Autism is still very much a mystery. Its cause is largely unknown, and has been inaccurately attributed to many things. It is a spectrum disorder and the way it manifests itself differs greatly from person to person. For those with high functioning autism, navigating the social world can be a baffli
Videogames for charity is not a new thing. What is novel is making a game with the primary function of financial assistance. Seeds is an upcoming mobile app that does just this. [The game director’s] interest in microlending first came from a 2009 New York Times article entitled “Saving the World’s
LittleBigPlanet is one of Sony’s great successes, not only because LBP has sold so well, but because it appeals to such a massive audience. Little kids can play it, adults can play it, and they can play it together. Does this sound like any other game? Mario perhaps? One thing that has plagued Sony
Microsoft has a novel campaign to encourage people to play Halo 4’s multiplayer: pay them with Microsoft points. Here is the breakdown: Play 35 or more hours, and get 100 Points, OR Play 70 or more hours, and get 300 Points, OR Play 140 or more hours, and get 600 Points Remember, this promotion ends
The Astronauts is a game developer blog that has thrown a wrench in my conception of games. They have post up which shows five games and their five most memorable moments. BIOSHOCK First ten minutes. Entering Rapture. CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 No Russian. You take part in an airport massacre o
Has Frog Fractions piqued your interest in text based games? Bad at Halo 4? Give this game a whirl. It’s surprisingly intense, and if nothing else it will help speed up your typing.
I’ve been to game FAQs much more than I’d like to admit. The times I find myself there are usually not to solve a puzzle or to get through an action sequence, but to find out the potential outcomes of an in-game choice. Nonlinear narrative requires decisions that do not always have the clearest outc
A nationwide (even global) magnifying glass was placed on the 2012 election and campaign trail. Most of the attention was put on the presidential race, but Nov. 6 was a day of progress in many states for reasons that had nothing to do with the presidential ballot. Washington and Colorado legalized r
The quicksave is pervasive in PC games. It exists on the console as well, but there it is better classified as a frequent-and-laborious-trip-to-the-menu save. G. Christopher Williams at Pixels or Death examines this panacea for challenge and contrasts it with the mechanics found in Jordan Mechner’s
When humans interact with others, they overwhelmingly focus on the face of the person they are communicating with. Alan Kingstone, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, wanted to know if this was because humans seek out the eyes of those they interact with or if they just focus on th
From genuine interpersonal relationships to the art of the pickup, the gaming of life is an inevitability. We may overtly participate in it, or it may take place beneath the surface of our awareness, but we are constantly playing with the systems of social interaction and society. Being polite, dona
It’s tempting to dismiss Halo 4 as purely a workout for the adrenal glands, but it has a softer side hidden beneath the battle rifles and pulse grenades. Its characters were not just iterations of Hollywood’s collection of Johns (Rambo, MccLane, Connor), but were influenced particularly by a progeny
If you were ravenously consuming prerelease information for Dark Souls like I was, then you probably stumbled across a helpful nugget from its director Hidetaka Miyazaki: start with the Pendant. You see, there were a few different “gifts” the player could receive at the start of their game. Each had
A panel at last week’s ExPlay Festival in Bath analyzed educational videogames and their potential. Each speaker brought a new perspective to the discussion: Force Of Habit founder Nick Dymond talked about working with a professor of microbiology on Tempest-style game Dysbiosis, which teaches player
As far as my parents are concerned, my college applications were delivered months before they were due. In reality, I adhered to a strict policy of delivering them in the 24 hour window before their deadlines (and I’d hazard a guess that this limited their quality). If only Mission: Admission had ex
A portrait of a free-to-play cash cow: It was a typical weekday night after work: Lee slipped off his shoes, climbed into bed with his iPad, and booted up Clash of Clans. The free-to-play strategy game, in which he went by the name “Metamorphaz,” had quickly become a favorite stress-reliever for him
Jim Crafword is a menace. His games have scrambled my brain, made me hate myself, and yet I still love him. Stockholm syndrome I guess. All of his games are worth playing, but definitely try Frog Fractions. On his website, Crawford quotes a reviewer who describes the game as the “Look Around You” of
Horror games used to be slow. The protagonist would slink along, in a digital representaion of what your stomach felt like. They were like this as much by design as they were because of their technological limitations. But with new technology, those slinking games of yesteryear are making way for a
When games get edgy, it usually means they are gory or contain erotica. Too often we conflate pushing the envelope with meaning. Soldier of Fortune let you blow people to pieces, literally. Mass Effect treats sex and romance as though it were written by a salacious 13 year old (I will give credit to
Multiplayer is often considered to be a shtick. When BioShock Infinite had its multiplayer cut, fans rejoiced that the game wouldn’t be polluted with marketing contrivance. To the ire of fans, Mass Effect 3 hid parts of its ending if you did not play its multiplayer. There are, of course, games that
Every year, The Guardian makes a list of 100 most powerful people in British media. This year, only one of them was involved in games. Could this be accurate? Tadhg Kelly doesn’t think so. We have much more power than we realise. Although the British game industry has dropped to sixth place in the w
Open book. That is how we describe people who are easy to understand: they are easy to read, as it were. But perhaps that is an outdated expression and a videogame metaphor would be more apt? Alan Kwan, an artist of all trades, may have something we can work with. Early next year, [Kwan] plans to o
Videogames, as we know, are a massive industry: According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a consulting firm, the global video-game market was worth around $56 billion last year. That is more than twice the size of the recorded-music industry, nearly a quarter more than the magazine business and abo
It’s no secret that videogame production is lacking in diversity, both in who makes games, and whom they are made for. A panel at Game Narrative Summit suggests that tackling this issue (as it relates to women) is more complicated than simply making a main character that is a strong, androgynous, ro
Many major videogame companies go through a common development process: Developers staff up to make a huge game, then shed members once it ships because they no longer have anything for them to do. It happens again and again, whether the game is successful or not: Take-Two had a huge hit with Red D
