Archive for the ‘games’ Category

Deconstructing MW2′s multiplayer maps to understand the principles of design and gameplay that lie beneath.

Yesterday the ‘New Xbox Experience’ (NXE) upgrade was finally rolled out to all Xbox Live users. The old system (created by AKQA and known as the “blades”) was more dated than bad, but the market has shifted during its five-year lifespan. Online is now the default platform for many, casual gaming is the new black, [...]

I realise I’m a little late to the party with Portal, but I just don’t play games as much as I used to. My free time has collapsed of late and, as a veteran from the ZX Spectrum days, I’m sick of the industry treading the same paths over and over again. So nowadays I [...]

Never expected something from YTMND to put a lump in my throat. Click to play:

I’ve started to play chess again. And wow, they’ve made it lots harder since I’ve been away. I’m putting it down to my more open brain. Yup. Remind me to write about my strange left-brain-to-right-brain conversion some day; there can’t be many designers with Physics degrees. There doesn’t seem to be a great lot of [...]

Draughts got solved – I do think AI is a ‘good thing’ but I think I liked the days where great mysteries were just that. I hope chess still has a few years left. The Helvetica film is finally on at the ICA this month. Now I just need to find another typography geek to [...]

Well well. The console wars just got a lot more interesting. Sony have announced “Home”, a Second Life-esque virtual world to meet other gamers, download extra content (presumably via micropayments), and generally immerse oneself into the world of PS3. It looks extremely nifty and is probably the first genuinely exciting thing Sony have done in [...]

Well, it’s been a while, and finally I have some news. From April I will be moving to London to take up an IA position with uSwitch.com. Obviously I’m delighted – it seems like a great company with a good understanding of UCD and some big plans for the future. I’m also looking forward to [...]