General Discussion

Following my review of Inside a Star-filled Sky, I had a chance to talk with the developer, Jason Rohrer about some aspects of the game. He answered some of the questions I had and was able to provide some insights into the game’s design. The following are some excerpts of the chat that I had with him, edited into Q&A format. Q: Any survival tips? A: The general idea (at least how I approach playing the game—there are many ways) is to “bootstrap” your next power up with your current one. Yeah, entering power-ups from level 118 is really hard if you’re carrying a pea-shooter (because of the difficulty modifier). So, you want to enter your NEXT power-up pick up be…

Holy mother of god. Gabe Newell is rolling in sandwiches right now. I just saw figures for 2011 for what Steam delivered to PC gamers. One number stands out to me. "Meanwhile Steam doubled the amount of data it delivered in content in 2011 vs 2010, serving over 780 Petabytes of data to gamers around the world" SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MOTHEREFFING PETABYTES!!!!! I think I'll just leave this graphic here for a bit to let that sink in.

In the next week, the US congress will return to Washington for a bit of work. The first item on the agenda is to debate and pass the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. SOPA is intended to give media owners the tools to act against those who infringe their copyright in all forms of media, be it audio, video or text. Be it the movie industry, the music industry, the publishing industry, and yes, the games industry. But the legislation is awful, and it affects gamers worldwide. Under SOPA, e-sports is under threat. Game streaming is under threat. In-game voice chat is under threat. In-game text chat could be turned off. Gaming forums are under threat. And the gaming media (us…

Only days after clearing Congress, US President Barack Obama signed his name to H.R. 347 on Thursday, officially making it a federal offense to cause a disturbance at certain political events — essentially criminalizing protest in the States. Read on http://rt.com/usa/news/trespass-bill-obama-secret-227/

EA announced yesterday that they are planning on releasing a new multiplayer mode for their successful hit Medal of Honor. The mode, “Clean Sweep” will have gamers relying on their skill and their teammate’s skill in this elimination style gameplay. The new mode will come with 2 new multiplayer maps, Bagram Hangar and Khyber Caves, as well as redone maps for fan favorites, Diwagal Camp and Kabul City Ruins. The mode is scheduled to release on November 2, 2010 and will be free to those of you who purchased the game new and used the single use Online Pass code that came with the game. View the full article

I wanted to get a bug thread started for the portal pages. The portal is in a working state now, and I would love to see people participating. However, I do know it has its issues. Dyyno is working very closely with us to resolve these issues as they arise. So, I will start with a list of bugs they know about and are working on. Then, if everyone would post issues as they come across them that would be great. This will help us develop an increasingly more enjoyable portal for us to use. Regarding the Hotmail ads, we were not able to reproduce this issue in the office. Our QA Manager mentioned that he has seen Hotmail ads before but once the ad is completed, the br…

The developer of fan favorite Rock Band has found a new home. Viacom sold Harmonix to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC on Thursday, December 23. What does this mean for gamers who own Harmonix’s Rock Band and Dance Central? Absolutely nothing at the moment. “We’re excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio. As for what it means for you, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles and we’re hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you’re going to be pumped about,” stated Harmonix. Viacom first announced that they were looking to sell Harmonix about a month ago which …

What items released on the XBL Marketplace today? You can find the list below. Pinball FX2 – Free full game download. Tables purchased seperately. Free import of the original Pinball FX tables. 3D Ultra MinGolf Adventures 2 - 800 MS points Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Demo Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare Pack Add On – 800 MS points Majin and the Forsaken Freedom Demo View the full article

Ever imagine what it would be like to be like trapped in a real life version of Treyarch’s “Nazi Zombies” mode in Call of Duty? Studio FX Films did and produced an incredible live action short film showcasing their interpretation of everybody’s favorite zombie shooting mode. via Joystiq Tweet This Post View the full article

A new video of the much talked about Playstation Phone from Sony has surfaced and this time it looks very clear. The phone which looks to be about as wide and thick as a feminine napkin, features Playstation Buttons and at about 13 seconds you can spy an app that has Playstation under it fueling rumors that there will be some kind of Playstation game support. via YoutubeView the full article

