By Cyrris , 2nd December 1:54 pm
The latest controversy over on GameSpot is simply the most recent example of why I no longer visit large all-encompassing game media sites. Back in the day I was a frequent visitor of GameSpy and GameSpot - so much so that I’d often end up typing “gamespoy.com” in to my address bar in a subconcious attempt to go to both at the same time.
I’ve thought about writing this piece for a long time, because I have a lot to say about the current state of the gaming sites I used to love. I didn’t, however, want to drag this site down in to an out-and-out bitch fest. Given the latest happenings on GameSpot, however, I can’t help but let everyone know what happens to a gaming site when the establishment goes from being passionate to being corporate.
» Read all of “Gaming Media: The Suits March On“…
By Vermouth , 23rd June 1:49 pm
A little while ago GameTap debuted to a collective sense of “meh”. The game selection was not particularly impressive and $9.99 a month to play a bunch of old games seemed like a steep fee. But as the months went by, they kept adding more and more to the game catalogue. They also introduced a cheap first month for only 99 cents. Earlier this month I decided to take the leap and wow, this is a quality service. The game selection is excellent and the quality of the program is surprisingly nimble. The game library for this service includes three categories of games: regular “real” retail games, retro games and original games.
» Read all of “What’s on Tap?“…
By Cyrris , 4th June 9:28 pm
Frustration in gaming is something which I wrote about quite some time ago, and is still something which I think every game developer needs to be acutely aware of. That is not to say that frustrating games are unpopular - in fact I would say that Counter-Strike has single handedly proved that is not the case. However, I do think that player frustration is something that needs to be dealt with. Consistently frustrating experiences invariably lead to bad attitudes. Road rage would be an extreme example.
Given my past experiences in online browser games, this has been at the forefront of my mind throughout the development process of The Project. Seeing as it will be a game where there are no computer opponents, both the winners and losers are human. The last thing a player wants when they’re on a losing streak is to be plagued by irritating problems which serve only to frustrate, and stop the user from getting on with the game. For a project with such a big focus on community, bad attitudes are something to try and minimize.
» Read all of “Game Development - Frustration“…
By Cyrris , 7th April 7:55 pm
When I first launched Aelon’s last design, version 9, I noted that the 12 months between it and it’s predecessor was the longest I had ever gone without redesigning one of my own sites - twice as long in fact. Since that day it has now been 15 months, and frankly the need for a design wasn’t actually critical - it was just something I wanted to do. The fact is, v9 was a good design, and deserved to last as long as it did. Maybe even a little longer.
As such, this latest redesign comes with no real functional changes over the old. The way everything works and is laid out is much the same. What I was really aiming for was something a little sleeker, rather than the simple boxes and rectangles that were here before. The end result you see here before you: Aelon vX.
» Read all of “Time for a Redesign“…
By Cyrris , 17th March 9:26 pm
Back in 2001 when I first started making appearances on GameSpy’s community forums, my restricted internet connection meant that I was never really able to play games online with anyone who I met there. Quite often I’d have to just sit back and read about the fun which other members had while teaming up to play Tribes 2 or StarCraft or a bunch of other games. While most people at the time had meager 56k connections, which were sufficient, I didn’t quite have that. At my house we had our 56k modem shared on the home LAN between 2-4 computers depending on who was around, and usage was restricted to just a couple of hours a day.
So, it comes as no surprise that the first gaming experience I had online was with the text-based browser game Mech Wars, with NukeZone following soon after. Being websites, they didn’t require much in the way of bandwidth or time - although after getting deeper in, I began to realise that time was actually something that was more important than I first thought. After a while, in both games, a pretty clear gap was evident between players who could log in at any time, and those who had severely restricted access like myself. Some of the focus behind the development of The Project has been to see if this gap is still a problem, and if so, if it can be minimised.
» Read all of “Game Development - The Gap“…
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