"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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Southpeak Announces Iridium Runners For PS2 Posted: 15 Nov 2007 08:43 AM CST
  
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Overlord, Jericho To Get amBX Support Posted: 15 Nov 2007 08:58 AM CST
  
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Harrison: No “Imminent” Plans for New DS Posted: 15 Nov 2007 01:57 PM CST Nintendo of America marketing exec George Harrison tells Next-Gen that a rumored redesigned DS isn’t in the company’s immediate future.
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iD Consummates Mobile Marriage [Mobile Gaming] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST
Carmack comments, "We are operating on the assumption that mobile gaming has a potential for huge growth," but one can't help but wonder how much of the success of iD's mobile games (together Doom RPG and Orcs & Elves have sold around 1.5 million copies) has to do with iD's name and not with actual marketplace growth. In any case, iD Mobile certainly demonstrates that iD plans to do this for the long haul. Id takes its gaming Mobile [USA Today] 
 
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Insomniac's PS3 Visuals Are Just Getting Started [Good News] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 11:40 AM CST
The amount of action we're able to put on the screen at 60 frames per second really dwarfs what we were able to do a year ago at 30 frames per second...I think we'll see just as big a leap from our second generation engine to our third as we did from the first to second....we're listening. I think we're going to continue seeing major leaps each year in what people are able to do with the machine for at least three or four more years.When reports like this come from any developer, we listen. But when that developer has wielded the PS3's graphical capabilities to levels we'd only hoped for so soon since its release, we experience a warming flutter of tachycardia. Major leaps in PS3 visuals for at least four more years [via threespeech] 
 
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Be Garriott's Backup Space Wingman [Space Commander British] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST
Space Adventures Offers Unique Opportunity to Participate in Richard Garriott's Orbital Spaceflight Mission as Back-up Crew Member 
 
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Early Advergames, part III [Advergames] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
Remember the Kool-Aid Man character and ad campaign from the 70s and 80s? Oh, Yeeeaaahh. By the early 80s, General Foods had started spreading the character beyond their own advertising, first into comic books. In 1983, Mattel's M-Network software division created videogame versions of Kool-Aid Man for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. This was a more complex process than the Johnson & Johnson and Purina games I mentioned earlier. General Foods did a lucrative deal with Mattel. There were two ways to get the game. One was by mailing in proofs of purchase, just like Tooth Protectors. The amount of Kool-Aid you would have had to drink was irrational, over 60 gallons by my count. Another was just to buy it the game at retail. Even by 1981 third-party publishers were creating games for multiple platforms. Imagic in particular, which was founded by ex-Atari developers, started creating their titles for VCS and Intellivision, as well as VIC-20, Colecovision and Odyssey 2. But these were always ports of the same game. The Intellivision and Atari versions of Kool-Aid Man, however, are completely different. Not just slightly different graphics and sound to account for the different machines, but totally different games. Both games pitted the player (as the Kool-Aid Man) against the evil Kool-Aid stealing Thirsties while collecting the fixings for a refreshing pitcher of Kool-Aid. In the VCS version, Thirsties are drinking all the contents of a swimming pool. The player must touch the Thirsties' straws to stop them. In the Intellivision version, player, Thirsties, and kids are trapped in a haunted house. The player must help the children avoid the Thirsties. Making two different versions of the same title hadn't happened before and, perhaps unfortunately, didn't really happen again. The reason for making different versions of the same game is actually quite compelling. Platforms differ. The Atari and the Intellivision in particular are very different machines. The ̄Atari has no frame buffer and requires the programmer to synchronize graphics to the scanline of the television. The Intellivision has an operating system, a lot more RAM, and a video graphics system based on "cards" (or what we'd now call "tiles"). The M-Network programmers made the argument that each game should be different to take advantage of the different capabilities of the systems. Marketing reluctantly agreed, partly because of the limited development time allotted for the campaign. It's an interesting lesson in an age when games are rarely developed for a single platform. Titles that appear for all three current consoles are usually developed atop middleware that makes targeting easier. Of course, this can also change how the titles are designed and developed -- the middleware is the platform as much as the end machine. Unfortunately, console exclusive titles are often marketing ploys more than they are attempts to take full advantage of a specific platform. Kool-Aid Man Ads [Toy Adz] 
 
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Why Did I Buy MapleStory Cards? [Card Games] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 10:40 AM CST
 
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Amazon's Black Friday Voteathon - $79 Wii? [Dealtaku] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 10:20 AM CST
Amazon Customers Vote [Amazon.com - Thanks Luan!] 
 
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How Complex Controllers Ruined Everything [Wii] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST
The Wii is the counter example, but before you start thinking, "I've heard this all before," Harris continues to argue that game reviews haven't figured out what to do with the Wii. Games like Carnival Games have sold well despite terrible reviews because, well, they're just easy and fun to play. Harris doesn't mention this, but it was Nolan Bushnell's original mistake of including complex controls in the Spacewar! adaptation Computer Space in 1971 that lead to the pick up and play values of coin-op, starting with PONG. How the Videogame Industry Shot Itself In the Joystick--and Why the Wii Has Stopped the Bleeding [Newsweek: Level Up] 
 
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Kane & Lynch Go Mobile [Mobile Gaming] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 09:40 AM CST
Kane and Lynch blast on to mobiles 
 
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Aeria Readies Shaiya Beta [Beta Watch] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 09:20 AM CST
Aeria Games Announces the Closed Beta for Shaiya 
 
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Koinup, the Social Network for Game Crap [Social Networking] Posted: 15 Nov 2007 09:00 AM CST
Fear the internet no more, as Koinup is here. Quoth the Koinup FAQ: Koinup is the first social network to share virtual lives, screenshots, machinima and virtual stories. It allows users to upload, share and review content they create within games, mmorpg, virtual worlds and metaverse.Now you too may share your "adventures in Second Life" while making new friends and, of course, once more friending old ones. Rejoice! Koinup [Koinup, thanks Pierluigi] 
 
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Posted: 15 Nov 2007 10:21 AM CST 我爷爷今天去世了，我没能赶回家。
 
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XNA Game Studio 2.0 Beta Available Soon Posted: 15 Nov 2007 11:54 AM CST Michael Klucher It's been a while since we posted on the upcoming XNA Game Studio 2.0 release. The good news is that there will be a XNA Game Studio 2.0 beta available for you to download very soon! This beta is considered "feature complete." This means that while we still have some issues to address, all of the features that will be in the release are included as part of the beta. However like all our previous betas, the beta is for the Windows-based computer functionality only and you will not be able to deploy games to the Xbox 360 system. Unfortunately, there were a few things that didn't make it into this release. The most prominent being that you cannot host XNA applications in Windows Forms. All the other major features that we talked about earlier this year will be available! Over the next few weeks, we'll be blogging about some of the new features in XNA Game Studio 2.0 and what's been changed. This should give you a good idea of what to expect in the release. Keep an eye on our blog or add us to your RSS reader of choice as we'll post as soon as the beta is released!  |
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Unreal Tournament 3 To Feature Mod Support For SpeedTree Posted: 15 Nov 2007 08:37 AM CST
  
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Ageia Announces APEX Physics Platform Posted: 15 Nov 2007 08:50 AM CST
  
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ESA Announces Charity Game Bundle, $900k Nite To Unite Fundraising Posted: 15 Nov 2007 08:36 AM CST
  
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Microsoft launches 6th annual Imagine Cup contest Posted: 15 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST Microsoft has announced the launch of its 6th
annual worldwide Imagine Cup competition with a total prize
fund of USD 200,000
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Will Wright Joins X Prize Board Posted: 15 Nov 2007 12:01 PM CST Sims creator Will Wright has joined the board of trustees at the X Prize Foundation, an organization that encourages world-changing innovation through a prize model.
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Independent publisher-distributor SouthPeak Games has announced it will release Iridium Runners on Playstation 2 February 2008. The new racing title is an original IP developed by Italian game studio Playstos Entertainment. Iridium Runners is set in a futuristic world of on-foot races that requires special powers and weapons to compete. SouthPeak explains the game will feature several game modes, from full-championship to single-race and split-screen multiplayer. The multiplayer function is split into traditional free-for-all racing ...
Philips and Codemasters today announced that amBX patches will be available for Codemasters titles Overlord on November 16th, and Clive Barker's Jericho by the end of the year. Shorthand for 'ambient experiences', amBX extends the gaming experience by allowing developers to use light, color, sound, rumble and air flow through enabled devices like LED colour-controlled lighting, rumble peripherals and variable speed desktop fans. Other games which are amBX compatible include Broken Sword: The Angel of ...
iD Software has announced a partnership with Fountainhead Entertainment to create a new mobile games division, iD Mobile. Id and Fountainhead had previously worked together on Doom RPG and Orcs & Elves.
Every once in a while, during the lightning-paced, dog-eat-dog world of blogging, we read something that puts the stride back in our step and allows us to finish the day without falling back on chemical enhancements. This earnest report from Insomniac on their work with the PS3 did just that. From Chief Creative Officer Brian Hastings:
Richard Garriott is busy preparing for his journey to the International 
Here's another example of weird early advergames from my collection. These aren't rare like 
So I am at Target last night, buying one of about fifty copies of Assassin's Creed they had there after a GameStop employee with a shit-eating grin told me I should have preordered, when I spot an odd little mushroom creature smiling at me from the trading card game aisle. Apparently, while I wasn't paying attention, Wizards of the Coast got together with the MapleStory folks and released a trading card game. They had apparently just arrived, judging by the lack of price tags (and the fact that I had been there in the morning looking for AC), so I bought a starter deck for $9.99, took it home, and stared at it for awhile. Why did I buy this? Sure, it comes with a booster pack, starter deck, and a game CD, but I know no one who will play this with me and have no intention of playing MapleStory. Then it hit me. You, okay? I bought them for watching by you!
Remember last year when Amazon nearly killed itself trying to sell the 
Guest writing at N'Gai Croal's Level Up, Bill Harris offers a brief history of the game controller and its evolution. Harris argues that it's the fault of Street Fighter II that arcade games, and later console games, changed from pick up and play (accessible to everyone) to complex (accessible to a select few).
Every since I was a young boy growing up in Conshohocken Pennsylvania, I've always dreamt that one day I would be able to carry two tiny psychopaths in my pocket, and now Eidos is making that dream come true. Danish developer Kiloo has lovingly crafted Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for mobile phones, now available from 
Aeria Games, who launched their North American Dream Of Mirror Online beta 
Do you feel like you don't have enough websites to share digital content? Do you cringe with displeasure at the media circus on YouTube or Flickr? Do you wish you had a game-specific website to facilitate your lack of interest in other kinds of media and experienes? Do you sometimes wonder why you have to sort through television clips, cat videos, flower images, or travel photos when all you want is to see the latest avatar fashions? 
3D animation software developer Interactive Data Visualization (IDV), has announced that its SpeedTreeRT foliage middleware will be utilized in Epic's forthcoming Unreal Tournament 3, including, for the first time, "unprecedented tree-editing features" for the game's mod community. IDV's SpeedTreeRT delivers trees and plants with adjustable wind effects, user-configurable LOD transitions, and includes a library of hundreds of tree, plant and marine models representing more than 170 core species. SpeedTreeRT also includes SpeedTreeCAD, a Windows application ...
Physics hardware manufacturer Ageia has announced APEX, a new "Ageia Adaptive Physics Extensions" platform that it says will provide developers and modders with a set of libraries and tools to streamline in-game physics implementation, set to be included with Unreal Engine 3.0 in early 2008. Ageia says the platform "saves engineering time and increases efficiencies throughout the development of next-generation titles, regardless of the platform, and enables designers to more directly utilize Ageia's powerful physics ...
The ESA Foundation has announced that it has raised $900,000 at its recent Nite to Unite black-tie charity dinner, and has announced a new limited-edition charity game pack for Christmas, bundling Xbox titles Open Season, Fuzion Frenzy, and Cars for $29.99. ESA says sales of the multi-disc set will be donated to he Foundation "to support positive programs for America's youth." The pack will be available at nearly all major retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, ...| You are subscribed to email updates from "game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Future Play 2007: Keeping The Pace With Industry Innovation Posted: 16 Nov 2007 09:42 AM CST
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The second panel of the second day of Toronto's Future Play 2007 conference was titled "Keeping the Pace with Industry Innovation," and featured MIT Gamelab's Philip Tan, GarageGames' Davey Jackson, John Nordlinger of Microsoft Research, and IGDA's Susan Gold as moderator. The discussion, aimed at academics, focused on the evolution of industry game practices and its significant changes, including beneficial development practices that have emerged over the past five years. Phillip Tan introduced the topic ...  
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Posted: 16 Nov 2007 12:06 PM CST 最近论文的核心段落，在此共享。主要用于拓展一些网络开房间FPS游戏的游戏模式。 没有进行修改，因此病句错别字会有相当分量。晦涩词句数量充足…… ------------------------- 总结以往的主流网络游戏和少量的各种网络主观视点射击游戏后再对比如今的传统主观视点射击游戏。其中间有着一个明显的脱节，产生脱节的原因各款游戏多不相同。但通常都局限于两个其实可以克服的问题。首先是公平性。其次是网络游戏特征。 公平性是传统主观视点射击游戏得以跻身电子竞技保留项目的最根本要素，也常常是网络主观视点射击游戏在设计上放不开手脚的原因。但如果从玩家的角度来出发。只要游戏不是纯粹的单一玩家对单一玩家，这个问题就是可以被解决的。这在如今的MMORPG游戏中已经得到的证实。在现代MMORPG游戏中，游戏的平衡性只考虑在各种玩家组成团体之后的情况，而不是单体对单体。 网络游戏的特征在于持续性，带有服务特征。大部分现有的网络主观视点射击游戏的研发团队都遵循以往MMORPG游戏的经验，主张对玩家不加限制，给玩家设定漫长而陡峭的成长曲线。但同时却没有像传统MMORPG一样提供足够多的，逐渐渐进的游戏内容。 相信这些问题在将来都会被逐渐改善，下文也会从较为细节的角度来改进目前网络主观视点射击游戏的模式。改进的内容主要针对每局游戏时间在15～45分钟之间的，从传统主观视点射击游戏继承而来的游戏模式。 更多内容点击全文阅读 ------------------------- |
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Analyze This: Will There Ever Be One Console To Rule Them All? Posted: 16 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
  
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Analysts: Single Console Future 'Bad For The Industry' Posted: 16 Nov 2007 06:59 AM CST
  
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October NPD Shows Stronger Wii Supply, Chance Of Dominant Holidays Posted: 16 Nov 2007 08:03 AM CST
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With Denis Dyack and EA's Gerhard Florin recently calling for a single console platform, we asked analysts from Screen Digest, Wedbush Morgan, Creative Strategies and IDC if the idea is feasible, who would benefit, and whether the PC already qualifies, in Gamasutra's latest exclusive 'Analyze This' column.
Despite calls from Denis Dyack and EA's Gerhard Florin for a single console platform, analysts have near unanimously agreed it would be "bad for the industry," hindering innovation and consumer choice. For our latest regular Analyze This feature, We asked Ed Barton of Screen Digest, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies and Billy Pidgeon of IDC: Do you think it's possible that the video games industry will create a standardized ...
In analyzing October's NPD U.S. sales report, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter and theSimExchange's Jesse Divnich have noted that stronger Wii sales show more retail supply, and have predicted that the console could dominate this holiday season with as much as a million unit lead. "It is clear that supply of Wii units to the U.S. has begun to increase," said Pachter, "with 518,000 units sold in only four weeks (an average of 129,500 units per ...  
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XNA Framework Networking and LIVE Requirements Posted: 16 Nov 2007 11:58 AM CST Michael Klucher
Program Manger - XNA Community Game Platform One of the biggest features in the upcoming release of XNA Game Studio is the ability to create networked games over Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows® - LIVE. We thought we'd take some time to explain what you can do and what you need to do it. Before we dive into exactly what you can do with networking, let's define a couple of commonly used terms:
Let's take a look at the common things you might want to do: "I want to create a game that uses networking between my computer and my Xbox 360 console." This requirement is no different from what need to run an XNA Framework game on the Xbox 360. All you'll need is a LIVE Silver Membership and an XNA Creators Club Membership. On your computer use a local System Link profile, while on your Xbox 360 console use the System Link option when creating and searching for game sessions. "I want to create a game that uses networking between two of my Xbox 360 consoles." This would require that you have two LIVE Silver Memberships and two XNA Creator Club Memberships. Again, this is no different from what is required to run a non-networked game on multiple Xbox 360 consoles at once. As above, use the System Link option when creating and searching for game sessions. "I want to create a game that uses networking between my Xbox 360 console and my friends’ Xbox 360s consoles." This scenario has slightly different requirements. Because you are now using Xbox LIVE to connect your console and your friends’ consoles, you must both have LIVE Gold Memberships. This is the same requirement for any multiplayer Xbox LIVE game on the Xbox 360 today. In addition, you and your friend both need to have XNA Creators Club Memberships. You can use the Player Match option to create and find game sessions. "I want to create a game that uses networking between two of my Windows-based computers." First, note that you would need two computers to do this, as we do not support simultaneous instances of a networked game on a single development computer. No membership of any kind would be required for this. Just create a Local Profile on each computer and you can run your multiplayer game! Use the System Link option when creating and searching for game sessions. "I want to create a game that uses networking between my Windows-based computer and my friend’s Windows-based computer." If you plan on using any of the Xbox LIVE functionality, you need an XNA Creators Club Membership on a gamertag on your computer. In this scenario, you and your friend need the same memberships as you would for the Xbox 360 console to Xbox 360 console scenario. That is, LIVE Gold Membership plus an XNA Creators Club Membership. You may be wondering why we don't allow users to use Games for Windows - LIVE without having an XNA Creators Club membership? We have a strict requirement to keep the servers both secure and make sure that XNA Framework games aren't preventing other users from enjoying all that LIVE has to offer. If we allowed everyone to use the Games for Windows - LIVE servers, we would compromise the quality of service for those who use it with Game for Windows LIVE titles. Hopefully, from the scenarios above you can see that almost everything has the same requirements as it did before. We did a lot of work to make sure that the most common method (computer to Xbox 360) works without you needing additional LIVE Memberships or XNA Creators Club Memberships. For more information about your options around networking over Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows – LIVE, check out the XNA Game Studio documentation, where we continue to expand our coverage. If you have a concern or question, leave a comment and we'll try to address it.  |
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Imagina 2008 announces speakers Posted: 16 Nov 2007 12:27 PM CST A slate of speakers has been announced for the
Media & Entertainment portion of Imagina 2008, the
European 3D community event
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CFP: Breaking the Magic Circle Posted: 16 Nov 2007 12:37 PM CST This call for papers (received via Vili) is of interest, given our frequent discussions about the magic circle here. One of the classic theories of games and play was presented by Johan Huizinga in his work Homo Ludens (orig. from 1938). Huizinga wrote about the free and voluntary nature of play, how it is "an activity connected with no material interest" and how it "proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space", involving and absorbing players utterly into a separate world set off from the "ordinary" life, while being created and maintained by communities of players. Huizinga's view has become widely known within contemporary game studies, and it is often referred as the 'Magic Circle' view on games and play. This concept has also been widely criticised, as it has become increasingly obvious how various "games external" areas play an important role in digital play, and also because digital games have become more widely enmeshed with and applied into various economical, educational and other social and cultural processes and uses.
"Breaking the Magic Circle" seminar invites presentations from multiple
• pervasive, mobile or location based gaming, The seminar is fourth in the annual series of game studies working paper seminars organised by the Games Research Lab in the University of Tampere. Due to the work-in-progress emphasis, we strongly encourage submitting late breaking results, working papers and/or submissions from graduate students. Early considerations from projects currently in progress are most welcome, as the purpose of the seminar is to have peer-to-peer discussions and thereby provide support in refining and improving research work in this area. After the seminar, separate consideration will be given to various options of publishing the seminar papers. The papers to be presented will be chosen based on abstract review. Full papers are distributed prior the event to all participants, in order to facilitate discussion. The two-day event consists of themed sessions that aim to introduce current research projects and discuss ongoing work in studies of games, play and their relation to surrounding phenomena. The seminar will be chaired by professor Frans Mäyrä (Hypermedia Laboratory, University of Tampere). Paper commentators include researchers Markus Montola, Aki Järvinen and Simon Niedenthal, associate professor of interaction design. The seminar will be held in Tampere, Finland and will be free of charge; the number of participants will be restricted. Important Dates
• Abstract Deadline: January 15, 2008 Submission Guidelines Abstract submissions should include maximum of 1.000 words (excluding references). Abstracts should be send to info-gamestudies{at}uta.fi as plain text only (no attachments). Guidelines for submitting a full seminar paper will be provided with the notification of acceptance. Our aim is that everyone participating has been able to read materials submitted to the seminar, therefore the maximum length for a full paper is set to 6.000 words (excluding references). Note also that the presentations held at the seminar should also encourage discussion, instead of only repeating the information presented in the papers. Tentatively, every paper will be presented for 10 minutes and discussed for 20 minutes. --- Ed: I won't be able to make it to Finland, but hopefully, these papers will show up online eventually. Personally, I'd like to see a paper contrasting Huizinga's magic circle with Foucault's notion of the heterotopia. Has anyone written one of those yet? :-) |
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Akella's City Of Abandoned Ships Pirated [Game Announcements] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST
Akella Announces City of Abandoned Ships |
Russian developer Akella are the closest thing gaming has to pirate specialists. They've got titles like Pirates of the Caribbean (Xbox), Age of Pirates, and Sea Dogs under their belts already, and they've just announced a new game for 2008, City of Abandoned Ships. It's a pirate RPG that allows you to take the role of the pirates themselves or any of the usual suspects: England, France, Spain, or the Dutch. You'll get ship=to=ship combat, meet historical figures, and explore land-based locations throughout the Caribbean. They're so pirate they've even come up with a nifty anagram for their advancement system: P.I.R.A.T.E.S - Power, Impression, Reaction, Authority, Talent, Endurance and Success. They might be going a little overboard here, but years at sea will do that to you. City of Abandoned Ships is due in the first quarter of 2008, most likely for the PC. 
 
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Journey Escape and Music Games [Music] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
In 1982 Data Age created Journey Escape, based on the then hugely popular band Journey's album Escape. In the game, you have to help the band reach their "scarab escape vehicle" (from the album cover) after a concert, while avoiding "hordes of Love-Crazed Groupies, Sneaky Photographers, and Shifty-Eyed Promoters. For some reason the band manager looks like the Kool-Aid Man. A less successful Journey arcade game followed in 1983, from Bally Midway. What's interesting to me about this game is that it is one of very few attempts to license and adapt bands or music to videogames. Sure, we have Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but those are music performance games. There was Michael Jackson Moonwalker, a 1990 Sega arcade game. And a strange KISS-inspired Dreamcast game. And Peter Gabriel's EVE, which is more like an interacive CD-ROM than a game. And a Chemical Brothers Flash game for the single Galvanize, which now seems to be offline. And one of my former students, Rob Fitzpatrick, made a game adaptation of a single from the band The Most. But really, music adaptation is a fairly unexplored avenue in videogames. Interesting, no? Journey Escape for the Atari 2600 [Journey Tribute] |
One more item from my collection. This one's neither rare nor particularly unfamiliar to many (although this copy is still factory sealed, perversely), but it makes for an interesting provocation. 
 
