Game Musings

New Facebook Game Revealed - Hospital Town

2009-11-01T04:23:00.000-08:00

Finally I can talk about our brand new Facebook game.

It's called Hospital Town, and it's a fun game that lets you run a hospital with your family and friends as doctors and patients.

You get build out your hospital adding new specialist rooms (like a an X-Ray room or Plastic Surgery) and customize it to express who you are. You fill your room with beds and treat patients to earn money. You can also visit your friend's hospitals and help out with medical procedures, raid their supplies or do other cool stuff.

We've done a "soft launch", which means we've just let our friends and family know about it. This gives us a chance to get some honest feedback and stress test the game on a daily basis.

But the word-of-mouth nature of Facebook means that we've already grown the small number of players to over 240 people in a few short days.

One of the things I love about Facebook is that we can react to things very quickly. Already we've improved loading times and lag and we're about to update with a new version that has lots of little tweaks and extra tutorials. It's so cool to be able to quickly evolve the game based on player feedback into the game that they want.

Check out Hosital Town here: http://apps.facebook.com/hospitaltown/

www.passfieldgames.com

Lazy Update

2009-10-17T04:47:00.001-07:00

Since Twitter entered my life I've been blogging way less while twittering at least once a day. So, as a sort of half blog, below is a compilation of my more interesting tweets and re-tweets.

Oh, and you can hear me on the Australian Gamer podcast here.

RT @MargaretWallace: Social Gaming, Beyond the Clones - http://bit.ly/apTdW

RT @TheVoxelAgents: More Train Conductor imagery: game icon plus desktop and iPhone wallpapers http://bit.ly/dCwxA

RT @morganjaffit: Mac Build of My Mechanical Romance (our 48 hour game comp entry) at http://www.icbf.com.au

Brainiversity 2 is now playable in Japanese. いいです!

RT @deantak: PopCap Games raises $22.5 million to fund expansion into social games. http://bit.ly/kyRm8

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." - Charles Mingus

LucasArts Reunion video (from 2008) - http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/26234

www.passfieldgames.com

Sony and Nintendo, Apple is eating your lunch

2009-09-10T03:24:00.000-07:00

The new iPods were announced today and along with the new video enabled Nano, the iPod Touch has been given some extra grunt and a price drop. This means you can buy an 8GB iPod Touch for $268 in Australia and $199 in the US.

In Australia a PSP will set you back $279 and a DSi will cost you around $288. DS games range from $40 to $60, and PSP games, well good luck finding them :-)

And how much are iPhone games? Most of my 30 odd games I own on iPhone cost around $1.19. The most expensive game I bought was Monkey Island for $9.99 - cheaper than the PC version offered on Steam (which I believe is a very cheap version!). Compared to DS and PSP the cost is phenomenally cheaper.

And the the quality is incredible. I'm extremely happy with the games I play on my iPhone which include Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manner, Cluck It!, Monkey Island, Sneezies, Wild West and The Deep pinball, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Mr. Driller, Peggle, Dungeon Defense and iDig It - just to name a few.

So, what does the new price point for iPod Touch mean? Well, as a parent I know what I'll be buying my kids for their portable gaming console.

An iPod Touch with a $30 iTunes gift card.

This gives them anywhere between 10 and 25 games and still works out cheaper than a DSi or PSP with a game. Plus it plays music and has loads of free games for when they spend all their credit :-)

I figure that if I, as a parent, am thinking this then there must be a whole lot of other parents with the same thought. If I was Sony or Nintendo I'd be a little worried right now.

www.passfieldgames.com

Adventure Web

2009-08-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Adventure Web

Back in the early to mid 90's I was heavily involved in making adventure games.

Despite only releasing Flight of the Amazon Queen for Amiga and PC, I had worked on a number of prototypes and near completed games including Stereo Jack (a brightly colored and humorous cyber-punk adventure that we called "cyber-clunk"), Gruesome Castle (a kids adventure game in full 3D that was almost completed but we had to move on to other projects when our publisher pulled out) and Monsters of Airie Deep (a sort of 3D adventure RPG)... and the list goes on.

But one idea I recently found stashed away on my hard drive caught my attention. This was Adventure Web. Conceived in 1995, the concept was a user created universe of small adventure worlds that connect together much like web pages do, with items and puzzles spanning the web in an ever expanding open ended game. The game was based on the Amazon Queen JASPAR engine, but modified for the web.

It was a nice idea, but like some things I do, it was a little too ambitious and a little ahead of the curve. Anyway, I've uploaded the document for you to peruse.

Click here to download and read Adventure Web in PDF format

I wrote the doc almost 15 years ago and it's an interesting insight into what I was thinking back then. It's also a fascinating reflection on how things have progressed as the internet has evolved - read the How Is Money Generated? section for a good example.

Ultimately I never developed the project and moved on to other things, like founding Krome Studios and creating TY the Tasmanian Tiger... but since then it's great to see that Facebook has made the creation of similar persistent game worlds a piece of cake.

www.passfieldgames.com

Flight of the Amazon new interface video

2009-08-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

The new improved interface for Amazon Queen is getting great reviews. John Davison of What They Play had this to say:

We've tried out the new system and it works very well. So much so, that returning to the drag-based interface of Monkey Island now seems remarkably sluggish.

So rather than trying to explain how the cool the new interface works on the iPhone you should watch this video instead:

Click here to get Flight of the Amazon Queen now.

In related news, iPhSoft, the publishers of Amazon Queen have just released Simon the Sorcerer, another classic point and click adventure game from the nineties - and it also sports the brand new touch interface.

And it doesn't end there, Charles Cecil is bringing Beneath a Steel Sky to iPhone soon - sporting some design tweaks as well as a new intro by Dave (Watchmen) Gibbons. You can read more about that game here.

It's shaping up to be a great year for adventure game fans - all thanks to the iPhone.

www.passfieldgames.com

Flight of the Amazon Queen iPhone update

2009-07-30T04:37:00.000-07:00

Flight of the Amazon Queen on the iPhone has just been updated to include an all new totally awesome control system.

The previous version's controls emulated the mouse of the original game, but the new system is completely optimized for iPhone. Now you simply touch anywhere on screen to perform an action, making game play so much faster and intuitive. The older controls are still available as an option if you prefer them.

Congratulations are in order to Liron at iPhSoft and his team for coming up with a really elegant solution. Now I just need LucasArts to update the controls for Monkey Island on iPhone because Amazon Queen makes it hard to go back to the old interface...

Well, what are you waiting for? Go download Flight of the Amazon Queen for iPhone now.

www.passfieldgames.com

Casual Connect, Seattle and Handheld Gaming

2009-07-27T02:58:00.000-07:00

I just returned from Casual Connect in Seattle. The flight over from Australia was a bit on the long side (24 hours from start to finish!) but the flight back was good (I slept most of the way).

The trip was a great success - we met with everyone we wanted to, and were introduced to a lot of other interesting people.

I spent all my time in meetings so I didn't get a chance to catch many of the panels or talks, but the great team behind Casual Connect will have podcasts of many of the talks up on their site before too long.

One thing I noticed on this trip was a large number of iPod Touch/iPhone users at airports. They were everywhere, and weren't just using their devices as music players or phones, but as game devices. In fact, I saw more people playing games on their iPhones than I did on PSP's or DS's. Actually, I only saw one PSP the whole trip.

Of course this is all anecdotal, and probably has a lot to do with the flight route I took (LA to San Fran to Seattle). I imagine this is a route a lot of tech savvy people travel and are more likely to be sporting iPhones.

But it got me thinking, is the iPhone/iPod Touch on track to be the portable gaming platform of choice?

I actually packed my DS Lite with GTA: China Town Wars - keen to play more of the game. But what happened? The iPhone was in easy reach, I had a bunch of fun little games to play, so I ended up playing it whenever I got a chance. Plus, Virgin flights have USB slots on all their seats, so you never have to worry about your iPhone running out of battery power.

So, while Marko and Duncan played their iPhones and the gentlemen across the aisle played his, I was engrossed in I Dig It, Dungeon Defense, Peggle, the awesome Wild West Pinball (which is now FREE!) and Monkey Island. And my poor DS sat, untouched, in my carry on bag.

So, for me, I have to say that the iPhone is now my portable gaming platform choice.

One day I will switch on my DS and finish GTA: China Town Wars... but for now I have a secret to discover on Monkey Island, courtesy of my iPhone.

www.passfieldgames.com

Screen Play Interview

2009-07-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

I did an interview with Jason Hill for his Screen Play column in The Age.

Jason is a big supporter of the Aussie games industry and it was cool to be featured in his column. We talk about Flight of the Amazon Queen, the iPhone, social/casual games and Facebook as a gaming platform.

Click here to read the interview.

I love that Jason included a link to Screen Play's original 1995 review of Amazon Queen. Hope you don't mind Jason, but I've reprinted it here.

Flight of the Amazon Queen
Review (c) Jason Hill
http://blogs.theage.com.au/digital-life/screenplay/

This CD adventure was produced in Australia and shows our lads can make software that's every bit as good as the world's best. Flight of the Amazon Queen is a large, involving and entertaining quest.

You play pilot Joe King (pun definitely intended) who's a cross between Humphrey Bogart and Indiana Jones. The game is set in South America during the 40s, and Joe and his friends are trapped in the Amazon after his plane gets struck by lightning.

The game's humor is often groan-inducing but makes for a lot of fun. In one of the earliest puzzles Joe has to dress as a woman in order to escape some dim-witted guards, and his attire includes a hilarious pair of plastic breasts. Throughout the game there's also plenty of amusing jokes about Star Wars and strange rashes.

A strength of the game is its length. There are over 100 locations and 40 characters. If you knew every solution to every puzzle it would still take 11 hours to play through.

