Two quick notes for you game-hungry readers… First if you’ve seen the screenshots for Gears of War 2, you might want to compare them with the screenshots for Gears of War 1. You’ll notice that: a) GoW 2 is gorgeous. Haze, smoke, particles. Details recede into the background. Textures are richer and more plentiful. AND… […]
Category Archives: game design
Best videogame monster
Best videogame monster: now accepting your nominations The best videogame monster. Now that’s a competitive category. Like best movie villain, except a heck of a lot more likely to make your palms sweat. Even if you’re a novice videogamer, you’ve probably seen your share of incredible videogame monsters. Some examples that spring to my mind: […]
Game design: Call of Juarez
Game design case study of the Xbox 360’s Call of Juarez I played a decent chunk of this shoot-em-up – “the only Western first-person shooter experience on Xbox 360” – the other evening. I’m curious as to what other Westher shooter experiences there might be in the game universe. I’m offering $25, public accolades, and […]
Game design goofup: goodbye, Devil May Cry 3
Game design has changed from the Dark Ages of arcade development. Back when arcades ruled the roost, a game designer could assume a few things about his* audience. They were under 18. They were male. They were playing in a movie theatre lobby or arcade. And they were really freakin’ bored. The classic arcade audience […]
Game design case study: why can’t I stop playing Bard’s Tale?
Game writing trumps game design? My current crap-game obsession is inXile’s Bard’s Tale for the PS2. An ill-fated classic-game revival, BT has very little in common with its storied predecessor (which I also loved back in the days when I was too young to buy my own computer – can you say “floppy disk swapfest”?). […]