High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks 
Sunday Comics: Dead Island Kotaku was prepared to mock the release of a metronome for the DSi today, surely not the best thing in this week’s offering of DS and Wii downloads. But then we saw the picture for it.
Square Enix brings Gyromancer to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, a Puzzle Quest–like role-playing puzzle game that’s built upon the gameplay backbone of PopCap’s Bejeweled Twist.
Emily Short has an interesting response up to some comments made by Playfirst’s John Welch in a recent Gamasutra article. The issue at stake? Welch’s assertion that Playfirst has introduced ‘narrative’ to games such as Diner Dash. Short’s response? ‘This made my eyelids twitch.’ What’s the difference between narrative and fiction? Short argues that games like Diner Dash have a fiction attached to them, but are sorely lacking on the narrative bit, which she feels can add something to currently lacking casual games:
I’m waiting for the Bejeweled competition to start (is there anything they can’t make a skill game/play-for-cash version of?), but in the meantime, PlayFirst and WorldWinner have joined forces to offer up Diner Dash (and its two sequels) – for cash. PlayNoEvil has this to say about the announcement: “Skill games can be thought of as the complementary strategy to the Virtual Asset Purchase business model. They both remove the cost of entry to participate. The key in skill games is to keep the game “just skillful enough” so that anyone thinks they can win.” Press release is after the jump.