The game uses a good, forgiving interface and the puzzles are logical and not terribly difficult.

The graphics look a little dated compared to recent gems such as Full Throttle, but the backdrops are detailed and flow together extremely well. There's also plenty of good cut-away scenes where the plot is revealed.

The CD contains full speech. The acting is suitably hammy and there's a guest appearance by Penelope Keith.

Flight of the Amazon Queen has a very similar feel to the Monkey Island games, and while it seems a little dated compared to some of the latest cinematic adventures, it's extremely enjoyable and one of the best adventures around.

www.passfieldgames.com

Some Interesting Links

2009-07-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

There's so much stuff on the net that I appreciate it when someone compiles a whole lot of interesting links for me to look over at my leisure. So I figured I do the same.

My list of links are mostly concerned with social and casual games - because, well, that's the future of gaming. I hope you find this useful reading.

Jussi Laakkonen is great at compiling link lists, so I'm going to start off with his blog and his coverage of the Social Gamin Summit 09.
Game Industry biz has an interesting interview with Playfish CEO Kristian Segerstrale.
Shanti Bergel talks about how to succeed in the coming social gaming explosion.
Times Online says social games are becoming a big hit.
Morgan Jaffit talks about excersing the creative spark.
David Amor talks about Relentless and Buzz!
Firaxis co-founder Brian Reynolds becomes chief designer at Zynga East.
And the iPhone version of Flight of the Amazon Queen is mentioned on the latest What They Play podcast :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Creative Screenwriting Podcast

2009-06-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

The 3 Blokes office is located by the sea at sunny Wynnum in Brisbane, Australia. It's just a short walk down to the waterside for some delicious fish and chips.

So, what has this to do with the Creative Screenwriting podcast? Well, the fish and chips may be close to work, but it takes me around an hour to drive in to the office - which gives me the perfect opportunity to listen to a lot of interesting podcasts.

While driving I catch up on what's happening in the core gaming world with Listen Up (formerly 1 Up Yours), and what's going on in the casual console world with What They Play - but the one podcast that I really enjoy listening to is the Creative Screenwriting podcast.

The format is simple, Jeff Goldsmith, editor of Creative Screenwriting magazine airs a movie and has a Q&A session with the screenwriters afterwards. He asks the writers about their breaking in stories, gets them to discuss how the project came about, asks them about their creative process and gets them to talk about how they handle writer's block and discuss which scenes they had the most trouble with.

It's really fascinating to listen to and you learn so much about the Hollywood process as well as the writing process. I have a newfound respect for screenwriters since listening to the podcasts and am amazed at how much some of them really shape the movies they are involved with.

What's really interesting is that after I devoured the podcasts covering the typical films that I love (ie, dumb action and sc-fi) I began listening to one's about films I have previously had no interest in watching - and still found the interviews enthralling. In fact, it's inspired me to rent out these movies and watch them.

Listening to these podcasts makes me want for a similar podcast covering video game developers. I originally thought the appeal of Creative Screenwriting podcast was the "Hollywood" side of them - hearing about writers dealing with Spielberg, or hanging out with Tom Cruise. But I found the podcasts covering movies in which I had no idea who the writer, director or actors were, were just as entertaining. So I guess there's no reason this format couldn't work with game developers.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite Creative Screenwriting podcasts. Go download them now and give them a listen to!

Star Trek Q&A - Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
Comic-Con with Stan Lee - Jeff interviews legendary comic creator-writer-editor Stan Lee, Iron Man co-writer Mark Fergus and The Incredible Hulk screenwriter Zak Penn at 2008's Comic-Con.
Slumdog Millionaire Q&A - Jeff interviews screenwriter Simon Beaufoy about Slumdog Millionaire.
Valkyrie Q&A - Jeff interviews co-writer Christopher McQuarrie about Valkyrie.
Watchmen Q&A - Jeff interviews co-writers David Hayter and Alex Tse about Watchmen.
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Q&A - Jeff interviews writer-director Zach Helm about Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.
The Dark Knight Q&A - Jeff interviews co-writer Jonathan Nolan about The Dark Knight.
Charlie Wilson's War Q&A - Jeff interviews screenwriter Aaron Sorkin about Charlie Wilson's War.
Superbad Q&A - Jeff interviews co-writer/actor Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg about Superbad.

www.passfieldgames.com

Brainiversity 2 Wrapping Up

2009-06-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

I'm busy wrapping up development of the new Brainiversity game which is cleverly titled "Brainiversity 2".

The first Brainiversity game was released almost 2 years ago and is still selling well. I developed the game in my spare time for over a year while working at a console game development company. My day job was always top priority and sometimes I never touched a line of Brainiversity code for weeks on end. But whenever I got a spare moment I would do some coding, be it half an hour at night or a whole weekend afternoon.

A lot has changed since then... I'm now working full time in the casual/social games space and loving it! Making the sequel has been fun, and I've enjoyed working with a team of really smart people.

One of the potentially challenging aspects of making the sequel was the decision to develop the Facebook app at the same time as the retail version. To do this we made the call to switch to a complete Flash development environment. The previous version was developed using the PopCap Framework. One upside of using Flash was that I could finally unshackle myself from Windows and work on a Mac.

Doing FB simultaneously also meant learning lots of skills that have potential beyond just making a brain training game. As a team we've had to grasp PHP, SQL, JavaScript, the whole complicated Facebook environment and of course Flash and ActionScript 3.0.

We've also gained a deep understanding of the dynamics of social game development as well as how to use microtransactions. And we're still learning new stuff everyday!

And now, as the retail version gets closer to launch, we'll begin honing our skills on marketing our new game.

Now, if you enjoy reading my blog, check out this list of other great game development blogs: Top 50 Best Game Design Blogs. I was chuffed to find mine at number 4 :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Agent Duski is go!

2009-06-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

It's always great to see people you know and respect do something cool.

Today, Matt Clark and his team at Voxel Agents released their first iPhone game, Agent Duski: Dolphin Hero.

Matt and his team emerged from SIF90, the guys who won the 48 Hour Game Making Competition two years in a row with their awesome Sticky Geckoes and Melonauts game.

I was also lucky to have worked with Matt at Pandemic Studios in Brisbane on an awesome Wii game. The team behind that ill-fated game was the best game dev team I had ever had the honor of working with* - everyone was producing amazing stuff.

Unfortunately EA decided to close the Brisbane office... well, actually, for Matt that was probably a fortunate thing as he is now making cool iPhone games and is in charge of his own destiny.

Well, enough of me tripping down memory lane... go download the game now and support an indie developer.

www.passfieldgames.com

* Until now of course :-)

iPhone/iPod Touch Amazon Queen Review

2009-05-30T16:27:00.001-07:00

This is my favorite quote from the Amazon Queen review at AppVee:

The game has now officially been ported to the iPhone and iPod Touch and is every bit as awesome as the original as far as gameplay goes.

And I love the user reviews - the majority are 5/5 stars!

This AMAZING game will give you days of fun, laughs, smart riddles and great adventure. - Anatt

This game is Amazing and the new interface of the new version (1.2) is just GREAT for the iPhone ! - TheNiceGuy2

This is a pure, quality puzzle-based story and NOT easy for those people who are looking for a casual iPhone game. It's challenging and super fun. - GoodGirlGamer

At long last, someone has brought a classic SCUMM based adventure game to the iphone. This is a great game and well worth the money. - KanedaZero

The great thing about the iPhone is that it's easy to update your game. The team are working on improving the interface yet again so this will be the ultimate point and click adventure on the iPhone!

www.passfieldgames.com

New Facebook Brainiversity Update is Live!

2009-05-28T06:03:00.001-07:00

Woo hoo, it's up!

As mentioned before, the update includes the awesome new Trophy system that rewards you for doing all sorts of cool stuff - you can even view your friends and other Facebook users achievements from the Scoreboard.

We also have a tutorial system that explains the important parts of the game for first time users. If you think we've left anything out, or something doesn't make sense, please let us know (and you might even earn an Order of Edison trophy).

And of course we have a brand new game, "Odd One Out", plus a whole bunch of little tweaks here and there.

I have to say a big thanks to those people who helped with suggestions for this update. You'll find an Order of Edison Trophy waiting for you when you start playing :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

New Brainiversity Facebook Update Imminent!

2009-05-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

A new update to Facebook Brainiversity will be launching within the next 48 hours.

We've added some exciting new features to the game including a Trophy system that lets you show off all the cool stuff you've achieved, a new game called "Odd One Out" and a whole bunch of little tweaks here and there.

Odd One Out game

Odd One Out is a fun game that can be quite challenging. Deceptively simple, you have to pick which item doesn't have a matching partner - and like all good Brainiversity games it gets progressively harder as you play.

I'm especially excited about the Trophy system - you can see what Trophies other people have earned from the Scoreboard - and we have a special trophy for the players who have been helping us with valuable feedback: the Order of Edison.

I'll update as soon as the new version goes live. In the meantime, head over to Facebook and start playing!

www.passfieldgames.com

Gaming History

2009-05-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting "making of" stories for two classic games, "Fool's Errand" and "Elite". I love reading about the history of games and hope to find and post more of these links:

"How Legendary Puzzle Game Fool’s Errand Came to Be" from Wired.com.

"The Making Of: Elite" from Edge.

www.passfieldgames.com

Amazon Queen update out now!

2009-05-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

A new update for my classic point and click adventure game, Flight of the Amazon Queen is available now on iTunes.

Click here to get it now!

Joe King in trouble!

This update includes:

New improved controls. Now you can move the cursor to an object and tap on the command bar to do an action.
Default action now works with long tap.
Automatic game saving when you press the Home button or receive a call. When you re-enter the game it asks if you'd like to continue where you left off.
Improved Help and Game instructions.

