http://games.slashdot.org/ News for nerds, stuff that matters en-us Copyright 1997-2009, Geeknet, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2010-02-10T08:10:25+00:00 Geeknet, Inc. help@slashdot.org Technology hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://a.fsdn.com/sd/topics/topicslashdot.gif http://games.slashdot.org/ http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/51GJRagcbxI/emBioShock-2em-Released BioShock 2 launched today for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows, ending the wait for a sequel to the original 2007 blockbuster. The events in BioShock 2 take place 10 years after the story from the original game. This time around, players control a prototype Big Daddy in an attempt to overthrow the new leader of Rapture. Early reviews for the game are quite strong, though the developers were prepared for fan backlash over some of the changes they made. The Guardian's Nicky Woolf praises the new storyline, and adds that "there is a fundamentally excellent shooter here too, with some of the best combat dynamics in the business." Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alec Meer also had good things to say about the combat: "I can't stress this enough &ndash; as a game about shooting people, it's very responsive and very rewarding." However, Meer expressed disappointment that some of the impressive new concept art didn't get used and that the story and environment couldn't match the novelty of the original game. "Part of Rapture's great wonder was that it was just believable enough, if you squinted your brain a bit (or a lot), but this lathers on so much wild sci-fi that it's much harder to connect to it. The Sisters are elevated from horrifying genetic/psychological experiment into all-powerful messiah figures capable of pulling any old deus ex machina out of the hat. Making them into so much reduces the power and the sadness of what they are. As a result, the concept feels too exhausted to ever be used again."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/1734252/emBioShock-2em-Released?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/09/1734252"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/1734252/emBioShock-2em-Released?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8r8L4-kSs6cQWTTrfgD3Exeg0q0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8r8L4-kSs6cQWTTrfgD3Exeg0q0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8r8L4-kSs6cQWTTrfgD3Exeg0q0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8r8L4-kSs6cQWTTrfgD3Exeg0q0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/51GJRagcbxI" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-09T18:50:00+00:00 fps look-at-little-sister games 177 177,169,137,112,28,17,8 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/1734252/emBioShock-2em-Released?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/T1ll2NV8Png/Man-Fined-15-Million-For-Leaked-Mario-Game An anonymous reader writes "A Queensland man will have to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages after illegally copying and uploading one of its recent games to the internet ahead of its release, the gaming giant says. Nintendo said the loss was caused when James Burt made New Super Mario Bros Wii available for illegal download a week ahead of its official Australian release in November of last year. Nintendo applied for and was granted a search order by the Federal Court, forcing Burt to disclose the whereabouts of all his computers, disks and electronic storage devices in November. He was also ordered to allow access, including passwords, to his social networking sites, email accounts and websites."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/0612246/Man-Fined-15-Million-For-Leaked-Mario-Game?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/09/0612246"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/0612246/Man-Fined-15-Million-For-Leaked-Mario-Game?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0S-w4TnTY_X7RBPB5aABGfCNOZ0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0S-w4TnTY_X7RBPB5aABGfCNOZ0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0S-w4TnTY_X7RBPB5aABGfCNOZ0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/0S-w4TnTY_X7RBPB5aABGfCNOZ0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/T1ll2NV8Png" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-09T11:54:00+00:00 nintendo sorry-about-your-luck games 242 242,239,192,150,37,22,10 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/0612246/Man-Fined-15-Million-For-Leaked-Mario-Game?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/rQ6uY59NFfA/Improving-Education-Through-Social-Gaming A piece up at Mashable explores how some schools and universities are finding success at integrating social gaming into their education curriculum. Various game-related programs are getting assistance these days from sources like the government and the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation. "For the less well-to-do educator, the Federation of American Scientists has developed a first-person shooter-inspired cellular biology curriculum. Gamers explore the fully-interactive 3D world of an ill patient and assist the immune system in fighting back a bacterial infection. Dr. Melanie Ann Stegman has been evaluating the educational impacts of the game and is optimistic about her preliminary findings. 'The amount of detail about proteins, chemical signals and gene regulation that these 15-year-olds were devouring was amazing. Their questions were insightful. I felt like I was having a discussion with scientist colleagues,' said Stegman. Perhaps more importantly, the video game excites students about science. Motivating more youngsters to adopt a science-related career track has became a major education initiative of the Obama administration. So desperate to find a solution that motivates students to become scientists, the government has even enlisted Darpa, the Department of Defense&rsquo;s 'mad scientist' research organization, to figure out a solution."