偎依处，浸湿了寡人苍凉眼眶。思绪斗转，全是裙下之臣子。
指间烟香婉娩袭来，姘添了几许男儿气概。终了罢了，烟灰漫溢烟缸口。
半晌，拧开台灯，翻开枕边天书，无牍之羁束，无案之专注。半卧身躯，独倚床栏，安闲清恬，回涌胸怀。如茗一壶清茶，丝丝枯涩，点点甘甜，顿开茅塞。 |
"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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GDC Mobile 2008: Gameloft's Guillemot On 'Fast Life, Fast Media' Posted: 18 Feb 2008 09:28 AM CST
  
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Microsoft Adding N+ To Xbox Live Arcade Posted: 18 Feb 2008 08:02 AM CST
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In his opening keynote for GDC Mobile 2008, Michel Guillemot, president and CEO of Gameloft, took the stage to present his take on the way consumers consume media in the 21st century, arguing that they no longer need to be educated that games are available on their phones, but now "rule the market." After an effusive introduction from the Chairman of GDC Mobile, Robert Tercek, Michel Guillemot, president and CEO of Gameloft, took the stage ...
Microsoft has announced that its regular Wednesday Xbox Live Arcade update will see the release of Metanet's N+, the conversion of its Independent Games Festival Audience Award-winning freeware platformer, including both single and multiplayer modes and a fully featured level editor. The conversion was first announced in January of 2007, with Vancouver's Klei Entertainment, developer of Live Arcade puzzler Eets tapped to bring the game to the Xbox 360. Microsoft says the Live Arcade version ...  
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 10:16 AM CST 2, 回复：【必死】本吧第3000贴，教你不学日文也玩得起Galgame[转贴]. 然后打开快捷方式的属性. 贴子相关图片: ... 4, 回复：【必死】本吧第3000贴，教你不学日文也玩得起Galgame[转贴]. 1. 贴子相关图片:. 这时你应用确定后，改过的快捷方式会变了个图 ...
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Indie RPG News Roundup: February 18 Posted: 18 Feb 2008 11:41 AM CST Have you finished all of 2007's independent computer role-playing games already, and you are looking for more? Here's what I've heard:  Avernum 5The PC version of the latest in Spiderweb Software's huge fantasy RPG series has now been released - a couple of weeks earlier than I expected! Congrats to Jeff Vogel and the Spiderweb team. You can check out the PC demo (or just buy the full game) at Spiderweb's Avernum 5 Webpage. Avernum 5, available for Mac and PC, includes:
Soldak Entertainment reports that Depths of Peril, the award-winning and (IMO) incredibly innovative and awesome action/strategy/RPG is one of 7 finalists for Wizards of the Coast's/Gleemax's Gleemie Awards. The finalists for “The Gleemie” were selected from a field of more than 170 game submissions (10th Annual Independent Games Festival) based on strategic and innovative game play. I'm definitely cheering this one on, though it's up against some pretty awesome competition (like the incredibly cool "Crayon Physics" game by Kloonigames, not to mention Desktop Tower Defense).  Ethereal DreamsThe 2.0 Demo for Ethereal Dreams was released on New Years' Day, featuring approximately 3 hours of gameplay. This one has been making some slow but steady progress (the 1.0 demo was released a year ago), but it looks promising. It looks to be (currently) a Windows-only release. (Spotted at JayIsGames) |
Indies of the Round Table |
In case you missed it last week, ten indie RPG developers weighed in on the subject of "Why Indie RPGs?" here at Rampant Games. Panelists included Jeff Vogel, Vince D. Weller, Amanda Fitch, Steven Peeler, Thomas Riegsecker, and many more. It's a huge article, but full of great insight. Check out Indies of the Round Table #1. The Trials of Soscarides The Trials of Soscarides, an entry in the November RPGDX "RPG in a weekend" competition, has been completed as a full "mini" (and FREE) RPG available for both Windows and Mac. The Legacy of Flan: Flan Rising This free RPG is available from Scott Games. The game is part of a charity fund-raiser for a playground in Afghanistan, and the site is requesting donations rather than charging for the games. (Spotted at JayIsGames.) Frayed Knights The Frayed Knights "pilot" is going into a phased alpha test starting next week. Testers will be added in groups throughout March to test weekly builds. If you are interested in exposing your computer to the perils associated with a very alpha build, you can add yourself to the Frayed Knights Alpha Tester list.  The Adventures of CendahCarl Carlsson of KingDiz Entertainment reports that his newest RPG, "The Adventures of Cendah," will be released on Wednesday (Feb. 20th). This game promises improved features and better graphics than his previous games. There's a playable demo already available, so you can check it out now! Darkened Dreams 2 Darkened Dreams is a primarily text-based (with block-maps of color) RPG by Curtis Mirci - a co-worker of mine and member of this community. He's now gathered together some help from some artists who liked what they saw, and they have begun development of Darkened Dreams 2. I'm hoping for some cool sub-title like, "Darkened Dreams 2: The Wrath of Khan" or "Darkened Dreams 2: Electric Boogaloo" or something, but he's been all tight-lipped about it. But you can check out the production blog and see what updates he has to share. Sonnheim - A Place In the Sun Version 0.1.6 of Sonnheim: A Place in the Sun was released about three weeks ago, by Rampant Games community member Hajo. He's been doing some very different things with this game, attempting something of a "non-combat" multiplayer RPG. Sonnheim is described as, "a multi user environment consisting of landscape and city like maps. It tries to combine the ideas of socializing and role playing and provides an environment for this." To the World Tree While not making the finals in the IGF, To the World Tree continues development, and version 5 of this free RPG was recently released. Primary emphasis on this new version was on improving the user interface. You can check it out at the To the World Tree Website. Got more news? Comments? You can post here, or for posterity on the Indie RPG News Roundup Forum Thread. (Vaguely) related tales of attacking bunny rabbits and giant rats: * Indie RPG News Roundup, February 2nd * Indie RPG News Roundup, January 22nd * Indie RPG News Roundup, January 16th |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Latest games at Rampant Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1 |
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[NetShowBT][最新创意佳作][Audiosurf][音乐战机][EN][1CD] (大小:393.64M 人气:19 下载:28 完成:- 种子:1) Posted: 18 Feb 2008 11:29 AM CST 发布简介：PAudiosurf-DETONATiON音乐战机/P< />P【游戏封面】游戏名称：音乐战机英文名称：
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下载地址：http://gamebt.ali213.net/download-spot-1-479.html |
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《无尽的黑暗之超越神的眼睛》(Last Half Of Darkness Beyond The Spirits Eye)[Bin] Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:04 AM CST ![《无尽的黑暗之超越神的眼睛》(Last Half Of Darkness Beyond The Spirits Eye)[Bin]](https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/gkwb9MbgsxU5Q_1a87lmRtxOdoeqGb8kk-XJBJJ-cYZViJFgiOjI92V5ivYzChuSEkLdZW6aMvV-cyaUrzoQplQhiGBV_8lAOKWl6U1K=s0-d-e1-ft#http://img.verycd.com/posts/0802/post-228427-1203336507.jpg) 转自TLF 游戏名称：无尽的黑暗之超越神的眼睛 英文名称：Last Half Of Darkness Beyond The Spirits Eye 游戏制作：WRF Studios 游戏发行：WRF Studios 游戏语种：英文 游戏平台：PC 游戏容量：2CD 游戏类型：Horror Adventure 官方网址： http://www.lasthalfofdarkness.com/beyond/ 【游戏简介】 这是《Last Half of Darkness》系列的第三部作品——《Beyond the Spirits Eyes》新的篇章从黑暗的阴影中诞生了一个新的故事，它要揭示一段被扭曲的关于恐惧的传说，在传说中全镇的幽灵都被一颗古老的黑宝石所统治，而关于这颗黑宝石大家所知道的也仅仅是它的称谓——“Eye”而已。 好奇心会让你对这颗稀有宝石的兴趣如同脱缰的野马一般不能控制，并且渐渐地将你指引到一座废弃了的充满神秘与恐惧的小镇之中。受困于时间和神秘事件，你很快就发现了有股邪恶的力量在用它那黑暗的过去及奇异的且迷一般的黑魔法在保护着宝石。这个村子不光是这种有着稀有民风的故乡，也隐含着一个出没于深夜的等级森严的统治家族，它们通过不断地咬人来繁衍后代，并不断将诅咒施加到还活着的村民们身上，让他们饱受痛苦。当黄昏降临时，这群有着吸血鬼特性的家族成员们就开始从地下爬出来，在新的黎明到来之前，整个黑夜都是他们主宰的天下。人们只能耐心等待着新的黎明的到来。 败 斑 斑 败 ? ? ? ? ? 苓哌? ? ? ? ? 斑? ? ? 败? 佰? ? ? 斑圮 ? 边? 苓鄄? 苓圹? 苓鄄? 咣曹 避?哕 氨槽 苒? 圹?苒? 圹?苒? 圹?苒? 圹? ? 馨 哌苘圻 圹? 咣?圹? 鄄?鄄? 咣?圹? 圹? 馨 ? 佰舶 圹? 鄄? 圹?圹? 圹圮苒圻 ?馨 ?氨郯 鄄? 苒?圹? 鄄?鄄? 苒?鄄?哕 馨 卑槽? 圹? 圹?鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?圹? 圹? ? ?馨 ? 北圻? 鄄? 鄄?鄄? 圹?鄄? 鄄?鄄? 圹? ? 馨 ? 安鄄? 鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹? 馨 ?臂? 咣? 圹?咣? 圹?咣? 圹?咣? 圹? ? ? 辈鄄败 ? 哕鄄? 哕鄄? 哕鄄? 苒圻 卑辈鄄 ? ? ? ? ? 氨槽甙 ? ? 甙 ? ? ?氨槽? ? ? ? ? 辈圹舶 ? ? ?? ? ? 槽圻? 苓鄄? 馨 苓鄄? 苓鄄? 苓鄄? 卑弑? 苒? 苒? 圹?鄄? ?苒? 圹?苒? 圹?懿? 圹? ? 鞍 鞍 佰 圹? 圹? 圹?圹? 懿?圹? 圹?圹? 圹?圹? 咣圮? ?佰? 圹? 鄄? 圹?圹? 槽?鄄圮苒圻 圹圮苒圻 槽? ? 臂 鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?圹? 苘 鄄?哕 卟圮咣圮 ?? 安? 圹? 圹?圹? 鄄?圹? 圹?鄄? 圹?圹? 圹?苘 G鄄? ? 安圻 鄄? 鄄?鄄? 圹?鄄? 鄄?鄄? 鄄?鄄? 圹?圹?O圹? ? ?臂? 鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?鄄? 圹?槽?O圹? 鼙 安圻 咣? 圹?咣? 圹?咣? 圹?咣? 圹?咣? 圹?卟? 圹? 咣圻 哕鄄? 哕鄄? 哕鄄? 哕鄄? 苒策 哕鄄? ? .GiVES YOU. ? ? Last_Half_Of_Darkness_Beyond_The_Spirits_Eye-TNTANAL ? ? A new story is born from the shadows of ? ? 卟? ? darkness, revealing a twisted tale of ? 卟? ? terror where the souls of an entire ? ? town are governed by an ancient black ? ? 苘? jewel known only as the "Eye." 哕? ? ? ? You find your curiosity unleashing an ? ? 斑 哌? overpowering interest in the rare gem 苓? 甙 辈 苘? and eventually taking you to a deserted 哕? 脖 安? ? village shrouded in mystery and horror. ? 鄄? 卟? 哕 Locked away by secrets and time, you 苓 懿? ? 斑槽? 捋? will soon uncover an evil that protects 捋? 苒策? ? 苓 卟圮 捋? the jewel with its dark past and 捋? 苒策 哕 哕 咣舶 ? strange riddles of black magic. The ? 安圻 苓 ? 斑鄄 village holds not only a home to the 槽甙 郯 苓? 佰郾 rare relic, but also a family of 臂郯 哌? 哕? 槽舶 nocturnal hierarchy, breeding with each 安鄄 苘? 卟? 安圹? bite and inflicting their curse upon 佰鄄? 辈? 槽甙 the remaining mortal townsfolk. 斑鄄 败圹甙 As dusk approaches, the vampiric 斑圹馨 圹? society begin to rise from the crypt 槽? 槽? and a new dawn must wait patiently for 佰? 佰圮 beyond the spirit's eye. 苒郯 哌曹 ?懿哌 哌圮懿圹圮? 苘 苘 苘圹鄄苘圻? 斑圹圹圹圹郯 苘苘 懿甙?郯卟? ? 苘苘 ? 佰圹圹圹圹甙 佰圹圹圹圹 槽圹鄄? 苒? 苓 哕 卟圮 懿圹圹? 圹圹圹圹郯 咣圹圹鄄 槽圹? 哕槽?馨 败 咣曹? 咣圹? 槽圹圹圻 苒? 斑哌 卟圹圹苒圻? 哕 苓 苓圹苒圹鄄? 哌甙 苒? ? 咣圹膊? 咣? 鄄圮 苒? 卟槽圹?? ? 哌 卟圹鄄圹鄄? 哌 哌?哌? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 苘? 哕? ? ? ? ? ? 斑 哌? That's right, you are all a bunch of 苓? 甙 辈 苘? 哕? 脖 安? ? ? 鄄? 卟? 哕 苓 懿? ? 斑槽? 捋? C O C K L O V E R S 捋? 苒策? ? 苓 卟圮 捋? 捋? 苒策 哕 哕 咣舶 ? ? 安圻 苓 ? 斑鄄 槽甙 郯 苓? 佰郾 臂郯 哌? 哕? 槽舶 No wonder the scene sucks ;-) 安鄄 苘? 卟? 安圹? 佰鄄? 辈? 槽甙 斑鄄 败圹甙 斑圹馨 圹? 槽? 槽? iam exposed and u?????? 佰? 佰圮 苒郯 哌曹 ?懿哌 哌圮懿圹圮? 苘 苘 苘圹鄄苘圻? 斑圹圹圹圹郯 苘苘 懿甙?郯卟? ? 苘苘 ? 佰圹圹圹圹甙 佰圹圹圹圹 槽圹鄄? 苒? 苓 哕 卟圮 懿圹圹? 圹圹圹圹郯 咣圹圹鄄 槽圹? 哕槽?馨 败 咣曹? 咣圹? 槽圹圹圻 苒? 斑哌 卟圹圹苒圻? 哕 苓 苓圹苒圹鄄? 哌甙 苒? ? 咣圹膊? 咣? 鄄圮 苒? 卟槽圹?? ? 哌 卟圹鄄圹鄄? 哌 哌?哌? ? .GREETiNGS. ? ? ? ? 卟? ? ? 卟? ? A ? ? ? ? 苘? W E T 哕? ? ? ? ? ? 斑 哌? H E L L O 苓? 甙 辈 苘? 哕? 脖 安? ? T O ? 鄄? 卟? 哕 苓 懿? ? 斑槽? 捋? 捋? 苒策? ? 苓 卟圮 捋? 捋? 苒策 哕 哕 咣舶 ? G A Y Z O R 6 9 ? 安圻 苓 ? 斑鄄 槽甙 郯 苓? 佰郾 臂郯 哌? 哕? 槽舶 for the crashing 安鄄 苘? 卟? 安圹? crackfix for the club 佰鄄? 辈? 槽甙 斑鄄 败圹甙 斑圹馨 圹? 槽?2oo4 槽? we just decide to give big greets 佰? 佰圮 from now on to: Unleashed 苒郯 ? 哌? |
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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PARIS HILTON EXPOSED HER SHAVE PUSSY Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:11 PM CST |
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MetaverseU: my panel with Cory Ondrejka, Howard Rheingold Posted: 18 Feb 2008 10:30 AM CST |
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Inq. of the Week: Summer Movies ‘08 Posted: 18 Feb 2008 09:47 AM CST
This week we’re all pretty excited after seeing the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer. It’s really one of the last trailers in a series of what look to be entertaining and hopefully good movies throughout the summer months. We have a few sequels that are shaping up to be better than the originals in Hellboy II, The Dark Knight, and Prince Caspian. Some new faces to the cinema that look promising like Iron Man, Speed Racer, Wanted, and Pixar’s WALL-E. The movies are scheduled to release on: Iron Man - 5/2/08 The question that we’d like to have answered is… Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll. |
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The Divnich Tapes: How PlayStation 3 Is Catching Xbox 360? Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:04 AM CST
  
