Newest Musing

What's In a Name?

Posted 01-23-07

The term 'game' seems to be destroying the medium's chance of serious recognition as docugame Super Columbine Massacre RPG is pulled from a prestigious award for fear of a litigation backlash.

Crowded Pockets

Posted 01-03-06

Microsoft may be entering the handheld gaming market, but how does its machine stack up?

Choppy Waters in the Mainstream

Posted 19-12-05

The launch of the X-Box 360 was spectacular in gaming terms, but the public opinion was different. You know you've hit the mainstream when the same consumerist principals apply to buying a console as it does to buying a DVD player: plentiful supply and high quality software are prerequisites, not luxuries.

Little Boy Dreamer

Posted 21-11-05

The trouble with high concepts is that they are easily enough committed to paper, but represent years of work for many people and a budget in the millions of dollars. With this small capacity for realising such ideas, which ones should be focussed on and why?

Two's Company
Posted 16-11-05

Finding a game that a couple can share in the same way that they'd snuggle up and watch a movie seems like an impossible task. Only when games are a taken for granted part of the fabric of daily life will such products be made.

A Firm Hand on the Wheel

Posted 12-09-05

A Secret wish-list item turns rampant speculation on the industry's most talked-about topic and most closely guarded secret: What is the revolution in Nintendo's new controller?

Boggles The Mind

Posted 30-06-05

Recent brain scans show undeniable similarities between being violent and playing a violent game. Here's a scientific look at why Dr. Mathiak's conclusions could be very wrong.

Crunched to a Halt

Posted 12-05-05

The European parliament's working hours directive means an end for crunch times. Does this also spell the end for European developers, or is it the start of a new, more compassionate era?

Adolescence to Adulthood

Posted 10-05-05

If independents drive innovation and the independent model is not sustainable, then where will interesting new types of game come from?

The Emerging Machine

Posted 02-05-05

Machine Learning could offer much greater benefits to gameplay than emergence ever could.

Shouldn't Grumble

Posted 03-04-05

Don't complain so much about working in games. It's much better than you think it is.

No Game All Play

Posted 21-03-05

The term 'gameplay' is crippling developers ability to think beyond current ways of making games and what a game has the potential to be.

Will Wright's Spore

Posted 16-03-05

Ambituous, clever and full of potential. Here are some screenies and links to some better pages where you can find out more info on Spore before E3.

Zelda of the Rings

Posted 11-03-05

Nintendo are truly hoping to maximise sales in with their latest iteration of the Zelda franchise by paying hommage to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and hoping that its cache will bring the consumers flocking.

Impenetrable Madness

Posted 08-03-05

Innovative games that are sold only on the net are the way of the future. However, there is an art to the process and it only takes a few slips to destroy even the best intentions.

Can the Ban?

Posted 22-02-05

Bills banning the sales of games to minors are springing up in many states. Here is one gamer who believes that this is a good thing.

Originality Vs. Accessibility

Posted 15-02-05

There is a dearth of original games at the moment. Conservatism is one cause, but if games are too innovative even current gamers might have a hard time understanding them. The solution? Take the 'R' out of revolution, and bring the gamers with you on the journey.

Ars Gratia Artis

Posted 04-02-05

Video art is to feature films as pop art is to graphics design. Both are disctint different and self contained. Why is it necessary to pursue the video game as art, when in other media you end up with a result incomprehensible to all but hardcore art lovers (and possibly to most of them too)?

Reality

Posted 17-01-05

The more real a game gets, the more it becomes a simulator. Action games are trying to do realism in their own style, but how do they manage their interpretation of reality against the real thing?

Augmented Reality Gaming

Posted 10-01-05

Imagine doing a dance off against Mario in your front room when Bowser smashes through from the kitchen, grabs the watching Princess Peach and crashes though the window into the garden. Now follow Mario outside and help him in his quest. AR could put the game into the real world.

La Pluie Ca Change

Posted 05-01-05

Beyond PS3 and even PS4 lurks a fundamental change to what games are. Here the path of challenges that lies in wait is exposed.

Assumption Gumption

Posted 20-12-04

Assuming that the player knows your arcane game conventions is an easy error to make, but assume that player's know too little and you can deflate the whole experience.

Depths of Fun

Posted 09-12-04

Sometimes a complicated goal can be fun, but other times it is just too much. Is there an underlying rule that determines why this is?

Track The Action

Posted 24-11-04

Rule based camera systems have proved to be severely lacking. Neural networks could handle the task a lot better,

Far From Perfect

Posted 18-11-04

Games require so much content that intelligent AI-based tools may become essential to games development

Communication

Posted 03-11-04

Are games a level of dumbing down beyond MTV, or is there something more hiding there?

What A World

Posted 25-10-04

Gargantuan polygon counts are coming to a screen near you. How can the small developer afford the artists needed to carry on?

Man In the Mirror

Posted 18-10-04

Follow up to Beat This: Standard controllers are a daunting interface for the non-gamer.

Interconnect

Posted 12-10-04

The future of gaming is only a day away.  Here is one possible imagining.

Beat This

Posted 17-09-04

Control systems can become a game's entire focus, leaving you no room to have fun.

The Horror of it all

Posted 09-09-04

How is it possible that pompous viewpoints are the norm amongst the industry's leading figures?

Repeat Ad Nauseum

Posted 09-08-04

Games seem to be nothing more than a rehash of what's already been made. .  .