“Kids shouldn’t play videogames.” Where have we heard that before? With this sweeping legislation last fall, China clearly threw its lot in with the curmudgeons and scowling parents in a desperate attempt to sound feeble, manipulative, and out-of-touch all at the same time. I totally understand the urge to refocus the youths on important things […]
Category Archives: game industry
A Successful Indie Videogame Company Vs. A Failure: What’s the Difference?
A videogame company is a difficult venture for anyone, even with the deepest of pockets. The failure rate is EXTREME. How extreme? The New York Times says 80% of games (8 of 10) fail to make a profit. So what distinguishes a good videogame company from all the failures? We came upon this game industry […]
Game Case Study Update: Kaos War and Damon Grow
So recently I wrote a long, rambling post talking about the Kaos War MMORPG and some of the mistakes that founder Damon Grow makes during their journey (as documented by a Games.net video series). What ever happened with Damon and Kaos War? Kaos War never came out. Not a big surprise, you say? Get this: […]
PewDiePie Makes $15M/Year and Is a Racist
Videogames Are Murderer Kryptonite, Says NPR
For your enjoyment, here’s another salvo in the ongoing discussion about “do videogames make kids into psychopaths,” aka “First-Person Shooters Were Designed by ISIS and the Taliban to Extend Satan’s Nefarious Reach into Our World.” As you might expect, this TED Radio Hour episode connotes play with balanced human psychology. Less expected, perhaps, is a researcher who finds that […]
Kickstarter Drama: Why Are the Fans Paying for It?
Kickstarter Campaigns for Veronica Mars and Richard Garriott? So yeah, as you’ve surely heard, Kickstarter and other social fundraising vehicles are now part of the movie- and videogame-making landscape. How about a little review of where two of those big-name campaigns are now? I’m talking about the Veronica Mars movie and Richard Garriott’s Shroud of […]
Bioshock Co-Founder Calls It Quits
Surprisingly, Irrational Games’ co-founder Ken Levine recently announced that he’s shutting down that studio. This means that future Bioshock games will almost certainly have much less of his handiwork. He did also say that he will start a new studio under publisher Take-Two that will focus on smaller, digital-distribution games. The new studio will only […]
Did My Sister Design the 3DO Logo… At Age 4?
As some of you know, the late great 3DO was one of the game developers where I’ve hung my hat. Good stories, great people, late nights, inevitable collapse, the usual game industry situation. Anyhow, appropos of nothing, my sister brought a little item to Christmas a few weeks ago — a bookmark made in the […]
Can the Game Industry Ever Do 40?
The Videogame Industry and the 40 Hour Workweek TIME Magazine has a new article up about the 40-hour workweek. Most people in the game industry find this concept quaint. “That’s for regular jobs,” they’ll say, or “Never gonna happen.” Not only are long “crunch” hours often necessary because of publisher deadlines, the dreaded holiday season […]