A snippet from this Yahoo/AP article.

Challenging the stereotype that video gaming is the domain of teenage boys, an industry group on Tuesday reported that more women over 18 than young boys are playing games and the average age of players has risen to 29.

A poll released by the Entertainment Software Association and conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates found 26 percent of game players are women 18 or older, while 21 percent are boys 6 to 17.

Well, I'm back from a thankfully extended vacation and back posting, with a big release for fans of old-school adventure games. ScummVM 0.5.0 has been released, and Beneath a Steel Sky has been made freeware along with it. You can download both from the official site along with getting more information. As always, there's a few bugs to be worked out, but they're being taken care of already. Enjoy these great releases!

New RPGDot columnist Chris 'limesix' Rediske writes about the lack of truly good RPGs as of late...

Which brings us to everything else. And here's where I come to my thesis - the promise of the games I love from the late 90's, and the rebirth of the RPG based on those games, has resulted in an ultimately disappointing revolution very short on innovation, and sorely lacking where it counts, namely gameplay, story, and freedom. While all of the games I've played since Torment are well designed and entertaining, and stand tall in their own right, I'm mystified by the fact that no developer - including Black Isle, makers of Fallout and Torment - has managed to surpass, or even equal, the quality and innovation of those original games.

Read more at RPGDot.

RPGDot has an interview with Robert Sirotek (president of Sir-Tech) and Linda Currie (part of the Jagged Alliance team)


RPGDot: How are chances to see Jagged Alliance 3 one day?
Robert: Chances are excellent.
...
RPGDot: Is there any chance of seeing you all return to work together?

Linda: We believe that we have a really solid chance of the team staying together to work on future projects. Ian & I have a lot of respect for the capabilities of everyone on the team and the fact that we've worked together successfully for many years should be attractive to anyone who knows how difficult it is to build a solid game development team. We are following some very interesting prospects.


RPGDot: And how are chances for a Wizardy 9?

Robert: Yes, absolutely the chances are very good. I can not tell you much more than this. When some decisions are taken, and I have something to report, I will contact you.

Adventure Gamers has a Q&A with designer Ragnar Tornquist. The game's target release date is in 2005, and the game itself is only in design phase, but he mentions some interesting points that they're working on.

In The Longest Journey 2, problems can be solved through traditional means, as well as through more dynamic solutions. There will be real brainteasers in the game, but there will also be situations where the player is required to take a more physical approach. For example, the lead character may have to get up to a ledge. You will have to find an object, like a rope, or construct something that allows you to fly up to the ledge. “I want players to have more control, not just scripted sequences all the time. We are putting physics into the game to allow puzzles to be physics-based. You can roll a stone to crush through a door instead of trying to find a key. So it’s all about having a living world. That’s the way adventures have to go.”

GameSpot has a preview of the upcoming Thief III up.

Thief III--the game's working title--has a lot in common with Ion Storm's other upcoming game for the PC and Xbox, Deus Ex: Invisible War, and indeed the two games are built on the same advanced graphics engine, so Garrett can now hide in dynamic shadows, including the shifting darkness created by a torch held by a guard on patrol. In contrast to Deus Ex's myriad player options and branching design, Thief III is a focused game that's all about sneaking into places you're not supposed to be in, stealing valuable items, locating important characters, and piecing together bits of information that expose an atmospheric story that's tightly woven into the gameplay. According to Spector, "Deus Ex is a Swiss Army knife and Thief is a scalpel."

Sheldon Pacotti, writer for the Deus Ex series of games, talks about the dangers of technology, and offers an interesting solution to the problem, at Salon.com.

With power, however, comes potential danger. We have no reason to fear new fathers who color-correct their baby photos, but what will we do when DNA and nanoscale machinery are just as easy to manipulate, when each of us is a potential terrorist able to compose a new viral genome with drag-and-drop? Given the nature of the Web and file-sharing, would we have a prayer of suppressing dangerous knowledge that could be turned into novel weapons of mass destruction? What I argue below is that we don't have to suppress knowledge at all. The open pursuit of knowledge is actually our greatest weapon against the dangers taking shape around us.