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/063229/Improving-Education-Through-Social-Gaming?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/09/063229"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/063229/Improving-Education-Through-Social-Gaming?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/PldTRztulhgTRV6wyQAT_jmzkZ4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/PldTRztulhgTRV6wyQAT_jmzkZ4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/PldTRztulhgTRV6wyQAT_jmzkZ4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/PldTRztulhgTRV6wyQAT_jmzkZ4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/rQ6uY59NFfA" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-09T09:11:00+00:00 education i'd-play-a-number-munchers-mmo games 43 43,43,32,24,8,3,2 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/063229/Improving-Education-Through-Social-Gaming?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/O2qGCDXFV88/Game-Development-In-a-Post-Agile-World An anonymous reader writes "Many games developers have been pursuing agile development, and we are now beginning to witness the debris and chaos it has caused. While there have been some successes, there have also been many casualties. As the industry at large is moving away from the phantasmagoria of Agile, Gwaredd Mountain, Technical Director at Climax Studios, looks at Post-Agile and what this might mean for the games industry."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/0551202/Game-Development-In-a-Post-Agile-World?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/09/0551202"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/0551202/Game-Development-In-a-Post-Agile-World?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/S8J4OOkEC5dzlsei67KqP4MEZWs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/S8J4OOkEC5dzlsei67KqP4MEZWs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/S8J4OOkEC5dzlsei67KqP4MEZWs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/S8J4OOkEC5dzlsei67KqP4MEZWs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/O2qGCDXFV88" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-09T06:28:00+00:00 programming slowly-but-surly games 137 137,136,105,79,24,15,6 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/09/0551202/Game-Development-In-a-Post-Agile-World?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/27k5hOoBbq8/Game-Devs-Migrating-Toward-iPhone-Away-From-Wii A new report by Game Developer Research reveals that the number of developers working on games for the iPhone continues to rise, roughly doubling in number from last year. At the same time, the amount of work done on games for Nintendo's Wii dropped significantly: "Just over 70 percent of developers said they were developing at least one game for PC or Mac (including browser and social games), rising slightly from last year; 41 percent reported working on console games. Within that latter group, Xbox 360 was the most popular system with 69 percent of console developers targeting it, followed by 61 percent for PlayStation 3. While those console figures stayed within a few percent of last year's results, the change in Wii adoption was much more significant: reported developer support for the system dropped from 42 percent to 30 percent of console developers, supporting numerous publishers' claims of a recent softening of the Wii market."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/06/1735237/Game-Devs-Migrating-Toward-iPhone-Away-From-Wii?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/06/1735237"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/06/1735237/Game-Devs-Migrating-Toward-iPhone-Away-From-Wii?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bhTygxXeUZjGorPJf9VpX5t3EWk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bhTygxXeUZjGorPJf9VpX5t3EWk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bhTygxXeUZjGorPJf9VpX5t3EWk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/bhTygxXeUZjGorPJf9VpX5t3EWk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/27k5hOoBbq8" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-06T18:59:00+00:00 wii paper-toss-2-the-revenge games 143 143,139,123,104,30,12,7 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/06/1735237/Game-Devs-Migrating-Toward-iPhone-Away-From-Wii?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/GyDvQbiKftU/Xbox-Live-For-Original-Xbox-Games-Shutting-Down itwbennett writes "Giving no explanation beyond that it 'will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community,' Microsoft's General Manager for Xbox Live, Mark Whitten, announced that as of April 15th, Microsoft will be shutting down its Xbox Live service for the original Xbox and its games. 'Cold comfort for those of you who still enjoy playing Xbox titles like Halo 2 with your friends,' writes blogger Peter Smith. But Smith notes that Whitten's announcement does hint at some form of restitution for those affected, encouraging users to check their LIVE messages for more details and opportunities."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/1727233/Xbox-Live-For-Original-Xbox-Games-Shutting-Down?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/05/1727233"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/1727233/Xbox-Live-For-Original-Xbox-Games-Shutting-Down?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/otMhuYIG8iHPtArnhitV4yF4Uvs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/otMhuYIG8iHPtArnhitV4yF4Uvs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/otMhuYIG8iHPtArnhitV4yF4Uvs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/otMhuYIG8iHPtArnhitV4yF4Uvs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/GyDvQbiKftU" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-05T19:43:00+00:00 xbox this-is-where-the-sidewalk-ends games 301 301,301,246,184,42,22,11 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/1727233/Xbox-Live-For-Original-Xbox-Games-Shutting-Down?