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Posted: 16 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
Here's my question about the PS3 and why it suffers so. Before and just after the console was released, Sony defended its absurd price by citing Blu-Ray as a consumer motivator. Even though the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD question has not been resolved, for the better part of this year it was possible to buy a PS3 and an Xbox 360 and the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive for less than a combo Blu-Ray/HD DVD player. Even now, a cut-rate Blu-Ray player costs around $400-$500, which is basically the same price as a PS3. And I hear you can also play videogames on the PS3. So why hasn't Sony followed through and pimped the machine as a Blu-Ray player? One reason might be that the incremental advantage of a videogame machine would be lost on a whole segment of buyers. After all there are plenty of Blu-Ray movies, and they run across the whole spectrum of film genre: everything from Ratatouille to 300, from Planet Earth to Casino Royale. In games? For someone who might not otherwise buy a PS3 but who was really into HD movies, maybe they'd enjoy having a go at Madden or even The Simpson's Game. But Sony hasn't exactly made it easy to know that would be the case. And there are essentially no PS3 titles for, let's say, more sensitive souls. FlOw might be the closest thing, and there's no way you'd know it even existed unless you read the game trades. And even then, it's too abstract for my mom. So here's a speculation. The PS3's past and future success is tied at least partly to the availability of games for the less experienced, more casual player, who is part of a household in which high-end home theater is valued. The great irony here is, the kind of games that would work are the ones we're seeing on the Wii, in terms of gameplay, but with the added benefit of the PS3's graphics rendering and disk capacity. Whether or not this is a realistic And the sad truth is, the machine is so difficult to program |
 
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Ghostbusters Teaser Trailer, Gameplay Footage [Are You A God] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 10:40 AM CST Ghostbusters Gameplay [G4TV.com] |
 
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Singapore Lifts Mass Effect Lesbian Ban [Game On] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 10:20 AM CST
The Board of Film Censors (BFC) said in a statement on Friday evening that it will selectively use games ratings to 'enable highly anticipated games to be launched in Singapore' until it puts in place a games classification system in January. The claim to be using the game as an example of the effectiveness of the upcoming games rating system for the games industry and the public at large, but we know better. Come on MDA, it's natural to have these feelings. It's part of growing up. A beautiful thing. MDA lifts ban on game with same-sex love scene [The Straits Times via GameAxis] |
It seems like 
 
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Early Advergames, part IV [Advergames] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST
In 1983 Coca Cola commissioned Atari to create a cartridge for the company's annual sales convention. The result was Pepsi Invaders, a Space Invaders variant in which the aliens were replaced by letters spelling out PEPSI. The production run was 125, one for each of the attendees of Coke's sales convention that year. Sales executives also received an Atari 2600 console along with the game. The assumption must have been that shooting down Pepsi at night might inspire more fervent sales efforts during the day.
The last time I saw one sell it went for $1,800, although it looks like we just missed one a week ago on Ebay, which was unable to get its $975 asking price. Pepsi Invaders [Atari Age] |
I'll admit up front that this one is not exactly an advergame, but it's close enough for Internet work. 
 
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Iridium Runners Brings Futuristic Foot Races To PS2 [Game Announcement] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 09:40 AM CST
SouthPeak Games Announces Iridium Runners on Playstation®2 system |
Foot racing games haven't exactly taken off on consoles over the past few generations. There was that one running game with the animals whose name escapes me, and I know there was one for the PSone, but having played both of them they obviously didn't leave much of an impression. SouthPeak is giving the running game another go this February, bringing Playstos' Iridium Runners to the PS2. The game is set in 2050, and features futuristic tracks where runners must use weapons and power-ups to win. Imagine your Wipeout racer breaks down and you have to hoof it. It looks...um. Well it sure is a running game!
 
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Smash Bros. Brawl Caters To Voyeurs and Gamblers [Dojo Smash] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 09:20 AM CST
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Today's update to the ever-helpful Smash Bros. Dojo website reveals Spectator mode, but it's not the spectator mode you're used to. Instead of joining a lobby with the competitors and watching them fight, Smash Bros. Brawl will continuously broadcast random games played between competitors online in a continuous broadcast that's always on. No player names will be revealed of course - just the stage and characters used. People will then be able to bet on the outcome of the matches using coins, preferably while sitting in a smoke-filled room filled with vicious cutthroats. There will be prizes to be had, and everyone watching gets stickers! WOOO! Now if you don't want your online matches broadcast you can set the "Allow Spectators" mode to no, but come on. Let us watch you. You know you like it. 
 
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News University Games [Journalism] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 09:00 AM CST
The games include Be A Reporter, about the basics of journalistic research, verification, and writing toward deadline; Run Your Newsroom, a game about managing and motivating people as a newsroom chief, and Covering Hospitals, a game about the unique features of reporting in the health arena. If you play Be A Reporter, maybe sometime you too can grow a fashionable and effective journalistic mane like Crecente's. News U [NewsU.org] |
News University offers free online training for journalists and would-be journalists. You just need to create an account. They've got a few games as part of their courses, which you can play for free if you create an account. 
 
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Skate Or Die Coming Soon To Virtual Console [Skate Or Die] Posted: 16 Nov 2007 08:20 AM CST
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Least, it's coming to the Australian Virtual Console. Sure it'll follow elsewhere at the same time, though, so chin up. A classification for the game's turned up on the Office of Film & Literature Classification's database, which means a Virtual Console release isn't too far off. Never played the NES version myself, as I had it on C64 (and blindly reckon its the best iteration of the lot), but hey, they all feature skating and they all feature Rodney, so there's no real need to split hairs.
 
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Posted: 11 Nov 2007 08:28 PM CST 在我国家庭内倡导和开展亲子游戏的策略？ 1,向家长宣传和说明游戏的重要性破除旧的传统观念;2,家长应民主平等对待子女;3,家长在游戏中鼓励儿童的创造与独立性;4,鼓励与支持儿童的独立游戏以及与伙伴的交往与游戏培养儿童游戏的兴趣和能力 ...
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Posted: 07 Nov 2007 06:00 AM CST 正因为如此，在之后的可以独立游戏的死亡阴影中，立刻就取消掉了元素族，不过，也没有了随机地图。死亡阴影的最大新意就是有了组合宝物，无论如何，作为3代正式意义上最后的资料片，死亡阴影也是不错的（毕竟这一作里多了许多官方设计的剧情地图）。 ...
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Eschalon: Book 1 First Impressions Posted: 17 Nov 2007 01:46 PM CST RPG Watch has posted their first impressions on Eschalon: Book 1, the "old-school" indie RPG scheduled to be released on Monday. They go into a lot of detail on the game system in general, though the author hasn't gotten too far into the game yet.
Some nifty tidbits: "Dungeons so far have been reasonably complex affairs with lots of switches, traps and locked doors. A particular feature of Eschalon dungeoneering is dealing with the dark – without a torch or other light source it’s literally pitch black... speaking of the dark, rogues and similar characters get a lot of love with skills such as pick locks, skulduggery (traps), find hidden, move silently, hide in shadows and dodge. Quests yield far more experience than combat, so using the shadows to slip past monsters is a valid approach or together with a Cat’s Eyes potion, the darkness can be used to great effect to attack enemies who suffer a big penalty with no light." Ah, that warms my roguely heart! And overall, the impression seems to be very favorable: "Eschalon is a welcome return to classic stat-based CRPG gameplay, with crisp graphics reminiscent of Arcanum and a presentation quality that sets a new standard for indie roleplaying games. Despite some question marks over the combat, we can’t wait to delve further into the game for a full review but in the meantime, grab the demo when it is released on the 19th and prepare to be hooked." Read Eschalon: Book 1 First Impressions at RPG Watch Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril |
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Mysterious Mass Effect Experience Site Surfaces [Mass Effect] Posted: 17 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST
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Kotakuite A.W. sends word that a 
 
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Game Rankings: Super Mario Galaxy Surpasses Ocarina of Time as Top Rated Game [#1] Posted: 17 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST
GamerRankings' Top Ten Ranked Games List [GameRankings] |
According to 
 
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Sam's Club To Offer Black Friday "Wii Family Fun Bundle" [Bundle] Posted: 17 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
The offer is exclusive to Sam's Club members and can be purchased online although no price was given. Beginning Black Friday from 5:00 AM until 7:00 AM, the bundles will be sold at a limit of one per customer, but after that members can purchase as many as they lke until the supplies run out. This is a one time deal and once they are gone, they are gone. Good luck Sam's Club members and try not to find yourself crushed under a one hundred pound tub of gummi bears in the fray. |
Just in time for Black Friday feeding frenzy, an anonymous tipster informs us that Sam's Club will be unleashing the "Wii Family Bundle." The package comes with a Wii, two extra Wii remotes, two extra nunchuks, Super Paper Mario, Mario Party 8 and Brunswick Pro Bowling. 
 
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 12:18 PM CST |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 09:40 AM CST
貌似我又要长牙了，记不清第几个智齿了，左下方的臼齿破土而出后一周，右后方的那位又蠢蠢欲动了……
已经提前买好王老吉了，真是不舒服啊，小时候怎么没这种感觉呢，小时候都是慢慢就长出来没有挤的感觉。
眼看四级考试又要来了，要有点行动才行啊，老这么耗着估计还是过不了，应该适当去下自习室了，痛苦啊痛苦。什么时候去呢，周一周三晚上选修课，周六周日又想玩点游戏，还要做作业做游戏，加上睡觉根本没时间。看来只剩下周二跟周四、五了，苍天啊~
大地啊~
窦娥冤里：地也,你不分好歹何为地，天也,你错勘贤愚枉做天。说出来挺爽，对抗起来挺难，佩服啊。哎，只落得两泪涟涟。 |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 08:49 AM CST  转自TWED2K 游戏名称：真实之泪 游戏製作：La'cryma 游戏发行：光谱代理 游戏语种：繁中 游戏类型：恋爱角色 游戏平台：PC 游戏容量：1DVD (MDF) [QUOTE]配备需求 主 机：PentiumIII 800MHz或同等级以上 系 统：Windows 2000/XP 硬碟空间：1GB以上 记 忆 体：128 MB以上 显 示 卡：显 示 卡：64MB以上，相容於DirectX的显示卡 音 效 卡：支援DirectX的音效卡 光 碟 机：8倍速以上DVD光碟机[/QUOTE] 序号:YCUY-HEA48N-7SUNRW-7TD84L-7ZS7SZ 游戏採用starforce4.7加密，需要用DT4.09以上版本载入镜像开始游戏 游戏介绍 ☆纯爱学园风恋爱游戏 光谱资讯最新代理的《真实之泪》是由日本三家美少女游戏製作公司Broccoli、CIRCUS和Game Crab联手合作，打造而出的动人恋爱游戏。游戏最重要的灵魂剧情则是由以《True Love Story 真爱物语》赚了不少玩家眼泪的Game Crab负责，玩家在玩之前，绝对要抱著流光眼泪的觉悟。 ☆每週一次，为了会见心爱的女主角安排行程 《真实之泪》是一款纯爱学园风格的恋爱游戏，故事的男主角是一位即将毕业的高三学生，正值面对毕业后人生规划的多愁善感时期。在他的眼前，有五位看似普通寻常，内心却埋藏著迷惘、烦恼、以及痛苦的少女。在剩下半年的学园生活中，玩家每个礼拜可以安排三天自由活动时间，安排的时候，可以看到在该次自由活动时将可以接触到哪一位女主角，同时还会显示该女主角的泪滴指数，代表了她的心情变化。如果角色的图示看起来相当悲伤，就表示她遇到烦恼的事，不要迟疑，快对她及时伸出援手吧！只有走进女主角的内心世界，瞭解她内心的不愿为人知的秘密，才有机会让她为你开啟心灵之窗，发展永恒不渝的恋情。 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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Weekend Thoughts: 'Series Loyalty and Straying from the Path' Posted: 17 Nov 2007 07:40 AM CST
  
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 06:11 PM CST 11：30才起床，到成大吃午饭已经1点了，饭后继续出发，从成大前边的岔路骑往龙泉，一路上都是橘子田，安逸。 到达龙泉准备上山，路牌指示到石经寺18 km 龙泉湖20 km 差不多开始到泉水镇15km都是上坡，这个时候有体力刚得起，但是到了石经寺路牌指示的到龙泉湖居然还有7km下坡.....- - 结果从龙泉湖返回泉水镇的时候爬坡差点熄火。最后挣扎回到龙泉，吃了晚饭再回到成都市区已经是快11点了。算了一下，今天总行程108km，爬坡都爬了20多km啊～～～
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Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Gameplay [Clip] Posted: 17 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST
Having had the pleasure of playing a fair amount of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune over the last couple of days I can tell you that it's quite a good time. Watching this video might lead you to believe that the whole game is shooting, but it's so much more. They seem to have taken the best bits from some great games and combined them together to create a really fun and entertaining gaming experience. Think Tomb Raider with some Gears of War thrown in, a little Prince of Persia for good measure and a storyline that will have you fondly reminiscing over Raiders of the Lost Ark. All this plus some of the best, if not the best graphics I have seen on the PS3 thus far. Make the jump to check out some of the wall scaling action. |
[Every weekend, Gamasutra is featuring sharp editorials and feature stories from our correspondents - today, Nayan Ramachandran of GameSetWatch's 'HDR Knowledge' column discusses the evolution of game series, from Final Fantasy through Mario and Metroid.] All dedicated gamers have their favorite series: Final Fantasy, Halo, Dragon Quest, Ys, Metal Gear, Splinter Cell. No matter which one you pick to be your personal favorite, there are always elements that tie each entry in the series together ...
 
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Kotaku Originals: From Mario Galaxy to Super Computers [Original] Posted: 17 Nov 2007 09:00 AM CST Here comes the train with your weekly delivery of Kotaku Originals. This week Fahey comes back to the Mario fold, Ian Bogost signs on to Kotaku foster care and we finally get rid of that massive computer that's been taking up room in the corner. Talking To A Chair About Undertow Wii Zapper, Link's Crossbow Training In The House Beowulf's Roger Avary Game for Convergence |
 
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 08:43 AM CST “我认识你么？”我看了看眼前的这个人，音乐渐入高潮，灯光迷离，人影攒动，我什么都看不清。
那瘦子从口袋里拿出一块手绢，抖开，然后用双手撑着举在眼前，遮住了自己的脸。
我一屁股坐回到沙发上。
“你看，我刚才就说过，你一定会喝这杯酒的。”神仙一副自得的口气。
“不！！”
这微笑在瞬间凝结。 |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 10:09 AM CST 应该是光头或者破解IC的问题。哎，什么时候有空修去吧。Super Mario Galaxy不得不停下来了....... |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 10:12 AM CST 以目前我们产品的发展趋势看, 我们的产品在发布后, 最缺少的应该是市场知识, 经验以及相应的市场人员. 网游产品, 随着史玉柱模式的成功及带动, 必然进入以市场以及营销为主的时代, 在研发上, 更强调以"玩家需求"为导向, 而不是以"主策划意志"为导向; 在市场营销以及推广上, 更强调发现和捕捉用户需求, 提供需求调研和反馈, 而不再只是"强力强调推广". 网游的研发团队, 将以"设计和技术"为主调, 彻底调整为整个团队以市场为主调, 更加强调每个团队成员都要具有良好的市场意识, 都能够从自己力所能及的事情出发更多的从市场角度考虑问题, 哪个团队能更彻底的作到在任何时候在任何地点在任何设计环节都能从市场角度考虑问题, 这个团队就更容易取得成功. 目前, 我们这个团队, 在这一块, 还差得很远. 很多人, 尤其是程序团队, 虽然已经有了市场意识, 却并没有着手作一些实际的与市场相关的事情. 与市场相关的事情, 并不完全指的是诸如贴海报, 发传单等的市场推广活动, 它还包括消费者需求和消费者消费习惯调查这样的内容, 既然, 我们已经明白市场工作的重要性, 那么, 就不应该无所作为, 所以, 我决定提前动手. 我早已经不把自己只作为一个技术人员, 一个程序人员, 而是一个产品人员, 我对影响产品成功的所有因素统统感兴趣, 并尽自己所能去发挥积极作用, 而不是相反. 虽然, 我们的大多数人, 也把自己当作是一个产品人员, 但大多数人仍然固守着自己的一亩三分地, 很少有人能突破自己的圈子来作一些圈子外的事情. 当然, 这些事, 确实本身也不该是一个技术人员所作的, 但, 我对自己的定位已经不是一个技术人员. 确切的说, 也不是一个市场人员, 如果非要说是哪一块, 还是只能用"产品人员"这个词. 这种感觉, 有点象阿里巴巴非典时, 每个阿里巴巴的家属都把自己当作是一个阿里客服一样的接听每一位阿里客户电话"喂, 您好, 这里是阿里巴巴..."的感觉. 他们丝毫不介意自己是不是真的阿里客服, 他们在意的是阿里这个品牌和这个产品. 我不再寄希望于每个人都能很好的成长起来, 就象我不再寄希望于策划团队能很好成长起来一样, 如果他们不成长, 我们不一定非要等着他们成长, 如果他们不作为, 我们不一定非要等到他们作为为止. 我们可以发挥作用的事还有很多, 在任何时候, 我们所发挥的作用, 都应该是积极的, 向上的, 有效的; 而不是只抱怨, 只叹气, 只等待. 我们也自然希望通过程序团队的努力, 能让策划团队也学会我们的工作方式, 也保持与我们一样的工作态度和斗志, 但, 这仅仅是附属的, 不应该成为我们向前推进的障碍. |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 09:41 AM CST 以前, 我也在困惑, 作为IT大行业的一员, 写程序能写到什么时候? 作技术又能作到几时? 假如, 有一天, 我不再作技术, 我又能去作什么呢? 现在, 我不再困惑了. 因为, 我找到了状态, 也找到了感觉. 这种状态, 并不是说"能够一直作技术"的状态, 这种状态, 指的是"作事的状态". 我明白了, 应该以什么样的心态和方法去作一件事, 应该以什么样的心态和方法去作一个团队, 应该以什么样的眼光去看待事件的发展趋势. 而所要作的事, 可以是现在的IT技术, 也可以是将来所从事的任何一个行业的任何一件其它的事. 我明确的知道自己的优点, 当然, 也很清楚自己的缺点. 可能, 这就叫作成长吧. 很多人, 每天浑浑噩噩的过着, 不知道自己的明天会怎样, 今天作着这份工作, 明天不知道又作着哪份工作, 今天在这个公司, 明天又不知道会在哪个公司里了. 心神不定. 如果你想找到作事的状态, 首要的一点, 你要让自己的心静下来. 无论公司大小, 待遇好坏, 能够认认真真把每一件小事作好, 每天给自己一个不一样的小进步, 一步步激励自己. 在好的环境里, 不忘记努力; 在差的环境里, 不放弃自己. 只要一个人不放弃努力, 成功, 是必然的, 只是或大或小的问题. 过去, 我总试图想强力改变自己身上的缺点, 身边的大多数人却告诉我: 你还年轻, 气盛是自然的, 不用太在意, 岁月磨砺后, 自然会沉淀下来. 原先的时候, 我不听他们的, 我觉得缺点就是缺点, 就是要纠正; 现在, 我信了, 与其这样不断强迫自己去作改变, 不如把自己的优点最大化的发挥出来, 你的优点发挥得越多, 缺点就会表现的越少. 有些东西, 其本身的好坏并不是绝对的, 就象缺点, 在某个时候是有害的, 但在另外的一个时候, 却可能是有益的. 而无论缺点是好是坏, 它仍然是你的, 就象你自己身上的一块肉, 是伴随证明你存在并证明你唯一的东西, 不用改, 也无需改. 学会善待自己, 才能善待他人. 让自己痛苦, 同时, 也就有可能给他人带来更多痛苦. 时间会消磨一切, 但唯一我们要坚持不能让它消磨的, 是你的斗志, 激情, 以及对生活和美好事物的热爱. |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 10:09 AM CST 应该是光头或者破解IC的问题。哎，什么时候有空修去吧。Super Mario Galaxy不得不停下来了....... |
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And Now To the Tricky Naming Conventions Posted: 17 Nov 2007 09:12 AM CST I’ve been looking for some generally accepted way to name class member variables. This article might go bit technical, but I try to keep it as understandable as possible. It’s quite amazing how many different ways people can define variables. Basically there are people who stick “a” to parameter prefix. There are people who use “m_speed” or “_speed” or “speed_” or “mSpeed” to define speed of some object in the game. There are also people who stick letters for constants, pointers (and various other stuff) in the prefix - but I won’t go there. My attempt to find some “generally accepted” way (in c++/object oriented programming) was bit like jumping from a flying airplane without a parachute. In both cases it will lead to one big mess. I have some pretty good naming systems (practical and revealing names playing key roles), but I wanted to ask you readers. What kind of naming conventions are you using (to define member variables and other) in your team? If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles. |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 09:36 AM CST 剧情我就不说了，可参看网上资料。简评一句：今年看过的最好看的连续剧。 我很喜欢看这种科幻片，以前是《LOST》，现在是《HEROES》。有句讲句，《LOST》一开始蛮好看的，后来主题豁边，内容每况愈下。《HEROES》绝对比《LOST》好看不止一两倍，是近年来唯一一部可以使我两点过后越看越兴奋直至四点半的片子，一般我只有坐在电脑前做事情才可以撑这么久，躺在床上看片子看过三点几乎不可能。很多时候我清晨醒来总会发现Realplay的播放器停格在片子最后一张画面，但看《HEROES》的那几天，如果我不关显示器的话，恐怕我会持续看到天亮。美剧总是这样，每集最后来一点特别能引起悬念的内容，让你看得发急，然后苦苦等上一个礼拜。连着看就不这样，悬念会使你一集看完后情不自禁地双击看下一集。一集接一集，无穷无尽，直至休眠系统强制启动。 |
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Posted: 17 Nov 2007 07:22 AM CST 发表者：水晶石数字教育学院北京中心 黑板报小组 Annie
 11月14日，寒流来袭，长春突然间就冷到了零下12度。对于一个地地道道的南方... |
"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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NIGHTS Journey of Dreams Transformation Trailer [Clip] Posted: 18 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST |
 
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GameStop Offers Free Shipping On Ghostbusters [Jumping The Gun] Posted: 18 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST
Free Overnight Shipping on Ghostbusters! [GameStop] |
Everyone is really excited about the big confirmation of the Ghostbusters game and we've even gotten to see some footage from it. But, apparently GameStop is so excited about it that they are already offering pre-orders. If you order it now you will get free overnight shipping on the game when it comes out... in a year. But you better hurry, the offer is only good for one more day!
 
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KB Toys Black Friday Deal [Deal] Posted: 18 Nov 2007 09:01 AM CST
Assorted Video Games (Buy 1, Get 1 Free) at KB Toys [Black Friday Ads] |
A little less than a week to go and the Black Friday deals are rolling in. This one from KB Toys. According to their circular, they are offering Buy One Get One Free on their entire stock of video games. The offer excludes hardware and bundles with a limit of four fee games per customer. I find it a bit odd that there are no next-gen games in the photo, but the ad clearly states "entire stock." If there is a KB in your area, you might want to give a call or stop by this week to see what the selection is like before you head over there at 6am only to find yourself faced with some crappy GBA games.
 
