Thursday, September 22, 2011
Neal Stephenson Talks About Video Games, The Metaverse, And His New Book, REAMDE
Neal Stephenson is known for writing big books about big ideas. In Cryptonomicon, he tackled code breaking and data privacy; the three-volume Baroque Cycle explored the birth of modern economic systems.
So when the first chapters of his new novel, REAMDE, introduced a geeky protagonist (tech entrepreneur Richard Forthrast), a virtual world (T’Rain, his online role playing game), and an emerging tech trend (working online games for profit, not pleasure), I thought I had the plot all figured out.
“Ah,” I said. “This one’s about gold farming.”
Then things started blowing up.
Commodore 64-Themed Webcomic Even Gets the Font Right
2299 is a new webcomic from Seattle-based self-professed “podcaster, software developer, gamer, comic book nerd and general geek” Bryan Lunduke.
While a new webcomic may not be the biggest news in the world, the delightfully retro aesthetic of this one — featuring low-res pixel art and an authentic Commodore 64 font — makes it well worth a look, particularly for gamers of “a certain age.”
The back story of the comic revolves around the invention of “Human Brain to Computer Ship Transfer,” which allows people to leave their bodies behind and become a self-aware interstellar vehicle. By the year 2299, every human being has had this procedure, meaning that the cast of the comic is made up entirely of spacecraft with personalities and the ability to speak.
Full article: http://www.gamepro.c … gets-the-font-right/
Check out the comic here: http://2299online.com/
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Gamers Succeed Where AIDS Researchers Could Not
Some people have made strides in AIDS research by obtaining PhDs, winning research grants and applying years of dogged work in the laboratory — but the latest breakthrough came from amateurs playing games on the Internet.
housands of people playing an Internet game called Foldit successfully formulated a structure for a key enzyme related to the development of the AIDS virus, coming up with a model that had consistently eluded scientists.
By using a game developed by researchers at the University of Washington, players were able to come up with a viable structure for a protein that is crucial to the early development of AIDS. Foldit allows users to assemble potential proteins out of different molecular building blocks, and video game players ended up accomplishing what scientists could not.
Full article: http://img.ibtimes.c … yme-game-science.htm
Friday, September 16, 2011
Take A Tour Of Video Game Developer Rare’s Never Before Seen Museum
Most gamers know Rare for its work on such classic Nintendo games as Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, though the company’s history goes back further than the SNES and Nintendo 64. It was founded in 1982 by brothers Chris and Tim Stamper, and was originally known as Ultimate Play the Game, where it released titles for the deceased ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
That said, there’s at least 29 years of history in the developer’s Twycross campus, neatly arranged within a glass case in the cafeteria.
Here, curious folks can get an inside peak at Rare’s humble beginnings and go all the way to its Xbox 360 days. It’s a fan’s paradise.
Full article (with photos): http://www.businessi … -perfect-dark-2011-9
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox coming Dec 2012, demo this Christmas
Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox may seem like an indie clone of an Elder Scrolls title, but in reality, the game is inspired by the old first-person, turn-based roleplaying games release on platforms like the Commodore 64, Amiga and MS-DOS such as Might & Magic and Eye of the Beholder.
One of the more exciting aspects of Malevolence, which is being developed out of Brisbane, Australia by Visual Outbreak, a team of programmers led by Alex Norton from all over the world from places like California, Scotland, Great Britain, New Zealand, is that the game is completely procedurally generated. According to the developers, “The game’s procedural engine can generate an infinite number of weapons, items, spells, monsters, dungeons, cities, countryside and even dialogue, allowing the player to explore the game with no end and no reason to stop.”
Full article: http://www.strategyi … -demo-this-christmas
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Todd Howard Reveals Why Bethesda Passed On ‘A Game of Thrones’
THE BUZZ: While fans of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series are no doubt rejoicing that their long wait to play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is almost over, the game’s executive producer, Todd Howard, recently shared a piece of information that will have many wondering aloud about what might have been.
Howard revealed to EGM in an interview (to be published in tomorrow’s EGMi: The Digital Magazine) that his team apparently turned down an opportunity to make the official games based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice novels.
The fanbase for the books has grown considerably since the debut of the popular A Game of Thrones series on HBO, and many devotees have begged for a game worthy of the source material. As Howard tells it, the folks at Bethesda Game Studios (who are admittedly big fans of the property) were thisclose to making it a reality.
“With A Song of Ice and Fire, we went ‘We want to do that!’ People in our studio liked it, and it seeped in a bit to what we were doing,” Howard explained. “We were actually asked a while ago to turn those books into games.”
So why didn’t they take the leap? According to Howard, the idea of a partnership was very tempting, but the team was just too invested in their own IP.
Full article: http://www.egmnow.co … fire-and-ice-titles/