It’s an eternal battle – like the forces of good versus the forces of evil. Like Coke vs. Pepsi or King Kong vs. Godzilla. In one corner of the ring you have the people who think that story has no place in games and in the other you have the underdogs, people like me who think that videogames need story. (more…)
Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you I have a curiosity-driven partiality for anything Persian in nature. It’s a part of the world so engulfed in turmoil, the crux of many religious origins, ancient far beyond any American definition of the word and in possession of secrets the world may never know. As a child, my favorite Disney movie was Aladdin. In the original Assassin’s Creed, I reveled in playing as Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad and leaping about through ancient Jerusalem and Damascus. I was always fascinated by the Arabian Nights stories, known officially as 1,001 Nights, which collected Middle Eastern and South Asian folk stories. It is, therefore, no small wonder that the 2008 reincarnation of Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia is my favorite iteration. (more…)
The following is the latest in a series of journal entries chronicling the author’s descent into next-gen gaming degeneracy – from getting his first television in years to trying to figure out why the @$@”$)@ you need two goddamn directional pads just to walk down a fucking hallway. (more…)
Jenn Frank interviewed game developer Jake Elliott in time for last year’s Indie Games Festival, but once she had the entire interview in front of her, she hardly knew what to make of it.
Elliott has remained busy, though: in the year since their interview, he has released Balloon Diaspora and Ruins.
Elliott’s latest work, The Penguin’s Dilemma, is a reworking of an old NES puzzle game called Binary Land. Now it is a narrative about communication and love, requiring two players. (more…)
Today I heard some great news. An old friend and longtime struggling screenwriter was finally seeing something he had penned go before cameras. This isn’t some student film, either. It’s an honest-to-God production with real stars. I read the script when he was working on it and it was funny as hell. That was years ago, but Jeff never gave up. He hustled specs, worked side jobs, collaborated with producers and kept his head down and his keyboard warm until something finally clicked. Trying to make something happen in Hollywood is the epitome of the uphill battle. It’s like David fighting Goliath on a Crisco-slick mountainside. (more…)
The joke Pippin Barr is making with Let’s Play: Ancient Greek Punishment is no big mystery. Sisyphus’ rock will never stay up that hill. Prometheus is doomed to have his liver pecked out by birds ad infinitum. Players are powerless to take any action other than that of their condemned Greek avatar. You can never win! Very funny, Mr. Barr.
Barr has a knack for making divisive experiments like this. The Artist Is Present drew all sorts of attention upon release for being a game about spending hours waiting in line, in real time, for an exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art (the kicker being you could only wait in line during the museum’s real-life hours). (more…)
