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Domain: mono211.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to mono211.com.
Stories · 5
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IGN on the State of the CRPG
Via the ffwd linklog, IGN has a feature up discussing the current state of the CRPG. From the article: "Most people tend to associate RPGs with sword-swinging maidens in chainmail bikinis and doddering old white-bearded mages in robes spattered with owl poop. While the high fantasy setting is certainly the stock background for most RPGs, an RPG is defined not by its content but by its manner of presentation. To be a true RPG, a game must contain three elements. First, it should offer up an interactive story in which the player takes a vital part. Second, RPGs must allow for character growth that's driven by a player's choices or actions. Finally, RPGs must be built upon a system of rules and statistics that are used to resolve the events that take place in the world." -
The Ugly, Dirty Story of Making a Game
Via the ffwd linklog, a series of Edge Magazine developer diaries reprinted on the web by the folks who wrote them. Ninja Theory has been making the next-gen game Heavenly Sword for quite a while now. They've told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the process of making the game, wrangling a publisher, and getting the game to market. From the intro article: "What our research does show is that 3rd person action adventures are big but the first generation games in this genre are always shit. Nina, Mike and I originally came from Sony Cambridge, a studio that specialised in 3rd person action games and so we would be treading familiar ground. If we start now, a full year or two before most developers even think about next-gen development, we would have the time to craft a great game and release it early in the next-gen console cycle. Perhaps we could pull off a Halo." -
NIAC Selects 2005 Phase I Winners
Pooua writes "The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) has selected its 2005 Phase 1 awards winners. Two of my favorite winners from this year are 'Extraction of Antiparticles Concentrated in Planetary Magnetic Fields' and 'A Deep Field Infrared Observatory Near the Lunar Pole.' A brief summary of the awards is available at Spacedaily. The NIAC Website lists links to PDF articles of all their funded studies (past and current). Slashdot covered NAIC awards winners last year." -
Video Game Mixlist
The Onion A.V. club's website has up a feature listing off some excellent game related mixes. From the article: "4. Mr. Bungle, 'Theme From Tetris (Ska Version)' Not Britney Spears, not Linda Perry, not John Lennon or Paul McCartney--no one has written a song as burrowing-brainworm catchy as the theme from Tetris. (Coupled with the falling bricks, it's like virtual heroin.)" Seen on the ffwd linklog. -
The ESRB Don't Get No Respect
Via the ffwd linklog, a story on the Hollywood Reporter site discussing the public image of the ESRB, from "pain in the butt" on the developer's side to lax child perverter on the lawmaker's side. From the article: "The issue Greenberg describes is one involving dollars and cents: Almost every single retail chain chooses not to sell 'AO' rated games, period. In just the same way that many movie theaters will not show films branded with an 'NC-17' rating, the 'AO' severely limits a game's distribution, to put it mildly."