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/8HKXmVrx1PM/GameStop-Other-Retailers-Subpoenaed-Over-Credit-Card-Information-Sharing New York State's Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, has subpoenaed a number of online retailers, including GameStop, Barnes &amp; Noble, Ticketmaster and Staples, over the way they pass information to marketing firms while processing transactions. MSNBC explains the scenario thus: "You're on the site of a well-known retailer and you make a purchase. As soon as you complete the transaction a pop-up window appears. It offers a discount on your next purchase. Click on the ad and you are automatically redirected to another company's site where you are signed up for a buying club, travel club or credit card protection service. The yearly cost is usually $100 to $145. Here's where things really get smarmy. Even though you did not give that second company any account information, they will bill the credit or debit card number you used to make the original purchase. You didn't have to provide your account number because the 'trusted' retailer gave it to them for a cut of the action." While there is no law preventing this sort of behavior, Cuomo hopes the investigation will pressure these companies to change their ways, or at least inform customers when their information might be shared.<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/0737210/GameStop-Other-Retailers-Subpoenaed-Over-Credit-Card-Information-Sharing?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/05/0737210"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/0737210/GameStop-Other-Retailers-Subpoenaed-Over-Credit-Card-Information-Sharing?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Keh618liz4kLx9v6tuSwoqPZpyA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Keh618liz4kLx9v6tuSwoqPZpyA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Keh618liz4kLx9v6tuSwoqPZpyA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Keh618liz4kLx9v6tuSwoqPZpyA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/8HKXmVrx1PM" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-05T11:26:00+00:00 business you-can-trust-us games 117 117,115,91,76,38,16,8 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/0737210/GameStop-Other-Retailers-Subpoenaed-Over-Credit-Card-Information-Sharing?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/8HoYfEnNhfE/emFallout-New-Vegasem-Coming-This-Fall-Trailer-Released Bethesda announced today that Fallout: New Vegas is scheduled for release sometime this fall, and they released a trailer as well. Details are scant yet on the official site, but they had this to say: "Experience all the sights and sounds of fabulous New Vegas, brought to you by Vault-Tec, America's First Choice in Post Nuclear Simulation. Explore the treacherous wastes of the Great Southwest from the safety and comfort of your very own vault: Meet new people, confront terrifying creatures, and arm yourself with the latest high-tech weaponry as you make a name for yourself on a thrilling new journey across the Mojave wasteland. A word of warning, however &mdash; while Vault-Tec engineers have prepared for every contingency,* in Vegas, fortunes can change in an instant. Enjoy your stay. (* Should not be construed as a legally-binding claim.)"<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/0725208/emFallout-New-Vegasem-Coming-This-Fall-Trailer-Released?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/05/0725208"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/0725208/emFallout-New-Vegasem-Coming-This-Fall-Trailer-Released?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5smaKebScaybOQmhhVTRCgIu51Y/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5smaKebScaybOQmhhVTRCgIu51Y/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5smaKebScaybOQmhhVTRCgIu51Y/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/5smaKebScaybOQmhhVTRCgIu51Y/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/8HoYfEnNhfE" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-05T08:24:00+00:00 rpg out-is-still-falling games 98 98,96,76,59,12,7,2 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/05/0725208/emFallout-New-Vegasem-Coming-This-Fall-Trailer-Released?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/zoAvgs_1JXo/Code-Review-of-emDoomem-For-the-iPhone Developer Fabien Sanglard has written a code review for id Software's iPhone port of Doom. It's an interesting look into how the original 1993 game (which he also reviewed to understand its rendering process) was adapted to a modern platform. "Just like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom was rendering a screenframe pixel per pixel. The only way to do this on iPhone with an acceptable framerate would be to use CoreSurface/CoreSurface.h framework. But it is unfortunately restricted and using it would prevent distribution on the AppStore. The only solution is to use OpenGL, but this comes with a few challenges: Doom was faking 3D with a 2D map. OpenGL needs real 3D vertices. More than 3D vertices, OpenGL needs data to be sent as triangles (among other things because they are easy to rasterize). But Doom sectors were made of arbitrary forms. Doom 1993's perspective was also faked, it was actually closer to an orthogonal projection than a perspective projection. Doom was using VGA palette indexing to perform special effect (red for damage, silver for invulnerable...)."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/0748224/Code-Review-of-emDoomem-For-the-iPhone?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/04/0748224"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/0748224/Code-Review-of-emDoomem-For-the-iPhone?