Owner: Game Musings URL:www.gamemusings.com Join Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:06:43 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A look at the games industry by a veteran game developer. Site statistics:Click here
All good things must end... 2008-02-10 03:00:00 And so it with a heavy heart that I remove the Phantom Hourglass cart from my DS. Yes, I have finally finished the latest Zelda game. I played it almost every day, a little bit here and there, and now it will no longer be a part of my life. Sigh.I had lots of fun playing it - but as I've mentioned before - thank heavens for gamefaqs.com. There were a number of things
in the game that I just didn't get. And now that I have a family and a life gone are the days where I would spend weeks trying to work out how to solve a puzzle. Actually, I never did that. Life is too short.I play games now for fun, and approach them much the same way as I would reading a book. In fact the final boss in Zelda was so obscure for me that it felt like I had just come to the last page of the final Harry
Congratulations Puzzle Quest! 2008-02-08 05:00:00 Congrats to Steve Fawkner and team for winning the DICE Interactive Achievement Awards "Downloadable Game of the Year" category with PuzzleQuest
: Challenge of the Warlords.They beat out some pretty tough competition with the likes of Azada, Build-A-Lot, fl0w and the other industry casual/hardcore darling, Peggle.Great work guys! Read more:Congratulations
Magical Forest 2008-02-06 05:06:00 Duncan and Marko from 3 Blokes Studios are about to release their first casual game called MagicalForest
on iWin. Gamezebo has a good preview which you can read here.Here's a typical comment about their game: "I beta tested this game and loved every minute of it."Great work guys! I'll add a link to iWin when the game is released.www.passfieldgames.com
HDTV == GOOD 2008-02-02 05:47:00 I got my new HD 1080p Sony TV this week. Man, is it sweet. We've watched a few DVDs upscaled and they look great. Can't wait to watch some Blu-ray movies. Here in Australia Blu-ray has won the "HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray" battle so there will be a lot more titles available soon. One of the things that really hit home that Blu-ray had won was seeing animated movies advertised during Saturday morning cartoons with the tagline "Available on DVD and Blu-ray".Only a few weeks to go before my PS3 arrives. Hopefully Burnout Paradise will be out in Australia by then. I've been playing the demo at work and it's a blast.In other news I've made the Beta of the new version of Brainiversity open to the public. I'm not going out of my way to market it to people - I'd prefer them to find out via word of Read more:HDTV
Phantom Hourglass One Day... Phantom Menace The Next 2008-01-28 05:09:00 It's official... The PhantomMenace
is a really dull film. Actually, just because I say so doesn't make it officially dull. There have been way more qualified film critics before me who have declared it such.What brings this on? Well, I've been going through the Star Wars films with my 3 year old daughter over the last few weeks. She loves the original Star Wars with Luke, Leia and Han (back when Luke and Leia were in love in a romantic way, not a creepy uncle-dad/aunty-mom sort of way). She sat through Empire Strikes back and was entranced by Han being frozen. She even tolerated the boring set up of Return of the Jedi on Tattooine that seemed to last an eternity and ends with Boba Fett being done in by Han Solo in a piss-weak manner. Being accidentally knocked into a Sarlacc pit by Read more:Hourglass
, One Day
Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass 2008-01-27 08:20:00 Well, I'm in the final stages of the new DS Zelda
game and am having a blast.Before picking it up I'd read online that it had taken a casual approach to the series. Yeah right! Maybe for the first hour or two, but after that this baby has some serious hardcore puzzles. I'm not ashamed to admit this, but GameFAQs has been a popular site with me while playing this game.And let's not forget The Temple of the Ocean King... a dungeon you have to do over and over again, each time it gets tougher and a little more repetitive. The second last time through I had to use a walkthrough to save every second I had (it's a timed dungeon - so if you make a mistake, then you might as well start over again). I couldn't imagine a casual player surviving the Temple and continuing with game without a play Read more:Phantom
, Hourglass
Phoenix Wright: Apollo Justice 2008-01-19 21:12:00 The new PhoenixWright
