Recent content by Jeremy Monken

Smart TVs still aren't very close to providing a real hardcore gaming experience. They will, at most, have minigamey little app type games along the lines of Angry Birds or all the cheeseball Kinect games. That's the kind of gameplay the WiiU is likely to offer with a lot of its titles. So...

Sims 4 is going to be free-to-play, but in the free version you'll just be a penniless beggar, trying to get enough simoleans to eat.

Amazing how, in a few short years, $60 went from buying you a full game with more content and tools than you could ever hope to experience to just purchasing in-game currency that could easily be burned through in a month or two.

I always think of this when gamification is discussed: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2286

That makes me think of something that would be right at home in the movie Idiocracy. Some day in the future, there will just be a button on the arm of a recliner that says "GAME" and when you hit it, you hear a voice that says "You win!" and somewhere, $1 is deducted from an account.

I guess the real question is: Would birdification be a game or just a fun activity?

I suppose... but if you X-ify something, you are adding the qualities of X to it. If someone use the word smallify, I would certainly assume they meant to make something smaller. Gamification is sold to people that want things to be more like games. It is implied that if things are more like...

Hey, I never said I turned down the free pizza. I just would have preferred the cash value of the pizza. ...To purchase pizza from Papa John's.

Thank You, But It's Still Not a Game "Gamification" has hit a new low. Read Full Article

Hey, Kid, Got a Dollar? There's a darker side growing in the free to play games market. Read Full Article

Casualty of Warhammer The customer service team at EA Mythic had it all - catered lunches, Rock Band-filled break rooms and logo-stamped coffee mugs. But sliding subscription numbers and a slumping economy meant the good times wouldn't last. Jeremy Monken recounts his time as a GM for Warhammer...

Casualty of Warhammer The customer service team at EA Mythic had it all - catered lunches, Rock Band-filled break rooms and logo-stamped coffee mugs. But sliding subscription numbers and a slumping economy meant the good times wouldn't last. Jeremy Monken recounts his time as a GM for Warhammer...

Just Your Average Gaming God "As you enter the understated Hunt Valley, MD, studio that houses Firaxis Games, it feels like any other office. Only after you pass the front desk and see the display case overflowing with 30 or so gaming achievement awards does it really hit home: This is one of...

The Age of the World-Builders "I had just entered the world of Morrowind. I had enough problems without this guy in my face, whining about his stupid ring. One well-aimed arrow shot later, and I found myself squatting in his secluded Seyda Neen cottage. But it wasn't just somewhere to keep my...