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/GBm-GttTqdXbq9xi5wRQF_EgwOs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/GBm-GttTqdXbq9xi5wRQF_EgwOs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/GBm-GttTqdXbq9xi5wRQF_EgwOs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/GBm-GttTqdXbq9xi5wRQF_EgwOs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/zoAvgs_1JXo" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-04T11:42:00+00:00 fps old-dogs-new-tricks games 160 160,159,136,107,26,17,12 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/0748224/Code-Review-of-emDoomem-For-the-iPhone?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/WiTHdOvcaHQ/Sony-May-Charge-For-PlayStation-Network In an interview with IGN, Sony's VP of marketing, Peter Dille, responded to a question about the PlayStation Network by saying that the company is considering charging for the service. He said, "It's been our philosophy not to charge for it from launch up until now, but Kaz recently went on the record as saying that's something we're looking at. I can confirm that as well. That's something that we're actively thinking about. What's the best way to approach that if we were to do that? You know, no announcements at this point in time, but it's something we're thinking about." This follows news of a customer survey from last month that listed possibilities for subscription-based PSN features.<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/0727249/Sony-May-Charge-For-PlayStation-Network?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/04/0727249"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/0727249/Sony-May-Charge-For-PlayStation-Network?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Uxsy6syq58xBkC7uiVfG6PLMYOg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Uxsy6syq58xBkC7uiVfG6PLMYOg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Uxsy6syq58xBkC7uiVfG6PLMYOg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/Uxsy6syq58xBkC7uiVfG6PLMYOg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/WiTHdOvcaHQ" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-04T09:17:00+00:00 playstation i'm-sure-that-will-be-popular games 212 212,207,177,125,30,14,10 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/0727249/Sony-May-Charge-For-PlayStation-Network?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/_G57DCGrRiI/Game-Difficulty-As-a-Virtue The Wii and various mobile gaming platforms have done wonders for the trend toward casual or "easy" games. But the success of a few recent titles, despite their difficulty, has caused some to wonder whether the pendulum has swung too far; whether a little frustration can be seen as a good thing. Quoting: "The evidence is subtle but compelling. For one example, look to major consumer website GameSpot's Game of the Year for 2009: Atlus' PS3 RPG Demon's Souls, which received widespread critical acclaim &ndash; none of which failed to include a mention of the game's steep challenge. GameSpot called it 'ruthlessly, unforgivingly difficult.' Demon's Souls was a sleeper hit, an anomaly in the era of accessibility. One would think the deck was stacked against a game that demanded such vicious persistence, such precise attention &ndash; and yet a surge of praise from critics and developers alike praised the game for reintroducing the experience of meaningful challenge, of a game that demanded something from its players rather than looked for ways to hand them things. It wasn't just Demon's Souls that recently flipped the proverbial bird to the 'gaming for everyone' trend. In many ways, the independent development scene can be viewed on the macro level as a harbinger of trends to come, and over the past year and into 2010, many indies have decided to be brutal to their players."<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/077232/Game-Difficulty-As-a-Virtue?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/04/077232"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/077232/Game-Difficulty-As-a-Virtue?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VNCSFpbZgN0i75WR2zkDLFIozJw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VNCSFpbZgN0i75WR2zkDLFIozJw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VNCSFpbZgN0i75WR2zkDLFIozJw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/VNCSFpbZgN0i75WR2zkDLFIozJw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/_G57DCGrRiI" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-04T07:16:00+00:00 games all-hail-battletoads games 203 203,199,163,117,22,14,6 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/04/077232/Game-Difficulty-As-a-Virtue?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/ofA3xw9CH28/Suns-Project-Darkstar-Game-Server-Platform-No-More sproketboy writes "Project Darkstar, an open source software platform from Sun labs that simplifies the development of horizontally scalable servers for online games, is being discontinued as of the Oracle acquisition. This project, mentioned a couple of years back on Slashdot, was a unique concept for building an application server specific to on-line gaming. Sadly they were so close at version 0.9.11 (which is still very stable). Hopefully the open source community can get involved and help continue work on this project."<p><a href="http://developers.slashdot.org/story/10/02/03/1647207/Suns-Project-Darkstar-Game-Server-Platform-No-More?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/03/1647207"></a></p><p><a href="http://developers.slashdot.org/story/10/02/03/1647207/Suns-Project-Darkstar-Game-Server-Platform-No-More?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9Djj8hEA4JT8TUCH2GwbHPQQM6c/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9Djj8hEA4JT8TUCH2GwbHPQQM6c/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9Djj8hEA4JT8TUCH2GwbHPQQM6c/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9Djj8hEA4JT8TUCH2GwbHPQQM6c/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/ofA3xw9CH28" height="1" width="1"/> timothy 2010-02-03T17:00:00+00:00 java dropped-off-the-moving-truck developers 82 82,80,67,50,12,5,3 http://developers.slashdot.org/story/10/02/03/1647207/Suns-Project-Darkstar-Game-Server-Platform-No-More?