Dice Summit: The mood at the game industry’s Oscar awards: happy but cautious
The Interactive Achievement Awards at the Dice Summit represents the industry’s chance to get excited about what it does and to give away the equivalent of the Oscar to its best game developers.
The awards show is always an interesting place to observe the state of the video game industry. Nominees include the first iPhone games (Apple was invited to speak, but didn’t send anyone). While the crowd is at capacity and happy to be employed,… Continue Reading
Dean’s top ten family games of 2008
As always, my other top-ten games lists were chock full of the violent fare that I enjoy. But family games are big in my house too, so here’s my list of the best family games of 2008:
1. Wii Fit (Nintendo Wii) Nintendo. May 2008. Yes, this game made multiple lists, but for a good reason. It’s fun. Itgot gamers off their couches and running around in circles, jumping up and down, and trying to keep their… Continue Reading
Q&A with Kareem Ettouney on Sony’s great hope: LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3
NEW YORK CITY—Sony is pulling out the stops to celebrate the launch of a critical game, LittleBigPlanet, from developer Media Molecule. In the game, you can customize a group of ragdoll characters and use them to solve puzzles to navigate a visually cute world that makes you feel like you’re moving through a model railroad landscape. The console maker needs this game to attract mainstream audiences to the PlayStation 3 and so it held a… Continue Reading
Dean’s top ten video games of E3
As promised, I’ve followed up on my most anticipated games of E3 with an actual list of the top ten games of the show. I spent four days checking out games and interviewing executives at the Los Angeles media and game business summit. Clearly, I didn’t see everything. I didn’t even get to some of the games on the previous list. These games reflect my own tastes. I didn’t hold myself to any rules, like… Continue Reading
Dean’s most anticipated games of E3
For the first time in a few years, I’m not one of the E3 judges who evaluate the best games of the video game industry for GameCriticsAwards.com. Not to worry. I’ve filled up my schedule and I won’t have to try to see every single big game. But I’m a game fan at heart and I’ll be going to the show not just to write about business, but to evaluate the best games from my… Continue Reading