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Posted: 18 Nov 2007 09:24 AM CST 概念、理念、目的以及方法，我被这些东西纠缠了一年。创意、创造以及创新，说到最后，也不过是回合制战斗，排排站互相砍。市场，需求以及用户，结果也只是看现在什么火。
大局、理解、自我成长，说到最后，不过是没有计划，你们看着办，"要不要我给你们答案"？"希望你们能自己领会"，"你们不能养成依赖心理"，"我直接告诉你们效率当然高，但是我希望看到团队成长"。 我不明白，我们聚集在一起是为了做出一个自己看得过去的东西还是为了大家好好学习天天向上来的。 我所看到的真实，让我茫然……怎样才能在国内这样的环境下，制作出一个还可以的东西？大公司人浮于事，披着理想，打着官腔，小公司忙于救火，捉襟见肘，摇摇欲坠。 都走了，都走了。 -- 威尔史密斯对他的蓬蓬头的小小儿子说：你要尽全力保护你的梦想。那些嘲笑你梦想的人，因为他们必定会失败，他们想把你变成和他们一样的人  
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Posted: 18 Nov 2007 09:31 AM CST 这篇文章更多是为了前一篇译文《游戏设计认知：自底向上和自顶向下》 而翻译的
因为这篇译文中提到本文提出了另一种观点，而作者又明确说明了这两篇文章谈述的观点是有着明显区别的，两者可以共存
因此出于自己的好奇心，同时也为了各位读者的连贯性
把这篇文章也翻译出来，作为一个全局的理解
原作者：Ernest
Adams
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）：
 Designer's Notebook
The Perils of Bottom-up Game Design
Back in the 1950's, my grandfather was the superintendent of a skyscraper in Tulsa, Oklahoma called the Philtower. (That's Phil as in Phillips 66 Petroleum. Mr. Phillips was an oil baron, and he named a lot of things after himself.) At the same time, my mother was an "elevator girl" - she operated elevators in the building. The elevators in the Philtower were still controlled by hand, and she had to learn to stop them at exactly the right time to get the floor of the elevator to line up with the floor of the building. With this kind of family history, I didn't hesitate when Maxis brought out Sim Tower. I was looking forward to running a whole skyscraper like my grandpa, and operating, or at least managing, elevators like my mother. Alas, it was not to be. Sim Tower wasn't really about running a skyscraper; it was more about selling office space in one. And for such a three-dimensional object, it was a big disappointment to find myself constructing a two-dimensional building. That wasn't the worst of it, though. The real problem was the elevators.
以下省略
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
以下译文
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Posted: 18 Nov 2007 09:23 AM CST 原作者：Gilliard
Lopes 和 Rafael
Kuhnen
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）：
Game Design Cognition: The Bottom-Up And Top-Down
Approaches
(Page 1/5)
Next   It is often said that there
is one single word that ties both ends of the process of designing
a game, being its cause and consequence. That word is "fun". But
just how is it possible to create fun? What drives the creative
force inside game designers and developers to define, specify and
ultimately implement concepts that are entertaining by
nature?
以下省略
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
以下译文
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Posted: 18 Nov 2007 07:35 AM CST 离开了制作人的岗位，接下来又回到的应聘队伍的大军里面
在博客里放上自己的中英文简历各一
同时放上自己的一封自我介绍信
公开让各位朋友阅读
无论这些朋友是招聘者、猎头者、推荐者，或者仅仅是想更多地了解我的朋友
这三份资料都能让你全面地摸透我的底子
还是考虑到新浪的字数限制，已排版好的文章有太多限制
还是以图片的形式放出来，不便之处还望原谅
07中文简历（点击图片放大）
 07英文简历（点击图片放大）
 自我介绍信（点击图片放大）
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Posted: 18 Nov 2007 04:53 AM CST
写在25岁前的话
再过六个小时就25岁了，如果人生真有100岁的话，那现在已经渡过了人生的第一个四分之一了。自从21岁开始，我就不断问自己一个问题：今天你过得充实吗？今天你把一天变成三天了吗？——为什么是21岁？我到了大三的时候才真正明白自己浪费了两年的时间，然后才拼命去追补。
项目结束了，不是自然地结束，而是以我最心痛的方式去结束的——资金中断，决策层被迫裁去美术部门，对于自己亲手组建的梦幻团队，真的于心不忍。于是出于自己的团队理念和制作人立场，也向董事会引咎辞职了。虽然跟我的梦幻团队没有说过一句话地告别，然而对里面的每一个人我至今还深怀感情和歉意——假如这是一个成熟的大公司，假如我是一个对资本运作熟悉的老手，假如我的经历和经验再多一些，我们就可以共创理想了。
吹着渐凉的微风，伏在窗边看着车来人往的人群为了生计而奔波、挣扎、努力，乃至垂老之年再感叹、怀念、后悔，直到进入棺木的那一刹那。这两年我经常会为自己的工作而窃喜，虽然这两年工作和学习都异常地辛苦，虽然这两年不断变换东家，然而都是痛并快乐着。我窃喜我在毕业时终于进入了自己从小就喜好的行业，我窃喜我能为一个伴随我20年的好“伙伴”而今后付出我一辈子的努力，我窃喜兴趣和职业能同时进行，我窃喜这两年我真的做到了“每一天变成三天”的承诺。
记得刚毕业的时候，自己对自己说，我想做一个出色的“首席设计师”。当时的良师、如今的挚友Reiangle劝说我：锋芒要藏在肚里。于是我就把这个QQ签名藏了起来——当然朋友们还是可以掘坟把它找回来。
其实当时想法还没完善，“首席”、出色的，这些的定义都很模糊。我清楚知道自己想追逐世界一流的设计大师的步伐，然而在追逐过程中要立下怎么样的丰碑，留下什么样的足迹，对此我还是懵然不知。
这些天离职窝在家里，不时会想起这件事——到底我想留下什么呢？我想当一个怎么样的设计师？
我清楚明白自己想在这行内留一辈子，假如我需要安分守己地在60岁退休的话，这会是还有35年的时间。在这35年的时间中我想在这行内留下什么呢？这些天来我对这个问题也慢慢清晰了——我想留下影响力，留下对行内的影响力，想让这个行业记住有我这么一个人。
我算过这么一笔账——算算自己这个理想会不会有点痴心妄想，于是我拿起我的业余爱好：翻译国外优秀设计文章这件事来算这笔帐。在3月到11月的这9个月里面，我翻译了大概40篇优秀的设计文章，基本上是一周一篇了，写了3～4篇原创的文章，大概是2个月一篇，这一年算起来大概就是50篇的翻译和6篇的原创。假如我把这件事坚持30年，那这件事对每一年入行的新人以及行内的老人所带来的价值就很大了。
另一方面，算算今年自己做这个项目过程中敲的字，有140万字了，写了的系统大概有40个，其他文档加起来大概有80～100份，单单是和董事会方面的信件交流也占去了20～30万字的份量了。日后的工作量或许比这一年重，也或许比这一年轻，轻的时候或许我能借用这些空出来的时间为理想做更多的事。单以这一年140万字以上的数量，30年后我能留下多少文字呢？我真的为这件事感到兴奋。
有时候我会抬头看着夜空，或者用鼠标频繁地翻弄自己在电脑上记录下的过去，在追逐理想的过程中真的牺牲过很多，失去了些也得到了些。我感谢那些一直支持我并陪伴着我的人，也没有对经历和选择感到后悔——经历总是宝贵的。
对的抉择总是出现在未发生的时刻，到了那时候别做错抉择就好了，假如真的做错了抉择，那已经是过去已发生的事情了，坦然对待并积极寻求解决方法就好。
再过几个小时就25岁了，希望新的一年能如愿以偿。
感谢经历，感谢经历中出现过的人和事。 |
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Posted: 18 Nov 2007 09:27 AM CST 概念、理念、目的以及方法，我被这些东西纠缠了一年。创意、创造以及创新，说到最后，也不过是回合制战斗，排排站互相砍。市场，需求以及用户，结果也只是看现在什么火。 大局、理解、自我成长，说到最后，不过是没有计划，你们看着办，”要不要我给你们答案”？”希望你们能自己领会”，”你们不能养成依赖心理”，”我直接告诉你们效率当然高，但是我希望看到团队成长”。 我不明白，我们聚集在一起是为了做出一个自己看得过去的东西还是为了大家好好学习天天向上来的。 我所看到的真实，让我茫然……怎样才能在国内这样的环境下，制作出一个还可以的东西？大公司人浮于事，披着理想，打着官腔，小公司忙于救火，捉襟见肘，摇摇欲坠。 都走了，都走了。 |
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Posted: 15 Nov 2007 04:21 AM CST 我爷爷今天去世了，我没能赶回家。 |
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Posted: 24 Oct 2007 10:07 PM CDT 我终于也沦落到转载的地步了么?这篇文章虽然说的是互联网,其实游戏也是一样的. 导读： （1） 互联网公司是”服务提供者”，目的是发现用户需求和满足用户需求 （2） 产品管理需要”可控制、可观察、可评估、可量化”，有完备的方法和手段用以”发现”需求。 今年年初，我在一个公司内部的Seminar上说过一句话：”需求只可发现，不可创造”，但绝大多数听众不以为然，这让我很失望。我提倡这个观点的目的，是希望能通过不断的发现用户需求，以完善产品，规范开发流程，使得在线服务产品的分析、开发、测试、维护能够在一个有序和可控的规范内进行。很遗憾的是，我没能让绝大多数人信服这一点。 在一个绝大多数PM都相信”需求可以创造”的公司，要说清楚”需求只可发现”是比较困难的，但我还是试着说一说。要说清这个问题，首先需要明白公司在市场上充当的角色：提供在线服务的公司，角色就是”服务提供商”，服务对象是用户，服务手段是公司的技术、组织、运营等，服务目的就是满足用户的需求。在这个角色前提下，用户需求只需要、而且也只可能被”发现”，而不是被”创造”。但现实情况下，中国的绝大多数部门、组织、公司的领导人、经理人，都把自己当作管理者，而不是服务者，他们认为自己能左右公众的生活，能够创造用户的需求。对于政府部门、国有垄断企业、政府组织等，他们这种高高在上的定位，虽然跟不上世界的文明发展进程，但在中国毕竟还是名至实归的。但在市场化程度很高的互联网行业，在线服务提供商不能放下身段，还以为可以”创造”需求，那就是我所不能理解的了。 有经验的产品市场人员（PM）都知道，产品需求具有多样性、发展性和层次性等特点，它会随社会和科技进步以及经济发展而变化；有些需求实际存在，却没被企业发现或者企业对其不予关注；还有些需求，连用户自己也不知道是否存，即潜在需求。”发现”需求，或”创造”需求的争论焦点，就在于 “发现”或者说”创造”用户自己都不明确的需求，或者说是需求背后的需求。”发现”者认为，这样的需求是通过一些手段（如用户调研、数据分析、模型试验等）发现的；”创造”者认为，这样的需求是企业创造的，从而改变了用户使用习惯。”创造”者举得最多的例子就是apple的ipod创造了用户新一代的视听需求、芭比娃娃如何创造需求等。其实，我认为”创造”者混淆了两个概念：”创造需求和创造方法”。我更愿意认为ipod是满足用户需求的方法和手段，而不是需求本身。因为对音乐的需求本身就是存在的，用户只是不知道有什么样的方法和工具比walkman要好，apple根据自己的经验、技术、市场营销能力提供了ipod，满足了这个需求；用户本身就存在着情感交流的需求，芭比娃娃的制造者美泰公司发现了这个需求，创造了芭比服装、芭比家具和芭比娃娃朋友。我相信apple、美泰在推出自己的产品之前，肯定会有无数的调研、分析、评估，发现用户潜在的需求，”创造”出满足用户需求的产品；而不是相反，认为创造出一个产品，能改变用户的需求。 大家可能会认为，是”发现”需求，还是”创造”需求，都是文字上的游戏，没有必要做这样的无谓之争。但我不这样认为，明确需求只能”发现”，不仅仅是逻辑概念上的澄清，还涉及到产品的理念和管理方法。我认为需求只能”发现”，那么我能够使用一些可控制、可观察、可评估、可量化的方法，”发现”用户需求，并有针对性的提出解决方案，满足这些需求。在大家的经验里，”发现”需求有如下方法： 。盯住竞争对手的产品缺陷 。盯住投诉 。盯住用户的习惯 。盯住用户的幻想 。盯住市场的限制 。盯住相关信息 在日常工作种，针对这几个”盯住”，完全可以制定规范的方法，如每周例行的竞争对手情况汇编、用户投诉的整理和归纳、用户行为习惯的整理分析、市场简报。这些完全可以是PM人员的日常工作。在RD和PM配合默契、制度完善的公司，可以提供每天、每周、每月的自动报表，为需求分析提供支持。RD也能使用数据挖掘、产品原型等手段，为PM提供数据支持。 上述方法、手段，都是可控制、可观察、可评估、可量化的。我认为这是一个在线服务公司产品、技术提升的通用方法。我想象不出，”创造”用户需求的公司，该如何创造，才能保证创造出来的东西，是用户真正需要的东西？如何保证不把少数人的需求当作社会的需求？如何保证不把产品人员自己的需求当作用户的需求？我能把”发现”的方法、手段整理出来，我不知道”创造”者能否把你们创造需求的方法、手段也告诉我，并能说服我：你们的手段和方法也是”可控制、可观察、可评估、可量化”。 我想，需求是”发现”还是”创造”，并不是绝对的问题，这取决于公司的各自的产品理念和产品管理方法。我愿意把互联网公司理解为一个”服务提供者”，所以我并不认为一个公司能改变用户的需求和生活；我愿意把产品管理能做到”可控制、可观察、可评估、可量化”，而不是随意、盲目，所以我认为产品管理需要有一整套完备的方法和手段。这就是我认为”需求只可发现、不可创造”的解释。这个解释的重点是在一个产品理念下的产品管理的方法和手段。”需求只可发现，不可创造”还导出我另外想说的一句话”用户不可教育、市场不可培养”。这个观点，以后再谈。 ___ 冰簟银床梦不成，碧天如水夜云轻 |
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Posted: 22 Oct 2007 05:40 PM CDT
这就是完美的桌面记事提醒软件,谁知道有这样的?火速通知我 |
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Posted: 22 Oct 2007 03:21 AM CDT |
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Today's most popular headlines are Rock Band ... [Stats Feed] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 04:01 PM CST Today's most popular headlines are Rock Band Figures Get All Slutty (12,045 views today), Mass Effect Extended Impressions...OK, Review (9,787) and Optimus Prime Lights Altair's Darkest Hour (8,231). Today's most discussed stories are Robbie Bach On PSN - No Competition (146 comments), Mass Effect Extended Impressions...OK, Review (101) and Today is Ban Monday (96). |
 
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Why Don't Games Come In Smaller Portions? [Alternative Nation] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 04:00 PM CST
He notes: "The iTunes model hasn't been applied to games yet", and goes on to comment: We're still out there trying to get people to buy the whole album, rather than just the tracks they want. Services like Steam and episodic games like Sam and Max are great steps forward for the industry, but neither one allows consumers to instantly purchase and enjoy only the portions of the game they desire, like iTunes did for music. So, what of this idea? Crook suggests, as an alternative "a capped micro license based on which games [users] play and for how long" - but what options short of buying the whole game do you want to see? Games Trail Music in iTunes style Revenue Model [FreeToPlay.biz]  
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Link's Crossbow Training Final Impressions [Zapper] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 03:40 PM CST
The premise is fairly simple. Apparently, Link is in need of some crossbow skill honing, with scores of enemies ready to be dispatched by bolt and helpful Goron willing to wear wooden targets on their crotches for the elf-boy to shoot at. Link has limited time to shoot as many targets as possible, with accuracy and tactical score planning rewarding the player. A total of 27 stages are offered, broken up into 9 levels with 3 stages each. Three types of modes are available, including Score Attack, Multiplayer and Practice. Fairly self-explanatory, yes, but the stages in Score Attack are played in a groups of three at a time. In order to achieve the highest score and acquire the medal of the highest value (platinum, natch), you'll have to perform well in all three events. This is where Link's Crossbow Training can turn from interesting diversion to high scoring obsession. Securing a bronze medal by scoring 20,000 points in each Score Attack level is fairly simple. It's also necessary, in order to unlock levels beyond the first three initially available. Getting your hands on each level's platinum medals—requiring a rather challenging 80,000 point score—will be where one spends most of his or her time. Link's Crossbow Training may only take an hour or so to beat, but it's in the perfecting of one's score where the extra hours lie. The key to high scores is in maintaining a long-running score multiplier. If you don't miss a single shot, you can end a stage with a 32X multiplier, sometimes higher. Shoot every target and you'll be rewarded with a bonus triforce piece to the tune of 5,000. Also key to high scores are bulls-eye accurate shots and speedy shots at non-critical stage items. Things like clay pots, barrels, scarecrows and signposts not only add a point or five here and there, they sometimes contain bonus items. Golden nuggets, for example, that pop out of cow skulls and clay pots are worth up to a thousand points. Some levels contain secrets that are more well-hidden, including the first stage of the game; shoot enough arrows and the front door of a village house and balloons will fly out. Duck Hunt-level depth this is not. Link has access to three types of crossbow bolts. The standard bolt will be used far more than anything else. An exploding bolt can be fired by holding the B button until the cursor turns orange. It will do splash damage, including hurting Link if fired too closely, and can take out multiple enemies. Players probably won't use it too often, save for the game's boss battles, as it rarely helps in boosting your score. Finally, Link will sometimes have access to an automatic crossbow, which launches rapid fire bolts and is only available from enemies who glow green. There's much more to the scoring and much of the game's inherent fun is giving it a go just one more time, looking for a way to boost yourself into the platinum range (or beyond). The game's multiplayer may not be as imminently accessible (or fun) as party staples Wii Sports, ,em>Mario Party 8 or Wario Ware Smooth Moves, but it's serviceable. Only one Zapper is required as players will take turns with the shell in succession. The only negative aspects of Link's Crossbow Training are in it's very short completion time and the often frustratingly slow menu system. When hunting for a higher score, the long pauses between selecting menu options and getting back into the game can be tiresome. Some stages are simply less fun than others, if only because of their initially confusing goals and varying difficulty. Yes, these are very minor complaints. For the low buy in, it's hard not to recommend Link's Crossbow Training, as it's worth far more than the molded plastic holder with which it's bundled. With a solid line-up of Zapper-ready games coming over the next few months, it's definitely worth the budget price. |
Over at FreeToPlay.biz, Relic Labs' Adrian Cook, who heads a division of the Company Of Heroes creator looking at casual-styled 'online worlds', has been examining how the music industry's and the game industry's business models differ - and has spotted something thought-provoking.
Nintendo is no stranger to peripheral-justifying pack-ins. And while games like Gyromite and Super Scope 6 may not have ingrained the R.O.B. and Super Scope into the psyche of Nintendo gamers as strongly as Duck Hunt did with the original NES Zapper, Nintendo looks to have made the Wii version of the Zapper already memorable with Link's Crossbow Training. The game, which ships today with the Zapper casing for about $20 US, is a fantastic compliment to the mini-game filled library of the Nintendo Wii, offering a nice variety of shooting gallery games.
 
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Five Indie Picks: #1 - Deadly Rooms Of Death [Indie] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 03:00 PM CST
Well, I'm afraid that was my doing, and as Chairman of the Independent Games Festival, I get to see a whole heck of a lot of interesting indie games. So I'm picking one per day that deserves a wider audience on Kotaku and 'a little respect', as Erasure and Rodney Dangerfield both noted. Firstly, let's focus on Caravel's turn-based PC dungeon crawler, the Deadly Rooms Of Death series. It's like almost nothing else out there - we profiled it on GameSetWatch earlier this year, calling it "the most inventive pure puzzle-solving computer game ever written". The latest iteration, The City Beneath, came out earlier this year. If you like thinking and computer games (see: Portal), you will like D.R.O.D. - go check it. D.R.O.D. homepage [Caravel Games] |
Those who can remember back to June and Kotaku's 
 
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Mass Effect Soundtrack On Sale Tomorrw [Music] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 02:40 PM CST
Mass Effect Soundtrack Arrives Tomorrow [teamxbox] |
While some of you may be excited to play Mass Effect, others of you will be too poor or not own Xbox 360s. For you we have a consolation prize. It's called 
 
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Some Guitar Hero Bundles Lack The Bundle [Buyer Beware] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 02:20 PM CST
The kicker? Due to EB Games policy, the customer couldn't return the product (even in light of certain evidence). Shame on EB Games? Yeah, but bigger shame on the customer for giving in. Unless, of course, the guy was lying and the missing games were just an incredible coincidence. Buyers beware. Open GH3 in the store or suffer from a potentially lethal mix of bad luck and assholedom. |
Apparently some Guitar Hero III bundles are missing the game. As reported by our sister site The Consumerist, an EB Games employee looked on as his manager opened every Xbox 360 GH3 bundle box they had following a customer complaint, finding that none of them had the game inside. 
 
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Blacksite's 'Hidden' Political Message [Grassy Knoll] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 02:00 PM CST
Abbott references talk that the game would "invite the player to consider the moral and ethical dimensions of American foreign policy in Iraq", and compares it to his impressions of the game: "Blacksite: Area 51 is a shooter, and that's basically it. Yes, it begins in Iraq and yes, it contains mission titles like "Misunderestimated" and "Cut and Run," but once the aliens start coming at you, the game unfolds like any other standard shooter." Thus far, the game doesn't seem to be faring well with critics either, but Abbott's comments raise an interesting question - how much politics do you want embedded in your gaming entertainment? Blacksite: Where's my subversion? [The Brainy Gamer] |
Michael Abbott's 'The Brainy Gamer' blog has been taking a cerebrally enhanced look at Harvey Smith and Midway's shooter Blacksite: Area 51, which just came out last week.
 
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Magazine Offering Exclusive Everquest II Download [Promotions] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 01:40 PM CST
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In their issue hitting stands the week of November 28th, Massive Online Gamer magazine will be offering a code that can be redeemed for a limited edition Everquest II item—a portrait of warlord Venril Sathir. But for those with ants in their pants, new online subscribers can get the code emailed immediately upon writing that check. Not being Everquest II players, we can't really assess the importance or value of such a downloadable good. But it's a clever marketing strategy on MOG's part. While reading Kotaku, our readers are sometimes gifted with free syphilis, but the promotion hasn't been all that well received. 
 
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Assassin's Creed PS3 Crashing Is Firmware 2.0's Fault? [Update] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 01:20 PM CST
How To Stop Assassins Creed From Freezing And The Frame Rate Issues [via cvg] |
Last week we noted that PS3 versions of Assassin's Creed were having a 
 
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Mass Effect Extended Impressions...OK, Review [Reviews] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST
I don't really know, and I don't really care. The game's constructs—loading times hidden within elevator rides and random worlds to explore that aren't nearly as gorgeous or detailed as the main story arc planets—will be clear to most of our readers and all of the critics. Hopefully the public will see these idiosyncrasies as a natural byproduct of pushing a system to its limits, the sweat on a sprinting athlete or burp after a good meal. Because Mass Effect is a pile of amazing. It's so good that I have the game paused right now and I'm debating whether or not I should keep writing. The trick of Mass Effect is that it's a completely conventional RPG—you still talk to Sam to talk to Sally to talk to Sam again. You still kill baddies or save someone's cat from the tree to gain experience (to thereby be better at killing baddies, but not necessarily saving cats from trees). But the experience is so well articulated, so to speak, that Mass Effect transcends a simple class categorization and becomes a statement all its own. More than any game that's come before, I identify with the main character. I feel like my words are the protagonists' words. And that the protagonist's fight is my fight. The dialog scenes are a subtle revolution and a complete sham...in the best way. Beyond the masterfully cinematic direction and voice acting within these frequent back and forths, there's always a choice in how you'll respond to another character. You can be overly nice, sarcastic or brutally honest. In essence, you may not control the exact words your character speaks, but you will convey their tone. Sometimes this tone will affect a relationship or change a mission. But most of the time, it does nothing to change an immediate outcome. Here's the kicker: I don't care. I don't care that the choice is often an illusion because Bioware has come closer to speaking my voice than any game maker before. And I don't care that the idea isn't 100% new because it's executed so cleanly. Feeling such a connection with the protagonist is an invigorating feeling. It means that I suddenly care about exploring side missions, learning about made up extinct civilization or memorizing those classically horrid alien names that sci fi fans have had to suffer their way through since the beginning of time. And those times when the choice finally is real—when I can decide whether or not to eradicate or salvage a colony—I weight the consequences in a more substantial way than just wondering which response will make me more spacebucks. I care about...I kid you not...the fate of the galaxy. By creating a uniquely close connection to the story's main character, Bioware can develop the story slowly, and make the game as much about exploring the Universe as conquering it. Instead of hyperfocusing on my stats bars maxing out, I've come to value every other element in the game that I normally skip over in an RPG. Mass Effect has created a superbly interesting and beautiful world for exploration and battle. But more so, with Mass Effect, Bioware has justified a genre. Do I mean RPGs or sci fi? Maybe a little of both. |
By the time this article hits, most major review sites will have already dissected Bioware's latest creation, Mass Effect. I have no clue how it will be received—not that the game isn't great, which I'll explore in a moment—but whether or not reviewers will find too many small bugs, from texture pop-ins to the occasional glitch in a side mission/storyline to admit that the game is great. 
 
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Nanostray 2 Masters Shmuppets [Hands-On] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 12:30 PM CST
First off, the continues have gone from endless to a mere three, which completely changes up the difficulty factor of the game. Amateur shooter fans will have to go through the first three stages multiple times before making it completely through with enough lives to even consider going on to the remaining five. You'll have to learn enemy patterns, figure out which of the game's five special weapons best fit the situation, and basically learn the level like the back of your hand. Frustrating at times, sure, but if this sort of thing gets you riled then maybe you should go back to your happy, colorful platforming genre where it's safe. You can play through Adventure mode to unlock levels for play in Arcade mode, where you get the standard allotment of lives with no continues, with the goal to get the highest score. In Nanostray the first you then would get a code you could upload to the online leaderboards via the internets, but now you simply connect via Nintendo Wi-Fi and slap that baby up there for the world to see. The feature was already running in the preview and worked without a hitch. Granted my score sucked compared to the ones already posted, but such is life. Challenge mode helps a great deal. In Nanostray 2, the challenges are like little shmup nuggets that test your skills in various aspects of the genre. They've created completely new sequences for the challenges, rather than rehash established levels, and they focus on completing quick tasks, like scoring 30,000 points in 45 seconds, or surviving for a certain period of time. Some are even exercises in tactical thinking, as you are put in a situation such as a ship rising to completely fill the area you are in, killing you unless you find a way to open up an area to hide. There are four sets of eight challenges, and every time you complete one you get a little better at the main game. Very nicely done. The developers took complaints about the control scheme to heart, changing the weapon-switching over to the shoulder buttons so once you are in the game you don't need to touch the screen at all, unless you opt to control your ship with it. Choosing touch-screen control schemes moves the action from the upper to the lower screen, with the control pad handling your primary weapon and the shoulder working the special weapon. Controlling the ship with your stylus adds a degree of control and speed you don't get with the standard setup, though of course you're going to have a portion of your screen obscured by the stylus itself and your giant, snausage fingers - where applicable. All in all, this is one amazing shoot-em up for the Nintendo DS, better than its predecessor in virtually every way. Unless they do something horribly wrong between now and the January release date, expect Nanostray 2 to be the shmup to beat on the DS. |
While Nanostray was a solid side-scrolling shooter for the Nintendo DS, it wasn't without its fair share of problems, the most glaring of which was the endless continues, that made the game far less of a challenge than it could of been. Along with requiring the touch screen for weapon selections, these two features bogged down what could have otherwise been the perfect little handheld shmup. Now Nanostray 2 is still a couple of months away, but from my time with the preview build of the game Majesco was kind enough to send my way I can say that it triumphs over the original in every way.
 
