definitions
Why Game Narrative is an Oxymoron
If you haven’t been watching Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe you’re missing out on some great meta-media commentary on the pitiful state of television “news”.
Last year he created a special focused on Video Games called “GamesWipe”. It has the same snarky attitude as his regular show, and featured this bit of commentary on game content by British [...]
Why MicroPayments Won’t Save the Newspapers
Clay Shirky gives a short lesson in the dos and don’ts of MicroPayments:
Such systems solve no problem the user has, and offer no service we want. As a result, conversations about small payments take place entirely among content providers, never involving us, the people who will ostensibly be funding these transactions. The conversation about small [...]
Video Game Violence Has a Purpose
There’s a recent study that that points out that it isn’t the violence in video games that motivate players to continue playing. That’s something that casual games have already proven pretty effectively. But there’s an inherent attitude of disdain and superiority in the tone of the report that seems to dismisses violence without recognizing that [...]
Successful Social Games are all about Status
Traditional games are primarily focused on the experience of play. It’s the old “gameplay is everything” model, and while that’s still important, the equation has changed a bit. What a social player is most concerned about is status.
Social Platform Games aren’t (necessarily) Social Games
I love PopCap. Not only are their games built around perfect nuggets of gameplay, but they understand what they’re making so well that even the strange and quirky art for Peggle manages to become an integral part of how game transcends its simple, pachinko-style dynamic.
And Bejeweled Blitz, PopCap’s first official Facebook offering is no exception. [...]
Five Things Social Games Aren’t
1) Social Games aren’t old wine in new bottles
When rolling out a new platform, website, or service your first instinct to create some easy content is to go back and mine the history of games for something that can be exploited for a quick clone or sequel. But socializing games is about more than just [...]