game has a Flash demo available. This is a great way to play the game to see if it's wright for you (pun intended!) before plonking down cash for a Nintendo DS cart.Check it out:www.passfieldgames.com Read more:Apollo
, Justice
Sony's Neat Idea 2008-01-13 03:39:00 Sony Australia has an offer going at the moment where you get a "free" PS3 if you buy a HD Bravia LCD TV set. Now, I've been holding out on getting a PS3* because:At AUD $699 the thing is waaaaay to expensive for the average consumer,There haven't been any games that I've had to play on the system, andI have a standard def set and I'd have to upgrade to really appreciate the "power of the PS3".Well, I got sucked in with this offer and will soon be the owner of a brand new 1080p TV and a PS3. And I'm not the only one. Each store we went to said they've sold out and Sony had to extend the offer from January to March.It's strange, the PS3 just doesn't shift units because (I'm assuming) people think it's too expensive. But throw it in for "free" with a hi-def set that costs a few thousand Read more:Sony
Game Development Bling 2008-01-06 03:39:00 A really cool moment in game development is when you get your first piece of bling used to promote your game.I'm talking about the stuff that is given away to retailers and journalists to get them excited about an upcoming title.While doing some cleaning at home I found some Amazon Queen promotion pieces. These are from around 1995 and were used to promote the game in the UK.Amazon Queen die-cast plane modelTo hold a physical version of an idea that you've created digitally is awesome. Much more exciting than a T-Shirt (although those are cool too).The next piece is quite interesting, it's a Zippo lighter. This is a real sign of the times - the publishers we worked with were heavy smokers back then so they pushed for this (I know one of them has quit since then) plus a lot of the journa Read more:Development
, Bling
Farewell 2007... hello 2008 2007-12-31 04:47:00 What can I say? 2007 was an awesome year, the highlight being the birth of my son Zac.Being a dad is the best job in the world - especially with two great kids!It's New Years Eve and I don't want to sit at the computer for too long, so HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!www.passfieldgames.com Read more:Farewell
Holiday Clean Up 2007-12-26 18:24:00 It all began when we bought some Christmas lights to put in the front yard... but the garden was overgrown with trees making it difficult to place the lights. So, the garden needed trimming.In preparation Leigh ordered a super skip (a giant steel container to store rubbish). Of course, it needed filling - and it's the holidays - so what began as a simple garden clean up became Operation Landscaping.So now we have a totally re-landscaped front yard, sans trees and with brand new wood chip mulch. It looks great, but now we're in the clean up mood and the attention has shifted to the garage where I have a lifetime of junk/toys/memorabilia stored.I decided that it was about time to be ruthless and throw away/donate stuff that I haven't looked at for years. So I mercilessly culled out all of Read more:Holiday
, Clean
No title 2008-03-19 04:45:00 My PS3 finally arrived - and it's very cool. Yeah, I know, "welcome to 2007" (or 2006 in Japan).Unfortunately the PS3 is at the opposite end of the house from my wifi - so I'm going to have to invest in a wireless bridge. Still, I get just enough of a signal that I've managed to sign on to PSN.So what have I been playing? Well, I've been playing Portal and Burnout Paradise. Both are great games.And of course the PS3 does Blu-ray. Man, is Blu-ray gorgeous. We've joined Quickflix, the Aussie knock of of Netflix and have a list a mile long of cool Blu-ray movies to get through. First up was Cars and it looked amazing. Ah, I love technology.On a side note it's interesting watching the trends in the casual games space. Right now the Hidden Object game genre is hot. Gamers seem to be
Easter Weekend Surprise 2008-03-24 04:39:00 I was chuffed to see Brainiversity sitting at number one on Big Fish Games' brain teaser Top 100 list this week.Lots of chocolate, time with the family and a number one. What a nice way to spend the Easter
weekend.www.passfieldgames.com Read more:Weekend
, Surprise
