The announcement of Rod Humble’s promotion to Boss Of EA’s Sims division pushed me to take a look at the Sims 3 site. The first video emphasizes the open world nature of the game before moving on to shots of employees being turned into motion captured Sims, a discussion of the personality matrix and underlining […]
Entries Tagged as 'Maxis'
Spore Review
September 23rd, 2008 · 13 Comments · Electronic Arts, Gameshark, Maxis, Review
The review is up at Gameshark. It’s short, and a little low on original insight, mostly because so much has already been said. I do make a reference to a Broadway composer that most of my audience has no interest in, which I suppose makes me a swishier Kieron Gillen. The review may seem to […]
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The Media Loves Spore
September 22nd, 2008 · 8 Comments · Electronic Arts, Maxis, Media
I’ll have more to say once my review gets uploaded, but I wonder if Spore isn’t the biggest PC title ever released. It will certainly be dismissed by a lot of hardcore gamers, but it has been written about in all the major newspapers, many important newsblogs, and has been getting extended coverage in all […]
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Spore Aftershocks
September 8th, 2008 · 16 Comments · Electronic Arts, Maxis, Media
I was going to write a bit about the confusing world of Spore as seen through the gaming media, but, as of this morning, it looks like I’ll be reviewing it. So, I regret reading as much as I have about the game, from Seth Schiesel’s distinction between toy and game (a familiar distinction the […]
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Can a Great Toy become a Great Game?
June 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Design, Electronic Arts, Maxis
This was the week we finally got to play God. EA released the creature creator for Spore and, in a flash, the world was covered in cute dinosaurs, movie monsters and walking penises. The creature creator is intuitive, amazingly flexible and has, on its own, revived a lot of interest and excitement for the game. […]
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The State of Strategy Gaming
May 14th, 2008 · 7 Comments · Design, Industry, Maxis
I’m pretty far behind in my podcast listening. I haven’t listened to the PC Gamer podcast or the Games for Windows ‘cast in a while. The Gamers With Jobs podcast is still a weekly listen, though. And this week’s broadcast deals specifically with strategy gaming. Maxis’ Soren Johnson sits in and talks about Civ IV, […]
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