Noah Nelson, Turnstyle News

Hundreds came from all around the world to descend on Culver City, California this weekend for IndieCade -- the international festival of independent games. Known within the industry as the “Sundance of video games,” the festival’s purview extends far beyond the screen and embraces experimentation in games across the spectrum of play. Mind bending gravity puzzles, games that emphasize empathy, and twists on playground classics were all represented.

Johann Sebastian Joust

It was always possible to find where Johann Sebastian Joust (Technology and Impact Awards) was playing, day or night. All one had to do was look for a large crowd of cheering spectators and the sound of Bach sped up and processed.

Joust (for short) is a physical group game played with Sony’s Playstation Move controller. Players each hold one of the controllers, whose distinctive feature is a brightly lit orb at the top. The objective is to unbalance the other players so that the vibration-sensitive controller registers a “hit”. Players must move cautiously to avoid tagging themselves out while the music is subdued, and strike their opponents quickly when the Bach speeds up.

“What’s important is that the audience, just by watching a round or two, really knows what’s going on,” says creator Douglas Wilson -- an American PhD student in Copenhagen, who made Joust with his game collective . Wilson says that when he started out making “face to face” games using the Nintendo WiiMote, he was thinking in terms of classic video games like Street Fighter. Those kinds of complex systems didn’t yield the results he was looking for, so the group changed tactics.

“Once we started thinking in terms of more like folk games instead of computer games we started making better stuff,” says Wilson. “Simple, really audience friendly games.” Wilson’s studies involve digging into “contemporary art and old folk games” where he pulls lessons from “the history of play and creativity,” and applies them to game design.

By Noah Nelson, Turnstyle News

In a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States today, the Court struck down a California law that would have created a ban on selling violent video games to kids. Writing for a plurality of justices in a 7-2 ruling Justice Antonin Scalia noted that.

I feel very passionate about video games. Lately, that has been a hobby for me... just staying home all day on weekends when I don't have anything to do. I just turn my game system on and play it. Recently my favorite video game genre has been sports. The games are very interesting and captivating, because of the constant improvements on graphics and their real life
adaptations. My new favorite game to play is 2k11.It’s a NBA based basketball game. Read more...

Now Playboy is hoping to be known for more than breasts--like killing. They're getting into the online gaming game.

 The company announced today that it will join forces with Bigpoint, an online gaming company, to help launch A online multiplayer game called Poisonville.

“Poisonville is an action-oriented, Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) that puts gamers into a fictional U.S. city where crime and corruption rule the streets. Players must complete a series of missions in order to counteract corruption, regain respect, and rebuild their reputations. Throughout the game, players will be encounter beautiful, Playboy-caliber women. In full-3D, players can drive a variety of vehicles, engage in player vs. player combat, and compete in ongoing competitions designed to stimulate gang warfare – all through a standard web browser.”

via Joystiq

Surprisingly the game will glorify violence rather then sex. Check out the game for your self below
 

On this episode of Maker's New Math we talk with indie video game developer Edmund McMillen. He's been a mainstay on the Indie Game scene for years now with games like Aether and Gish, and is on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough with his next game. Super Meat Boy, which will be making its game console debut this Fall on the Wii and XBox 360 platforms.

Edmund talks frankly about risking it all to make a living from doing what you love, which is at the heart of the Maker's New Math series.

Also: check out this interview with Edmund in the trailer for "Indie Game: The Movie".

(download mp3)

Check out this gameplay trailer for Super Meat Boy:

Links:

Team Meat: Super Meat Boy's Website

Edmund McMillen's website

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You gotta love your gorgeous looking documentaries of geeky subject matter. In the fine tradition of Helvetica and Objectified comes Indie Game: The Movie.

Now this little gem came up on the radar from a couple of the video game blogs I follow, but what really piqued my interest was the teaser trailer featuring indie gaming auteur Edmund McMillan. You see we're interviewing McMillen next week on Maker's New Math and it was a real kick to see the profile interview with him in the teaser. (We're going to be talkin' business with Mr. McMillen, one of the creators of the games Aether, Gish, and the upcoming Super Meat Boy who wrote this fantastic article on indie game development Do's and Don'ts for GamePro.)

