Monday, July 11, 2011
SSX multiplayer to get gamescom unveil
Facebook Gives Users One More Way to Get Into Each Others' Faces
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Dead Island Peter Brolly Interview
Jane puts your questions to Peter Brolly of Dead Island developer Deep Silver
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Saturday, July 9, 2011
You've Never Seen a Robot Drive System Like This Before [Video]
Friday, July 8, 2011
F1 2011: The Pinnacle of Motorsport
There is something delightfully old school about the F1 video game franchise. It's largely down to the intricacies of adapting a sport as complex as Formula 1 racing to this medium. Take into account the research, reflexes and technical knowledge an F1 driver has to have running at the back of their...
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Daily Crunch: Animal TV Edition
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Final Fantasy getting a rhythm game
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for 3DS to require screen taps in sync with music pulled from long-running RPG series.
Apart from being a big role-playing game franchise, the Final Fantasy series has been known for its music, compositions, and live orchestra tribute performances like the Dear Friends and Distant Worlds concerts. In that context, it seems fitting that Square Enix is creating a rhythm game based on the Final Fantasy series' music is in the works for the Nintendo 3DS, according to a recent issue of Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump (translated by Siliconera).
The game will be called Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and is labeled as a "theater rhythm action" title. Players will have to tap the 3DS touch screen in accordance to the beat of a selected song while the top screen displays field scenes and side-view battle scenes set in Final Fantasy locales. The game's art style will be colorful and reminiscent of the style used in Square Enix's mobile Kingdom Hearts titles.
A release date for the title has yet to be announced. For more on the music of Final Fantasy, check out GameSpot's recent Sound Byte article.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
LeapFrog Announce LeapPad Explorer Tablet
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Hasselblad Could Make Cheaper Cameras For You and Me, Thanks to Owners' New Direction [Blip]
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
let's play games
play games until too late was fun, especially playing the same competitive friends. even the feet were tingling and felt was not bitten by mosquitoes, good base to play the game
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Psn update and other game news

- First off: the PSN is back up! Not in all countries as we speak, but they are working on it one by one, so be prepared! The date was originally may 31, so this is a nice suprise from Sony.
- Ubisoft is in the process of making movies from some of their games. Splinter cell, assassins creed and ghost recon are still the only three games they are talking about, but more may come. It will be big projects and Ubisoft will be keeping sure that everything will be true to the games.
- Lots of short Modern warfare 3 teasers went up this weekend, every one of them for different countries, you can find them all on youtube of course, but here is the one for america.
The last part is in russian, and means "One. Eliminate enemy hopes for victory." (Correct me if I'm wrong russians).
Friday, May 13, 2011
Blogger bug
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Diablo 3 news
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Sumotori game review
Portal 2 Secret: turret song
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
PSN update
Bonie Series for iPhone 4 unique cases
Quick Overview
Improve iPhone 4 signal reception
Accurate fitting for all control buttons
Clip-on Style for convenience
Durable for daily use as protection
Prevent scratch and enhance shock absorption
Stand out design to show your taste
Details
More Than Cases get now!!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Assassins creed release date

Brink launch is near
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The wonderful Yogscast

The "shadow of israphel" (which the series are called) is now on its third series so those of you that have not seen it have alot to look forward to! Deaths, twists, scary and touching moments, heroes, badies and most of all you will be laughing your ass of the whole way through. They also play Portal 2 and many other games which are equally fun. Here are a Trailer of the show, its SO good!
You can find theire youtube channel here. Homepage here, And the podcast on itunes here.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
iPhone protection electromagnetic radiation
CellLaVie was tested by MET labs (California) testing and certification company (Full test report can be found here)
CellLaVie is made of ultra thin transparent film, enables use of other accessories/cases as well
CellLaVie product arrives with installation kit which includes: installation solution, squeegee, lint free cloth and product warranty. Please read installation instructions and watch through the installation video before applying CellLaVie on your device.
Get now!! Wise Environment Ltd.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Wii price cut confirmed

