A little slice of game-related music
Chairlift’s “Grand Theft Auto”-inspired tune is a rare standout in the field of songs that take their cues from video games.… Read More »
Rock for charity Thursday in SF
The second annual Umloud! fundraiser is set for Thursday night in San Francisco. If you’re a “Rock Band” nut, or just like to see other people pretending to be rock stars, it’s a great way to spend an evening. And you’re likely to walk away with some cool, gaming-related swag to boot. (Update: Corrected and clarified raffle rules)… Read More »
Can episodic gaming rope in more players?
By breaking up games like Remedy Entertainment’s “Alan Wake” into smaller, lower-priced episodes, video game publishers might succeed in roping in more players who don’t have time to play a 20-hour game in one swoop.… Read More »
Think you’re good at Wii?
Nintendo is running a nationwide, team-based competition to see who the country’s best Wii players are. If you’re on the North Coast, your best bet is to form a team and get yourself to Six Flags in Vallejo. Top teams will compete in a national event in Los Angeles in September.… Read More »
Sorting out the Supreme Court case
While the rationale of those behind California’s violent games law can come across to video gamers as out-of-touch nannyism, the games industry is also guilty of being unreasonable.… Read More »
Does ‘Mass Effect 2′ punt on homosexuality?
Did BioWare shy away from gay relationships in “Mass Effect 2″ because of commercial pressures, or was it simply an issue of having enough time or space on the disc? Regardless of the situation, gay gamers, or players who like to role-play as gay characters, deserve a more nuanced approach to sexuality in their video games.… Read More »
Q&A with Santa Rosa game designer Brian Lee
If you’re a regular Press Democrat or Pressdemocrat.com reader, you may have seen Clark Mason’s recent article about Brian Lee, a Cardinal Newman graduate whose team of college-student video game designers recently split a $100,000 prize for creating the best nonprofessional game for the inaugural Indie Game Challenge. While Clark did a great job of telling us about Brian and his game, “Gear,” I was interested in chatting with him gamer-to-gamer, as well as finding out a bit about what… Read More »
Have Madden officiate your wedding
Joystiq ran a post Thursday about a company called Phonetic Arts that’s striving for the holy grail of sports video games: voice commentary that doesn’t endlessly repeat itself. If you’ve ever gotten into a sports video game, you know what I’m talking about. Play-by-play announcers can only record so many lines of dialogue. And once you’ve logged a few hours, those catch-phrases really start to grate on your nerves. “Major League Baseball 2K4″ essentially ruined Giants TV announcer Mike Krukow… Read More »
Charity game on Xbox Live
If you like games and also like helping children, a new gaming startup that donates the bulk of its profits to charity has just released its first game, “Chime,” on the Xbox Live Arcade. “Chime,” which retails for 400 Microsoft Points, or $5, is a music-themed puzzle game, in the same vein as Q Entertainment’s “Lumines” or “Rez.” If you’re not familiar with those, think of a more modern “Tetris,” with a pulsing electronic soundtrack. Unlike “Tetris” and “Lumines,” though,… Read More »
Hoping for an Umloud! repeat
Normally, I wouldn’t post about an event I attended more than a week ago, but when the event is for a good cause, I’ll make an exception. Just before I took some time off of work, my wife and I attended the Ümloud! fundraiser in San Francisco. Held Dec. 9, the event let donors team up and play “Rock Band 2″ on a real stage, in front of a real cheering audience. The money donated by the bands, plus donations… Read More »