We are putting together some beautiful artwork for everyone who selected the $5 and above reward tiers. It will be made available to everyone later this month, so look forward to it!
Half-Genie, Multiple-Pledger
And finally, we will begin sending emails out to everyone next week to confirm pledge amounts and reward tiers. This will likely be a slow process so bear with us and don't panic if you don't receive an email at 12:01am on Monday. Once that has all been completed we will total up the limited quantity reward tiers and place the remaining numbers up on our PayPal store.
Coming from Tsunekazu Ishihara's on a NHK program called “Professional—Style of Work”...
- doesn't make projects that focus on big sales, but instead makes things he's personally happy with and will bring others joy
- thorough play-testing done no matter what the Pokemon project is
- some projects have gone years into development only to never see release
“I believe that when the makers get tired or bored of making, that’s when it should immediately be stopped. I believe that losing your feeling of wanting to present something to the world, or the passion you have for it, is the worst possible scenario.”
Referring to the Pikachu detective game for 3DS...
“When it comes to continuously providing something new, to a degree, it also means losing some of the older good qualities it originally had. Then you take that, and make it into something that can be accepted by everyone, by cautiously implementing new ideas. That is where we have to put in untiring effort—or rather, you could call it a challenge.”
On his definition of being a professional
“Someone who can always challenge themselves to continuously put something new together. While I do believe that it is difficult to come up with something new, I also believe one [a professional] would find joy in that, without thinking of it as being difficult.”
- players' race, age, and entertainment interests are taken into consideration when developing a title
- does not focus on making games for younger children
“If there’s even one person who says that this is just for play, so it’s a little boring, then it’s an issue that must be fixed. If we settle ‘amusement’ in a halfhearted manner, then people won’t look twice, so we must thoroughly make it into something that can be considering amusing, and not stopping until we achieve this, is what’s important.”
The Weapon Specialist focuses on one vital task: destroy as many aliens as possible. The extra bullet damage really comes in handy when dealing with heavily armored threats or when fighting back a swarm of smaller enemies. Weapon handling continues to improve as the Weapon Specialist gains levels.
Tank
25% more health.
The brute of the group, Tanks stand at the front and take hits that would otherwise knock out other, more fragile classes. The extra health lets you play more aggressively, getting into the thick of things and coming out alive. Additional levels further improve the Tank’s health in addition to their lethality.
Engineer
Provide armor for the drill and earn more bonus cash.
Without a functioning drill, your team will have a very difficult time progressing. The Engineer offers much needed protection to the team’s drill, incredibly useful during moments when you get overwhelmed. Drill maintenance and trap efficiency improve as the Engineer gains levels.
Just like we showed with the European site, the official NA site is now open and ready for your snooping. Hop on over and check out what it has to offer!
Coming from a Kotaku interview with EA's Andrew Wilson...
"[Russel Simmons] said, listen, human beings have an inherent need to steal, built into our DNA. I thought, 'Well that's profound, but I actually don't feel like I have that need. [Simmons] said, 'Well, listen, there are different ways you can fulfill that need. The way we try to satisfy that is that if we sell you something for $20, we give you $25 in value. And by doing so, we have satisfied your inherent need to steal in a positive way. And when people do that, they tell their friends.' 'But,' [Simmons] said, 'If you give me $20 but I only give you $15, you leave thinking I stole from you. And that's the thing human beings hate the most: to be stolen from. It's really simple.'"
This helped EA to look at game value from a different perspective. They also started getting a bit upset that they were viewed as the worst company in America.
"We started thinking about how we don't want to be viewed as the worst company in America. I personally don't think we've ever been the worst company in America, but it says something. The consumers out there are telling us something. And we actually took it very seriously. This was before Andrew was the CEO. We and [EA chief operating officer] Peter Moore and a couple of other guys in the executive company got together to try to understand what caused people to say these things. And there were some things out there that...consumers told us they didn't like. online pass was one thing."
A portion of a Canada.com interview with author Colin Woodward...
Q: I’ve always had an interest in history and video games so I’m thrilled to be able to talk to you about your work on Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. I was wondering, from your perspective, is the game historically accurate. I know it’s a video game so some stuff needs to be played around with though.
Colin Woodward: … I haven’t played through it. In fact, I’m only familiar with the script stuff which I worked on. In terms of seeing the actual completed game with the visuals and the like, I was at a media event in Europe and I’ve seen some sequences watching over the shoulders of media while they played (and I’ve played a little bit of multiplayer).