Big thanks to Liron and the team at iPhSoft for making this awesome version available on the iPhone/iPod Touch!

www.passfieldgames.com

Game & Watch

2009-05-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

ThenGamer has a great article on the history of Game & Watch. You can read it here.

Game & Watch was, along with my encounter with the adventure game Colossal Cave, one of my earliest introductions to computer games.

I remember when my good friend Anand returned from an overseas school holiday with the Popeye Game & Watch. I was blown away by the incredible graphics, the small size and the addictive gameplay.

Popeye Game & Watch

Thankfully Game & Watch arrived not long after in Australia, and I got Parachute for Christmas. I played that game religiously every day until I clocked it (reached 1,000 points so the score reset to 0).

Parachute Game & Watch

Of course it wasn't just a game - it was also a watch - and it wasn't uncommon to see Game & Watch's propped up on desks throughout my school until we were told by teachers not to play with them in class.

I have extremely fond memories of these systems and still have the original Parachute game and box in my possession to this day!

www.passfieldgames.com

One week, two launches

2009-05-12T21:25:00.001-07:00

Last week I was very lucky to see two games launched in one week!

First up was the iPhone version of my classic point and click adventure game, Flight of the Amazon Queen which you can download from the App Store here.

Flight of the Amazon Queen

It looks absolutely amazing on the iPhone and playing it brings back a lot of memories of days gone by. The game was a lot of fun to work on, despite there only being 3 of us to make the entire thing back in the early nineties. I remember feeling bad that it took almost two years to make, but in hindsight I'm amazed it didn't take five!!!

Liron and the team at iPhSoft have done an awesome job bringing it to the iPhone. Let's hope it inspires other publishers to port their point and click adventures over as well (you listening LucasArts?)

And of course the other launch was Brainiversity. I've said a lot about this lately, so here's a nice screen shot in case you haven't read my blog for a while :-)

Brainiversity - Perfect Match game

Seriously, the game is fun to play, and the addition of the ability to challenge anyone is cool. We've been updating it almost daily based on great feedback from players - and will be rolling out new games and updates on a regular basis.

We've also got another game coming out soon - but you should follow the 3 Blokes twitter feed to find out more about that :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Brainiversity Facebook Relaunch

2009-05-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's done! The updated Brainiversity has finally re-launched on Facebook and you can check it out here.

This update features:

a complete overhaul of the graphics
a brand new interface
ability to challenge friends who haven't installed the game yet
ability to challenge any other players
brand new game, "Running Total"
an enhanced Scoreboard
and lots of other little tweaks, too numerous to mention

We've also set up a twitter feed so you can keep track of the latest Brainiversity updates and any other 3 Blokes Studios news. Follow it here:

3 Blokes on Twitter

And the re-launch is just the start, we're got a whole host of new features and brand new Brainiversity mini-games in the pipe that we will be launching regularly.

Enjoy!

www.passfieldgames.com Follow me on Twitter

Car Jack Streets

2009-04-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

I've been playing GTA: Chinatown Wars on my DS for the last week and have been really enjoying it. It's the perfect game to play for a few minutes here and there. In fact, it seems like the perfect game to play on your iPhone...

Well, touchArcade has a review of a GTA-like game for the iPhone called Car Jack Streets. It was developed by Tag Games which includes some folk who worked on the original top-down GTA series back when the developers were known as DMA Design!

Because I'm in the middle of GTA on the DS I haven't bought the game yet - but the screen shots and video look neat - and it only costs $4.99 (that's $5.99 for us Aussies) which is cheaper than a pizza.

It's amazing, but the iPhone really is changing the way games are being made, distributed and priced. Indie gamers are finding their voice and a market.

I'll be grabbing a copy once I finish GTA. In the meantime, if you've got it and played it, let me know what you think.

www.passfieldgames.com

Preparing For Launch!

2009-04-26T06:29:00.001-07:00

The revamped Facebook version of Brainiversity will be launching later this week.

The current version never had an "official" launch - it just appeared on Facebook and acquired the many players through word of mouth. It was a great experience in getting up to speed with Facebook development and we've applied a lot of what we've learnt to the new version.

So over the last 6 weeks we've been busy revamping the game to make it look sexier with a bunch of cool new features. We've also made the game feel like a complete package rather than a bunch of separate Flash games - bringing it more in line with the upcoming "Brainiversity 2" download version.

Of course it doesn't just end with the relaunch, we'll be rolling out a bunch of new games and features on a regular basis going forward. I think you'll like the new stuff we have in store :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

GTA: Chinatown Wars

2009-04-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

I've been playing GTA: Chinatown Wars on my Nintendo DS and having a ball.

First up, let me say that just because this is on a Nintendo platform doesn't mean the series has been toned down. No way.

The F-bomb is dropped within the first few minutes, someone you think is being set up as a lasting character and potential love interest is killed off in a shockingly brutal and senseless manner, and you're quickly put to work buying and selling cocaine and other hard drugs.

It's no worse than the typical HBO crime show, but it does catch you unaware because you're experiencing it on the DS.

And like all GTA games, this one has its tongue firmly in its cheek. From humorous banter between the main character and the people he meets, to the scenarios and products around Liberty City, there is stuff here to make you smile.

It will be interesting to see how the game sells. I have a feeling it will be a constant seller, the must have game for "gamer dads" too busy to play GTA on the PS3 or X360, but hankering to experience the fun these games offer.

That's what it is for me.

www.passfieldgames.com

Music Made Simple

2009-04-17T03:09:00.000-07:00

If you're lusting after a Tenori0-on, the cool electronic musical instrument created by Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori and sold by Yamaha, then you'll find this a lot of fun...

It's the Tone Matrix, courtesy of Andre Michelle.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then it's best you go and experience it now and let it's magic unfold as you play with it.

To get you started copy the code below and Right-Click Paste it on to the Tone Matrix.

0,0,3584,768,4000,5824,6016,1920,6016,5824,4000,768,3584,0,0,0

What are you waiting for, click here to go play with it now!

www.passfieldgames.com

Brainiversity 2

2009-04-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

Brainiversity 2 is nearing completion and is looking really cool!

As well as a bunch of new features and games we've totally revamped the interface while keeping the classic clean look of the original.

Here's a first glimpse of the main menu screen:

The big emphasis this time around is on social play. Here's the new look leaderboard:

I have the highest point score amongst my friends because I play it all the time to test out new features... so I have an unfair advantage :-)

I'll post some screen shots of the new games as we get closer to launch.

www.passfieldgames.com

Labuat

2009-04-12T05:18:00.000-07:00

This is a cool interactive "video clip" for Spanish musician/artist Virginia Maestr.

And to celebrate Easter, here's a seasonally themed video. Enjoy and Happy Easter!

www.passfieldgames.com

Brainiversity Update

2009-04-08T05:17:00.000-07:00

Getting closer to launching the new look Brainiversity on Facebook. The updated version features slick new graphics, new games and some other neat stuff. Adobe/Flash's official API couldn't have come at a better time!

One of the interesting things we're doing is using the huge amount of gameplay data from the current Facebook version to tweak the new release. Analyzing the data is something we'll be factoring in as we produce regular Facebook updates.

Hopefully I will be able to post some screen shots soon.

www.passfieldgames.com

Great News For Social Game Developers

2009-03-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

Facebook and Adobe have partnered to create Facebook platform libraries for Flash.

Basically this makes it a lot easier for developers to plug the Facebook platform into their Flash games - which takes a lot of the burden from the developer in terms of managing friends lists, avatar/user images, etc. and lets them focus on making great games.

You can find out more here.

Thanks to Dale at Moket for giving me the heads up!

www.passfieldgames.com

The Zeebo

2009-03-24T02:59:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting announcement from GDC - another games console.

The Zeebo - lighter than an Xbox360 power supply!
Called the Zeebo, this new console is the brainchild of Mike Yuen of Qualcomm and Reinaldo Normand of Tectoy. The twist is it's designed for the developing world and as such is very inexpensive (relative to existing consoles). It's also completely wireless - so no cartridges or CD/DVD's are required - everything is downloaded to the box.

Here's a blurb from their website:

Zeebo hardware is based on Qualcomm’s BREW platform and MSM chipset, leveraging high-volume cellphone economics to create the world’s most affordable console. In addition, Zeebo users can buy the top game titles, localized in their language, for a fraction of the traditional retail price. And the Zeebo Console consumes only 1 watt of power--20 to 100 times less than other consoles--saving substantial energy costs (and enabling users to buy 2-3 more titles per year).

Hmmm, not sure how saving money on electricity translates into 2 or 3 more games per year. Either the games are almost nothing to buy or electricity in developing countries is expensive!

Titles include Tekken 2, Sonic Adventure, Crash Bandicoot as well as 5 embedded games including Fifa '09, Brain Challenge, Prey, Quake and Need for Speed.

It will be interesting to see how it fares. With the Wii changing the game and now iPhone turning everything upside down I wouldn't rule out the Zeebo from doing some interesting things.

www.passfieldgames.com

iWork '09

2009-03-22T03:23:00.000-07:00

After the frustration of using Microsoft Office for Mac I bit the bullet and bought iWork '09.

I had previously downloaded the iWork demo and found it fast and intuitive - but I had a copy of Microsoft Office thrown in with my Mac as part of some promotion - so I persevered with using Office. But this last week was the final straw.

For some reason PC Office files don't load up correctly within Mac Office. These PC files load up okay in iWork though. Editing PowerPoint or Word files with more than a few graphics would grind my system to a halt with Office. They load up and work blisteringly fast with iWork.

I searched the web to find answers, but only found similar complaints with no real solution except some people saying Office worked fine on their Macs.

