http://www.pagtech.com Pierre-Alexandre Garneau's thoughts on designing remarkable video games Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:33:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en E3 is underway and Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have all presented their keynotes. Microsoft left the whole gaming community in shock by anouncing Final Fantasy XIII would be available on Xbox 360. Sony couldn't match Microsoft's anouncement, but did alright with a few interesting titles coming up -- nothing earth ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/07/16/microsofts-bombshell-sonys-alright-nintendos-wtf/ After a long wait, Apple has finally enabled third party applicaations to be installed on the iPhone and iPod Touch. All applications are distributed through the iTunes store, where a lot of games are already available. What will be the impact of this on the gaming industry? Will the iPhone ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/07/12/iphones-gaming-potential/ There's a long and fascinating interview with Ron Gilbert on Gamasutra where he speaks about his next project, Deathspank, episodic games and the way the gaming industry works. Well worth the read. Here's an excerpt:  You know, the movie industry certainly has its share of space marine movies as well. There are ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/07/05/gamasutra-interviews-ron-gilbert/ The problem with being an early adopter is that you're the one finding the problems with the first revision of the hardware. I've missed a few weeks' update of this site because my Dell m1330 laptop experienced severe stability problems, then died and had to be sent to repair. Now ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/06/24/dell-m1330-woes/ There's a fascinating read on Paul Graham's website about how to find and do work that you actually like for a living, rather than just work because you have to. You can read this very insightful essay here. To do something well you have to like it. That idea is not ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/05/31/how-to-do-what-you-love/ Somebody at work asked me today for a list of good book recommendations for game designers, so I figured I'd put the list here to help as many people as possible. All of these books have taught me important things about design or have helped my work even though they're ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/05/26/recommended-readings/ PC Gaming hasn't been doing so hot the last few years, especially for traditional games sold at retail. Here are a few causes for this and some thoughts on avoiding those pitfalls. Piracy: That's a huge factor. Sales of PC games have fallen faster than the number of actual players. It's ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/05/20/whats-killing-pc-gaming-and-what-to-do-about-it/ I've been playing a lot of GTA IV recently -- that's why I missed last week's update -- and what really stands out for me is that the game doesn't feel unfocused even though it has many different types of gameplay. A lot of games with that much stuff to ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/05/13/dimensions/ Clay Shirky has a transcript of an interesting talk he gave about the over-abundance of free time people now have because of modern technology and how it's wasted on watching sitcoms.  This surplus of cognitive capacity is slowly being redirected toward more productive activities. Instead of being a passive audience, ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/04/28/the-great-cognitive-surplus/ I've played pen & paper role-playing games quite a bit in the past. Being a game master is great training for game design: you have to create an exciting and entertaining experience for your friends on a regular basis. One thing a game master must do is create a lot of ... http://www.pagtech.com/2008/04/21/unforgettable/