I don’t have a comprehensive view of the entire thing yet. What I can say is from what I have seen, and especially my work with Darby McDevitt (AC IV’s lead script writer), I was amazed. I was brought in to be a script consultant to try to improve the historical accuracy of the script. They already had the basic shape of the script when I got involved, I was amazed at how accurate it already was and the depth of research that they’d gone into (Ubisoft) and digging into sources and understanding the times and the technology and stuff….
The general world, with the caveat that they’re creating a video game, I was really impressed with what a good job they did with that. They’ve captured something about the real story about these golden age pirates…
Decided to give you guys a look at some footage from the Regular Show game. This is a fully level playthrough coming from the second world. I managed to not die while playing! I didn't manage to keep the 3DS level, so I apologize for the slight slant.
- based off the second game in the series
- follow Seed, a warrior who’s been training for years
- he watches as his greatest rival Billnas leaves for the Toshin tournament
- he happens to take the love-of-Seed’s-life Hazuki with him
- involves a classic story of betrayal and intrigue
- Hazuki thinks if Billnas wins, Seed will marry her
- Hazuki’s dad says the winner of the tournament will marry Hazuki
- the winner will also gain the dojo they trained in
- wander tournament labyrinths and fight monsters
- battles are turn-based RPG style
- 100 skills to choose from in 1v1 battles
- uses Action Points, which you spend dealing out massive damage
- you can also hold back on points and spend them when enemy defenses are weakened
- woo women to earn new skills
- rule where fighters have to have a woman partnered up with them
- losers have to let the winners take their gal out for a date
- give them gifts to raise their trust and affection towards you
- this will unlock new skills for you eventually
- capture female monsters in the labyrinth
- dozens of different quest options available
- ladies will turn into cards you can equip and level up separately
The following comes from a fan-translated interview from “We Love Pokémon” featuring Game Freak's Ken Sugimori.
- next generation of Pokemon games will not add more layers of complexity
- they have a goal of simplicity, using ideas from Pokemon Red and Green
- says some fans have asked for the dev team to significantly organize/trim the moves, abilities, items, etc.
- also feels that Pokemon designs could probably be simplified
- his favorite Pokemon is Gengar
McFarlane Toys is working on its own Rabbids invasion, set to release in Spring 2014. Based on the Nickelodeon TV show, the Rabbids line will feature figurines based on the characters. Create your own unique Rabbid with customizable figures and accessories as well as toys that light up and make noise. Prices will range from $3.99 and up.
Video gaming is a highly pervasive activity, providing a multitude of complex cognitive and motor demands. Gaming can be seen as an intense training of several skills. Associated cerebral structural plasticity induced has not been investigated so far. Comparing
a control with a video gaming training group that was trained for 2 months for at least 30 min per day with a platformer game, we found significant gray matter (GM) increase in right hippocampal formation (HC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and
bilateral cerebellum in the training group. The HC increase correlated with changes from egocentric to allocentric navigation strategy. GM increases in HC and DLPFC correlated with participants’ desire for video gaming, evidence suggesting a predictive role
of desire in volume change. Video game training augments GM in brain areas crucial for spatial navigation, strategic planning, working memory and motor performance going along with evidence for behavioral changes of navigation strategy. The presented video game training could therefore be used to counteract known risk factors for mental disease such as smaller hippocampus and prefrontal cortex volume in, for example, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and neurodegenerative disease.
What makes this study different from previous studies that showed similar effects?
- This study is published in Nature Molecular Psychiatry, which is a top-tier journal in this field. That isn't to say it automatically makes the results true, but it is likely that the editing/reviewing process was more reliable than a lower-impact journal.
- This study directly measured grey matter volume using MRI
What implications might this study have for psychiatry?
- It is possible that video games might promote or protect neurons involved in specific tasks, such as spatial navigation and memory.
- Designing games that target specific neuronal deficits could be valuable treatments for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.
This is the first episode of the new Legend of Zelda series that is popping up on Nintendo Video. The upload is processing, so hang tight for a few minutes.
A portion of a USGamer review...
You shouldn't hate Milon's Secret Castle. It's not evil, just kind of clumsy and stupid. Like a video game puppy that was dropped on its head, it may seem like it wants to be your friend but will end up just piddling on your shoes.
