[Continuing Gamasutra's year-end retrospective, Leigh Alexander looks at the top five disappointments of 2008 - from weak Wii software through rampant piracy to the effect of the global recession on the game industry.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

We first took a look at the top five downloadable games released in 2008. Next, we go in-depth on 2008's top five biggest disappointments. Our top five is as follows:

5. Wii Software Is Still Weak

Sure, it's a tough sell to assert that the Wii is a disappointment of any stripe. It outsells its fellow consoles handily, has brought gaming into the mainstream family living room, and has done a goodly heap of shiny white image control for an industry that many still want to relegate to the domain of the basement nerd.

But the Wii's banner success seems to do little good overall for anyone other than Nintendo -- its lineup of successful third party titles is still too thin as the console comes up on its third Christmas, while the company's own Wii Fit and Wii Sports remain top sellers.

Continue reading "The Best Of 2008: Top 5 Disappointments" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Every week, Gamasutra sums up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent -- and increasingly exciting -- portable games platform, as written by editor Matt Burris and guest editor Eric Caoili.]

This week's notable items in the iPhone gaming space include Flashbang Studios' Raptor Copter, Gameloft's Brothers in Arms port, and the top ten most popular iPhone games for 2008.

Here are the top stories:

Continue reading "Best Of FingerGaming: From Raptor Copter To Hour Of Heroes" »

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['Homer in Silicon' is a biweekly GameSetWatch column by Emily Short. It looks at storytelling and narrative in games of all flavors, including the casual, indie, and obscurely hobbyist. This week she looks at Dan Benmergui's "Storyteller" experiment and what it suggests about game narratives.]

Storyteller is a charming toy by Dan Benmergui. It gives the player three windows onto the same events, a vertical triptych. The player manipulates the first two scenes, moving characters around in a way that indicates their alliances. The third panel reflects the outcome, the result of the player's manipulations.

This is not a game, because there are no goals. I hesitate to say that what it produces are really stories, either: at best, we wind up with a somewhat terse comic strip in which most of the linking explanation is left to the player to choose for himself.

Despite that, the elements of narrative are here. There is a beginning, and it determines future character: people who grow up in the castle turn out good, while those who grow up impoverished in a hut turn out bad.

There is a middle, the crisis, where the most fluidity is possible. Characters can be locked up, can kill one another, can stand around peaceably; it all depends on whether their mores are in conflict at that point, and on who has the physical advantage.

There is an end. Those who were killed in the previous scene now are dead (represented by small tombstones). Those who rescued, or were rescued, may now be in love. (Shared hardship is, evidently, a great determiner of affection.) Good or evil may rule the land.

Out of the simple combinations come a range of amusing outcomes. For instance, the game's story-logic doesn't care about gender; there is nothing to stop you from setting up a gay romance in which the female character grows up to be an evil wizard and one male character must rescue the other.

But still: at the end of the day, it isn't a game; it's a toy, and a small one. Benmergui casts it as an experiment. It's less lyrical than I Wish I Were the Moon, or The Night Raveler and the Heartbroken Uruguayans, both of which explore characters who long for connection, and grant the player godlike powers to allow or destroy this connection. Where "I wish..." and "Night Raveler" explore the unlikely through poetic imagery, Storyteller works through and because of its clichés. Does it have anything to tell us about interactive storytelling?

If so, what it has to say is probably this:

Explicit structure matters.

Continue reading "Column: 'Homer In Silicon': The Three-Act Play" »

Posted by Emily Short at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A new week doesn't mean any let-up on GameSetLinks, and we start out with the Gish folks' intriguing new indie title, which mashes multiple retro games (including that one with the clone Hitlers?) into one delightful compilation - and yes, the screenshot to the left was the one submitted to the IGF, for dark style points.

Also in here - Jason Scott comes zooming back into blog view by starting up his Get Lamp blog with much panache, and there's also discussion of the Dreamcast, adventure game puzzles, Japanese charts, a F.E.A.R-related ARG, and much more besides.

Roe roe roe:

Cryptic Sea: No Quarter
As entered in the IGF: 'In early 09 Cryptic Sea (that's us) is releasing an "album" of retro inspired games that will play kind of like tracks on a cd, the project is called No Quarter.' Sounds fascinating, a bit Everyday Shooter-esque.

