games
Gaming season
by Wei Leen on Feb.09, 2009, under china, games
Here’s an observation about modern life. Much of what we love comes in small portions. Happy Meals with toys from McDonald’s come in sets. “Collect all 7!” Sitcoms come in seasons of 20 episodes, and even Harry Potter came in 7 books. Would it now surprise any of you, really, if I told you that games are now produced in episodes?
“American McGee‘s Grimm” is an episodic game with
23 episodes of dark, twisted fun. In it, the titular character “Grimm”, is a foul, wicked little bearded dwarf who befouls anything he touches. In each episode, Grimm uses his putrid, filthy influence on his surroundings to turn our modernized, sanitized versions of fairy tales into the vile, cautionary tales of days-gone-by. It is actually true that modern fairy tales were mostly gruesome, disgusting tales used to scare boys and girls into behaving themselves. Don’t be surprised if your favourite fairy tale as a child turned out to be a harrowing story of sex and gore.
Gruesomeness aside, American McGee’s Grimm is a pioneering work that has started to mature. There is even talk recently of turning it into a graphic novel. Aspiring entrepreneurs should take note. Your next favourite sitcom might turn out to be an episodic game.
iPhone because iAm
by HT on Jan.20, 2009, under Mac, Uncategorized, games, iPhone
When an article recently stated that Apple is joining the campaign for real breasts, there was always only going to be one outcome. A geek’s love for technology and boobies (not necesarily in that order) knows no bounds and I quickly discovered the wonders that the iPhone is capable of.
Just how big a success is this wonderfully jiggly smartphone? Steve Jobs of course believes that he’s got a big hit on his hands. And there is in fact very good reason to believe that claim, even a google spreadsheet by the MacObserver that shows, through tracking the IMEI numbers of 3G iPhones sold, that Apple probably have exceeded their target. There are of course, doubters who, not without reason, claim that the dropoff in sales numbers after an initial high raise doubts about the iPhone’s sales momentum.
Hardware though, is not what is on my mind. More interesting for any aspiring entrepreneur is this litte tidbit. 500 million App Store downloads is nothing to laugh at, except if you’re the cash-laden owner of a certain jiggly App called Wobble. If you’re a software developer writing for a software platform that is mobile, has 10 million users, with potential to go up to 45 million in 2009, and has the processing power of a Sega Dreamcast, there is a lot of potential for games development.
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