Frequent star of Denizen Ekim has posted a new Gamer's View about Sci-Fi RPGs...

Is the genre so intimidating? I like my medieval games as much as the next guy, but it's nice to be treated to something different once in a while. I'm sure that there are many people out there that would like a good RPG set in space once in a while just as much as I do. The demand is there, so why the apprehension? Sometimes I want to dream about romantic knights riding to fight the evil dragons. But other times I also want to be given a vision of what the future might hold. And I would even go so far as saying that games are the perfect tool to render such visions, even more than books!

Read the whole article here

Cyberroach has pictures from last week's Classic Gaming Weekend in Seattle. The pictures include an "Obsolete Media Festival" with a guy who makes music with an Atari 2600, Commodore C64, and a dot-matrix printer; old hardware from the NorthWest Classic Gaming Enthusiasts' Meeting; and the 6th Annual Atari Championship.

http://www.cyberroach.com/cyromag/15/
(Thanks SlashDot)

Al Lowe has made a few of his Sierra games from the early eighties, including The Black Cauldron and Troll's Tale, available on his website. There are a few Disney/Sierra educational titles, along with a lot of random stuff, including Leisure Suit Larry MP3s, Al Lowe's rendition of The Ballad of Freddy Pharkas, and a fair-sized collection of sound effects. LockerGnome.com has tested the files on Windows 98 and XP, so if you'd like to play some of his earlier games (I've played the Disney titles on a Color Computer 3) or just listen to some of the music, be sure to check out his site.

GameSpot's Craig Beers gives abandonware a nod in the latest GameSpotting:
But it's not fair for the consumer who has a genuine interest in older games. We all have a longing to play older games from time to time, but we can't because we don't have 5.25-inch drives or our computers won't run DOS games. I found a whole bunch of games in my old closet while in New York, but I can't really do anything with them. There are plenty of people who don't own older games but who would still like to play them.

Read the whole article here.

Recently I’ve talked about how the game worlds of CRPGs should make us feel more physically “present”. I’ve had some interesting debates and discussions with readers about the subject and I realized that although what I was asking for was interesting it might be far too demanding on developers. I was also reminded of the sad fact that we RPG gamers are far from being the majority of the gaming community, even though we forget it because we are so vocal. That started me thinking…

I found myself comparing gaming genres to cities and villages. Action games are like cities – think New York city with bustling streets and people walking around day and night, a city that never sleeps, with millions of inhabitants. There’s always someone somewhere playing an action game, and there’s always something happening, good or bad. CRPGs would be more like a village. We get a new game from time to time, rarely more than one or two at once. When they arrive they get all our attention. We gather around that stranger like the new flavor of the day, and we start noticing every little fault in it, every little thing that’s unusual in a not-so-positive way.

Read more from Ekim at RPGDot: http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=531

In an excellent interview at GameSpy, Warren Spector talks about the upcoming Deus Ex 2, linearity, Japanese developers, System Shock, and quite a few other things. Read the interview here.

That's exactly the topic of a thread over at RPGDot's forums. Through debate and subtle refinement, one of the members has created a system for ranking how 'RPG-ish' any given RPG is, taking into consideration a number of different factors. It's quite an interesting read, check it out here.

Oh, and sorry about the lack of updates since the Stagnation post. And no, I didn't do it just for a lame and somewhat subtle joke.

"Stagnation is the dearth of the gaming world. As players evolve, games must also. Pushing the limits in terms of graphics may be well and good, but the core element is the story. Without a compelling storyline, games are little more than eye candy if they manage that status.
There may be no truly original storylines left, but it doesn’t mean that game designers should quit trying to come up with one. Human nature is one of duality, good versus evil, constantly at war. Maybe some of that can find a place in the realm of RPGs."

Read more of Michael Lafferty's thoughts here.