You Have To Burn The Rope 2008-04-05 22:18:00 You Have To Burn The Rope is an awesome Flash game that you should go and play right now!Not only does it have a very cool song (just like Portal) but it also completely conveys the objective of the game in the title. I like games that do that. Destroy All Humans! is another great example of a game with a title that says it all. What do you have to do in that game? You destroy all humans. And what do you do in "You Have To Burn The Rope"? Well... I'll let you work it out from the title :-)In other exciting news Sam and Max is coming to the Wii. Yay!Now I only hope that they include some sort of hint system for the Wii version as some of the puzzles can be a bit obtuse. When you're playing on a PC it's easy to ALT-TAB to GameFAQs and get help. This isn't as easy when you're sitting
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People 2008-04-13 03:39:00 Hot on the heels of Telltale Games' Sam and Max series comes another comedy adventure game - Strong
Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Five episodes on Wii-ware coming this June.You can check out a trailer from Home Star runner here, or visit the Telltale Games site for more videos.Its looking more like the Wii is going to be the place for interesting indie games every day. Microsoft, you're going to have to lift your game on XBox Live!www.passfieldgames.com
Amazon Queen in Italian! 2008-04-14 04:47:00 If you like adventure games and you speak Italian
, then check out the Italian version of Flight of the AmazonQueen
!Joe King, Faye Russel and Sparky in the Amazon speaking ItalianThanks to Grifen at Funware and the ScummVM team, the Italian version of my adventure game Flight of the Amazon Queen is now available to download and play for FREE! That's right, for FREE!I love owning the IP to my old games - it means that I can do stuff like this without having to plead with a publisher to relinquish the rights to a game that isn't even published anymore.The more people that can experience these older games the better - unlike the film and book industry our games soon become unplayable due to the march of technology. The efforts of people like the ScummVM team does a lot to maintain our gamin
Site Migration 2008-04-19 08:35:00 I'm taking the plunge and migrating to a new control panel with my web hosting service.This means that I have to back up all my site data then upload it again to a new location. It also means recreating all my databases and email accounts and pointing my domain nameservers to a new location. It's a bit daunting.Why do it? Because I will upgrade from PHP4 to PHP5 giving me access to heaps of cool new stuff. The results of which will become apparent in due time :-)So, if you're reading this sometime Sunday then it probably means all went well...See you on the other side!www.passfieldgames.com Read more:Migration
Alien Carnage Surprise 2008-04-24 22:37:00 I was visiting a neighbor today and got a pleasant surprise. Their young son was playing a game on the family PC and wanted to show it to me (he knows I make games for a living) - and lo and behold it was Alien
Carnage - one of my old games!I asked him if he knew who made it and he said Apogee. He had no idea that it was one of my games.It's so cool to know that even today with the DS, Wii, PS3, 360, etc. kids are still playing classic PC games - especially games that I helped create!And in a related coincidence, just this month I've received 3 different emails from people about some of my old games - including one person who was so inspired as a kid by The Chronicles of Jaruu Tenk that he entered the field of game programming and design.Pretty cool stuff!www.passfieldgames.com Read more:Surprise
GTA IV 2008-04-29 08:25:00 Like most gamers today, I've been playing GTA IV. And damn, it's good.In the brief time I've spent with Nico, his cousin and their friends I've grown to like them a lot.If I was Hollywood I'd be scared - games are so much more compelling than film.www.passfieldgames.com
Beatrix Potter 2008-05-03 08:00:00 We watched Miss Potter
last night, a fictionalized film about Beatrix Potter, the children's author of classics like The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The filmmakers changed a few facts here and there to make for better drama, but overall it seemed true to her life.I enjoy finding out about the people behind works of art that impact on popular culture. I've read books on Herge (creator TinTin), Charles Schultz, Stan Lee, George Lucas, etc. Needless to say, I really enjoyed the film.Anyway, I've been reading an eclectic mix of books to my daughter at bed time, ranging from Peter Rabbit to Tin Tin - and strangely enough she really digs Tin Tin - more so than Peter Rabbit. And she's 3 and a half.So, she's been asking me if we can read a girl TinTin - and today we went to Border's in search of a
