General gaming |
- The Future of Tetris As An Olympic Sport
- London 2012 Olympics Review: A Below Average Performance
- The Age of Jam: Five NBA Jam Ripoffs that Weren't on Fire
- OP-ED: Microsoft Flight-Style Shutdowns Could Hurt Future Free-to-Play Games
| The Future of Tetris As An Olympic Sport Posted: 27 Jul 2012 05:29 PM PDT
Feature 1UP COVER STORY  1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 23 | THE WIDE WORLD OF VIDEO GAME SPORTS The Future of Tetris As An Olympic SportCover Story: Is the world's most popular puzzle games ready for a future in competitive gaming?A t my first E3 in 2009, I sat down to talk with Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers, the famed Tetris duo, about the game's 25th anniversary. Pajitnov created the game in 1984, and Roger played a major role to help bring Tetris to the masses. It was approximately halfway through this interview in the noisy lobby of the Figueroa Hotel (known for its 1UP Yours poolside podcasts) when my mind exploded. "The future of Tetris is Tetris as a sport. Competitive one-on-one, team Tetris, all of the above," Rogers explained with the passion of a diehard football fan. |
| London 2012 Olympics Review: A Below Average Performance Posted: 27 Jul 2012 04:57 PM PDT A video game tie-in for the Summer Olympics Games in London feels about as guaranteed as the sense of nationalistic pride that sneaks into our favorite products around the same time. Everything from Coca-Cola to Happy Meals carry the familiar five-ring logo or a banner supporting Team USA, a visible reminder that another four years have passed and it's time to get ready for another drama-filled competition. The Summer Olympic Games might only happen once every four years, but the renewed spirit of global competition makes them interesting entertainment. Sure, most of the events are the same ones we saw four years ago, but we still watch with rekindled interest. Sadly, this perpetual aspect of renewal doesn't crossover to London 2012, the officially endorsed video game of this year's Olympic Games. |
| The Age of Jam: Five NBA Jam Ripoffs that Weren't on Fire Posted: 27 Jul 2012 03:48 PM PDT
Feature 1UP COVER STORY  1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 23 | THE WIDE WORLD OF VIDEO GAME SPORTS The Age of Jam: Five NBA Jam Ripoffs that Weren't on FireCover Story: Midway's insanely popular take on basketball inspired more than a few wannabes.B y taking a very familiar sport and exaggerating its most exciting qualities to cartoonish levels, NBA Jam gave arcades one final burst of life just before their ultimate decline in the mid-90s. But you didn't need to wander into a dark and musty game center for a chance to shatter some backboards for the meager cost of 50 cents; NBA Jam popped up everywhere: movie theaters, laundromats, convenience stores, pizza parlors, and any number of random lobbies -- much like similarly successful arcade games before it. Don't think the competition wasn't keeping an eye on Jam's meteoric rise, though; as with any popular fad, Midway's classic saw its share of wannabes that desperately aped Jam's style in an attempt to cash in on the game that put "boomshakalaka" right alongside "don't go there" and "you so crazy" in the annals of '90s slang.  |
| OP-ED: Microsoft Flight-Style Shutdowns Could Hurt Future Free-to-Play Games Posted: 27 Jul 2012 02:08 PM PDT Microsoft Game Studios' Vancouver studio was hit by layoffs this week, and as a part of that move development on Microsoft Flight has been ended. This move comes just months after the game's launch and is one sure to displease those who have invested money in the game, not just because the supply of downloadable content will now be drying up, but also because this devalues the purchases they have made. If this becomes a trend, it could be problematic for free-to-play game developers as gamers become unwilling to invest much money into a game until it is firmly established. Microsoft Flight itself hasn't been shut down; players will still be able to download and play it just as they have since it was launched at the end of February. Unlike the Microsoft Flight Simulator series this game was meant to be a continuation of, Flight does not support user-generated content. That in and of itself was a controversial decision, and it's now a more problematic one than ever before because, without Microsoft actively developing new content for Flight, aircraft enthusiasts will be stuck flying the same set of aircraft around the same locations doing the same missions. That's not an environment conducive to player retention. |
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