Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs – the long-awaited sequel to The Dark Descent – finally released yesterday. After playing, I got to thinking – it does some innovative things with the survival horror genre; it uses techniques that I think any video game designer would do well to note. Let’s look at those.
It recently occurred to me just how reliant we are on the technologies with which we operate our society; few more so than the Internet. Today, I want to try something entirely different. Today, I want you all to imagine what life would be like if it were to simply…stop.
It’s a familiar routine for gamers: a developer announces a title or peripheral that requires an Internet connection to function. Gamers react with ire. They backpedal without understanding what they’ve done wrong – online is the future, isn’t it?
Yes. It is. But that future hasn’t arrived yet.
At Sony’s Tokyo Game Show conference, Capcom released a demo for its upcoming PS4 RPG Deep Down, announcing that the title will feature procedural generation of maps, monsters, and weapons. In other words. the vast majority of the game will be completely randomized. Not bad, eh?
We already know that games can be used to treat a wide array of illnesses and afflictions, but as it turns out, they can help healthy individuals, as well. A growing body of evidence suggests that games – if designed carefully – can actually dramatically boost brainpower, particularly in older individuals.
When Microsoft backpedaled on the Xbox One’s 24-hour authentication, it also removed one of its most promising features: digital games trading. Turns out, that decision wasn’t permanent: Microsoft’s Albert Penello today announced the studio will bring the feature back "when the time is right."
Remember that ole Amy Winehouse refrain: "they tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no!"? While
there’s drug detox centers for those addicted to drugs, do centers for Internet addiction exist? The answer is yes, and they’ve been
around for a while. In my 2009 post, "Internet Rehab For NetAddicts" post, I researched one such center located in SE Fall City, Washington
that followed the same principles as drug rehab centers.
Last week. New Zealand passed a law that prohibits patents on computer software. This will, it hopes, foster innovation and competition (and kill the efforts of a whole gallery of patent trolls). Seems to me that we can learn a thing or two from this move.
It’s a shame that Nintendo seems to be one of the only studios that remembers the meaning of the term ‘party game.’ These games demanded in-person interaction: the Internet was irrelevant. Today, it’s time for a bit of nostalgia – time to pay homage to some of the best party games of ages past.
The first hospital in-patient rehabilitation program for Internet addicts is about to open at the Bradford Regional Medical Center in north-central Pennsylvania on September 9, 2013, but get in line now if you’re ready to commit yourself;
the program will only accept four patients at a time. Once admitted to
the program, patients will be subjected to a ‘digital detox’ for 72
hours. If they survive that…
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