Adventure game puzzles: unlocking the secrets of puzzle design - Feature - Adventure Classic Gaming
Nice theoretical piece: 'Even as the basic forms of these puzzles have begun to seep into other game genres, the adventure genre still represents the most interesting exercise of that form, offering up challenges in both deciphering and designing elegantly conceived puzzles.'

chewing pixels » Requiem for a Dream
On the 10th Anniversary of the Dreamcast: 'This was the system on which Sega’s various development teams demonstrated unrestrained creativity and inventiveness.'

ARGNet: Alma's Back? Armacham Corporate Website Goes Viral
A new ARG for F.E.A.R. 2? 'Something wicked is stirring at Armacham Technology Corporation, a well-known organization from Monolith Productions' survival horror title, F.E.A.R.'

A Tree Falling in the Forest: Used Games: People Are Waking Up
The ever outspoken Boesky: 'We have to treat the disease, not the symptoms. We cannot accept used games as a fact of life. We must take a stand against it.'

Garaph - Japanese game chart database site
Matt Matthews pointed this out to me, it's obscure but a useful dive into public information on Japanese game charts - with direct database access, natch.

PDP-11 Zork Manual: Save $2,348.31 - Taking Inventory
Nice, Jason Scott now has a blog around his upcoming Get Lamp text adventure doc - the winner of the $2,300-ish Zork PDP manual scanned it for him, too! Other neat entries: Meretzky's collection, books, more!

Bethesda Blog » Blog Archive » What we’re reading….
A couple of observations: firstly, Bethesda staffers are pleasingly widely read. Second, nice to see Gama, SVGL, and even GamerBytes (yay) crop up.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['Game Mag Weaseling' is a weekly column by Kevin Gifford which documents the history of video game magazines, from their birth in the early '80s to the current day.]

My love affair with PC Zone continues unabated during these cold evenings, a torrid romp I began during puberty in 1993 and rekindled after finding a reliable local source for the British title a few months back. I think that if any Brit-mag is keeping up the tradition that all the really good ones of the distant past built (I'm thinking about Your Sinclair, Zero, Amiga Power despite how shrill it got sometimes, that sort of thing), this is the one.

The mag celebrated its 200th issue last month -- top congratulations go out to all involved! Buy a copy and make some financier at Future UK happy for a change!

This fortnight's update brings a bumper crop of mags and specials, so click on and be entertained for at least ten or so minutes:

Continue reading "COLUMN: 'Game Mag Weaseling': Mag Roundup 12/6/08" »

Posted by Kevin Gifford at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Here's the latest announcement for my colleagues' upcoming GDC, which sounds particularly neat if you're an AI freak. Remember to subscribe to the conf news RSS feed should you wish to get this info direct from the GDC news blog, too.]

The organizers of the inaugural AI Summit at the 2009 Game Developers Conference have announced initial speakers and sessions for the landmark two-day artificial intelligence summit, including notables from EA Maxis, Ubisoft Montreal, Rockstar Leeds, Nintendo and more.

The event, which is taking place on March 23rd and 24th, 2009 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as part of Game Developers Conference, promises to give attendees an inside look at key AI architectures and issues within successful commercial games.

Key speakers already announced for the Summit include EA Maxis' Soren Johnson, AI programmer/designer for Spore and AI professionals from EA Montreal and Ubisoft Montreal, as part of a panel "exploring ways to manage the gap between designers and AI programmers to help establish better practices for this important (and inevitable) collaboration."

Continue reading "GDC 2009 Reveals Inaugural AI Summit Details" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[We'll be running a whole chunk of Top 5 of 2008 countdowns on Gamasutra over the next couple of weeks, and here's the kickoff one - myself waxing lyrical on the top downloadable games of this year.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

First up, following up on last year's chart, we take a look at the top 5 downloadable games released in 2008, from World Of Goo through PixelJunk Eden and beyond - with ten other 'honorable mentions' also included.

The games picked are the editor's choice, and are chosen from the titles released in North America during 2008's calendar year to date, with eligible titles spanning both console and PC games. For the purposes of this particular chart, relevant games must be chiefly -- but need not be solely -- digitally distributed.

