Journal
Over the last couple of months I have been using an iPod Touch. It all started because a game developer contacted me asking if I would be interested in reviewing his iPod Touch/ iPhone games on Binary Joy.
At the time I didn’t have an iPod Touch but a friend did so we got to talking about it and it turned out he had an old Touch he no longer used (having got an iPhone) - so here I am with a first gen iPod touch - reviewing iPod video games.
Pros
- The OS on the iPod Touch feels surprisingly good. There’s loads you can do and using it is mostly simple and straight forward.
- There’s lots of software available for free (or little money) on the app store - you can do everything you want, and some things you had never even considered
- Connecting to the web is a breeze, the iPod Touch …
Recently a UK politician claimed teens playing games is making them less intelligent, in fact the following quote comes from a very popular tabloid - the Sun.
KIDS hooked on computer games have sent England plummeting down world league tables for reading, it was claimed yesterday.
A study of literacy at primary schools in 41 countries saw our youngsters slip from third to 15th in just five years.
Ministers claimed pupils spend so much time on consoles that they are not burying their noses in books.
I’m not going to say that games are not to blame, they work very nicely as a distraction from school work (and reading), but before games we had television and movies - they worked just as well.
In recent years the brain training genre, popularised by Nintendo (with games like More Brain Training) and continued by a number of other companies (Ubisoft, and Sega) are recent examples …
I haven’t done any reviews in a while, then today I got asked to do one for GameGum a Flash gaming website (this is a paid review). It’s nice to get some games related reviews to do so I had to say yes.
Competition
Currently GameGum are running a referral contest in which you can potentially win $100 and 1000 GameGum points (more on those in a bit) - with a total of $250 worth of prizes. I am now wondering if I could win the contest by getting people to sign up. I guess I’ll find out in a couple of weeks 
About Game Gum
GameGum is a site that let’s you play a vast array of Flash (browser based) games. However where it differs from sites like Miniclip (where I work) is that it also let’s you submit your own games, rate other people games, and post comment …
The recent shooting at Virginia Tech has affected, and shocked, many people and it’s a terrible tragedy that something so awful could happen. My thoughts go out to all those involved and I hope they can get back to some semblance of normality as soon as possible.
Video Games
As tragic as this event was video games are yet again being blamed for the issue. Within hours of the incident Jack Thompson had managed to get onto the television, under the guise of an “expert”, and tell people exactly what had happened, despite having no direct knowledge of the incident, and the name of the shooter being unknown. A few hours after the show Kotaku posted a dissection of Jacks ravings showing that the things he said have little basis in fact and are pure sensationalism.
Since then Jack has blamed Bill Gates for the atrocity (a person who …
Arstechnica have put together the three rules of effective cutscenes as taught by God of War 2.
The rules are…
Keep it Short, Stupid
I shouldn’t be Superman in a cut scene but Clark Kent in the game
If your engine is good enough for the game, it’s good enough for cut scenes
Obviously they go into more detail, but the points themselves are very valid.
My own opinion is basically that cutscenes are boring. It’s well known that a lot of video game artists would love to work in movies, and when cd’s were first used as a storage medium they decided to fill them up with movie clips showing off their talent. The problem was that, whilst technically impressive, the movies just weren’t enjoyable. One of the most important things I have learnt about animation (and I am far from an expert here) is to keep it short and sweet - keep the …
Videogames are regularly blamed for many things, the most popular being making children fat and violent. So when something new, such as the Nintendo Wii, comes along everyone is happy. The Wii gets children exercising again, and it doesn’t feature as many violent games as other consoles. However that “everyone” has just gotten a little smaller.
Children who spend too much time playing virtual sports on their new Nintendo Wii are getting a false sense of what it’s like to compete in the world.
Kelly McBride - a US sports reporter, has reportedly said that the Wii, in particular Wii Tennis from the Wii Sports game, is giving children false hope. She thinks that it is making them think that when they pick up a tennis racket they will be able to beat all comers, in the same way they can whup anyone at Wii Tennis.
Personally I reckon she’s just …
Binary Moon
Gun Wing
Bubble Blitz
Bubble Bomb
ExGen