The Rise of Corporate Games

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:00:05 -0400

Last month, the SimCity box set went on sale. It included five different versions of the popular city-building simulation game, which was first published for PCs in 1989. The Sims games were not only one of the best-selling franchises of the past two decades -- they pioneered an entire category of simulation games that require quicker problem-solving skills than trigger fingers.

E3 Postmortem: Some cool things seen at E3…

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:03:23 -0400

E3 is over after a short three days but there was a lot of things revealed and announced for the upcoming holiday season and the early 2009 season. It’s all about the games that are coming out and currently in development. Here’s a list of some of my favorite demos and presentations I got to see.

Prince of Persia (Ubisoft)

These Video Games Ain't for Kids

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:45:09 -0400

SimCity became the turning point for the serious games genre when it was first published in 1989.

In this SimCity Detroit example, players were given a budget and the autonomy to build and maintain their own virtual cities. Urban planning can be based on the experiences learned in this otherworld.

The Hilton Garden Inns uses Ultimate Team Play, designed by Virtual Heroes, Inc., in its training program for desk staff. It's like SIMS meets hospitality management.

Live from E3: Games with the longest lines...

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:26:08 -0400

In my last post, I mentioned how scaled back the show was and how much smaller the crowd was making it easier to play the games on display. But as always, it's hard to get a chance to play the most anticipated games. Here's a small list of games that I've tried to wait in line to play, but there's just too many people in front of me. I have other things going on around the event and I can't wait araound all day.

Little Big Planet (Sony)

Live from E3: The games I’ve played…

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:30:46 -0400

Compared to E3 events over the years, this year’s event is scaled back immensely and is a lot more intimate. The media, developers and publishers get a lot of cozy one-on-one time to talk about the games. It also makes the lines shorter to the games you want to play on the showcase floor. Here’s just a few of the games I played today:

Dark Void (Capcom)

Live from E3: Capcom announces movie deal

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:07:47 -0400

Capcom, the video game company behind franchises like Resident Evil and Street Fighter, have just announced a another movie deal last night. They held a press conference announcing that their game, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, is being adapted for the silver screen.

Famed producer, Avi Arad (the man behind the Marvel movies), was on hand to share why he thought the story of Lost Planet would make a good film and that he would be partnering with Warner Bros. to release it sometime in 2011.

Live from E3: Sony announces movie availability through PS3, new games

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:58:15 -0400

After free lunch and drinks outside the Shrine Auditorium, Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America welcomed the media to the Sony briefing. Tretton began by taking a look back at Sony’s 13 year legacy in gaming touching on the accomplishments of the original Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation Portable, Playstation 3 and the Playstation Network.

Live from E3: Nintendo announces WiiMusic, WiiSports Resorts, Grand Theft Auto and more

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:20:18 -0400

Today is the first official day of E3 2008 and Nintendo kicked it off with their media briefing at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. After a montage of people “smiling”, Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of Nintendo, U.S., took the stage to introduce Shaun White Snowboarding from Ubisoft. The Olympic gold medalist, White, was on hand to introduce his game, which is exclusive to the Nintendo Wii and uses the balance board. Looks like a another winner.

Live from E3: Microsoft announce deals with NBC/Universal, Netflix plus new games

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:40:30 -0400

Microsoft held its annual Xbox 360 press conference this morning at the Los Angeles Convention Center to kick off E3. I arrived about 30 minutes after the conference already started because of a late flight but apprently I didn't miss too much.

Already announced games like Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Resident Evil 5 were all quickly showcased.So I really didn't miss too much stuff since most of the info has been out there for quite some time.

Live from E3 all this week...

Quibian Salazar-Moreno — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:21:46 -0400

Hey folks,

I'm heading to Los Angeles this week for E3 2008, yes the annual gigantic video game expo where publishers and developers announce and share their latest games.

Huge games like Gear of War 2, Rock Band 2, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Resident Evil 5 and a host of others will all be on display for previews. Yours truly will be there all week playing the new games, getting the info on the latest technologies, and learning the market strategy for this billion dollar industry.

Stay tuned to this blog....