Dead island
On Making Lots of People Angry
I thought that I had a lot of good points to be made about the perils and opportunities of listening to feedback from fans (or ex-fans), so I wrote a blog post about it. This had the entirely predictable effect of infuriating the previously mentioned community.
Now, in the light of day, I feel kind of bad about it. I think what I wrote was fairly mild and I do still stand by every word of it. However, I think I kicked a group of my fellow gamers when they were down, and, being a lifelong gamer myself, I regret that. I've been reading their posts and chatting with them and I think I understand where they're coming from a lot better now.
I am only bringing this up because this blog is mainly about indie gaming, and I think this a great opportunity to make a huge point in that area.
Here's Your Audience, Wrapped Up In a Bow
Fledgling developers write me all the time asking for advice on what sort of game to write. What I tell them is that they should look for an underserved niche and serve it. This is the Great Magic Power of Indie developers.
Here, as I see it, is the story of RPG Codex. These people love, love, love old-school hardcore RPGs. The sort that used to be common on the ground and have faded away. They were forsaken by Sir-Tech, and Origin, and SSI, and Bioware, and now me. There was a thing that they loved, and it is gone, and they are angry about it. The anger might manifest itself in unappealing ways, but it's real. Nobody likes losing what they love.
You want to do what I do? You want to make a living writing RPGs? You have skillz? Go there. Talk to them. Pick past the ranting, find the reasonable things they are after, and write that game. Do it well, and you can make money.
And One Final Word For RPG Codex
I am still a gamer at heart. The gritty, hardcore elements in Avadon are later in the game. I put them there to not scare off more casual gamers. Teh casualz need to be eased into that sort of thing.
Were you my fan, but the Avadon demo turned you off? Well, here's a challenge. We have a one year no questions asked money-back guarantee. Buy the game. Give it a few hours on Hard or Torment difficulty. (I suggest until the boss fight with Zhossa Mindtaker.)
Still disappointed? Then I don't want your money. You get it back. My lips to God's ear.
This weeks game bargains: update
- Collector Armor and Assault Rifle - Two bonus in-game items: advanced regeneration armor and a powerful enemy-shredding assault rifle.
- Incisor Rifle - Bonus in-game weapon. Firing three shots with each pull of the trigger, the Incisor Rifle is designed to decimate shields.
- Original Soundtrack - The Mass Effect 2 original soundtrack features 12 pieces spanning the entire Mass Effect 2 experience.
- Digital Art Book* - The art book contains 48 pages of stunning full color artwork including captions from the Mass Effect 2 team.
- Digital Mass Effect Redemption #1 comic* - Redemption follows Liara T’Soni’s dangerous mission to find Commander Shepard.
- Documentary Video* - Featuring behind-the-scenes and making-of videos, the Mass Effect 2 documentary takes a look at how the game was made.
Mass effect 3 delayed
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Small update: I'm keeping my old url!
New header and url!
This weeks game bargains
Hydrophobia: prophecy: If you pre-purchase you get 15% euro off. that means it now costs 8,49 euro. The game releases may 9th so better hurry! I know I'm getting it! You can buy it on steam here.
Plants vs zombies: You get 66% euro off today! That means it only costs 3,40 euro now. the offer ends at thursday 4pm pst ( 7.30 friday morning gmt+1) You really dont want to miss this, cus this game is friggin' awesome! you also get two plants vs zombies inspired hats in team fortress 2. You can buy it on steam here.
I will update soon, I just wanted to get this out as soon as possible! :D
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Avadon Out For Windows, Responding To Critics.
We finally released Avadon: The Black Fortress for Windows. So far, it is functional and selling very well. I am really heartened to the reaction to the game. It is doing way better than I thought it would, and it's doing me a world of good to know that a game I put so much heart into doesn't appear to suck.
Because my morale is so high, I am going to do something I almost never do. I am going to go to a forum full of people who hate my games, my writing, and the mere fact that I still draw oxygen on this planet. Namely, the Avadon thread on RPG Codex.
RPG Codex is an interesting place. It is inhabited by people who like role-playing games, but love hating them. It's full of anger and enough raw bigotry that I would never advertise there. But, if you want to keep your self-esteem under control and read bad things about a game you wrote, go there. Just don't ever let those people get into your head.
So, if you are interested in what it's like to write a game and get feedback from the vast madness of the internet, take a look at these threads (mildly NSFW). Here are some comments from the thread, and my responses to them.
