Tag: videogames
Videogame artist Greg Martin dies – you may not know his name, but you'll know his work
According to a post on the NintendoAge Forum, Greg Martin has died. Martin was the artist responsible for many well known videogame covers in the early days of gaming, when a Megadrive (known as the Genesis in the States) was…
REVIEW: Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure (Xbox 360)
After a sterling effort with Disneyland: Kinect Adventures, it's the turn of Pixar's finest characters to take centre-stage on the Xbox 360. Can lightning strike twice for motion-controlled magic?
Future of retailer GAME rocked; videogames industry holds its breath
Videogame retailer GAME are facing stiff financial challenges after poor profits last year rocked its credit insurance line. The retailer is now in talks with individual games publishers regarding the financial difficulties to ensure its stores are continued to be…
REVIEW: Forza Motorsport 4 (Xbox 360)
Turn10 studios really laid down the gauntlet with Forza Motorsport 3, a deep, accomplished racer that was as realistic as it was fun. Can this year's sequel, Forza Motorsport 4 go one better and overtake Gran Turismo 5 to take pole position?
Oasis's Noel Gallagher blames videogames for UK riots
Ex-Oasis guitarist, singer and songwriter Noel Gallagher has waded into the argument surrounding what sparked the violent riots in London and across the UK last week. According to Gallagher, it's all down to TV and videogames. "We live in this…
Is the use of gaming strategy guides the same as cheating?
For some, the summer months are the best time to slap on the sunscreen, pull on a swimming costume and go bask in the rare British sunshine. For me, it's an opportunity to catch up on the past 6…
Roger Ebert offers half-baked apology for "gaming not art" comments
Sun Times critic Roger Ebert enraged the gaming community recently with his dismissive comments on the cultural importance of videogames, stating that they can not and will never be considered a true art form. Today, in a massive 1,800 word…
HEARTWARMING TALE: Kid takes up Archery after playing Age of Empires
Next time you’re being ranted at that videogames cause violence, point the complainant to this story. A 17-year old guy, Ryan Tyack, is competing in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney. He’s the flag-bearer for the ceremony, and is competing as an archer, a sport that he took up in 2001 after playing Age of Empires.
Over to Ryan:
I just sat around playing Age of Empires all the time and my mum wanted me to do a sport and meet some kids. So I chose either fencing or archery as Age Of Empires had swordsmen and archers
Thing is, I sorta know what he means. That game has improved me too – I was a bit of an AoE addict, and I had no idea what a Phalanx, Trireme or Trebuchet was before playing. Now, having played tonnes of AoE and Civilization, I’m considerably more knowledgeable about ancient empires! Perhaps “edutainment” works after all.
(via Kotaku)
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Guitar Hero III has made more money than any other videogame ever
$1,000,000,000.
That’s how much money has been spent, since its release on October 28th 2007, on Guitar Hero III. That’s enough money to buy 1.3 million 16GB pay-as-you-go iPhones, 18 million Thrustmaster T.16000M joysticks, or 50,000 blinged-up Macbook Airs.
Of course, the whole thing is helped by the fact that the game cost about $90 when it was released, almost twice the price of a normal game, due to its plastic guitar peripheral. Expect sales of Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band, however, to eclipse this figure once again, due to their massive full-band instrument packs.
XKCD Guitar Hero (via Kotaku)
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Atari abandons filesharing lawsuits
Following the news the other week that some pensioners had been accused of downloading pirated games, Atari has abandoned its ‘sue-your-own-customers’ strategy, developed in conjunction with trigger-happy lawyers Davenport-Lyons.
Although the company maintains that it will “always retain and reserve the right to protect our intellectual property from illegal copying and piracy”, this is a positive step from a company realising that the only thing it’s actually getting out of the campaign of intimidation is bad press.
Will other companies follow? Codemasters is the biggest games publisher still associated with the troubled law firm. With any luck, it will wake up too, and realise that bringing legal action against its customers is far more trouble that it’s worth. There are many other options for making money with games.
I’m off to go buy some Atari games.
Atari (via TorrentFreak)
Related posts: Pensioners ‘caught’ pirating games | Atari and Codemasters join video game piracy legal fight – £300 fines on the way to 25,000 game-sharers
