InformationWeek’s sneak peek at Metaplace

 Posted by (Visited 5519 times)  Gamemaking  Tagged with:
Jan 142009
 

We have lifted the NDA for one person: Tom Claburn of Information Week. And “Metaplace Readies Virtual World Platform” is the resulting article.

Congrats to the (many!) users whose work got spotlighted by the reporter! 🙂

It would be a mistake to see Metaplace exclusively as a game environment. The platform also has a strong social component, even at this early stage with its limited audience of testers. When the doors open, Metaplace may end up competing not with the likes of Second Life or Habbo but with Facebook. To imagine how that might happen, consider how some Metaplace testers have been streaming music into their personal worlds using programming hooks to Last.fm. Others are trying to implement music composition in their virtual spaces. Really, if data is available online, there’s probably a way to access it and present it on Metaplace. That means that worlds can duplicate many of the functions of Web sites, albeit with a different user interface. …

Betting on the masses, as opposed to the technically proficient, to produce compelling virtual worlds might seem like a risky decision. There are still people who can’t accept that an army of amateurs has produced something as useful as Wikipedia.

But Koster is undaunted by such concerns. “If we give people access and freedom, we’re pretty sure they’re going to surprise, shock, and astonish us with what they go do,” he said. “Honestly, it’s been happening to us on a regular basis.”

O’Reilly picks up, reprints A Theory of Fun

 Posted by (Visited 8920 times)  Game talk, Writing
Jan 142009
 

I now have official word that A Theory of Fun for Game Design will be published by O’Reilly. They are going back to press on it pretty much immediately to meet the giant pile of backorders (like, well over a thousand), so hopefully everyone waiting for a copy will be able to get one for less than $200 in the next few months.

I am thrilled about this — it’s new life for the book, and the possibility of even some fresh momentum. I get asked about getting a hold of copies every single week, sometimes multiple times.

The question has also come up regarding updates. I’d have to re-read it closely, but although there have been lots of studies that have come out since publication that seem to reinforce the points the book makes, I haven’t seen anything to substantially alter the thrust of the argument. You?

Also, if there were any sort of update, the commonest thing I have heard requests for is to actually have endnote numbers, since it is used a lot in academia. Anything else? (No, not color cartoons…)

How well can indie games do?

 Posted by (Visited 16380 times)  Game talk  Tagged with: ,
Jan 142009
 

No, not top sellers like Braid. Ordinary indies that don’t manage to hit the top of the charts or land an XBLA deal — the stuff that comes and goes on the web portals, made by a guy or gal in the evenings working on it, often churning out hidden object games or another match-3 game because they have to.

Well, Grey Alien Games, an indie developer themselves, has culled some answers from a rather noisy thread on Indiegamer.

Cliffski, of Positech Games, made $189,423 in 2008 from direct sales…

Princec of Puppygames posted his direct sales figures and they told a very different story. He has made $11993 from 1073 units sold in 2008.

Siread of New Star Games posted his Direct Sales stats of $43246 and 2545 units.

SteveZ of Blue Tea Games shared his direct sales figures for 2008 of $1299 and 72 units sold… This then prompted a surprise turnaround from SteveZ who posted his Big Fish Games royalty report from November 2008. It showed $20837 in royalties in just a single month!!

Separately, but prompted by that post, we see the CEO of Anawiki Games posting

My sales stats for 2008: $21,650.09 and 1152 units. I have released 6 games so far on PC, Mac and Linux (not all of them have Linux versions). Two of them have been released in 2008.

One takeaway here — it’s hard work, and for most, you can’t quit your day job. But there’s plenty of opportunity if you are determined and skillful.

Congressman proposes cigarette-style warning label on games

 Posted by (Visited 7482 times)  Game talk  Tagged with:
Jan 132009
 

Last week, Democrat Rep. Joe Baca introduced “The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2009.” If passed, the bill would create a new rule in the Consumer Product Safety Commission forcing developers to affix a warning on any game rated Teen or higher. The label would read, “WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior.”

via Don’t pretend video games are as bad as cigarettes | The Digital Home – CNET News.

Link to his press release, which incorrectly asserts that the link between violent video games and increased aggression in young people is solidly established. (To be more precise, there’s plenty of evidence for emotional arousal, not for a more sensible definition of aggression).

Link to his proposed bill. Looks like it would only apply to games rated T or higher. Not that that makes this any more sensible. Section 1c seems aimed at handling digital distribution cases, whilst ignoring that most digitally distributed games are not, in fact, rated by the ESRB. Oops.

Baca (D-Rialto) represents California’s 43rd District. So now you know who to write to and call.

 Older Entries  Newer Entries