Posts with tag: Rage
Posted at 22:16 on 5th January 2017
You may have noticed that Nintendo launched their first iOS game last month (with the Android version expected to launch imminently). Super Mario Run is a stunning debut – it’s polished, content-rich and unapologetically aimed at experienced video game players, with Toad Rally, an endlessly deep asynchronous multiplayer game, at its core (plus a set […]
Go to article →Posted at 21:02 on 2nd January 2016
Eight years since its announcement and four years since its release I finally got around to playing Rage, the last game from id Software before they were absorbed into Zenimax and waved goodbye to John Carmack. If you want a single game that demonstrates all of id’s historic strengths (aside from multiplayer) in a modern […]
Go to article →Posted at 02:26 on 22nd June 2015
Last week ace opinion-haver John Walker posted an editorial on Rock, Paper, Shotgun outlining why he thinks that VR Is Going To Be An Enormous Flop (in the context of PC gaming). Walker’s argument isn’t entirely without merit. I think that it’s going to take a long time (2-3 years at least) for VR stand […]
Go to article →Posted at 19:53 on 20th January 2014
As you probably know by now, the UK government is leaning on the major ISPs to implement opt-out internet content filtering. This ill-conceived plan is being driven ahead (after a consultation process presumably akin to the tribunal scene from Aliens) to pander to the tabloid press, who can make almost as much money sowing fear […]
Go to article →Posted at 14:22 on 16th December 2011
Reality is Broken Jane McGonigal ISBN 978-0-22-408925-8 Firstly, for those of you in a hurry: if you’re looking for a good gaming-related book to read over the holidays, I would emphatically recommend Tristan Donovan’s Replay (a deep and absorbing gaming history that looks far beyond the well-worn stories of the American and Japanese giants), closely […]
Go to article →Posted at 19:43 on 13th June 2011
As some of you may have guessed, I’m a huge id Software fan, as a result of spending countless hours playing (and sometimes modding) their games over the last twenty years, and appreciating the vast amount of technical innovation they’ve achieved to the benefit of the industry as a whole. They’ve not always been the […]
Go to article →Posted at 02:23 on 8th May 2011
A while ago I finally caved and bought the shiny, voiced, HD remake of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge on Steam. The recent round of Q&As and interviews with the Portal 2 writing team (where they reveal that the writers actually cued up the recorded voice performances in the game themselves, to ensure that the […]
Go to article →Posted at 01:01 on 7th November 2010
A few weeks ago I was made aware of this Kickstarter project. (Which has since been launched.) For those who can’t be bothered to read and watch all that, in a nutshell, ‘Gameful’ is a not-for-profit initiative started by Jane McGonigal and associates intended to give funding and support to games projects – but not […]
Go to article →Posted at 00:23 on 22nd November 2009
I don’t want this blog to get mired in politics, but this issue is too important for internet users and members of the creative industries in the UK (regardless of their political stripe) to ignore. The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson wants to give the music and movie industries the power to force UK citizens (and […]
Go to article →Posted at 23:01 on 10th July 2009
“Criticism written without personal feeling is not worth reading. It is the capacity for making good or bad art a personal matter that makes a man a critic. The artist who accounts for my disparagement by alleging personal animosity on my part is quite right: when people do less than their best, and do that […]
Go to article →Posted at 09:00 on 15th April 2009
“Braid treats your time and attention as precious.” Braid official website The PC version of Jonathan Blow’s arty platform puzzler Braid came out last week, complete with a demo. Much praise has been lavished on this game since its original release on the Xbox 360 last year. I’ve not caved in and paid for the […]
Go to article →Posted at 15:00 on 9th March 2009
A quick update to condemn this idiocy: “The Government’s Change4Life campaign upped the ante in drawing spurious links between games and premature death this week. The British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and Cancer Research have all lent their name to a new print campaign (pictured here), which shows a gamer risking an early grave by […]
Go to article →Posted at 16:37 on 21st August 2008
Things which can be appropriately described as a “nation”: The Universal Zulu Nation The Nation of Islam The Sioux Nation Belgium Things which cannot: People who like certain American sports which EA holds exclusive rights to, severely limiting their ability to choose games based on quality, or in extreme cases, basic fitness for purpose. Referring […]
Go to article →Posted at 19:40 on 15th May 2007
And right on cue (erm, a month after my last post) here’s a great example of Microsoft’s games people sending the wrong message. At some fundamental level Microsoft really don’t seem to ‘get’ Nintendo. Every console manufacturer likes to claim that they don’t consider the competition a threat. But even now, with the stratospheric, global, […]
Go to article →Posted at 00:02 on 22nd February 2007
I don’t like the idea of ‘retro gaming’. That is to say, I don’t like using the term ‘retro’ to describe games released several years ago. It seems to imply that old games (encapsulated as a single monolithic entity) should be treated differently to newer games. This distinction comes from a misunderstanding of why people […]
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