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Road To IGF Mobile: Nom 3's Completely Aloof Fantasy Posted: 18 Feb 2008 05:40 AM CST
  
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Release This: Apollo Justice Arrives Stateside; BioShock Debuts in Japan Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:06 AM CST
  
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Toshiba Delays Final HD DVD Decision Posted: 18 Feb 2008 05:08 AM CST
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Who would have thought that in such a innuendo laden poll that 
[Throughout this week, simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich is presenting exclusive Gamasutra analysis of January's hardware and software trends, using data from The simExchange, NPD, IGN GamerMetrics and GameTrailers. First up - despite alleged shortages, how the Xbox 360 might get overtaken by the PS3.] In the NPD North American charts, January proved to be an underwhelming month, with most consoles performing below market expectations. In fact, it has already been theorized that the Wii's shortfall ...
As part of Games On Deck's "Road to the IGF Mobile" feature, we talk to Gamevil' BonGu Shin, producer of Nom 3, an IGF Mobile 2008 Best Game and Innovation in Mobile Game Design finalist. Nom 3 is a one-button game that asks the player to rotate their phone as Nom reaches vertical boundaries at the edge of the screen. What kind of background do you have in the game industry or in making games? ...
Gamasutra's regular round-up of worldwide video game releases, "Release This!", takes a look at every game title we know to be shipping to stores this week, in an exclusively compiled list. This week's worldwide lineup brings Dragon Quest Swords and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Stateside, along with multiplatform offerings like The Club, Dynasty Warriors 6, and FIFA Street 3. Meanwhile, Japan receives a long-awaited localization of BioShock, as Europe gets Unreal Tournament 3 and Patapon. ...
Despite numerous press reports over the weekend, officials from Toshiba have denied that the company is planning to cease ongoing support for the HD DVD format - although the company has admitted it is currently "assessing its business strategies". Sources from the Wall Street Journal to Kyodo News in Japan have been reporting that Toshiba is to stop new HD DVD drive production, after major U.S. chain Wal-Mart announced on Friday that it would only ...  
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Mass Effect Sweeps Canadian Elans Awards Posted: 18 Feb 2008 04:47 AM CST
  
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Paramount Adds UK Support to Xbox Live Marketplace Posted: 18 Feb 2008 04:11 AM CST
  
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 04:41 PM CST 结束春节假期第一天上班结束后公司聚了一次餐，考虑到大家春节都才吃的比较油腻，所以找了家比较清淡的南粥北面。 粥底火锅挺好吃的，而且有一些很奇怪的菜，比如传说中极品猥琐的象拔蚌，要350一斤～太贵了吃不起。不过也差点人品爆发点了价格稍微便宜一点的黑蚌，这个玩意儿也长得猥琐不凡.....不过呢虽然吃不起，但大家看到这么极品的生物还是很兴奋，特立存此照。（可惜服务员拿上来的不是象拔蚌...）
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Impressions: Battalion Wars II (Wii) Posted: 18 Feb 2008 08:10 AM CST |
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:44 AM CST 忙了，忙疯了！煽情一把——为了既定的目标努力~ 公司新游 武林群侠传三月封测，这几天抽空体验游戏，感觉某些细节方面处理的还比较到位，如任务设定、索引、升级速度等作为国产游戏来说，个人以为很不错了，网龙确实在不断的尝试创新，但对于刚习惯WOW操作的我而言不太顺手，可能需要一段时间适应。游戏光效不错，我稀饭~高级的还没体验到....老大施舍一个高级号让我抢先体验体验把~~阿门~！ |
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:51 AM CST 
Glest: Alien Invasion
Gearhead2
Chromium BSUHot on the heels of Glest 3.0 is... Glest 3.1! Great to see the rejuvenated development of a poster Free Software game. This version continues to add multiplayer features such as in-game chat. Oh, and a new menu background. Eye candy! :-) The mod scene for Glest has also never been healthier. The latest mod to show up (although currently just a WIP) is Glest: Alien Invasion. Pictures speak etc - see the images. In the grand scheme of things, websites aren't that important. Or are they? Gearhead2 is a mech-based rogue-like. Maybe you like the sound of a [mech-based] rogue-like. To everybody else, the term 'rogue-like' tends to mean 'no graphics', so when you visit a web page like the homepage of Gearhead2, combined with the knowledge of it being a rogue-like, I bet the vast majority of people go no further. It looks awful, the screenshots link doesn't work, and because in the lay visitor's mind the game isn't graphical, it's game over already. The shame of it is, Gearhead2 looks like a really promising game. It has a 3D version with a snazzy UI (it's predecessor Gearhead does not). Mechs are cool. There is a well supported forum. Somebody needs to just delete every bit of HTML on that Gearhead2 homepage and put up something 1. functional (i.e. working links) and 2. web layout !circa 1998. Last but not least for today, Chromium BSU, the frantic top-down shooter, is under new maintainership. The Debian maintainer of the game has access to the Sourceforge project for Chromium BSU so will be applying patches that have been collecting for a few years in the various distros. Whether it'll see further development of the game is unlikely but it's good to avoid the usual bitrot of forgotten projects. Also I noticed the sequel project Chromium BSU 2: Second Strike, but despite there being source in SVN, it didn't really get off the ground. In Internet-lameness news, I can't believe my Portalized exclusive barely made a dent on digg. I mean, utter rubbish which is merely a Portal influence gets 1000s of diggs. How come a [possibly open source] improvement on Portal's game dynamics not even break double-digits? I mean, I got more damn "diggs"* on FSDaily! The Internet won't do what I want. It's officially lame. Want to correct this ludicrous aberration? Go forth and DIGG! * Is digg a new verb? What would you call it on FSDaily? FSDailied? :-? |
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:29 AM CST 发布简介：PLast_Half_Of_Darkness_Beyond_The_Spirits_Eye-TNTANA无尽的黑暗之超越神的眼睛
/P< />P【游戏封面】游戏名称：无尽的黑暗之超越神的眼睛英文名称：Last Half Of
Darkness Beyond The Spirits Eye 游戏制作：WRF Studios&&& 游戏发�
校篧RF Studios&&&&&&&&&&&&&a
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p; 游戏语种：英文游戏类型：Horror Adventure&&&&&&&am
p;&&&&&&&&&& 官方网址：http://www.la
sthalfofdarkness.com/beyond/游侠0DAY信息网：http://0day.ali213.net/htm/5 ...
下载地址：http://gamebt.ali213.net/download-spot-1-477.html |
The winners of the 2nd Annual Elans award show have been announced at a gala event in Canada, with BioWare Corp.'s Mass Effect winning the main game of the year award, alongside locally developed titles such as Assassin's Creed and Skate. A total of fifteen awards were under contention in the Electronic Games category, with most only being contended by Canadian companies. As a result, the Autodesk game of the year award was given to ...
Officials from Paramount Pictures have announced that that the company is extending its partnership with Microsoft to offer a catalog of current and classic movies in the UK, after emerging as one of the key launch partners for the service in the U.S. Existing support for the Xbox Live Video Marketplace in the UK has been largely restricted to Warner Bros. movies, but from February 19th new Paramount titles will begin to be offered, beginning ...
"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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SGS: The News Game: Using Neverwinter Nights To Teach Journalism Posted: 19 Feb 2008 07:50 AM CST
  
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Is 'Free Gesticulation' For Avatars Here Yet? Posted: 19 Feb 2008 12:08 PM CST
Now I don't know if gestural interfaces will revolutionize computing in general, but I'm very excited about the new possibilities they create for 3D avatar control. As I've written about before, avatars will never be fully expressive until they are enabled with free gesticulation. With 3D cameras and real-time motion-capture techniques, "Players could use their own bodies and faces as joysticks in puppeteering their avatars." Currently in MMOs, gesture and facial expression are limited to a pre-specified library of commands (/bow, /wave, /wink, /point, etc.). Imagine if text chat were like this? What if you could only send chat messages by selecting them from a pre-specified library of phrases (like chat between strangers in ToonTown)? This would be severely limiting in terms of communication and expression. However, it's the current state of avatar gesture in virtual worlds. In practice, free chat or voice can help compensate for this lack of free gesticulation. Take cybersex, for example, with its elaborate text descriptions of what you wish your clunky avatar could do: <Alex gently grips the nape of your neck with one hand and leans in for a kiss>. This really highlights a big gap in current avatar functionality! Now in modeling gesture, we must recognize that not all "gestures" are the same. The canned gestures in today's virtual worlds and MMOs work okay for certain types of gestures, but others will require free gesticulation. 1. Stand-alone gestures (or emblems) - bows, waves, shrugs, head-shakes, nods, etc. - work pretty well in current avatar systems. Stand-alone gestures are fairly standardized embodied symbols that convey meaning independently of the surrounding talk. By convention, a nod conveys "yes" and a shrug conveys "I don't know." The gesture alone can stand as an intelligible turn. 2. Pointing gestures (or deictics) are also possible in current systems, but are a little harder to perform because they rely partially on the talk for their meaning. They should be precisely timed with relevant key words (e.g., "the cave is over there" where the extent of the point is simultaneous with "there"). This is tricky when you must type both the gesture command and the chat message. It's much easier with voice. 3. Emphatic gestures (or beats) are not really possible with today's avatars. Beat gestures emphasize particular words by being produced simultaneously with them. Because gesture commands and chat messages must be typed separately, beats cannot currently be tied to particular words. However, the appearance of beat gestures can certainly be faked, as in World of Warcraft's "talking" animation. 4. Finally, depictive gestures (or iconics) are not possible in today's virtual worlds and MMOs. Iconic gestures depict objects by mirroring elements of their physical form and/or motion. Their production is creative, and their uniqueness reflects the diversity of all the objects in the world; therefore, it's impossible to create a comprehensive library of them (and even if you tried, it would be too massive for players to handle). But with real-time mo-cap, depictive gesturing becomes possible. So for example, in World of Warcraft, if I can't think of the term "night elf," I can nonetheless depict the race through gesture: I run my thumbs and index fingers, in a pinching shape, along the edges of my imaginary long night-elf ears as they taper to a point. Or you can imagine in Second Life that one dominatrix might say to another, "Where can I buy one of those tops that are like a corset but only go from here to here?" while she places one "karate-chop" hand just under her avatar's breasts and the other hand just below its belly button. Her fellow dominatrix can then say, "Oh, you mean a 'cincher.'"* While free gesticulation will no doubt revolutionize avatar control, just how such gestural interfaces should be designed and what activities they will be good for is still largely an open question. One fact that must be accommodated is that players at the keyboard will not only use their bodies to animate their avatars, but may also use them in the physical world at the same time. If my son approaches me at the keyboard, I don't want my avatar's head to turn when I look at him, especially if I'm talking to other people in the virtual world. And what about running? Do I really want to run my character across Norrath by running in place in front of my PC? (Actually, that might be more fun than the gym.) At the very least, free gesticulation in virtual worlds should make cybersex a lot less textual! * For more on the reparative uses of depictive gesture in real life, see Moore, Robert J. (2008): "When Names Fail: Referential Practice in Face-to-face Service Encounters." Language in Society, 37(3). (Coming soon!) |
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NaturalMotion Releases Morpheme 1.3 Posted: 19 Feb 2008 07:08 AM CST
  
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Softkinetic Unveils 3D Gesture Tech Iisu, Virtools Integration Posted: 19 Feb 2008 07:06 AM CST
  
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GDC 2008: The Highlights From Monday Posted: 19 Feb 2008 08:18 AM CST
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Back in 2001, Nora Paul of the University of Minnesota started to think about tossing together journalists with game designers and theorists to discuss ways in which the medium's give-and-take trial-and-error self-motivated approach to learning could be academically applied to the process of news-gathering. The timing was unfortunate, however, coming just after the dot-com implosion. Watching the Wheels A few years later she pulled together a more academic discussion group on the matter, yet quickly ...
I attended the Metaverse Roadmap workshop last week at Stanford, and I was pleased to hear Mitch Kapor touting the benefits of gestural input for virtual worlds (see 
Developer NaturalMotion has announced the release of its latest version of animation middleware morpheme, adding features including animation sets for the creation of multiple characters or LODs and IK nodes. The company says the morpheme middleware is "designed to give developers and animators unprecedented creative control over the look of their final in-game animation by allowing them to author and preview blends, blend trees and state machines in real time." The package is available for ...
Developer Softkinetic has announced iisu, its 3D gesture recognition solution it says can capture full body movements as well as isolated arm and hand movements, along with a new partnership with Virtools to integrate the solution into the latter's suite of 3D products. Softkinetic says iisu is "the result of four years of research and development," compatible with most 3D depth sensing cameras to allow players to become the interface. The product is meant to ...
With a host of simultaneous subsummits, Game Developers Conference 2008 - held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco - has got off to a dynamic start. Gamasutra has been covering all the major keynotes from the casual, independent, serious, online world and mobile summits at the show on our dedicated GDC 2008 page. Here's some of Monday's highlights... - Casual Summit Keynote: PlayFirst's Welch On A More Innovative Casual Future "At his keynote for ...  
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[NetShowBT][Fantasia Sanguo 3][幻想三国志3双飞愿独立安装版][繁体版][DVD][1.8G] (大小:1.89G 人气:41 下载:24 完成:- 种子:1) Posted: 19 Feb 2008 11:30 AM CST 发布简介：P【02.19.08】[Fantasia Sanguo 3][幻想三国志3双飞愿独立安装版][CN][DVD]/P< />
PFantasia.Sanguo.3.Collection.Edition.Chinese.Big5.Standalone.DVD.Edition-NE
TSHOW幻想三国志3双飞愿独立安装版/P< />P【游戏封面】游戏名称：幻想三国志3双飞
愿独立安装版英文名称：Fantasia Sanguo 3游戏制作：USERJOY游戏发行：USERJOY游�
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Posted: 19 Feb 2008 11:00 AM CST  I haven't mentioned it directly on the blog here yet because I was waiting for him to get a few articles up first, but I think it's time I mention Mike Rubin's new blog, 'The Monk's Brew." We talked about this a little bit at the last Utah Indie meeting, and exchanged a few emails about the subject.The Monk's Brew is very Adventure Game / Interactive Fiction - centric, and is sort of a look at that side of the indie gaming fence from the perspective of a developer (kinda like here). Mike Rubin lends his expertise and perspective as someone who loves classic text-based Interactive Fiction, but also sees new ways to bring the game style to new audiences. You'll find regular updates of his big "magnum opus," Vespers 3D, as well as discussions of other topics and stories from the adventure game side of things. So... I'll pass it along... enjoy! Visit The Monk's Brew! Add it to your RSS Feeds! And Have Fun! (Vaguely) related adventures in topical chaos: * Indie Interview: Mike Rubin on Vespers 3D (Part 1) * Indie Interview: Mike Rubin on Vespers 3D (Part 2) * A Twisty Little Maze of Passages, All Different * How Do I Get Past the Harpies? * Utah Indie Game Dev Night, Summer 2006 |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Latest games at Rampant Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1 |
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IGA, Id Partner For Ad-Supported Free Quake Live Game Posted: 19 Feb 2008 07:10 AM CST
  