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Game Inspirations: Brian Reynolds, Big Huge Games [Mini-interview] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST
So, the first of these micro-Q&As chats to Brian Reynolds, CEO of Big Huge Games, and co-creator of classic strategy games including Civilization II and Alpha Centauri (while at Microprose), Rise Of Nations - and even the Xbox Live Arcade version of Catan. What classic title made him the designer he is today? You can find out after the jump...
The "Original Adventure" (also known in later years as the Colossal Cave Adventure -- you know, the bird and the snake and XYZZY). When and where did you play it? At my father's office in about 1979. He worked at a defense contractor and would take me to work on the weekends sometimes when he was in an overtime crunch. I'd sit at the terminal of the PDP-11 they had there (a minicomputer with a CPU-plus-hard-drive unit about the size of a tall thin refrigerator) and play. Even more fun was playing on the teletype, where you could go back over the "transcript" of your play at the end. How did it make you feel? It made me desperately want to make my own games. So desperate that I sat and read the entire FORTRAN manual and started doing it! I wrote all kinds of games in junior high school and even sold one to Softside Magazine for $200 in 1981, which seemed like a lot of money to me at the time. Needless to say the money bought me more memory for my home computer which I'd finally gotten that year. How did it influence your future game making? I made "text adventures" for years after that, and learned much of my programming skills doing it (including a complete BASIC port of the Original Adventure, the FORTRAN source for which I'd discovered on the PDP, and an assembly language adventure game of my own design which I signed with Avalon Hill - though it was never released because of the imminent death of the TRS-80, and my being too young to afford other computers to port it onto!) Thinking of the Colossal Cave still brings back the original joy-of-computer-games to me, particularly the wide-open world of creating your own games. Back in those days if you wanted to play a computer game you mostly had to make it yourself, which was a great starting point for ending up doing this for a living. |
When thinking of something development-related (and interesting!) I could post as guest editor this week, I decided connecting to notable game developers - and getting them to spill the beans about what games inspired them growing up - would be a neat thing to do.
What was the first video game you were ever inspired by, growing up?
 
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Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack Coming Dec. 11th [Dlc] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 11:59 AM CST
Halo® 3 players will be able to enjoy three all new multiplayer maps on December 11 as part of the Heroic Map Pack, the first in a series of downloadable content from Bungie Studios to come via Xbox LIVE®.Ooh, DLC instructions! "Step one: ask mommy for her credit card. Step two: tell her it's alright with Dad if it's alright with her..." Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack [xbox.com] [picture] Thanks Bageloid! |
New Halo maps have arrived, or the will December 11th. For 800 points, Bungie is offering three new maps— Standoff (symmetrical combat), Rat's Nest (vehicular combat) and Foundry (Forge mecca)—which sound absolutely...mapalicious. For you cheapos (or conscientious objectors) out there who won't buy the DLC, the maps will be available for free come Spring 08 (just in time for the new maps to roll out). Hit the jump for the unabridged story.
 
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More On Zune Meeting/Hooking Up With Xbox 360 [Hardware] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 11:40 AM CST
What I want to do at E&D [the entertainment and devices division] is build an entertainment service that can connect, that has a screen and buttons and a speaker, so you can watch what you want, where you want, how you want. If you are in an MP3 aisle, we want to be the connected MP3 player. That's mainly connecting artist and audience together, mostly around the culture of music. Yes, we'll do video. Yes, we'll do games. But the heart and soul of that brand is music. Today we have Xbox live for $50 a year. We have Zune Pass at $15 a month. We don't have a rationalized premium version yet. Fast forward a little bit, and you can image a menu like DirecTV. There is basic, there is enhanced, there is movie pack and NFL Sunday ticket.Now if Microsoft could make this happen today, we'd have something. J Allard: Microsoft's Plan to Be King of All Media [via cvg] |
Last week we mentioned a bit on J Allard's 
 
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Wii Catz 2 Is An Adventure! [Clips] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST |
 
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Rock Band's Best Bit - The Couture? [Legs Akimbo] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
Firstly, The New Gamer references Harmonix's Ryan Lesser revealing that he actually used apparel designers to work on the look of Rock Band avatars, with TNG commenting: "It's about time developers woke up and realized that game designers aren't the best folks to be doing costume design - I'm surprised more studios haven't already went this route." Secondly, EA's MySims designer Robin Hunicke has got hold of the game, and contributes pics of her own heavily customized character on her GewGaw blog, grinning that "...the game provides a consistently customizable, believable, aspirational environment in which to create the rocker you've always wanted to be. It's a musical fantasy dream doll designer, plus karaoke and music game, on steroids." Aaand... bogle! Game Couture [The New Gamer] |
Just when you thought there were no more angles to be examined regarding Harmonix's Rock Band, a pair of blog posts have wandered along focusing on something intriguing - the clothes you can get in the game, the wonderful clothes, daaarlink.
 
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Dragon Releases Cheap 3rd Party Dual Shock 3 [Control Issues] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 10:40 AM CST
Playstation 3 Wireless Controller (Dragon) DuoShock 3 [Success HK via PS3 Revolution] |
Don't want to wait until next year or pay completely hideous import prices to get your PlayStation 3 rumble on? Well over at Success HK they've just put up Dragon Electronics' Duo Shock 4 controller for sale. It's a 3rd party Dual Shock controller that works with the PS3, PC, PS2, and the PSone, all thanks to a USB to PS2 port wireless adapter. Sure, you'll have a dongle hanging off the front of your PS3, but it will make your controller vibrate pleasantly, and isn't that all you really need? The biggest plus? It's only $16.77 to order one! The downside? How much controller can you actually get for only $16.77? I don't think I have to say buy at your own risk here, because I believe in you people. 
 
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Halo 3 Achievement Statshot [Underachievers] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 10:20 AM CST
Bungie's Weekly Update [Bungie.net via Eurogamer] |
While I was busy this past Friday getting my weekend on, the folks at Bungie rolled out the statistics on Halo 3 during their weekly update post. According to their data, 43.28% of people connected have completed the campaign on Normal difficulty, while only 15.14% have finished the game on Legendary. Where do I fall in there? THIS ISN'T ABOUT ME (completed game on Easy). Damn parentheses! I'm trying! I'm just busy! Ahem. Anyway, other notable stats included the most difficult achievement, which seems to be Steppin' Razor (Score a Triple Kill with the sword in a ranked free for all playlist) with only 6.21% of players snagging it, and the fact that only 2.07% of online players have gotten a perfect 1000/1000 points from the title. You are of course not reading this, because you're all too busy laughing at my Easy Mode victory. Bastards. Go look at more numbers. 
 
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Obsidian's Avellone Explains Game Development, Visually [Cartoony] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST
One of his latest posts shows off the illustrations he did for Schizoid developer Bill Dugan's talk on developer-publisher relations at the recent IGDA Leadership Forum in San Francisco. Turns out they're funny, pungent illustrations (including a swearword or too, warning) of how those pesky publishers and developers fight like dogs and cats living together - resulting in mass hysteria. Torpex IGDA speech illustrations [Avellone's MySpace Blog.] |
So, you guys might know Obsidian's 
 
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Robbie Bach On PSN - No Competition [Trash Talk] Posted: 19 Nov 2007 09:40 AM CST
It's fair to say that Xbox Live is clearly head and shoulders above anything anyone else has tried to do. We don't have competition. Sony has done some things online, but nothing that can be called a service. We have a big advantage and we're going to keep pressing that advantage.Nothing that can be called a service? You know what? I'm just going to sit back and let you folks discuss this in a calm and responsible fashion. Just remember what Monday this is Xbox Live hopes to press more players into service [LA Times (Reg Required) via GamesIndustry.biz] |
With a four year head start on the competition, Xbox Live has pretty much set the standard for what gamers look for in a console-based online service, and while the PlayStation Network is a fine service in it's own right and free to boot, it still has a long way to go to catch up with the numbers Microsoft's service is pulling in. Just ask Robbie Bach, the President of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times he displays supreme confidence in the superiority of their service. 
 
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Posted: 20 Nov 2007 02:35 PM CST The linkage. I can’t seem to find a permalink right now, so if you’re not reading this today, you may have to scroll down a bit. Seriously, did they hire Second Life’s PR person or what? |
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Best Buy confirms Rock Band supply issues Posted: 20 Nov 2007 02:30 PM CST Best Buy has responded to Internet reports that,
despite midnight openings across the US, the retailer did not
receive its anticipated shipments of EA's Rock
Band
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Black Friday Deals At Red Octane Revealed [Deals] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 01:20 PM CST
Guitar Hero® Kramer® Striker Ultimate Bundle for PlayStation®2 Our Price: $199.99Red Octane Black Friday [redoctane] |
Red Octane is getting into the Black Friday Madness with some pretty decent savings on Guitar Hero III bundles. Pick up a PS3 bundle with a rechargeable battery kit for just $130, or $20 less than it would normally cost without the battery. Or grab the Guitar Hero X-plorer Ultimate Bundle for Xbox 360, one guitar and Guitar Hero II and III for $140, or about $40 in savings. Unfortunately, your basic wired kits didn't get any cheaper. But we listed all the deals after the jump, so take your pick—pun definitely intended. 
 
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Quantic Dream Talks More About Heavy Rain? [Confusion] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST
Our objective is to make this media a mainstream entertainment form with high creative expectations...To us, the only way to reach the level of quality we were targeting for the animation of our characters was to use Vicon motion capture...Demand has been immediate and we have actually already started to rent the system to high-profile video game and advertising clients. Our new studio is fully installed and is functioning almost every day either for complex full body or facial captures.Whatever it is that Quantic Dream is cooking up, we're already committed for seconds. Quantic Dream buys mo-cap tech for PS3 exclusive [gamesindustry] |
Quantic Dream, best known for interactive movie game Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) has just started four months of intensive motion capture with their very own top-caliber Vicon system for their upcoming Sony-exclusive PS3 title. Do we mean Heavy Rain (picture above), the title they announced way back at E3 06 along with an incredible tech demo (linked below)? We're honestly not sure, as GamesIndustry has called the project top secret, tracing the game's very existence back to 
 
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What Are You Buying This Week? [Shopping] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:40 PM CST
Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser. |
It's like our credit cards have been through war after months of onslaught from awesome games. What's with these developers, anyway? Who are they to deliver on their promises and make these new consoles worth a damn? Who are they to take over our minds, reach our hands in our pockets 
 
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WOLFKING Caters To The Ladies [Peripheral Vision] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:20 PM CST
"Female gamers have an incredibly high set of standards when it comes to quality as well as design," said Bob Costlow, director of sales, WOLFKING. "You can't just paint something pink and say it's for girls. The Girl Gamer products give women access to fully functioning, hardcore gaming devices, but with an aesthetic touch."Changes include adding special pink coloring to the devices.
I was going to go into a lengthy tirade about the differences between girl gamers and guy gamers basically coming down to genitalia and sometimes facial hair, neither of which currently affect your ability to play a video game, but every time I talk about women and men, someone takes it the wrong way and I end up getting lambasted for being some kind of chauvinist. Instead, here's a picture of a pony. His name is Lucky. WOLFKING Creates Line of Custom Designed Gaming Devices Girl Gamer WARRIOR and TROOPER with Flamingo Pink Accents Available Exclusively Through Dell (Englewood, NJ) - November 20, 2007 - WolfKing, a world leader in the innovation and creation of gaming input devices, today announced it is customizing its award-winning WARRIOR gaming pad and TROOPER gaming mouse to appeal to female PC gamers. The specially designed gaming devices, which will be sold exclusively through Dell, provide the same high level of quality that consumers have come to expect from WOLFKING. The Girl Gamer WARRIOR (MSRP: $34.99) features the same 54-key circular layout and USB 2.0 plug-and-play capability as the original WARRIOR, but now features a Flamingo Pink accent gradient on top of a full stealth black matte finish, with polished deep black audio keys. It offers all the functionality of the WARRIOR, but with a feminine touch. The Girl Gamer Gear TROOPER (MSRP: $39.99) also features the Flamingo Pink accent over a 6.4 megapixels-per-second laser mouse with a dpi range of 800-2200. The sense of style doesn't compromise the high-end gaming mouse functionality gamers expect from the TROOPER. "Female gamers have an incredibly high set of standards when it comes to quality as well as design," said Bob Costlow, director of sales, WOLFKING. "You can't just paint something pink and say it's for girls. The Girl Gamer products give women access to fully functioning, hardcore gaming devices, but with an aesthetic touch." |
Hey girls! Are you tired of using the same computer peripherals we large, sweaty, boorish men do, but still crave the highest quality gaming gear when you are out spreading girl power to the unwashed masses? Well WOLFKING (What, not WOLFQUEEN?) has got something special for you! They're taking their WARRIOR circular keyboard and TROOPER laser mouse and completely redesigned them from the ground up as part of their new Girl Gamer Gear line, to be available exclusively through Dell!
Incidentally, don't Google Image Search the phrase "lucky pony" without your adult filters firmly in place. 
 
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Oh So Many Free (Adver)Game Types [Freeloading] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST
He then lists an insane diversity of free titles - 'Advergames', 'Advertising-supported casual games', 'Old AAA games re-released with ads', and 'Games as Features / Promogames', to name but a few. He notes of the latter: There's a bunch of games (with noticeably large and growing budgets) that are designed primarily to promote the sale of tangentially-related (if not barely-related) physical products. This includes the now-famous Burger King Xbox games... as these games continue to perform well, watch for a wide variety of advertisers (toy companies? gas stations? airlines?) to begin deploying them. So... is this good? Do you guys want more free games with less sophisticated gameplay and more commercial/advertising agendas? Or is it all insane commercial overkill? Lions, Tigers, Free Games... Oh My! [Game Tycoon] |
Xbox Live Arcade portfolio planner David Edery also runs his personal Game Tycoon weblog, and as he explains: "I've been compiling a list of "free game types" in preparation for my GDC Lyon lecture [next month]. When I look at the list on a single page, its breadth and depth are a bit stunning. There's already a mountain of free game content out there, and the mountain is growing fast."
 
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Posted: 20 Nov 2007 02:19 PM CST In the wake of Manhunt 2's release, four US senators, including Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), are calling for a review of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
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US Senators call for ESRB review Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:14 PM CST In the wake of the Manhunt 2 rating furor,
several US Senators have called for a review of the ESRB's
ratings process
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THQ Licenses Menus Master For Forthcoming Titles Posted: 20 Nov 2007 09:09 AM CST
  
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SIGGRAPH Announces New Deadlines, Submission Process Posted: 20 Nov 2007 07:21 AM CST
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French developer Omegame has announced that publisher THQ has licensed its video game user interface (UI) authoring toolchain Menus Master, for use in a number of unspecified forthcoming next generation titles. Menus Master is a complete software solution allowing users to easily create complex UI and HUDs for video games, with an user-friendly graphical interface, and to export it on wanted platforms. The game user interface can be fully authored by artists, without any need ...
SIGGRAPH organizers have announced new deadlines for technical papers for the forthcoming SIGGRAPH 2008 conference, as well as a new submission process it says will "dissolve borders between some traditional SIGGRAPH programs" and create a more interdisciplinary show. With a new general submission format, SIGGRAPH says submitters "will only need to describe their work once and propose that it be evaluated for presentation is several different formats. For example, a single submission can simultaneously be ...  
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Microsoft UK Offers Free XBLA Games For New Recruits Posted: 20 Nov 2007 07:04 AM CST
  
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New PLAYSTATION Eye Games Available Today Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:44 PM CST What’s up PS3 fans? By now, you’ve probably tried EyeCreate and made some pretty impressive videos. But now you’re wondering what else is out there for the PSEye? Well, I’m pleased to let you know we’ve got 2 more cool titles coming out later today: Operation: Creature Feature and Aquatopia.
In Operation: Creature Feature, you control tiny creatures from another dimension through the motion of your hands. Help them navigate obstacles through earth, water, fire and ice to escape from captivity. The more you save, the happier these creatures will be. They’re completely attracted to motion so watch out for other objects blocking you through the mazes. Be sure to check it out on the PS Store and download it for $4.99.
Have you ever wanted an aquarium but didn’t want the hassle of cleaning the tank? Well show off the awesome power of your HD display with Aquatopia. Now, using your PS3 combined with the PSEye, you can have a virtual tank with both salt and freshwater fish. It’s virtual, so mix and match all you want. Remember when they said don’t tap on the glass? Well, feel free to with this tank. The action your PSEye captures will interact with the fish. You can even feed them by dabbing your hands in the top of the water. Get it from the PS Store for $1.99 That’s it for now. Hope you like the new projects coming out for the PSEye on PS3. Be sure to check back as more will be on the way in the coming months. Enjoy!  |
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Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:49 PM CST 前段时间把工作名片用完了，需要重新印。顺便，我想捎带去印一些私人用的。这个几年前干过，不过那次只印了十张，文件也没留下来，发完后绝版了。故而今天重新设计了一张。
我不喜欢花哨的东西，争取以最小成本制作（至少不能高于上次来我们办公室收废纸箱的小张留给我的那张名片成本高）。 原本想自己签上名字的，可是对比了同事的书法，还是罢了 :D 特别感谢一下龙欤同学为我写的这两个字，以及对版面的后期加工。 ps. 上传图片的时候想了下，还是把手机号码抹了。呵呵，虽然是无所谓的。 |
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Ubisoft Posts Q3 Gains, Delays Haze Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:38 PM CST French publisher Ubisoft has posted a rise in first-half sales and earnings, at the same time delaying Haze and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
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Health-Focused Game Competition Winners Announced Posted: 20 Nov 2007 06:59 AM CST
  
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Assassin's Creed Is Fastest Selling New IP In 5 Years [Sales] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 11:40 AM CST
Assassin's Creed is fastest-selling new IP since 2002 [gamesindustry] |
Microsoft UK has announced it will offer a selection of free Xbox Live Arcade games to Xbox 360 console owners who get their friends to buy an Xbox 360. Participants -- the veteran user and the new console owner -- fill out a form jointly, and then both participants receive ten XBLA games. The titles the participants receive include Every Extend Extra Extreme, Sonic The Hedgehog, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, Bomberman Live, Marble Blast ...
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Ashoka's Changemakers have announced the three winners of the online "Why Games Matter" competition they co-sponsored in order to discover innovative computer, video and mobile games aimed at people manage their health and improve how their health care is provided. The three winners are: the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children's Finding Zoe, Inspire Foundation's Reach Out! Central, and ZMQ Software Systems' Freedom HIV/AIDS. Finding Zoe ...
Assassin's Creed hasn't been daunted by other big releases. Because in addition to dominating the UK charts, it's become the fastest selling new IP since 2002. So what top selling IP came last? The Getaway. Yeah, the name didn't quite go down in history as the biggest game of all time, but it's good news for Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed nonetheless. And it's yet more evidence for the 
 
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Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty Explained [Clips] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST Turning Point: Fall of Liberty - The Website [Codemasters] |
 
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Ten Years Ago: 3D Realms' Scott Miller [Retro] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
As I noted before: "I thought it might be fun to reprint highlights here on Kotaku, and compare and contrast them to what's happened to their careers since then - and how their statements have held up over time." For the second instalment, let's check out a chat with 3D Realms' owner/partner Scott Miller, originally conducted in 1997 by me for Videogamedesign.com, and discussing Max Payne, Prey, John Carmack, and the Duke Nukem franchise. How did Scott's prognostications work out, a decade later? Let's see... Does having a major Apogee/3DRealms external developer like Remedy such a darn long way away (Finland!) make things tricky? How have you tried to get round this problem? It's not too tricky, thanks to the Internet and email. Plus, they've come to visit several times and we meet at every E3. The Internet has compressed the world into a much smaller space. We get milestone CD burns from Remedy every month, and have a round of discussions based on the current state of the game. Mark my words: Remedy will soon be recognized as one of the world's leading independent PC developers. (Thanks to the success of Remedy's Max Payne and its sequel, Remedy still has a reputation as a leading developer - with many eagerly awaiting 2008's Alan Wake. Good pick, Scott.) If you could steal one coder for your company, who would it be? I have the utmost respect for John Carmack as a coder. He amazed me back in 1990 when Apogee first brought id into the shareware industry. Over the years that we worked together I spent a lot of time talking to John picking his brain and trying to figure out how he came upon his innovative solutions to problems other coders couldn't solve--trying to understand his genius. He was always three steps ahead of anyone else in the industry. His strength is not in his programming skills--it's in the fact that he's very accurate at predicting which future technologies are most important and appropriate to pursue. John probably has better binoculars than anyone else in this industry. (Already legendary by the time of this interview, Carmack would still be many people's top pick for a coder to steal, ten years later, thanks to his new work on the Rage engine.) Do you think you started promoting "Prey" too early? Not at all. Prey is actually two projects. The first one was cancelled after a year of struggling with which direction to take it. The second and current Prey incarnation has very little to do with that first project called Prey, because it has entirely different objectives, and a new staff running the show. When Prey is released, it will have been a two year project, which for a game as ambitious as this, is not too long. Plus, unlike some games long in development, like Stonekeep and Descent to Undermountain, Prey when released will be a cutting-edge game in both gameplay and technology. (Oh boy, those games being used for comparison! Prey was subsequently canceled in this second form (and a partial third form), before being resurrected by 3D Realms and Human Head. It was finally released 9 years later, in 2006. However, Miller was somewhat true to his word - Prey was 'cutting-edge... in both gameplay and technology', in many ways. So goodish things really _do_ come to those who wait, eh?) Why so many add-on level packs for Duke Nukem? Simple: They keep selling. Our marketing manager at our Duke Nukem publisher, GT Interactive Software, recently remarked that anything they slap "Duke Nukem" on sells. If you combine all the different Duke versions, Duke add-ons and the number of Duke games that we sell direct, Duke would be the top selling game since its release nearly two years ago. As an game property, Duke is probably one of the top five in all of gaming, right up there with Mario, Lara Croft, and Flight Simulator. (OK, this one is a bit close to the ever-fabled Duke Nukem 'Forever' territory. Still, it's an interesting question - is Duke Nukem still a leading game character, even now?) Original Interview With Scott Miller [GameGeekPeeks] |
So, we're continuing the 'Ten Years Ago' archival interview series we 
 
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Custom Link's Crossbow Training Cover [Packaging] Posted: 20 Nov 2007 10:40 AM CST
Link's Crossbow Training Custom Cover [The CD Project - Thanks Chris!] |
Whenever a large game company deems it necessary to ship a game in anything less than a full-size case...wherever gamers scream out for a better way to display their favorite titles than a small cardboard sleeve...the Cover Project is there. This time around they've got a full-size CD sleeve insert ready before the game is in most player's hands, with a custom made cover for Link's Crossbow Training ready for download at the link below. Create by Shenske, it is every bit as cool as the full retail cover of the game, only it actually exists. The Cover Project is also an excellent resource for people who buy used games from EB and GameStop without the original packaging. Nice job!
 
