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Developers and executives discuss the hybrid system.

What the game industry thinks of Nintendo’s Switch

By Matt Leone on Feb 27, 2017 02.27.17

Four days from today, Nintendo's latest console will go on sale. A little over four years since the launch of Wii U, a little over four months since Nintendo announced Switch, and to many, the system seems like a breath of fresh air — a game console Transformer full of potential with a steady stream of software to back it up. To some, though, the system seems incomplete. From early reports of controllers that don't properly sync to a limited launch lineup, a lack of non-game apps like Netflix, a missing Virtual Console library and lingering questions about the online service, there's a simplicity to Switch's launch that recalls the '90s — Zelda is Mario 64, and if you don't want that or a few other games, you might not need the system right away. In time, Nintendo will address those...

How one of Blizzard’s co-founders left the company, why he decided to come back and what it means for the future.

Blizzard’s prodigal son returns

By Philip Kollar on Nov 04, 2016 11.04.16

They’re fond of Chris Metzen, the outspoken former senior vice president of story and franchise development who retired this fall after more than 20 years with the company. Many have probably even heard of Frank Pearce, the less public-facing chief development officer at Blizzard who was one of the company’s co-founders, along with Morhaime. But those two weren’t the only co-founders. There was a third, one whose name has faded to a distant memory for many over the years, confined to brief mentions in Wikipedia entries and often overlooked entirely. His name is Allen Adham, and after over a decade away from Blizzard and game development as a whole, he’s coming home. Blizzard Entertainment "In hindsight, leaving Blizzard was probably the biggest mistake I...

The people behind a ’50s VR progenitor, Atari’s ’80s think tank and other surprising milestones along the way.

The staggering successes and abysmal failures of VR's long, weird history

By Brian Crecente on Oct 26, 2016 10.26.16

Process Exploring the wide, wild world of virtual reality and its more than 50-year history is no easy task. In setting about telling this story, I started with an analytical approach. My hope was to create a list of meaningful people whose work greatly impacted virtual reality’s history, growth and continued chances of mainstream success. Initially, I dug through the patents of current known works, tracing back who created those innovations and the people they worked with. I traced the lives of those early and modern innovators. I created a family tree of sorts to connect pupil to teacher, employee to employer, researcher to think tank. Then I set about finding contacts for this relatively short list, emailing each to ask who they thought were the most influential people in VR...

The past, present and future of League of Legends studio Riot Games

By Philip Kollar on Sep 13, 2016 09.13.16

Issue The past, present and future of League of Legends studio Riot Games by Phil Kollar @pkollar The story of Riot Games is a list of things that shouldn’t have been possible. It’s the tale of an extremely difficult, user-unfriendly game reaching untold heights of success. It’s the story of a company that has remained committed to listening to and interacting with its fans even as it at has grown exponentially. More than anything, it’s the story of two best friends who liked playing video games and decided one day to make their own. Riot is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, but to really know how one of the world’s biggest development studios got started, you need to go back to Los Angeles in the early aughts. You need...

Disney's many, many attempts at figuring out the game industry

By Willie Clark on Aug 18, 2016 08.18.16

Issue Disney's many, many attempts at figuring out the game industry by Willie Clark Disney no longer makes its own video games. On May 10, the entertainment conglomerate cancelled its toys-to-life series, Disney Infinity, and announced that its game publishing and development branch, Disney Interactive, was switching to a licensing-only model, pursuing partnerships rather than overhead. It came as a shock to fans. Just months before, Disney heralded Infinity as a success, pledging support for the latest release. In March, vice president of production at Disney Interactive, John Vignocchi, claimed that Infinity was number one in its category. "The company has been completely behind Disney Infinity," he said. "If you look at all of...

StarCraft: Ghost: What went wrong

By Patrick Stafford on Jul 05, 2016 07.05.16

Issue StarCraft: Ghost:What went wrong by Patrick Stafford Robert Huebner was on top of the world. The Tokyo Game Show. 2002. Less than two years prior, Blizzard gave Huebner and his team at Nihilistic Software the green light to start development on a new game. The deal was, in many ways, an experiment. In working with Nihilistic, Blizzard gave a good amount of control over one of its major franchises to an external development studio, a rare move for the company. Blizzard wanted to make a dent in the growing console market, and Nihilistic provided an opportunity to do that. The original Xbox was less than a year old, and the PlayStation 2 was dominating console sales. Nihilistic wanted to grab the players who preferred a couch to a...

Designing Mirror’s Edge: The making of a franchise

By Philip Kollar on May 25, 2016 05.25.16

Issue Designing Mirror’s Edge: The making of a franchise by Phil Kollar When the first-person parkour game Mirror’s Edge launched in 2008, players reacted with a wide range of emotions. Many praised the unique take on a first-person game, one that attempted to perfect movement and platforming in that perspective. Others criticized publisher Electronic Arts and developer DICE for not going far enough. Most notoriously, the game still allowed the player to pick up and shoot guns as a last resort, a mechanic that broke the flow and showed a lack of polish. The general feeling at EA seems to be that Mirror’s Edge performed fine. It wasn’t a huge failure, but it also wasn’t a massive success. And yet, in the near decade since its release,...

