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tags: www.pixelsocks.com

Dread news, friends. Pixelsocks.livejournal.com may be drawing to a close in the near future. Click the link above to discover why.

tags: www.pixelsocks.com

Nintendo is evidently keeping closer wraps on Miyamoto than they used to. It turns out that, when the game designer worries about his weight, he develops Wii Fit, and when he collects bugs, we get Pokémon. In an effort to keep the competition from committing casual conversation espionage against the legendary game designer, Nintendo has evidently discouraged Miyamoto from discussing his hobbies in the public arena. The sources for this revelation are unidentified and therefore of arguable credibility, but if it almost sounds like ol' Hiroshi "draconian" Yamauchi is in charge again.

tags: hiroshi yamauchi, nintendo, shigeru miyamoto

Coming hot on the heels of an update that reduced the levelling time between levels 30-60, warcraft has made a play to further compress the grind. By signing up a friend, you can reap 90 days of: tripled experience gain, an hourly ability to summon your friend to you, a free level for every two levels your friend gains, and a shiny new Zhevra mount. All that comes on top of the free month you used to get for doing Blizzard's marketing for them. While this will no doubt engender fanboy rage at being cheated out of a portion of their lives, it should help ease the pain of helping a new friend to the level cap.

tags: blizzard, world of warcraft

Gamasutra has posted a thoughtful editorial from Duncan Fyfe about the role of video games in education. This warrants more attention than, say, Mario's Time Machine, because the article treats education not so much as formal schooling, but as the transmission of important ideas and inspiration from person to person.

The main thrust is that video games are in a unique position spark an interest in knowledge, without necessarily cramming the information down our throats with a test at the end. You see this frequently from gamers--claims that they learned words from formative games (how many of you knew the word "spoony" before Final Fantasy hit the SNES?), or discovered new bands through Guitar Hero--so there's something of substance about the claim. Check it out, and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

tags: education, gamasutra

1up is reporting that phishing messages are being propagated around XBox Live that appear to come from members of your friends list. The message offers 1600 free MS points for logging into a New Zeland domain website with your Live account. Naturally, once you've done this, your user name is hijacked to send the same message to everyone on your friend list and (surprise) no points are awarded. So, if you have an XBox Live account, keep your eyes peeled.

That said, it's heartening in its sinister little way to see thieves exploiting Live like this. It means there's something worth stealing on there in large enough volumes to justify the risk. When unscrupulous people take an interest in your financial enterprise, you know you've arrived. Congratulations all around.

tags: phishing scam, xbox live

In case you've ever wondered if you're wearing too many belts (or not wearing enough), 1up has provided a top five worst-dressed video game characters list. If you can look past the banality of the top 5 format, it's funny how easy it is to take ridiculous video game fashion for granted. Even ignoring the legions of nearly nude femme fatales, character design has become so focused on making something striking and memorable that it plummets headlong into the absurd.

Just a little something to remind you how jaded you are.

tags: 1up, fashion

It's no secret that the aftermarket trade of video games is a thriving business, and that developers and publishers never see a penny of it. David Braben (developer, Frontier Games) has finally voiced the fear. Citing the short shelf life of new games and the small footprint that new games are given in retail Braben has discovered a solution: ban used games.

The nuts and bolts of the ban boils down to copy protection--some sort of code on the disc or package from the developer--but it's not difficult to imagine a server activation more along the lines of modern DRM. In fact, games like Mario Kart DS already match a console to a cartridge to create a unique identifier for the player's online presence. So, even if these program features haven't been applied to copy protection, the technology is already in place.

It gets trickier and trickier to play the games you buy every year.

tags: frontier games, gamestop, used games

Gamasutra has posted an editorial analyzing Bushido Blade (PS1) and how it communicates designer morality and cleaves to its title. The article meanders a bit into the philosophy near the late middle section, but also contains some interesting thoughts on the difference between simple and complex game rules:

Traditional fighting games are like college courses, and versus matches like exams . . . In Bushido Blade, none of the answers matter; only your quick, correct reaction determines your future.

