“To be frank (don’t worry, you can still be Shirley) the first thing that disturbs me about writing about how gaming made me is that so many of you reading this won’t be old enough to remember going into a John Menzies and browsing the racks and racks of games between £1.99 and £2.99, buying one almost certainly on the basis of how interesting the cover was (or sometimes how many games they’d managed to crush on; Codesmasters sticking four, usually terrible, games on some of their tapes got me more than once) and then going home and waiting for the tape to load while reading the insert.”

I take part in Rock Paper Shotgun‘s absolutely fantastic “Gaming Made Me” series. Read them all! Mine’s best, obviously, but they’re all good.

“Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy, is more interested in art, life, and his dog, than the work of his creative peers. He’s more interested in going to the museum than going to the Game Developers Conference.

We decided that the best idea might be to inspire him ourselves — and we did that by bringing a packet of markers and a pad of drawing paper, settling down on the floor of the hotel suite Namco Bandai booked for the interview, and start drawing together. “We’re just trying to keep the interview from being boring, since they often are,” we said, by way of explanation.”

The second of the interviews at this year’s GDC that I helped Christian Nutt with, one good reason to read this one is to see the images we sketched with Takahashi. The Q&A is good (if I don’t say so myself) but I think it’s good because of the drawings.

Plus, I feel pretty honoured to say I’ve doodled with the creator of Katamari Damacy!

“Atlantica Online is a strategy RPG—although players create their own character, they also hire ‘mercenaries’ up to a maximum of eight to take part in turn-based tactical battles. The game is set in an alternate reality mixing real world locations with fantasy and steampunk, and includes a variety of community features such as the ability to control towns and a player driven economy.”

I go into detail on this in the article, but Atlantica Online is an MMO with truly gorgeous art and truly rank “Kill X, Collect Y” level design. Korean MMORPGs, eh?

“In eRepublik, users become the citizen of a nation, based on those in the real world, and take part in a simulation of the real world’s economic and political spheres. Players can take jobs, working their way up to own companies and corporations, get involved in wars between citizen-run countries, and even become president.”

eRepublik is a really neat idea completely undone by implementation.

“Here at OXM we’ve done enough interviews with high-ranking executives to know they’re never that exciting. They tend to stick to the topics their PR department expects them to. Not so Don Mattrick.”

I’ve been completely useless at updating this site recently – simply too much to do – but I’ve at least finally found some time to link this, my interview with Microsoft bigwigs Don Mattrick and John Schappert, performed before the release of the New Xbox Experience and including the incredible claim from Mattrick that he “invented avatars.”

Naughty old Future Publishing has also again misattributed an article of mine when putting it online (as seen here) but I can assure you this article is 100% my own work.

[Edit: OXM's lovely editor Jonty clears up the misattribution in the comments.]

“In Travian, users create a village on a randomly assigned plot of land, where they must use local resources to develop their village in the aim of eventually creating a world wonder before the end of a set amount of time.

Players can attack and trade with other player-owned villages.”

More (nearly) forgotten interviews:

Interview: Simutronics’ Harris On HeroEngine’s Place In The Old Republic
Interview: Ido Mazursky, CEO, Shidonni

“Audition is an online ‘MMO’ version of dancing games like Dance Dance Revolution. In the title, players create rooms or join other players, select music and then ‘dance’ along with it using directional keyboard commands. Players compete with each other to be the best dancer to receive rewards, and can otherwise socialize with other players.”

As usual with Worlds In Motion, I’ve completely forgotten to remember to link all of the interviews I’ve done for the site here. So here are the most recent batch:

Interview: Metaverse Mod Squad On The Place of An “Avatar Staffing Solution”
Interview: Jonathan Belliss, Product Manager For Perfect World International
Interview: Dean Cheshire, Head of Production, 10VOX
Interview: Avni Rambhia, Technological Evangelist at Arxan
Interview: Victoria Pearson, Asylum Entertainment
Interview: Sam Glassenberg, CEO, Funtactix
Interview: Jack Buser On PlayStation Home’s Community Focus
Interview: Paul Thind, CBO, Outspark

“Trukz is a largely text based game where players create a driver, buy a truck and earn money by hauling loads from real-life cities around the world. Cities have distinct supplies and demands, and with cash earned players can buy upgrade and new trucks. Players have to deal with issues such as fatigue, gas prices and weather, and players can cooperate with other drivers by joining ‘companies’ and talk to other players via ‘CB Radio.’”

I liked Trukz – even if I did manage to misspell it “Truckz” for most of the week I was playing it. I would even continue to play it if it wasn’t so demanding on time. My character is now hideously in debt thanks to continually delivering late, so that’s that, I guess.

“From gaming to GPS systems, we round up the best in new technology.”

The publication of this article was a red-letter day indeed – after living in Toronto for nearly four years, I’ve finally “made it” by having my work published in one of this fine city’s alternative weeklies.

Above and beyond saying that, I’m not sure I’ve got much to say about this rather straight-forward article (does what it says on the tin, etc.) other than for readers to consider this “Eye Weekly’s” top tips for holiday gifts rather than specifically mine (although it does feature a hefty dose of my personal opinion) because, honestly, a totally personal holiday gift guide could have been all video games!

“NeoPets is, essentially, an online ‘virtual pe’” simulation, where players take care of pets by buying them food, toys, clothes, and other accessories using a virtual currency called Neopoints, which can be raised by playing games and other methods. Players can interact with each other through in-game mail, discussion boards and groups.”

I tried to be positive about NeoPets, oh goodness, I tried, but I hated every second of using it. It’s easily my least favourite virtual world/social network yet.