Gaming

The idea hit Dan FitzGerald in the shower last December: What about a dog sledding game? The Chicago native had been toying around with various prototypes based around a lobbing mechanic, but nothing stuck quite like this. Ideas started pouring in, and he enlisted his girlfriend of three years, Lisa Bromiel, to work on the art and help shape the exciting nugget of an idea into a fully realized video game - a concept that evolved into Dog Sled Saga. It was the first time either had embarked on anything quite like it. FitzGerald studied communications in college, and had spent time doing contract video production (including trailers for other video games) and web design in an effort to get deeper into the gaming scene. Bromiel, meanwhile, is a trained artist with a focus on material art, though she hadn't consistently worked in digital illustration. As confident as they were about seeing the concept through to completion, they didn't have much insight as to going from making an original game to actually presenting it as a purchasable product. Well, at least until Rami Ismail came to town. Ismail, the business and development half of Dutch indie studio Vlambeer (Super Crate Box, Luftrausers), stopped in Chicago in February to give a talk as part of DePaul University's Visiting Artists Series. FitzGerald and Bromiel attended, expecting to hear anecdotes about creating their beloved games, or the painful cloning saga that marked the development of Ridiculous Fishing. Instead they got a real lesson - Indie Game Business 101, if you will - defined by the lecture's catchy three-word title: "Monetize That Shit."Continue reading Indie, but not alone: How Vlambeer's advice helped guide Dog Sled SagaIndie, but not alone: How Vlambeer's advice helped guide Dog Sled Saga originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 May 2013 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Speaking with Redmond Game Studios and Platforms GM Matt Booty, Ars Technica reports that cloud computing will boost performance in games designed for Microsoft's Xbox One. While latency-sensitive actions will be handled by a user's Xbox One console, Microsoft claims its cloud architecture can pre-calculate elements like lighting and physics modeling, leading to increased in-game performance. This additional processing is made possible by the 300,000 servers that will power Xbox Live after the Xbox One's launch, up from the 15,000 servers currently supporting the service. Booty notes that "[for] every Xbox One available in your living room we'll have three of those devices in the cloud available." Xbox One games that support the feature will remain operational in the event of an Internet connection outage, though developers will need to address the possibility of reduced performance. "In the event of a drop out [...] the game is going to have to intelligently handle that," Booty tells Ars Technica.Microsoft: Xbox One cloud processing can enhance lighting, physics originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 May 2013 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Weekend. PC games. Download. Cheap. Buy. This weekend's deals include Tomb Raider for $14, Payday for $5, Chivalry for $8, Torchlight II for $10, SimCity for $32, and a lovely bundle of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Civilization IV Complete, and Civ V Gold for $20.Here's our selection of this weekend's PC deals:GameFlyArmada 2526 Gold - $9.99 (50% off)BIT.TRIP BEAT (Steam) - $4.99 (50% off)BIT.TRIP CORE (Steam) - $4.99 (50% off)BIT.TRIP RUNNER (Steam) - $4.99 (50% off)BIT.TRIP VOID (Steam) - $4.99 (50% off)BIT.TRIP Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Steam) - $10.99 (27% off)Endless Space (Steam) - $14.99 (50% off)Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD (Steam) - $4.99 (75% off)Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion (Steam) - $12.99 (67% off)Star Ruler - $4.99 (75% off)Sins of a Solar Empire: RebellionAmazonAmazon's huge sale includes so much more than just these:Batman: Arkham Asylum + Batman: Arkham City GotY (Steam) - $11.49 (77% off)BioShock + BioShock 2 - $4.99 (88% off)BioShock + BioShock 2 + Spec Ops: The Line (Steam) - $9.99 (89% off)Borderlands GotY + Duke Nukem Forever + The Darkness II (Steam) - $9.99 (90% off)Civilization IV Complete + Civilization V Gold + XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Steam) - $19.99 (83% off)Dead Island GotY (Steam) - $4.99 (75% off)Deadlight + Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet + Iron Brigade + Mark of the Ninja + Toy Soldiers - $9.99 (86% off)F.E.A.R. + F.E.A.R. 2 + F.E.A.R. 3 (Steam) - $9.99 (78% off)Fable + Fable III + DLC (Steam) - $9.99 (87% off)Magicka Collection (Steam) - $4.99 (75% off)Mark of the Ninja (Steam) - $3.75 (75% off)Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package (Steam) - $12.49 (75% off)The Walking Dead (Steam) - $9.99 (60% off)XCOM: Enemy UnknownBitcon BundlePay what you want--in Bitcoins--for a bundle of And Yet It Moves, Eufloria, a beta of Eufloria HD, Spirits, and World of Goo. I know, right?EufloriaGamersGateF1 2012 (Steam) - $13.58 (66% off)Football Manger 2013 (Steam) - $13.58 (85% off?)Galactic Civilizations II Ultimate (Steam) - $9.98 (50% off)Gratuitous Space Battles Complete - $5.25 (75% off)Space Pirates and Zombies - $4.98 (50% off)Sword of the Stars II Enhanced (Steam) - $5.00 (75% off)Torchlight - $3.74 (75% off)Torchlight II (Steam) - $9.98 (50% off)Torchlight II four-pack (Steam) - $29.93 (50% off)X3: Gold Edition - $16.74 (33% off)Torchlight IIGet GamesAssassin's Creed - $4.99 (75% off)Assassin's Creed II Deluxe - $4.99 (75% off)Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Deluxe - $7.49 (66% off)Assassin's Creed Revelations - $7.64 (66% off)Assassin's Creed III - $26.24 (25% off)Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - $12.74 (15% off)Get any two of the following games for $10. All activate on Steam.Aliens vs. PredatorBinary DomainDuke Nukem 3D: Megaton EditionDungeon Siege IIIHotline MiamiMedieval II: Total War CollectionPuddleStealth Bastard DeluxeThe CaveWorms: Ultimate MayhemHotline MiamiGOGGOG's FPS sale includes:Blood - $2.99 (50% off)Blood 2 - $2.99 (50% off)Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition - $2.99 (50% off)Serious Sam: The First Encounter - $2.99 (50% off)Serious Sam: The Second Encounter - $2.99 (50% off)Shadow Warrior - $2.99 (50% off)Sniper Elite - $4.99 (50% off)The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - $7.49 (50% off)Unreal Gold - $4.99 (50% off)Unreal 2 - $4.99 (50% off)Unreal Tournament 2004 - $4.99 (50% off)BloodGreen Man GamingGMG offers 20% off most games with the code GMG20-LLASD-D8WBQ, which you'll need for most of (but not all) these prices:BioShock Infinite (Steam) - $42.99 (28% off)Crusader Kings II (Steam) - $8.00 (80% off)Deus Ex (Steam) - $2.80 (60% off)Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link DLC (Steam) - $2.80 (60% off)FIFA 13 (Origin) - $8.00 (80% off)Football Manger 2013 (Steam) - $10.88 (73% off)Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (Steam) - $4.00 (60% off)Lords of Football (Steam) - $16.08 (46% off)SimCity (Origin) - $32.00 (46% off)SimCity - British & French City DLC (Origin) - $6.00 (60% off)SimCity - German City DLC (Origin) - $4.00 (60% off)Sleeping Dogs Limited Edition (Steam) - $7.6

