Sweatshop – learning to love exploitation

Posted on July 19, 2011 in Casual · Comments { 0 }

I do like a game that makes me think, especially if those thoughts aren’t along the lines of “who the hell agreed to publish/commission this pile of tosh?” Sweatshop from Brighton-based Littleloud falls into this category – the good ones, I mean, not the terrible ones. […]

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In which I have the gamer’s equivalent of worms, or something

Posted on June 29, 2011 in Strategy, Thinks · Comments { 0 }

I just bought Heroes of Might and Magic VI and I feel sick. (I don’t imagine they’ll be using that quote on the box). I feel sick because, in order: (a) It’s not even out. (b) By paying £30, I get access to the beta version, which has a total of three maps and a […]

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Is it too soon? Tropico 4

Posted on June 20, 2011 in Strategy · Comments { 1 }

The Tropico series of city management sims has always been great fun, but somewhat edgy for me. It’s all very well to manage Tarentum in ancient Rome, or any number of imaginary cities somewhere that looks like the middle of the US. But Tropico is set very deliberately on a Caribbean island in the (roughly) […]

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Clockwork gods – gaming systems

Posted on June 12, 2011 in Thinks · Comments { 2 }

The video below is Chris Crawford talking to what appears to be roomful of would-be interaction designers in Holland. He compares interaction designers (and by extension, games designers) to the gods of the new universes they create. However, they can choose which sort of god they want to be. […]

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Submitting to subnormal: difficulty in video games

Posted on June 6, 2011 in Thinks · Comments { 2 }

This post is about a thing, a foible, I have about video games. Call it a cry for help, if you will. Here it is: when the time comes and I have to select the ‘Easy’, ‘Normal’ or ‘Hard’ difficulty-setting on starting a new game, I find it almost impossible to go easy on myself. […]

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My story, not theirs

Posted on June 2, 2011 in Websites · Comments { 0 }

Does storytelling matter in games? I’m undecided. But many think it’s a vital area for change if the medium is ever to be taken seriously. Right now, there’s an interesting series of articles in progress on IGN Australia about narratology in video games. It’s an area that games designers – and critics – are absolutely […]

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Dying gracefully in Just Cause 2

Posted on May 29, 2011 in Action · Comments { 0 }

I’m sure that by this point you’ll have seen the [awesome] video that’s been posted by Square Enix, the developers of Just Cause 2, on YouTube, mapping the locations of 11 million player deaths in the virtual environment. Fell off a roof? You’re a dot on the floor. Gunned down in the street? You’re a sign. […]

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