"I love Vogel's games but damn the demo is so boring..."
"The demo area is small and extremely crappy"
Demos are always boring. Tutorials are always dull. There are two ways of doing a demo. One - Put the player in a training wheels dungeon and teach him or her enough to play the real game. Two - Set up a really big, flashy set piece to start the game, and have the player wander through it doing nothing.
They both have their points. I've done both. But tutorials are always work. That is life.
By the way, while my demos are smaller than they used to be, they are still some of the longest demos out there. My demos used to be longer than some other full games, but, to be brutally honest, that's just bad business.
"Anyway, party members not dying but being just unconscious and resurrected after combat ends. DECLINE"
When you're designing an RPG, there are lots of toggles you have to flip. Will people recover from their wounds over time or do they have to go back to town? Will the party jump between towns/dungeons or will the whole outdoors be explorable? Will items be automatically identified? Do you have to keep track of ammo for your bows? Each answer to these questions has its good as bad points. There are no right or wrong answers. You just pick what works best for the design.
There are people who will, for religious issues, say they will never ever buy your game if you make one of these choices or the other. Ignore them and do what is best for what you're trying to do.
Oh, and there are some people who will respond to things about your work by posting an angry smily or some other image meme. Ignore these people. If they had anything valuable to say, they would use words, like people, instead of jpgs.
"I do loathe the worldmap. A single large continent shaped like a rough circle does not an interesting map make. Dunno why it bothers me the way it does but it does. "
Oh. Come. On.
There is an important lesson here for indie developers. When you make a game with a small team, you have millions of decisions to make and little time in which to make them. There isn't time to second guess everything. For a lot of stuff, you have to make the call and move on.
When people nitpick, you can't take it to heart. You have to forgive yourself. People will always nitpick. To borrow a phrase from my favorite SF story ever, the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
"Got bored with the demo as soon as I was sent to the beginner dungeon to fight rats and spiders. What a lousy piece of shit game."
You are right. I'm sure those two minutes of gameplay were crushingly disappointing!
"It seems like he put in a lot of effort to attract the casual crowd. The "casual" difficulty mode for people who are "new to fantasy RPGs"?"
A lot of complaints that the early game, especially on Normal difficulty, is too easy. When someone says that the default difficulty should be harder, what I hear is, "You should make a pile of money in your backyard and set it on fire."
I make the default difficulty easy enough that 90% of players can get through it. If this doesn't give you a challenge, play on a harder difficulty level. That is why it is there!
Sheesh.
"Yep, Jeff fucked this one up a bit - although not as bad as some people put it. Give him some credit, go to TPB and help yourself."
By TPB, the poster means The Pirate Bay. In other words, he's saying to go pirate it. I honestly think that most of these complaints are not sincere. They're just pretending the game is bad to justify their pirating it (and playing the whole thing three times). Another good reason to be very careful about whose feedback you accept.
"I am seriously disappointed. Shittiest Spiderweb game so far. By a lightyear. Will definitely not register the demo."
"Hope that it'll flop commercially"
"Started the game right now and I'm lacking words to describe my disappointment."
"Jeff Vogel went full retard"
"I wonder if Spiderweb is going to survive it..."
I think we'll be just fine.
As I said, the game is doing great. A lot of people are playing my bland, dull, derivative demo and saying, "Hey! Want more of that!" This is the biggest lesson for small developers. People who post on forums are a tiny, tiny portion of your audience. Read them occasionally. Pick through them for the rare tidbit of good feedback. But otherwise keep a respectful distance.
And, to those who have registered, thank you so much! I love flattery, but, in the end, there is no compliment better than a credit card number. That people are actually giving me their real, hard-earned money is incredibly flattering, and I thank you for making it possible for me to write Avadon 2.
Edit: I've closed comments. I think everyone who wanted to say something has had a fair chance. Thank you for the bits of interesting feedback. I will be doing more blogging on some of the issues raised. If you have more reasons why I am not cool anymore, you will have a chance to share them then.
[poll] What is your favorite game genre?

ps: thanks to all you americans for beeing my most loyal readers, even beating my own country (to be fare it is a rather small country). anyway I love you!
pps: I love the rest of you too ;)