[Back after a few months’ hiatus, The Aberrant Gamer is happy to return as a biweekly, sometimes NSFW column by Leigh Alexander, dedicated to the kinks and quirks we gamers tend to keep under our hats – those predilections and peccadilloes less commonly discussed in conventional media.]
“Make her boobs bigger,” someone says.
“No, no,” I argue. “She needs to be petite. We’re going lolicon-style.”
“How is a lolicon-style girl supposed to kick ass?”
I know, I know, but I’ve got this entire set of “kitty” clothes, and fuzzy ears, and am I really going to put them on an Amazon woman? Actually, that might be kind of cool. So I take her – my creation – and I make her a little bit taller and more muscular, and then I put the little ribbon and bell around her neck.
“It looks stupid,” I decide, scrolling, overwhelmed, through plate armor and fishnets that might be […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Leigh Alexander)

A new survey of Guitar Hero and Rock Band players by Brown University ethnomusicologist Kiri Miller has revealed some fascinating trends, including the fact that 76% of the players bought music they heard in the game, and 69% often play in multiplayer modes.
The initial results from Miller, who has previously written on the subject for GameSetWatch, were first revealed on her ‘Guitar Hero Research’ weblog.
She explained: “As of this writing I have received 414 responses. Survey respondents were self-selecting; most heard about the survey through recruitment messages posted on several high-traffic online messageboards devoted specifically to these game”
However, even given this, Miller noted that “…the content and range of the qualitative responses in the surveys does seem to match the range of perspectives I have encountered through other research channels.”
Some of the highlights of the research to date on these ‘core’ players of music games reveal:
- 88% male, 11% […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Simon Carless)

[Veteran, possibly pseudonymous game developer Matthew Wasteland writes the ‘Arrested Development’ humor column for Game Developer magazine, and we’re now reprinting his best insights on GameSetWatch. This delightful installment includes several useful excerpts from nonexistent game development tomes.]
Making Money With GameCube Ports: A Fast And Easy Guide To The Wealth You’ve Always Wanted!
First of all, you’ll need to get yourself one or more “Dolphin” developer kits, which are the devices that are used to create GameCube games. I’ve had some success finding these in local landfills, but your luck may vary depending on location (I live in San Rafael, California).
Sometimes you see them for sale on Craigslist by a developer’s divorced wife or estranged parent, who doesn’t know what it is, and you can nab it for cheap. Ask to see it first, of course; you’ll know it’s a real Dolphin because it has a picture of a dolphin, […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Simon Carless)

[’Design Lesson 101′ is a regular column by game designer Manveer Heir. The goal is to play a game from start to completion and learn something about game design in the process. This week we take a look at Jonathan Blow’s critically acclaimed platform-puzzler, Braid, available on Xbox Live Arcade]
In 1977, the Atari 2600 was launched with a joystick that had a grand total of one button to use. Today, the Xbox 360 has sixteen buttons on their controller. In other words, about every two years we get another button on our controllers.
This increase in interface complexity is the result of increased game complexity. Games have added features such as fully 3D environments, complex dialog trees, and crouch-jumping in recent years. Often in these games, the mechanics are layered on top of each other to create a greater challenge. Moving in a first-person game is simple. Shooting in a first-person […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Manveer Heir)

Popcap cames has announced that Bejeweled has sold more than 25 million copies. That’s a lot of casual games for casual game players. PopCap co-founder Jason Kapalka had this to say about it, “Considering we tried to sell Bejeweled outright to more than one industry giant back in the early days of our company, and got no takers even after reducing our asking price to $60,000, this little game has done all right for itself.” All right for itself means they’ve made about 300,000 million dollars, much better than the 60,000 they were hoping to get.

