By Nadia Oxford on Jul 5, 2011 in Culture, Game Design, Game Development
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Super Mario Bros. Final Fantasy. Mega Man 2. Sonic the Hedgehog. Pac-Man. Tetris.
What do all these video games have in common? They’re each well over a decade old–over two decades, in some cases–and they’re still widely celebrated as games that lay down blueprints for many of the games we enjoy today.
But let’s say you somehow manage to procure a device that can capture a snapshot of this exact moment in time (don’t aim it in...
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By Nadia Oxford on Jul 1, 2011 in Business, Culture, Game Design
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Zynga is a company that ought to be saluted for its tenacity, its drive, and its successful linking of friends and families through familiar, free games that are easy to play. But let’s back up and study one particular word in that sentence: “Familiar.” Zynga knows how to make money, but the social game giant doesn’t have an original bone in its body.
That’s probably why Zynga’s lawsuit against and alleged imitator, an...
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By Nadia Oxford on Jun 30, 2011 in Business, Culture, Game Design
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The cultural divide between Eastern and Western gamers is keeping Japanese game developers up at night. “How can we break into the worldwide market?” the developers fret. “What kind of thematic content will make our games interesting to Western players?”
Famous Japanese game director Hideo Kojima has an answer: Japanese game developers should separate themselves into “Japanese” and “Worldwide” markets. Further,...
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By Nadia Oxford on Jun 30, 2011 in Culture, Sega
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Sonic the Hedgehog hit the big 2-0 on June 23, 2011. Unlike more responsible and down-to-earth game mascots like, say, Super Mario, Sega’s spiky rodent has gone through an adolescence that’s rougher than the buzzsaw on his back.
Sonic’s fast-moving games catapulted the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive above and beyond the Nintendo Entertainment System in the early ’90s. Opinions are mixed on how Sonic spent the money he earned as child star, but...
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By Johner Riehl on Jun 28, 2011 in Culture, Politics, Video Games
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It seems any discussion of families, kids and video games always includes at least a mention of the impact of “violence in video games.”
On one side, entities in support of regulating and restricting games based on violent content often point to research that says that video games, without a doubt, lead to increased aggressive behavior as well as other negative consequences, just as other forms of violent media do.
On the other hand, advocates that consider...
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