Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Sep 12, 2008	Rules of Achievement
In today’s episode, our hero picks a fight with Harvey Smith . The Ellustrious Mr. Smith had a post up a couple of days ago in response to this article on the Psychology of Achievements.  I’ve written before about how achievements are essentially a psychological drug, but I...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Sep 4, 2008	XBLA Game Pitch
James Goddard over at CrunchTime games has provided us with something very interesting.  Many independent developers dream of getting a title on XBLA (hobbiests have a better route through the upcoming Xbox Live Community Games).  Unfortunately, the path to that goal is fuzzy at best.  ...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  May 12, 2008	The Browser Game
In my self-imposed hermitdom, I’ve been playing a lot of Browser Games as a change of pace and essentially as a time-eater.  In particular the titles I’ve paid most attention to are Ikariam , Travian , and more recently Wild Guns .  Ikariam and Travian are conceptually what you...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Mar 25, 2008	Anatomy of Addiction
I’ve recently introduced my girlfriend to a little game called Civilization 4. Having sunk countless hours into both it and its predeccesors over the years, I’d put the game down in favor of more recent fare. While the game is not really new, I’ve been thinking more about...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Mar 6, 2008	Colorblindness and Videogames
Destructoid has a good article up about the problems those of us who are colorblind or color-impaired (like me!) have with videogames. To discuss this a little further, approximately 10% of the male population suffers from some degree of color impairment. The article’s author seems to...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Jan 3, 2008	Exclusive: Will Wright on Emergent Game Design (Part 2)
This is a multi-part post.  Jump to: Part 1 In a previous post , I discussed a lecture recently given at Microsoft by famed Game Designer, Will Wright. The topic of this lecture was Emergence and Game Design. The first part of this post discussed what emergence is, how it relates to...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Nov 28, 2007	Exclusive: Will Wright on Emergent Game Design (Part 1)
One of the lovely things about working for Microsoft is that really cool people show up from time to time.  Last week Microsoft Research brought Will Wright in to talk about Emergence, Dynamics, and Design.  Unfortunately the talk is Microsoft internal, so I can’t post the slides or any...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Nov 18, 2007	Nothing is true, everything is permitted
I finished playing Assassin’s Creed last night at about 4 am, and I feel decidedly lukewarm about the whole thing. Marketing I’ve been waiting for this game for what seems like forever.  From the first moment I saw the game, I thought to myself that this was going to be a...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Nov 2, 2007	More Gaming Crack
In the previous post I discussed the fact that addiction and enjoyment are not the same thing, and I cited several games who have the addiction (if not also the enjoyment) down square.  What I did not talk about is how exactly you go about making that happen. Casinos have boiled one...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Sep 30, 2007	Tarot
When most people think of SPORE , they think of the character builder.  This is something which instantly jumps to mind, putting the power of Maya in the hands of the multitudes.  When I think of SPORE (and I suspect anyone who works in the industry), I think of...... [view]

Posted By:  Morphix Posted On:  Sep 27, 2007	Identifying with a Blank Face
I finished the fight last night (after losing 2 hours of progress by not saving).  My friend Reed made a comment about the way I was speaking whilst playing Halo 3.  You see, all of the commentary I was making about the game was in the first person.  I was saving humanity, not Master...... [view]