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Posted: 19 Feb 2008 02:55 AM CST ... 本茂怎么只分到了红桃5，而且也没看见小岛秀夫的身影；还有人开玩笑说Jack Thompson应该是这副牌里的大王。另外，记者在会场北厅还见到了神秘展品，通体由淡紫灯光衬托的薄纱覆盖：据称是微软准备随后揭晓的XNA演示项目：一套基于XNA体系的Xbox 360.
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Carnival of Game Production - 6th Edition Posted: 19 Feb 2008 09:57 AM CST It’s been some time since the last Carnival of Game Production, and we have got some really good articles to show you today. The topics range from marketing to business to accounting to games to voice acting to sales to game outsourcing and more. Enjoy. Jake Birkett wrote several good blog posts, and three of them are listed here. 3D graphics in “Casual” games, My Latest Game is at the Alpha Stage (good breakdown of hours) and Can you make a living developing casual games?. More good articles can be found from Jake’s blog. L. Waymire sent a good article titled The Voices of Justin Gross. That is the voice of actor Justin Gross, as recorded for the hero-turned-villain Arthas in the video game “Warcraft III.” - some good points in the article, check it out. Roman sent a link to Learn how you can sell more games without spending a penny - which contains some sales info worth checking. Roman also wrote an article titled Cross-selling statistics from www.ANAWIKI.com. More good posts in his blog. Mike Harmon sent information on Planning an business trip that contains some information about accounting that people should be aware of. Matt Hanson talks about the importance of credibility in his Custom Made Jingles, Commercials and Music for Television and Radio. This stuff can be applied to gaming as well. Eric Hudin wrote an article titled From iPhone to YouTube - The Viral Marketing Method that discusses creative ways to market your products. Warren Wong wrote a bit different article called Video Games And The Human Race. Article might not give practical information to use for game production, but it gives some things to think about: where are we heading? Writers Cabal published an article on getting projects done by other people: 7 tips on outsourcing from GDC China. Some good ideas to think about. Peter Quinn wrote an article: 10 Tips For Effective Negotiations in Life and Business - something every producers needs to read. Sagar Satapathy lists the Top 25 Ultimate Gamer Vacations. Now you never ever need to figure out where to go on your next holiday. Danogo sent us a post about How to Make Real Life Money in the Second Life Virtual World. That article shows us that games are not just virtual fun - people are making real livings inside games. That’s all folks for this edition. The next (7th) edition will be published when I get around links to roughly 10-20 good articles. If you want to participate in the next edition, feel free to contact me and submit your article link. |
In-game advertising network IGA has announced a partnership with id Software to manage ads, sponsorships and creative branding within ids forthcoming free-to-play Quake Live game, based on its previously released multiplayer-focused Quake Arena. Quake Live is described as "an all-new way to deliver the excitement and energy of first-person multiplayer action to a broader audience than ever before" with both the free-to-play game and an accompanying community website,
If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles. |
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The Divnich Tapes: How New Releases Fared & Game Sales Trends Posted: 19 Feb 2008 06:04 AM CST
  
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Posted: 19 Feb 2008 08:38 AM CST ![《象棋大师11》(Fritz 11)[ISO]](https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QtYW3R0ImoIUXwNB2ZZtc86Z_ek5ZxML1oCDbbN7aLKM5eVERobSfyqKB6gO1h5uCrRJrVkv7jV04pot7ixYH71aCZQv3uHD20BygJGZZJpiUwXHuQGp9pqicA=s0-d-e1-ft#http://img.verycd.com/post_thumbs/0802/post-1015652-1203432082_thumb.jpg) 转自FTiR 开发：Chessbase 发行：Chessbase 容量：1DVD 语种：英文 平台：PC 类型：Chess 网址：http://www.playchess.com 【游戏简介】 * 最新改进版的国际象棋引擎 (大概增强了80 Elo points) * 收集了一百万次比赛而升级的数据库(从1625年到2007年) * 增强的开局路数 * 用于差异计算的最新训练功能 * 具备战术解题能力的最新象棋服务器 * 玩家可以看到"魔眼" 进行3D扫描的过程 【游戏截图】 Ü Ü ß þ Ü ß ßÜ ÜþßßßþÜ Û ÜþßßßþÜ ° ÛÜ ²Ü ° ÜÛÝ ß ²Ü ßßÛÛÛÜÜ ° ÜÛÜ ²ÛÜ ßÛÛÛÜ ²ÛÛÜ ÜÜÛÛÛÜÜß ° ²ÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛÜ ° ÜÛÛßÛÛÜ ° ²ÛÛ² ° Ü ÜÛÛÛÛßßßßßß ²ÛÛ² ²ÛÛÛÛßÛ²²²Û ÜÜÜÜÜܲÛÛ² ²ÛÛ² ²ÛÛ²ß ÜÛÛ² ²ÛÛÜ ²ÛÛ² °°° ÜÛ² ßßßßßß²²²²Üß²²²ßß²²²Ü ßßß Û²²²ß ²²²² ²²²²ßß²²²ÜÜ ²²²² ° ²²²² ²²²² °°° ²²²² ±±±±± Þ±±±±ÛÞ±± Þ±±±± ²²²²²Þ±±±± ° ±±±± ±±±± Þ±±±±Ûܱ±± ° ±±±± ±±±± °°° ±±±± °°°°° ° °°°°°Ý°° ° °°°°°°°°°°Þ°°°° ° °°°° °°°° ° °°°°°°°°° ° °°°° °°°° Ü °°°° ±±±±± ° ±±±±±Ý±± ° ±±±±±Ü±±±±±±±±± ° ±±±± ±±±± ° ±±±±±Ý±±± ° ±±±± ±±²ßÜÛÛÛÜß²±± Þ²²²² °Þ²²²²²²²² °Þ²²²²²Ý²²²²Þ²²²²Ý ²²²² ²²²² °Þ²²²²²²²²² ° ²²²² ²²²²²ß ß²²²²² ßÛÛ² ÜÛ²ÛÛßÜÛÛß ²ÛÛÛÛ²ÛÛÛß ²ÛÛÛ²ÜܲÛ۲ܲÛß ²ÛÛÛ² ßÛÛ² ²ÛÛß ²ÛÛß ° ° ßÛÛ² ° ßÜÛÛßß Ûß ÜÛ²ÛÛß Ûß ° ÛÛÛÛÛßßß ß ° ÞÛÛ²ÛÝ ° ßÛÛÜÛÛß ° ²ß ° ßÛ Üßß ° ÜÛÛÛßß ° ßþÜÜþß ßßÛÛÛÛÜÜÜþß ° ßßÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜÛÛß Eboy ßÜÜþß þßß ßßßßßß S K i D R O W Üß -> T H E L E A D i N G F O R C E <- ßÜ ßÜ Üß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßßßßß ß proudly presents ß ßßßßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ° ÛÛÛ²²²²²±±±°° Fritz Chess 11 / First Class Simulations °°±±±²²²²²ÛÛÛÛÛ ° ±ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜܱ ² ² ² RELEASE DATE : 02-15-2008 PROTECTION : Nothing ² ² GAME TYPE : Chess DISKS : 1 DVD ² ° ° ßÛ²ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßßß ß ßÛÝ Release Notes: ßÛÜ ° Û Üþ Þ² ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÜ ± Û Û ÜÛß Û ² Û ßßß ° Û The beauty of Fritz is that it can be used at beginners' level Û Û ± Û or to help you hold your own against a Grandmaster! It Û Û Û Û explains moves and positions using its sophisticated and Û Û Û Û numerous coaching functions and it will adjust its playing Û Û Û Û strength to exactly match the opponent. There are training Û Û Û Û modules and amusing handicap levels and Fritz is used by club Û Û Û Û and tournament players in the study of their games. Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Another feature of Fritz is the Chess Media System, bringing Û Û Û Û the world's greatest chess players into your living room. You Û Û Û Û can benefit from instruction from famous chess teachers in Û Û Û Û subjects such as opening traps, middlegame strategy and Û Û Û Û endgame skills. There are over 14 hours of full Û Û Û Û high-resolution video and sound featuring the likes of Garry Û Û Û Û Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Viktor Korchnoi and many others. Û Û Û Û Also included is three months free subscription to Û Û Û Û www.playchess.com, a one-click connection to the largest chess Û Û Û Û community in the world. Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û New dramatically improved chess engine (about 80 Elo points Û Û Û Û stronger) Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Upgraded database with over one million games - from 1625 to Û Û Û Û 2007 Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Improved openings book Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û New training function to practice the calculation of Û Û Û Û variations Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û New section on the chess server with tactical puzzle solving Û Û Û Û competitions Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û "The Magic Eye" which scans the 3D board making the search Û Û Û Û visible for the user Û Û Û ° Û ° ßÛ²ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßßß ß ßÛÝ Install Notes: ßÛÜ ° Û Üþ Þ² ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÜ ± Û Û ÜÛß Û ² Û ßßß ° Û 1. Unpack Release Û Û ± Û 2. Mount/Burn Image Û Û Û Û 3. Install Game Û Û Û Û 4. Play the game Û Û Û ° Û ° ßÛ²ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßßß ß ßÛÝ Greetings: ßÛÜ ° Û Üþ Þ² ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÛÜ ± Û Û ÜÛß Û ² Û ßßß ° Û Salutes to our old Amiga friends from: Û Û ± Û Û Û Û Û FAIRLIGHT - RAZOR 1911 - VISION FACTORY - PARADOX - QUARTEX Û Û Û Û DCS - CRYSTAL - ZENITH - ACCESSSION - ALPHA FLIGHT - PRODIGY Û Û Û Û THE COMPANY - LEGEND - TRSI - ORACLE - ANTHROX Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Salutes to our new friends in: Û Û Û Û Û Û Û Û POSTMORTEM - FAIRLIGHT - RAZOR1911 - UNLEASHED - RELOADED Û Û Û Û BREWERS - SILENTGATE - NOGRP - ELECTRIC DRUGGIES - AVENGED Û Û Û Û CRYSTALMETH - DAWN Û Û ÛÜ°ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÜ° ßßÛ²Ü Logo and layout by: Eboy/SAE ܲÛßß ÜßßßþÜ Þ²²Ý Last updated 21/07/2007 by [XXX] Þ²²Ý ÜþßßÜ ßÜ ßßßßß ß ßßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßßß ß ßßßßß Üß ß ß |
[Throughout this week, simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich is presenting exclusive Gamasutra analysis of January's hardware and software trends, using data from The simExchange, NPD, IGN GamerMetrics and GameTrailers. Today's chart analysis examines year-over-year software-sales increases for the next two months. Previously: is the PS3 catching the Xbox 360?] Something that worth analyzing every month is comparing the most-viewed videos (on GameTrailers) and 'mindshare' elements (on IGN GamerMetrics) to the actual NPD charts, to see which ...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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[NetShowBT][Fantasia Sanguo 3][幻想三国志3+双飞愿][繁体中文破解版][5CD] (大小:3.08G 人气:137 下载:82 完成:- 种子:3) Posted: 19 Feb 2008 09:30 AM CST 发布简介：PFantasia.Sanguo.3.Collection.Edition.Chinese.Big5-CFB幻想三国志3+资料片双飞
愿破解版/P< />P【游戏封面】游戏名称：幻想三国志3+资料片双飞愿英文名称：Fanta
sia Sanguo 3游戏制作：USERJOY游戏发行：USERJOY游戏语种：繁体中文游戏类型：RP
G官方网址：A ef="http://www.uj.com.tw/game/FS3/"http://www.uj.com.
tw/game/FS3//A所属讨论区：（中文游戏大作专区）A ef="http://game.ali213.
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嘤蜗非敕梦剩篻amebt.ali213.net/P< />P游戏安装指南及版本说明：* 解压缩游戏�
� 使用Daemon Tools载入并安装游戏；* CD1-CD4为原版《幻想三国志3》，CD5为资料
片《双飞愿》安装片；* 依次安装完毕以后复制CD5光盘Crack目录下的文件到游戏目录
(已包含最新升级档)；* 开始游戏。/P< />P【游戏简介】故事缘起－ 涿鹿之战，�
频鄞笫を坑龋庥∮美纯裟Ы缰诺钠哧仔锹郑叽笙确媸拮�...
下载地址：http://gamebt.ali213.net/download-spot-1-480.html |
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Toshiba Admits Defeat In Next Gen Disc War Posted: 19 Feb 2008 05:11 AM CST
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As widely expected, officials from Toshiba have officially confirmed that the company is abandoning the HD DVD disc format, with all production of HD DVD drives and technology expected to end by March 2008, leaving Blu-ray as the sole market leader. In a statement the company announced that it will no longer develop, manufacture or market HD DVD players and recorders. The decision was taken following "recent major changes in the market" - as many ...  
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Mario & Sonic Claim Gold Again In UK Charts Posted: 19 Feb 2008 04:38 AM CST
  
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THQ, Blue Fang Creating New IP For Wii, DS, PC Posted: 19 Feb 2008 06:04 AM CST
  