Here's our list:

Continue reading "Best of 2008: Top 5 Downloadable Games" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Checking out the latest set of GameSetLinks, including all kinds of fun - particularly tickled by Atlus' faux press release calling out the ESRB for essentially leaking game announcements by releasing details on their ratings website. Oh dear!

Also in here - the neat Flash shooter Fat Cat, the Buck Bumble theme tune, game journalism commentary, me vaguely making fun of strange European sports and/or Americans, and the NME on games and rock and roll.

Og og og:

Fat Cat review @ Jay is Games
Really interesting 'control two players at once' pixel Flash shooter - 'We were looking at Don Don Pachi and other Cave bullet-hell shoot em ups during development. Fat Cat is child's play by comparison', says the developer in comments. Via K0an.

The Odd Gentlemen Blog » Blog Archive » It’s Official
Further indication that the game is signed by... Sony? That's still my bet, given previous USC/Sony deals.

Siliconera » Atlus Has A Sense Of Humor About ESRB Leaks
“Our experiment has been a rousing success,” said Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales, beaming. “Allowing information about our upcoming titles to be silently posted on ESRB’s website has been a triumph, and we’ve decided to abandon all direct, overt disclosures of our future games in favor of quietly allowing the posting of new titles onto ESRB.org." Hahaaa.

YouTube - Buck Bumble Theme Song
Someone on eBay is selling a store poster for Argonaut's long-forgotten N64 bee simulator, so then I recalled the completely awesome ragga vs. jungle theme music - and here it is, thanks to YouToob!

PlayStation.Blog » Everyday Shooter blasts onto PSP today
Cute Jon Mak explanation of how it got where it got to: 'Sony was interested in putting Everyday Shooter on PSP. Immediately, the floodgates opened to the stress of so many potential problems sweeping my soul to the faraway depths of darkness where it was then beaten repeatedly at three frames per second before crashing…' But they did it! (With Backbone's help.)

Kotaku: 'Death Of Criticism: The Death of (Video Game) Criticism'
Crecente - an ex-newspaper journo, lest you forget - in an elegy to the longer story, something he's actually been trying to preserve on Kotaku despite the financial reasons not to.

Conspiracy Entertainment Announces U.S. Release of "Ski and Shoot" for the Wii - International Business Times -
'Ski And Shoot' - because 'biathlon' is too complicated a word for Americans! (Kidding!)

NME hails the 'Young console rebels' | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Games aren't very rock and roll in general, it's true.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[How to hook that elusive Brain Age audience that has relegated its DSes to the back of the closet? This somewhat overlooked Christian Nutt-conducted interview for big sister site Gamasutra explains one way - a Cold Case-inspired murder mystery game from Hotel Dusk's creators, says Ninja Gaiden creator Tecmo, as producer Koichi Yamaguchi discusses its Western market-focused business.]

Tecmo's best known asset is Team Ninja. This development team, formerly headed by the iconoclastic Tomonobu Itagaki, is respected for its attention to detail, fast-action gameplay, and technical expertise in games such as Ninja Gaiden.

And while Team Tachyon has less renown, it has provided Tecmo with a solid basis for its business: it pioneered the Fatal Frame survival horror franchise, for example.

But while these two internal teams make up the company's highest-profile content, there's another business unit within the company devoted to externally-developed games.

Gamasutra recently had the chance to speak with producer Koichi Yamaguchi, who's in charge of the externally-developed, Western market-targeted games coming from Tecmo's Japan offices, alongside Tecmo U.S. VP John Inada.

Yamaguchi's projects include Again, the company's intriguing upcoming casual, western-targeted DS adventure game, under development by external team Cing (which developed Nintendo's Hotel Dusk).

How does this business unit allow Tecmo to expand its business? How does the company decide which games to bring to the U.S.? And can Tecmo get casual gamers interested in a murder mystery? The answers to these questions and more follow.

Continue reading "Interview: How Tecmo Targets The West, Cold Case Style" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[Have been enjoying my Gamasutra colleague Chris Remo's Idle Thumbs leisure-time podcast of late, and especially the game-related songs he's been doing for it, so I thought it might be nice for him to showcase a couple of the highlights here. So here we go!]

