To mark the 10th anniversary of Black Isle Studios' classic post-nuclear role playing game Fallout, Bethesda is holding a "Create a Perk" contest in which players can submit their best ideas for the new millennium's version of "Bloody Mess."
"I still don't know why I said it - and in retrospect it sounds like a gay pickup line from the '20s - but I opened my mouth and asked, 'Would you fancy a game of chess sometime?'He gave me a dubious look for a second, then reached into his jacket pocket and handed me a business card.'Meet me at my club next Tuesday at three,' he said, just before being promptly whisked off to talk to more important people."
"In 1998, the "great sweep" took place, shutting down most of the major emulation sites in existence within a six-month period. But they had no preparation for the flood of emulators that appeared in 1999, chief among them bleem! All the major players were concerned."Tom Rhodes takes on the dream of bleem!, the Best Little Emulator Ever Made.
"Zukowski builds his FAQs like monsters in a laboratory. He begins by playing the game with his laptop by his side and takes notes on the cut scenes, puzzles and bosses as he goes along - he calls these notes 'bones.' Then, he adds 'muscle' by expanding the notes into complete sentences and adding detail. Finally, he takes the time to 'digest' the meaning of the game, often during his hour-long commute to and from his day job. In the case of Final Fantasy XII, the result was a 'political revolution simulator.'"Melody Lutz takes a step-by-step look at the life of a FAQ writer.
"'It never truly feels like a nine-to-five, but it can get a bit repetitive at times,' says Miller, who, according to his Wikipedia entry, has deferred college to continue competing. 'I know you wouldn't think gaming could ever be hard work, but sometimes you just need a break!'One wonders what a competitive videogamer would do when taking a break from work, which is playing games. How about managing the team?"Russ Pitts explores the fast and furious world of professional gaming.
This week's issue of The Escapist is all about jobs in the industry, but not quite what we usually think about as industry. There are many paths you may take, many niches you might fill; after all, games are rapidly outpacing other forms of entertainment. Join us this week as we discover and chat with some lucky and enterprising people who've found these paths and niches. Perhaps you'll be inspired.
"'I got into the game industry in 1989, after seven years as a software engineer in a Silicon Valley company that made CAD tools for the electronics industry,' Adams says. 'What I found rather shocked me. The game industry was positively backward in many respects. Proper software engineering techniques, such as technical documentation, revision control and maintainable code were sneered at as ivory-tower wastes of time. Nobody used e-mail.'"Erin Hoffman speaks to the founders of the IGDA.
Microsoft wanted installation to just work, more uniform interfaces, better community building features, online integration between PCs and consoles, and a unified retail attack to give the platform the cohesive appearance it's sorely lacked. But what we've ended up with is just prettier packaging and a pretty good magazine.
U.K. developer Free Radical Design is challenging traditional payment practices at independent studios by offering its employees overtime pay for work outside normal hours.
In the wake of the January 2007 cancellation of Official PlayStation Magazine by Ziff Davis, publisher Future U.S. has announced it will be launching PlayStation: The Official Magazine.