So, sadly, there goes my last major link to Microsoft... I really tried to keep some MS connection, honest I did. But in the end I was forced to say goodbye.

www.passfieldgames.com

A Princess of Mars

2009-03-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Edgar Rice Burrough's novel "A Princess of Mars". It's based on the adventures of John Carter, an American Civil War veteran and his otherworldly exploits

It was written in 1911 and published in 1912, and despite the age I found it to be a cracking good read. Burroughs wrote this as a pulp novel so don't expect Shakespeare.

I can see how John Carter along with Flash Gordon and Dune were obvious influences on Star Wars - from the fanciful names such as Jeds, Padwars and Jeddaks - to the desert setting, different alien races, giant arena battles with hero pitted against an array of alien beasts, etc.

It's fascinating to think that this was first published almost one hundred years ago. In fact Andrew Stanton of Pixar fame is prepping a movie version for release in 2o12 in time for the centenary of the book series.

The book's copyright has lapsed so you can read it for free. I read it using Stanza on my iPhone - a great ebook reader that lets you download the books directly to your personal library. Yes, reading books on the iPhone is actually a pleasure - something I was initially skeptical of. No wonder the Kindle is doing great business.... but that's another story.

You can also grab "A Princess of Mars" online from Project Gutenberg here.

If you're a sci-fi fan with an interest in where the genre began then I recommend having a read.

www.passfieldgames.com

Brainiversity at Local Library

2009-03-15T04:01:00.000-07:00

My friend James emailed me this photo:

It's Brainiversity at one of the local libraries here in Brisbane. A quick check online revealed that quite a few of them have copies - and a number of them are checked out!

What's interesting about this is that the retail version of the game is currently only available in North America through Wal Mart, Sam's Club, etc. so the local libraries must have ordered their copies from the US.

That's pretty cool. It's always a buzz to see a physical copy of your game in a store or a library :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Woz Dancin'

2009-03-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple. They're responsible for creating the company that brought us the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone.

Woz is a millionaire computer genius.

Woz created the Apple II.

And now Woz has done this - it's easier to watch then for me to explain...

www.passfieldgames.com

Polybius

2009-03-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I missed this, but Polybius is a cool urban myth about a video game from 1981 that apparently caused players to go insane.

Conspiracy theorists say it was a project by a secret government organization, and men in black would visit the machine in the arcade not to collect the quarters, but to retrieve logged information about the effects on players.

Shortly after its release it disappeared never to be heard from again.

Until now. Here is the mesmerizing game play of the game that may, or may not, be Polybius. Watch at your peril!

www.passfieldgames.com

Game On Talk

2009-03-05T04:08:00.000-08:00

This week I and the other 3 Blokes - Duncan and Marko - did a talk at Game On called "Game Design Under Pressure".

We presented some useful tips on how to make games from the perspective of a small developer, covering agile development and other useful strategies to stay focused and deliver a game on time and budget.

What was cool is that 3 years ago I did the Game On talk by myself and Duncan and Marko of 3 Blokes were in the audience. As a result of the talk they changed their company direction and moved into the casual space.

They soon shipped a game, got more work and the following year they presented the Game On talk covering similar topics from their perspective.

Now I've joined with Duncan and Marko and this year all 3 of us gave the talk. Hopefully we inspired some people to get out there and make some games.

And you know what would be really cool? If some of those people give the Game On talk next year. I would love to sit in the audience and give them a round of applause.

www.passfieldgames.com

Busy, busy, busy!

2009-02-27T04:55:00.000-08:00

I've been hard at work on Brainiversity 2.

It's shaping up really well and has some brand new features that weren't in the original. It's playable now and we will have a version to show people very soon.

This weekend I'm taking my daughter to stay overnight with Nanna and visit her cousins. Should be fun!

www.passfieldgames.com

iPhone Games

2009-02-22T02:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm not an iPhone developer (yet) - but I am an iPhone user and avid iPhone game player.

I only recently got my iPhone and have a lot of games to catch up on, so I have been downloading a lot of "lite" games. In the iPhone world, a lite version is a free version of an app with limited functionality - kind of like the PC shareware model.

What I find fascinating is the price of the games. They start at US 99c (that's $1.19 Aussie dollars) and go up. A lot of games from big publishers are in the $6.99 to $9.99 region, games like Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D and Super Monkey Ball.

As pricing for games go, these are pretty amazing - and I'm finding the 99c price point an impulse buy for me. I can download a game instantly and play it for less than it costs to buy a can of Coke or a chocolate bar.

However some developers aren't happy with the 99c price point, and there are some interesting articles on app pricing and how it affects sales.

I must admit, with my game player hat on I love the 99c price point - I've bought 3 apps in 2 weeks - Sneezies, Distant Shore and iDracula. But when I put my game dev hat on I wonder how anyone can make money off a 99c game... I guess time will tell.

In the meantime I'll be playing and buying a lot more games for my iPhone.

www.passfieldgames.com

Indie Games on JJJ Radio

2009-02-19T03:53:00.000-08:00

Triple J radio's current affairs show HACK did a story on the new opportunities for indie game developers in the current economic climate. I spoke about being an indie and what that entails.

You can listen to the show here.

You should also check out Jussi Laakkonen's awesome presentation on starting a new game business that he did at the recent Casual Connect Europe. You can download his powerpoint and mp3 of his talk from his blog here.

www.passfieldgames.com

Unplanned Indie

2009-02-14T14:12:00.001-08:00

I have a number of friends who have unfortunately been made redundant recently - and for some of them this may be the time to try going indie.

Going indie takes some planning, you need to have a structured goal of what you want to achieve. It can be hard to make a plan and stick to it if you're unexpectedly thrust into the situation - so here are some tips for dealing with a sudden foray into indie territory.

1) Have A Clear Goal.
Plan out exactly what you want to do and stick to it. It's up to you, and you alone to make a game and get it onto market. There is no time to chop and change.

2) Don't Waste A Second.
You have limited time to make a game. The faster you get it out the sooner you can make money and hopefully keep being an indie. There's plenty of time to surf the web later. Right now your goal should be to work like your life depends on it - because if you want to be an indie it does.

3) Think Small.
Be realistic with your indie game. Develop a project that can be done by one person or a small team. Don't try and make a sprawling RPG or an FPS to compete with Halo. It's also worth noting that a possible strategy is to clone another successful game (but improve upon it). This gives you a head start by having a game that you can refer to for the basic design. Again, try and build on it and don't just copy it.

4) Do Everything Cheap or Free.
Save your money for living and maybe for some inexpensive outsourcing. There are plenty of tools that will allow you to make a game for free. You already have a computer (otherwise you wouldn't be reading this) so you shouldn't have to spend any more money on hardware or software.

5) Know Your Market.
Take some time out to research the market - be it casual, iPhone or indie/core gamers. See what's in the top 10, understand why it is selling and learn from this.

6) Network, Network, Network!
Get in touch with other indie developers, start talking with potential publishers and producers at portals. This will give you a headstart when you submit your game.

7) Be Realistic.
When you release your game and if it makes any money, it can take up to 6 months before you see a cent. Have a plan for how you will live while marketing your current game and developing your next game until the money comes in.

8) Don't Rely On Friends.
Unless its for moral support. If you need art, music or any other actual work done for your game then outsource it or do it yourself. You are making this game to change your life - your friends are involved because you asked for some help and they're nice people - but their life probably doesn't depend on getting the game out ASAP. The last thing you need is your game delayed while waiting for some music or art. Use www.guru.com or better still, look on the web for public domain art assets. This may mean designing a game that makes use of existing free assets, but this isn't a bad thing. A bad thing is having stuff out of your control.

10) Get To Market ASAP!
I just wanted to make this point again. This is very important. You can't sell a single copy of your game if it doesn't exist. And the sooner it exists the sooner you can make money to pay the rent. And the more games you have the more money you can earn. It's pretty simple really.

These are by no means a complete list of tips. And of course releasing a game is only one part of the equation - you need to market it - the best game in the world won't sell a single copy unless people know about it. But that's a whole other blog post.

Please let us know if you have any other sage advice!

I've blogged about this before - here some of my previous entries that you might find useful:

www.passfieldgames.com

What They Play

2009-02-11T03:15:00.001-08:00

What They Play is a video game site for parents to help you navigate your way through the huge number of games vying for your kids attention (and your money).

Unfortunately, a lot of games aimed at kids (and mums) don't get reviewed - so a site like this is a godsend. Run by John Davison (ex EGM editor, hard core gamer, and dad) the site has some serious gamer cred behind it.

They also have a podcast which you can subscribe to here.

So if you want know which games are good for getting your kids to read, or would like the facts on Pixie Hollow, then check out What They Play now!

www.passfieldgames.com

Twitter - all the cool kids are doing it

2009-02-08T01:23:00.000-08:00

And to get you started with twitter, here is a list of game industry tweets for you to follow:
http://gameindustrytweet.com/video-game-companies-on-twitter/

Now you can keep up to date with every move of your favorite game developer. It's not stalking when they give consent :-)

Oh, and if you're interested, you can follow me on twitter here:
http://twitter.com/johnpassfield

I'm not the best at regular updates (I tend to forget I have a twitter account), but I'm trying to improve!

www.passfieldgames.com

Game On - Top 10 Tips on Working in Games

2009-02-05T23:51:00.000-08:00

As part of the Game On exhibition at the State Library in Brisbane, the organizers have a series of panels and talks called More Than Games. Today I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel titled "Top 10 Tips for Working in Games".

It was a lively panel hosted by Yug from Australian Gamer with fellow panelists Matt Ford and Gordon Moyes.

The advice given covered networking, creating a good demo, researching the company you're interviewing with beforehand, being honest and the importance of team experience.

