The Rise of Stoic And The Independent Studio

Innovation is considered a risky commodity amongst most of the larger developers. It’s a much safer bet to stick with ideas that have already proven to be profitable. It’s understandable; titling a game with something gamers are familiar with virtually

Rabid Speculation: Genetics in Pokemon Black and White 2?

We’ve got another one of those entries in a popular franchise whose announcement can be solely, “It exists, get hype!” and get away with it. At least with this one we have some images of combined Pokemon to go with our speculation apetizer. Are these direct sequels? The full titles for both games are Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2, so these could very well just be expanded variations on the games. Naturally our most interesting speculation comes from the only content we’ve now seen of the games; the images of Zekrom and Reshiram that appear to have fused with the disaster-causing Kyurem.

Let the speculation begin!

Analyzing the Modern Warfare Trilogy: Part 2 – It's full of plot holes!

A few days ago, I had a lot of praise for the plot in the Modern Warfare games. As was evident, the article was almost entirely focused on the first game, and the high standards the game set. MW1 had

Soundscapes – The broken sound of console ports

There’s a problem with the sound in games that appeared in the last 5 years. Many  “well done” console ports to the PC such as Alan Wake and Dragon Age 2 actually have a serious problem. If you run these

Is JB Hi-Fi planning on breaking Mass Effect 3's street date?

For a brief time, I was jealous of all you Americans. You were going to be playing Mass Effect 3 on the 6th of March, while down here in Australia we had to wait untill the 8th. (Don’t even get me started

MACHINARIUM and Steel-coated Contemplation

Movies – and by extension, games – are afraid of silence. They are deadly afraid the silence will bore the audience – and a bored audience will walk away. In response, movies and games are now coated with noise, music, action… anything to deter that silence. In the end, they confuse content with busyness.

Machinarium is a game where you play as little robot trying to do some good, correct some wrongs and solve some puzzles as they come along. It is a game very much like a Hayao Miyazaki cartoon, with its whimsical graphics, charming characters, moody soundtrack – and, yes, the silence: various quiet “empty” moments where characters just stand in contemplation. Or maybe that was me? I’m not sure anymore.

Love in the age of the high score

In spite of the fact that we have the technology to heal eye problems with laser beams and frighteningly organized robot helicopters, the human race still hasn’t truly defined what the hell love is. The closest we’ve come is narrowing down the brain activity associated with love. Enter The Love Competition from Wholphin magazine, which I hope is an attempt to dethrone the agonizing game of Who has it worse? we all end up playing once a day with someone we know.

Mechwarrior: Tactics announced, internet goes into shock from 'mech overdose

At 11:00 AM PST, the timer on the Mechwarrior: Tactics Teaser Site hit zero, revealing a press release detailing exactly what the mysterious title would be all about. “MechWarrior Tactics is a brand-new MechWarrior game set in the BattleTech® universe

Draw Pinchbeck pretty, Dear Esther's got grass

The syndicated remake of 2008’s Dear Esther is out in a day and there’s hubbub. People seem to think that something wonderful is just breaching the horizon. And they’ve been talking – everyone has – about the life-changing power they’ll

Virtua Friender: The Costs and Benefits of Expanded Networking In Games

    The Dunbar number is about 150. That’s the number of people we can maintain social relationships with. It’s the maximum size of the hunter-gather tribe. It’s the number of modern army companies.  It’s the average number of people