Popular casual games like Bejeweled have much this same core, where intuitive control means there's as little barrier as possible between the player and his manifest will. When that happens, gameplay is less about testing a player's knowledge about an arcane and draconian rules, and more about the intrinsic joy of changing the (virtual) world around you. Of course, there's room for both kinds of gameplay, but if you've ever wondered why your mom hates video games, it may be because the Tao of gaming has been buried under all the rules.

tags: bushido blade, casual games, design, gamasutra

From the "it's about time" files, PopCap Games has announced that it will be porting Peggle to the DS. They'll be doing this with Q Entertainment (Lumines, Meteos), a development house already experienced with the unique demands of handheld gaming devices. Touch interactivity seems well suited to PopCap's precision aiming game, and Peggle's short play sessions seem like a good fit for portable gaming. That in addition to Peggle's uncommon appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers makes this a game to keep an eye on.

tags: ds, nintendo, peggle, popcap games

Ok, maybe not that bad, but Nintendo has just lost a patent suit against Anascape over their gamecube and Wii Classic controllers. The inevitable order to halt production has been put on hold while Nintendo appeals, but the console giant will be expected to put sales royalties in escrow (or post bond) while the appeal proceeds. Unlike Sony's recent infringement loss, the Wii is still fairly early in its life-cycle, making it more difficult for Nintendo to simply stall the trial until the next console generation and abandon production of an obsolete product.

tags: anascape, classic controller, gamecube, nintendo, patent infringement, wavebird, wii

That's right, the industry trade show is not dead! Major publishers still make interesting announcements in the summer months, even if the event isn't quite the fracas it once was, in no small part because people like the Pixelsocks staff aren't allowed inside. Nevertheless, Gamasutra has delivered a nice summary of all the news of consequence. Go check it out. There'll be Pikmin, I promise.

tags: e3, electronic entertainment expo, gamasutra

Actually, Gamasutra reports that the Wii has become the top-selling console in the US. While its lifetime sales totals don't rival those of the PS2 or the DS, Wii Fit and other parts of Nintendo's policy of expanding the gaming user base appear to be paying off. Since each console is sold at a profit, even the low casual gamer attach rate shouldn't impair Nintendo's revenue flow.

If the long tail operates as advertised and casual gamers keep buying occasional games over the console's lifetime, Nintendo may be in for a sustainable firehose that sprays cash.

tags: nintendo, wii

With the Penny Arcade Expo fast approaching, the two creators have announced the roster for the PAX 10.

The PAX 10 is a list of independent games noteworthy for overall quality. The announcement includes links to the internet presence for all those games, so click a few and try them out.

tags: independent games, pax, penny arcade expo

It appears that critically-acclaimed (and local favorite) first person puzzle game Portal will see an expansion before the upcoming sequel. Interestingly, the expansion will be initially available as downloadable content for Microsoft's Xbox Live. The rumor mongers are muttering about eventual release for PC and other platforms, but nothing has been confirmed as yet. In the meantime, PC gamers will have to console themselves with custom portal maps.

tags: portal, xbox 360, xbox live

The new iPhone application store will launch with well over 100 games, according to Steve Jobs. The device's considerable screen resolution, sophisticated touchscreen technology, and developer-friendly profit sharing position the iPhone to take a bite out of Nintendo's DS. While games have never been breakout successes on phones, the technology may finally be converging.

tags: apple, ds, iphone, ngage, nintendo

Activision has announced Wee 1st, a new brand intended for its Wii-targeted development.

Nintendo has historically had difficulty forming reliable relationships with third-party developers due to unfamiliar hardware and draconian business policies. However, the new brand's starting lineup clearly isn't targeted at core gamers, a sign that third parties may be growing more comfortable with the Wii's target demographic and design sensibilities. Whether or not this will lead to the software explosion the DS enjoyed about a year after its launch remains to be seen, however. Place your bets for what will happen for the fourth quarter of 2008.

tags: activision, casual games, nintendo, wee 1st, wii

Jeremy Parish (1up, Gamespite) has posted an editorial exploring the possible positive impact of Wiiware title Mega Man 9. The upcoming title will adopt the same graphical and design sensibilities that drove the NES era Mega Man games, a multi-generation step backwards for the franchise. While this kind of regression isn't unheard of (SquareEnix has been mining their retro properties for years), the meeting of new content with old design is a bold step in the often stagnant medium.

tags: mega man, mega man 9, wii, wiiware

Some 20000 gamers have negatively responded to the art direction in the upcoming Diablo III. More than the typical message board complaining, the movement founders have created a series of image mock-ups to communicate what they'd like to see.

While gamers disagreeing with developer design decisions is nothing new (please see the rest of this site --ed), the mock-ups demonstrate that media manipulation tools are common enough in gaming culture to be useful communication tools.

tags: blizzard, diablo 3, gaming culture

After Blizzard's earlier announcement of Diablo III, Diablo II and its expansion Lord of Destruction jumped into Amazon.com's top ten sales rankings.

Blizzard's games are unique for exceeding the typical three month shelf-life of retail video games by about ten years. Evidently, the mere mention of their franchises (regardless of release dates or specs) is enough to generate consumer frenzy. Though, perhaps gamers are just looking for a little cooperative gaming love to while away the time until the next game comes out.

Good hunting, all.

tags: blizzard, diablo 2, diablo 3, lord of destruction