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Edge Games Index

Edge Staff — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:27:20 +0000

Every week, the Edge Games Index, produced in association with Brandwatch, rates games according to the volume of positive and negative buzz they're inspiring on the web.

The Friday Game: Sneeze

Chris Donlan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:14:06 +0000

Format: Flash
Developer: Oil Productions and Playerthree
http://www.miniclip.com/games/sneeze/en/

Review: A Boy and his Blob

Edge Staff — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:36:28 +0000

Format: Wii
Release: Out now
Publisher: Majesco
Developer: WayForward
Screenshot gallery

Interview: Insomniac Games

Edge Staff — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:21:53 +0000

In the time it’s taken many to simply suss out the hardware, Burbank’s Insomniac Games has made more triple-A titles for PS3 than any other developer. Say what you like about the solemn and scrappy Resistance series, but its ongoing work with Ratchet & Clank has been exemplary. The gambolling Future series – which comes to a close with this month’s Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time – shows just what you can do when you know your market, nail down your philosophy and, above all, have just as much fun as you intend for your audience.

Playful

Alex Wiltshire — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:29:42 +0000

Playful was billed as a day of cross-disciplinary frolicking, and that description for this day of talks from various game designers, thinkers, drawers and makers was about right. Eclectic and all about videogames’ fringes, Playful, organised by games consultancy Pixel-Lab, was held in Conway Hall, near Holborn, on the last day of the London Games Festival and had the air of the optimism of a bushy bearded gathering of philanthropists.

Community Spotlight

Alex Walker — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:15:03 +0000

The 8bit era is usually viewed with dewy-eyed affection, but as EvilRedEye discusses, it also produced some games that are probably best left there. Reacting to Arkedo’s Jump, made for Xbox Indie Games, he questions its lack of a save system – for if you run out of lives, you have to start over from level one. Making a game hard as a nod to nostalgia doesn’t seem to be the right approach.

Review: Fatale - Exploring Salome

Edge Staff — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:33:56 +0000

Format: PC
Release: Out now
Publisher: Tale Of Tales
Developer: Tale Of Tales

Interview: Technology Strategy Board

Edge Staff — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:04:13 +0000

While the UK games industry trade body TIGA continues to lobby hard for videogame tax relief, a government-backed organisation is actively courting the development community. Originally established in 2004 and funded by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has a remit to promote innovation within UK industry.

Review: DJ Hero

Edge Staff — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:00:28 +0000

Format: 360, PS2, PS3 (version tested), Wii
Release: Out now
Publisher: Activision
Developer: FreeStyleGames

The Friday Game: Crazygame.exe

Chris Donlan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:04:54 +0000

Format: PC
Developer: ?

"The strangest part about this game is that no-one is really sure where it came from," says Jaybird, on his Crazygame.exe fan-page. "It just seems to circle through people by word of mouth and sending it from friend to friends via AIM."

Scotland In Focus

Gavin Stuart — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:50:41 +0000

Scotland’s development community backed trade association TIGA’s demand for government tax relief during a forum held at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

New World Order

Mathew Kumar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:59:05 +0000

Held during the 80th anniversary of the stock market crash —ironically, in the Toronto stock exchange building, one of the worldwide markets that weathered the crash — this year’s edition of the GameOn Finance conference concentrated heavily on the topic of funding game production in a similarly uncertain economic climate. Most commentators dwelt on the changes sweeping the industry, speculating that new business models fuelled by the success of Facebook games, iPhone and episodic content are likely to change the face of it entirely.

Pushing Bytes

Edge Staff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:16:02 +0000

"Someone compared the Apple App Store to the warehouse at the end of The Raiders of the Lost Ark - full of magnificent treasures but impossible to find anything - and with the App Store, it's like looking at it through a letterbox."

Oliver Birch, the founder of new marketing agency PlayReplay, is clearly sceptical of online communities discovering and promoting the best games to their peers. "Build it and they will come?" he asks. "I'd love that to be true."

Edge Games Index

Edge Staff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:34:13 +0000

Every Thursday, the Edge Games Index, produced in association with Brandwatch, rates games according to the volume of positive and negative buzz they're inspiring on the web.

Elite Reunion

Edge Staff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:00:19 +0000

The two creators of one of the most revered games of all time spoke at Nottingham’s GameCity festival yesterday, putting aside disputes of the past to celebrate 25 years since the release of Elite for the BBC Micro.

Community Spotlight

Alex Walker — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:35:53 +0000

Presenting highlights from Edge's community-written blogs, with discussion on button layouts, why games should ape TV and how to learn an instrument using Guitar Hero.

VFX Heroes

Alex Wiltshire — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:29:23 +0000

DJ Hero’s thoroughly bombastic introductory video, which depicts in-game characters vying for control of an enormous record needle that's tearing through an urban landscape, was created by London-based visual effects studio Framestore.

Interview: Mind Twist

Chris Dahlen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:36:38 +0000

The next project from the creators of Magic: The Gathering won’t be paper-based. It’s instead being designed for the world of online, via Facebook and iPhone. Mind Twist is still very much just a codename to the public, but its developer, Mind Control Software, is squarely aiming its head-to-head, turn-based fantasy battle game at what it calls the ‘thinking gamer’.

Review: Magna Carta II

Edge Staff — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:34:11 +0000

Format: 360
Release: Out now
Publisher: Atari/Bandai Namco
Developer: Softmax

Preview: London Games Festival

Edge Staff — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:28:54 +0100

It’s the London Games Festival next week, the fourth annual celebration of videogames in the UK capital.

Comprising a mixture of both public and industry events, it promises to offer something for everyone, and, naturally, we’ll be there. Here’s our pick of what’s going on:

MCM Expo
Saturday October 24 and Sunday 25
Excel Centre