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Bethesda Establishes European HQ Posted: 19 Feb 2008 04:51 AM CST
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Nintendo and Sega co-production Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has returned to the top of the UK sales charts once again, although this time it is the Nintendo DS version - following its debut last week. The Wii version is again out of stock in UK stores, falling completely out of the top forty and accounting only for 7 percent of overall sales of the title. In a slower period for new releases, ...
Publisher THQ and Zoo Tycoon developer Blue Fang have announced a new partnership to create a new yet-unannounced property expected to be released at some point in 2009 on the Nintendo Wii, DS, and Windows PCs. THQ executive VP of publishing Scott Guthrie noted Blue Fang's prior successes with the Microsoft published Zoo Tycoon franchise have "served to expand the casual gaming demographic through its accessible, compelling gameplay" and said the new property should "strongly ...
Officials from U.S. publisher and developer Bethesda Softworks have announced that the company has established direct publishing operations in Europe, with a new London based subsidiary that will publish throughout the UK and other EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) territories. The new subsidiary will be named ZeniMax Europe, after parent company ZeniMax Media, and will publish under the Bethesda Softworks brand. Previous Bethesda titles, including the best selling The Elders Scrolls role-playing game series, ...  
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Posted: 19 Feb 2008 08:13 AM CST 其实关于是否应该在游戏中花钱这一问题,就我自己本人的思想也发生过很大的转变.包括到现在开始制作游戏,去考虑如何吸引玩家来花钱这一问题上,我的看法都是不断的在改变. 游戏世界是一个虚拟世界,自己的角色在那个世界里代表了什么,我想每一个玩家都清楚,无论是打发时间,还是占据了生活的一部分,如果你得到一件高级的虚拟物品后会高兴一下,哪怕只是那么一下,都说明这个游戏对你产生了影响. 来说说我花过钱的游戏,购买的单机不算,买点卡游戏的网游也不算,只算我真正买过虚拟物品的. 我第一个为虚拟物品花钱的游戏是9C的奇迹<MU>,那时候大学正面临毕业,学课通过无所事事,也算小沉迷了一阵子.在开始,我个人是极力反对用真实的货币去购买虚拟物品的,因为我那时候觉的虚拟物品就是一段数据,是游戏的组成部分,既然是这样,应该自己打出来才有乐趣,享受打到自己需要的物品这一过程,一个宝石,一件装备.而那些花钱买这些东西的人,没有感受到这一乐趣,花了那么多的钱买了这一小段代码,用当时的想法来说,这简直就是一SB. 那时,我没有工作,有的是时间. 然而,在经历了游戏超低的掉率,超高的装备升级失败率后,看着市场一套套的装备出售着,我忍不住了,花了大约800RMB买了一套装备,这是第一次花RMB买了装备,但我可不想自己被自己的想法所驳到，而那时候游戏也属于鼎盛时期,我的想法是:只是临时买来先爽一把,等自己打到了在卖掉就好... 事实上,直到最后我不玩.在这游戏里买的任何东西都没有卖过RMB,即便卖也是卖掉游戏中的市场换取了其他需要的东西了. 在奇迹中我累计花费了大约5000左右. 接着是A3,由于A3经历过一段服务器大卡的时间,我公测玩了1个月就放弃了,直到我毕业进入游戏行业,这游戏里已经是外挂开花,可在当时,我认为A3是最适合中国人的游戏,复杂的合成系统,近3000个任务(那时的游戏都是单纯打怪为主),不多也不少,单打 合作都有可发挥的地方,最主要的是PK,那是在当时我所知道的除传奇外PK最好的游戏,即便在那时,奇迹的PK都只是装备的压制和秒杀而已,技术含量根本不高.另外它的动作性,人物的身体和力量感在当时的我看来非常真实,根本不是传奇之流所能比较的.因此我很想回A3看看,但那时候已经工作了,根本没有时间在从新练号了,于是我花钱买了三个号,因为那时候A3的外挂疯狂肆孽,很多玩家都已经退出了.我用600元买了一个当时的满级帐号还带一套中上的装备,另外卖家还送了2个满级不带装备的号给我,那时几乎A3里的主要职业都全了.呵呵. 那时候觉的在游戏中不值得花太多的钱,但练一个号的花消比买一个更贵，买了也无妨．那时我在国内一家运营公司里,职务是QA. 在Ａ３中我累计花费了2000左右,但最后几个号又卖掉了1500左右. 最后就是WOW,玩WOW时正是我事业上升期,时间很不够用,而我对在游戏里花钱有了很大的改变,当我发现在WOW中打钱花费的时间还不如同等时间下工资的一半时,我毅然放弃这种浪费时间的作法开始卖点卡,一口气就卖了6000RMB.从120G一张点卡一直卖到400G一张,然而当我卖完最后一张点卡准备开始享受一切不劳而获的游戏生活的第2天时,我被盗号了.损失惨重...(我之前的日志好象有提过,有兴趣的朋友可以翻回去看看).那时候我已经参与到游戏开发的过程中了. 这时候我的观念已经发生了天翻地覆的变化.过去我觉的那些花钱买这些东西的人,没有感受到这一乐趣,花了那么多的钱买了这一小段代码,这人简直就是一SB. 而现在我回想自己当年为了这么一段代码浪费这么多时间自己去打,我简直就是一大SB.从此,我毅然不会舍不得自己的钱包,不会在任何游戏中浪费时间去打钱,打装备.现在,我已经有一帮子兄弟一起在开发游戏,成为一个游戏制作人,管理着一支完整的开发团队了... 然而,在免费游戏越来越多的今天,我依然无法接受直接从运营商购买虚拟物品.有人会问,那这样对你来说买玩家的和买人家运营商的有什么区别.同样是代码而已. 这里我要谈谈这一小段代码了,同时也来谈谈一个开发者如何站在玩家的角度来考虑各种消费问题与消费习惯了. 我们买的虚拟物品究竟是什么? 我们购买的虚拟物品仅仅是这件物品本身吗?个人觉的物品本身只是购买内容的一部分，我们真正所购买的是一段消费服务.容我举例说明. 随便拿个游戏,就拿传奇吧,假设,在传奇中拥有屠龙刀的人,就是这个服务器的顶尖人物,一个玩家24小时在线用1个月时间打到了一把,被我花费7000元买来.我买到的仅仅是这把刀本身吗?我觉的不光是这样,我购买的还包括他这1个月的劳动,以及顶尖人物的转移,从他转移到了我.这些内容就不光是这段代码本身了.这种虚荣感和荣誉感不仅是直接制造一段代码所能换到的. 而直接的免费游戏如果可以买这把刀,那么我买到的就仅仅是段代码,对运营商来说没有任何的消费服务在里面.并且,人人都可以买,只要有钱就可以,根本不存在这种物质转移的成分在其中.这个道理不光是买虚拟物品,买号,找代练和花钱直接买N倍经验的虚拟消耗品也同样如此. 有人可能会问,那过去有游戏发生过GM卖装备,给亲友送装备调等级的事件发生,到底是属于什么?我认为这是一种玩家浅意识里麻痹自己的成分.因为游戏的大环境在这里,这种事件只是个例,没有人会知道或认为'我'得到这些不是如此简单,即便知道了,他们也没有能力同样去获得,认识GM的人总比一个服务器里的有钱人要少的多吧?所以玩家会麻痹自己,认为这些所得,和服务器里的大众所得是一样的. 还有一种是QQ秀类的虚拟物品,这类物品我认为不能归属到以上例子中,因为这完全就是满足视觉感官的一个东西,不改变游戏内容,愿买愿卖,纯粹是个人喜好和习惯而已. 讲到这里我想大家应该明白,这部分玩家的消费心理是怎么样,那就是:我愿意花钱,我不是舍不得,但我要花的有意义,有满足.运营商可以卖,而且卖的越便宜越好,越高级越好,最好啊!还能只卖给我一个.... 最后来说说什么物品最贵,最贵的不是价格的高低,而是消费服务的程度,当这件物品背后的消费服务程度越高,那么这件物品的贵贱自然显而易见了.而这个比例的加大和减少,则是玩家对于这件物品心里价位的赔赚比例. 开发游戏的朋友们,你们了解该如何设计你们的收费道具了吗? |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2008 03:43 PM CST 注意：如果进行1P跟2P组队进行2V2对战电脑过关，也就是TEAM-CO-OP和SU-CO-CP模式，必须要用2P按键进入选人画面，由2P先选择角色然后再到1P，否则先让1P选人会让2P的按键无效。 本地下载：http://www.galgame.net/up/Mugen_Jam.torrent ...
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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XNA Game Studio AI Challenge at GDC! Posted: 20 Feb 2008 12:07 PM CST Charles Cox XNA Developer Educator
We’d like to invite you to test your skill with XNA Game Studio and win fabulous prizes at the 2008 Game Developers Conference!
Join one of eight exciting sessions of the XNA Game Studio AI Challenge, a live-coding competition pitting you against three other competitors in a virtual combat arena for great prizes, including Zune Digital Music Players and an Xbox 360 Elite.
Competitions are only an hour long and start at 9:10 AM, 12:10 PM, 1:10 PM, and 3:40 PM on Wednesday, Feb 20th and Thursday, Feb 21st. Sign-ups run all day on both days, so stop by Booth #738 and sign up to battle it out!  |
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST |
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Posted: 18 Feb 2008 06:49 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 16 Feb 2008 06:06 AM CST |
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Posted: 06 Feb 2008 07:02 AM CST “腾讯派”： “阿里系列”： |
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Posted: 06 Feb 2008 03:01 AM CST
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Posted: 06 Feb 2008 02:52 AM CST 国外免费的PHP空间挂了。索性挪yo2来啦，反正也可以绑域名。用Live Writer试发第一篇日志吧。 |
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Posted: 30 Jan 2008 06:05 AM CST 引文1： 引文2： 引文3： |
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Posted: 20 Jan 2008 06:14 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 20 Jan 2008 06:14 PM CST 小Y 上传了一张照片：
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Posted: 14 Jan 2008 05:05 AM CST 期末考试监考，考试没多久，一个学生向我示意要上厕所，我同意了，跟在他后面出了教室，谁知道他并没有去厕所，反而到电梯间去了，我跟过去一看，他居然在抽烟！我让他赶紧回教室，他说什么昨晚太累了抽根烟提提神。肯定不是为了今天考试昨晚开夜车的，而是昨晚又去上网了。而且考试期间出来抽烟，不知道大家见到过没有，反正这是我遇到的第一回，我很不高兴，要他掐灭烟回教室考试，他不干，嚷嚷出来抽根烟不行啊！这可是考试期间哪！ 是不是仗着他是毕业班学生，还是欺负我是新来的，或是他个头比我还大。回到教室他嘴里还叽里咕噜着什么。我让他拿出考试证，他说丢了，并且说又不止他一个人丢了，凭什么就找他一个人要，我当时真怒了，想记他作弊，但是院长书记都曾经说过“我们学院的考风很好……要提前制止学生……不能害了他们一生……”，忍了，让他继续考。 这小子得寸进尺，拿出手机出来按哪按哪。我又过去，要他把手机收起来，他又说，凭什么别人可以拿手机出来我不可以。但是别人是拿来看时间的而且放在桌上的啊，有没有把玩。 我再也忍不下去了，出教室打电话给院长报告，院长让我把电话给那学生，不知道说了些什么，这回学生回话的时候很乖，还辩解说烟一口都没抽。说了几句，电话换给我又进教室考试去了。 再后来，拿出纸条抄，我也懒得管了。 考试结束，我去向院长解释，刚说了一声“没想到学生随便到这地步”，可能院长很忙，而且他对这件事肯定不在意，转过身走了。那我也只好离开了院长办公室。 社会上反对声音一阵接着一阵，高校还在继续扩招，扩招的结果呢，以上就是一个师范院校的本科生的一幕，不知道是不是特例，但是发生了这一起还是，真让人哭笑不得。反正，我中午没吃下饭。 |
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Posted: 12 Jan 2008 05:54 AM CST 断断续续的，Blog写了3～4年了，有在各大网站上写的，有自己下载程序写的，还有，像现在，在托管的Blog上写的，到处都留下我的足迹。我不是一个喜欢表现的人，我不是一个有耐心的人，我是一个赶时髦的人，我是一个懒散的人，所以，我写Blog总不能坚持下去，三天打鱼，两天晒网。更何况，自己内心还是有点封闭，心思不想让别人知道，特别是跟自己熟悉的人。终于有一天，我开始怀疑，我的Blog有没有存在下去的必要。终于轮到自己做决定的时候了，域名到3月底就要过期了，考虑再三，算了，不想再折腾了，域名不续费了，Blog关张大吉啦。 |
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Posted: 09 Jan 2008 05:27 AM CST 优博一升级，啥都变乱了，害得我都没心情访问了，算了，不管了。借个地放个东西先~kingsoft |
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Posted: 05 Dec 2007 06:40 PM CST 未雨绸缪这个成语，无须强记，只是一种生活态度 夏天，别的动物都悠闲地生活，只有蚂蚁在田里跑来跑去，搜集小麦和大麦，给自己贮存冬季吃的食物。推粪虫惊奇地问他为何这般勤劳。蚂蚁当时什么也没说。 冬天来了，大雨冲掉了牛粪，饥饿的推粪虫，走到蚂蚁那里乞食，蚂蚁对他说：“喂，伙计，如果当时在我劳动时，你不是批评我，而是也去做工，现在就不会忍饥挨饿了。” 这是说，尽管风云变化万千，未雨绸缪的人都能避免灾难。 |
"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 11:09 AM CST 通常地说，虫洞战略家是一种活跃在一个不算很长的历史时期内的职业，这些人生活在跃迁技术严重依赖自然或人工虫洞的时代。 宇宙时代的初期，个人英雄主义的机器人和用来向行星表面投掷的太空战和小行星毫无疑问地统治了星系内战斗。宇宙时代的末期，有些宇宙的战争变成了艺术或者体育运动，人们派出象征性的地面武力决定世界归属；有些战争则类似地球历史上被称作“中世纪”或“一战”时期的水平，双方耗费天文数字规模的资源去造曼森球（一种环绕着恒星建筑、可以彻底利用恒星能量的巨大人工建筑物）一类的东西当作要塞。也有些宇宙因为混沌之类的奇怪影响导致技术退化，无法正常使用虫洞跃迁技术；当然，也有些宇宙掌握了自由跃迁技术，对这些宇宙来说宇宙战就是游击战。 对不生活在以上那些时代的虫洞战略家们来说，宇宙战略是很简单的。他们的世界观满足以下这些条件： 1. 虫洞网不是三维的，而是一张二维的拓扑网。星球如点，而虫洞是连接他们的线。星系战斗是亚光速的，而跃迁战斗是超光速的。 2. 可以自由决定跃迁路线的技术或者尚不存在，或者经济上很不合算，因此跃迁和反跃迁形成了作战的核心。 3. 舰队对行星拥有着绝对的优势。一只哪怕很小的舰队也不会在行星战斗上遇到很大麻烦，基本不会有宇宙优势被一些个人英雄挡住而无法转变为地面优势的情况。 4. 宇宙战的胜负基本只取决于双方集结舰队的规模。但在那之前你要保证你的舰队能在正确的时间，正确的地点以正确的数量和阵型到达集结点。 ——《银河系大百科全书》，“W”卷“Wormhole Strategy”条目 本来应该先解释一下名词，但我又犯懒了……虽然“虫洞”、“跃迁”这些词汇对科幻爱好者们来说耳熟能详，但似乎还真是很难找到基于这个设定的科幻名作。绝大多数的宇宙大战世界观不是行星重力井内甚至地面上的竭力搏杀，就是围绕着数量级十分离谱的舰艇们展开的宇宙大战。当然，也有些家伙开着机甲或者是用着原力什么的对抗混沌势力，这些我就不算作严肃的宇宙战争作品了。基于虫洞宇宙的能被称作名作的小说我想来想去好像还真的只有洛伊斯·比约德的迈尔斯系列，这个瘸子爵爷和他的封建贝拉亚帝国是生活在一个虫洞战略家活跃的宇宙里。不过，这个系列小说在中国的知名度和它的质量很不成正比。质量真的很不错，节奏利落，阅读快感很足，有点儿西德尼·谢尔顿的意思。洛伊斯·比约德是个非常聪明的作者，叙事和悬念都玩得很好，偶尔玩玩罗曼史和推理也不差，在我心目中她的水平大概和同为女科幻作家的厄休拉·勒奎恩差不多。顺手推荐一下这两个女作家的所有作品。全系列14本目前有中文的8本，没语言问题。 在游戏界的情况也差不多：绝大多数的虫洞宇宙都出现在太空飞行游戏——而非战略游戏里面，他们选择使用虫洞世界观只是为了方便切换星系地图和优化。最著名的几个太空4X游戏的宇宙观其实也不是虫洞宇宙：半人马阿尔法其实就是个地面文明游戏，银河文明只是给地面文明游戏换了个太空背景的图片……太空帝国系列的虫洞也只是一张又一张战术星系图切换的场景，你不可能真的在这个游戏里面打出跃迁防御或者反跃迁追击来——因为跃迁只需要一步移动力，胜似闲庭信步。是的，虫洞战略家们只是活跃在一个不算很长的历史时期内的职业，无论是在小说、电影、动画还是在游戏里。 本次的主题是太阳帝国的原罪（SOASE，Sins of a Solar Empire，Stardock/Ironclad Games，AR 88%）。之所以从虫洞战略开始扯，是因为以上关于虫洞战略的描述是这个游戏战略面的特点。 太阳帝国的原罪恐怕是最近PC游戏中最大的黑马了。几乎所有评论媒体都在赞叹这个游戏，88%的AR和9.0的Gamesopt评分都异常高扬——以可怜的小型专业太空游戏发行商Stardock的角度来看，这事儿可不多见。制作这个游戏的Ironclad Game是一个新公司，根据网站记录来看项目启动应该在04年或05年初。游戏的核心概念是“如果把太空RTS和太空4X游戏结合起来会怎样呢？”，于是他们在内政上放弃了传统RTS的基地-矿山建设系统，代之以类似太空4X游戏的探索-开发-扩张系统。 这个点子不太难想，不过想做好还是颇有些难度。传统4X游戏和即时的RTS的设计思路只能用南辕北辙来形容。4X游戏秉持的是席德·梅尔的回合制传统，讲究的是“One More Turn”的快乐。要做出那种“每回合玩家都畅想着下一回合会得到的收益而无法放弃”的感觉，无论是科技树还是兵种都必须设计成多层次、大数量，保证每个回合玩家都能完成一定程度的发展并获取回报。这和RTS讲究短平快的作战和简化科技的方向是完全不同的。SOASE的制作团队采取的方案是折衷，他们简化了兵种和内政，但是基本保持了科技树的规模。游戏一共有三个种族，每个种族只有5种旗舰和10种普通舰艇，而且这些舰艇都可以在开始游戏的30分钟内研究完成，兵种组合上甚至不比魔兽争霸3更复杂。当然，这样做使得某些RTS的玩家抱怨一场中地图战斗需要三四个小时太长，而某些太空4X玩家抱怨系统太简单缺乏深度，但多数人还是很好地接受了这种游戏设计。玩家来玩一个游戏的时候，心目中都带着对游戏内容的某种预期：这取决于游戏的题材、游戏的类型和玩家本身对这一类型的认识。如果你做的是一个跨类型游戏，这个游戏应当至少能满足这两个单独类型爱好者们的最低期望。当他们在游戏里面看到一些比预想中更出色的东西时，整个游戏的评价就会上调。 SOASE的教学模式设计有些失败，又臭又长还不知道在说些什么，完全没有体现出游戏的精髓。我甚至觉得制作组应该直接录制一个标准开局，然后加以解说，这对于绝大多数熟悉RTS运行模式的玩家足够了。游戏虽然将教学切成了四块，游戏本身的进行其实是很明快的，所有打过魔兽争霸类RTS的玩家都能很快上手。游戏中的主力舰完全就是魔兽争霸里面的英雄，它们占用多到吓人的人口数量，可以提升等级，当等级足够高的时候就可以横扫一切。游戏的科技树太过庞大，就算你打五个小时也不可能在正常速度下研究完所有科技，于是关键的科技分期从普通RTS的“时期”变成了“人口数量”，这个人口维持费和收入百分比挂钩的设计明显也是抄袭自WC3。4X的部分掌握起来也很快，1级人口时期只能打下小行星，2级人口时期可以打下冰原、火山和沙漠，3级人口时期就可以去打类地了——整个游戏有用的一共也就只有这五种星球。机械地探路-扩张后，这个游戏战略部分的特色才会出现。 惊喜的部分出现在跃迁和反跃迁作战的部分上，在这个游戏里面跃迁和进攻时机的重要性被提到前所未有的高度。如果你很确定对手的主力舰队远在四、五个星区以外，你完全有机会在一次突袭中消灭对手经济的几个核心星球；而一次计划周详的反跃迁作战则可以在对手正自信满满推进的时候以迅雷不及掩耳的速度干掉对方的旗舰。用一支分舰队拖住对手主力，在另一个方向上组织自杀式攻星舰队也是有效的骚扰方法也是很有用的，电脑尤其擅长……我刚接触这个游戏的时候被电脑的游击战搞得焦头烂额，但逐渐也被迫学会了用较弱的小分队拖敌人进入消耗战，然后用预备队设下圈套引诱对手集中火力轰杀对方缓慢的旗舰。