Taking us up to midday, some humour. I find this fitting because I may be working in a fast food restaurant come Christmas. It’s a long hilarious story whose punchline rhymes with “schmaid schmoff.” No not from Kotaku. Anyhow, I’m super pissed the Hamburglar is not in this game. Nor the Fry Guys. Then again, when was the last time you saw Wendy’s bewbs? Ronald as a laconic Joker-esque figure is a nice touch, although my guess is they’d have to tone down his finishing move just to get the T-for-teen rating, too.
This is a terrible trailer. We’ve all been over the morality discussion of World War II games, or any game that simulates an actual war in which real people we know fought. For this genre, that hard rock accompaniment to Call of Duty: World at War’s launch trailer is atrocious, and I certainly hope it’s not going out on television (where the trailer is much better). “NO RULES?” Is this a UFC montage? “NO FEAR?” What, we’re reducing World War II to a rear-window sticker in a white trash lowrider? Where’s Calvin pissing on Japan?
John Di Maggio says being the voice of both Futurama’s Bender and Gears of War 2 protagonist Marcus Fenix is “a double-ended nerd boner.” Whoa wow TMI there, bro. In a two-part 20 minute interview with WJFK-FM’s Chad Dukes (second part on the jump), Di Maggio holds forth on being the it voice for two disparate sets of supa-fanboys, among other topics.
On Gamerscore Blog, Major Nelson explains the functionality of two new features — parties and photos — coming to the new Xbox dashboard (nyah, nyah, didn’t say “experience”) on Nov. 19. There are more screenshots and a video narrative of the two features at the link.
In an interesting opinion piece over at GameSetWatch, designer Brice Morrison expounds on why it is that he ‘outgrew’ games — even though he’s a designer. It’s not exactly treading any new ground (any ‘why is gaming an immature medium?’ essay traverses the same ground), but it’s an interesting perspective from someone who has built a career on designing games — games that he says he’s outgrown. What do we need more of? Boring games (sort of):
Two people filed suit in federal court against Electronic Arts back in October, alleging the SecuROM digital rights management installed on their machines by a trial version of Spore Creature Creator, and a full version of the Sims, constitutes unlawful and deceptive business practices.
Gene Hoffman, CEO of Vindicia (a billing and fraud protection company), has some words of wisdom regarding the headache that is billing and payment for MMOs — be they the more ‘traditional’ subscription model or the free to play model. Obviously, there are benefits and downsides that come with each model, and companies are constantly trying to negotiate a balance between profit and player happiness. Even the vaunted subscription model comes with its own problems and a variety of structures within that model:
The transnational character of gaming is one that opens up a wide range of opportunities for the industry, but comes with a number of pitfalls as well — and, as Mathew McCurley argues at the Escapist, has far-reaching negative consequences, especially in term of content. Trying to navigate the tricky waters of censorship and varied expectations of what is OK (and what’s not) in a variety of countries can mean developers play it safe in an attempt to ensure that their game will reach a wider audience:
Some might think the men who wrote what is credited as the first video game ever, Tennis for Two, might regret not patenting his work. If they did, however, the United States government would have owned that patent. And it’s fascinating to consider the Department of Energy as a founding investor in the multibillion-dollar video gaming industry of present times.
Totally out of my academic purview, but it’s a really neat sounding conference: The research group Ludiciné (University of Montreal), the Research Group on the Creation and Formation of Cinematographic and Theatrical Institutions (GRAFICS) (also from the University of Montreal) and the NT2 Laboratory on Hypermedia Art and Literature (University of Quebec) are hosting a conference next year (in — surprise! — Montréal) on horror games. Proposals are due by January 15, 2009, and the conference will be held from April 23 to 25, 2009. So if you’re incubating a great paper topic on horror games, or are sitting on a paper that you haven’t had an academic outlet for, here’s your chance. Sounds pretty fun! More information can be found at the website, and the full call for papers can be found beneath the jump. [via GameSetWatch]