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 02:08 PM CST 丁默村：大汉奸，前共产党，中期国民党，后汪伪派汉奸，后投靠重庆，参与刺杀李士群。 李士群：大汉奸，前共产党，中期国民党，后汪伪派汉奸，实为重庆方面人，参与刺杀丁默村。 周佛海：大汉奸，前共产党创始人，中期国民党，后汪伪派汉奸，实为重庆方面人，参与刺杀李士群。 江湖啊
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 11:14 AM CST 众所周知，交互设计这个行业在中国刚刚起步，各大院校到现在还没有成型的专业培养这方面的人才，由于交互设计这个领域必须了解多个领域方面的知识：心理学、工业设计、绘画基础、网页设计、信息架构、甚至商业运营方面的知识等等，从各大公司的招聘要求，我们可能已经被五花八门的要求所吓倒，从基本要求到优 先条件，基本上还可以将现在很多在职的交互设计师们纳入菜鸟的行列。 在毕业前夕，我被某家刚转型的做网络产品的公司录用，那时候正当是所谓的“互联网冬天”的前夕，我也是第一次知道了web2.0的概念、知道了以用户为中心的设计。 其实在从美工到现在，并不是想象中的一帆风顺，其中的曲折和艰辛大家应该都有体会。我想分享一下我认为设计师应该具备的几点素质或者一些技能： 2 了解你的团队是做好设计的基础 3 认清楚谁是你的用户 4 你最好是个好战分子 5 懂得控制你的节奏，去繁取简 6 在提出问题的时候，你应该先有解决方案 7 停止抱怨 转载请注明出自UCDChina.com，谢谢。 相关文章 |
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SCi Buy-out Talks Ongoing, Unit Sales Up 14% Posted: 21 Nov 2007 01:59 PM CST SCi says it's still in talks concerning a potential buy-out, while unit sales for the first quarter of the 2008 financial year are up 14 percent.
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Tournament.com should have been "less aggresive," says TNWA Posted: 21 Nov 2007 01:24 PM CST In the aftermath of Tournament.com's closure,
the CEO of competing online gaming provider TNWA says that
the company should have been less aggressive
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Game Developers Choice Awards nominations open Posted: 21 Nov 2007 12:13 PM CST Nominations are now open for two new categories
of the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards, to be presented at
GDC in February
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Sony: PlayStation Phone Hugely Seductive Posted: 21 Nov 2007 12:19 PM CST Speculation concerning the development of a PlayStation phone has resurfaced after a senior SCE official said the possibility was hugely seductive and “highly plausible”.
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 10:57 AM CST  為保密……和諧打碼。 PCG兩個和諧板塊大姨媽了，估計過幾天就復出。 |
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Posted: 20 Nov 2007 12:54 AM CST 深入理解各平台的技术要求, 与关卡设计师保持紧密合作, 设计高质感的三 维游戏作品; 与其他部门如游戏设计, 程序, 音效设计等达成协作以促进工作任务的及时 完成; 确保各项工作按进度计划完成; 根据任务需求, 不断更新学习新的美工工具及流程技巧; ...
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 11:33 AM CST So sayeth Virtual Worlds News, based on a Google translation of an article. The questions are where and why. Such a move may make sense in Korea, where a number of factors make it a much easier sell:
Here? Probably less sense, given that the adoption of Cyworld hasn’t set the country on fire. On the other hand, perhaps the logic is that this market demands higher quality visual experiences. We’ll have to wait and hear more. |
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Posted: 19 Nov 2007 01:59 AM CST I just got back from a week of business travel, which included getting to see fall happening in basically three corners of the country. Here in Southern California, fall is basically just brown, save for the few imported trees that change colors. In Boston, there were puddles of vibrant yellow or red leaves under the trees — from the airplane as we departed, it was a shocking sight — a colored shadow under every tree. New York, well, was just rainy. It made me miss seasons. Slide There’s |
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 11:53 AM CST 最近一段时间很忙，BLOG没动，现在快忙完了，周末更新补遗。 |
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Analysts Bullish On GameStop Despite Stock Dip Posted: 21 Nov 2007 08:21 AM CST
  
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 11:48 AM CST While this may be of particular interest to indie game developers (since we're notorious cheapskates), anybody who uses The Gimp as the low-cost (that is, FREE) alternative to Photoshop may be interested in this news: The Gimp 2.4 Has Been Released. You can read the Release Notes for more details. Or you can just download the new version of Gimp. |
Following news of yesterday's record third quarter, analysts from Wedbush Morgan, Stern Agee, and Janco have said the fall of GameStop stock is overplayed and have unanimously said the retailer should easily outperform its more conservative Q4 outlook. Janco's Mike Hickey noted that "Despite massive upside performance for the period, the market puked [GameStop's] shares yesterday after receiving their fiscal Q407 guidance, sending shares down $5.38 or 10% from the prior day's close in early ...Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril |
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ProStreetPrj 4 | 层层隔离…… NFS11 的驾驶辅助 Posted: 21 Nov 2007 05:06 AM CST 新手向的东西，高手看着乐呵乐呵就好了
------------------------------ 继承自以往的驾驶辅助系统在ProStreet中也得到了升级。开放了ABS和TCS的开关，并且把以往定位模糊的车身稳定系统也做了定义。除底层之外，上层另加的一层辅助驾驶系统已全面隔离了玩家对车辆的直接控制，而且不能彻底关闭。 上层辅助系统的 Casual，Racer，King三个层级代表着辅助系统介入车辆操控的时机控制。这样的系统可以帮助新手也能跑的很快，但高手将会因此而受到限制。即使是在King级别下。ProStreet和高水平车手们开了一个大大的玩笑。 在选项的说明中，King级别许诺将会关闭一切主动的车辆控制系统，而把原本的赛车交给玩家。但实际上这一允诺并未执行，无论是使用任何一种辅助级别，驾驶操作都会经过过滤。以刹车为例，ProStreet不允许赛车在没有4轮着地的情况下进行刹车动作。因此在进行刹车时，常会发现刹车延迟或刹车根本无效的情况。 在Casual模式下的情况更为微妙。系统会干预赛车的刹车动作，因此赛车常会在车手并不需要刹车的位置自动减速。车辆的运行轨迹会因此而愈加不可预期。 传统的车辆驾驶保障系统，Anti-Lock Brakes，Traction Control System，Electronic Stability Control三大项。其中 Anti-Lock Brakes 就是ABS，几乎没有作用。无论何时何地，只要用力刹车，转向便会瞬间失效。对比ABS的开关，唯一的区别恐怕就是ABS系统带来的刹车距离会稍短。可以说是一个刹车系统的加强。 Traction Control System（TCS）在ProStreet中的直观作用是用于抑制漂移趋势，始终让车辆保持在更加“稳定”且“转向不足”的状态下。它通过抑制引擎的转速来达到达到目的，而不是如现实般的去抑制油门。 它所带来的明显区别便是在全油门出弯时，不必太过担心因为后轮驱动车辆扭矩过大而造成的转向过度。但因为突然抽掉引擎的转速所致，对车辆的修正过程显得暴力而生硬。 Electronic Stability Control便是以往系列中的 Stability 开关。以往一直没有办法正式界定的功能在ProStreet中粉墨登场。它的作用模糊而又无足轻重，直观来说，它会让车辆更加敦实。只是究竟它控制了赛车哪里无从考证。 ------------------------------因为手头没有线性操控设备，所以ProStreet对线性操控设备的支持不好结论。但是总体来说，过多的干涉玩家的驾驶行为。也许初期会降低门槛，但肯定会影响深入探索。 |
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NBA Live Dev Nets Second Studio Posted: 21 Nov 2007 11:12 AM CST NBA Live developer HB Studios has announced it is set to expand with the opening of a new development studio in Halifax, Atlantic Canada.
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GCG Tackles the "What Is An Indie Game?" Question Posted: 21 Nov 2007 10:56 AM CST When talking about indie games, the question often comes up: "What is an indie game?" You ask n people, you'll probably get n+1 answers. I've tackled it twice, myself, and though I'm fairly satisfied with my own answer, I also admit it's hardly the final word on the subject. Game Career Guide - a media partner of GamaSutra - has now tackled the "What is Indie?" question, in the article, "The Indie Ethos." And they emerge with no real answers, but lots of opinions. An excerpt: "If it is the developers -- the people -- that make a game "indie," then one still must question what criteria those people should meet. Although it's straightforward to say a team of four developers working with a self-funded $1,500 budget is indeed making an independent game, what happens when the studio is 10 people strong and has a budget of tens of thousand of dollars, but the money comes from the individuals on the team refinancing their homes? What happens when the team is 15 people strong and is backed by several hundred thousand dollars in venture capital? How do both money and team size play into the picture? "There's also an observation by Sam Roberts, director of the Indiecade festival (formally one of the guys responsible for the Slamdance Guerilla Game Developer competition) that I'd like to see verified: "...there are more low-cost options for musicians and filmmakers nowadays than there are for game-makers. In the last 10 or 15 years, the barrier of entry for filmmakers and musicians has dropped dramatically, with more and more low-cost tools and digital equipment becoming available, and with more and more outlets for releasing finished products. For game developers, on the other hand, the barrier of entry is still quite high, seeing as even low-cost tools require the user to have some knowledge of programming."The final word? There won't be one. The traditional way of making a modern computer or video game (find a publisher who funds development out of advances towards royalties) is still dominant, but more alternatives are being discovered every day for creating and distributing games. Which of those ways are part of the "indie" way may remain in an ever-changing gray area. But for me, it still comes down to people making the games they want to make without oversight by a third party. If you need to get permission to do what you want to do, or are subject to binding oversight, you ain't indie. That encompasses everything from quick-and-dirty web games like Desktop Tower Defense (still one of my favorites) to pretty major, high-quality (and bigger-budget) offerings like PopCap's titles and Soldak's much more elaborate Depths of Peril. That works well enough for me. (Vaguely) related rubbish masquerading as useful information: * What Is an Indie Game? * Dependent, Independent, and Indie * Gimme That Old Time Indie Game Development * Super Columbine Massacre RPG Too Hot For Slamdance? * Is There Hope For Indie Computer RPGs? . |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril |
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 07:59 AM CST 前段时间曾经在游戏力量上发了一篇“御宅文化与游戏的市场推广”，匆匆写就，难免仓促，其意在于抛砖引玉，使大家有一个话题可以讨论。之后果然有许多人表达了各自的看法和意见，看过之后，颇受启发。因此不揣浅陋，就此话题再扔一块砖头，也希望对此话题有所思考的人能够继续参与讨论。或许七嘴八舌之间，一块“美玉”就此被打磨出来了呢！
“文化变迁”理论： 文化变迁理论是文化人类学的重要课题之一，其提出者为美国著名人类学家斯图尔德。这个理论所解释的文化现象是：由于民族内部的社会发展，或者不同民族之间的接触，所引起的一种文化上的改变。人类学家认为，文化变迁是一种适应环境的做法，这种适应实际上是一种重要的创造过程。 依据“文化变迁”理论对“御宅文化”进行的简单分析： 近年来逐渐流行于国内的“御宅文化”，实质上就是一种“文化变迁”，是中日两国之间文化交流的产物。 日本的御宅文化从萌芽到盛行，已经有20年的历史，伴随这种文化潮流而成长的一大批年轻人，已经成为日本社会的中流砥柱，有着极强的消费能力。据2003年日本相关机构的一项调查，御宅市场（包括电脑DIY，动画，游戏，手办，漫画等）的市场规模约为2900亿日元。日本产经省也将其看作为开拓国际市场的一种有效手段。 众所周知的是，由于日本经济上在亚洲的强势地位，它同时也成为亚洲流行文化的引导者。从服饰装扮、流行音乐、综艺节目到电影电视，日本的流行文化是亚洲各国青少年争相效仿的对象。而“御宅文化”作为扎根于日本的本土文化，也随着日本漫画、卡通和游戏（即所谓的ACG）在亚洲各国的广泛流行，而深深植根于各国青少年（基本上从80后一代开始）心中。现在，中国的御宅文化也由于这一代的成长壮大，而更加具有市场影响力。 但是，日本的御宅文化流传到中国，已经有了一定程度上的变迁。这种变迁通过一个简单的类比而更加使人容易理解： 美国的KFC在美国本土，其企业形象只是和福州随处可见的拌面扁肉店一样的快餐店，但是到了中国，为了适应中国国情，KFC变成了家人聚会、朋友见面的休闲餐厅。与此同时，KFC还推出了一系列符合中国人口味的本土快餐。正是因为这种主动的适应，使得KFC在中国市场上领先于它的全球竞争对手：麦当劳。 日本的御宅文化到了中国发生了什么变迁呢？从实际情况看，很重要的一点即是“御宅族”们对待网络游戏态度的不同。 在日本，御宅族们钟情的是TV游戏或者PC游戏，而对于网络游戏则带有较强的排斥感。分析其原因主要有两条： 1、 TV游戏和PC游戏具有较长的历史，培养了大批的重度爱好者，这种爱好习惯在短时间内难以改变； 2、 御宅族们都具有某种程度上的自闭倾向，不喜欢与外界交流，只是生活在自己的“同人”圈子和ACG的幻想世界中，因此，网络游戏所最擅长的互动交流根本提不起御宅族的兴趣。 正因此，日本的网络游戏市场始终不如TV游戏和PC游戏市场红火。 而在中国，由于成长环境的不同，御宅族们对网游并不持排斥态度，相反，大部分御宅族们都有网络游戏经历。其原因如下： 1、 中国的经济发展起步较晚，相对于日本来讲，TV游戏和PC游戏还远远达不到普及的程度。因此，中国的“御宅族”们对网络游戏并无天生的排斥感。 2、 中国的御宅族还没有发展到日本的御宅族那么深入和痴迷的程度，他们不像日本的御宅族那样活在幻想世界当中。更深入的讲，他们的自我塑造尚未完成，具有较强的引导性。 因此，中国的御宅族只要加以合适的引导和精心的培育，他们将会成为网游市场上一股非常重要的力量。 御宅文化的核心本质，我们应当如何把握： 任何一种文化都有其核心的本质，比如中国文化的“仁”，日本文化的“耻”，法国文化的“浪漫”，英国文化的“绅士”，犹太文化的“复国”等等。无论文化如何变迁，这种核心本质是不会发生改变的。 因此，若要以“御宅文化”做市场推广，就应当明了“御宅文化”的核心本质是什么。 根据所收集的资料表明，并结合个人的理解，“御宅文化”的核心本质实际上是一种对“唯美”的追求，甚至成为一种病态的执著。御宅族对于人生和情感，都有十分完美的想像，内心中容不得半点瑕疵。然而这种追求在现实世界中是无法实现的，因此，御宅族们就不可避免的沉浸在自我想像的世界中了，他们只和现实社会保持最简单的必要接触，“自闭”因此而产生。、 实际上，御宅族对“唯美”的病态追求也源自日本的民族文化。在日本文化的意境当中，凋落的樱花是世界上最美的风景。因为“刹那间的美，令人回味却无可挽回”，而这种文化审美观则来源于日本人身处岛国的一种深刻的“危机意识”。 对御宅文化的核心本质有了准确把握以后，我们就可以此制定营销策略，并进行市场推广了。 对目前网游市场上利用御宅文化做推广的游戏所做的简单评判 目前网游界已经有人注意到御宅文化的影响力，并制定了相应的市场推广策略。但从其手段及其市场效果上来看，相当的一般。究其原因，在于他们过于浮躁，没能抓住御宅文化的本质，制定了错误的营销策略。 目前网游市场上打着“御宅”旗号的游戏，其中有两款分别是“光之国度”和“如来丢丢球”。“光之国度”打出的旗号是“全球萝莉总动员”，进行的活动也以“左拥萝莉右抱大奖”为宣传噱头。“如来丢丢球”的口号是“萝莉正太大作战”。两者的宣传不约而同的抓住御宅文化中最具有诱惑力的某些词汇，希望以此来鼓动玩家进入游戏。但结果是玩家并不买账，并且这种宣传手段引起了相当部分玩家的反感。 下面简单分析一下这种营销策略失败的原因： 1、 对于不了解御宅文化的玩家，萝莉、正太、萌、推倒等御宅词汇是相当陌生的。而这种宣传中所传递的某些日本文化信息，反而会引起国人的反感。 2、 对于国内熟悉御宅文化的“御宅族”来说，这只是一种生搬硬套的宣传，和游戏内容并无必然联系。这两款游戏的画面表现也和御宅族们的审美观相差甚远。 3、 这是一种浮躁的、贴标签式的宣传策略，其蛊惑性远远大于实际内容。玩家对于运营商这种不负责任的宣传早就嗤之以鼻。因此所取得的负面效果远远大于收益。 总结原因，这两款游戏的宣传，错误之处在于没有抓住御宅文化的本质，只是以皮毛来吸引受众，而这正犯了针对性营销的大忌，失败在所难免。 相比较而言，史玉柱的“脑白金式营销”之所以取得成功，在于他准确的把握了国人的文化心理，因而取得了极好的效果。“收礼只收脑白金”抓住了中国人的面子心理和送礼文化，“脑白金里有金砖”抓住了中国人的贪利心理。这种营销手段，首先是抓住了本质，其次是围绕本质制定营销策略。史玉柱将其运用到网游市场中，给所有的网游从业者都上了深刻的一课。 |
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 07:57 AM CST 注：本文来源于悠易论坛上关于”国家是否应该成立游戏研究部门“一帖的回复
在回复中突然有感而发，拉杂了许多，索性把它独立出来，发在这里 希望可以引起大家的关注，并进行讨论 匆匆写就，观点难免偏颇，论据难免不足 还请各位海涵：） 将游戏作为一项学术研究的对象 此外，学术研究不是闭门造车 我相信，现在有远见的各个游戏公司 寄希望于国家成立专门的研究机构 同时另外一个动力就是 那么游戏产业如今处于什么阶段呢？ 也就是说，对于游戏的学术研究 这把钥匙在哪里？ 我个人的看法是 我认为： 网络的本质是什么？ OK，接下来的问题就是 那么我们是不是可以登堂入室了呢 （即对网络游戏展开系统的学术研究） 答案是暂时不能 因为火候不够 网络是一个特殊的载体 但我们看到，国外的学者们 实战出真知的路过。没做过游戏，还是不要妄言研究游戏。 比如一把锄头，耕过了许多地，证明它很好用 我以为，人类学、社会学 网络本身是一个虚拟社会 这个事实也证明了，游戏研究是可行的 所以，我们现在所做的 |
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Posted: 21 Nov 2007 09:13 AM CST 史玉柱的核心团队, 从巨人大厦, 到巨人网络, 跟了他十年; 马云的核心团队, 从阿里巴巴创建以来, 也一直跟了他十年; 牛根生的核心团队, 从伊犁出来作蒙牛, 一跟也是近八年. 大凡这些取得重大成功的企业和企业家, 其背后都有一个持久的团队. 在我研究这些公司时, 我也在慢慢观察和总结他们的共同之处, 与其说是有很多共同之处, 倒不如说: 成功的团队, 都是很相似的. 而一个成功的团队, 需要靠哪些东西来支撑呢? 需要的东西, 很多很多. 对于这个问题的回答, 也见仁见智, 每个人都会有自己的看法, 我也把自己一直以来的研究, 观察和亲身实践的东西总结一下, 跟大家分享. 首先, 我们要明白 "团队, 是一个什么样的概念" ? 是不是只要一群人聚在一起, 就叫作团队? 是不是只要分好了工, 划分好了职责, 就叫作团队? 是不是整天装模作样的搞得很忙的样子在每个人之间来回协调, 就叫作团队? 是不是一帮子人整天在一起吃吃喝喝, 嘻嘻哈哈, 就叫作团队? 显然不是. 我们常说, 要有"团队观念", 要有"团队观念". 而实际上, 一个团队, 之所以能够形成一个团队, 往往是因为某一个个体或某几个个体作为核心的, 而这个核心所倡导的, 所坚持的, 所贯彻的价值观, 就是这个团队的核心价值观. 以这个核心为主导, 才形成了一个有凝聚力的团队. 我说这个话是什么意思呢? 我的意思很简单: 一个团队, 首先, 是要有一个或几个核心人物的. 这个核心, 在每个重要的时刻, 都可以冲在最前面, 挡在最前线, 他们具有超强的将事作好的信念, 不管外围的环境多么恶劣, 他们的信念从不动摇. 也就是说, 在一个成功团队的核心价值观里, 有一条是最重要的: 在任何时候, 要有极强的信念, 要永不放弃. 信念这个东西, 是可以传染的. 所谓的信心, 便是来源于超强的信念, 而一个团队的整体士气和信心, 就来源于团队的整体信念, 最初是来源于核心人物的个体信念. 但是, 有一点很重要, 核心人物的信念, 必须是可被传播的, 而且, 不能太虚妄, 要符合实际, 要让团队成员觉得可信并可依赖. 信念不死, 精神就永存. 马云在财富人生的访谈中, 总结的这么多年最重要的经验就是: 坚持! 这个曾经被我们说过无数次的词语, 如此朴素, 却又如此难以作到. 作为团队领袖, 或者团队核心, 他最起码应该具备这样的信念: 即使我一个人, 也要把它作下去, 只要还有机会让我作. 很多时候, 在实际的工作协作中, 我们力求发挥每个人的创造力和积极性, 讲究充分授权, 但这并不意味着我们要因此产生很强的依赖心理, 实际上, 在团队管理中, 产生依赖心理是非常危险的行为, 它把作事与感情混为一谈, 将工作变成了类似家庭琐事之类消磨斗志的玩意. 既要充分发挥每个人的积极性, 也要随时准备着有: 这个世界离开谁都转的打算. 而事实, 确实也如此. 我们需要建立的, 是这样的一种信念: 1. 在任何时候, 尽可能以积极的心态去面对每一天, 相信明天会更好, 踏实一件件小事作起, 作到极致; 2. 用你的信念, 去鼓励其他人, 将你的信念传播开去, 将个体信念转化为集体信念; 3. 在任何时候, "你自己"永不放弃的信念, 才是最彻底, 最可把握的, 只要自己不放弃, 那你就不会被任何人或事放弃. |
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Critical Reception: MTV Games/Harmonix's Rock Band Posted: 21 Nov 2007 05:53 AM CST
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This week's edition of the regular Critical Reception column examines online reaction to Rock Band, Harmonix's groundbreaking multiplayer band simulation that critics praise as "immensely fun and consistently rewarding." After finding worldwide success with the Guitar Hero franchise, developer Harmonix ups the ante with Rock Band, a full-on musical group simulation title. Rock Band comes bundled with a guitar controller, a drumkit, and a microphone, and players are encouraged to form a four-player band consisting ...  
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Posted: 22 Nov 2007 12:51 PM CST ------------------------------------------------------------- 1 操作系统 ------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 winXP ------------------------------------------------------------- 2 文档编辑 ------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 谷歌输入法 2.2 OFFICE2007 2.3 mindmanager 7.0 2.4 notepad++ 2.5 SolidConverterPDF 2.6 Foxit Reader ------------------------------------------------------------- 3 视频播放 ------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 KMP 3.2 PPS ------------------------------------------------------------- 4 音频播放 ------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 last.fm 4.2 foobar2000 ------------------------------------------------------------- 5 游戏 ------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 VS平台 5.2 DOTA 5.3 霸王 5.4 COD4 5.5 暗黑之门 ------------------------------------------------------------- 6 文件管理 ------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1 totalcmd 6.2 DAEMON Tools Pro ------------------------------------------------------------- 7 记事提醒 ------------------------------------------------------------- 7.1 rainlendar 7.2 google caenldar ------------------------------------------------------------- 8 im ------------------------------------------------------------- 8.1 QQ 8.2 POPO2004 8.3 WangWang 8.4 MSN 8.5 GTALK ------------------------------------------------------------- 9 翻译软件 ------------------------------------------------------------- 9.1 babylon7.0 9.2 NeoSpeech 9.3 灵格斯 ------------------------------------------------------------- 10 界面设计 ------------------------------------------------------------- 10.1 visio 10.2 axure ------------------------------------------------------------- 11 下载 ------------------------------------------------------------- 11.1 Xtreme6.1 11.2 flashget ------------------------------------------------------------- 12 电脑安全 ------------------------------------------------------------- 12.1 avast 12.2 安全卫士360 12.3 Windows清理助手 12.4 CCleaner.exe 12.5 COMODO Firewall Pro 12.6 AVG Anti-Spyware ------------------------------------------------------------- 13 浏览器 ------------------------------------------------------------- 13.1 firefox 13.2 opera ------------------------------------------------------------- 14 图像编辑 ------------------------------------------------------------- 14.1 ArtRage 2 14.2 adobe CS3 ------------------------------------------------------------- 15 图像查看 ------------------------------------------------------------- 15.1 ComicsViewer 15.2 acdsee3.0 ------------------------------------------------------------- 16 文档压缩 ------------------------------------------------------------- 16.1 7-ZIP |
-- 威尔史密斯对他的蓬蓬头的小小儿子说：你要尽全力保护你的梦想。那些嘲笑你梦想的人，因为他们必定会失败，他们想把你变成和他们一样的人  
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The Romantics sue over Guitar Hero 3 Posted: 22 Nov 2007 12:52 PM CST The Romantics sue ‘Guitar Hero’ maker - CNN.com
What I don’t like about you, Romantics, is that you seem to have missed the whole point. |
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Posted: 22 Nov 2007 12:51 PM CST ------------------------------------------------------------- 1 操作系统 ------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 winXP ------------------------------------------------------------- 2 文档编辑 ------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 谷歌输入法 2.2 OFFICE2007 2.3 mindmanager 7.0 2.4 notepad++ 2.5 SolidConverterPDF 2.6 Foxit Reader ------------------------------------------------------------- 3 视频播放 ------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 KMP 3.2 PPS ------------------------------------------------------------- 4 音频播放 ------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 last.fm 4.2 foobar2000 ------------------------------------------------------------- 5 游戏 ------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 VS平台 5.2 DOTA 5.3 霸王 5.4 COD4 5.5 暗黑之门 ------------------------------------------------------------- 6 文件管理 ------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1 totalcmd 6.2 DAEMON Tools Pro ------------------------------------------------------------- 7 记事提醒 ------------------------------------------------------------- 7.1 rainlendar 7.2 google caenldar ------------------------------------------------------------- 8 im ------------------------------------------------------------- 8.1 QQ 8.2 POPO2004 8.3 WangWang 8.4 MSN 8.5 GTALK ------------------------------------------------------------- 9 翻译软件 ------------------------------------------------------------- 9.1 babylon7.0 9.2 NeoSpeech 9.3 灵格斯 ------------------------------------------------------------- 10 界面设计 ------------------------------------------------------------- 10.1 visio 10.2 axure ------------------------------------------------------------- 11 下载 ------------------------------------------------------------- 11.1 Xtreme6.1 11.2 flashget ------------------------------------------------------------- 12 电脑安全 ------------------------------------------------------------- 12.1 avast 12.2 安全卫士360 12.3 Windows清理助手 12.4 CCleaner.exe 12.5 COMODO Firewall Pro 12.6 AVG Anti-Spyware ------------------------------------------------------------- 13 浏览器 ------------------------------------------------------------- 13.1 firefox 13.2 opera ------------------------------------------------------------- 14 图像编辑 ------------------------------------------------------------- 14.1 ArtRage 2 14.2 adobe CS3 ------------------------------------------------------------- 15 图像查看 ------------------------------------------------------------- 15.1 ComicsViewer 15.2 acdsee3.0 ------------------------------------------------------------- 16 文档压缩 ------------------------------------------------------------- 16.1 7-ZIP |
-- 威尔史密斯对他的蓬蓬头的小小儿子说：你要尽全力保护你的梦想。那些嘲笑你梦想的人，因为他们必定会失败，他们想把你变成和他们一样的人 |
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Indie RPG News Roundup, November 22 Posted: 22 Nov 2007 12:39 PM CST Here we go, the Thanksgiving edition of the Indie Role-Playing Game News Roundup! Happy Thanksgiving! Which only has any meaning for you guys who are in the United States. For the rest of you, Happy Thursday! Today is a day set aside to be thankful for our blessings, which we celebrate by mass consumption of food, usually with relatives we only marginally like, followed by something very passive like watching football (okay, "American football," sorry...). At some point, we have to wash all those dishes, which we're not NEARLY so thankful to get to do, but I digress. We tend to spend much of the Thanksgiving weekend (which is usually four days) playing video games, board games, and role-playing games with friends. Which makes it one of my favorite holidays. In between visiting friends and family (or preparing for said visits), I'm personally planning on getting in some Frayed Knights development in, or playing some more Eschalon: Book 1. It's a happy thing. So what's happened this week in the world of indie computer RPGs? Eschalon: Book 1  As was previously announced, Eschalon: Book 1 was released. And initial reports seem to be pretty dang positive. I'm having a lot of fun playing it, that's for sure. It's very old-school, and doesn't exactly redefine the concept of the RPG (for which I'm actually thankful, for a change --- I've not been overjoyed with recent re-definitions), but it is competently done and a lot of fun.Additionally, Basilisk Games has agreed to let Rampant Games offer Eschalon as an affiliate. Which pretty much means nothing to you unless you are me. It's just one more place to get the game. Since I'm all about getting the word out on the indie computer RPG scene, though, it sounds like a good thing. Finally, patch 1.01 for Eschalon: Book 1 is now available. This is only for the full version of the game, NOT the demo. It addresses some annoying bugs, but also improves the gameplay based on player feedback. For example, the "x" key now opens up the inventory, equip item, and stats windows all at the same time, and vendors now sell more arrows for you ranger-types. Download the Eschalon: Book 1 Patch 1.01 Read the Patch Notes The Broken Hourglass Planewalker Games notes, "On the PWG site, we have published a new article explaining the outlook and role of two of the Tolmiran gods--Arithaan, a cold and distant sort, and Uulix, the god of almost everything that isn't nailed down." Read "Stagnation and Death: A Look At Tolmira's Pantheon" And they get bonus points for using the word, "Pantheon." Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest On Amaranthia.com, the date for Aveyond 2 is now listed as "December 5th." So we may be only two weeks away from release. So if you haven't finished the first Aveyond game, get cracking! (Okay, technically, the free RPG "Ahriman's Prophecy" was the first Aveyond game...) Avernum 5 RPGVault has an interview with Jeff Vogel about his new (for Mac users, "upcoming" for us Windows abusers) indie RPG, "Avernum 5." An interesting thing to note is that he's only planning on six games in the series. Anyway, since Vogel has been at the whole indie RPG thing before anybody really dubbed it "indie" or anything, it's always worth reading. A good quote: "Avernum 5 has nicer graphics and sound than Avernum 4. We redid a lot of it to add a nice bit of flash. However, we're still a small indie company. If you need nice 3D graphics and full stereo sound, you probably won't be happy with our games. We focus on what we can do - provide a huge game with a cool story and lots of variety." Read the Jeff Vogel Interview at RPGVault Once again, Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Gaming! |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril |
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Posted: 22 Nov 2007 04:00 AM CST
  