In my all-too-scant free time, I co-host a podcast with colleagues Nick Breckon of Shacknews and Jake Rodkin of Telltale Games. The name Idle Thumbs is a holdover from the gaming culture site Jake and I founded with some UK chaps in 2004.

One of the duties I have taken up is regularly writing and recording songs for the show, based on games I'm playing or topics that will only be amusing to people who obsessively keep up with gaming blogs and news sites, as our listeners presumably do. (Apparently, this is what a music degree from UC Berkeley gets me.)

This week, Simon suggested I publish the lyrics on GameSetWatch periodically. "I have trouble making them out sometimes," he explained.

For this first post, I'm reaching back to "The Fable of Love," from Idle Thumbs 4: The Fable of Love. It was a reaction to my experiences with Fable II's relationship mechanics, which I also explored in a Gamasutra piece.

The song and podcast can both be downloaded directly from the official site. The lyrics are as follows:

The Fable of Love (MP3)

"Girl, I met you passing through Bowerstone
Why can't we be alone?
Just you and me, without these twenty-three
other villagers standing around?
Don't they have other things to do,
when I'm farting in your face for Peter Molyneux?

Oh, girl, our love is like a fable,
even though it smells like the horse's stable
Because when I broke out in flatulant song,
I went on a little too long,
and I crapped my new sarong that my dog dug up with a condom

But back to you and me, or maybe us three
There's a housewife back in Oakvale I've turned bisexual
My Russian dancing was quite effectual
and I've acquired us a home
by killing the family who lived there before
I busted down the door and let myself in
Yes, I suppose that it's a sin
But I'll just fart around the town until I'm once again renowned

Oh, girl, our love is like a Fable
Even though I seem unable to communicate with you

But with my flexing, my caressing,
with my farts, you will know what's in my heart."

To wrap this up, I will keep a tally of all the various ways our site can be accessed; some of these alternate URLs have been kindly donated by listeners based on jokes from the show:

http://www.videogamesvideogamesvideogames.com/
http://www.vigivigivigi.com/
http://www.strategychocolate.biz/
http://www.explode-mode.com/
http://www.eightbitcock.com/

Posted by Chris Remo at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Even though it's getting closer to Christmas, big sister site Gamasutra and our other delightful websites have been outputting some really interesting articles recently.

In particular, there are interviews with Patapon (pictured) creator Hiroyuki Kotani, the Bionic Commando folks, and the Namco Japan folks behind Pac-Man Championship Edition, as well as design-related articles from Pascal Luban and a really fascinating piece on biometric reactions to first-person shooters.

Here are the highlights:

- A Global Phenomenon: Andersson and Judd on Capcom/GRIN's Bionic Commando
"In a jocular Gamasutra interview, Capcom's Ben Judd and GRIN's Ulf Andersson discuss the companies' key Bionic Commando remake, from reshaping established IP to Japanese/Western contrasts."

- The Rhythm of Creation: Hiroyuki Kotani and Patapon
"Sony's unusual rhythm-strategy Patapon franchise is one of the PSP's critical standouts thus far, and Gamasutra sits down with creator Hiroyuki Kotani to discuss its inspiration and creation."

- The Megatrends of Game Design, Part 3
"Veteran designer Pascal Luban (Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory) continues his series on the "megatrends" of the gaming industry, this time tackling multiplayer - from co-op and griefing to addiction."

- Shoot to Thrill: Bio-Sensory Reactions to 3D Shooting Games
"How can you measure player reaction to games? From Half-Life 2 through Gears Of War, this Gamasutra article compares engagement levels via brain, heartrate, and temperature checks."

- Reawakening The Sleeping Giant: The Pac-Man CE Interview
"Namco's Pac-Man Championship Edition for XBLA is an inspired update of the seminal franchise -- and Gamasutra has a rare interview with the Namco Japan creators behind it and Galaga Legions."

- Results from the Game Design Challenge: Insomnia
"If you were to design a card game on the theme insomnia, would you call it ‘Counting Sheep?' About half the submissions to a recent Game Design Challenge did! But a few of the games stood out from the pack, despite the inauthentic name."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)