焦土政策，空间换时间在这个游戏里面也是有效的战术，准备一支候补殖民船队“被动防御”（也就是再次殖民的隐晦说法）敌方的自杀式攻星舰队也还算是有效的。必要的时候，你需要通过外交构建一条通向对方腹地的道路，利用双方共同的盟友侦查对方的行动路线和集结状态，或者设置一处凡尔登的绞肉机消耗对手的有生力量……这个游戏的战略面较为成功地体现了“位置”、“时间”这些要素在战略中的重要性，而非“操作”。 当然，游戏设计上的缺憾还是不少，比如说那个海盗系统……这东西大概是作为一个无限经验源泉而设计的？我得说“竞标海盗”的概念很缺乏感觉。初期的海盗强攻足以扫平玩家前15分钟一半的努力，而叫高难度下的海盗会被电脑们用金钱喂饱到你需要动用主力舰队来抵抗的程度。喂两家盟友专门用来反海盗也是不错的，但这些盟友看起来就是永远喂不饱的狼，他们永远哭闹着要你去攻击你其他的盟友或者远在十个星区外的共同敌人……这倒是继承了文明系列那些狼电脑的光荣传统（笑）。当然，另外一个很绝望的场合就是你以为你的盟友在帮你守卫着侧翼，结果却发现他和来袭的敌人也是盟友……另外一个缺憾就是到达2000舰队上限以后的游戏会变得手忙脚乱而失去绝大部分的乐趣，这个游戏并不是给发展狂们准备的，不过这无伤大雅。 整体来看，这个游戏的评分还算能说明游戏的制作质量和态度。整个游戏的核心概念十分明确；绝大多数的设计都是为了这个明确的目标服务，而细节和系统上也能支持这个目标。设计团队的头脑很明显是清晰的。最后，没有战役模式这一点稍微有点……RTS和4X确实都不是以战役模式的内容见长，但干脆根本放弃去做……好吧，对预算不足的公司来说可以理解，但总感觉好像被涮了一把似的。 |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 12:06 PM CST IGF 2008 Winners Announced Extra-special congratulations to Kloonigames with Crayon Physics Deluxe. The guy's been cranking out approximately a game every month for a while, now. I guess that goes to show how actually making and finishing games will make you better. One of his games proved to be really strong, and now he's been making a deluxe version of it which totally rocks... and he now has a little bit of extra funding and lots of extra press. I finally played Audiosurf last night. Way cool game. Who woulda thought that "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" would make such a fun race-track? Sure, its a gimmick. But it's a clever and fun gimmick - and the best part is comparing your score with other people who apparently have the same musical tastes as you. Desktop Tower Defense won the new "Gleemie" award. While it was definitely deserved, I was still disappointed that the awesome RPG Depths of Peril didn't place in the top three. |
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Indies On Consoles - For Real, This Time? Posted: 21 Feb 2008 11:57 AM CST I am not at GDC, so I missed the announcement. Microsoft is finally opening up the flood gates for REAL indie developers to release content But - for indies - this is potentially very, very big. Announcing: XBox Live Community Games XBox Live Community Games, the Most Important News In Gaming, Ever? GDC Keynote: Microsoft Reveals Community Features for XBLA XBox Live Community Games FAQ The big question is about selling. How is this going to work? Apparently, that's not been entirely resolved yet. According to the FAQ: "We are still finalizing the business models and revenue sharing details of Xbox LIVE Community Games at this time. More information will be available closer to the retail consumer launch this holiday." So all you guys who "wasted" your time playing with XNA... your efforts may just pay off after all! |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Latest games at Rampant Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1 |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 11:20 AM CST This article is the conclusion of the "XFire Debate Club Annex" that Corvus Elrod and I have been doing for the last month. In this series, we took a bunch of questions that were asked in the audience participation chatroom that didn't make it to the actual debate, and we're giving our best answers. At least, trying to mask our stupid looks and ignorance. This week, we've got four questions about the business of making indie games. These are fun, because ... while I have answers for them, I don't have "THE" answers for them. There probably is no "real" answer. But these are based on my own experience, and that of other successful indies that I have had contact with. I should have a permalink from Corvus soonishly, but he should soon have his response to these same questions: XFire Debate Club Annex, Part IV How do you start making indie games? What kind of education do you need? I'll start out by answering the education. You don't need any kind of education, but you need to be educated. Does that make sense? In other words, a formal education might help, but it's not required. However, I can't count the number of times I've been asked by someone, "How do I get started? I have a cool idea for a game! But I have no money, no team, no art skill, no marketing experience, and no interest in programming." My answer is: "No chance." It ain't happening. If you are going to make an indie game, you are going to wear many hats. If you want to be in charge, make your own game, then it means you will need to know a little bit about a lot of things - and where you are lacking, you are going to need help, and you'd better know somebody who can chip in their expertise. But for the most part, you will need to educate yourself about all of these things. Indies don't have the luxury of being paper-pushing middle managers, or sitting in some ivory tower and being "an idea guy." Indies are low-budget, down-in-the-trenches, roll-up-the-sleeves and get it done people. If you aren't willing to learn and become educated (through OJT), you shouldn't be trying indie games. I'm learning new stuff every week. That's a big reason why I love doing this stuff. Now how do you start? You start as simple as possible, IMO. Pick your technology, pick your game, but make it something you can start (and finish) quickly. People ask me "how do you estimate the time it will take to complete tasks," and my only answer is, "Past experience." A hotshot programmer may be able to get something done in a day that takes an inexperienced programmer two weeks. A skilled artist may get something right on the first try, and an inexperienced artist may go through a dozen iterations and end up with something that is merely adequate. The only way you can learn is by doing. Grab yourself a copy of Game Maker and make yourself a breakout game. Learn Python, grab Python and PyGame and maybe the source code to Hackenslash and and make something out of it that doesn't suck (or sucks less than what I made...). Start building. Try to make something in a single day, if you can. Or a week. Or a month. Just make something you can finish. Start by getting a screen up. Then get some player inputs working. Then bring in your own custom art, and learn what that takes. Bring in your own sound effects, and see what it takes. Then wire in your game logic. Then finish all the features, menus, UI, and the zillion other tasks that you will discover your need. Then make it FUN. Then polish. There's no better training in the world than actually sitting down and making a game, start to finish, even if its nothing but a Space Invaders clone. The scale and budget changes, but the basic process remains the same. How big is your team? How big do you wish it was? For Frayed Knights, my team is three people right now. I'm the designer / manager / producer / programmer / buck-stops-here guy, and I also do a little bit of 3D modeling and 2D art (where it's simple), marketing, business development (signing contracts, purchasing stuff), and ... well, pretty much everything else. Kevin Rogers is our internal level guy, a very specific task which he is very good at. James McEwan, who also did a lot of the models in Void War, is handling a lot of the 3D modeling tasks, and has also been jumping in to help out on sound design and 2D art. Mike Nielsen is contributing his awesome musical skills, and we've contracted out for other elements like concept art, character portraits, and the title screen. And I've also been imposing on friends to help me with things like writing and editing. And I've bought a lot of content off-the-shelf. For a long time, though, it was a team of one. The way I do indie projects, so far, is it starts out as a one-man project, and the team kind of accrues organically. Team Size: In my dream version of Rampant Games, we have four or five people working on a game in a small apartment-style office. Plus contractors off-site. And that's as big as it gets. Seriously. I don't want a huge team working on the games - that dilutes creativity and personality, and introduces a huge overhead in communication and process. it becomes more of a widget factory all about process than a creative endeavor. And it really increases the cost of a game. Forget that. Small, tight teams! How do you get funding to make an indie game? I have a day job. Seriously. Making indie games is a privilege I pay for. I also sell some games from Rampant Games, mostly by other indies. It helps me pay for contractors, buy tools, and license content. And buy the occasional indie game. So that helps pay for the actual cash costs of making the game, and the rest is ... uh, "sweat equity." Eventually, one day I'd like to be selling enough from Rampant Games so that I could actually devote myself full-time to making and selling indie games. But for now, I work a 9-12 hour day at the day job, commute, spend a couple of hours with the family, sleep maybe five hours, and devote most of the remaining time to doing this. For free. Easy it ain't. But I'd rather be doing that than sitting around waiting forever for my 'ship to come in' or whatever. But hey - tell everyone you know to buy games from me so I can make that transition faster. That'll help. :) Do you make indie games to up-sell to publishers, or do you self publish? I expect to self-publish. If I end up with a publisher at some point, and the deal makes sense to me, and I knew that the publisher was legitimate, competent, and paid their bills on time, then I'd be okay going through a publisher. And bear in mind there are some small, indie-style publishers out there too. Not every developer is Bioware, and not every publisher is EA (oh, wait, Bioware IS EA now... well, nevermind). The thing would have to come down to what the publisher is bringing to the table, and to realize what I'm giving up in return. For it to make sense to me, I'd assume a worst-case scenario: The game sells poorly, and that this is a one-time deal. I think too many inexperienced developers happily give away their most valuable assets on dreams of retiring as a one-hit wonder or something. If the publishing deal got me on store shelves, allowed me to retain IP rights and continue to sell directly from my own site (and portal partners), then I'd be willing to talk. But I don't plan on it when developing a game. I expect to handle all of it myself. (Vaguely) related visual droning: * Questions for Indies, Part I * Questions for Indies, Part II * Questions for Indies, Part III Got More To Add? To Ask? Here's a Forum Discussion! |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Latest games at Rampant Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1 |
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CGS: The Media Myth Of The Casual Gamer Posted: 21 Feb 2008 07:29 AM CST
  
