There’s a certain madness that goes along with achievements in games. Something about those virtual badges makes people display the kind of behavior normally associated with rats in addiction experiments, except unlike the rodents, the players aren’t being fed narcotics pellets.
World of Warcraft’s newest holiday event, the Easter-themed Noblegarden, is only the latest example of this.
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You don’t need a review to tell you that Dragonball Evolution is a bad movie. You know it at an instinctive level, like you know that fire is hot or that spiders are terrifying.
I went to go see it because I wanted to answer a crucial question: Is it so bad it’s good, or is it just so bad it’s bad?
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I’ve been trying out a game I saw mentioned in yesterday’s article about achievements. It’s called Nethernet: The Passively Online Multiplayer Game.
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Hot on the heels of the news that Xbox 360 players have unlocked 2.5 billion achievements, Gamasutra has an interesting article up on these meta-rewards that have taken the gaming world by storm over the last few years.
They cover a broad range of topics, like how to design for a good mix of achievement difficulty and the differences in achievements between hardcore and casual games. Read more…
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The big video game news yesterday actually came from the Hollywood circuit. Apparently there’s a Shadow of the Colossus movie underway. The gaming blogs are all a-twitter because the writer attached to the project is Justin Marks, who wrote “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.”
The nicest thing you can say about any given video game movie produced so far is that it’s “watchable.” The second-nicest thing you can say about any given video game movie is that it’s “so bad it’s good.” The Legend of Chun-Li was neither of these.
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Rumors are flying that the 3.1 patch for World of Warcraft is coming tonight. Here’s a roundup of the expected changes.
If you’re not one of the 12-odd million players, you can sit this post out. But come on, Vin Diesel is in. Are you saying you’re better than Vin Diesel?
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These days, the content of a film passes through many hands before it lands in the DVD factory to be shrink-wrapped and shipped off to stores. If you really think about it, it’s amazing that more major films aren’t leaked on the Internet long before their release. Apparently, the upcoming “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” suffered from the perfect blend of fan interest and lack of respect to end up on the internet on April 1st. At first, it seemed like a joke. But those who downloaded it soon discovered that it was for real.
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I, for one, am sick and tired of everything everyone says anymore being prefaced by something about the economy. “Well, in this economy…” “With this current economic climate…” “Times are tough all around, and…” It’s like, thanks. For a minute there, I’d forgotten about the impending societal collapse. But I appreciate the reminder! Really!
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Like a fungus, except not.
There are some movies that just don’t quite hit you the first time around. You walk away feeling a little underwhelmed, maybe confused, not quite sure how to feel about the whole thing. About five days later you realize you can’t stop talking about it and you want to see it again. You’re looking up clips on YouTube and browsing discussion forums on IMDB. (A dangerous game, but you simply can’t help yourself.) It’s never the same experience for everyone, but I have a feeling I’m not the only one who had this experience with some of these movies. As always, please light up the comments section with contributions of your own.
Magnolia
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A game developer walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender pours him one and says “That’ll be nine dollars. Prices have tripled because of the recession.” The game developer puts three dollars down on the bar and says “It’s ok… I’m recession-proof.”
Jokes stolen from the Double Fine web game Host Master and the Conquest of Humor aside, there’s some news from retail outlet GameStop that reminds us that not everyone is hurting right now.
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