The Dark Side of Indie

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:05:53 -0500

Last week, I gushed about independent game development and how Indie was the sole hope for the future of a medium becoming increasingly consumed with and motivated by profit. Yet even such a noble pursuit as Indie development can be corrupted by the desire to turn a quick buck. One need only look at the �libraries� of

Independent Development and the Last Crusade

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:03:43 -0500

The game industry is at a crossroads. What was once an entirely niche endeavor done by geeks, for geeks, has become a Big Business. What was once an artistic endeavor has become a commodity. What was once made on a shoestring budget now costs millions of dollars. Game development has changed, and in changing has lost everything that it once was. When I look back at the history of videogames an...

Obscurity Through Obscurity

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:23:46 -0500

While Apple fanboys may bristle at the notion that the traditionally low market share of their favorite operating system was one of the primary reasons for its lack of viruses and other malware, the newly-increased market penetration of Apple-based OSes has seen a correspon...

Atari Delenda Est

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:08:23 -0500

Astute readers of this blog will have noticed that whenever I mention Atari, I follow it shortly with the Latin phrase delenda est. I do this in emulation of the great Roman statesman, Cato the Elder, who, during the Punic Wars, said the same thing about Rome�s enemy, t...

Vaguely Related: Steam

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:37:51 -0500

From November 30, 1998 until December 2, 2003, I was a happy PC gamer. Prior to that, I had tried in vain, over and over again, to play games on my PC, but DOS, Windows 3.1, and Windows 95 all had issues with each other � and my hardwar...

Easter Eggs

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 16:34:53 -0500

Easter Eggs have been a part of videogames for as long as videogames have existed. While the initial Easter Eggs � the ones that defined the term � were more vanity pieces where the programmers slipped-in an inside joke or other small, hidden detail, the concept evolved over time. The term soon became associated with Alex) counts ourselves, videogames are a beloved hobby. Gamers enjoy playing, collecting, analyzing, and replaying the games in our libraries. Those of us wh...

Nintendo-Hard

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 13:28:02 -0500

The MeltedJoystick team has been playing quite a bit of �Rayman Origins� lately, which is a challenging, traditional 2D Platformer. The fact that this game has a bit of challenge to it has prompted Nick and myself to get into an argument about whether or not it should be classified as �Nintendo-Hard,� with Nick voting in favor and ...

Noli Me Tangere!

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 16:37:08 -0500

According to Christian mythology, the risen Jesus yelled, �Noli me tangere!� when one of his disciples tried to touch him to confirm that he was real and not an apparition. Whether you believe that or not, Jesus did get one thing right: Touching is bad. Specifically, I�m referring to the current trend for every game console, computer, ...

Vaguely Related: ReDigi

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:28:39 -0500

The advent of the digital marketplace has done a lot for intellectual property peddlers, drastically improving their ability to put media in front of consumers� eyeballs. By cutting out scores of middle-men, digital distribution enables a la carte purchases where once albums and bundles reigned supreme, places Indies toe-to-toe with Big Media, and allows for overall lower prices due to the remova...

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