A Compendium of Beta's, and All Things Free; Week 1

In the past few years it's no lie that the success of Minecraft (a game which is now miles apart from back when I gave a summary of it in 2010!) has more than just gave Markus Persson enough money to do insane things, including the likes of offering to fund Psychonauts 2, but it has in fact altered the way we see both the industry and the development process in a consumer view. 

WARNING: NUCLEAR MISSILE INBOUND (and free copies of Fallout too!)

Just a quick heads up to any readers out there, for the next (approx.) 46 hours, GOG are offering Fallout, the first of the now famous post-apocalypse free-roaming RPG. There was something about The Wasteland that was never quite captured properly after the franchise went from isometric to 3D, and for all those of you who are intrigued by/fans of/intending to start nuclear war, I'd be asking you why you haven't already visited GOG and started stashing bottle-caps?!?! Get on over there now smooth-skins!
I need my fix of mentats now!

And I'll leave you now with a challenge for those of you who get on board with this:

Upcoming article for eager readers: The Compendium of Beta's
[More free things inbound soon!]

Faerie Solitaire or: How I Stopped Worrying & Learned To Love Card Games (Plus key's up for grabs!)

So to all who don't know, solitaire is a game involving cards, and faeries are whatever the hell they want to be, so it seems. Hopefully you get the picture. Faerie Solitaire however, a game by Subsoap, is unlike either of those things.

A Taste of Interactive Advertising's Future? You Be The Judge

I know that some viewers may have seen this, it's a couple of months old, but just looking at the page-views I realize that this hasn't had nearly enough respect. Everyone, whether your a beat 'em up gamer or not, get on YouTube and take a look at this now. Oh, and I know this is YouTube, but have your hands at the ready........

Prepare to be amazed.

So, now your minds have been sufficiently 'blown', what do people make of that? Enjoy it, hate it? It's always nice when someone tries a new way of conveying something to us as opposed to another interrupting advert, but maybe you'd rather see something else? Opinions in the comments section please! And remember to share with your friends if you see the credit this piece of work deserves!

On Tales and Trolls....

In the past few weeks of college I've had some pretty busy time (creating Game Design Documents which are essentially a game laid out in book format) involved in thinking about what motivates a gamer to continue with any game. Some are simply addictive, or a fast track to growing your social e-peen; yes, I'm talking to you with the exclusive content none of your friends have on Farmville....

But the driving force I want to talk about today is one relevant since before games; the storyline.

Story-telling is a great way of taking the reader/viewer/player through an experience quite unlike any other. It allows the creator the freedom of the mind, and rather than bring a game to the player's world, the player can be transported to the world of [Gaia, Yamaku Academy etc.] where we can forget about our own lives and simply engage in those of the game. From a game based on story we can feel the helplessness, or realize with a character the sub-concious connection's we have made along the way. In other words, it's all about the feels.