Recent content by APVarney

I wrote about Uwe Boll way back in issue 81 of The Escapist: "Uwe Boll and the German Tax Code [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_81/460-Uwe-Boll-and-the-German-Tax-Code]."

(Sorry, posted the same message twice.)

The crowd at Essen was fabulously diverse compared to the typical American game convention. Stereotypical game-geek "fatbeards" made up only a small percentage of the attendance. If gaming hasn't made its way into every niche of German society, it's clearly a lot further toward that condition...

My June 2007 Escapist article, "Blowing Up Galaxies [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_101/560-Blowing-Up-Galaxies]," describes the "New Game Enhancements" and their catastrophic aftermath. (See also this Escapist blog post, "Crying Freeman...

That was in 1998 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia_national_football_team#World_Cup_record]. I think in 1998 most Americans hardly even knew the World Cup exists. I expect they still hardly know Croatia exists except, perhaps, as a former Balkan warzone.

From the Vault: In 3-D In celebration of our 300th issue, we look back to this article from 2007, which asked, "Will computer games ever truly breach the third dimension?" Read Full Article

A bold move: The "Indie Guru" of my article, Steve Pavlina, recently released the copyrights to most of his work [http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2010/12/releasing-my-copyrights/]. (StevePavlina.com blog entry, December 15, 2010.)

I wrote about the Wing Commander series for The Escapist in July 2006: "Wing Leader [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_54/323-Wing-Leader]"

In mid-August Jane McGonigal initiated a crowd-funded Kickstarter project called "Gameful [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1163482373/gameful-a-secret-hq-for-worldchanging-game-develop]," envisioned as "an online Secret HQ for gamers and game developers who want to help change the world and...

Jane McGonigal has posted on her blog, Avant Game, a five-minute talk she gave on June 26 at an O'Reilly Ignite event about her healing game, SuperBetter: http://blog.avantgame.com/2010/07/superbetter-ignite-talk-and-kickstarter.html She writes, "This week, I celebrated the one-year...

Gary Gygax's widow, Gail, has not seen my article but has asked me to pass along some information about her group, the Gygax Memorial Fund. -- AV *** "1. I have gone before the Parks Board to request a site in Library Park. I have requested the section that is under no deed restrictions...

I think we're just going over the same ground here. If my previous response doesn't satisfy you, so be it. This objection, by contrast, is new and pertinent. The sociopathic Zynga games exploit the same psychology McGonigal is discussing, but for unproductive ends (if not actual evil). They...

My article discusses McGonigal's beliefs that games and gamelike structures can harness or improve social productivity. Those beliefs are the issue at hand. I briefly raised the matter of sponsorship in order to demonstrate the criticisms on this count don't pertain to her message. If it...

Haven't seen any criticism at all yet, champ, just innuendo (and gratuitous insults that apparently don't count as "typical forum ad-hominem behavior"). If you muster the strength to offer actual argument, I'll address it with whatever credibility I gain by speaking in my own person under my...

Sorry to hear this anonymous person's crippling ennui makes him too tired to marshall his obvious economic expertise to demolish my insipid puffery. Possibly a good multivitamin might help.