This is cool and all, but I have a bone to pick with Bejeweled and games like it. I’m partially color blind. I can’t ever tell green from the yellow in games like this. I’m not the only person with this problem, in fact it’s quite common. If the designers could just either use different […]

Original Post By Google News Paul

[In this editorial, originally printed in Game Developer magazine and already causing much debate on online messageboards, editor-in-chief Brandon Sheffield questions whether oft-theorized “graphics plateau” has already occurred, as supported by the continued success of graphically modest systems such as Wii and PlayStation 2.]
Developers and journalists alike have talked about the inevitable point past which graphics do not matter, and the focus turns to gameplay. The question I pose to you is — has that already happened? Were we just not listening?
I was considering this when confronted with a few facts from Japan, firstly. The most popular “modern” consoles there are the DS, the Wii, and the PSP. None of these consoles have the graphics push of the big boys, as we know.
Further, Koei recently released Dynasty Warriors 6, “exclusively” for PS3, but due to fan reaction, subsequently ported it to PS2. Atlus is still releasing its […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Simon Carless)

Aha, the ever-present GameSetLink-age bus is trundling up to the WWW stop again, headed by another of those well-researched MSNBC.com articles that don’t often get noticed by game sites - this time, on social network gaming.
Also wandering around in here, the (pictured) super-cute Shooting Historica Vol.2 classic shmup figurines, as well as a review of Billy Mitchell’s family restaurant, a disturbing Rooster Teeth cartoon, Cliffski on talking to pirates (in case you hadn’t seen), and plenty more.
Go go gooooo:
Social networks get friendly with games - Citizen Gamer- msnbc.com
Another good piece from MSBNC - monetization is still somewhat iffy on this type of stuff, but it's darn popular.
NCSX Import Video Games & Toys: Shooting Game Historica Vol. 2 - New Import, In Stock
'Japanese toy manufacturer Yujin launches the second volume of Shooting Game Historica gashapon which features starships from another six shooting games.'
Hidden Gems - Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor - […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Simon Carless)

There’s been a lot going on over the past couple weeks in magazine-land (not least of which being the destruction of my laptop, which is why this column is a little late), but I’d like to start instead by officially inaugurating the UK’s Retro Gamer into the regular rotation of what I cover in Mag Watch. It’s only fair, after all, given that I cover the extremely rough Video Game Collector and RG beats it in every single aspect — content, features, industry access, art design, and covers — except for price.
(People on classic gaming forums in the US complain constantly about the $11.99 newssstand price, but considering the direction that retro-game collecting is going, you can’t help but wonder about the hypocrisy afoot.)
I think it finally dawned on me that I ought to be discussing RG more often with this issue (the 53rd one, not the 50th one […]

Original Post By Google News editors@gamesetwatch.com (Kevin Gifford)

If you’re interested in the development of Fallout 3 (and why shouldn’t you be?) then you’ve got to make sure and check out a whole slew of images that were taken by an Asian blogger who, I suppose, doesn’t care about breaking NDAs. There’s so many pictures that if you put them in a flipbook I bet it would be a crappily animated Fallout cartoon.
So far the game is looking damn good. It looks almost exactly like the old games, except rendered in glorious three dimensions. I’m really excited to see that you can target individual body parts like in the original (and even the sort of crappy Brotherhood of Steel). I also haven’t seen any rainbows yet, so you can rest your pitchforks you hardcore dirtbags. Oh wait, you can’t handle the change from 1995 to the present. Sorry.
Thanks to: Binge Gamer

Original Post By Google News Paul

If you can’t wait for over the top, unbelievable and extreme to the max Star Wars action that’s like, TOTALLY UNLEASHED, then you should be happy to know that Star Wars: Unleashed is having a demo available on Thursday. The demo will hit Xbox Live and PSN, with Wii owners being left demo-less in the cold. The demo will be the level that’s been seen in many a demo video, the TIE Fighter Construction Facility.

Personally, I’ll get the demo and judge it based on that. The game has been so hyped and delayed that I’ve got some suspicions that it might not be the greatest thing ever, so a demo will really help put my fears to rest (or confirm them). Plus, I’m not really digging the whole “secret” apprentice that has more power with the Force than anything seen in the films. It’s a little over the top. […]

Original Post By Google News Paul