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SOE Partners With Vivox For In-Game Voice Chat Posted: 21 Feb 2008 09:00 AM CST
  
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Havok Offers Havok Complete For Free To Developers Posted: 21 Feb 2008 06:00 AM CST
  
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 10:32 AM CST You want start a game development project, but you are unsure on the ways you are going to manage it. As an indie like you, I also don’t have cash for consultancies or ERP software packages! So here goes a fair number of web-based tools to help you managing people. DotProject
This is one software with a bunch of features for project managing and team collaboration. It works pretty much like traditional management software (MS Project and Primavera). It has a forum, a shared calendar for events and meetings, and an also shared contact list. The main weak point is the lack of AJAX-like functionality – so, unlike Gmail, for example, you have to reload the whole page each time you want to update it. Like MS Project, it is a complex piece of software, but a very good one. I’ve used DotProject for 2 and a half years, and now I’m moving to either Overlord or Teamwork. I came to conclude that I don’t need much complex functions for 4-8 developers teams. But that will depend on your producing methodology as well. Overlord
A managing system focused on game production, used by GarageGames. It is a great system, simple but effective for our goals. Has Web 2.0 capabilities, and has the source opened to you after buying, so you could add your own modifications afterwards. Teamwork
This one is new to me, and I’m still evaluating. Unlike DotProject and Overlord, it is a ASP-business model, so you don’t need to install anything - just create the account on their site and use it. It has lots of functions, and seems as complex as DotProject - but uses Web 2.0 controls that can really improve tasks visibility and usability for team members. And getting to know what everyone else is doing is very important thing to keep team members motivated. Useful (and free) Software
These are software not intrinsically related to project management, but can help you on specific needs. With WikiMedia software, you can keep your internal documentation updated, interactive and easily available for the project team. You can also configure that just some users can modify the Wikis (game designers, most of times). phpBB is a widely-known forum tool. You can use it as a knowledge database, issue-tracking system, and - above all - an interactive tool available for the players! The Wordpress blog system of this site is available for download! You can configure blogs for each members of your team, make a general “project” blog, or use it as your site main under-laying system (like we did on Interama site). |
Gabe Zichermann of 
Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is working with online voice services provider Vivox to offer high-quality voice chat solutions to players of its library of online games. In addition to having standard chat features, players will be able to leave and access voicemails, send broadcast messages, enable "voice fonts" to alter their voices, and receive external calls in SOE games, all with features hosted on the Vivox Network. SOE plans to add these voice chat options ...
Middleware developer Havok has announced that it will make Havok Complete, its physics and animation software toolset, available for download free of charge to game developers for non-commercial use. Havok and parent company Intel plan to offer a commercial distribution license with Havok to approved PC developers. Both believe this opportunity will "boost creative game development throughout the industry." Havok's core platform -- currently featured in over 200 AAA titles available on store shelves -- ...
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MLB 08 THE SHOW Weekly Update: Road to the Show 2.0 Posted: 21 Feb 2008 10:01 AM CST Hi everyone. Eddy Cramm (Sr. Designer) and Aaron Luke (Designer) here to bring you the next installment of our MLB 08: The Show blog posts. This time around we are going to talk about some of the details behind Road to the Show. Coming into this development cycle, we knew we were dealing with a feature that was very well received by the public in its first go-around. That being said, we still saw a lot of room for improvement. We decided to focus on three main areas, but honestly, we ended up changing a lot more than that. We wanted to add depth to the game play experience to better reflect what a player has to do as he develops in a professional system. We wanted to give the gamer more information up front so that he had a better understanding of how his decisions are affecting his career player. And we also wanted to really improve the management system so that goals and movement happened as realistically as possible. This year’s edition boasts enhancements to nearly every aspect of the mode, so much so that we’ve dubbed it Road To The Show 2.0. Starting with the front-end aspects, the PS3 Create Player system has received a major overhaul to include modifiable geometry of nearly every aspect of the head and face. If that weren’t enough, we’ve also added several new batting stance and pitching style animations, along with a handful of new player accessories to aide in the customization of your created player. RTTS 2.0 features an all-new Advancement System that acts as a road map for the player’s career progression, featuring advancement goals given by the team’s manager. The RTTS player is evaluated based on the player’s current skill set (attribute levels) and the player’s statistical performance; to decide what role within the organization the player will be given, as well as what skills are lacking and need attention. Advancement goals are then given, which encompass both attribute improvements and statistical goals, for the sole purpose of improving the player’s skill set to reach the next level. The goal durations will range based on the type of player you are. Starters will have longer durations, with higher expectations, whereas bench/bullpen players might have shorter durations and slightly lower expectations. Once you have achieved enough goals, or your player is simply too good statistically to be ignored, you will then become qualified for the next step in your career. We spent a lot of time dealing with the balance of this mode. In order for a mode like this to feel right, there has to be a sense of realism as to how you progress. If we push you through too quickly, you don’t feel rewarded and if we hold you back you will feel helpless. So when we started balancing things the first question we asked was, “When does a player hit their peak?” With some research we found that most Major Leaguers start hitting their prime around 28 years old. So using that as a point of reference we started looking at how many years does a ballplayer play to get to this point. We determined that it is 9 years into a professional career on average for a player to work their way up from the minors to that peak level. So using that information, and knowing how many attribute points the player has available to him before he maxes out, we adjusted the criteria so that you will progress and regress at a very realistic pace. Knowing that you can relate your performance directly to how it happens in the pros is totally satisfying and makes the mode that much more enjoyable. The manager messaging system has been revamped as well to provide the user with career progression specific messages including: organizational changes, advancement goal progress and results, and promotion/demotion related messages. The previous “good game” style messages are a thing of the past, so you’ll need to pay more attention to your messages in order to keep up with the organization. Statistically speaking, we’ve gone and added a new Game Stats tab within the RTTS Locker Room screen that displays all of your player’s stats for every game within the current season. This new screen will display every game the RTTS player participated in – whether you actually played the game or simulated through it – for the entire current season. For position players, you’ll have an at-bat-by-at-bat display of your stats including how you reached base and where you ended up, or how you recorded an out. Pitchers will have inning-by-inning stats that show your pitch count based on the strikes vs. balls totals along with the hits allowed, earned runs allowed, walks allowed, and strike outs recorded within each inning. The in game situational goals have received several improvements including broadening the goal result types, the addition of training points to the varied results, and an on-screen display of the result and the points earned/deducted. This year you will be rewarded for positively performing towards your goal, so even though you may not have achieved the goal entirely, if you aided the club in your efforts, you’ll still be rewarded. Achieving and failing goals will net training points that will vary based on the goal type and the current game situation. A simple goal of reaching base safely will reward fewer points in the beginning of the game, than it would in a leadoff slot in the 9th inning. Upon completion of the game and returning to the front-end, you’ll be presented with the Career Update screen where you’ll notice we’ve added an entire breakdown of every training point your earned (or lost) based on the type of stat or goal they apply to. Within the gameplay, we wanted to add goals and situations that really detail what it is like to play the game. Last year we focused on the basic events: hitting, baserunning, and fielding the ball; but there is a lot more that a ballplayer needs to know to be successful. So this year we added fielding situations where you may have to position yourself correctly for a double play or be in the right spot for a cutoff. You will have to make sure that you cover the base on a steal, or on the back end of a double play. Personally, my favorite feature is an element in baseball that has existed forever, but is never utilized in games - 3rd base coaching signs. This year, one of your goals might be “Check your 3rd base coach for a sign.” If you get that, your goal is to know what that sign means and act accordingly in game. Your base coach may also ask you to sacrifice, hit and run, steal, or just swing away. As you progress through RTTS, you will have different levels of help to learn the signs. In AA, we will pretty much spoon-feed you the correct answer, but once you get to the majors, you will be expected to know what the signs mean. This is by far my favorite addition to RTTS because it adds a level of authenticity that baseball video games have lacked. Overall, RTTS 2.0 has a lot more depth, balance and logic than the inaugural version and will really give you the sense of what it’s like to work your way up the professional ladder like no career mode ever before. If you liked Road to the Show last year, you will love it this year. And if you didn’t like it last year… you will probably STILL love it this year! And if for some reason, you still don’t like it this year? We have a lot more in the works for next year. Thanks for your time and we will see you in The Show!  |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 06:03 AM CST Wii《马里奥赛车Wii》日版发售日定在4月10日（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01008em0.html
），美版发售日虽然未定，但应该也是差不多同期。
 ——《马里奥赛车Wii》游戏封面，随游戏附带“Wii
Wheel”
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 05:55 AM CST 转自tgfc的消息：根据ign的情报，《Wii
Fit》美版将于5月19日发售，并且根据美国任天堂总裁“大猩猩”Reggie
Fils-Aime的说法，价格不会超过100美元（日本售价8800日元，折算为美元大约83美元）。
 《Wii Fit》日版的销量目前已经逼近了150万（
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01008gjv.html
），而且，这还不是最终销量。所以，这个健身软件在美国能有什么样的表现更令人关注，毕竟Wii在美国似乎比在日本还红，可能引发的“羊群效应”不可小看。
 Reggie Fils-Aime说《Wii
Fit》在美国首发会出货100万套，这个数字是日版的首周销量的4倍（
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000f5w.html
），也许代表了美国任天堂对它的信心。当然，这也无可厚非，首周卖不掉也无所谓，慢慢卖呗~
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 07:28 AM CST 游戏业界历史上的今天（2.20） 首先向2.20过生日的玩家朋友道一声生日快乐！ 下面让我们一起来回顾一下游戏业界历史上的今天吧 1987.2.20 埃斯帕之梦(KONAMI/FDS) 由于“塞尔达传说”的出现，动作RPG这一类型的作品受到了玩家越来越多的重视，各大厂商也都开始有所动作，本作就是KONAMI最早的动作RPG。游戏的画面比一年前的“塞尔达传说”有相当的进步，角色比例大，场景描绘细致，完全体现了KONAMI当时的纯熟技术。不过本作在剧情方面更加注重，玩家在各个梦中世界会发生不同的情节，游戏中对白的数量远远大于独自冒险的“塞尔达传说”，相对在动作方面就比较逊色一些。游戏的续作于5年后在FC上发卖。 经典度：4 推荐度：5 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200604/13524.shtml 
  1989.2.20 SPACE SHADOW(BANDAI/FC) 此游戏是对应FC专用冲锋枪的作品。这个外设在当时来说是非常令人震撼的，比起最初对应“打鸭子”的那款手枪型光线枪，这挺冲锋枪不仅可以做到爽快的连续射击，还设置有专门的投掷手雷的按键，并且对应游戏中的开火，枪本身也会有音效发出。游戏在一个满是异形的空间站展开，敌人大多都不是一梭子子弹就能搞定的，玩起来相当刺激。不过貌似这个外设的损坏率相当高，猪头当初玩了几次之后枪就不叫了，随后就失灵，比手枪还不耐用。话说回来，类似的外设就算是现在也很难在家用机上见到，当初为SS设计的那把酷毙的冲锋枪最终还是没有实现…… 经典度：5 推荐度：4 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200604/13141.shtml |
 
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1994.2.20 双鹰2(SETA/ARC) 时隔6年时间终于问世的纵版射击名作续集。这部作品推出的时候曾经引起相当的轰动，能够做到这一点主要依靠以下几个因素： 极具立体感的画面：游戏画面并不是通常的正上方俯视视点，而是从大约后上方45°进行俯瞰，因此，直升机的尾翼、建筑物的正面高度包括地面目标的阴影等等都可以在画面上显示出来，临场感十足； 夸张的破坏效果：游戏中无论是空中的敌机，还是地面的坦克，包括那些高耸的建筑物在内，大多数目标都是可以摧毁的。看着在己方直升机强大的火力压制下，敌机纷纷爆炸，大楼轰然倒塌，天上地下都是火光一片满目疮痍，玩家的破坏欲望可以得到极大程度的满足； 独特的指令系统：游戏中除了通常攻击之外，还可以通过输入类似对战游戏的特殊指令来发动特殊攻击，而且这种指令数量还相当繁多，在游戏中摸索这些指令也成为了一大乐趣。 另外值得注意的是，游戏所使用的主板SSV，实际上就是这块主板的开发厂商SAMMY、SETA以及VISCO三家名称的第一个字母组成的。这块主板使用V60芯片作为CPU，性能不在CAPCOM的CPS2之下，后来就在这块主板上诞生了BAPRESTO的“咸蛋超人警备队”、SAMMY的“Change Air Blade”以及VISCO的“婆裟罗”系列等射击名作。而本作则是利用该主板开发的第一个射击游戏。下面附上本作的特殊指令表，没玩过的玩家可以试试。 特殊指令表 对地导弹 下上+A 对空导弹 下上+B 燃烧弹 下下上+A 护身网 下下上+B 机炮扫射 右下左+B 后空翻360度 上下下+A或B 旋转空空导弹 右右左+B或左左右+B 旋转空地导弹 右右左+A或左左右+A 大旋转空空导弹 上右下+B 大旋转空地导弹 上右下+A 三向火 右右下左+A或B 连发空空导弹 上上上+B、B 连发空地导弹 上上上+A http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200512/11446.shtml 
 1998.2.20 海战98(USE/GB) USE的这个系列最早于1989年年底在GB上推出，1990年底推出了续作，1992年又被移植FC，如今时隔多年，又再次在GB上推出了新作，这当然得益于GB凭借“口袋妖怪”所焕发的第二春。游戏是比较简单的战略模拟，玩家需要配置己方各型战舰的位置，然后凭借战舰的搜索雷达和各种武器来探测并攻击敌人，当然，同时也会遭到敌人的探测和攻击。画面上相比早年的简陋方格要提升了许多，而且还加入了精美的特写镜头，此外各种道具的配置也更加丰富，击沉敌舰时感觉很不错。 经典度：3 推荐度：5 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200612/20220.shtml 
  2003.2.20 真女神转生3夜想曲(ATLUS/PS2) 全3D化已经不是该系列的首次了，之前XBOX版“真女神转生NINE”就已经实现了这一点，不过无论从制作的投入度、宣传力度还是玩家的关心程度上，这款系列的正统续作都要高于后者。3D化并没有影响金子一马那独特诡异画风的表现，相反更加令人印象深刻，把整个游戏那种压抑晦暗的氛围表现得极具张力。游戏一改系列经典的3D主视点，而是以普通的第三人称视点展开，显得贴近大众化，但武器和道具装备被取消，代之以“祸魂”系统的设定又显出了其独立的一面。值得一提的是本作的流畅度非常好，各种操作以及画面切换的速度都相当理想。FAMI通给本作的评分是35分，游戏的销量是25万。此外，“真女神转生”系列一直是有着非常深厚的日本文化底蕴的作品，本作是该系列第一款推出了海外版的作品。 |
经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载： 
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  2004.2.20 喷射小子欧版(THQ/GBA) 原本在DC上获得了2000年度E3展大奖的作品，现在如同“疯狂出租车”、“VR网球”、“太空电台5”等作品一样被搬上了GBA的舞台。不过如果说前几个作品还勉强说得上是移植版的话，本作就完全不像话了。原本的3D画面被改成了45°俯视视点，速度感荡然无存，经典的卡通渲染画风自然也无从说起，原作中那种随意涂鸦的自由感在GBA上就是在例行公事，实在是败笔啊。今天是本作欧版的发售日，美版在2003年6月推出，而并没有日版。 经典度：5 推荐度：4 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200610/16611.shtml 
 
