Posts by Glen Bayer

Video games are a commitment. I'm almost hesitant to sit down with a console game these days because to make any real progress—to travel from one save point to another—might take longer than the fifteen or so minutes I have available. This is one of the reasons I've grown to appreciate my handhelds. For those not aware, most handhelds these days have a pause feature that essentially creates a temporary save that you can return to at anytime.

I was casually sitting on my couch the other day, watching a scary movie with the lights dimmed, and I heard this strange growling sound. It started out with a slobbering grunt but the intensity grew. I thought for sure there was a velociraptor behind me waiting to sink its barbed claws into my face. With my eyes widened, I turned my head to see that it was just my lazy kitty producing a snore tsunami.

Whoa. Did you know games today cost an average of $10-28 million to develop? Meanwhile something on the scale of Grand Theft Auto V is estimated to cost over $100 million by the time it's finished. That's scary. It's no wonder so many developers like Nintendo choose to play it safe by creating sequels to successful games. When development budgets are this astronomical, one failure can mean the complete destruction and demise of a company.

Before you can try a demo, you need first to discover it. Today we discover games by word-of-mouth, a positive magazine review, or a passionate blog post. Later this year, we can add another method to that list: Miiverse. Miiverse will encourage discovery of software through Miis who will congregate around popular games on your Wii U home screen. Once you've taken notice of a game, the next step is finding out if that game is relevant to you.

In September 1996, I had just entered 8th grade. My freshly sprouted facial hair and deepening voice were no doubt the envy of my classmates. But there was another, far more monumental thing that was about to happen to me. I was on a routine shopping outing with my mother and sister. They loved to shop. I despised it but would occasionally tag along for the opportunity to stop by Toys R Us and check out the latest games for my Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.

Pikmin 3 won't have an online mode, and that doesn't surprise me. Nor should it you. During the Wii U re-unveiling on June 3, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed one of his sources of inspiration. He held up Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, a book by M.I.T. professor Sherry Turkle. One of the concerns Turkle raises in her book is that we're missing out on the intimate human interactions that we had before cell phones, tablets and the Internet existed.

Though I personally have mixed thoughts about Microsoft's Achievements and Sony's Trophies, with the release of Nintendo's Wii U console now impending, many are wondering if Nintendo will introduce its own accomplishment-tracking system. Can you imagine a Zelda game encouraging players to "slice 10,000 blades of grass?" Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime recently mentioned to Kotaku that the achievement system on Wii U will be completely game-specific and furthermore developers won't be required to include them.

I think there's something magical about the convenience of pulling my phone out of my pocket at any moment in the day and indulging in a few minutes of game time. A recent survey (link goes to PDF) by PopCap Games indicates 59 percent of mobile users have used their phones or tablets for gaming this year. That's a 13 percent increase since last year. I think this marks the year when console gaming was finally diagnosed with a terminal illness, its days numbered.

As we line up for our tickets to enter NintendoLand this Christmas, the company's most recent E3 showing may suggest it's time to accept an unnerving truth. All signs point to the fact that Nintendo no longer employs executives who can relate to or understand long-time gamers. Which shouldn't come as a surprise—after all, they've spent the past six years hiring executives and management who have an intimate understanding of casual gamers and casual tastes.

Goomba corpses have littered the Mushroom Kingdom for decades. The poor things are usually on their way to work or school when they meet their demise. They barely even put up a fight, just keep on walking into Mario's cruel squish-zone. What if they weren't such mindless goons? Jacob Minkoff, lead designer on the new action-adventure game The Last of Us, is exploring technology that might ensure such a future isn't as far off as we think.