With Bethesda releasing the first of its Fallout 3 DLC packs, "Operation Anchorage," via the Xbox Live Marketplace tomorrow, news of the achievements associated with the pack has already leaked to Kotaku.
Continue reading...Sunday, November 30, 2008
I don't know about you, but I'd never guess that Zeno Clash, this unique, punk-fantasy first person shooter -- though emphasis is given in melee combat -- is actually powered by Valve Software's Source engine. This game looks unlike anything that's used Source before, in a grand way. I can only hope that the inventive [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 25, 2008
I'm going to take a flying leap here and assume that if you clicked on this post, you intend to enjoy the new Prince of Persia come its December 2nd release on Xbox 360 and PS3, or its December 9th debut on PC. To that end, I beseech you: Do not continue reading this post. Why? [...]
Continue reading...Saturday, November 22, 2008
Okay, okay – I broke my promise. But … it’s a tiny little bear! I had to! Just login on your World of Warcraft account tomorrow, which happens to be World of Warcraft’s big 4th birthday, and the little guy above will be yours. Logging in and snagging this one-day-only pet Baby Blizzard Bear will not [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, November 20, 2008
Statisticians have made it clear: games with achievements sell better, and Sony's lackluster, developer-optional, often-retroactive trophy system isn't helping the company's PS3 get enough of the addictive miniature game goals to compete with the Xbox 360. In a September release, EEDAR analysts noted: …if a game title is released on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox [...]
Continue reading...Friday, October 17, 2008
World of Goo is a strange animal: An innovative, two-dimensional, physics-based puzzler, possessed by both adorable, cute graphics, and delightfully macabre writing and themes. World of Goo isn't the kind of game that specifically needs to be on WiiWare, but the Wii is certainly a good platform for it -- while there may be no [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Earlier this month, GameCyte offered a psychological examination of in-game achievements. We spoke to respected researchers from within the field, who helped us explore the reasons why gamers are so drawn to shiny trophies and higher Gamerscores. Those reasons were many, but regardless of your particular reason of choice, the fact is that more and [...]
Continue reading...Monday, September 29, 2008
Valve's Source game engine may be nearly four years old, but the price is right -- anybody who buys a single Source-powered game can download the Source SDK for free, via Steam. (Didn't know you had it? Check your "Tools" tab in Steam.) Valve has also used their online delivery system to keep their game [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Game achievements have come to affect our favorite pastime on many levels. Achievements are being added to a growing list of game genres, and their rise is leading to raging debates on both industry and enthusiast fronts: What in-game objectives ought to merit achievements? How can games best be designed with achievements in mind? What further rewards can be tied to achievements to enhance their effective use in games? How much worth do game achievements truly have? In order to better approach these and other questions, GameCyte consulted a professor of psychology and a game designer, whose research into defining player types and motivations in modern gaming may help us all understand why achievements have become such a massive phenomenon.
Continue reading...Monday, August 25, 2008
A few weeks ago, we reviewed Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, a game centered around the strange satisfaction that only a truly high score can provide. Thus, when we found ourselves with an extra copy of the game to give away, we knew it had to go to the right person -- a competitive, dedicated, [...]
Continue reading...
Monday, January 26, 2009
1 Comment