Gaming Links and Notes
First off, DQ reader Fredrik Skarstedt (Affectworks) won second place in a GarageGames contest for developers, and the announcement is here. You may remember that I linked to the opening level of a game called Switching Gears, which was a clever and funny game about a hapless robot. That was one of his entries into the contest.Mart Lume reminded me (in reference to the Run To The Hills post) that I should have mentioned the difference in how the game values certain notes. For drumming, the red notes and kick pedal notes have a greater effect on the crowd meter than yellow, blue, or green.
They give you that hint in one of the loading screens, and it really does make a difference. So if you have to choose between dropping a red note and a yellow note, for example, always drop the yellow note. And if you get off-rhythm in a song, reestablish the kick pedal and red note rhythm first.
John Kidwell sent me a link to a video of a "computer toy" called Phun, and it's just fantastic. It's sort of like Crayon Physics, but it has its own personality as well. There's a video and also a link to download the program.
Kieron Gillen has a fascinating post over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun about piracy. It's not a philosophical discussion, though--it's about actual downloads. Here's what he did:
So, hitting the Mininova, I totaled all the separate torrents for each popular game and worked out a chart.
I'm surprised no one does this on a regular basis, because it's totally interesting. And even with the limitations of collecting data in this manner, it's still an excellent peek into piracy.
If you want to know how mainstream gaming has become, here are just two recent examples. One, I opened up the Austin American-Statesman on Saturday morning and there was a huge article by Omar Gallaga about Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
On the front page.
That's right--page 1A.
That same day, on the Editorial page of the New York Times (sorry, can't find the link), there was an article fondly remembering Gary Gygax and how he contributed to our culture. There was also a thoughtful and funny article on Sunday by Adam Rogers about how Gygax, in many ways, created geek culture. Plus, it has one of the funniest diagrams about being a geek that I've ever seen.
If you want to know details about the collaboration between Cory Barlog (director of God Of War II) and George Miller (Australian writer and director who did both for "Mad Max"), then N'Gai Croal has the scoop for you to a dizzying degree.
December interview with Barlog
Interview with Barlog, part one
Interview with Barlog, part two
Mad Max game announced
Interview with Miller, part one
Interview with Miller, part two
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