Do You Want to Start a Game Dev Company? Sure, We All Do.

If you're anything like me, you've wanted to create your own game development company (and travel to space, but I digress).  Now you can with the help of Game Dev Story on the iPhone.  Game Dev Story allows you to take the reigns and be the boss of the next Valve, Blizzard, or BioWare.  You have control to name your company, pick the name, genre, and platform of your games, and hire/fire staff.  The game also has big events similar to E3 for you to participate in, and it lets you control what you spend and where for your advertising.

I enjoy the game's clever names for the people that you can hire for your company.  Many names are similar to those who work in the gaming/technology industry.  You'll see some famous musicians scattered throughout the sound designers, and of course, the amazingly talented programmer Gilly Bates.  The better your staff, the more successful your game.  It's a good idea to pick genres that work together when developing your games.  They tend to be more successful, but it is a challenge in the beginning of the game.  Sometimes you get developers that have very different styles/capabilities.

This game isn't fresh from the AppStore, or free, but it is worth picking up.  Though this game was developed for the iPhone, I strongly suggest you play it on an iPad if you've got one.  Since the game is in the style of 16-bit graphics, it still looks great stretched to the iPad's display.  Just to warn you, this game causes mild cases of time travel.  I started playing this on a Tuesday, and now it is the end of April.  Pick up Game Dev Story for $3.99 on the AppStore today.

Zombie Week is Slowly Shambling Towards You

You've read correctly.  Next week will be Zombie week on this blog.  I'm going to feature a different zombie game each day of the week.  I'll be posting information about the games, and giving my opinions.  If there are any games that you would like to see talked about, feel free to comment on this post.  Grab your shotguns, axes, assault rifles, and crowbars, and don't forget to remove the head.... Zombies are coming...

Age of Empires Online Open Beta

Age of Empires Online has opened their beta today for anyone who would like to receive a key.  The keys are limited, so hurry.  I managed to get a key today, and I sank a few hours into it.  I will be giving my impressions in the coming days.  From my limited amount of time with it, I must say that I'm having a lot of fun.  I'm at level 6 with my civilization.  It took me a while to figure out the tech trees and everything, but that's what happens when you jump into the game without reading anything.  Try to pick up your key here.

Talking Plush Portal Turret

Picture is capture from original video source.

Two Portal fans by the names of Jonathan Guberman, and Leigh Nunan, created an amazing plush Portal turret.  It also needs to be said that this squeezable gadget is interactive.  It will respond to you picking it up, toppling it over, or moving within its view.  Check out the video link and see for yourself.  Now if only these went into production.  I'm sure people like me would be throwing their money at it.

Nostalgia Review: Grand Theft Auto

Thirteen years ago, one afternoon during English, my friend Justin, began telling me about this game he had just received.  It was a game that you could walk around, drive a car, carry a gun, mow down pedestrians, and have high-speed chases with the Five-O.  He kept going on about how he loved mowing down people on the sidewalk and stealing various vehicles.  As he spoke more and more about the game, I came to realize that the things that he loved doing in the game weren't the objective of the game.  They were things that you could just do.  You could play the game the way you want to play it.  This intrigued me.  I wasn't so much excited for the shooting and vehicular manslaughter, as I was for the prospect that the game would let me do whatever I wanted to do.  This was a new concept to me.

That day, after the bus ride back from school, I followed Justin home.  He had recruited another one of our friends for the trip.  We made our way up to his bedroom, where we found his Playstation primed and ready for our afternoon.  Justin gave us a demonstration on how to play the game, or at least how he played the game.  We began taking turns trying to wreak as much havoc as possible before the police killed us.  It was hilarious.  It created intense moments where we were sure that a kamakazi police car would take us out at any moment.  We created our own game within the game; Run down every person in a red shirt (a la Star Trek).  The hours quickly passed, and dinner time was nearing.  One thing was clear when I left and made my trek home. I must own this game.

The next weekend I had my parents take me by the local game shop.  I used money that I had recently received for Christmas to buy Grand Theft Auto and Syphon Filter (Syphon Filter has no relevance to this story.  I just had an incredible "ah-ha" moment when recalling this day.  I also wanted to give a nod to anyone who remembers that game.).  I got the games home and dove right in to GTA.  Many people wearing red shirts were ran down that day.  Once I tired of my "killing spree" game mode I had created for myself, I decided to just drive around and explore.  I obeyed traffic laws, and was polite to other cars and pedestrians.  I continued to play this game for months.  I don't think I ever finished the story in the game.  The missions were played until all the areas were unlocked, or until my thumbs hurt.  I just wanted more places to explore.

Though I never "completed" GTA, it remains as one of my favorites.  It spawned an amazing series of games, and was a lot of fun in its own right.  If you'll excuse me, Steam just finished downloading Grand Theft Auto, and I have people in red shirts to run over.

Gears of War 3 Beta Access For Pre-Orders

For all of those who have pre-ordered Gears of War 3 at GameStop, beta access begins today.  This begins a full week after beta access was given to those who purchased Bulletstorm.  Correction.  For those who purchased Bulletstorm on the Xbox 360.  There is a webpage put together by GameStop that details all the information about the beta.

Gears of War 3 looks to be heaps of fun.  I'll have to stop by a friend's house to check out the beta, and chainsaw someone in half.

Gearbox Helps a Fan Propose

A video recently surfaced online that depicted a character from the game Borderlands, helping a fan propose to his girlfriend.  It is a minute and a half long, and is rather entertaining.  It is awesome to see a game developer do something very nice for a fan.  There are links to the video itself, and to the response from the bride to be.  Kotaku has details on the back story.  Ahh, love and video games.  Here's to Gearbox, and to the happy couple, Ben and Tora.