rolling thread of stuff worth reading on videogames

mordy i saw that, and i started playing 'gate' (the more recent one inspired by robot odyssey—which when i looked at it at first, cold, was just incomprehensible and cryptic). it's super engrossing! (i never play games anymore either, so it's weird to just become engrossed in something like that.) i programmed from when i was an adolescent all up through college, have a math degree, studied lots of logic, etc., but never learned about circuits, so just that extra twist is super goading—like, i understand all the right things, but not the language, not the way of organizing things, so the puzzles are all the more challenging. and suddenly i'm feeling the cruftiness of engineering, or of some of the worst code i ever wrote—solving levels in 'gate' with whatever works rather than with the kind of overview of what makes a solution a correct one that i learned from all the years of writing proofs, etc.

: )

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/187601/untold_riches_the_intricate_.php

Jeff Walker (VP of sales and marketing, Capcom USA):

Every meeting we had, the kid would do something bizarre. He'd get really wasted ... He's the kind of guy who would like run up behind you and try to pull your pants down when we were in Japan. Just a nut 24 hours a day.

AkiranishitaniAkira Nishitani (Planner, Capcom Japan):

We often would work really hard, all through the night and into the morning, so during the daytime I would sometimes doze off. One time I fell asleep in a meeting, and Mr. Okamoto turned off all the lights, changed the clock to say 3 a.m. and made everybody leave the room, so when I woke up I felt like, "Oh shit, I slept until 3 a.m."

http://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history

Some fans have pointed out that Ken's theme sounds similar to the Cheap Trick song "Mighty Wings" from Top Gun. "I have heard people say that," says Yoko Shimomura. "And I watched the movie before I composed the song, so I can't deny I may have been inspired subconsciously. But I didn't go into it thinking, 'OK I'm gonna make this song sound like Mighty Wings.'"

http://sealedabstract.com/iphone/how-in-app-purchase-is-not-really-destroying-the-games-industry/

ah, sanity

uhh that guy's stupid and so is the thing he wrote

Arcade games use microtransactions I guess but they also let you keep playing based on your merit. Most good arcade games are hard enough to keep you putting quarters in but can still be beaten on one quarter. Freemium games have nothing to do with this model. They're not designed to be beaten, only expanded. Do you want more skins? Deluxe items? Do you want to try non-trial levels? Do you want to unlock the ability to have a high score? In an arcade game you can play the game for a quarter and have a complete gaming experience, without commercials or artificial delays or barriers.

putting a quarter in a game to play it isnt the same as in-app purchases because you were still just paying to play the game, not paying extra to play a cooler Turbo Laser Mach 5 edition

that article was horrible

I don't know, games like Final Fight and TMNT and all those sidescrollers all suffer from bosses that take absurd amounts of damage just so you have to keep putting in quarters. It wasn't always based on merit.

It would be cool if arcade games gave you the first life free, but that's pretty impossible to do, at least with 80s technology.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/72805000/jpg/_72805763_dkeeper.jpg

man that pile of green stuff for 70 foreign currency dollars looks GREAT

it IS the Best Value

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10956-Dungeon-Keeper-Mobile-Review-Wallet-Reaper

Ouch.

such a shame. i remember dk1 very very fondly

Always was curious about it, maybe put off a bit by the cover art. Worth tracking down?

Yes on gog atm

definitely one of those oldies i always meant to get around to. i think my PC couldn't run it in the late 90s

Ha, never realized it was Molyneux! That is tempting. Wonder if the ad copy is a subtle joke at his expense: That's right--Dungeon Keeper, Bullfrog's classic dungeon management strategy, gives you no extra credit for having any morals. After all, the underworld isn't black and white!

ugh though, every time i go to gog i'm tempted to spend like $50 pointlessly on games that just catch my eye and look pretty, e.g. "Banner Saga" which I've never heard of, or random shit that won game of the year like fifteen years ago but i never played but it's still $10 and ehh, i could spend that on so many other things...

haha i know what you mean. at least know everything will eventually go on sale at GOG or Steam during a holiday. that said, if they ever ported Planescape Torment to Mac i'd buy it again in a heartbeat

I think dk was out before b&w

It was - I'm assuming here for the sake of my own mild amusement that the ad copy is GOG's.

probably, they like doing that kind of stuff

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/02/gamings-long-con.html

Surprised he didn't mention the fuss about the sub 2 hours runtime that the next MGS has

re: Dungeon Keeper: original is now FREE on Gog.com for the next couple days. Ha!

Nice!

great game, many hours lost to that back in th' day

download queue is apparently long as fuck, understandably. hey, it's free!

Kinda LOL at the parallel 90% off sale though. Oh boy, Rise of the Triad for only $2.99!!! Duke3D for $1.19 is cool though.

some great stuff in the 80% off pile - don't let the multiplayer description fool you, there's stuff like System Shock 2 and Alpha Centauri in there for buttons

sorry, that is the 90% off pile, 80% is other RPGs, might take the punt on Neverwinter Nights 2 cos at that price if it runs like shit on my machine i won't feel hard done by

oh, didn't realise you had to buy the whole pack full of stuff i already own

once you add the game to your account, you can always download it later - give 'em a few days. i might buy DK2 for $1.50 for the hell of it, though sadly it's not mac compatible. There's also that Chaos Engine remaster

System Shock 2 i'll wait for a sale on Steam.. for the Steam cards. yes I'm ashamed

alpha centauri has been my best (well from one perspective worst) gog purchase so far. idk if i've played a better strategy game.

90% list also has magic carpet and ut2004 -- the former totally sui generis, the latter representing the furthest quakestyle shooters were willing to take themselves before turning towards military hardware and people who can't jump 15 feet in the air

http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/2/24/5419788/eve-online-thrilling-boring

Great article. I tend to love these EVE anthropology stories

fantastic article, best I've read in the "explaining the appeal of EVE online" subgenre

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2014/02/left-behind-women-video-games

predictable post, but, good article

i really need to play left behind still huh

great piece, makes me wish left behind was on xbox. laura was a fantastic editor on comics alliance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KMlXRshQ0Y
New Chrontendo! Covering:
Defender of the Crown
Cobra Triangle
Thundercade
Strider
Mother(!!!!)
Famista '89: Kaimaku Han!!
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti
Twin Cobra
Cosmic Wars
Meimon! Daisan Yakyuubu
Moeru! Oniisan/Circus Caper
Magma Project - Hacker
Melville's Flame
Shingen the Ruler
Captain Ed

an episode of this is two hours!?? sorry man

you never seen chrontendo? dude is playing through every nintendo/famicom game ever made and giving background, creator stories, design commentary... they're great. best served by skipping around though. I had no idea there was an nes splatterhouse

it's SUPER nerdy stuff but loads of fun

crazy stuff going on in the world of professional gaming
http://www.dailydot.com/esports/league-of-legends-promise-suicide-match-fixing/