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 Microsoft press release today: “Microsoft today announced that Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, the console adaptation of the hugely popular PC game developed by Mojang, has broken all previous digital sales records, selling more than any other title in the first 24 hours on Xbox LIVE Arcade.” [That's an excerpt.]
After its launch on Friday, “about 20 THOUSAND PEOPLE (!!)” supplied “more testing” than the game had received in the past five years, according to Polytron programmer Renaud Bedard. “So, as it happens, bugs popped up. Some pretty serious.”
Fez, the perspective-shifting platformer and poster-child for independent games development hell, is ready to go and will arrive April 13, says its studio, Polytron. That’s Friday the 13th, a fitting irony for something that’s been in production for more than four years. The game will be offered over Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft points, or $US10.
I’ve bagged on Polytron and Phil Fish and the development hell in which they’ve been stuck for four years. And Fish recently said some intemperate things about Japanese games development, and gamers. Standing apart from all of that is Fez, which just looks sensational in this six-minute video of gameplay from its trial version. And by the looks of it, the game should be coming soon. Like “Q1 of Q2 2012″ soon, maybe?
“Hi, I’m Phil Fish and I’m here to talk about Japanese games.” Referencing the controversy over his recent remarks, the Fez designer’s opening line during the Indie Soapbox got big laughs.
Remember a decade ago? Heck, remember six or seven years ago? I do. I remember telling Japanese gamers that Western games were great and seeing the wry smiles. I remember hearing that the Xbox didn’t have any games on it Japanese people wanted to play — a polite way of saying Western games stink. How things have changed, no? Just ask Phil Fish.
Indie developer Phil Fish, maker of Fez, opined today that after spending a lot of time with Hollywood types (no doubt in promotion of the critically lauded Indie Game: The Movie, in which he and his game play a central role), he’s realised how cool the game scene is by comparison.
It’s taken a long time for Fez to get finished. It’s taken a long time for Indie Game: The Movie to get finished too.
