Crazy indie developers do the possible: Remaking King’s Quest
While most of us voces are not exactly old enough to have played King’s Quest, we certainly aren’t such ingénues that we don’t know what this series is and how it impacted video game history. So when we heard that some developers were remaking the King’s Quest series we wanted everyone to know about it.
WHAT IS AGD INTERACTIVE?
Anonymous Game Developers Interactive, AGDI for short, is a group of highly motivated individuals determined to revive the adventure game genre. Our aim is to remake classic Sierra On-Line adventure games, enhance them to modern standards, and then offer them as free downloads. We believe that adventure games must not be forgotten, and this is our attempt to keep the classics alive in a gaming market that is presently dominated by first person shooter and arcade shooter games.
We grew up on Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy—but unfortunately missed out on …
Nine Inch Pixels, Joystiq interview of Trent Reznor
No, no, this isn’t going to dissolve into a squealing fest of fanvox gibbering, but it is something by far worth the mention. Gaming has been mainstream for a long time now, we have death metal rockers advertising for World of Warcraft, and popular comedians appearing in starring roles in overhyped upcoming games. It only makes sense that Trent Reznor grew up on gaming.
I had a lot of great times in arcades and I miss that experience. I know things move forward, but there’s something about discovering an arcade, the aesthetics, the cool cabinet that was built specifically for that game. The first time I saw Tempest, for example, I was like, “What the fuck is this?” It looked like some sort of 2001 thing, it had weird, abstract graphics and sounded cool. I realize times have changed, but I miss having those three minutes where it’s you versus that …
Mainstream Media Notices Brutal Legend
We’ve spoken a little around the campfire here of Brutal Legend, the upcoming heavy metal tribute game from Tim Schafer and the folks at Double Fine. That’s all well and good, expected even, since this is a gaming site and we’re all basement-dwelling pixel-lickers.
But the kind of star power wrapped up in Brutal Legend; Ozzie, Jack Black, Rob Halford, Lemmy, and others, has forced the celeb-worshiping mainstream media to take notice and report on the game. The sad result is pretty much what you’d expect.
Pirates of the Burning Sea Interview – Power and Prestige Expansion
Pirates of the Burning Sea is an MMORPG set in the golden age of piracy, a sort of EVE Online for the sails and sabers crowd. Although small in the lopsided MMORPG market, it’s been chugging along for close to two years now, slowly growing.
The latest expansion for Pirates of the Burning Sea will be Power and Prestige, a huge addition to the game in that it brings in player control and governance of faction ports. In other words, player-run cities that aren’t lame shanty-towns out in the middle of nowhere.
The website Zam offers an interview with Janice Vonitter and Greg Hanefeld from Flying Labs, concerning the Power and Prestige expansion. Read it here.
Holy Mother of God – Nintendo Wii Price Cut
Responding to the first drop in Wii sales since their little white console hit the market, Nintendo is planning to slash the price tag on the Wii down to $200. The price cut will take effect through the end of September and the beginning of October.
Nintendo has resisted changes to the Wii’s price for some time now, ignoring the price cuts on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, largely because the Wii was still anywhere from $50 to several hundred dollars cheaper than the other boxes. This move represents a major shift in Nintendo’s console strategy.
You can read more at Bloomberg.com.
Now if they’d just get on that Wii-based Pokemon MMORPG…
AT&T Snubs Gamers, calls gaming an ancillary service of broadband
Everyone’s favorite company with a logo that looks like the Death Star has weighed in on their own version of anti-gamer, anti-Net Neutrality commentary to the FCC:
In response to a Federal Communications Commission Public Notice seeking comments on how the term “broadband” should be defined, AT&T labeled gaming as an “aspirational” online service.
While basic web-browsing capabilities and email were termed core services in the brief dated August 31, 2009, gaming was lumped in with streaming video and real-time voice services. AT&T noted:
…for Americans who today have no terrestrial broadband service at all, the pressing concern is not the ability to engage in real-time, two-way gaming, but obtaining meaningful access to
…
PopCap Games Bookworm and Bejeweled Twist Coming to DS, DSi
They’re coming to get you, Barbara. PopCap Games, publisher of small, desperately addictive game titles that sell millions to bored housewives and OCD college students, has recently announced that two of their more popular titles will be appearing on Nintendo’s DS and DSi systems.
Now, not only can you obsess over games whose rules could fit on the back of a business card, you can go portable with it, sneaking in rounds at work, while driving, during those long seconds between jumping out of the plane and opening your parachute, and so on.
Bookworm involves a caterpillaresque creature in massive spectacles named Lex, who devours words that you create from tiles on the screen. Think of it as Tetris by way of Scrabble.
Bejeweled Twist takes a field of gemstones, and tasks you with exploding them by turning and spinning the gems into groups and lines. It’s …
Video Game Inspires Musician, and it Wasn’t Guitar Hero
I’ll be straight, this story is a fluff piece. But it does help to illustrate a trend, how the games we play can influence our lives. Game can inspire, they can awaken, they can open new worlds and vistas to those who play them, and that is a great power. Much like books and movies, games are taking their place as drivers of culture.
So then, here’s the story of a boy who picked up Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and fell in love with that little time-traveling flute thing. Read more here.
World’s Coolest Virtual Reality Chamber Helps Researchers
Scientists get all the cool toys. Not only do they get to play with a world-destroying supercollider, but now the labcoat set has themselves a giant virtual reality chamber with more speakers and screens than an audiophile’s wet dreams.
It’s called the AlloSphere, and the good folks at the University of California use the all-encompassing sensory overload device to step inside their data and see the information in a whole new way.
The biggest problem with modern science isn’t collecting data, but figuring out what it means. Scientists can gather so much information that they become lost in it, unable to see patterns or that one little number that stands out from all the rest. Displaying the data in new ways, such to use all the senses, helps to overcome this challenge.
Scientific American has the story.
World of Warcraft: Pirate’s Day
As we all know, September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. A fine tradition and a noble internet holiday. To celebrate, World of Warcraft is hosting their own event, Pirate’s Day.
In short, Booty Bay gets taken over by pirates, and they have stuff. Lots of stuff. For you. Including an achievement. But it’s one day only!
Check out Blizzard’s WoW holiday page for the details.
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