We'll be writing up the tips and you'll be able to read them on the Game On site. I'll post a link when they're done.

www.passfieldgames.com

iPhone 101

2009-02-03T03:25:00.000-08:00

I have to hand it to Apple - they have an excellent developer program for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Everything you need to develop iPhone apps is free to download from their site. They have excellent documentation, a number of informative videos available from iTunes, as well as a number of project templates and sample code files to get you started developing fast.

I'm having a blast reading and watching the tutorials and just absorbing this whole new dev environment. Much more fun than watching TV! :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Jace Hall Show

2009-02-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

Jason Hall is probably best known as the founder and CEO of Monolith (No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R.) and general manager of WBIE (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment). Now, with his company HDFILMS, he has an interesting show on Crackle in which he mixes it with video game creators and Hollywood types like the awesome Seth McFarlane (Family Guy).

Luckily for you this is the internet age, so rather than read my description of what it's all about you can just click on the movie below and be watching it within seconds! So go ahead, check it out!

From Crackle: Seth Macfarlane(Family Guy) & Faustino (Bud Bundy)

www.passfieldgames.com

The Pixar Story

2009-01-27T04:20:00.000-08:00

I got Wall*E on Blu-ray for Christmas and it's an amazing 2 disc set.

It features the short film "Presto" which played before the movie in the cinema, as well as a new short, "Burn-E" which fills in the background to some key moments from the movie.

One of the standout extras is the documentary "The Pixar Story" by Leslie Iwerks. It's full of some great footage and is inspirational to watch. I had to smile when Lasseter talks about how Disney wanted them to make "Toy Story" edgier - I've experienced this a number of times from video game publishers - it's interesting that this seems to be a common problem in creative industries.

Luckily for us Pixar followed their gut instinct and made the movie they wanted to make.

www.passfieldgames.com

B2

2009-01-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

2009 is shaping up to be an exciting year!

The big news is that I have gone indie. I'm no longer working for Pandemic Studios Brisbane office. I had a great opportunity to leave and pursue a passion I've had for a long time and I've taken it. I wish the team at Pando Brisbane best of luck and look forward to seeing the team succeed.

There is some cool new stuff in the works for Brainiversity which I will talk about in the coming weeks... for those on Facebook you can check out some of the new Brainiversity 2 games that have already been built. There are a bunch more Brainiversity activities to come and a few other B2 surprises in store.

More news later!

www.passfieldgames.com

iMac - The Verdict

2009-01-19T02:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's been about a month since I made the switch from Windows to Mac.

So, what do I think? Have there been any regrets?

Well, the short answer is I haven't looked back, even for a second. The Mac environment is so slick, fast and intuitive that I couldn't even think about going back.

I don't want to repeat myself and go on about all the cool features the Mac has (read this post if you want more info) - but I will say that the thing that has impressed me most is that the Mac is less cluttered then Windows.

Spotlight makes finding anything on your computer super easy, and the fact that the hardware and software are designed to work together cuts out so much complexity that Windows needs to have to support every possible sound/video card out there.

So there you have it. No buyers regret, just happiness and joy from having a Mac in my life.

Well, this is officially the last Maclovin' post - so no more gushing. I promise!

www.passfieldgames.com

The return of Zork

2009-01-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

That's right, there's a new Zork game in the works. This time it's an online browser game.

As a big Zork fan I'm looking forward to seeing what Jolt Online Gaming does with the universe. The game is called Legends of Zork which will be playable here.

There's no hard info on when it will be available.

In the meantime, check out Fusion Fall here, another other cool browser game. This one uses Unity and is full 3D.

And if you're into point and click adventures, check out Griswold the Goblin, also another browser game.

www.passfieldgames.com

Mobile Me

2009-01-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

Now that I have a Mac I'm going to give MobileMe a go.

It's a service from Apple that puts your contacts, calender and email into "the cloud" letting you synch between multiple computers and your iPhone.

In preparation I'm switching from Microsoft Entourage as my mail and contacts program over to Mail, iCal and Address Book. Luckily these Apple apps have an "Import from Entourage" option built in.

I've never been so organized in my life!

www.passfieldgames.com

David Perry Game Design Reference Book

2009-01-14T03:05:00.000-08:00

You gotta love Dave Perry. He is a legend in the games biz. And he's tall.

He's the man behind some gaming greats including Earthworm Jim and MDK. And he's done some great stuff for the games industry which I won't list here as you can read about it on wikipedia.

Anyway, he's written a book with Rusel DeMaria on game design which I am looking forward to reading, called David Perry on Game Design.

There's not a great deal of info about the book available, but I'm expecting there should be some gems in there based on Dave's pedigree and game dev history.

www.passfieldgames.com

Studio Game On

2009-01-12T03:22:00.000-08:00

Studio Game On is a cool concept that has game developers making a game "live" over a six week period. The game they have chosen is called B-MOVIE and you can see the game pitch below.

Game Design B Movie Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design development)

Run in conjunction with the Game On exhibition at the State Library of Queensland, you can watch the developers create a game from scratch - and can even participate through crowd sourcing by submitting ideas at the State Library or via these forums.

So check out the site and have your say today!

Palm Pre

2009-01-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

I've had a Palm since 1996 - back when it was a US Robotics Pilot. I loved it and used it every day.

But slowly the Palm platform fell into obscurity and was overtaken by the likes of the iPhone. The concept of a PDA and phone (and music player) all rolled into one is pretty awesome. Plus the iPhone did what no other PDA challenger did - they captured the simplicity and ease of use that the Palm device offered.

But now it seems like Palm are back with their Palm Tre phone. It shamelessly copies a lot of iPhone innovations but it also seems to extend a lot of iPhone functionality and has a few other neat features to boot (removable battery, wireless charging, etc).

Check out Engadgets round up here and Gizmodo's comparison with iPhone and the Google G1 here.

www.passfieldgames.com

Yahtzee keynote at GCAP 08

2009-01-08T02:13:00.000-08:00

Game Connect: Asia Pacific (GCAP) is the annual Australian game developers conference, and last year they had the very funny Yahtzee deliver a keynote on what makes a good game.

Check out the video below courtesy of tsumea - the Aussie and NZ games industry web site. Enjoy!

www.passfieldgames.com

Some Cool Apps

2009-01-06T03:51:00.000-08:00

My friend Bernard was over last week and gave me a heads up on some apps that I wasn't aware of. They're pretty cool so I'd like to share them with you!

First up is Live Mesh. This is the brainchild of Ray Ozzie, Bill Gates' replacement at Microsoft. He's a very smart guy and you can find out more about him here in this Wired article.

Live Mesh - is a data synchronization system that allows files and folders to be shared across multiple devices. Click here to sign up. You will need a Micrsoft ID such as your MSN or Hotmail email address. It's handy to transfer files between multiple computers, including your work colleagues or friends PCs. Works on PC and Mac!

Evernote - like Live Mesh, Evernote has a web and PC/Mac client that lets you take notes and synch to your computer. You can access your notes from any PC using the web, make changes or create new ones, then have them synched back to your PC. Pretty cool stuff. Again it supports PC and Mac.

Picasa for Mac - finally, the most awesome photo management software is now available for the Mac. Picasa, Firefox, Thunderbird and a whole lot of other multi-platform software packages is what makes switching from Windows to OSX so easy. Basically all my day to day software stays the same but with the advantage of a fast, sleek, simple to use OS! Get Picasa from here.

And lastly, is a game app called ScummVM. I've talked about this before, but I'll mention it again as it runs on practically everything from Windows to Linux to OSX to the iPhone. It lets you play the classic LucasArts adventures as well my old graphic adventure game Flight of the Amazon Queen. Get it here if you love graphic adventures.

And download Amazon Queen from here.

www.passfieldgames.com

More Mac Loving

2009-01-04T02:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've had the iMac since Christmas eve and have been using it extensively. So, how have I found the switch from Windows to OSX? Amazing!

The Mac has been so easy to use that just today when I used my old Windows PC to grab some files I found it frustrating to try and navigate - and I've used a Windows box for years. Any way, I am well and truly a Mac convert.

I promise this will be my last Mac Loving blog (at least for a while) - so take it out here is a link to an interesting blog chronicling the early days of the Mac.

Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories

www.passfieldgames.com

Flash Dev

2009-01-01T04:11:00.000-08:00

It finally clicked. I've got my head around ActionScript 3.0 and have got the first Brainiversity activity running under AS3.0.

Unlearning the weird logic that AS2.0 forced upon you was the hardest part - now that I get it, AS3.0 makes a lot more sense conceptually - it's a proper game dev lanuage now!

I just have 15 more activities to re-write and I'm done :-)

Oh, and a Happy New Year to you all! We had a bunch of friends around and welcomed in the new year singing Abba tunes on PS3 Singstar. Good times.

www.passfieldgames.com

ActionScript 3.0

2008-12-29T06:18:00.000-08:00

I'm having a fun time converting Brainiversity from ActionScript 2.0 to ActionScript 3.0. There are a lot of little things that are different between the two versions, so I have a bit of work to do to get things up and running again.

But it will be worth it. AS3.0 has a lot of benefits over 2.0 and I love the fact that the language has stronger error checking - especially when it comes to catching mispelled variables - which I do a lot.

Oh, and I'm loving the iMac even more. Being able to see my Flash screen layout AND my Actionscript code at the same time is awesome. I love 24 inch monitors! And thefact that Apple fonts seem to be a lot easier to read helps a lot too.

www.passfieldgames.com

Moving to the Mac

2008-12-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

I set up my iMac on Christmas Eve and have been using it for just over a day now. It's amazing how quickly you just "click" with OS X. There are a lot of little differences to Windows that take some time to get used to, but we're talking a day at most.

