Truthfully, these things probably go unnoticed. But, it doesn’t hurt to try. If you believe in video games as free speech, and you don’t want to see time and money wasted on trying to impose national regulations on them, let the presidential candidates know (I believe that parents are responsible for parenting their children, not the government). How? With a pre-written letter for all of us who are lazy! I added “Video Games: ” to the beginning of the subject when I sent mine for the sake of clarity.

Ever want to be part of an online community in which you can be a criminal or part of the solution? I just started playing a game called MafiaMatrix and I’m having a blast. It’s a free massively multiplayer web game. I’m currently a banker (though sometimes I shoplift) and I regularly launder money for gangsters. Check out MafiaMatrix if you’re interested (that referral link benefits me somehow). Latest Character: Luckbard in Miami (Luckbad and Bard were whacked).

Sorry for the late notice on this one, but I doubt anyone relies on me to tell them when the local game developer meetings are. The April meeting of the Boston Post Mortem is tonight at The Skellig in Waltham. The topic is “Exploring the Exploitation of Online Games: Real Money Transactions,” which will be driven by Alex Engel from Turbine. I’m tempted to go, but it’s probably better for me to stay as far away from it as possible.

Good question! The short is that it’s a thematic art contest. The long? Well, Joe Mirabello of 38 Studios explains in an interview at TenTonHammer about the international multi-forum contest. Several of the artists at 38 are entering the competition, as are hundreds, if not thousands, of others. You can see some of the art on the Dominance War website. All of the entries have to be in by April 12, so I imagine they’ll all be up shortly thereafter (and I’ll try to compile a list of all the 38 Studios artist entries).

Crave has an article up entitled The 30 dumbest videogame titles ever. I’ve renamed it to something more appropriate, because these are perhaps the 30 awesomest videogame titles ever. Gems like Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals, Ninja Hamster, and Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender. Seriously, those are kickass titles for games. If you don’t like them, you are probably over 50 or have a permanent chip on your shoulder. Check ‘em out.

I’m not going to comment on how awesome the game is. Nor will I talk about how backwards Nintendo is with their online services. I won’t even discuss how silly it is that I can’t challenge my own friends to matches within the game. Instead, I’ll just direct you to the forums to give me your friend code, where I’m compiling and posting them for people who visit the site. I haven’t the slightest idea how we’ll actually decide to play a game together yet… maybe change the comment to “ready for friend game, you host” or something? Continue Reading »

With Boston becoming a big hub for video game development, and with me living and working here, I’m especially concerned about the bill that could potentially classify games in the same category as pornography, therefore making it illegal to sell certain games to minors. I don’t suspect House Bill 1423 will pass as long as the First Amendment still exists, but seeing attacks against the industry is unsettling either way. There’s more information at GamePolitics.com. Some points below the fold. Continue Reading »

Coray Seifert, Associate Producer and Cinematic Director at THQ’s Kaos Studios, will be talking about the cinematics of Frontlines: Fuel of War. Local game developers of the present, past, and future will also be toasting to Iron Lore (Titan Quest), my buddies from the Clock Tower here in Maynard and now-former Ultimate Frisbee teammates and rivals. The meeting is at 7:00 PM tonight at The Skellig in Waltham. More info on the Boston Post Mortem site.

A forefather of the role-playing game genre passed today at the age of 69. Gary Gygax was one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, among other role-playing games, board games, and fiction, and one of the main reasons I became a game designer. March 4th is also known as “GM’s Day” as created by the folks at EN World a number of years ago — a day that would not have existed without Gary Gygax. It’s now an even more significant day on all our calendars. We will continue to pay tribute to him for a long time to come, whether we realize it or not, by playing and creating fantasy and games inspired by Gygax and others like him.

SirBruce recently released an updated version of his MMO subscription charts, which are available on MMOGChart.com. I love looking at statistics and trying to draw conclusions from them. I have a few pieces that I wanted to post here, all of which I already knew, but it’s nice to have data to back the conclusions up. Proceed beyond the break for all of the goods. Continue Reading »