News Inventory

"Why does Blizzard succeed where others don't?" asks Jay Wilson, a lead game designer with a shock of spiked hair and a wry disposition. "It isn't a magic trick. We work at it, and if a product isn't good enough, we cancel it." Blizzard Entertainment, of course, is the Irvine (Calif.)-based maker of the world's most popular and profitable online game, World of Warcraft (WoW), which boasts nearly 11 million monthly subscribers around the globe. The company is also at the heart of ... Read More

Over the weekend, I spent some time playing online. I did so on Xbox Live and through games on both my PS3 and Wii. All the while, I was thinking about the one simple fact that kept sticking out in my head: for now at least, I can play online with my Wii and Playstation 3 and the experience is basically the same. And considering Microsoft keeps losing ground to both Sony and Nintendo, why not find a new way to offer a ... Read More

To hardcore players, this question may sound ridiculous, but do game developers have too much fan feedback? Obviously, there are many that don’t, and won’t, take any of it seriously. For others, it’s their main source of feedback. While some may consider this new trend to be a perfect example of exactly what the industry should be, maybe in some cases the fans have just a bit too much influence. With the release of Too Human, a lot of the attention that should ... Read More

How do you feel about Nintendo at the moment? Probably not too great, we'll wager. It's okay. We understand. All of us who witnessed that now legendary E3 press conference share a pain which bonds us as brothers for life. But now that the tears have left our eyes and the screams have left our throats, we've had time to properly reflect on just how bad the future might be for the dedicated Nintendo fan. And we've found that things may not actually ... Read More

After Shigeru Miyamoto developed a love of puzzles, the “brain-training” software that has proved to be an international “killer application” on the Nintendo DS console was born. He became interested in taking more exercise, and Wii Fit was created. He took up music lessons, and Wii Music was the result. Now, according to sources at Nintendo, the games designer has been banned by the company from speaking publicly about his hobbies. It's not that they are naughty, illegal or even nerdish, it's just that any ... Read More