Stuff like:

The command key is used instead of the CTRL key to cut, paste and copy.
The Menu bar (with File, Edit, etc) is actually disconnected from each app. Luckily I always kept my menu bar at the top of the screen in Windows - as I was wanted to keep it this way when I moved to Windows from the Amiga. So the Mac feels just right with the menu bar at top!
The close button (a little red X in a circle) on each app doesn't actually quit the app, just closes the window. And these buttons are to the left, not right of the app.
You use option arrow key to navigate a word at a time, not CTRL arrow key.
Installing software requires you to drag the application into the Application folder. Once you get used to this concept it makes the Windows way seem really, really complicated. All my apps are in my Application folder. How simple is that?

But there are so many amazing things straight out of the box that make you say "Man, this is so simple and obvious - I new Windows was bloated and complicated, but I didn't quite realize it until now."

Stuff like:

The Dock is a graphic representation of all your favorite apps on the bottom of the screen. Click once to launch. It's easy to add and remove favorite apps. Active apps have a light below them and the mail app will bounce to let you know you have new mail.
The Finder is a cool piece of software that lets you find any app, document, photo or movie within seconds.
The Mac environment is so simple - and Finder makes it really easy to navigate. You have Devices and Places. Devices are hard drives, external stuff like iPods and cameras. Places is where your stuff is - it consists of the desktop, your home, applications and documents. Just click on one of these to see the contents - and you can view the contents as lists, icons or in cover flow. Unlike Vista which I have on my laptop and still find it hard to navigate, with OS X I just know where everything is. Amazing!
The iMac comes with so much cool software pre-loaded like iTunes, iMovie, Garage Band, iChat, Safari, etc.
In the Finder you can see all your documents and quickly search for things using the search bar. And you simply have to click on a doc then hit the SPACE bar and you see the contents of the doc instantly. No loading Word or PowerPoint - it just appears in a window for you to read. Magic.
It's blisteringly fast to power on and power off (you can put it into sleep mode with one press of the Power button).
Expose is really cool. It lets you see all your open apps at once and choose the one you want. Vista has something like this but I could never work it out. On the iMac you just hit the F3 key to activate.
The number of cables is staggeringly small. You plug one power lead into the wall. You plug the keyboard into the monitor. You plug the mouse into the keyboard. That is it. No mess, no clutter. It also has a number of USB slots and other cable slots behind the monitor that are super easy to access - unlike most PC boxes.

So, I've migrated my docs, my mail and my music across. I've also moved my Flash environment over and downloaded the 30 day trial Mac version of Flash and everything works fine. I just have to cross-grade from my Windows license to a Mac license and I'm done.

I was going to install XP using Boot Camp, but at this stage I don't see the point. All my dev is done in Flash at the moment and if I need to create a Windows program I will boot up the old PC box.

Well, those are my thoughts after a day of use. I'll let you all know what I think in a weeks time!

www.passfieldgames.com

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T03:02:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all! I hope everyone is having a very happy holiday - and if you celebrate Christmas, then I hope you got some cool presents (and maybe a game or two).

So, keeping with the Yuletide spirit, here is a special Christmas Card...

PS. I'm writing this on my shiny new iMac I got for Christmas. It is truly cool. And shiny.

www.passfieldgames.com

Some Fun Holiday Viewing

2008-12-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the Christmas break, here are some fun holiday movies for you to enjoy!

First up is Game Damage, a video game TV pilot featuring Yahtzee, Yug and Matt.

Next is the Star Wars a capella... nerdy, yet cool.

Followed up by the opening credits to Heat Vision and Jack, an unaired Jack Black/Owen Wilson TV comedy.

And lastly, a cool indie game by ratloop called Mightier.

Mightier from Ratloop on Vimeo.

www.passfieldgames.com

New "Proverbs" game for Brainiversity

2008-12-17T04:45:00.000-08:00

That's right folks, I've added a brand new game to the Facebook version of Brainiversity. It's called "Proverbs" and has you reconstructing famous proverbs out of a series of jumbled words, as illustrated below.

Simply click on the words in sequence to make the proverb.

I've also removed the 100 point cap on each game. It seems that a lot of people out there are waaaay smarter than I anticipated and are scoring 100% on a lot of games. So now the score is represented as an uncapped number. It will be interesting to see what sort of scores people start to get now!

Why don't you give it a go on Facebook Brainiversity by clicking here?

On a side note I was excited to see my friend Jody appear on the world leader board as this month's top Word Smith. I'm used to seeing people I don't know in the charts - so it's great to see a friend going head to head with some really smart people from all over the world! You go Jody!

www.passfieldgames.com

One stop site for gaming news goodness

2008-12-16T03:56:00.000-08:00

I use to rely on Game Tab for all my latest gaming news in one place, but Alltop has a very good gaming page with feeds from lots of sites. Check it out here!

www.passfieldgames.com

Knytt Stories design tour

2008-12-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

David Rosen of Wolfire Games has posted a Design Tour video of the whimsical Knytt Stories by Nifflas.

Design Tour - Knytt Stories from David Rosen on Vimeo.

After you watch the video, download the game frome here. It's free and fun to play.

www.passfieldgames.com

Scribblenauts

2008-12-08T02:27:00.000-08:00

5th Cell have made some very interesting games on the Nintendo DS. Last year they released Drawn to Life, following that up with the Tower Defense inspired Lock's Quest this year.

And next year they will be releasing a game that sounds like it could be quite innovative indeed. That game is called Scribblenauts, and this time it's a puzzler for which the tag line is "Write. Anything. Solve. Everything."

The goal is to help the main character Maxwell reach Starites that are placed in each level. You do this by writing the name of an object which appears on the level for Maxwell to use. According to 5th Cell you can write anything. Football. Ladder. Shark. As long as it's suitable for kids and not trademarked, you can bring it into existance.

It sounds pretty exciting. I'll be interested to see how many real world objects they manage to cram into the DS.

In the meantime, you can find out more in this IGN interview.

www.passfieldgames.com

Bug with Animal Crossing for the Wii

2008-12-06T03:29:00.001-08:00

I'm a huge Animal Crossing fan and was excited to have picked up a copy today to play with my daughter. A big selling point of the game is that you can transfer your DS stuff to the Wii - and having played the DS version a lot, I was excited to get my cool DS gear into the game.

I followed the on screen instructions, downloaded a program to my DS and ran it, but got the following message:

An incorrect DS Game Card has been inserted. Please turn the power off, insert the Animal Crossing: Wild World DS Game Card and try again.

Right. So I rebooted the Wii, rebooted my DS and tried again. And again. And again. I even got my old school silver DS out and tried it. But no luck.

So, I went off to the internet to find out what was up and thanks to these forums I discovered that the Aussie version of the DS game is actually a US version, and that the Wii game (which is a UK version) will only work with the UK DS cart.

It's already hit the news, so I'm hoping Nintendo patches the game - and soon! This is a big feature - it's mentioned on the box and the game actually asks you if you want to do it in the opening sequence.

If it's not fixed soon I imagine there are going to be a lot of frustrated kids (and adults) in Australia this Christmas...

www.passfieldgames.com

Keynote Komplete!

2008-12-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

I did a keynote on Wednesday at this years Interactive Entertainment conference here in Brisbane. I spoke about the impact of researchers and academia on game development.

While researching the topic I uncovered a lot of interesting facts about the early years of game development and was surpirsed at how many of today's genres were defined in a university setting - from RPG's to FPS's - it's eye opening.

I'll post up some of my notes with links later.

www.passfieldgames.com

IE08 Keynote

2008-11-25T04:04:00.001-08:00

I've been working on my IE08 keynote this evening despite feeling like crap with a head cold.

IE08 - or the Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment 08 - is a cross-disciplinary conference that brings together researchers from AI, audio, cognitive science, media studies, psychology, HCI, etc.

So, what am I going to speak about? Well, I'm a game developer, not an academic - so I'm going to speak from my perspective as a developer. What exactly will I say? Well, you'll have to attend to find out :-)

In other news, the Game On exhibition has opened in Brisbane. I'll be checking it out this weekend. Apparently it has a spotlight on TY the Tasmanian Tiger, a game I co-created back in 2001. It feels weird to have a game that I created on display in a museum. Weird, but cool.

www.passfieldgames.com

Big Storms!

2008-11-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates - my home suburb, The Gap, has been ravaged by storms in the last week. In fact, we only just got our power back on yesterday.

Huge storms are something to expect in Australia, but these were pretty severe for the area where I live.

You can check out some photos of the storm here.

In game news, I've managed to play a lot of DS (only thing that works without electricity!). This includes Spore Creatures, Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (which I finished) and My Japanese Coach.

If you're interested in learning Japanese then go out and buy My Japanese Coach right now. It's amazing what they've managed to pack into that tiny DS cartridge.

It teaches you how to write kana, has a built in dictionary and phrase book, has full voice so you can hear how to pronounce all of the words and a large number of lessons that range from basic to intermediate. I'm impressed!

www.passfieldgames.com

Seth McFarlane

2008-11-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

Fast Company has a great article on Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy, American Dad, and a new show called The Cleveland Show.

You either love or hate his shows (I love 'em), but you can't deny that Seth has become a powerhouse in the animation field.

According to Fast Company, not only did Seth sign a $100 million dollar deal with Fox, but he also managed to create and retain his own IP when he did a series of animations for the google ad network while he was between contracts with Fox. What's interesting is the comment from Dana Walden, chairman of 20th Century Fox Television about Seth's google dealings:

"In a completely perfect world he wouldn't be able to do that."

It must hurt to know that not only did Seth do it, but Fox had to pay out $100 million to bring him back into the fold to keep creating the Family Guy.

Anyway, check out the article here. It's enlightening and inspiring. I love to see creatives do good!

www.passfieldgames.com

$8.45 for a bunch of pixels?

2008-11-07T05:42:00.000-08:00

The Playstation Store in Australia has a special offer - if you own LittleBigPlanet then you can buy a special limited edition launch week T-Shirt for your Sack Boy.