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Posted: 22 Nov 2007 09:57 AM CST
游戏业界历史上的今天（11.24）
首先向11.24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 1989.11.24 寺尾大相扑(JALECO/FC) 相扑类的游戏最早应该是从1987年9月TECMO的那款“大相扑”开始的，不过那部作品仅仅是单纯的相扑比赛而已，而本作相比之下内容则丰富许多：玩家的目的是寻回相扑协会理事长被盗走的奖杯，为此要在全国各地参加各种比赛并在通过比赛不断的成长，把本作说成是一部以相扑为战斗模式的RPG也不为过。 经典度：3 推荐度：3 下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/FC/20050621/6366.html   
智力小子(ATLUS/GB) 这部作品虽然名气不大，但其意义却非同小可：这不仅是ATLUS在GB主机上发售的第一个作品，也是这家厂商作为第三方软件商所正式推出的第一款作品！ATLUS的三位创业者原野直也、横山秀幸和冈田耕始之前都是TEHKAN（也就是后来的Tecmo）的成员，他们在1986年创立这家以希腊神话中撑天的泰坦巨神为名的公司，其初期的作品虽然都具备极为优秀的创意和很高的完成度，但由于本身实力有限，在制作、宣传、发行等方面都只能依靠知名的大厂商支持，例如FC版“女神转生”系列就是在NAMCO的协助下推出的，而PC-E版“地下城探险者”则由HUDSON负责发行。本作作为一款低成本的小品，终于成为了ATLUS正式立足业界的象征。游戏的规则十分简单：玩家操作构图简单且比例超小的主角推动版面中各种形状的方块使其移位或者转动，以开辟通往终点的道路。没有敌人，也没有时间限制，出错了可以随意重来，如此轻松的规则下制作人员凭借巧妙的版图设计为玩家制造了一个个难题，玩起来很有意思。猪头当初在GB上对这个游戏相当着迷，GB需要的就是这种不用费眼神又可以打发时间的作品嘛。游戏后来推出了FDS磁碟机以及PC-E的移植版，不过猪头感觉在家用机上玩这类作品就有些变味了。 经典度：3 推荐度：5 下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/zhangjiyouxi/GB/20070418/16369.html   1995.11.24 银河妇警传说(HUDSON/PC-E SCD) 这是需要Super CD-ROM专用的ARCADE CARD系统卡支持的作品，并不是想象中的美少女育成游戏，而是一款相当正统的纵版射击游戏！呵呵，这个词猪头是一听到就会浑身舒坦，而这个游戏的表现更是令人大跌眼镜：在一个8位处理基础的系统上，竟然能够实现回旋、放缩、变形乃至即时3D演算等特效，与此同时还能够在画面上呈现巨大的角色并演奏震撼的音效，而SCD系统一贯的精美过场动画也尽显魅力，这样的效果即使是与PS相比也不落下风啊！作为PC-E最为忠实的支持者，HUDSON可以说是让这个系统绽放出了其最后也是最耀眼的光芒（本作是HUDSON倒数第二款PC-E系统的游戏，最后一款是次月的“圣夜物语”）。本游戏唯一的不足就是BOSS过于脆弱，基本上一个保险就能搞定，很容易打通，当然，想挑战无损通关的例外。由于本作发行量相当少，在海外一度被炒到400美元的高价。 经典度：4 推荐度：6 下载： 
鬼神童子 电影雷舞(HUDSON/SFC) 这是继“烈斗雷传”之后超任主机上“鬼神童子”系列三部曲的第二作。游戏依然以横向卷轴动作游戏方式进行，平时玩家操作的是小明，在BOSS战时会以动画的方式进行对决，这时前鬼就会登场。游戏的难度相比前作有所提升，不过画风感觉却不如前作硬派。 经典度：5 推荐度：5 下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/SFC/20050325/1239.html     VR特警(SEGA/SS) 世嘉AM2研可谓是街机业界3D化的引路人，尤其在HI-END主板MODEL2推出之后，“VR战士2”、“梦游美国”、“VR射手”巨作等无一不是定义同类作品的标准，“VR特警”自然也不例外。相比之前流行的实景扫描映像的光枪游戏，使用多边形构图的“VR特警”不仅在画面动感上大幅提升，对于击中敌人不同部位后出现的反应也要细致得多，多边形演算所带来的视点变换、场景纵深等效果包括射击的精度都不是以往作品可以相比的。本作的SS移植版第一次使用了专为土星设计的新型OS系统和TRUE MOTION动画格式，实现了与街机版相当的高解析度和高发色数，同时所对应的SS专用光枪VIRTUA GUN也有着不亚于街机版的手感，猪头个人感觉这个是SS的各类外设中最有街机感觉的一个。SS版获得了46万的销量，这也是日本本土销量最高的光枪游戏。 经典度：7 推荐度：6 下载：    斗神传S(TAKARA/SS) “斗神传”原本是PS初期用以对抗SS的“VR战士”的战略作品，虽然游戏在操作性上相当糟糕，但出色的画面表现确实展现了PS的优越机能。而世嘉在SS时代对第三方软件商的重视程度远远超过了MD时代，TAKARA也因此成为了世嘉积极拉拢的对象。在1995年秋，ATLUS、SNK和TAKARA相继宣布加盟土星软件阵营，为SS年末成功压制PS增添了重要的砝码。“斗神传S”就是TAKARA参入SS的首个作品，虽然原作是PS互换主板ZN的作品，但TAKARA还是相当认真的针对SS的机能进行了强化移植，从画面上看，除了没有阴影描绘外，SS版在多边形贴膜以及流畅度方面并不逊色于PS版，还追加了一名原创的新角色，因此游戏的美版被称为“斗神传REMIX”。本作的推出可以说是拉开了SS年末反击PS的序幕，SS当时的形势可谓一片大好，可惜后来...... 经典度：5 推荐度：4 下载：   2002.11.24 梦幻之星合集(THQ/GBA) “梦幻之星”可以算是世嘉8位主机SMS的唯一遗产，MD上的4代更被誉为是世嘉RPG的最高作品，后来在SS上推出的怀旧合集也是许多玩家的珍藏。如今在如日中天的掌机GBA上推出的这款“梦幻之星合集”也可以算是度该系列的一个纪念。受限制于卡带的容量，本作没有收录系列中最受欢迎的4代，而只有1、2、3代，这是个不小的遗憾。不过除了画面经过重新制作外，每一作游戏的剧本也有大量的新内容追加，对于一直以来被认为剧情薄弱的前三集来说这一点十分重要，也是对整个系列剧情的一个补完。但是这样一款作品竟然没有发售日版实在是让人想不通。 经典度：6 推荐度：6 下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/zhangjiyouxi/GBA/20050522/3892.html     |
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Kotaku's 2007 Video Game Wish List [Kotaku Gift Guide 2007] Posted: 22 Nov 2007 09:00 AM CST
This year, the problem isn't finding a game to give, it's figuring out which of the more than 50 or so top-tier titles you should pick to hand out or ask for. So instead of compiling a list of the 50 games and saying, go make up your own mind, we decided to mix things up a bit. Each of the Kotaku writers were given $300 in fictitious Kotaku Kash to spend on themselves. We figured that way the writers would be completely honest about which games they would buy or ask for if they were limited to a still rather high budget. Hit the jump to see the lists and explanations, then feel free to join in with how you'd spend a $300 gaming gift card. Crecente The truth is, if I had the budget I would have jumped at the Special Edition Rock Band, but when you start to think Rock Band or two other top-tier games, it's not that hard to pick which one has to go. Besides that, I'm pretty happy with my choices. Sure I would have loved to have an extra $40 to be able to pick up Ratchet and Clank Future, but given the choice between R&C and Uncharted I had to go with the latter because it was such a fun experience. I love Ratchet and Clank, but I've also played Ratchet and Clank. And Everyday Shooter? That's no stocking stuffer, it should probably be third on my list, right after Uncharted and The Orange Box. Maggie: I'm always running behind on my game list, and a year and a half in a foreign country didn't help matters (despite my boyfriend being great about shipping me my most lusted after games), so my list is mostly old(er). I'm also appallingly busy in my life as a grad student, so money tends to go only towards games I am really, really, really dying to play and can budget time for, which means I don't buy a lot of games for myself. But if other people are doing the buying, I don't feel guilty about letting things languish! Most of this is stuff I'd love to have on my shelf to pick up at my leisure, a couple of DS titles that can go on the road with me, and the piñatas only because I love the damn things so much. Fahey I realize that I'm all over the board here with my list, but there is a bit of method to the madness. More of an organized chaos, really. Disgaea for the PSP waged a massive battle in my head against Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and just barely scraped by as my portable game of choice. Eye of Judgment has proven itself to be entertaining both offline and on, plus the addition of the PS3 camera makes it even more of a great buy. My list also leaves $30 unaccounted for, which can easily be filled with some EoJ decks and booster packs. Scene-It? makes the list because I'd like to get my family more involved in gaming, and the easy to use controllers make it an excellent gateway drug of sorts. A Wii without Super Mario Galaxy is a Wii that isn't meeting its full potential. Finally we have Mass Effect, for the simple fact that BioWare has never done me wrong. Ash Luke Mark McWhertor Look, I'm already in possession of some of this season's greatest games, from Zack & Wiki to The Orange Box to Super Mario Galaxy. But there are plenty of holes in my gaming library that won't make my backlog any smaller. That's why you won't see many hundred-hour games on my list and loads of pick up and play, short session titles in the midst of one's that focus on action and adventure. Tristan Never mind that my 6-year-old son, upon discovering that he didn't have enough Kotaku Kash to buy all the games he wanted, tried to convince me I had said that he had $800 not $300 to spend... and then stormed from the room after calling me a liar. He still was mostly content with his picks. He didn't even blink when I told him that more than half of his cash was going to Guitar Hero. But then again he's been stomping around the house singing We Will Rock You for most of Thanksgiving morning. |
Rockstar San Diego artist Tom Carroll reviews new training DVDs for aspiring video game artists. These educaitonal videos cover everything from game cinematics to full 3D model creation.
Earlier this week we posted our first ever, sorta, 
 
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Happy Thanksgiving! [Night Note] Posted: 22 Nov 2007 08:40 AM CST To: Simon Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are enjoying the festive day. While Japan has caught on to Halloween somewhat recently, Thanksgiving is a big mystery. A really, really big mystery. Last year for Thanksgiving, I went to Subway and got a turkey sandwich. That was depressing. This year, I ate spaghetti. Anyway! Luke and I have put up a couple posts, so if you are around, feel free to do the same. Otherwise, eat some turkey and pumpkin pie for me. Oh, and to answer your eternal question: Ian Brown. What you missed last night |
 
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Giant Crabs Might Have Been Real (We're Sorry, Sony) [Genji] Posted: 22 Nov 2007 08:20 AM CST
The size of the beast suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought.Crabs! And crabs are a lot bigger than scorpions, so if we had an 8-foot scorpion, that's one...massive crab. Sorry. Man-sized sea scorpion claw found [BBC, via The Gaming Fascist] [Image] |
You all remember. Genji, "historical accuracy", giant crabs, massive damage. We all had a chuckle (some even a chortle) at Sony's expense. But what if giant crabs were real? And not "giant" as in "oh, my, it's as big as your head", giant as in "run, before it eats you and your fleshy human babies". This BBC story, about the discovery of the fossil of an 8-foot scorpion, reports that the team researching the find claims: 
 
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Will Casual Gaming Hurt Hardcore Gaming? [Opinion] Posted: 22 Nov 2007 08:00 AM CST
I think what people are worried about is dumbed down gaming. Like that casual players will need some pandering. If developers are smart, they'll make things more intuitive, rather than dumber. That way they can appease new and experienced players. |
Over at GoNintendo, they're running a two-week long feature called "Casual v. Hardcore: Opinions of the Gaming Industry." The question put forth was: "Is casual gaming a threat to hardcore gaming or will it help it in the long run?" My response:
 
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Pure Ace Combat 6 HATE [Japan] Posted: 22 Nov 2007 07:40 AM CST
Know it's not because of THE iDOLM@STER airplane. |
Famed mecha designer 
 
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Zelda, Nintendogs DS Bundles Not For UK, Australia [Nintendo DS] Posted: 22 Nov 2007 07:20 AM CST
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Those new DS bundles sure are nice. Especially the Zelda one. It's especially nice. All the more pity, then, that Nintendo fans and DS collectors in the UK and Australia will be forced to import them, with both Nintendo branches stating they have no plans to introduce the consoles. Yeah, there's always the chance those plans may come later, but PAL gaming breeds nothing if not pessimism. 
 
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Feature: 'Designing A Next-Gen Game For Sound' Posted: 22 Nov 2007 12:59 PM CST
  
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GoD: Changing Mobile Gaming By Streaming Games? Posted: 22 Nov 2007 01:44 AM CST
  
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More Engine Hunt And First Game Screenshot Revealed… Posted: 22 Nov 2007 09:36 AM CST While I was digging deeper into how to deal collisions (thanks Jens & luis for your helpful comments), and was recommend to take a look at NeoAxis engine, which uses Ogre3D for rendering. I had checked it earlier, and there were couple of things that made me ignore it (one man doing the development, .NET overhead, no network support, not yet established community). I decided to take another look into the engine and found out that network code is actually being planned to do in the upcoming releases. I pondered that it would take some time for me before I could touch the network code anyway, so perhaps NeoAxis could be a potential alternative for me after all. Thanks gameboy for mentioning it. I played with it, and actually found out that my simple level demo (done with NeoAxis) actually has many elements that I was expecting to do in the upcoming weeks in Ogre. Here’s a shot that shows something about the new project (see also forums showcase).
Anyway - I managed to put together nice demo quite quickly and will spend some time checking out the tutorials and documentation. At the moment I feel good about the engine and will read the tutorials, documentation and put couple of things together - and see where that leads to me. Knowing how Ogre works (and how their .mesh, .skeleton and material formats work) is good, since NeoAxis - as mentioned - uses Ogre for rendering. Getting characters used in Ogre to my NeoAxis version was straightforward operation. Move from Ogre to Ogre+NeoAxis seems (at least right now) a pretty good idea to me. My careful estimation is that NeoAxis could speed up my production pace. NeoAxis uses C# as the language - which is higher level language compared to C++, so there’s new learning ahead. Now I’m reading more books, articles - and of course putting things together in the engine. |
In this game audio article, sound designer Rob Bridgett (Scarface: The World Is Yours) discusses the key elements of next-gen audio - and just what sounding "as good as film" means in today's increasingly sophisticated market. Excerpting from the introduction to the article, Bridgett discusses how far game audio has come, thanks to the extra processing power and compression now available: "In the previous generation of consoles (PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox), memory had been sparse ...
In a new interview with sister mobile site Games On Deck, Julian Corbett, Vollee's Head of Business Development, has been talking about the company's eyebrow-raising plans. Vollee intends to stream PC/console-quality titles to 3G phones over the network - with Activision, Codemasters and Encore Software already signed up. Corbett explains the company's surprising concept as follows: "Our new service, which we announced at CTIA, is our ability to stream PC games in a cost-effective, scalable ...
If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles. |
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Posted: 22 Nov 2007 09:10 AM CST mc统计的11月12日-11月18日硬件销量如下：
DSL 76,069 (13,457,481)
本周nds+ndsl在日本的累计销量正式突破2000万台。
从以往的经验看，日本市场这样的主机普及量基本已经达到了将近“饱和”的程度，所以ndsl目前周销量不复当年勇的现象也是正常的，虽然不知道它最终能走到什么样的境界。
不过psp硬件却突然生猛起来倒是比较意外，从它的软件在同一周的软件销量榜top30（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000ezj.html ）里面只占了3个位置（而且最高的还是在24位）的现状来看，确实比较难以解释为什么硬件能卖得这么好。
ps3则是第二次在周销量上压制了Wii（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000ew7.html ）。
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Posted: 22 Nov 2007 08:37 AM CST nds官方网站touch-ds.jp上面刊登了“传说”系列制作人吉积信的访谈（ http://touch-ds.jp/crv/vol7/001.html
），话题是预定12月6日在日本发售的《纯真传说》。
 这是touch-ds.jp的“开发者访谈”栏目继最终幻想3、勇者斗恶龙怪物篇Joker、莱顿教授和不可思议的城镇、富豪街DS、ASH、西村京太郎悬疑剧等6个游戏之后又一个特别造势的nds游戏，多少也代表了任天堂对这个游戏比较重视。事实上，之前的6个游戏中，除了《ASH》的表现比较糟糕之外，其他都或多或少取得了一定的成功，希望《纯真传说》也能好运。
nds今年年末三大rpg：《DQ4》、《纯真传说》、《FF4》，分别间隔两周推出。虽然其中有两作是冷饭，剩下一作的前作还大受劣评（《风雨传说》），但这样的rpg阵容也不是同时期的其他主机可以相比的。今天（11月22日）nds《DQ4》已经在日本发售，两周后就轮到了《纯真传说》，喜欢rpg的nds玩家这段时间可以玩得很爽了。
相关链接：
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000cur.html namco的“传说”新作发表会 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000cvy.html nds《Tales of Innocence》宣传视频 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000e5z.html nds《纯真传说》TGS2007宣传视频 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000em6.html nds《纯真传说》新系统介绍 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000emp.html nds《纯真传说》封面 |
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Q& A: Disney Online's Goslin Talks Pirates Online Posted: 22 Nov 2007 06:39 AM CST
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Disney Online recently launched its Pirates of the Caribbean Online game, a world based on the successful film franchise, for both PC and Mac platforms. The pirate-themed world offers quests and adventures, customizable pirate avatars, treasure hunts, and lets players captain their own ship and crew with the aim of becoming the most legendary pirate. Gamasutra sister site Worlds in Motion spoke with vice president Mike Goslin of Disney Online's VR studio about the film ...  
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HB Studios Announces Second Canadian Office Posted: 22 Nov 2007 06:06 AM CST
  