 2007.2.20 合金弹头 合集(SNK/PSP) 在GBA上跳票了很长时间终于取消的“合金弹头”系列，现在来到PSP上推出了这款10周年的纪念版合集。这是一部相当超值的作品，里面包含了该系列的全部街机版作品，在原本公布的“合金弹头”、“合金弹头2”、“合金弹头X”、“合金弹头3”、“合金弹头4”、“合金弹头5”6款的基础上又加入了最新版的“合金弹头6”，实在是让人喜出望外。此外，游戏还可以对应无线联机合作。不过游戏在画面方面仅仅是强行拉伸为16:9而没有专门进行调整，是一个小小的遗憾。 |
经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载： 
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明日话题预告：塞尔达传说、星际火狐 |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 07:25 AM CST 1998.2.19 Q版赛车3(TAKARA/PS) 很长一段时间里，由于PS主机上没有一款象样的拉力赛车游戏，于是由TAKARA制作的“Q版赛车”系列凭借优良的操作性而被称为“索尼拉力”。该系列的特色就是所有的赛车都是Q版造型，游戏中还可以使用类似“马里奥赛车”的陷害对手的道具，虽然看上去缺乏正统严肃的感觉，却别有一番风味。3代在继承前作特色的基础上，将2代中的“Q版赛车村”扩大到了“Q版赛车城”，自然城中的商店等隐藏要素就更加丰富了，其中的“100、100、100计划”足够玩家探索好一阵子了。本作的销量是25万，基本上与系列前两作持平。 |
经典度：5 推荐度：6 下载： 
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FANTASTIC 4(ACCLAIM/PS) 这个游戏十分典型的向玩家显示了什么叫做又臭又长。“FANTASTIC 4”是直到现在依然红火的美国漫画，本作则是依照漫画改编的一款横向清版打斗类作品。游戏的场景和角色都是由类似实拍的CG构图，当角色在场景中里外行动时，还会出现放缩效果，营造出了相当广阔的空间感。而游戏最大的特色就是支持4P同时进行，这可是家用主机上一直就极度缺乏的，4位玩家在同一个画面上合力闯关，想想就叫人心动。游戏的关卡并不重复，流程很长，敌人的数量也不少，还有强大的BOSS存在。但是，简陋的招式、生硬的手感、不知所云的判定基本上把玩家的信心全都打消了，猪头和同伴们当初齐心协力打了2个多小时都还没有通关，实在是味同嚼蜡。如果换成是CAPCOM的某个作品有这么长的流程该多好啊…… 经典度：4 推荐度：6 下载： 
2004.2.19 武装飞鸟1+2(TAITO/PS2) 自“零式枪手2”之后，彩京这个曾经令无数射击游戏迷倾倒的厂商终于也像8年前的TOAPLAN一样离我们而去了，被一家叫做X-nauts的公司所并购。后来的PS2版“超兄贵 神圣蛋白质传说”中我们还可以看到彩京的名字，但这与我们熟悉的彩京完全就是格格不入。不过彩京曾经的辉煌是不会被遗忘的，现在由射击游戏业界的元老TAITO在PS2上重新推出彩京的往日名作系列，试图唤起玩家的共鸣。本作中包含的是1994年彩京第二部STG“武装飞鸟”以及1998年的续集“武装飞鸟2”，这个系列一直被认为是彩京作品中具有最深厚底蕴的，所以能够作为彩京怀旧系列的首个作品登场。游戏属于街机版的完全复刻，本身的素质自然不容质疑，只是对于猪头这样挑剔的玩家来说，这个版本还有很多缺乏诚意的地方：首先作品没有以往在SS、PS主机上十分流行的纵向屏幕模式（这是猪头的挚爱，经常把电视机竖起来玩），宽屏的感觉相当别扭；其次，1代作品中没有以往家用移植版的原创动画、资料设定集等内容，还不如直接玩PS版；然后，2代也没有DC版的原创角色夜女皇，画面自然更不能与DC版相比。总之，如果没有之前的SS版和DC版，那么本作还具有相当的意义，可惜……也许这就是射击游戏的现状了。 经典度：6 |
推荐度：6 下载： 
 
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影之心2(ARUZE/PS2) 曾经制作过“修道院之谜”的SACNOTH在2001年6月推出了PS2版RPG作品“影之心”，但当时在“最终幻想X”铺天盖地的宣传攻势下该作并未受到太多的关注。制作小组并未气馁，经过精心的开发，于2年半之后再度推出了“影之心2”，这款并没有进行太多宣传的作品却成为了2004年度RPG界的一匹黑马。游戏的故事发生在前作的半年之后，正值第一次世界大战爆发前夕，主角一行将要横跨欧亚大陆进行波澜壮阔的冒险。系列独特的“审判之轮”系统依然是精华所在，不但在战斗中的攻击、道具使用、发动魔法时需要转动，在抽奖和道具买卖中也要频繁使用，使得原本枯燥的战斗凭添趣味。游戏的过场CG依然是一如既往的优秀，来自不同国家的角色独特的口音差异十分明显，口型对应这一独到的特色给人十分生动的感觉。 |
经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载： |
 
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明日话题预告：双鹰2、真女神转生3 |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 07:22 AM CST 游戏业界历史上的今天（2.19） 首先向2.19过生日的玩家朋友道一声生日快乐！ 下面让我们一起来回顾一下游戏业界历史上的今天吧 1993.2.19 多拉A梦 野比与妖精之国(EPOCH/SFC) SFC主机上第一款机器猫游戏。游戏在传统横向平台式动作游戏中融入了RPG的成分，玩家需要在城镇地图上搜集各种信息。游戏从画面到音乐都很好的再现了原作的风格，并在3年时间里SFC上连续推出了4部系列作品。值得一提的是，本作对应EPOCH推出的BARCODE BATTLER 2手掌机，这台掌机玩游戏的功能相当贫弱，但是可以作为SFC主机的一个外设，其上设有一个专门的读卡器，将其与SFC主机相连，再配合专门推出的对应卡片，就可以实现平时所不能实现的功能，例如在本作中就可以使主角成为无敌状态。不过由于是EPOCH的专用产品，所以尽管已经是第二代，其影响力也并不大。 经典度：4 推荐度：5 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2004/200409/4925.shtml 
  
战斗蛙与双截龙(TRADEWEST/FC.MD.GB.SFC) 将两部动作游戏名作糅合到一起的杂烩型游戏。游戏的类型自然还是横向的清版打斗，可以使用比利和吉米兄弟以及三位忍者蛙，由于是美版作品，在操作以及判定方面比较粗糙，跟原作有较大的差距，不过融合科幻题材的版面以及支持双人同时进行还是具备一定的吸引力。游戏可以同时在4个平台上登场亮相，在当时来说是比较少见的。 经典度：5 推荐度：5 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200612/19792.shtml(GB) http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200508/8080.shtml(FC) http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200502/6596.shtml(MD) http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2004/200409/4672.shtml(SFC) 
   邪神Draxos(VICTOR/MD) 由海外版“Risky Woods”移植的横向平台式动作游戏。玩家要在诸神混战的神话时代为阻止邪神的复活进行战斗，主要的攻击方式是投掷飞镖，并可以获得多种武器切换使用。游戏中敌人层出不穷，令人基本上没有喘息的机会，角色的跳跃本领又很差，难度颇大。游戏共有12个版面。本作曾经在日本的某MD专门杂志评选中与“苏丹之剑”展开了“最下位”作品的竞争，呵呵。 经典度：2 推荐度：4 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200507/7490.shtml 
 
 1994.2.19 塞尔达传说 海拉尔幻想(任天堂/FC) 为了纪念磁碟版初代“塞尔达传说”这款伟大的作品，在作品发售8年之际专门推出的卡带版。游戏的内容以及系统方面与磁碟版原作并无差别，只是由于磁碟机的音效机能强于FC本体，所以在音乐方面略有逊色，例如片头音乐里的钟声在卡带版中就无从表现。本作不仅是对于FDS磁碟机的一种怀念和致敬，也是任天堂对FC主机的一个告别。猪头每次听到本作那由PSG波形合成的熟悉音乐时，总会有一种难以名状的伤感，尽管“塞尔达传说”和任天堂的传奇一直在延续，但20年前的那份情怀却像一片毫无喧嚣的净土，让人为之悠然神往。 经典度：7 推荐度：7 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200603/12398.shtml 
  瓦里奥森林(任天堂/FC) 任天堂官方发布的最后一款FC游戏。游戏类型是传统的落下型方块游戏，引入了爆弹的系统，可以形成纵横斜向的多重连锁，并设有丰富的对战模式。这是继GB版“超级马里奥LAND 3”之后，瓦里奥又一次以主角身份登场，不过在FC上，这也是唯一的一次。本作之后，FC上还发售了“最终幻想1+2”、“条码J联盟超级足球”、“柏青嫂大冒险3”、“J联盟胜利足球”和“冒险岛4”等5部第三方作品，之后就正式退出了历史舞台。 经典度：5 推荐度：4 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200604/13408.shtml 
 
 1995.2.19 魔神转生2(ATLUS/SFC) 继承“真女神转生”系列系统和世界观的战略模拟游戏续集。不少玩家认为本作才是真正体现“真女神转生”系列中“以恶魔的力量对抗恶魔”这一精髓的作品，游戏中同伴恶魔可以装备武器道具，也可以升级，并增加了3只恶魔进行合体的新系统，使得玩家有了更多的选择。由于是SLG，战斗场面的复杂与宏大也不是RPG所能相比的，当然，前作中华丽的战斗画面更是得到了进一步强化。此外，游戏中对于各个恶魔的台词也有着颇为细致的设定，或深沉或搞笑，个性十足。游戏的不足是战斗时电脑的思考速度较慢。 经典度：6 推荐度：7 下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2004/200412/5525.shtml 
 
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The Divnich Tapes: Nintendo, Devil May Cry 4 To Dominate February Posted: 21 Feb 2008 03:00 AM CST
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[Throughout this week, simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich is presenting exclusive Gamasutra analysis of January's hardware and software trends, using data from The simExchange, NPD, IGN GamerMetrics and GameTrailers. Our final installment reviews February's hardware and software sales predictions and the outlets providing data for these predictions. Previously in this series: comparing PlayStation 3 to Xbox 360 sales, how new releases fared & game sales trends, and why Mario Galaxy crashed while Call of Duty prospered.] ...  
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GDC: Baer, Alcorn Talk 'Brown Box' Beginnings, Industry Birth Posted: 21 Feb 2008 06:01 AM CST
  
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Critical Reception: Sega's/Bizarre Creations' The Club Posted: 21 Feb 2008 05:36 AM CST
  
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TITANIC STAR KATE WINSLET EROTIC LOVE SCENE Posted: 21 Feb 2008 04:47 PM CST |
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Commodore 64 Games Hit Virtual Console In Europe Posted: 21 Feb 2008 04:55 AM CST
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Ralph "Papa Game" Baer and Atari VCS designer Al Alcorn split an hour to sit and reminisce about their roots - how their lives and social contexts conspired for them to design and build the two seminal video game consoles. Baer started off by leaping back to the late '30s, the time before "electronics" was a noun. Back then, it was all about radio. Radio enthusiasts were radio hobbyists, and radios were simpler to build ...
This week's edition of the regular Critical Reception column examines online reaction to The Club, an arcade-style third-person shooter that reviewers describe as "a nice change of pace, and hopefully the beginning of a new genre." Developed by the Project Gotham Racing franchise creators Bizarre Creations, The Club is a time-based shooter in the vein of Sega's OutTrigger on the Dreamcast and Midway's 2001 arcade effort The Grid. Despite its unconventional focus and less serious ...
Representatives from Nintendo of Europe have confirmed that classic 8-bit computer the Commodore 64 will become the latest addition to the Wii Virtual Console - although currently only in Europe. The first two titles to be available via the Virtual Console will be Archer MacLean's International Karate and Uridium by highly acclaimed British programmer Andrew Braybrook. Both titles were originally released in 1986 and will be sold for 500 Wii Points each (£3.75/$5.00). Further regular ...  
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EA Taps Starbreeze For Secret Franchise Revival Posted: 21 Feb 2008 04:15 AM CST
  
