Ask yourself the following question: How many times, over the course of your life, have you bought a version of Tetris? Two? Five? A dozen? Tetris is about as ubiquitous a game as has ever existed. It singlehandedly defines an entire genre -- when people are trying to describe an action-puzzler, they say, "You know, [...]
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...Friday, October 3, 2008
This morning, at the second day of Nintendo's media event in San Francisco, there were a few new announcements for the future of WiiWare. World of Goo received a release date; we'll be seeing it the week after next on October 13th. After that, however, came an announcement of something new: RealNetworks, the digital services [...]
Continue reading...Friday, August 15, 2008
At yesterday's EA Studio Showcase, the publishing giant had a large array of big, blockbuster games on display. Godfather II, Warhammer Online, Harry Potter -- massive screens displaying the latest and greatest for the newest systems filled the room with EA's biggest-budget titles. So, why did I instead make a beeline for two guys crowded [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, August 12, 2008
As strong as my enthusiasm is for puzzle games, I have to wonder whether the Nintendo DS needs what looks like another match-three tile-swapping game. EA has heard my skepticism, though, and replied, "Fine. I guess we'll put an action-platformer on there, too. Happy now?" Actually, yes, I am, thank you. Henry Hatsworth in the [...]
Continue reading...Friday, August 8, 2008
Earlier today, Gamasutra posted an excerpt of an interview with Jonathan Blow, creator of platforming masterpiece Braid. In it, Blow took issue with a number of the certification and business-oriented processes behind bringing his game to XBLA, including "unnecessary requirements" and issues with the revenue model. It's valuable to get this kind of insight into [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, August 7, 2008
When the time came to review Braid, I had heard only the briefest, vaguest descriptions of what to expect. At an unusual price of 1200 Microsoft Points (US$15), Braid was released yesterday on Xbox Live Arcade by developers Number None -- and that's about what I knew, going in. My knowledge of Braid was merely that it [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, July 17, 2008
I have a soft spot for independent games, and this year's E3 summit placed a few on display at the IndieCade booths on the show floor. I had a look at a few as-yet-unknowns, but my favorite this year was unquestionably a charming little puzzle-platformer called The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. A few of the [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, July 2, 2008
I'm hoping I can go this entire review without saying "The twist is," or "But there's a twist!" or "With just a twist of," or any such obvious quip. I'm also hoping my wrist stops aching soon -- Magnetica Twist is a fairly addictive little action-puzzler, controlled entirely through small rotations of the Wiimote. After a [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, June 4, 2008
For my inaugural weekly WiiWare Wednesday weview review, I took a crack at Toki Tori, a puzzle-platformer developed and published by Two Tribes. The game is actually an re-imagining of Toki Tori for the Game Boy Color, Two Tribes' first game ever released. The original version sold poorly, perhaps due to its release coming after gamers [...]
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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