Their future is Epic: The evolution of a gaming giant

By Brian Crecente on May 02, 2016 05.02.16

How can Gears of War 4 compete in a free-to-play esports world?

By Arthur Gies on Apr 18, 2016 04.18.16

Issue How can Gears of War 4 compete in a free-to-play esports world? by Arthur Gies It's the end of Gears of War 4's multiplayer coming-out party, and The Coalition studio head Rod Fergusson sounds tired. He's been around the world, for all intents and purposes, making stops in Europe, the U.S. and Mexico to show off his team's first crack at a new Gears of War game. At one point, Fergusson makes a roundabout acknowledgment that the team has a lot to prove — and that Gears of War doesn't hold the same position in the gaming conversation that it once did. In discussing the migratory patterns of players over the course of the franchise's life, Fergusson explains that original Gears developer Epic Games could have...

The making of PlayStation VR

By Matt Leone on Mar 09, 2016 03.09.16

Issue The making of PlayStation VR by Matt Leone @LattMeone When Richard Marks was in 10th grade, his father opened a video game store that was ahead of its time. It was the early ’80s; used game sales weren’t common, and the store — Video Exchange — ran on the gimmick that customers could trade in their games. The store didn’t last long. But for the young Marks, who held the title of chief demo officer, working there was like living in an arcade. Surrounded by open boxes, he played everything and recommended the best games to customers. Atari 2600 games. Intellivision games. Anything on a console. "The most exciting thing [was] when we’d get new hardware," he says, citing the ColecoVision Super Action Controller as an example. "We’d...

Sonic the Hedgehog’s long, great, rocky history

By Blake Hester on Feb 08, 2016 02.08.16

Issue Sonic theHedgehog’slong, great, rockyhistory by Blake Hester Sonic the Hedgehog was the first video game character featured as a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 1993, arguably at the height of the Sega mascot’s popularity, the Sonic balloon soared above New York City until it neared Columbus Circle at the Southwest corner of Central Park. There it struck a light pole. The balloon ruptured and deflated, causing minor injuries to a child and an off-duty police officer standing below. The next year, the balloon reappeared, repaired and ready to fly once more. It successfully completed the parade’s route and Katie Couric noted on NBC’s live coverage of the event that she and co-host Willard Scott were happy to see...

The games of 2016

By Colin Campbell on Jan 06, 2016 01.06.16

Time killers: The strange history of wrist gaming

By Brian Crecente on Dec 07, 2015 12.07.15

StarCraft: The past, present and future

By Megan Farokhmanesh on Nov 06, 2015 11.06.15

Issue StarCraft: The past, present and future by Megan Farokhmanesh Back in the ‘90s, Chris Metzen had an idea for a new game. For the still-blooming Blizzard Entertainment, these were formative years. There was Warcraft as of 1994, but there was no World of Warcraft. There was talk about doing more real-time strategy, as the company was arguably getting good at it, and a keen interest in heading into space. Senior VP of Story and Franchise Development Metzen, along with present-day VP of Art and Cinematic Development, Nick Carpenter, was working on concepts for something new. It was a sci-fi, fantasy-driven epic — a story told in a far-out universe with a huge world and different factions. It was "badass," says Metzen. It...

The secret developers of the video game industry

By Matt Leone on Sep 30, 2015 09.30.15

Issue The secret developers of the video game industry by Matt Leone @LattMeone In July 2015, developer Comcept launched a Kickstarter campaign for its game Red Ash. It didn’t go well. Despite raising over $500,000 in pledges, the campaign missed its target and critics pummeled its approach — pointing to Comcept launching the campaign before seeing through a previous one, announcing a console port without identifying which console and continuing the campaign after finding external funding. For production studio Hyde, which had teamed with Comcept to develop the game, the campaign presented a new problem. Hyde has been around since 2002, has worked on over 200 games and has had a hand in some of Japan’s biggest franchises, including...

After Darksiders, Joe Madureira channels Final Fantasy

By Dave Tach on Sep 01, 2015 09.01.15

Issue Battle Chasers: Nightwar revealed by Dave Tach Grandma's House used to smell like cookies. But it's not over a river or through any woods. To get there, you'd have to travel to Austin, Texas, an incubator of video game creation. You'd drive — maybe in a Mustang, maybe in a Lexus, maybe in a modest sedan, its silver paint fading from years of punishment in the Texas sun — winding your way though a few middle class neighborhoods filled with beige stucco houses and ringed by low walls. Then, at a stop sign at a forgettable intersection, you'd find a modest office complex tucked away on a corner, shaded by trees. There's a doctor's office on the first floor of one dark brown building, but if you ascended the staircase from...

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