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Officials from Electronic Arts have announced that the company has teamed up with Swedish developer Starbreeze Studios to "reinvent one of EA's most acclaimed classic franchises". Apart from the internal codename of Project RedLime, though, no other information has been revealed. Starbreeze is best known for the well received first person shoot 'em-ups The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. The developer is currently working on an extension of the latter ..."game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Fantasy Flight Games Continues Fantasy/Sci-Fi Domination by Partnering with Games Workshop Posted: 22 Feb 2008 11:40 AM CST To back up a second… Games Workshop has recently been working on consolidating their product line down to their core, while expanding their line of retail shops. This means they were focusing their efforts on selling Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Warhammer 40k, and Lord of the Rings. However, they did set up an imprint to handle a lot of these titles, along with some new ones. Chief among these side projects was the classic fantasy boardgame Talisman and the long-awaited 40k RPG Dark Heresy. Then they decided, despite a lot of success with those products, to drop them in favor of focusing on the apparently more profitable Warhammer/40k book industry. Well, turns out there was more to the story. Fantasy Flight Games, quickly becoming one of the biggest names in the adventure game industry, has licensed all of GW’s board game, card game, and rpg properties (though notes that anything primarily miniatures, like Blood Bowl and Space Hulk, are not included. Sadness for that.) Specifically mentioned in the press release above:
I wouldn’t be surprised if FFG decides to mine GW’s rich back catalog (as they’ve done before) for some new board game releases alongside all of this. FFG clearly has talent for getting licenses, and taking on all of these already successful game lines makes them an even bigger player in the industry. This is a great move by GW too: far better than the previous policies of just sitting on these games. The question is… will it make sense in a few years for the two companies to completely join together? |
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Career Feature: 'Stories from the Intern-to-Hire Frontline' Posted: 22 Feb 2008 09:07 AM CST
  
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Posted: 22 Feb 2008 11:16 AM CST
游戏确实给人一种惊艳的感觉。2D像素设计非常复古，同时又充满着时尚的感觉（我相信做过平面设计的同学都会有同感） 。游戏是简单的平台游戏（platformer)，玩家通过收集一些能力增强道具从而探索更多的地方。整个游戏只有一个关卡，但是———很大很大很大。 简单的故事，简单的操作，简单的角色，简单的画面, 唯独忧伤的音乐。游戏气氛的营造非常完美。推荐给所有人（包括女生和不玩游戏的人），戴上耳机，慢慢去享受这个奇妙的过程吧。 下载地址： http://lpchip.com/users/nifflas/KnyttStories/Install_KnyttStories_110r2.exe 资料： 该游戏获得了某年的独立游戏大奖。设计师 Nifflas是24岁的瑞典人，从编程，关卡设计到作曲全部出自其一人之手，而且他似乎喜欢作曲更甚于设计游戏。这里有一篇关于他的采访，有很多有意思的内容： http://www.planetfreeplay.com/interview/15/ 游戏的官方网站（需要代理访问，上面有Nifflas做的其它游戏，地图包等更多下载）： 相关文章：Crayon Physics 出编辑器了 2007-10-07 UBI - COH编年史 2007-07-31 Strategy Gameplay in Onslaught of UT2004 2007-01-05 Front line 2007-01-03 收藏到：Del.icio.us |
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Watch Hot Celebrity Video and Clips!!! Posted: 22 Feb 2008 06:29 PM CST |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2008 01:59 AM CST 要在Xbox Live服务上发布新游戏，游戏开发者必须是XNA开发者俱乐部（XNA Creators Club）成员，或者订购微软付费游戏开发软件—“XNA游戏工作室”（XNA Game Studio），订购这种软件每年要交99美元。而所有发布的游戏都要通过在线玩家社区质量和舒适度的检测 ...
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Posted: 22 Feb 2008 10:40 AM CST The indie RPG of comedy and fantasy, Frayed Knights, continues development - here's the story! GUI Re-Glued A major overhaul of the UI is in progress. The former UI was something only its programmer could love. The new UI isn't done yet, but it looks at least ten times better. Here's a spell being cast in combat. The character portraits haven't been re-done yet, and the buttons on the scroll are just stand-ins for now.  I can't tell you how many iterations we went on the interface. We came up with ideas, metaphors, slick systems, and then discarded them. Besides the obvious cosmetic differences, the button panel and entire combat interface has been massively overhauled. The new system doesn't rely on nearly as many pop-up windows or as many mouse-clicks, which is a Really Big Deal. Really. Even as a programmer who has the UI sense of a medieval torturer could tell it was Bad Design, but I wasn't sure how to fix it. What we've got now is a cool little pendant-looking thing that now acts as the button panel. It operates in two modes - combat and non-combat (yeah, I know, "Gee, whiz!"). The sections highlight when the mouse passes over them in a really slick low-tech awesomeness, and the icons on the right-hand side change in combat mode. I'm kinda proud of it because it is very non-Torque feeling.Earlier, whenever you attacked or cast a spell, you then had a pop-up to determine what your target was. This, on the whole, sucked. Especially since you usually keep whittling away at the same enemy until he drops. Now an enemy target is always selected by default in combat, which you can change with the pendant. In the case of spells targeting friendlies, a default friendly target appears in the spell menu, which you can change. While the switch-over isn't complete yet, it has already made things run much nicer. Not to mention look a ton more polished. The character displays are also in the process of being overhauled, but I'm not done with that yet. It should look a little bit like the mock-up James did down below (though I have since switched some of the icons around in the non-combat pendant). And I still have to finish up the combat interface. It's still not quite to the full level of functionality of the older version - I think I'm about two hours of development away from that. One Week Until Alpha SHEESH! We're gonna be handling the first wave of alpha testing uh... like... next week. In only days. I'm scared. Hold me. We just got a rough draft of the "Frayed Knights Theme" music this week from Mike "I Am Ominous" Nielsen, which will be iterated on over the weekend. The rest of the pilot chapter will use stock music, and I expect to have plenty of stock music in the full release.  There are a couple of secondary systems that just aren't there yet. And may not be by the beginning of alpha. Like... uh... saving and loading the game. D'oh. Yeah, it's a suck. But right now we're surrounded by odds & ends that we're trying to get fixed up and cleaned up before real testing starts and we get 5,000 bug reports about the same dang broken features. Each.As I've mentioned before, we're staggering alpha into groups. So even if you are in alpha, you may not be brought on until the end of alpha. Or the middle. This helps keep people from getting burned out on the first version and never playing the later ones. The game really is a game now - albeit one that has a very rough ending and some severe balance problems. I haven't had time to give it a full play-through in a couple of weeks - I guess that'll be fun for me during the alpha, too. Maybe next week that's the format the update will take... my playthrough. Complete with bugs. During alpha we're going to be frantically improving and fixing things, changing the Frayed Knights website a lot, putting together a questionnaire / survey for players, and so forth. I expect the game will change a LOT between each iteration (which should be weekly). Don't forget to sign up for the alpha if you are interested. You'll get to play before everyone else - albeit a possibly buggy, broken version! Looking Forward The beginning of alpha is a huge deal. The release of the pilot chapter in less than six weeks is an even bigger one. Our focus is almost exclusive on this release - but we're starting to look ahead to the rest of the game. In a way, the full release will be "Frayed Knights 2," but we're not thinking of it that way. I'm pretty much gonna keep right on rolling in April, May, and beyond. I've already invested some time and money into what's coming next, and we've discussed ideas as a team to cement the rest of the game. The story is set, the upcoming quests have at least a general outline, and we've even begun putting together assets. I PRAY that they'll be faster /easier to put together than the Temple of Pokmor Xang, as there won't be so much necessary on the coding / engine / system side to do. While the pilot chapter is largely self-contained, there are going to be some hints here and there as to the larger mystery and storyline going on. Although one of my fears is that the players will figure out the whole story, the upcoming plot twist, and everything else right off the bat in just the pilot episode. Then I guess I would have telegraphed things too well. Naturally, some of what we have planned will be changed. Your feedback is going to be key. It's hard to imagine, but I expect in four months I'll be looking back on this time and chuckling at how naive I was, and how much easier things were. But I really look forward to hearing what you have to say about the pilot! (Vaguely) related drivel: * Frayed Knights: Pilot Prep * Frayed Knights: Prologue and High Concept * Cartographic Incompetence and Dirk's Interview Okay Heroes - Let's Chat On the Forum Thread! |
In its coverage of the 2008 GDC and IGDA Education Summit, sister web site GameCareerGuide.com has a new feature article about four students who recently graduated and are now working in the game industry. The pivotal moment in all their stories is having an internship. A panel was put together recently at the IGDA Education Summit, where the graduates talked about how much their education and internships prepared them to work in the industry. Here's ...
今天Yiken向我推荐了这个独立游戏。“这个游戏给人一种独特的感觉：淡淡的忧伤” 推荐的时候他如是说。Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Latest games at Rampant Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1 |
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GDC: Grasshopper Composer Takada's Musical Mission Posted: 22 Feb 2008 06:44 AM CST
  
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GDC: Harrison - Game Controller Ease Key To Industry Growth Posted: 22 Feb 2008 06:04 AM CST
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Masafumi Takada, sound designer for Grasshopper Manufacture introduced himself as "sound designer, composer, and fire prevention supervisor at Grasshopper." His hour-long talk discussed the ways in which he translates game graphics, design ideas, and even game creators into music. "My theme is always translation," he began, then fleshing out the concept of translation through arrangement of existing tracks. When doing the Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, he had to think about the fans, he said. "I ...
As part of the GDC Luminaries Lunch attended by Gamasutra, Phil Harrison has been colorfully explaining the over-complexity of current game controllers to the average non-gamer, suggesting: "You hand someone a game controller and it's like you've handed someone a grenade with the pin taken out." The wide-ranging discussion at the lunch turned to the concept of reaching the wider market when Peter Molyneux asked the provocative question: "Do you think that we've failed as ...  
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GDC: Spore Producer Shaw Details Cross-Pollination Posted: 22 Feb 2008 07:07 AM CST
  
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Press Releases Can Get You Into Gaming Magazines Posted: 22 Feb 2008 09:32 AM CST When I first heard about press releases (that was ages ago), I wondered why one should bother sending any? Well, today I got reminded by one of our game players why they are important. Thanks to GameRelease.net Our Dead Wake zombie game made it to the PC Gamer US “zombie issue”. Here’s a youtube video this guy made:
I suppose this guy is living in some very cold country… |
Spore producer Caryl Shaw gave a talk at GDC concerning the mechanics and evolution of the user-generated content in the highly anticipated Will Wright designed Spore. Answering the question that was likely on many minds at the very start of her talk, Shaw again confirmed that Spore will be "shipping on September 5th, and a couple of days earlier in Europe" due to it's larger PC market. Moving on to the specifics of her role, ...
If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles. |
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GDC: Standing The Test Of Time With Sid Meier Posted: 22 Feb 2008 06:51 AM CST
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Noah Falstein, himself involved in the entertainment industry as a consultant since 1980, described himself as little more than a stuttering fanboy when faced with Sid Meier, the legendary developer of such hallmark games as Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, and Pirates. Falstein joked about the numerous hours of research he invested in Meier's games prior to the interview as preparation. In The Beginning "A lot of my games are informed by the fun of discovery," Meier ...  
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Saling The World: Professor Layton, Apollo Justice Impact DS Charts in U.S. Posted: 22 Feb 2008 01:53 PM CST
  
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Rock Band and Portal: Two Great Tastes Together Posted: 22 Feb 2008 09:21 AM CST Around these parts, Portal has seen a slight insurgence, thanks to me lending Bartoneus and Sucilaria The Orange Box. I actually had to get them to shut it down at a party last Saturday so that I could feed my Rock Band addiction and caterwaul through my rendition of Ballroom Blitz. This actually allowed them to preserve the magic a little while longer, because on Monday Bartoneus informed me that he had beaten it already (a feat that I had yet to accomplish, thanks to some damn pillars.) So anyway, it would seem that Rock Band and Portal are at odds for our time and attention… but it need not be so! After a show by the great Jonathon Coulton (who I saw live in concert before he was popular) they busted out the RB setup to unveil that the hit credit song, Still Alive, would be downloadable content for Rock Band in the near future. The other GDC announcement worth noting in this area is that Portal 2 is coming. But who cares about that, right? |
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GDC: Microsoft Reveals New XNA Community Club Monetization Specifics Posted: 22 Feb 2008 08:54 PM CST
  
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Posted: 22 Feb 2008 08:42 AM CST
  的影子~我还以为北欧游戏业还在上世纪（后来在malmo看到大的游戏店倒是有很多新出的游戏）经过Lund大教堂的时候，有个男生看到我在拍照，还特意摆了个Pose，真豆。还看到了一家”大同饭店“来北欧第一次看到中文。   |
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Posted: 22 Feb 2008 06:58 AM CST  瀬戸内夫婦激萌啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊！ 想暫時不萌都做不到啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊！ 跟梵大學習結構〜一點點練習畫man〜〜〜 超級喜歡優雅風趣的美青年〜〜〜 今天又折騰了一趟。 昨天姥姥住院了，今天上午爬起來去伺候，雖然手脚比較笨，吾輩還是努力的。 下午回來補昨天熬夜的覺，醒來就爆發了……趕緊涂鴉瀬戸内蔬菜夫婦。 萌啊〜萌啊〜就習慣了！！！ |
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Wii Stays On Top In Japanese Hardware Sales Posted: 22 Feb 2008 04:45 AM CST
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Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide. This week's charts, with data taken from February 21st, 2008, see the adventure genre leading on the Nintendo DS with Professor Layton and the Curious Village and Apollo Justice, while Sins of a Solar Empire climbs to the top of PC software sales in North ...
In a new weblog posting, XNA Evangelist David Weller has revealed more information about the Xbox Live community games project, including multiple revenue sharing models and a lack of Achievement, Gamerscore, and Leaderboard features for XNA Creators Club games on Xbox Live. Although Microsoft executives at GDC have not commented in depth about the monetization aspect of the service - or even if the games would cost money - Weller's post announcing Xbox Live community ...
Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending February 17th, following details of the software top thirty. With Super Smash Bros. Brawl still at number one in the software charts the Wii has also remained the top selling console of the week, with sales down just over 3,000 units to 78,583. Sales of the Nintendo DS, which once again accounted for exactly half of the ...  
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GDC: Emotiv Knows What You're Thinking Posted: 22 Feb 2008 04:10 AM CST
  
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Fils-Aime: Wii To Pass 360 In U.S. By June Posted: 22 Feb 2008 05:18 AM CST
  
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Cryptic Hires Activision Vet As New CFO Posted: 22 Feb 2008 04:59 AM CST
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On Thursday at the 2008 Game Developers Conference, Julian Wixson and a small panel of associates described and demonstrated the Emotiv headset and SDK, suggesting how a developer might incorporate the technology into a new or even quite finished production. The svelte Emotiv headset uses an array of sixteen EEG sensors to detect electrical impulses in the scalp. These signals are then interpreted by a suite of tools, each with its own range of applications. ...
In a short comment made to financial reporters at Bloomberg, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has claimed that the Wii will surpass lifetime-to-date sales figure for the Xbox 360 console in the U.S. by June, in part due to the imminent release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The mascot themed fighting game, which also includes characters from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and Konami's Metal Gear series, has already sold almost 1.5 million units ...
Officials from massively multiplayer online (MMO) games developer Cryptic Studios have announced the appointment of Ed Roffman as the company's new chief financial officer, an Activision veteran with a long history of overseeing acquisitions of technology companies. Roffman held several key financial appointments at Activision from 1979 to 1987 and from 1989 to 1991, including controller, vice president of finance and chief financial officer. He was a key contributor to Activision's successful IPO (initial public ...  
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