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MIT: Koster, Jenkins On 'Fan Labor', User-Generated Content Posted: 22 Nov 2007 01:49 AM CST
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Canadian development firm HB Studios (EA Sports Rugby, NBA Live 08) has announced that it is expanding its operations in Nova Scotia with the creation of a new develpment studio in Halifax. HB Studios Halifax will open on January 2nd with 20 staff and two projects in place. The HQ in Lunenburg is currently working on five projects across PS3, Wii, DS, PS2, PC and PSP with 85 staff. The firm itself was founded in ...
At MIT's Futures of Entertainment 2 conference, also covered by Gamasutra earlier this week, a panel of experts discussed the hot topic of user generated content and "fan labor": how to foster it, how to monetize it, and what a company owes the fans in return. But the discussion quickly spread to the question of what divides a fan from a professional content creator? And does money get in the way of true fandom? Game ...  
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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The Guys Behind the Rock Band Music [Feature] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST
CAMBRIDGE, MASS--The music never stops at Harmonix. Although Rock Band has shipped, not everyone at the 140-person development studio has time to shop for Christmas. With new downloadable songs coming out every week and new albums being readied for digital distribution, the audio team is as rushed now as the rest of Harmonix was during crunch time to get the Rock Band game out to retailers before Thanksgiving. "We're really busy right now getting as much polish as we can for the download songs that are coming out every week," said Eric Brosius, audio lead, Harmonix. "We're trying to get a bunch of albums for download. There's something really cool about playing an entire album." With Harmonix going the route of master recordings for Rock Band, things are much more challenging for the download team, especially for the older songs. "The older the song, the harder it is to get individual tracks," said Eric Burgess, audio director, Harmonix. "Some songs are on eight tracks, some are on four-tracks. We need to have each instrument on a separate track for inclusion in this game." Brosius said they have to go through each song with a fine-tooth comb. "Masters sometimes need to be massaged a bit to get it to sound like the original," said Brosius. "If in measure 43, the guitar player hit a wrong note, we correct it." Long before Rock Band came out, the audio team compiled a spreadsheet with 3,500 songs on it for possible inclusion in the game. That list had notes that highlighted the vocals, drums, bass and guitar of each song. That list gets narrowed down, after many fights among the team, to 50 songs that they actually go after. "We love songs that are cool and it has to be music that we like," said Burgess, explaining the process of how each song gets into the game. "It's also important for the song to be well-known so the singer is familiar with it. And the song has to be playable with plenty of variety for gameplay. We look for songs that provide a nice interplay between the parts so the bass and guitar players and the drummer can all shine." The team kicked Billy Idol's "Rebel, Rebel" to the curb because it was too repetitive, which meant the gameplay would have been boring. "We also like songs that have a little bit of breathing room so the guitarist can look around at the band during a verse," said Burgess. "We like these types of moments because it makes the players feel like they're part of a band." The audio team does a lot more than just pick new music. They're the ones who take the songs and lay out those frustrating patterns that gamers have to play. They also sync the in-game lighting and character animation to each song. And they spend a lot of time meeting with rock royalty and their minions. "We try to convince the band that we're going to showcase music in a new and exciting way," said Burgess. "With the success of Guitar Hero, many bands understand that their music will be treated with respect. There are some huge bands that just don't do anything unless it's for a whole lot of money. We are building relationships with bands, including Led Zeppelin. We've been talking to them for over a year and there's a good chance that they'll come aboard Rock Band eventually. We're like flies in shit for these big bands." Other music that Harmonix is targeting includes AC/DC and The Beatles. "We go to the artists and the record companies and with some songs, that's all it takes," said Burgess. "Other songs require us to go straight to band management and sometimes the band itself. Alex (Rigopulos) has taken the Rock Band demo to some of the biggest bands out there to play the game for them." Gamers won't hear any DragonForce songs in Rock Band for a reason, according to Brosius. When developing Guitar Hero, the team was looking for challenging guitar solos, which made up about 80 percent of the songs. Rock Band is a much different game. "With Rock Band, we looked for the complete band experience," said Brosius. "Some Guitar Hero fans who play the guitar in Rock Band might find it too easy, but it's a different game experience. We do have some shredtastic guitar songs in the last few venues of the game, though." Brosius said the goal of Rock Band was for gamers to have a really strong connection with the music. If you miss a beat on the drums, you won't hear it in the game song. As for the possibility of a future song editor feature for Rock Band, Brosius said that won't happen, although modders are free to do for this game what they've already done for Guitar Hero. "We're interested in seeing what modders do with Rock Band, but we're not going to offer an editing tool because the interaction between the song and the animation and lighting and effects in the game is important to the overall experience," said Brosisus. "With modded songs on Guitar Hero, all you get are new notes." The music is important in a rhythm game, especially to the audio team, because at the end of the day, "We're the ones who get blamed when people hate a song in these games," said Burgess. |
by John Gaudiosi
 
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Valve Bringing More Achievements to Steam, Soon [Upgrades] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:40 PM CST
We're planning on adding achievements to all of our games you touched on in your mail [Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Day of Defeat: Source and Counter-Strike: Source]. We're just now coming out of the post-shipping haze, so these should start showing up on Steam pretty quick here. We're also planning on adding a bunch more to TF2, starting with an achievement pack for the Medic in the next week or so.There's actually another confirmation email down the thread that pegs at least some of these updates as launching within the year. Sounds good to us. 
 
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A Tower For Your Wii [Gaming Furniture] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 11:30 AM CST
The Officially Licenced Wii Tower Gaming Station [The Wiicast] |
Achievement whores, rejoice. Valve will be adding more achievements to Orange Box via Steam. This note comes from the Valve forums, an email response to a fan, from Valve.
 
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Indie Picks #4, #5 - Blackwell Unbound, Chocolate Castle [Dynamic Duo] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST
However, this time two under-publicized independent games for the benefit of the Kotaku audience are squished together in one post (so they appear before my time as Guest Editor is up). They're dissimilarly wonderful, so check them out: Firstly, Wadjet Eye Games recently released Blackwell Unbound, a classic point and click-style adventure game in the LucasArts/Sierra style (pictured) in which "...embittered medium Lauren Blackwell and her spirit guide Joey Mallone" solve mysterious New York crimes. It's the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Blackwell Legacy, and it's the kind of game that deserves a second look. So do so. Secondly, a chap from New Zealand called Joseph White has been doing quirky, individualistic puzzle-ish games for a few years now, and his most recent effort is called Chocolate Castle. As is explained, it's "...a tricky sliding block puzzle game. The object of each puzzle is to arrange blocks of chocolate into large connected regions so that they can then be consumed by a team of hungry animals." The art style is adorable and the gameplay twistedly interesting - thumbs up. And that ends my look at indie games. Don't forget - if you like stuff like this, go check out the usual suspects when it comes to major indie game blogs - particularly TIGSource, Indygamer, and GameTunnel - you won't be disappointed. Blackwell Unbound [Wadjet Eye Games] |
My final set of indie game picks as Guest Editor follow my previous ones - 
 
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 07:39 AM CST N+，即Nitroplus，成立于2000年的一家GALGAME公司。和制作过「君望永远」的AGE和「School
Days」系列的OF组成了工会性质的千代田区联合，AGE在2003年的卖座游戏「MUV
LUV」亦是由N+参与制作的。和其它两家公司不同，N+游戏的最大特点是所谓的燃和萌(在日语里二者是同一词汇:MOE)。所谓的燃，就是硬派的代称。绝不热血但战斗场面逼真，世界观冷酷的N+作品在业界一向享有盛誉，其处女作「PHANTOM」至今仍被认为是在剧本上超越业界20年的硬派神作，而且由于不像同类作品般以美少女为卖点，在一些讨厌GALGAME的人群中也拥有很高的声誉。「PHANTOM」的故事是三段式的。先是开宗明义地简单叙述了主人公玲二被杀手组织洗脑，然后跟随最强杀手Elen磨练杀人技巧，以成为一名为组织卖命的黑道杀手。
 其间组织高层Claudia令玲二成为自己的情人，并俨然成为了玲二的保护者。使一直找玲二麻烦的另一位组织高层Scythe无计可施。同时玲二在与Elen的交往中感到了Elen被自己所背负的原罪困扰，并且没有过往的记忆，所以没有独自生存下去的渴望。在不断的接触中，玲二开始希望Elen即使不能脱离组织，也可以从此不再为别人而生。而Elen也开始渐渐变得依赖玲二。之后二人产生情愫，Elen也渐渐变得拥有了普通人的感情。当这种虽不完满却颇温馨的状况继续发展时，Elen却因为意外而身亡。玲二开始失去自我，只是为了报恩和洗脱罪名的缘故才继续为组织杀人。而此时，身世凄惨的Cal进入组织。Cal自幼在妓院长大，渴望成为玲二的助手来摆脱过往的不幸。这时的玲二，却从Cal身上重新看到希望，打算将其拯救出组织来赎罪。就在二人彼此依赖并决定逃出组织建立属于自己的幸福时，本来以为死掉了的Elen又重新出现在了玲二的面前。为了Elen，玲二暂时舍弃了Cal。认为自己被抛弃了的Cal，被玲二的仇敌Scythe调教为杀手，决定向玲二展开报复。而玲二的恩人Claudia此时又开始了对Scythe的反攻。玲二为了报恩，和因为失败而穷途末路Claudia一起逃出组织，但最后被围剿的Claudia仍然没有生还的机会，从而没有遗憾地死在了玲二的枪下。此时，Cal展开了对玲二的复仇，Elen为了保护玲二而与Cal对决。最终，两位原本深爱玲二的女人双双殒命。此作乃是作家虚渊玄和原画师中央东口的第一次合作，虚渊玄以「最美丽的爱情是毁灭」和「热恋中的人会作出非人性的行为」为主题，赚写了这个阴郁冷酷却又热情澎湃的作品。而中央东口独特的明暗对比强烈却不失冷酷的画风则与此主题极为和谐。此作问世伊始，销量非常惨淡，但在当年年末的各大杂志和BBS的GALGAME评选中却意外地都获得了高评价，大多数杂志和BBS都将此做评为业界年度最佳游戏，而硬派玩家对此作的极度赞赏也为此作带来了口碑，从此带动了人气。而这种三段式的写作方式，也影响到了其姊妹公司AGE，使其之后创作出了与此前作品不同的，世界观颇为阴郁的「君望」。总之，通过此作，N+和原本名不见经传的两位制作者从此成为业界追捧的硬派游戏龙头，也为之后两年的多部N+超人气大作的风行创造了氛围。更为重要的是，由于作品中对于枪械的描摹十分逼真，受到世界著名的民用枪支生产厂家大日本技研的关注，从此N+作品中出现过的枪支，一定会被技研制作成真实的枪支，而这种枪支设定的授权，比N+的游戏利润还要高得多，也成为了N+最大的财务来源。第二年，「吸血歼鬼」发售。虽然评价不如
 「PHANTOM」高，却继承了虚渊玄的既冷酷又狂热的世界观，在年底的业界评价中仍然名列前茅。「吸血歼鬼」，一般认为受到了大人气漫画「假面RIDER」的影响，以充满悖感的视角重新审视世界。主人公惣太，在梦中成为女吸血鬼Leanhaum的祭品。被吸血的惣太，从此成为接近吸血鬼的存在，而且在死后也会化作大吸血鬼而不老不死。为了使自己重新恢复普通人类的身份，而与女吸血鬼猎人Mora等人开始了对Leanhaum及其组织的剿灭行动。组织领袖Upier，将暗恋惣太的同学弥沙子虏为奴隶，并将之调教为绝对忠诚的存在，令其在对决惣太时辅助自己。但最终弥沙子为了惣太挡住了Upier的致命一击。同时，拥有一半吸血鬼血统的女猎人Mora，因为惣太也渐渐变为了和自己一样的半兽人，而对其心生好感，导致暗恋Mora的吸血鬼猎人Fritz心生怨恨。Fritz是Mora的兄长，为了夺回Mora而甘愿出卖灵魂，使自己变为吸血鬼的一员。当这些障碍都被清除掉后，惣太终于见到了Leanhaum，但是这次与他对决的乃是一位600年前的正义骑士Gierach。
「吸血歼鬼」在N+的作品中评价不高，却是我接触到的第一部N+作品。说到评
 价不高，泰半是由于N+的fans群和其它美少女游戏有很大的不同，大家对美少女和H都是很反感的。而N+却为了与「PHANTOM」相区别，加入了存在感非常薄弱，几乎是为H而H的两位女性角色。而在剧情进行到一半以后，又大概是由于无法继续女性角色的路线，所以干脆令到三位女性角色(包括Mora)自生自灭，导致结局非常不协调。但作品的剧情设定上对N+的下一部名作「鬼哭街」影响深远，所以也是一部值得一试的作品。首先作品模仿特摄电视剧的模式，将剧情分成十数个小段落，每个段落都有一位BOSS，有完整且相对独立的剧情和制作精致的片头片尾。这种表现手法在「鬼哭街」中几乎被全盘copy。而注重男性角色之间的情感牵系，对女性 角色基本无视的原则也贯彻到了其之后的作品中(「鬼哭街」也是到了揭晓谜底时才将瑞丽摆在事件中心)。重要事件大多发生在夜间，同阵营人物间的揭示剧情的对话一般发生在逼仄的房间内，这些在之后的虚渊+中央作品中依旧贯彻。在「吸血歼鬼」发售的第二年，N+又发布了全新的电子小说作品「鬼哭街」。这部作品一反前两部作品的传统，虽然依旧机械感十足，却拒绝用户对剧情进行选择，只能没有代入地进入剧情。虚渊玄在这部作品中发泄了撰写「吸血歼鬼」时没能随心所欲编写剧情的压抑，将自己独特的关于「最美丽的爱情是毁灭」的世界观发挥得淋漓尽致，最凄美的爱情是需要毁灭性的自我牺牲和无人性的牺牲他人来获取的，最幸福的爱人在得到爱情前已经毁灭了自己和自己所爱之人的一切，甚至为了获得这份爱情而将与事件毫不相干的单恋自己的痴情之人的前途和人生尽毁。这样的残酷之爱，第一次成为了信奉男人力量之美而鄙视男女之间飘渺感情的虚渊玄的作品主题，也开始影响到了之后创作的「沙耶之呗」和「咎狗之血」。也许对于虚渊玄来说，战胜自我内心的男人比战胜外部强敌的男人更有血性之美吧。
有别于其它N+作品，这是唯一一部开场即H的游戏。虽然开场的H毫无美感，却充满了阴郁和血腥的独特魅力。开场气氛和故事主题都与古龙名著「血鹦鹉」颇为类似。以武林中几乎无敌手的高手在对弱质女子进行玩弄时，忽然被乱入的主人公一击斩杀为肇端，开始徐徐叙述没有希望没有未来的主人公复仇和找寻的故事。在剧情伊始，我们所接受到的真相是:主人公孔涛罗是上海黑帮顶级杀手，其与妹妹孔瑞丽一起生活在上海，而其妹妹瑞丽则暗恋自己的这位亲兄长。知道妹妹心意的涛罗为了使妹妹不再抱持这种羁绊之恋的盼望，而将自己的义兄弟刘豪军介绍给了妹妹。但不久之后，已经订婚的豪军和瑞丽却突生变故，豪军及五名手下将瑞丽污辱并分尸，将魂魄封印在五个傀儡人偶中，由五位手下保存。同时作为青云帮的骨干成员，豪军将老帮主的权利架空，从而通过上层政变的形式接掌了帮派，并将罪责加诸在涛罗身上，对之进行诛杀。死里逃生的涛罗，在一年之后为了洗清罪责并为帮派和妹妹报仇，决定向现在被豪军控制的青云帮展开进攻。其间，虽然涛罗为了获得封印妹妹的人偶而向豪军帮凶伸出杀手，但同时也不得不与维护帮派利益的一些老友同室操戈。当最后涛罗与豪军正面决斗时，却发现其实豪军的一切作为都出自自己妹妹瑞丽的授意。妹妹因为被涛罗许配给了自己不爱的豪军，而决定通过作贱自己，引起哥哥的注意。而爱着瑞丽的豪军，只能默默接受瑞丽的想法，却也对涛罗的不解风情感到愤恨。当二人将涛罗逼入绝境时，其实早就在盘算着令涛罗接受自己妹妹心意的方法。而涛罗得知事情原委时，早已亲手将自己的挚友豪军逼到了死亡的边缘，最后只能了结豪军的性命，使之得到解脱。而经过恶战性命垂危的涛罗，仍然用五个人偶合成了自己的妹妹，同时也是毁弃了三个人前途和生命的瑞
 丽。这时的瑞丽，为了能与自己深爱着的哥哥长相厮守，而接受了左道钳子的建议，决定对涛罗和豪军的身体进行改造，使二人合成为一个躯体。但改造的成功率很低。最终，二人合成了一个完整而独立的躯体，拥有了独立的人格。而从此不老不死的瑞丽，亦与这个继承了涛罗的思想和豪军的一部分躯壳的存在生活在了飘渺的时代。从剧情来看不过是虚渊玄自说自话的一次暴走。实际上此作的剧本之深邃只有亲自尝试过后才能理解。很多人认为这个游戏和「吸血歼鬼」都有着对父权社会的暗讽意味。姑且不论这个，仅仅是战斗过程中酣畅淋漓的文字描述就足以令硬派人士趋之若骛。印象最深的两次乃是作品初始涛罗与「金刚六臂」樟贾宝的战斗，以及作品中后与元氏兄弟的惺惺相惜。这部在作品后半部突然失去善恶天平的作品，也是N+早期作品中对我触动最大的。充满中国风情，以近未来的上海为舞台，却将人物设计成明朝风格，剧情极具古龙的武侠小说色彩，而虚渊玄也正和古龙相近，是一位喜好女色却厌憎女性，鄙视女性的感性思维却也同样厌倦粗暴的男权世界的乖僻小说家。而作品一开始的发售版本中，除游戏本体外，还附送了N+众人在火锅店神侃的摄影场面，也算是了解剧情的另一种途径吧。事实上，作品虽然由于情节过于情绪化而导致部分用户吐槽，但个人却认为这部充满感伤主义和怀疑主义情怀的古典复仇剧是暴力美学在普遍软派的日本游戏界的一次复辟。如果一定要和TV会社相比较的话，N+应该就类似于将暴力美学扩大化的大阪名社CAPCOM吧。而更为难能可贵的是，GALGAME一向分为南北两大阵营，以F&C集团，山田一集团和ELF集团为首的东京派在剧情和游戏性，操作系统上都以纯爱和唯美相标榜;南部大阪的LEAF和KEY则分别以艺术系和哭泣系成名，ALICE是肆无忌惮的鬼畜里手，MEBIUS则一切利益至上。而以N+在2001年发售的「吸血歼鬼」和2002年发售的本作为标志(实际上还应该算上2001年AGE的「君望永远」)，新兴的千代田联合以深入探讨人性和挖掘一切合理事物的不合理本质为标榜，在业界刮起了现实之风。2001年前的御宅族们往往封闭在自己的小空间内，不与他人交往，平时最大限度上只能接受ALICESOFT的冷嘲热讽，LEAF一旦出现「谁彼」这样稍微注重真实性的作品就会被集体抗议，ELF的REFRAIN
BLUE也被讦谯，而这次N+和AGE(千代田联合的废柴OF后来也鼓捣出了「SchoolDays」跟风，但在核心用户中的影响力微乎其微)却以直面现实社会中的人性虚伪和弱点为着眼点，开始了对业界的系统批判。虽然两社前期作品都销量惨淡，但进入2001年以来却相继晋身大手会社行列，不能不说在它们为业界和御宅族带来一阵清风的同时，也令业界和御宅族开始可以真正认清这个社会，而不是龟缩在自己的小空间内。 |
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 10:43 AM CST |
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 11:31 AM CST Wii.com（日本）目前已经公布了6个版本的《Wii
Fit》电视广告，一个个看下来还是挺有意思的。
第一个电视广告：
 
——只公布了一块板，老规矩，用来吊胃口的（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000etm.html
）
第二个电视广告：
   ——一名女子用这块板测试平衡，“Wii
Fit”的名字也出来了，发售日和价格也公布了
第三个电视广告：
   ——一名男子在用《Wii
Fit》测量BMI，结果是超重了（注：计算BMI（body
mass indes)
数值是最普及的测量胖瘦的方法。BMI是指体内脂肪率，男女都适用。具体计算方法是以体重(公斤，kg)除以身高(米，m)的平方）
第四个电视广告：
   ——一名男子在《Wii Fit》的指导下运动锻炼
第五个电视广告：
  ——一名女子跟着《Wii Fit》做瑜珈
第六个电视广告：
  ——一家人坐在电视前确认《Wii
Fit》的成果（大家都赤着脚呢……）
这样的一系列广告下来，应该可以让电视观众对《Wii
Fit》从“没听说过”发展到“有些了解”，相信也能够激发起不少人的购买欲望，毕竟对健康的追求永远都是潮流。
我也想买一个，不过这东西的水货运到中国大陆卖的话，价格估计会比较黑。
相关链接： http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b0100088r 我最期待的Wii软件 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000con 【E3 2007】《Wii Fit》公布 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000cpf 体重计和跳舞毯 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000edl Wii平衡板的承重能力 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000eik.html 日本amazon接受《Wii Fit》预约 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000elj.html 《Wii Fit》给流通商制造的压力 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000etm.html 《Wii Fit》地铁广告 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000ew3.html 《Wii Fit》地铁广告2 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000eya.html 岩田聪和宫本茂谈《Wii Fit》 |
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Game of the Year (Orange Box) Tripe on PS3? Posted: 23 Nov 2007 01:14 PM CST BLOG - It appears that PS3 owners have got the rough end of deal with yet another multiplatform release – a preview of the PS3 version of The Orange Box by consumer site 1UP says technical flaws “at best merely hinder game play and at worst make the experience downright...
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:41 PM CST Starting next week, we’ll start putting our annual gift guide up. The categories will be different than last year, since most of what we covered last year hasn’t really changed. I also highly recommend checking them out again:
If you have any suggestions for what to include or an area you’d like us to cover, leave a comment, and we’ll see what we can do. (I should also add that the next Showdown is postponed indefinitely due to lack of interest, and we don’t want it to conflict with the gift guides anyway.) |
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炫动中国2007校园巡讲第十一站：大连工业大学（原大连轻工学院） Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST 发表者：水晶石数字教育学院北京中心 黑板报小组 Annie
 １１月１９日，我们炫动中国全国校园巡讲团一行８人来到大连工业大学。大连... |
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RPG Design: The Same Ol' Grind Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:18 PM CST On the RPG.net forums the other day, I came across this discussion on how much time it would take to "honestly" get a character up to high level in 1st edition D&D. One player noted that based on the XP from killing monsters, players would have to kill 960 goblins each to earn second level. This brought up a fairly ancient argument about the rule from D&D where experience points were given out for treasure. In fact, the argument was old when Gary Gygax penned the defense of the practice in the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide. I always followed that rule, and my players went up to third level or so fairly quickly. But apparently not only was it not universal, I might have even been in the minority. Effectively, the experience points (abbreviated "XP") for treasure thing was an early attempt at codifying quest-based XP. One participant in games with Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, Old Geezer, commented in the thread that not only was the XP for gold integral to the original "vision" of D&D, without it you were best off to just sit in the middle of the dungeon and ring cowbells for wandering monster encounters. Those unplanned, "grinding" types of encounters were intended to be obstacles and challenges, not "XP on the hoof," as he puts it. Embracing The Grind Yet computer RPGs, descended from Dungeons & Dragons, have traditionally emphasized the "grind" as not only the principle source of character progression, but in many cases the sole source of character-building experience. Killing monsters over and over again, "grinding" away on the body count until a new level was achieved. It is only recently that CRPGs have attempted to abandon grinding - in this case defined as experience through body count - behind. I'm thinking specifically of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and some Neverwinter Nights premium modules. There are certainly others, but those come to mind. Curiously, even 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons departed significantly from the vision, suggesting quest-based XP as an option, and then generously announcing that experience points could be earned by merely defeating or bypassing an opponent. And D&D Online had to a grinding of a different sort - repeating the same adventure over and over again. There was one nice thing about the "grind" mechanic in single-player RPGs. If you found yourself overpowered by a particular section of the game, you could back off, go fight some monsters, and get an extra level or two (not to mention gold and supplies) before trying again. As a player who often prefers often-underpowered rogue classes, I appreciate this. After all, I remember all too well my talking-and-sneaking character in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines being dropped into multiple boss-fights where talking and sneaking were rendered useless. Alternatives to Experience Points Of course, we also have some totally different systems like the Elder Scrolls games (Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion) which eschew the experience-point system altogether, and simply let highly exploitable (not to mention WEIRD) "practicing" take place. Call of Cthulhu used a similar system for leveling up back in... what was it... 1980? It led to players frantically trying to use every single skill on their character sheet at least once during an adventure. But half the characters were dead or permanently insane at the end of each adventure, anyway, so it didn't really matter so much. Call of Cthulhu D20, by Monte Cook, just suggests the characters gain a level every two adventures. That makes bookkeeping simple, but again locks the players to a particular power level, and doesn't take into account the difficulty of any one adventure. A Balanced Approach I'm personally a fan of the experience point system. Seeing the points accumulate and measuring progress towards your next increase provides a good, positive feedback. In my opinion, a good computer RPG should strike something of a balance. The principle source of experience points is best based on non-tedious, non-repeating criteria that helps measure progress through the game. Quest-based and story-based stuff. And points for taking unique risks (like disarming a trap, or dealing with a difficult radiation-filled environment). But I'm fond of using repeatable risks as a source of experience points. Maybe this can be limited in some way (like not being able to earn more than N experience points this way per level or something... though that kind of rule can be confusing to players). But it needs to be there. This allows players some freedom and a feeling of non-linearity... they can abandon their quest and just go out monster-bashing ( *cough*grinding*cough* ) any time they want, for as long as they want (though it could have detrimental effects on their quest status... ) Though I kinda miss giving out XP for gold... (Vaguely) related inane mutterings: * RPG Design: The Brute Force Problem * RPG Design: Scaling Encounters * Why Do RPGs Suck Now? . |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril |
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Carmack, Kang Talk Id Mobile, Nintendo Love Posted: 23 Nov 2007 06:40 AM CST
  
