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Category: Games

  • Just having a Global Game Jam

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    by

    Michael Lee
    in

    Someone once said that videogames might be the most complicated piece of software for any programmer. Games combine just about every facet of software design and engineering plus require a deft touch in design and implementation to not only get a properly working game, but an enjoyable one. It’s no wonder the hardest part about…

  • Dying is easy, good design is hard

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    Michael Lee
    in

    In the post from yesterday I went over a few of my complaints about the new Prince of Persia and the general trend towards less and less difficulty in games. One of the chief complaints with Prince of Persia 2008 is the conspicuous lack of dying by the prince. Rather than falling to your doom…

  • No challenge, no problem

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    Michael Lee
    in

    Prince of Persia is one of the seminal classics in videogame history. Designed by Jordan Mechner and released in 1989, this beautiful platformer became instantly known for its unforgiving difficulty. Death was swift and constant during the entire game and nearly everything was lethal to our prince. It was undoubtedly one of the most frustrating…

  • Upcoming project

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    Michael Lee
    in

  • Wii Music and the future of music games

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    Michael Lee
    in

    A few weeks ago Nintendo released Wii Music for its Wii game console. The latest in the line of “Wii” games, Wii Music has been received to mixed reactions to say the least. Reviewers have had a hard time coming to grips with the intentionally perpendicular direction Nintendo has chosen to take the “music game”…

  • Why the game industry sucks

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    Michael Lee
    in

    (Part 1 in an infinitely–long series.) Hot off the presses is the sadly unsurprising news that Mirror’s Edge, the daring (and dashing!) new first–person platformer from the developers Dice and the studio EA has yet to soar at store counters. Ignore that the post is based off conjecture and some solid rumors from the back…

  • Design lessons from Chrono Trigger

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    Michael Lee
    in

    This week sees the release of Chrono Trigger for the DS, an expanded port of the classic SNES RPG. For a game that has garnered a huge amount of critical and fan praise in recent years, outside of the misunderstood Chrono Cross (and a Japanese–only visual novel game) Square has avoided its usual tendencies to…

  • Falling off the Mirror’s Edge

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    Michael Lee
    in

    Mirror’s Edge is a wonderful game. It’s unique, visually stunning, and at moments provides some of the best gameplay on any gaming system this year. If you want to read paragraphs of flowery prose singing its praises there are plenty of other websites out there that will satiate that need. To the point, its more…

  • The amazing generic avatar

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    Michael Lee
    in

    Yesterday, Microsoft’s big Xbox 360 update, dubbed the New Xbox Experience (or informally the NXE) was released to the wide public after being hyped up for the better part of the second half of the year. It brings a host of improvements and new features that don’t need to be discussed here. One of the…

  • The triumphant return of Bit Generations

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    Michael Lee
    in

    One of these days I should do a post on the awesome line of Bit Generation games. But for now, just be content that Nintendo themselves have not forgotten this totally unappreciated line of games. The surprise WiiWare release of Art Style: ORBIENT, a remake of the Bit Generations game Orbital, along with the promise…