Recent content by Shannon Drake

The Small And Agile Approach "The reasons for changing the development model into a more distributed one are numerous. For one, he says, 'There are only so many great physics programmers in the world, so if every company tried to hire some of them, you would end up in a situation where you...

Nintendo: Caught in the Horse Latitudes Fortunately, that same success assures the dry spell won't last, though it may take a while to snap. A console with sales approaching 8 million is going to have games made for it, simply because the market demands it. And the Wii has lower development...

Review: ElectroCity One of the topics we like to cover is games that are about more than fun. Games can be used as marketing tools, as a source of education and enlightenment, as simulations for training, and so on. ElectroCity [http://electrocity.co.nz/], from New Zealand's Genesis Energy, is...

Every 5 minutes, no matter what, they have to head to the bathroom and spend 15 minutes in there. Actually, the real story of The Sims for me was always torture. Maybe it's a horror flick about a guy trapped in a house with all the amenities one could ask for, but no food.

Review: Dungeon Runners While there are three classes - Fighter, Ranger and Mage - it's easy to cross-train skills for the right price, and there's very few restrictions on what is possible with a character. Mine could shoot lightning bolts and hurl fireballs with the best wizard, all while...

Review: Dungeon Runners With StarCraft 2 announced and World of Warcraft flourishing, Blizzard's Diablo franchise is the only one of the Big Three that's long in the tooth and due for a sequel (save for Rock N Roll Racing diehards, and I feel your pain, brothers). The Diablo model - click, kill...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJJgM23gLh8 The first part of Fuzzbubble is Fuzz Fuzz is slang for police The Police's coolest song is Message in a Bottle

Page 2 and the Escapist, we share. Add in The New York Review of Books and the occasional bizarre British humo(u)r mag from Spanner, and you have my magazine consumption.

Some Kind of Stranger: Antony Johnston, Writer, Wasteland TE: In addition to the almost pagan - in the Old World, nature-based sense - religion, it seems like humanity is developing powers like telekinesis, healing and so on. How did that come about, in terms of in-world story? AJ: That...

Shadowrun > Cyberpunk. Sorry, guys, that's just the way of it.

Yeah, I never joined the groups, but that was part of what impressed me. The community really took the ball and ran with it (frequently in a hilarious way), and he's stayed out of the way and let it flourish in its own eccentric direction.

Reflections of Revolution: Christian Gossett, The Red Star TE: How much experience did you have with the gaming industry prior to the Red Star game? Was there anything that really surprised you? How does it compare with comics and other industries you've worked in? CG: I've worked in games...

Hope Rides Alone: The Protomen The Escapist: At the end of the album, Mega Man has won the battle, but his spirit seems crushed and it seems like humanity/the chorus has traded one propaganda hero for another. A hollow victory, in other words. Will you be expanding upon the initial album? Where...

Review: Jade Empire: Special Edition Jade Empire was a standout offering in the early life of the Xbox, a grim land where few RPGs dared tread. Now, for those who skipped it, or for that breed of gamer terrified of console RPGs, comes Jade Empire: Special Edition. It is the same game - and you...

Pirates of the Spanish Main: SOE and the CSG The Escapist: In a related question, SOE is usually seen as an MMO company. Where does Pirates fit into your portfolio? What does it offer you as a company? Are you trying to broaden the audience or is this just a niche product that seemed like a...