This T-Shirt is a bit map image. It's not a real T-Shirt that you can wear proudly in the street, but a virtual T-Shirt with a bunch of pixels on it. And how much does it cost to download this T-Shirt with a bunch of 256x256 pixels?

Only $8.45!!! But hurry, it's limited to one week only.

Now, when I think of things like buying items for my game characters, I think of the term micro-transaction. And micro-transaction to me means micro (small) transaction (purchase) - which I equate to be a small amount of money. And a small amount of money to me is 50c, a dollar or maybe two bucks.

But EIGHT BUCKS AND FORTY FIVE CENTS? And I don't even get a real T-Shirt? Come on.

I wonder how many players will actually buy this item? Especially when it appears to be free in the US...

www.passfieldgames.com

*Disclaimer: I have no idea what the width x height is of the bitmap image, but I do know it's just a texture that some artist whipped up :-)

"Add It Up 2" on FB Brainiversity

2008-11-01T04:50:00.000-07:00

I've just added a brand new game to Facebook Brainiversity - the above mentioned "Add It Up 2".

Not the most original name in the world, but it clearly communicates that this is a new version of "Add It Up", the most-played Brainiversity game on the site.

People were asking for a non-multiple choice version, and this new game delivers on that request as well as adding in some ramp up on the difficulty of the math problems to solve. Check it out here!

In other news, I'm looking for people who speak Spanish to test the Spanish version of Brainiversity. Email support@brainiversity.com if you fit the bill and would like to test the game. I don't speak Spanish, so as far as I know the translation could be totally off the mark.

It's not a paying job, but if selected you will get a credit in the game :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Happy Halloween Harry!

2008-10-31T03:53:00.001-07:00

It's Halloween again! I took my kids, Zac and Ella, trick or treating tonight. Ella went as Snow White and Zac went as Bob the Builder.

We scored some booty from the neighbours before settling in to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on DVD.

And it wouldn't be Halloween if I didn't talk about the awesome game that is Halloween Harry. The original game was created 23 years ago this year. It's kind of weird having a computer game character that's older than some of the people in the games industry!

Original Microbee version of Halloween Harry (1985)

If you want to find out more about Harry visit the Alien Carnage / Halloween Harry web shrine here.

And if you want to download and play the PC version (it's now freeware), then check out Apogee's interview and download links here!

Happy Halloween!

www.passfieldgames.com

Laaaadeeee it's Bejeweled!

2008-10-28T14:43:00.001-07:00

I saw Jerry Lewis last night. It was classic Lewis comedy with a mix of music, songs and video footage from his past. Of course, being 82 years old, there wasn't much physical comedy - but we loved it anyway.

He had a question and answer session with the audience and his snappy answers proved that he's still as sharp as ever.

In other news I downloaded the new Hexic, er, I mean Bejeweled game. It seems like a lot of fun - so I'm looking forward to playing more tonight. Interestingly enough it has a 2 hour trial time. Is this a trend?

www.passfieldgames.com

Jerry Lewis

2008-10-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

I'm going to see Jerry Lewis tomorrow night with my good mate Pete. Jerry is touring Australia with his 24 piece orchestra and will be playing on the Gold Coast.

I grew up on Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Don Knotts movies - and I never thought I'd have a chance to see him live. I'm excited!

www.passfieldgames.com

DS Games

2008-10-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

I've been playing a lot of DS games lately - I love the fact that you can open the DS and begin playing straight away, and when you're finished you close it up like a book. Very satisfying.

I bought Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir and have been having lots of fun playing it. If you like hidden object games then you'll get a blast out of this, and you can play it anywhere!

I've also been playing My Word Coach, a word based game designed to increase your vocabulary. I have actually learnt some new words and I've had fun at the same time. So that's a double win.

I've also ordered My Japanese Coach for the DS - a game that teaches you rudimentary Japanese. It also shows you how to read and write kana (Japanese syllabaries) - which is a perfect use for the stylus.

And of course Christmas is coming up soon, so there'll be dozens of more great games to play. Now I just have to find the time!

www.passfieldgames.com

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir

2008-10-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir is the first hidden object game to be released on the Nintendo DS.

The top screen shows the whole scene, the bottom screen shows a zoomed in view.

I downloaded the demo to my DS using the Nintendo Channel on my Wii, and despite the small screen, I found it to be surprisingly fun to play. So, this weekend I will be buying the game.

If you have a Wii, check out the making of video on the Nintendo Channel - they talk about using DS features such as the microphone to enhance the game. I'm curious to see what they do, so I will let you know when I play the full game.

If you don't have a DS or Wii, then check out the official site where you can play a flash demo of the game.

www.passfieldgames.com

iMac is looking tempting

2008-10-14T04:18:00.000-07:00

I've been a Windows user for quite a while now. Before that I was an Amiga user, but I moved to the PC when the Amiga market died and the PC was the only viable platform to make games on.

Now, I'm seriously considering moving to a Mac.

The games I make are mostly on console, and what development I now do on PC is really for a web/casual/social platform. The software I use on a daily basis is mostly non-Windows software and I am finding myself using more and more web based apps.

So, within the next month or two, I will probably make the switch to a sexy iMac.

In other news, I've made some updates to Facebook Brainiversity - minor tweaks here and there - mostly to the challenge system. You can check it out here.

www.passfieldgames.com

New Facebook Updates

2008-10-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

The news feeds for Facebook Brainiversity stopped working a few weeks ago under the new Facebook layout, so it was time to fix them with the new API calls.

So, goodbye to the old feed_publishTemplatizedAction() call and hello to the new feed_publishUserAction() call!

Ah, Facebook, how I love you...

www.passfieldgames.com

Word Spin for Facebook Brainiversity

2008-10-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

I've just added a new Language game to Facebook Brainiversity. It's called Word Spin and is an anagram puzzle game. The rules are simple, unscramble letters to make a word. For example, IBCAS is BASIC.

This game actually required a little more work than the others - I had to generate a reasonably large number of words that only had one possible permutation. This required writing code to test each permutation to see if it was a valid English word - if it had more than two matches then it didn't pass as a valid word for my purposes.

And as with all word games, you have to make sure there are no offensive words that can be displayed to the player. This is why I find word games a little more challenging to build than other puzzle games.

Anyway, check it out it out here on Facebook.

www.passfieldgames.com

Nintendo DSi

2008-10-02T02:38:00.001-07:00

Ah, the best handheld system ever just got better!

- bigger screens

- thinner form factor

- 2 touch screens

- built in camera

- SD card slot to download games to

- Check out the official Nintendo site here (in Japanese)

www.passfieldgames.com

New Facebook Brainiversity game: "Shopping List"

2008-09-28T04:21:00.001-07:00

A new version of the Shopping List game has been added to the Facebook version of Brainiversity. Click here to play it now.

You will need to sign up for a free Facebook account to play.

This is a variant on the PC version which required you to memorize then recall a list of items. In this version you memorize a series of shopping lists and recall the items from a multiple choice list.

The original required you to spend a lot of time committing the list to memory then recall the entire list, but for Facebook I wanted something that moved along a lot faster. I think this new version does that well.

www.passfieldgames.com

Brainiversity web site update

2008-09-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

We've updated the Brainiversity web site. Gone is my poor attempt at coding html and in its place is a neat little site that is easier to navigate and much easier on the eyes!

And speaking of Brainiversity... a new memory game, Shopping List, will be hitting the Facebook version sometime soon.

www.passfieldgames.com

Jewel Quest Mysteries: Curse of the Emerald Tear

2008-09-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

Congratulations are in order for Duncan and Marko of 3 Three Blokes - their latest casual game has just reached number one on iWin this week.

It was made in conjunction with iWin and combines the fun of hidden object games with match 3 puzzle solving.

Great work guys!

www.passfieldgames.com

2 New Brainiversity Games

2008-09-19T03:55:00.000-07:00

I've added two new games to the Facebook Brainiversity app.

They are Big Tipper and Number Sort - one math and one analysis game. These are potentially two of the new games from Brainiversity 2 - it all depends on what the players think. Those with the most plays, wins!

Number Sort in all it's graphical glory!

The scoring for these new games also needs tuning, but this is the beauty of Facebook; I analyse player data and can adjust the game accordingly over the next few weeks.

Next up for Facebook Brainiversity is a front end overhaul - I'll be grouping the games into each of their categories: Math, Analysis, Memory and Language - which should make it easier to find your favorite types of games.

www.passfieldgames.com

Yo! Gabba Gabba

2008-09-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

Yo! Gabba Gabba is a trippy pre-school kid's show that my daughter watches - it's kind of like Sesame Street crossed with the Teletubbies.

Hosted by DJ Lance Rock, it has cool toy-like characters designed/inspired by Kidrobot. This makes sense as the show is produced by W!LDBRAIN who also own Kidrobot.

The show was created by Christian Jacobs (former child actor and performer in The Aquabats) and Scott Schultz and has a real sense of fun about it. With it's indie vibe and hip-hop music the show is a lot more palatable to watch as an adult. Check it out if you have kids. Or if you like cool toys and funky animation.

Here's a clip from the show.

www.passfieldgames.com

Pete Mullins!

2008-09-10T03:14:00.000-07:00

My old friend Pete Mullins has a blog called "Up the Nose Tube to Monkey Trash".

Pete is a comic artist, game graphic artist and visual effects guy - and his stuff is great.

I've worked with Pete on various things over the years - we first did a comic strip together in a weekly national magazine back in the early nineties and we've done some games together including my first casual game Word Shake.