Leon Boyarsky writes about his experiences with RPG development here:

"The hardest thing to accomplish when creating an RPG is to make an in-depth RPG that sells. Now I know all you purists out there think that what's important is the quality of the game and not how much it sells, but try finding a new contract when your last game sells less than 400,000 units. The ultimate challenge for an RPG developer is to find some kind of hook that will convince the marketing dept at your prospective publisher that this really isn't a "hardcore RPG" they're going to have to sell, it's an action RPG! (My skin is already crawling.) So not only do you, as an RPG designer, have to create a compelling RPG (which is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult genres to do right) you also have to find a way to sell it as something else - or, at the very least, an RPG hybrid of some sort. But never state it's a hardcore RPG to the marketing people - it tends to give them seizures."

The Adrenaline Vault has posted an article on their choices for the best shareware games of 2002...

"As more releases with simple and fun gameplay appear on consoles rather than the personal computer, those of us who do our virtual recreation on the PC often feel left out in the cold. Fortunately, shareware games are there to fill the void. Following the "try-before-you-buy" model, shareware allows you to examine an offering carefully before you decide to pay the very modest fee for a registration code or the full version. As an absolute shareware addict and a former shareware game author, it's my distinct pleasure for a third year in a row to provide the Adrenaline Vault's end-of-the-year awards to the very best non-retail offerings of the past year. By distributing their products directly over the Internet, small developers avoid the creativity-stifling modifications often imposed by risk-averse publishers. To choose the very best for our readers, I have scoured literally hundreds of shareware titles, playing the full versions extensively to get a solid sense of the overall value. The final selections were extremely difficult to make. All have lots of levels, flexible play options, long play value, appeal to players of various skill levels and imaginative design."

Read their picks here: http://www.avault.com/articles/getarticle.asp?name=topsw2k2

Gary Gygax, famous co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing system, is creating an MMORPG entitled Lejendary Adventure (that's not a typo). Here's a quote about it from their 'About' page:

The core system is based on skill-bundles rather that character class features and abilities. This means that the player can build virtually any sort of game persona (Character/Avatar) desired. If an archetype is desired, there are "Orders" in the LA game system that assigns Abilities (skill-bundles) automatically. If freedom to be inventive is desired by the player, all the Abilities are there to select from when creating the new Avatar. Because the system is intuitive in many places, "rules-light" and based primarily on percentages, it is both easy to understand, learn and play. Speaking of playing…

You'll hit the ground running in the Lejendary Adventure online game! Only a few choices are necessary to be made by the player before getting right into action. After selecting seven or eight "facts" about your game character, your Avatar, will be immersed in the Lejendary Earth world setting, and in action. While interacting, the player gains more information, makes choices, and the Avatar develops further. So much for boring preparation before getting into the game.

Check out the official site here: http://di.gamepoint.net/lejendary/en/

From: http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=453

For us gamers, an addictive game actually means that it's a good one, maybe even an outstanding one. Being addicted to a game means that we can't get away from it, we keep thinking about it even after we leave it. Actually, it's very much like a good book, or even a good movie that lingers in your mind even after you saw it for the first time.

An addictive CRPG certainly is considered a very good thing. It's almost a prime requisite for a good one. An action game can almost make it just by being fun and exciting, but a good RPG has to keep you going by constantly pushing you further and further. The proverbial carrot on a stick dangling in front of the donkey is what we look for in a CRPG, even though we sometimes don't like to admit it.

So, are we really hurting the industry when we say a game is addicting?

Cliff Johnson, creator of puzzle masterpiece The Fool's Errand (in my opinion the best puzzle game ever made), recently took some time off from his busy schedule to answer a few questions from us via e-mail:

1) It's been years since your last game. What are you up to? :)

No good. I recently finished the treasure hunt for the upcoming book Mysterious Stranger by magician David Blaine who's staked a $100,000 prize for solving it.

My last official game was the CD-ROM Labyrinth of Crete for Philips in 1995. By official, I mean that I had complete creative authorship over the entire project.

Next, I worked on CD-ROM projects for Mattel and Interplay and then as Senior Producer on Internet projects for Warner Bros. Online and Disney Online. Though I'd vowed never to program again, those years of lost authorship convinced me that it was time to start programming again. So I'm learning Director to see what mischief I can create.

(more...)