According to
GLaDOS@Home, computations are now also complete for
Cogs,
Rush, and
AaAaA, so the contributions of five of the 13 games in the potato sack towards an early release of
Portal 2 are now done. As Dr. Rumack once (or twice) said: "We're all counting on you."
The
Diablo III interview on AtomicGamer chats with Kevin Martens, Lead Content Designer on
Diablo III, Blizzard's upcoming action/RPG sequel. Topics include the dwindling number of AAA action/RPGs, the appeal of the genre, whether the Diablo formula needs tweaking after a decade, new features, introducing the series to new players, visual effects, camera angles, Diablo clones, and more.
The
Lionhead interview on Rock, Paper, Shotgun talks with Josh Atkins about the Windows edition of
Fable III, which is expected to be released
next month. Topics include the reasons for a Windows Fable III when Fable II skipped the platform, an outlook on PC gaming, building a port that's "respectful" of the platform, the pros and cons of using Games for Windows LIVE, changes from the console editions, courting casual players, and more.
Will Wright says games are headed toward ubiquity, diversity, and art on VentureBeat relates Will Wright's views on the future of games, offering a video of a recent talk by the creator of
The Sims on the topic, and an outline of what it covered. Here's a bit:
When you get the magic just right, you can achieve a universal success, reaching people far and wide as the movie Avatar did. Ironically, Wright said, everyone from native Americans to Vietnam veterans thought Avatar was about them. That’s a measure of how universal that movie was.
Games are getting close to matching or surpassing the entertainment value of movies. Wright believes one of the ultimate game experiences resembles the Holodeck from Star Trek, the simulation machine that was so real you could walk inside it and be transported to another world where you can’t tell what’s real or not. You could imagine that you’re in a 1920s speak easy — and all the time you’re inside a room in a starship.
Matt Chat 98 on YouTube kicks off a conversation Apogee founder Scott Miller. Topics include the function of the Radar Group, which is apparently doing some unannounced things since dropping off the radar, how he defines trans-media games, an arguably odd outlook on Star Wars over Star Trek as a trans-media property, other examples of a narrow view of his definition of this genre, how the director screwed up the Max Payne movie, how "most video games that become movies are horrible," and more. Thanks
Ant.
Here is the list of the 10 bestselling games on
Steam for the week:
- Portal 2
- The Potato Sack
- Borderlands: Game of the Year
- Magicka Complete Pack
- BioShock 2
- Portal 2 + The Potato Sack
- Crysis 2
- Sid Meier's Civilization® V
- Splinter Cell Collector Pack
- Dungeon Siege III
Well the long cold winter is over, literally, but also figuratively for my beloved New York Knickerbockers, who will play their first playoff game in seven years this evening, when they take on the archrival Boston Celtics. The Celts are deservedly heavy favorites, but I will not be shocked if the series turns out to be competitive. I will not be crushed if it isn't however, as I'm just happy that the team seems to be on the upswing for the first time since the end of the Patrick Ewing era.
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