It has been a few weeks since the calendar turned and 2012 looks to be just as exciting as 2011 – if not more. The webs of the internet yield some juicy flies from time to time; best to pull them off and look at them before the web sags too much, right?
Ricky Lima recently came back from an event called GameON Finance, a business-oriented forum for the games industry hosted by Interactive Ontario. Here, he attended various talks and spoke to a number of people. One of those people was Nathan Vella, president of Capybara Games (Critter Crunch, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP).
Creativity and business don’t normally see eye to eye. They are like two roommates who tolerate each other because they need each other to pay the rent. Creativity would like to have its friends come over to hang out; maybe crash on its couch after a loud night of Smash Brothers. On the other hand, business lays in his bed trying to sleep because he has to be up in the morning. No matter what, business and creativity will be linked together forever in this industry because one can not live with the other. There is no project that doesn’t need some kind of business model and there is no business that doesn’t need creative and innovative thinking.
This past week Interactive Ontario hosted a conference on game financing. There were multiple panels about how to make money or find investment within the game industry. It was very intriguing to hear but a lot of the opinions were of business people. I wanted to get a different perspective on the days ideas so I chatted with Nathan Vella (president of Capybara Games) about his views on the business side of games.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go to CES 2012. However, we did have a chance to chat with Elliott Chun (from Future Shop) whose initials are the same as the beginning of CES. We think that’s better because it’s more efficient – fewer letters and all…
So, while I normally don’t like lists*, I am in the end-of-the-year spirit and am posting some of my favourite video game things from 2011. Believe me, folks: I played a lot of games this year; so I have a very wide base to choose from. This list is made up of games and things related to games – so enjoy!
2011 was packed full of great games, each one of them deserving a Game of the Year nod to themselves. Instead of ranting and raving about one particular game I present to you my list for 2011′s most surprising games. Each one of these games shocked players because of its ingenuity, originality, hype, or questionable content.
Boxing Week is upon us, which means that there are a few prime shopping days left in the year. This fashionably late review is well-timed, since it deals with a great game that the whole family can enjoy (aka: possibly a great purchase): Eurocom’s Disney Universe. Back during E3, we got the breakdown from Michelle Liem about this game; then we got to play it a few times since (once at X’11 Canada and then at Playstation Holiday). Now that we have spent some personal time with it, do we think that it will be to everyone’s taste? Perhaps not. Do we still think it is a great game? Yes. Yes we do. Read on.
This is not your dad’s BurgerTime.
When I think of BurgerTime, my mind lovingly drifts back to one of my earliest memories of playing in an arcade as a kid. I fondly remember the distinct sounds emanating from the cabinet, crammed between Pac-Man and the Black Knight pinball game. Initially released in 1982 by Data East, BurgerTime represents one of the first steps in modern arcade gaming. Utilizing the Deco cassettes system, it allowed arcade owners to swap games quickly without having to replace the entire cabinet. They were distributed on magnetic cassette tapes and installed on the on-board RAM. Of course this technology didn’t last very long due to the sensitive nature of magnetic tapes*. Also, growing up with Apple computers, Data East were one of the developers taht used to port a lot of their games early on – which meant I could enjoy BurgerTime in full monochromatic glory of the Apple IIe.
The Dance Central series for Kinect seems to be (according to the whispers) the end all and be all of dance games. Really, from what I see, the closest competition (ie: the Just Dance franchise) feels like it is aimed toward a more general audience – a demographic that might not necessarily be the type to get up and strut their stuff in a public venue. While checking out Harmonix’s offering in their latest and greatest, Dance Central 2, I am pretty sure that while it is made accessible to everyone, it feels like it is on a different level; whether this tier is fun or not is the question that we are aiming to answer.
The much-praised shooter series, Gears of War, has captivated fans since its inception back in 2006. With the conclusion to the trilogy now long over, Epic Games is happy to announce a brand new campaign adventure unlike anything we have ever seen before. Now available on Xbox LIVE for a meager 1,200 Microsoft Points, the second major game add-on for Gears of War 3, RAAM’s Shadow, will extend the value of this already very addictive game.
Remember: all pics here are 2D representations of 3D. Don’t complain or I will ground pound you.
It is always challenging to review Super Mario titles; while there are a whole whack-ton of them, they are all just so damned good. Of course, there is a big pile of expectation placed on our plumber friend’s shoulders due to the fact the his latest adventure, Super Mario 3D Land, is a first party title on a relatively new platform (that has some less-than-stellar titles available for it since launch). Of course, there are other great titles available already; but there is just something about Mario that brings out the best in Nintendo hardware; it really defies description. This 3DS title is no exception, no matter which dimension you’re looking at.