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/TWlVW641cik/Game-Industry-Vets-On-DRM An anonymous reader points out an article at SavyGamer in which several game industry veterans were polled for their opinions on DRM. Cliff Harris of Positech Games said he didn't think his decision to stop using DRM significantly affected piracy of his games, accepting it as an unavoidable fact. "Maybe a few of the more honest people now buy the game rather than pirate it, but this sort of thing is impossible to measure. You can see how many people are cracking and uploading your game, but tracking downloads is harder. It seems any game, even if it's $0.99 has a five hour demo and is DRM-free and done by a nobel-peace prize winning game design legend, will be cracked and distributed on day one by some self righteous teenager anyway. People who crack and upload games don't give a damn what you've done to placate gamers, they crack it anyway." Nihal de Silva of Direct2Drive UK said his company hasn't noticed any sales patterns indicating customers are avoiding games with DRM. Richard Wilson of TIGA feels that customers should be adequately warned before buying a game that uses DRM, but makes no bones about the opinion that the resale of used games is not something publishers should worry about.<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/03/0730236/Game-Industry-Vets-On-DRM?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/03/0730236"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/03/0730236/Game-Industry-Vets-On-DRM?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/qIGtBgpP4vLreZy9nFor8lBHmBU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/qIGtBgpP4vLreZy9nFor8lBHmBU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/qIGtBgpP4vLreZy9nFor8lBHmBU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/qIGtBgpP4vLreZy9nFor8lBHmBU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/TWlVW641cik" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-03T08:33:00+00:00 games other-perspectives games 370 370,367,304,251,59,30,19 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/03/0730236/Game-Industry-Vets-On-DRM?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/7i51qNJsq_k/Why-Has-No-One-Made-a-Great-Gaming-Phone andylim writes "According to Engadget, John Koller, Sony's head of PlayStation marketing, recently said that 'Apple's entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony. When people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP.' What's odd though is that everyone knows that the mobile phone gaming market is a huge and yet neither Sony nor Nintendo has made a gaming phone yet. Recombu.com thinks that Nokia could enter the space with PSP-like devices and it has come up with a concept phone called the Ovi Orion, which would bridge the gap between phone and console, 'If the iPhone is Wii, then Ovi Orion would be Xbox and offer Xbox Live style features. A serious gaming phone for serious gamers.'"<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/01/151203/Why-Has-No-One-Made-a-Great-Gaming-Phone?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/01/151203"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/01/151203/Why-Has-No-One-Made-a-Great-Gaming-Phone?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8BfeUjVIOvWFaaXAyLeusIii1EI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8BfeUjVIOvWFaaXAyLeusIii1EI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8BfeUjVIOvWFaaXAyLeusIii1EI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/8BfeUjVIOvWFaaXAyLeusIii1EI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/7i51qNJsq_k" height="1" width="1"/> ScuttleMonkey 2010-02-01T19:55:00+00:00 communications holding-an-xbox-to-your-ear games 303 303,298,253,212,42,26,15 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/01/151203/Why-Has-No-One-Made-a-Great-Gaming-Phone?from=rss http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/k_HTY8foslo/Review-emMass-Effect-2em Mass Effect debuted a little over two years ago to almost universal praise, getting high marks for the rich story, endless exploration options, and entertaining gameplay. Despite the game's success, BioWare listened closely to player feedback, promising to revamp the parts of the game that needed improvement while developing the sequel. They didn't hesitate to refine the elements they wanted to keep and do away with the ones they didn't. The result is a familiar, but much more streamlined experience. Rather than being a shooter with a great story added in, Mass Effect 2 a great story that often has you shoot things. Read on for the rest of my thoughts.<p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/01/167211/Review-emMass-Effect-2em?from=rss"><img src="http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&amp;op=image&amp;style=h0&amp;sid=10/02/01/167211"></a></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/01/167211/Review-emMass-Effect-2em?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jQuO4Xcdms6GLyU-TW5IMhSQJSQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jQuO4Xcdms6GLyU-TW5IMhSQJSQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jQuO4Xcdms6GLyU-TW5IMhSQJSQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jQuO4Xcdms6GLyU-TW5IMhSQJSQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/k_HTY8foslo" height="1" width="1"/> Soulskill 2010-02-01T16:58:00+00:00 games that-was-a-joke games 331 331,329,279,217,31,18,9 http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/02/01/167211/Review-emMass-Effect-2em?from=rss Search Slashdot stories query http://games.slashdot.org/search.pl