Quotes from Sid Meier's keynote GDC speech

Veteran game designer Sid Meier delivered the keynote speech at the Game Developers Conference today and during his hour-long session on the “Psychology of Game Design: Everything you Know is Wrong,” the creator of the Civilization franchise produced a series of key points, mantras, and worthwhile quotes captured here. Meier is the creative director at Firaxis and director of this fall’s Civilization V. (You can catch the full news story here.)

“Gameplay is a psychological … Continue Reading

First details of Deus Ex 3 emerge

In the worldwide debut of both Eidos Montreal and its first project, Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution, art designer Jonathan Jacques-Belletete demonstrated how his team challenged status quo thinking by creating a visual language centered around two esoteric art styles, the Renaissance and modern-day cyberpunk. He showed the first look at the third game in the award-winning series.

In the Game Developers Conference session entitled “Creating a Unique Visual Direction: The Successes and Failures of … Continue Reading

Sony's new motion controller is on the "Move"

Sony today officially entered a new phase in the lifespan of the PlayStation 3 console by touting the PlayStation Move, a wireless motion-controlled device that rivals Nintendo’s Wiimote and Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal.

Introduced at E3 2009 with the working title the PlayStation Wand, the PlayStation Move resembles a light-weight microphone with a colored crown. The PS3 manufacturer, which revealed the device at the Concourse Exhibition Center in downtown San Francisco, Ca., says it provides … Continue Reading

Civilization V often makes peace a better option

Firaxis scored big with Civilization IV, selling millions of units since 2007. Now the PC-centric developer showed a real-time demo of this fall’s Civilization V today at the Game Developers Conference.

Civilization is deemed by many fans and critics as the ultimate game in the long-running strategy series, so the question many pundits have for Firaxis is why create another?

According to Firaxis’ producer Dennis Shirk, the team wants to introduce new mechanics to the … Continue Reading

Activision Blizzard shows off footage from True Crime reboot

Re-entering the highly competitive “sandbox” crime genre made famous by Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series, Activision Blizzard’s Activision Publishing division today showed live gameplay footage of its reboot entrée, True Crime, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Many thought the series dead after a disappointing critical and fiscal second effort in 2006 with the second in the series, True Crime: New York. But Activision tapped United Front Games (maker of ModNation Racers). With … Continue Reading

The best original video games of 2009

Franchises. Sequels. Big summer movie games. Despite the glut of those familiar games that crowd retail shelves each year, gamers witnessed a respectable outpouring of original titles in 2009. Developers know that making a new intellectual property isn’t easy, and most publishers won’t take risks on them often. But creators, executives, and gamers all know the reward of making a successful original game is worth the most satisfying endeavor. After all, Call of Duty Modern … Continue Reading

Beatles Rock Band game publisher tries to stoke sales

In the past, if a video game wasn’t selling well, there wasn’t much a publisher could do about it except slash the price. But in the age of web-connected game consoles, companies can try to juice sales by launching new downloadable content.

A case in point: Amid slowing sales of The Beatles Rock Band, the game’s publishers — Apple Corps, MTV Games and Harmonix — revealed today the availability of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album … Continue Reading

Scribblenauts game developer makes a risky bet on being original

Everyone loves original games. But few developers take the risk of making them in the video game industry.

Enter Jeremiah Slaczka, the creative director at game developer 5th Cell, dropped out of high school in his junior year. Working with his partner Joseph Tringali, he made a string of licensed cell phone games to get their company off the ground. Then they decided to risk everything they had to make an original video game called … Continue Reading

How Airtight Games started a console game studio with just $24,000

In 2004, Microsoft canceled a sequel to its Crimson Skies game, prompting the game’s executive producer, Jim Deal, to leave the company to create a startup. He and his team of four other ex-Microsoft game people had $24,000 of their own money and an idea to create an action-adventure game where you could fly. But that wasn’t nearly enough to launch a new console game, which is a near impossible thing for a startup to … Continue Reading

Warner Bros. greenlights Green Lantern superhero game

Warner Bros. and game developer Double Helix have partnered to create an action-based video game slated around the comic book hero Green Lantern, VentureBeat has learned.

The video game is believed to be linked to the official Green Lantern movie scheduled for a June 17, 2011 release. The movie is to be directed by Martin Campbell (director of the Casino Royale and GoldenEye films) with a screenplay penned by screenwriters Greg Berlanti and Michael Green.… Continue Reading

The top 10 children's video games coming your way

At this year’s E3 show, it was difficult to ignore publishers’ acknowledgment of the growing children’s market, including indie-influenced titles (such as Scribblenauts and Drawn to Life), a broadening scope of LEGO titles (LEGO Rock Band, LEGO Indiana Jones 2, and LEGO Harry Potter), and publishers’ return to the Mario Kart-influenced racing genre (Need for Speed Nitro, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing). Here are my picks for the best children’s titles of the show.

1. … Continue Reading