RPGs: Stop Making Bad First Impressions 
Is Hitman's Next Target Assassin's Creed? 
Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land Infinite Interactive, the creators of Puzzle Quest, continue to combine adventure and gem-matching with Puzzle Chronicles, part roleplaying game, part Puzzle Fighter.
It’s payback time for all that leap gate hacking, as the developers of Puzzle Quest: Galactrix take on all comers tonight on Xbox Live Arcade.
Infinite Interactive takes its innovative mix of role-playing and puzzle games to the stars with Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.
D3′s Dorks, Dealers and Double-Ds event made much of Galactrix, even if they did designate it as the “dork” portion of the evening.
Everyone’s been playing around with the recently-released creature maker for EA’s Spore. Even the developers at Infinite Interactive, most famous for the casual/hardcore title Puzzle Quest, have been funnelling their talents into crafting weird and amazing beasts. I2′s Aaron Styles sent me a link to the studio’s forums, where you can check out its wacky/cute/bizarre creations.
Before you ask, no, nothing looks like a penis. The Wormageddon gets close though.
You can grab the Spore Creature Creator yourself from the New Zealand EA Store. I know, I know, don’t ask.
I2′s Spore Creatures [Infinite Interactive, thanks Aaron]
With the iPhone SDK out and about, quite a few developers and publishers are seriously considering Apple’s mobile phone/happy-fun-gizmo as a gaming platform. I mean, why wouldn’t you when it can make all those pretty, pretty colours?
Rainbow-like appeal aside, we’ve read what EA, id Software and Sega think about gaming on the iPhone. But what about our local guys? Sumea threw a few mobile and iPhone-related questions at Tantalus, Firemint, Infinite Interactive and Sidhe to get their opinions.
Gamasutra has uploaded an informative post-mortem for Infinite Interactive’s Puzzle Quest. CEO and designer Steve Fawkner is basically a master at mixing casual and hardcore gameplay, so if you’re keen to learn a few of the ingredients of his magic recipe, this is a good place to start.
The article also has some great insights into the minds of casual gamers. Take this, uh, gem, from the end of the piece:
* Some of the standard RPG conventions were absolutely mystifying to casual gamers, such as matching purple gems to level up.
I know I don’t blink an eyelid at terms like “level up”, “skill points” or “man girdle”, so it’s hard to imagine how a casual gamer would feel faced with such esoteric concepts.
There’s loads more on how Infinite pitched the game and the challenges it faced with different platforms, as well as the steps the developer took with the original prototyping.
Postmortem: How Puzzle Quest Saved Infinite Interactive [Gamasutra, via Sumea]