On Friday March 11, many of us awoke from our peaceful slumber to find out that Japan has been changed forever. Since the massive 9.0 earthquake, Tsunami, and aftershocks that rocked the world, heart breaking news has been coming about 30 young children still waiting in a classroom for parents that will never pick them up again, civilians becoming everyday heroes by making rescue attempts, and proof that even dogs can be heroes as well. As money pours in to help those that lost everything, PopCap has come forward and announced that they are partnering with the Red Cross to help raise money. Beginning on Saturday, March 19 all of PopCap’s games that are available on the …

In a rather odd announcement, Double Fine which has brought such games as Brutal Legend and the recently released title Stacking to a living room near you, has announced that they are working on a new title. A family friendly title if you will. Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is being developed by Double Fine for the Kinect and is aimed at getting the children and family gaming together in a fun, friendly, and educational environment. According to The Escapist, the game will feature all of the children’s beloved Sesame Street characters including Elmo and will teach children about their emotions and making friends. This family friendly Kinect title will be releasing …

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2011/04/11/gog-drm-drives-gamers-piracy/1 Very good read. I totally agree with the author too.

Not really much to say other than, it's pretty great (Pun fully intended), http://greatgatsbygame.com/

Happy Birthday to my old partner in crime on these forums, Kitty. Miss you around here.

If you are a fan of Castlevania, make sure to stock up on the discounted items that are being offered during XBL’s Deal of the Week this week. This week’s discounts feature all Castlevania content. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair 1200 MS points 600 MS points Extra Stage: Lord of Flies 320 MS points 160 MS points Extra Stage: The Legend of Fuma 240 MS points 120 MS points Extra Stage: The One Who is Many 320 MS points 160 MS points Extra Stage: Origins 240 MS points 120 MS points Extra Stage: Beauty, Desire, Situation Dire 400 MS points 200 MS points Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 800 MS points 400 MS points via Major Nelson Tweet This Post View th…

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/mobster-whitey-bulger-arrested-in-calif-25-apx-20110622 Wow.

Hope you have a great day! Go and enjoy it!

The fine folks at Zen Studios are holding a tournament for fabulous prize packs going to the top 3 scorers on the new Mars table for Pinball FX2. There will also be random entrants for prizes like Mars candy bars, DVDs, and game codes. Take a look at the full press release below and go check out the new table. Be sure to let us know what you think of the table in the forums. Also, be on the lookout for our forthcoming reviews of Zen Studios games. Pinball FX2 Mars Tournament April 29 – May 13 Finding life a little lonely on Mars? The Red Planet is about to get invaded by pinball wizards seeking a SuperScoreRocketBoost and Martian themed prizes. Download the Mars tab…

FXCK YOU. You make crappy unreliable consoles that a Russian manufacturer would be ashamed to make. I am not going to pay more money to transfer my saves. You greedy money grubbing a holes. Of course my xbox didn't come with the transfer cable. I thought it was in there but it was the ac cables and they aren't even for HD tv's why waste money putting those in there when most people have HD tv's now. Microsoft can blow me.

If you are planning on playing Fallout New Vegas on the Xbox 360, do not accept the new update that it asks you to. Today, Bethesda released a patch to fix some problems with New Vegas that gamers have been experiencing. Turns out that this patch needs a patch of it’s own. Gamers have been complaining on the Fallout New Vegas forum over at Bethesda about the update not letting them use their save files and refuses to recognize any DLC. Bethesda took to their Twitter today to annouce that they are working on a fix for the buggy patch. “We’re aware some folks are having New Vegas save issues . We’re working with Microsoft on this and should have more information soon.”…

An onrush of condemnation and criticism kept the SOPA and PIPA acts from passing earlier this year, but US lawmakers have already authored another authoritarian bill that could give them free reign to creep the Web in the name of cybersecurity. As congressmen in Washington consider how to handle the ongoing issue of cyberattacks, some legislators have lent their support to a new act that, if passed, would let the government pry into the personal correspondence of anyone of their choosing. H.R. 3523, a piece of legislation dubbed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (or CISPA for short), has been created under the guise of being a necessary implement in Americ…