Reviews & Articles

As my co-editor monolysis likes to point out, the Game Developers Conference 2009 was all about microtransactions. Asian games have been making a killing on this business model for years; unfortunately, historically Asian games have been localized and dropped in the laps of North Americans. The gameplay simply didn’t translate culturally. And, well, we Americans are an awfully elitist lot when it comes to the quality of our games — good game be damned, it must look beautiful! I saw several very...

The Game Developers Conference 2009 was my first GDC experience. I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to be doing in terms of reviewing games while at this industry conference. After wandering around the Expo floor, I finally stopped at a booth tucked in the back. And it was at this booth I did my first Q&A and got to see my first game: Clones.

For those who play casual games almost exclusively — or if you’re like me, you owe your allegiance to no game genre, bwahah! — err, yeah ... portals for downloading games have been around since well, the beginning of casual games. That particular portion of the industry develops, publishes and distributes for each other — company for company — as if it’s the normal course of business. ...

The folks from Vogster opened our demo of CrimeCraft at the Game Developers Conference 2009 by letting us know the many locations of the company: Saddle River, N.J., and Kiev, and Moscow, Russia. All I could say was, “You sure do like all of the cold places!” Well, yeah. Then they tell us the backstory. “There’s been an ecological disaster after which the government falls, anarchy ensues and you know the rest.” ...

At the Game Developers Conference 2009, I got to see a leap forward in handheld gaming: the Zeemote, a wireless controller that brings console-style gaming to your cell phone.

I took my kids to see Monsters vs. Aliens (go see it, it’s worth it) and like I always do, made an effort to see the previews. As a single mom this is my personal torture – I get to see glimmers of what I won’t get to see in the theater. The geek in me got all kinds of excited when the preview for the newest Star Trek film showed… ooh. I’m watching and I see a young Kirk doing a burn-in. The uber-geek in me says (out loud, no less) Section 8! I really need to get out more.

In 1978, kids young and old started popping quarters into Space Invaders arcade machines. In 1980, the game landed on the Atari 2600 and was the first arcade game to be officially licensed. There have been numerous sequels and remakes on various platforms. This year, for the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders, developer Backbone Entertainment and publisher Taito are releasing Space Invaders Extreme as an Xbox Live Arcade download.

Back in January when most of the country was complaining of snow and I was sitting in my apartment in Phoenix complaining of needing to turn on my air conditioner (four computers makes a lot of heat!), Bigfoot Networks invited me to boot camp. Boot camps are fun. I’ve not attended many, and most are about new games — GamersInfo isn’t known for its articles about tech. When a subject says, “Learning about lag and how to solve (some) of it,” or something to that effect my ears perk up — because everyone knows my e-mail talks to me ...

As a reviewer, it’s hard to really describe The Path. I could write a large number of factually correct statements that wouldn’t really give a good review of the game. The Path is so very different from any other game that it’s hard to find a basis of comparison.

Severian interviews Ted Southard, an Indie game developer working on a new kind of MMORPG. The CEO of DigitalFlux Entertainment, Ted is an Indie developer. He describes himself as wearing several hats while working on the Epic Frontiers project, including lead designer and lead programmer. Currently, we’ve got a team of five very talented designers, writers and artists working on the game.

Sticking to the main theme of the Game Developers Conference 2009, developer MindFuse Games and public relations company TriplePoint introduced to GamersInfo.net Gatheryn, a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game that blends rich storytelling, adventuring and socializing primarily via in-game casual games and — of course — microtransactions and subscription capabilities.

There I was, feeding quarters (not quickly, I rocked at Centipede) to the machines at the only arcade in my little town of 2,500. A booming voice came from the corner where Tron once had repeatedly kicked my tween behind. I hear: “Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits!” Dragon’s Lair was speaking to me! I’d turned to look and lost 90 minutes of play on a single quarter. UGH.

Need somewhere to put Fluffy the tarantula while you bring out your dancing elf from the holidays? Perhaps you think that portrait of Moolinda Wu, the Life Magic instructor, is just fantastic but have nowhere to hang and admire it? Well, wizards and witches, that soon will not be the case. The winds of change are coming to Wizard101, and they’re blowing in islands galore!

Virtual worlds and microtransactions were the theme of this year’s Game Developers Conference. SmallWorlds fits this trend. Developed by Outsmart as a 3D browser-based game, Small Worlds is one of the best free-to-play games I saw at GDC 2009.

The Game Developers Conference 2009 is over, and I’m starting to get back into a semi-routine — despite the fact that I’m not yet home. It was a crazy week, but I learned a lot, met many new people, got some free stuff and saw a ton of cool games.

This is the second major conference for me and the first Game Developers Conference. I really didn't know what to expect. For Comic Con, I had an idea. I'd seen coverage and knew about what went on at said events. For GDC ... not so much. However, I have learned much and have met many interesting people. And after seeing much of the conference, I've determined the unspoken theme for GDC 2009 is microtransactions. I've seen so many free-to-play games that depend on those, and it seems to be a major focus in this economy.

I play a fair amount of mobile games - and I don't mean on a PDA. I'm referring to a vanilla cell phone. Why? Well, I have kids and the games are a quick fix when they're loud (2 boys are always loud); I don't feel that need to save when I'm waiting for an appointment or in line and it's my turn like I do with a handheld console; and the games have a certain infinite replayability. But the control system for most games (particularly as phones become more "artsy") leaves much to be desired.

Best known for their MMOs, Jumpgate and Auto Assault, Netdevil is currently completing work on an impressive first person shooter known as Warmonger, Operation: Downton Destruction. In Warmonger, you'll play a Corporate Mercenary fighting in the ruins of American cities in the not-so-distant future. Mega-corporations are fighting over the resources of the world and have pledged their massive fortunes to take control of both the cities and the world.