Wii Fit on Mother's Day 2008-05-10 20:58:00 When I asked my wife what she wanted for Mother's Day I was very excited when she suggested Wii
Fit! Obviously, I'm a huge gamer, so when she suggested a video game as a present I jumped to it.So, today Leigh unwrapped Wii Fit and we've had some fun playing around with it. I've already played two player jogging with my 3 year old daughter - and am excited about spending more quality "video game" time together over the coming months.Of course, it's not all about getting fit in front of a TV - the family is just about to head out for a bike ride at the park. Anyway, if you haven't seen Wii Fit yet, you should check it out.www.passfieldgames.com
Clone Wars... oh dear 2008-05-12 05:09:00 There's a new Star Wars animated film coming out. It's called Clone Wars and it's damn ugly looking. It has the whiff of "Shadows of the Empire" about it.Check out the trailer here: guess what? It has the Hutts in it. Can George Lucas make the Star Wars universe any smaller? I guess Luke was being ironic in Star Wars (the good one from 1977) when he said:If there's a bright center of the univ
Hurts so good 2008-05-14 05:30:00 Today I am feeling the results of using Wii Fit. Yes, I am actually hurting all over.Well, I'm actually hurting in my legs and lower torso. Apparently I have muscles there that I didn't know about!The Balance Board is a pretty cool gadget. Not sure if I'll still be using it in a month's time. I'll let you know if that's the case. In the meantime, it's a fun way to get some exercise. And desp
Boom boom boom 2008-05-16 17:25:00 Man, what a week (or even month) to play games!No sooner does Grand Theft Auto IV come out then we get Wii Fit and now Boom Blox.All are extremely fun and an essential part of your games collection (except GTAIV if you're a kid). So, with all these options and extremely limited time, I've been mostly playing Wii Fit and Boom Blox. These are both great games to tackle if you only have a few minut Read more:Boom boom
Indy 4 2008-05-24 23:31:00 I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night - and I liked it.It's odd, but I usually hate movies that have incoherent plots or endings that don't make sense - like Ang Lee's "The Hulk" - but despite the fact that this new Indy movie has a bunch of "what was that all about?" moments I found myself enjoying it.The reason for this is that characters really clicked for me, and
Kids Games 2008-05-31 08:01:00 I'll keep this short and simple.If I ever create a kids game I vow that I will do everything possible to make the game load straight away with no publisher, developer or licensor splash screens that take up precious minutes of time.Every time my daughter wants to play a new game (which is often - she plays one for ten minutes, then wants to try another) - we have to sit through the same load scree Read more:Games
Leonardo as Nolan 2008-06-08 20:51:00 I thought this was cool - Leonardo
DiCaprio is slated to star in 'Atari', a bio-pic about Nolan Bushnell. Hollywood Reporter has more here.It will be interesting how they portray his life - I hope they capture the magic of the 70's and how huge Atari was back then.www.passfieldgames.com
Lost Winds 2008-06-12 05:01:00 I downloaded Lost Winds
- a Wii ware original by Frontier.It's a charming side scrolling adventure that uses the Wii-mote as a sort of virtual fan - you wave the Wii-mote and it blows wind on the screen.It's a cool mechanic that allows you to create up drafts for your game character to navigate the world.The graphics and sound are beautiful and the game play is compelling. The only complaints I h
No title 2008-06-28 20:17:00 I'll be presenting at the Australian Conference on Interactive Entertainment 08 (IE08) this year. The conference is being held in Brisbane from December 3rd to 5th and has the theme of "Resonating Experiences".I'll be talking about the changing face of video games and how the relationships between the player, the game and other players is evolving.I'll also show off some stuff that I've been cooki
BankQuest 2008-06-22 04:56:00 This is kinda cool - Tomy has a new toy that's a cross between a piggy bank and a tamagotchi-like RPG.Basically every time you save money it is turned into RPG gold that you can use to play the game. It's a pretty geeky way to get kids (and grownups) to save. You can find out more here on the Japanese site: definitely beats the old "Skeleton in a Coffin" piggy bank that I had as a kid.www.passfi
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