You can check out the Jace Riegel comic we wrote together and Pete drew for Dark Horse on his site. Be warned though, some of his art contains nudity!

www.passfieldgames.com

The Indie Games Theme Song

2008-09-08T03:12:00.000-07:00

The Pretentious Indie Gamer Scene (PIGScene) have posted a song that sums up the indie game scene as viewed by, well, pretentious indie gamers :-)

They express themselves best in their own words:

"The PIGScene goes beyond the mainstream. We report on real indie games that real indie artists are creating. Note the word “artist” as opposed to “developer.” I’m talking about Jenova Chen before fl0w, or Nifflas before he realized he could make a lot of money making games where you’re basically testing a platform engine.
Don’t dig it? Whatever, we don’t care."

The Indie Game Theme Song

www.passfieldgames.com

Brainiversity Facebook Update

2008-09-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Facebook Brainiversity has been updated this weekend.

The Facebook version features a lot of the fun activities from the download/retail version as well as a high score leaderboard and a friend challenge function.

If you haven't played it yet then get on over to Facebook and give it a go!

www.passfieldgames.com

Heat Vision and Jack

2008-08-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

Heat Vision and Jack is a TV pilot made by Ben Stiller starring Jack Black and Owen Wilson back in 1999. It's a parody of the action TV shows of the 70s and 80s - the opening credits are even inspired by the Six Million Dollar Man.

I found it funny - but I am a Jack Black fan. Anyway, you can check it out below.

This is what video on demand is all about. Thank you internet!

www.passfieldgames.com

Born from an egg on a mountain top

2008-08-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (of Gorillaz fame) worked with Chen Shi-zheng to create the music and look of Journey to the West, an opera based on the Chinese epic novel of the same name.

Aussies, Kiwis and Brits were introduced to this Chinese story through Monkey - a Japanese TV show filmed in China and dubbed into English. Click on any of the above links to find out more.

What's really cool is that the BBC used the Jamie Hewlett animations for their Beijing Olympics coverage. Check it out.

www.passfieldgames.com

More on Strongbad's Cool Game for Attractive People

2008-08-22T06:48:00.000-07:00

I've been playing the Wii version of Strongbad's Cool Game for Attractive People and am enjoying it. I like the interface, it works well with the Wii.

The controls are simple - every on screen object takes a single click to look at, use, pick up or talk to it (if it's a person). The conversation system is easy to grasp - it's represented by a few visual icons that make Strong Bad ask about the image from the icon when clicked on.

Getting around is also easy, you can pull up a map and jump to another location at any time. You can also double click and hold the A button to make Strong Bad run faster to wherever the cursor is on the screen.

There's also a neat little treasure hunt side game where you can use a metal detector in each location to look for treasure.

The only problem I've experienced so far is that some of the initial goals aren't quite clear enough. I had to visite gamefaqs.com to work out what to do on two occasions. Unfortunately the thing I was supposed to do wasn't obvious (at least to me) and I wasn't getting any feedback from the game world to nudge me in the right direction.

It could just be me - I am a little out of touch with adventures and they do require a certain mind set to play. But as a first installment it would have been nice if the goals were a little clearer.

Apart from that, I'm having fun playing the game (thank heavens for gamefaqs.com!). It's worth checking out if you're a Homestar Runner fan and like adventure games.

www.passfieldgames.com

Some adventure games

2008-08-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Jay Is Games is a great source for indie and casual games. They cover a whole range of games so if you haven't been there I thoroughly recommend you check them out.

They've previewed a few point and click adventure games recently and I've been playing two of them.

Dirty Split is a stylish murder mystery inspired by the works of Josh Agle - an artist with a fifties/sixties commercial art bent. Developed by Dreamagination the game is very slick and is totally free. Grab it here. You can also download the soundtrack.

The other game I'm playing is Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (episode 1) on the Wii. Developed by Telltale Games it's proving to be fun to play on the Wii - a system that is made for point and click adventure games.

It's worth checking out even if you're not too familiar with Homestar Runner, the website/comic that it's based on. The humor is broad enough for even non-fans to have a chuckle - and the interface and puzzles aren't too difficult (so far).

www.passfieldgames.com

Adventures in Facebook

2008-08-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, you can play the Facebook version of Brainiversity here. It's been up and running for a few months now and the user base has been steadily growing.

Facebook is a great platform to develop for - I get to use my Flash, HTML, PHP and SQL skills all at once! Not to mention I also get to brush up on my art skills :-)

One of the interesting things about game development on Facebook is that it gives you a direct connection with the end user - more so than with downloadable casual games. You can react to feedback almost instantaneously - you launch faster and build your game with the players - making game dev a more evolutionary process.

Very cool and definitely the way of the future.

www.passfieldgames.com

Dial Up Internet

2008-08-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

I'm on vacation near the beach with my wife and kids and we are having a blast chilling out.

Once a day we check email using a dial up service (nope, the place doesn't have broadband!). I had completely forgotten what surfing the web was like not that long ago when everyone had dial up. Needless to say, it's slooooooow.

No wonder people had a hard time predicting the rise of online Flash games - these things would have been a pain to play back then. Heck, they're a pain to play now with dial-up. It's amazing that broadband has opened up a whole new way of playing games.

I can't wait to get it back again :-) Long live broadband!

www.passfieldgames.com

Zeeby results are in!

2008-07-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

And Brainiversity didn't win, but it was a runner up! Like I said yesterday, I was elated just to be nominated. Here's the results for my category.

People’s Choice Award for Best Word & Trivia Game of 2007

Winner:
Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition (Publisher & Developer: Real Games)

Runners Up:

Boggle Deluxe (Publisher & Developer: iWin)
Brainiversity (Publisher & Developer: Red Sprite Studios)
Flip Words 2 (Publisher & Developer: HipSoft)
Jeopardy 2 (Publisher & Developer: Sony Online Entertainment)
The 80’s Game with Martha Quinn (Publisher & Developer: Funkitron)

And if you want a summary of the cool stuff from day 2 of Casual Connect, click here for the Gamezebo Day 2 wrap up.

www.passfieldgames.com

Casual Connect Seattle

2008-07-24T03:48:00.000-07:00

Casual Connect is on this week in Seattle. If you're not attending then check out Gamezebo's coverage of the event - you'll get all the latest news as it happens!

Here's some interesting news from the show:
* Zynga raised $29M with Kleiner Perkins and adds Bing Gordon to their board
* Our friends at Wildfire Studios have released Jungo to retail!
* And a new study of casual gamers shows up some interesting information

Oh, and the Zeeby's are on very soon... I'll let you all know how Brainiversity fares tomorrow.
At this stage I'm just elated to have been nominated for an award!!!

www.passfieldgames.com

Home Again!

2008-07-15T04:05:00.000-07:00

I've arrived home safe and sound from my LA trip.

Ironically many game developers were pouring into LA for E3 as I was leaving. I even bumped into the guys from Media Molecule (Little Big Planet) as I was catching my cab to LAX.

How things have changed... just a few years ago I would have been super excited about E3 and would have have been looking forward to walking the floors to see all the cool new games. But now I can catch up on all the news as it happens instantaneously via the web. I even get to see more than I would if I was there - and my feet don't hurt after standing/walking all day.

One show I would like to attend this year is Casual Connect. It's on in less than two weeks - but I've already done my share of travel so I'll be sitting it out. I've been nominated for a Zeeby and it would be cool to be at the awards show in Seattle.

I have friends that are attending, so if I do win, they can pick up my award for me :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

LA Story

2008-07-11T23:14:00.002-07:00

I'm currently chilling out at the Beverly Hills Plaza in LA. It's a nice little hotel on Wilshire Boulevard, just a short walk away from Century City - a Westfield shopping center. Funny thing about Westfield is that it's an Aussie company and they seem to have a shopping mall wherever you go these days.

The trip has been productive - and I even managed to catch up with a friend at DreamWorks Animation and another from The Third Floor.

I was hoping to head back to Brisbane tonight (Friday) but the flights are booked out until Sunday - so I've got two days to chill in LA. Now is a great time to catch up on my DS games and some books that I've neglected. In fact, I just picked up Space Invaders Extreme for the DS today - and it is a lot of fun! So I won't be bored (not that you could be in LA).

Tomorrow morning I'm heading into Santa Monica on a quest for a Barbie doll for my little girl and a cool toy for my little boy. Toy shopping can be such a drag sometimes :-).

www.passfieldgames.com

Coffee!

2008-07-04T04:01:00.000-07:00

I got an early birthday present two weeks ago - a Sunbeam Cafe Series Espresso machine. It is a thing of beauty. Sleek, stainless steel and capable of producing the most awesome coffee known to man.

Of course it's not just the machine that makes a coffee awesome. I'm extremely lucky to work in the Valley in Brisbane, ground zero for a lot of great coffee shops/roasters and oddly enough ground zero for the Australian games industry... hmmm, I wonder if there's a connection?

Anyway, we now have a fine selection of coffee blends at home to choose from courtesy of the fine Valley coffee merchants. Here are my faves:

Campos Coffee - makes a mean brew. Their Dark City is smooth and strong. The New York Times says its worth the 22 hour flight down under from New York.

Merlo Coffee - they have a very yummy espresso blend.

Di Bella Coffee - a true blue Brisbane success story, Di Bella's Swiss Water Decaffeinated is wonderful!

Now there's only one problem with having a great machine and delicious coffee at your beck and call any time of the day... you become a coffee snob. I'm off to LA next week and will struggle to cope spending a week away from my stainless steel wonder.

I guess there's always Starbucks...

www.passfieldgames.com

IE08

2008-06-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

I'll be presenting at the Australian Conference on Interactive Entertainment 08 (IE08) this year.

The conference is being held in Brisbane from December 3rd to 5th and has the theme of "Resonating Experiences".

I'll be talking about the changing face of video games and how the relationships between the player, the game and other players is evolving.

I'll also show off some stuff that I've been cooking up!