The reveal of the Xbox One might have overshadowed content on the Internet this week, but that certainly wasn't the case for the craftiest of internet denizens who convert anything worthy into an animated GIF. Whether it's some sort of a video game glitch, like giant Spock's terrifying stare above, or a nice form of art, we sifted and sorted to grab the most popular ones for you. Just as we did last time, it is time to round up some of the funniest and greatest animated GIFs that popped up during the week. The game might be years old, but Grand Theft Auto IV, with the correct mods, is still an unlimited source of fun and place to defy gravity. Horses of the Wild West in Red Dead Redemption need to chill out. Pedro M Filho invites us for some heady GameBoy-Ception. We featured the animated aftershock of the Xbox One reveal earlier, but this little fella explaining the console's name missed the round-up. After some nice animated treatment to 3DS Pokémon covers from last week, the other generations also got theirs. Could this scene possibly be the only part of Metro: Last Light that's not depressing? Waywarddoodles has a really good idea of how to spend the weekend and test the strength of your friendships. Bumped into a GIF during the week that is much better? Hit the comments and post them! To contact the author of this post, write to gergovas@kotaku.com

T-shirt purveyor Meatbun is having a Memorial Day sale, in which objects of art like these two Kotaku t-shirts are on sale for $5 each. You should buy them all. All of them.

GameStop's stock concluded the trading week down 19 percent, attributable to continuing investor concerns over Xbox One's used games market solution. The most volatile decline occurred after a report out of the UK this morning claimed GameStop's margins in the pre-owned market would be affected by others taking a cut. Microsoft sent out the following statement a half hour before trading closed today: "The ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox. Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games. Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future." GameStop's stock dropped nearly 11 percent today, down $3.90/share to $32.11. At its worst, the company's stock was down to $31/share today. GameStop concluded its previous fiscal year with pre-owned video game products representing $2.4 billion in sales (27.4 percent for the year). If you want a public answer to Microsoft's used game plans, you got nothing on the company that's losing hundreds of millions in value off the situation. [Image: nuttapol yupothong via Shutterstock]GameStop stock closes week down 19% originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 May 2013 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Platform: iPad, Mac, Windows — Frozen Synapse puts you in control of a squad of armed troops and gives you the ability to precisely map out their actions and movements. Once you have settled on a game plan, you and your enemy's commands are then played out simultaneously in real time (the game's defining feature) and hopefully the resulting encounter leaves you with more men standing than the other guy. Tagged as: download, game, ios, ipad, mac, mobile, mode7, multiplayer, rating-o, simulation, strategy, tablet, windows

Horny Comments - Radio Respawn feat. APL, Mr Sark, Deanna Russo & M1sterMac Radio Respawn feat. APL, Deanna Russo, Mr. Sark & M1sterMac X-Box One talk will have to wait till next week ~ for now we got some Star Trek Into Darkness tal... From: Machinima Respawn Views: 301 40 ratings Time: 21:50 More in Gaming

In the war between MMO developers and shady players looking to exploit the system, the innocent often get caught in the crossfire. Such was the case yesterday, when somewhere under 150 honest, hard-playing Star Wars: The Old Republic players had their accounts banned from play. BioWare is sorry, you guys. More »      

Ever wonder why Metal Gear Solid comes with the tagline “Tactical Espionage Action” printed right on the box? Well that’s simple. While it may be a tagline in the West, it’s actually the game’s official genre in Japan. While in Japanese stores games are listed under the typical, broad genres you'd expect—i.e. RPG, action, shooter, simulation—game developers themselves often create a special genre for their games when promoting them. Below is a list we have complied showcasing many of these invented genres. See if you can guess which game each genre was created for based on the genre alone. Then click here and check your answers. Stylish Action Enormous Breast Hyper Battle Blood-Stained Swordplay Action A.I. Action Competitive Fighter Climax Action Hunting Action Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment VFX Action Professional Killer Action Adventure Just Friend Collecting Lightning Bolt Action Escape × Suspense Team Battle Action Cinematic Action RPG Animation RPG Flight Action RPG “Rescue” Multiplayer Action Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. To contact the author of this post, write to BiggestinJapan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @BiggestinJapan.