For the second year in a row, angry gamers have voted Electronic Arts as the worst company in America on the consumer advocate blog, The Consumerist. At Slide To Play, we are dedicated to protecting the interests of gamers from companies that would sell them shoddy products, excessive in-app purchases, and cumbersome digital rights management. But once again, we must urge The Consumerist and its voters to step back and take a look at the bigger picture.
It feels crass to talk about video games while we’re still standing in the shadow of the Sandy Hook massacre. Frankly, it is crass to jaw about games while families still mourn for their children. But humans are gifted/cursed with the ability to analyze tragedies and ask, ‘How can we prevent this from happening again?’ One town in Connecticut has seemingly decided that one solution involves the application of fire to video games. Sometimes you just need to stand up and say ‘Now hold on a minute,’ regardless of context. Read More →
Don’t you hate it when you’re walking down the street and all of a sudden you’re just dying to find out what level Herdier learns ‘Crunch’ at?* Your troubles are over. Thanks to the Pokemon Company, you can now download an official Unova PokeDex to your iOS device. For several years now, Nintendo fans and investors have been prodding the Big N to develop for iOS. Is this PokeDex app a sign that the company is caving to demands? Read More →
Game developer Peter Molyneux recently said something interesting, as Peter Molyneux is wont to do. At the Montreal International Game Summit earlier this week, he talked about the enormous success of 22Cans’ new app, Curiosity, but more intriguingly, he suggested that games have failed to become ‘another true entertainment form.’ Read More →
‘Nintendo needs to go mobile!’ is an opinion that invariably drums up an Internet war wherever it’s expressed. While Nintendo’s investors would love to see the company surrender its IP to iOS devices, fan opinion tends to be split. However, one anonymous fan has gone beyond uttering the usual plea for a Mario game on the iPad. He or she has set up a webpage and Facebook campaign titled ‘Nintendo Go Mobile’ that comes complete with game ideas. Read More →
After spending some time with the new iPhone 5 this weekend, it’s not hyperbole to state that this thing is a certified monster. From a design perspective, it’s impossible not to notice the decreased weight and slimmer profile of the new phone. The body redesign makes the also beautiful design of the 4S feel fat and stubby in comparison. Read More →
Mega Man (‘Rockman’ in Japan) has had a rough time of things over the past year thanks to major game cancellations and general mistreatment at the hands of Capcom Japan. Fans have wondered (somewhat vocally) if the Blue Bomber has pilfered from his last Robot Master, but it seems that’s not the case. The Mega Man franchise is back (in iOS form) with ‘Rockman Xover,’ a social RPG coming to Japan later this Fall. Read More →
Social gaming’s biggest dog, Zynga, is trying to deal with the fact that its once-iron bite is softening a bit. The company stocks plummeted after a rough fiscal quarter, and there’s no sign that it’ll be pulling up any time in the near future. Read More →
With its high user base and low development costs, Apple’s App Store has been hailed as a great jumping-off point for indie studios. Unfortunately, as the big guys muscle their way into the hyper-popular mobile market and advertising costs go through the roof, small game developers are worried that they’re going to wither and die in the shadow. It’s a legitimate concern, and one that might cause the booming indie scene to sicken if costs don’t come down. Read More →
For a small game developer who’s trying to make a living off his or her work, getting the game completed is only part of the long quest for a profit. The hardest part, some devs would argue, is getting noticed in an increasingly-crowded market. The trick, according to one indie dev, is to cater to a niche–and to avoid pressure from publishers that try and make you do otherwise. Read More →
Over the past few months, a fascinating conversation has taken place about Kickstarter’s potential to reshape how games are funded. There some important reasons why you should care and share your voice. Game developers are collecting millions of dollars on Kickstarter, but shouldn’t we be cautious when sending our money to fund an incredibly ambitious project with a distant delivery date? Read More →
The Consumerist, a weblog owned by Consumer Reports which since 2006 has awarded its “golden poos” to their readers’ picks for the worst companies in America, has given their 2012 golden poo to Electronic Arts. EA beat out Bank of America in the final round of online polling, 64 percent to 36 percent. Read More →
The new iPad is out today, and developers are scrambling to update their games to support the device’s super high resolution display. Some big-name titles have already been updated, like Real Racing 2 HD, Infinity Blade II, Mass Effect Infiltrator, Modern Combat 3, and Flight Control Rocket. I’ve played the games and talked to developers, so let’s have a look at the new iPad as a gaming machine, shall we? Read More →
There’s nothing like losing yourself in a major blockbuster game on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC. These multi-million dollar productions do everything they can to immerse you in their world, which usually means offering up enough content to keep you busy for dozens of hours. But with huge games like Skyrim or Batman Arkham City, I generally don’t have the time or desire to get every achievement and experience every byte of content in the game. In iOS games, however, it’s a different story. Read More →
Everyone knows stealing is wrong. But in game development, stealing can be a slippery concept. There’s a difference between a developer taking inspiration from another game and outright copying it. Inspiration actually pushes the medium forward. If no one making games used ideas found in other titles, the creative well would have run dry long ago, and we’d all be stuck playing Pong and Asteroids our whole lives. It’s bleak. Read More →