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Nordic Game Announces Grant Recipients Posted: 23 Nov 2007 06:12 AM CST
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Veteran Texas-based developer Id Software recently announced Id Mobile, a new division of the famed Doom and Quake creator that will develop games for cell phones, as well as for both the Nintendo DS and PSP. Id Mobile will be headed up by Fountainhead founder Katherine Anna Kang, who was formerly director of business development at id, and has already worked with spouse Carmack on projects including Doom RPG and Orcs & Elves, the latter ...
The Nordic Game Program has announced that Transfer Studios AB's upcoming title The City of Metronome has been selected to receive 600,000 kroner ($119,000) in development funding through the program, which is designed to support innovative game concepts in the region. The City of Metronome, in development for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and other platforms, tasks players with using recorded sounds to solve mysteries in a big city. It is one of eight concepts selected ...  
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Jeff Minter Threatens To Abandon Game Development Posted: 23 Nov 2007 05:02 AM CST
  
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PS3 Beats Wii For Second Week In Japan Posted: 23 Nov 2007 04:02 AM CST
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Cult UK developer Jeff Minter has spoken of his despair at low sales of Xbox Live Arcade title Space Giraffe in an online blog, although he has retreated from earlier comments that suggested he might leave video games development entirely as a result. Well known in the UK for arcade style shoot 'em-ups such as Llamatron and Attack of the Mutant Camels, Minter is also renowned for a number of remakes of Atari classic Tempest ...
Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending November 18th, following details of the software top thirty. With last week's hardware sales results only covering the first few days of the PlayStation 3's price cut, and the launch of the 40GB model, Sony's next generation console has beaten both the Wii and Xbox 360 for the second week running. Despite continued strong sales of Dynasty ...  
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Dyack Clarifies Quebec Subsidy Comments Posted: 23 Nov 2007 06:59 AM CST
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Following up on his widely reported comments on Quebec's subsidies to game developers, Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack has released a clarifying statement to Gamasutra, explaining he was targeting long-term sustainability concerns, not subsidies themselves. Dyack's comments about subsidies originally came as part of a Gamasutra studio tour of his Ontario-based developer, during which he commented: "The subsidies in Quebec are, well, insane... Essentially that's the only reason the studios are so big there. I think ...  
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:02 PM CST
  
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Feature: 'Game Feel - The Secret Ingredient' Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:56 PM CST
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French development studio Amusement Cyanide (Pro Cycling Manager, Loki) has announced it is opening a studio in Montreal with the aim of expanding into the North American market. According to the company, which was supported by Montreal International in setting up in the region, the new studio plans to hire approximately 65 new employees over the next three years. In addition to stepping up its hiring efforts and releases, Cynanide highlighted its goal of building ...
However you describe it, it's hard to deny that the sensation of controlling a digital object is one of the most powerful -- and overlooked -- phenomena ever to emerge from the intersection of people and computers, says Flashbang Studios' Steve Swink. In this latest Gamasutra-exclusive feature, Swink examines "game feel," what it really means and how it's created. Swink breaks down "game feel" into six categories -- Input, response, context, polish, metaphor and rules, ...  
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Industry will crush all records, says analyst Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:09 PM CST As US retailers shift into high gear the day
after Thanksgiving, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael
Pachter is expecting impressive results
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 12:14 PM CST Stephen Poole's excellent 2000 tome Trigger Happy: The Inner Life of Videogames suffered the fate of many modern books and silently dropped out of print in the last few years, a lamentable state of affairs.
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"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader
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Posted: 24 Nov 2007 11:28 AM CST |
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Free Game: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Posted: 24 Nov 2007 11:53 AM CST This has been around for a couple of years, but I became re-acquainted with it yesterday. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Steve Meretzky and Douglas Adams, was one of Infocom's most popular (and most difficult) text adventure games. Naturally, it was based on Douglas Adam's hit book series of the same name. The BBC has created an online version of the game - with illustrations. Your saved games go to a public registry, so you need to name your game carefully to avoid getting it stomped on by other players. Play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy For yet more entertainment value, the BBC has an interview with Steve Meretzky about his collaboration with Douglas Adams in the 1980's to produce The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Adams and his agent actually approached Infocom with the idea, as Adams was a fan of Infocom adventure games (particularly Suspended, by Mike Berlyn). An excerpt from the interview: "At first I was a little shy to speak my mind, given Douglas' fame and brilliance and given that we were adapting his material. As a result, the early parts of the game (which are the parts we designed first) are structurally weakest, in terms of being too linear and relying too heavily on prior familiarity with the Hitchhiker's story. I'm referring to the Earth and Vogon Ship sections of the game. Later, as Douglas became more comfortable working in a non-linear medium, and as I became more comfortable making my opinions known, the game became much stronger. I think that once you arrive at the Heart of Gold, the structure of the game changes for the better, becoming less linear, more original, fairer to the player, and just plain more fun. Douglas always described the structure of the game as "pear shaped" - narrow toward the stem end, then suddenly ballooning wider, and finally coming together at the end. " Another little tidbit from the interview that I didn't know: The "biscuit story" from So Long and Thanks For All the Fish really happened to Adams! Interview with Steve Meretzky about his collaboration with Douglas Adams Curiously enough, the babel fish puzzle is listed as one of the nastiest puzzles in adventure-game history, yet I was never stumped until I got on board the Heart of Gold. However, I do remember that puzzle with great fondness... (Vaguely) related semi-random stringing together of verbs and nouns with the occasional article, adjective, and adverb: * Adventure Gaming Alive and Well? * Indie Interview: Mike Rubin * Does Textfyre Have a Chance of Reviving the Commercial Text Adventure? * A Twisty Little Maze of Passages, All Different . |
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril |
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Weekend Thoughts: 'Analyzing PlayStation: The Official Magazine' Posted: 24 Nov 2007 07:46 AM CST
  
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Posted: 24 Nov 2007 09:47 AM CST 发表者：水晶石数字教育学院北京中心 黑板报小组 Annie
 11月２１日，我们来到了炫动中国全国校园巡讲在大连的最后... |
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Kotaku Originals: From Looks Back To Gift Guides [Original] Posted: 24 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST
Ten Years Ago: LucasArts' Monkey Island Duo Game Inspirations: Julien Merceron, Eidos Kotaku's 2007 Gift Guide of Obscene Nicety and Sublime Naughtyness |
[Every weekend, Gamasutra is featuring sharp editorials and feature stories from our correspondents - today, Kevin Gifford of editor weblog Game Set Watch analyzes the first ever issue of Future US' PlayStation: The Official Magazine.] The first issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine arrived in the mail a few days back, and since it's the first major US mag launch in a while, I thought I'd devote a full column to it. Future Publishing's PTOM ...
Hello and welcome to your post-holiday edition of Kotaku originals. This week, guest editor Simon Carless took a look at what some great game designers were doing ten years ago, we told you what you should by based on our own questionable tastes and Rock Band excited some while others were left out in the cold.
 
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Posted: 24 Nov 2007 07:36 AM CST
从网上前一阵看到的，最近可能就要出了。手机上的效果应该不错，视频是今天刚刚找到的。等出了一定好好的体验一下，GL的又一个新作期待着！
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Posted: 24 Nov 2007 09:37 AM CST 发表者：水晶石数字教育学院北京中心 黑板报小组 Annie
 １１月２０日，我们来到了位于辽宁师范大学大学影视艺术学... |
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Here’s Something To Consider When Jumping Into New Technology Posted: 24 Nov 2007 09:12 AM CST This week’s development is about to get done. Last Thursday I mentioned about the engine hunt. Miguel raised a very important point about switching technology. I agree with Miguel, that jumping from technology to another will harm any project - if things aren’t getting finished. The reason why I started using NeoAxis engine was quite simple. It was (kind of) built on top of Ogre3D rendering engine (that I was using), and it has many additional libraries & tools implemented and ready to use. There are some factors that need to get into account when thinking about the technology, and key element for me is time. My Ogre development started as planned, and I was doing nice progress with it. When I run into collisions issues, I saw that some of my original estimations (regarding tasks such as character moving & getting the physics lib work properly) would perhaps need bit more time. I took another look at the NeoAxis engine and saw that it already had many things done that I would be needing. I took a closer look at the engine and made some performance tests. The benchmarks were fine, perhaps because it uses Ogre which I knew to be powerful enough for my purposes. I realized that since I was familiar with Ogre pipeline, I could use that knowledge to get things - such as animations and models - working in the NeoAxis engine. Right now it looks like Ogre3D was a good choice for me, and putting NeoAxis engine “on top of Ogre” even better solution. I realize that there will be heavy learning involved (getting into C# for one thing), and there will be some restrictions or additional requirements because of NeoAxis engine. For example, I need to include .NET files in the game distribution package - that’s 22 megabytes extra. Also, the network code is not finished at this point, but since it’s getting coded in the future releases, I have no problem with that. I have hands full of work with the single-player version. To me this engine hunt boils down to time. At this point I had finished 4 stories (or features) from the project with Ogre, and on the 2-3 days (when getting into NeoAxis engine) I realized that there were 5 other stories finished (and couple of more stories wouldn’t need so much work). Basically this means, that so far I’m roughly 2 weeks ahead my planned schedule. (Will show you a short video clip tomorrow) Whatever you decide to do, follow Miguel’s advice. Don’t jump from engine to engine. Pick one and stick to it. If you are in the beginning of the project, and the switch can save your time - then feel free to consider it, but don’t make light decisions. Learning new technology always carries risks. I have used Blitz3D in years 2001-2007, and now recently started learning Ogre. NeoAxis (that’s kind of like “built on top of Ogre”) seems like a natural step from “bit lower to bit higher” level, and so far it has saved my time - and my guess is that it will save my time also in the future. |
If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles. |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2007 06:13 AM CST  また草稿……orz 最近實在攢了好多草稿，描線遲鈍，還要幫別人涂…… 同人志的具體消息等12月中旬再公布，暫時低調保密，吾輩的樣圖發給個別上層RP人氏看了之后，大家都表示“滿足”VVVVVV…… 不過還要“麼多麼多干吧喋”！ 上火的是代理人可靠度值得懷疑。 身邊有“諸葛亮”，這種事情還是聽他的意見好——拜托吾輩的蜀薯——一個搞進出口貿易的商業人士。 沒可能被X$，OX又有保障。 和邪洋那邊還要忍忍……沒圖收，手癢癢囧。 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2007 10:06 AM CST 泌尿系统结石病是一种常见病，它包括肾结石、输尿管结石、膀胱结石和尿道结石。泌尿系统结石有较为明显的地区性。我国南方发病率高于北方，可能与气温、水质、生活习惯、遗传等有关。还有和某些疾病有关如甲亢、皮质醇增多症、长期卧床、溶骨性肿瘤等，尿路原因也是结石发病的重要因素如患前列腺肥大患者引起尿路通畅度下降，残余尿量增加，膀胱结石生成机会增大、输尿管先天性狭窄致肾盂积水易形成结石，同时结石梗阻尿路又使结石生长加快，反复的尿路感染也会促进结石生长。 饮食习惯和机体的适应能力也是不可忽视的方面如不喜欢喝水的人结石发病率高，多食乳品增加钙的吸收（成人）、多食肉类使尿中尿酸增多、大量食用菠菜可增加尿中草酸的排量，这些都是增大结石形成的因素可能 根据尿结石的主要化学成分，常见的有草酸钙结石、磷酸钙结石、尿酸结石、胱胺酸结石等。 泌尿系结石病的主要临床症状为：肾绞痛、血尿、胀痛等。但有些肾及输尿管结石没有明显疼痛，但要高度重视，因为这类病人往往时间很长可达10年、20年，这样。对人体的危害更大 1、 尿路结石的病人不宜多吃糖，服糖后尿中的钙离子浓度、草酸及尿的酸度均会增加，可促使尿酸钙、草酸钙形成。 2、 尿路结石病人忌吃菠菜，在食物中，菠菜含草酸盐最高。尿路结石病人尿中的草酸钙本身已处于饱和状态，若再食入可促使结石的快速生长。 3、 肾结石病人不宜在临睡前喝牛奶，近年来提倡晚间喝牛奶的人很多，原因在于牛奶中含有色氨酸，有助于睡眠。这对于一般健康者来说。无疑是最适宜的，但对肾结石的病人或已治愈者来说就不同了。人在睡眠之后尿量减少，尿液变浓。由于牛奶中含钙较多，肾结石中大部分都含有钙盐。结石形成的最危险因素是钙在尿中浓度短时间突然增高。饮牛奶后2～3小时正是钙通过肾脏排除的高峰。如此时正处于睡眠状态，尿液浓缩，钙通过肾脏较多，故易形成结石。因此，肾结石病人不要在临睡前喝牛奶。为免此虞。可在晚上临睡前4小时前饮用。 4、 患有泌尿系结石者，不宜多吃动物的内脏，如猪肾、猪脑、猪心猪肝、羊肝、鸡肝、鸡脑、牛心以及奶类、鱼类之物。尿酸结石者也不宜多吃扁豆、豆腐、红茶、可可、咖啡、巧克力等含嘌呤较多的食物。草酸钙结石患者还不宜多吃毛豆、土豆、龙须菜、可可等含草酸较多的食品。对草酸钙、磷酸钙结石者，应忌吃牛奶、茭瓜、奶酪、豆腐、豆类等含钙量高的食物。此外，还应禁吃芡实、白果、马齿菜、荔枝、石榴、龙眼、人参、黄芪、桂皮、金樱子、花椒、海马等。 泌尿系结石者宜吃以下食品：胡桃、玉米须、猕猴桃、苜蓿、黄鱼脑石、赤小豆、鸡肫皮、香醋、茈菇、南瓜、刺猬皮、蛤蜊、柠檬、杨桃、葡萄、萝卜、青芦笋、荠菜、芦根、蚌肉、冬瓜、西瓜、丝瓜、青菜、芹菜、大白菜、梨、荸荠、紫菜、胡萝卜、豇豆、绿豆、苡仁、芋艿、田螺、螺蛳等 |
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Posted: 24 Nov 2007 01:29 AM CST 许薇薇从箱根偷偷拿回来的这本留言簿，现在还好好地放在我的书房里。大小姐的兴趣来得快，去的也快。还没有等我们乘上离开箱根的火车，她就已经把这件事情忘到了九霄云外。
我说几乎，是因为我现在不能完全肯定，屏幕上方格里那些难以辨认的文字，和留言簿上的是否一模一样，但是那个圆框，和格子的排列方式，以及文字的字体，却绝对不会搞错。这张图自然不会是我交给刘潇的，但如果硬要说是偶然的巧合，也未免过于牵强。
我把相关的网页，都保存到电脑硬盘上，这才关闭浏览器，陷入了沉思。
Park97。 |
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Rock Band Drums Work On PC [Clip] Posted: 24 Nov 2007 12:30 AM CST
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Frayed Knights: Are You Experienced? Posted: 24 Nov 2007 03:06 AM CST  And this week's progress report on the comedy / fantasy CRPG, Frayed Knights!The Math of Monster Mashing I did my whole spiel about experience points and character improvement in my last post. Naturally, that's been on my brain a lot, as this week I've been tackling those issues in Frayed Knights. Level progression in a traditional RPG presents an interesting little bit of math fun. Generally speaking, most RPGs assume that each level will take a little longer to progress than the previous one. This makes for rapid early progression, but keeps a "soft boundary" on the upper levels. Dungeons & Dragons (the pre-2000 versions) had XP requirements for each level that were roughly double that of the previous level (up until level 12 or so). Since the monster XP (and gold - which was also worth XP) also increased, this didn't mean you had to double your adventuring time to gain a new level. Working on the experience system in Frayed Knights has had me trying to figure out those numbers to make a leveling up system that just "feels right," and it's been hurting my brain. Probably because it's hard to plug in "feels right" on the one side of an equation. I want to have a system that emphasizes quest-based experience, but also rewards other dramatic, interesting, and especially risky actions --- like combat, or picking locks. The little problems going through my head included: * Since a group of monsters is far more dangerous and difficult than encountering all of those monsters separately, should a group include a bonus over a single monster? * How much more should a level 3 monster be worth over a level 2 monster? * Approximately how many monster kills of around equal to one's level should it take to raise an entire level? * How many monster kills should quests of different lengths be worth? * How should disarming a trap or picking a lock compare in terms of experience points to these other rewards? * If you defeat only half a group of enemy monsters before fleeing, should you get experience points on the ones that you defeated? * Should a party member that ends an encounter incapacitated (Frayed Knights' kinder, gentler equivalent to "dead"), should they get experience for the encounter? What about if they started the encounter incapacitated? What if they both start and end incapacitated, but at some point in the middle of the fight was revived just long enough to get beaten down again? Yeah, yeah, the easy answer is that these questions SHOULD have all been answered in the design doc before I got to this point. You know what? The flavor of combat in Frayed Knights has evolved quite a bit in the last five months or so, and so anything I'd have done back then would have already been thrown out. Engineering Backwards What I DO know is that the adventure in the dungeon of Pokmor Xang - plus a little bit of knocking about in the forest on the way back to town, and the mission completion - should allow the party to level up. Once. Though in theory even that can change. But that's kind of the weird backwards engineering that I'm doing right now. And I expect the player to finish the full game somewhere in the mid-teens, though I'm allowing progress up beyond level 20. So whatever numbers I put in (and after running through a LOT of numbers and formulas, I did manage to lock down some numbers to put in for now), they'll be completely replaced once the whole game is humming along and has been play-tested a few times. But for now, I have a workable system in place that seems reasonable enough for right now. It is fun seeing the little numbers increase on the screen, at least... UI, UI... Woah, Baby, We Gotta Go Besides working on experience point systems and fixing the usual assortment of bugs, I also worked on "UI Manager" that should hopefully clean up some of the transitions between, say, combat and dialog. And as a quick-and-dirty modification, combat now rewards you with one or more drama stars upon conclusion. So there's progress being made. Foreseeing how development is going to be the next two weeks... expect little. We've got a major milestone at work that is going to demand some serious overtime for the next couple of weeks. But I'll continue work on monster scaling (YES, I used the "S" word), random encounters (MORE Evil!), keys for doors, and interactive object capabilities. As always, have fun! (Vaguely) related stuff I found stuck underneath my desk: * The Rules Lawyer * Disappointment in the Demonweb Pits * RPG Design: Same Ol' Grind * Can CRPGs Age Gracefully Got Something To Say? Have At It On the Forum! |
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We Wipe Our Arse With No More Heroes [No More Heroes] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 11:30 PM CST
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Or we would, had Kotaku Heavy Industries been attending the game's Japanese launch party instead of alternatively stuffing our faces with turkey or rocking out on Rock Band. See, not only did Yasuhiro Wada turn up for some free drinks and a go on the final build of the game, but all attendees were given a parting gift. Toilet schwag.
 
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Ellen Does Human Tetris. So Lame. [Clip] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 11:00 PM CST Thanks, Chesu! |
 
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Carmack And Nintendo, B.F.F. [John Carmack] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 10:40 PM CST
We ignored Nintendo for a long time for a number of fairly good reasons --- we hated dealing with them 10 years ago, as they always lagged behind the front runners in terms of raw technology... now we're branching out onto lower-end platforms, so now its an interesting platform for us to be looking at. Six months from now, when our current projects are done, we have all sorts of options we're focusing on.Ah well. Whatever the reason, least they're all chummy now! Interesting he talks about "options" there, too. If those "options" don't include either an official Doom or Quake on the DS I'll eat your monkey's uncle's hat. Carmack, Kang Talk Id Mobile, Nintendo Love [Gamasutra] [Image] |
John Carmack used to hate Nintendo. With a fire that burned wildly inside of him. Some may say it's because Nintendo (was rumoured to have) completely ignored his idea for a Mario port on the PC. Carmack says otherwise: 
 
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This Is What 1250 DS Menu Icons Look Like [Nintendo DS] Posted: 23 Nov 2007 10:20 PM CST
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It's a nice touch, having a little icon next to every DS game when you boot up the handheld's menu. Like the little animations you got to go along with your PS2 save games. Very cute. In honour of this nicety, GAFfer Stumpokapow has put together a collage collecting 1250 of the 32x32 pics. It's not every DS game, but if you're more concerned with completism than how great the picture is, you're very much missing the point. Full pic is at the link below.
 
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《模拟校园》(Campus: Student Life Simulation)破解版 Posted: 23 Nov 2007 09:28 AM CST  转自FTiR 游戏名称：模拟校园 英文名称：Campus: Student Life Simulation 游戏制作：ND Games 游戏发行：Kalypso 游戏语种：英文 游戏类型：Simulation（模拟类游戏） 【游戏简介】 大学是学生生活与社会探索的平衡的混合体，在游戏中建立生涯来探索某一学科，并达到目标。你的角色在英国的某一所大学里展开。游戏过程中, 你将前往其他国家完成学业和任务。你将得到可以一起讨论问题的朋友。 成绩突出可以在科学上有所突破。 如果你非常努力，将可以揭穿某恶毒的国际组织的一个虚假计划，甚至可以获得诺贝尔奖章。 【游戏截图】 Ü ÜÛÛÜ Ü Ü Ü ÜÛÛÛÛ Ü Ü ÜÜ Ü ÜÛ²ÛÜ ÛÛ²Û Ü Ü ßÛ²ß ß Ü ß ßÛß ÜÛÛ²Û Ü ÜÜÛÛÜ ÛÜ Ü Ü ß Ü ÜÜÛÛÜ ÛÜ ÜÜÛÛÜ ÛÛ²Û ÜÜÛÛÜ ÛÜ ÞÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛÜ ÛÛÜ ÛÜ ßÛÜ ÜÛÛÜ ÞÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛÜ ÞÛÛÛ ßÛÛ²Û ÞÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛÜ ÛÛ²Û ÛÛÛÛßÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÜÛßÛÛÛÛ ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²ÛßÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ÛÛÛÛßr ÛÛ²Û ° ÛÛ²Û ÛÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛß ÛÛ ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ° ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ° ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ° ÛÛ²Û o ÛÛ²Û ± ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ß ÜÛ Û Þ ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ± ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ± ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ± ÛÛ²Û y ÛÛ²Û ² ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ß ÛÛ²Û Ý ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ² ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ² ÛÛ²Û ÛÛ²Û ² ÛÛ²Û ÛÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÛ ÛÛ²Û ßÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛÛ ÜÛÛ²Û ÞÛÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÛ ßßÛÛß ÛÛß ÛÛ²Û ßÛÛÜ ÛÛß ßßÛÛß ÛÛß ßßÛÛß ÛÛÛß ßßÛÛß ÛÛß ß ÛÛÛß ß ß ß Ûß ß Ûß ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ -/- Campus: Student Life Simulation (c) Kalypso -\- ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Release Date...: 23/11/2007 Image Format....: ISO Game Type......: Simulation No. Disks.......: 1 DVD ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Game Information: Campus is a balanced mix of campus lifestyle simulation and a wide variety of quests and tests which lead to one of the goals of this game make a career in science and get rich. Your character starts out at a campus somewhere in England. During the course of the game, you will fly to other countries to complete your education and missions there. You will acquire friends who will help you to deal with problems. Study well and you will achieve much success in science. And if you try really hard, you will foil perfidious plans of a nefarious international organization and even receive a Nobel Prize. ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Install Notes: Extract the archives and burn or mount with your favorite software. Install the game and play to your hearts content. ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Greetings to: Everyone thats keeping the scene a safe place and to those especially in Fairlight, Vace, Razor1911, Vitality, Reloaded, Hatred and The Nova Team. ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄ ú ú ÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ "our fleet have returned.." |
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 10:57 PM CST 先说一段在《天龙八部》项目中的一段小秩事吧。 |
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Demo: The Orange Box: Half Life 2: Episode 2 Posted: 23 Nov 2007 10:42 PM CST  There's a new demo up on the Live Marketplace today for one of The Orange Box's tasty gaming morsels, Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Now, I know what you're thinking -- The Orange Box? That's so last month. So earlier-this-month? I don't remember. This whole Fall season has been a blur of swiping credit cards and first-person-shooting underwater space-marine portal guns. Anyway, if you somehow managed to miss The Orange Box here's your chance to take a peek at a tiny portion of 1/5 of its chewy gaming goodness. See article. 
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