mssv

  • Berlin Calling

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    3–4 minutes

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    3 comments on Berlin Calling

    Three people – a doctor, the CTO of an up-and-coming web company, and the CEO of an up-and-coming 3D game engine company – have independently told me the same thing in the last month. It’s time to move to Berlin. In any discussion of where I work and what I do, the subject of London’s…

  • Sidestep Right Two Paces!

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    2–3 minutes

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    2 comments on Sidestep Right Two Paces!

    One of the most memorable children’s TV shows of my generation was Knightmare. Ah, Knightmare – a show that was about role-playing games, but oddly cool to be a fan of. In Knightmare, a team of four kids would try to get through a dungeon populated by all sorts of traps, baddies and dangers. Of…

  • A Game by any other Name…

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    4–6 minutes

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    11 comments on A Game by any other Name…

    The term ‘Alternate Reality Game’ has been used to describe a vast variety of different games. These include traditional ARGs such as The Beast, to single-player games such as Jamie Kane, to immersive theatre productions such as Faust by Punchdrunk, to collaborative games without central narratives such as World Without Oil. I’ve also seen urban…

  • New York

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    1–2 minutes

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    No comments on New York

    Just a quick note, I’m going to be in New York from today until Sunday, so if you’re nearby and would like to meet up, send me an email!

  • Portal: The Way Forward

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    3–5 minutes

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    1 comment on Portal: The Way Forward

    I’m not a fan of puzzles, and I don’t like first-person shooters like Halo or Doom, either. Despite this, I found myself irresistibly drawn to Valve’s new first-person puzzle game, Portal. The premise behind Portal is simple; you have a Portal gun that can create man-sized wormholes in walls, floors and ceilings that connect to…

  • Rock Band Exclusive: All Sorts of Merchandise

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    1–2 minutes

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    1 comment on Rock Band Exclusive: All Sorts of Merchandise

    Improbably enough, I was on stage this afternoon with Alex Rigopulos of Harmonix (creators of Guitar Hero 1 and 2, and Rock Band) talking about how ARGs and music games were similar. During the course of the conversation, Alex revealed a few details about Rock Band which I am fairly confident haven’t been announced elsewhere.…

  • Free the Man Bookers!

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    1–2 minutes

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    No comments on Free the Man Bookers!

    I’m currently in Zurich at the GameHotel conference, so I don’t have much time to cover this, but The Times is reporting is talk of making all six shortlisted Man Booker prize novels available online for free. I say ‘talk’ because it’s not entirely clear what’s being discussed between the publishers, the Man Booker Prize…

  • Antimatter

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    1–2 minutes

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    No comments on Antimatter

    After six weeks of silence, I’ve finally updated my After Our Time weblog with a post about Antimatter. It’s the sort of thing that would otherwise have gone here, so if you’re missing my posts about science, check it out.

  • Barclays OnePulse: A Tale of Woe

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    3–5 minutes

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    9 comments on Barclays OnePulse: A Tale of Woe

    The bottom line: Barclays hates its customers, and doesn’t even know how to run its business. A few months ago, I decided that I was finally going to move my current account away from Barclays to someone more sensible, like First Direct or Egg. Barclays is a big bank with a lot of branches, but…

  • Let’s Change the Game

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    3–5 minutes

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    6 comments on Let’s Change the Game

    Achievement One of the most startling things about alternate reality games is what their players can achieve. When you have tens of thousands of highly motivated and tightly-knit players who urgently want to get to the next scene, even the most obscure puzzle can be solved, no matter what language it’s written in, or what…