Indie Game: The Movie is doing a round of fund raising on Kickstarter, and has already manged to get pledges for over $9000 towards a fund raising goal of $15,000 in under a week. If you've been following Maker's New Math you're familiar with Kickstarter and this kind of story is a testament to the power of the new business model. If you haven't been following our podcast you can catch our interview with Kickstarter's Fred Beneson here.

For this episode of Maker's New Math we spoke with games journalist Robert Ashley of the podcast A Life Well Wasted. Robert's podcast is billed as an "internet radio show about videogames and the people who love them". Each episode is truly a labor of love, as Robert delves into a specific theme and sets out from there on a series of interlocking interviews that take him across the country to talk with video game makers and the hobby's biggest fans. It is unique in the world of video games podcasts, a genre whose format is dominated by the news/sports round table format, in that Robert pours hour upon hour into the production of the show.  As part of that effort Robert uses music from his other "free culture" project the band I Come To Shanghai, which released its debut album under a Creative Commons/Name Your Own Price license.

Robert partially finances the show with the help of artist Olly Moss who makes limited edition posters for each episode of the podcast (the central element of Episode 4's "Artists, Fans & Engineers" poster can be seen above). The posters always sell-out. Not bad for a show that started when Robert found himself facing the end of one of the magazines he wrote for- Electronic Games Monthly- and decided to interview his colleagues about the death of a magazine they had all grown up reading and gone on to write for.

Listen:

(download mp3)

Links:

A Life Well Wasted

I Come To Shanghai

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 in a reader via Feedburner

Throw us a "like" on Facebook.

While you're at it, you can stalk Noah (@areyouthatguy) and Brandon (@1o_a_K) on Twitter as well.

Well for those of you who don’t know is that MW2 is Modern Warfare 2 which is the Call of Duty 6, which has a history of having the best first person shooters ps games. In the fps category BattleField 2 is a sequel of the original Bad Company, which was a pretty fun game. Which do you think is better MW2 or battle field 2? Well, this argument has been going on for a long time ever since Battlefield has came out with its release back in March 2nd, 2010 and MW2 back in November 10th, 2009. So the question is which is better? Well in this review you will find out which of the two is better.

Well to top it off MW2 has the best graphics available in the fps market right now. BF2 has average graphics like any other game in the fps market but it has amazing background. The thing that MW2 doesn’t have is morale type of game play an brotherhood type of feeling everytime you’re in battle and there is a bit of comedy. You have a Sargent, who basically has to take care of his men from harm from doing dumb mistakes all the time. You haven’t seen that type of game play in a while.

When I was five years old, I used to watch my brother play video games. He would never let me in on the fun. Like a lot of grownups, he thought I was too young to play.

Once I turned nine, my luck changed. My brother got a great video game called “Hey You Pikachu!” The coolest part was the mic that came with it. The point of the game was to talk into the mic and tell Pikachu what to do.

Adults might find the game silly and pointless, but I learned a lot -- how to communicate -- and playing games was more interactive than school. I was hooked.

When I got to middle school I got into games like Mario Party. Those were fun because people would play together. No matter who won or lost, we all cheered each other on. A lot of people think that videogames make young people antisocial and violent, but it all depends on how often you play them and at what age.

As for me, it’s going to be a long time before I say “Game Over.”

Previously:

• Most Anticipated Games of 2010 
• Video Games An Unhealthy Addiction
• YouTube "Video" Games

Don't let the librarian glasses fool ya, this isn't another Sarah Palin post. This here's about Sega's new action game Bayonetta and the debate that's picking up in the games press about whether the game is sexist in it's portrayal of the female form.

The first round of reviews- by mostly male video game critics- shuttled back and forth between praise for the game's controls and general design insanity and hand-wringing over the cartoonish sexuality of the main character. Bayonetta herself- a gun toting witch who fights "Angels" using medieval torture devices on occasion- makes a Barbie doll look like a realistic depiction of a woman's body and then adds about ten layers of camp. (Japanese game creator Hideki Kamiya has never been known for or restraint see: Devil May Cry.) That hand-wringing leaves the impression that male video game reviewers don't want to be caught with... actually, let's not use that metaphor.Let's just say the trend seems to be that guy game reviewers don't want to be seen as being too enthusiastic about Bayonetta for the WRONG REASONS.

A NEW CHALLENGER ENTERS THE FRAY. (After the jump.)