Posted by Tim
Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:34:00 GMT
As pointed out by Xander:
Did anyone see that Castle Crashers has pulled out of Slamdance too? From what I understand it’s part controversy, part ‘well since no one else is actually going now it seems like a waste of a trip’.
Toblo was also forced to rejoin the competition against the wishes of the development team.
Personally I think Jason is right, the final paragraph in his open letter to all participants speak volumes.
For those of you who have already withdrawn, you probably feel that it’s too late to come back in (just like Peter Baxter feels like it’s too late to re-admit SCMRPG). We’re all familiar with the “stay the course” mentality, for sure. But I hope you will change your mind and come back. We can still save Slamdance, and make it our own, and use it as a platform to speak instead of shutting it down in a tomb of silence.
Toblo’s development team is rejoining, so to all finalists who have already withdrawn please reconsider going to the festival and participating in the discussion as mentioned on this page. The seat is still reserved for you.
I doubt that any other organizer would include SCMRPG as a finalist in their competition, so let’s not condemn all the good work that they had done up to this point. It’s as much of a learning process for them as it is to the rest of us.
Two sides fighting will only bring the matter to a standstill, plus if you’re vocal about the withdrawal of SCMRPG then it’s best to join the discussion because the ones who will be there to fight for your cause need all the help they can get. You don’t even have to resubmit your game anyway if you feel that strongly about it, just your presence at the festival is plenty of support.
Posted in Community | 14 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:18:00 GMT
This Gamasutra article is claiming that increased “security” and parental controls in Windows Vista could spell doom for downloadable games by throwing obstacles in front of potential gamers.
Is this going to be a real problem, or is this just a case of way-to-early doomsaying?
What I really want to know is if that cute little paperclip from Microsoft Word is going to return. I think he should be in all the apps. He’s so helpful. Someday, I’d like him to be the godmother to my children.
(Thanks, Kornel!)
Posted in Community, Developers | 5 comments
Posted by Tim
Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:39:00 GMT
Here’s an absolutely different take on the issue, the approach adopted by one of the Slamdance Finalists. As a participant of the event, Jason has first-hand experience from the entire situation and there’s no better place to keep up yourself updated besides this link.
Plus, if you scroll all the way down there’s a note from the Slamdance Games organizer himself. Click here to read the interview with Danny Ledonne, the creator of SCMRPG. Conducted by Jason Rohrer.
Posted in Social Impact, Community, Competitions | 4 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:24:00 GMT
The popular MMORPG has made its client open-source under GNU GPL. You can read the official announcement at the Linden Labs website.
...wow, it’s already a world where people can launch unsuspecting flying penis attacks, and now they want to give the users MORE power?! Outrageous! How many more penises must start flying before we put our foot down on the metaphorical penis and start thinking about the children?
Okay, I don’t even know what I’m talking about anymore.
Posted in MMOG, Community | 7 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:48:00 GMT
“Slamdance finalist Super Columbine Massacre RPG has been officially kicked from the festival due to mounting pressure from protesters and the loss of sponsorship, the game’s creator told Kotaku Thursday night.
This is the first time in the Slamdance Festival’s 13-year history that a game or film has been removed from the festival due to criticism or outside pressure.” (Read More)
This rather mediocre (as a game, at least) RPG continues to stir up controversy. I won’t bother to discuss my own opinion of the situation. It’s easy to understand why every side is doing what they’re doing.
Of note is that Braid, the innovative time-altering game from last year’s IGF has dropped out of the competition in protest of Slamdance’s decision.
Update: A bunch more games have bowed out and an official letter of protest has been issued. And other crap you can read about here. (Thanks, Shih Tzu!)
Posted in RPG, Social Impact, Community, Competitions | Tags DannyLedonne | 39 comments
Posted by Tim
Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:59:00 GMT
Bytten 2.0 relaunched, providing indie game news and reviews since 2003.
Well worth a look, because it’s pretty hard to find anything remotely related to casual games on that site.
Posted in Community | 7 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:43:00 GMT
Jay is Games is finishing off 2006 with a look at the top casual games of the year (from a slew of categories). As to be expected from those guys, it’s a really well-done affair, and all the nominated games seem deserving to be there. Anyone in the casual scene should thank these guys, because they make it seem pretty cool!
Definitely check it out!
Posted in Community | 12 comments
Posted by Tim
Thu, 21 Dec 2006 08:02:00 GMT
It’s Christmas! And to celebrate that fact, this Arsecast is not only late (but only so it’s nice and close to the big day – arf!) but it’s also about ten minutes longer than usual, running for a whole twelve minutes! ;)
Featured this month: Mr Robot, Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, Saucerlifter, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Cortex Command, The Underside, Hero 2, Typhoon 2001, Knytt, Darkside Adventures, Ikachan, Die Die Galaxy, B-Intruders, Gamma Brothers, Paroxysm, Spud’s Quest, Return Of Egypt, Mr Pratt and Weird Worlds: Return To Infinite Space.
(From the RSS feed)
Posted in Podcasts / Audio, Community | Tags GrahamGoring, TheArsecast | 29 comments
Posted by BMcC
Wed, 20 Dec 2006 10:50:00 GMT
Cult Flash hit Line Rider has been acquired by InXile Entertainment (The Bard’s Tale) to be published, with “new added features,” for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii videogame consoles, with an anticipated launch date of Spring 2007.
No, really!
Now, what does this mean for linerider.org? I don’t know. The new official Line Rider site is tagged up and down with InXile’s logo, displays their copyright on the bottom, and features an entire section dedicated to don’t screw with us legal jive. Though, in actuality, they probably don’t got the stones to shut down such a massive community. Particularly one they plan to milk dry.
I wonder just how much Mr. Cadež got for this deal. I hope InXile didn’t pull a Platypus.
Posted in Browser Games, Community, Wii, Developers, Physics | 12 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:45:00 GMT
One of the great features of this site is our comments system. I don’t see any reason to ever go back to having a forum again, really. I like that you guys are all really active and opinionated and funny (when you’re not being dicks).
That said, I’d like to try something out. I’d like to write a nice “Year in Review” for indie gaming. Something that succinctly summarizes all the important events of the year and analyzes the trends. I think it’d be entertaining and valuable for the community to have.
However, there are a few problems with me doing all the work myself. For one thing, I’m lazy. For another thing, no matter how much research I do, I’m going to miss something.
Let’s utilize our comments system and I want to pose the questions to you:
1. “What happened in the indie game community that was important to you this year?”
2. “What were some notable games you played that were released this year?”
3. “What the hell did YOU do this year that was related to indie games?”
Some things that immediately come to mind are XNA, IGF (of course), and Manifesto Games finally going public. XBox Live Arcade was also very prominent this year.
My idea is to get a discussion going and then cull all the wonderful nuggets of joy into a feature. Notable quotes may be used in said feature. I want to talk about it all, from kisses to disses.
So yeah, this is the internet. What do you think? Let’s do this shit and see if it works out.
DISCUSS. (All such posts must end with the word “DISCUSS.”)
Posted in Features, Community | 23 comments
