All posts by Andrew Armstrong

Videogames

2, 2, 2 or 2?

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I’ve got some posts to finish off (STALKER and Mass Effect), but I’m now deciding what to play seriously next – beyond finishing my long game of Baldur’s Gate II that is.

There’s…Mass Effect 2, BioShock 2, maybe Battlefield Bad Company 2 even. I noticed Supreme Commander 2 is out in March, although I’ll see what reviews say and see if there is a demo. I think I have some download ticket for DiRT 2 as well. Probably should go find it! On the Wii, man, I still need to finish Super Mario Galaxy (have I mentioned I’m rather terrible at platformers?), but really want to try No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle now too.

Further along this year, well, I decided to get a Blizzard account to try and get in the Starcraft 2 beta. No word on if it’ll be out this year though, and I doubt I’ll get into the beta. 🙂

The main one I won’t be purchasing ever is Assassins Creed 2. Humph. There is also Modern Warfare 2, which I still can’t be bothered with for the price (cost/time ratio is rather low, so many other good, longer games for my not exactly cash filled wallet to buy).

Expansion wise there is Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising (not out until March luckily, but have on order, the singleplayer is darn fun), and Dragon Age Origins: Awakening (perhaps…still got Dragon Age to finish once I’ve reinstalled it and the horrendous DLC stuff). Hey, something without the number 2 in it!

Oh, hell with these sequels. I think I’ll open up my new copy of Planescape Torment, or maybe try out Grand Theft Auto 4 that’s sitting on my desk – hey, it must be twice as good as the games above! 🙂 (I also have Farcry 2, although that is tending towards my “if I’m really board” bit of my desk). While some of the above titles are tempting, there is also Borderlands which was recommended last year too…

Choices, choices! Looks like Mass Effect 2 will be in the mail mainly because of this post I’m finishing off of the original from months ago (edit “Last week” to “Last year” 🙂 ), just a lot of good choices, especially since I don’t buy on release date. Shame not many of them are entirely original, ho hum!

Travel, Videogame Conferences

Conferences I’ll Attend in 2010

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This week I finally decided to sort out what I was going to book/go to/do conference wise this year. I’ve been pretty busy not doing game development as such, so these would be a good excuse to be inspired and do things 🙂 (Oh, and I can’t justifiably afford GDC this year since I have no pass, I need to save up some money!).

Women in Games Conference 2010

I went to the last conference in 2008, which was fun. I’m no further in doing things in the industry, but since it had informative talks – while the most costly of the events I’m planning to go to – still should be worthwhile. In any case, I love supporting any event that improves the diversity of the games industry (no, you don’t see many women at Develop or GDC generally outside PR… 🙁 ).

Paris Game AI Conference 2010

The last years one was free, but the low cost, the fact it is AI (always fascinating and an area I still want to go into in games), and last years being a good, fun visit to Paris has made my mind up. I need to find some things to do while I’m there, so I’m pretty undecided how long I’ll stay around the event.

Brighton Develop Conference 2010

I’ve volunteered for this conference yet again, since I find that despite having to work all day it is informative and I get some choice in what to see 🙂 (and I get to hear a OneLifeLeft special too I hope!). I am sure many volunteers will be returning, and I swear we’ll play a proper game of Werewolf again. Sadly, Brighton is a bit light on extra things to do, so I doubt I’ll book more time then the conference down there, having been around their museum and shops already.

Interesting

Lego’s Fun Attempt at Using Trademarks to Clamp Down Design

IPKat, which I keep up to date on my patent and copyright law with (it’s good sometimes 🙂 ), has an interesting article on Lego trying to appeal a cancellation of a trademark they attempted – a photograph of a Lego brick.

It is fascinating not just how big businesses try and keep what (under current international law at least) is not copyrightable or patentable, but that they still want to make sure no one else can ever use.

I love Lego. I just rightly am satisfied this long winded appeal thing, which is a fascinating little story, comes out on the side that: It doesn’t make sense that a trademark can be of the product itself. Thank goodness.

Basically it seemed to be a way to stop anyone making the same designed bricks. This would be a problem – you’d never compete on quality, just instead have a monopoly.

Designing things like Toys must be a minefield. Any kind of games are similar – depending on jurisdiction (it’s an area of law that is quite complex I’m led to believe), designers sadly have patent worries (if you plan to do an American release) and overburdened copyright to deal with at the best of times. Sigh.

(BTW: I want this to be a record of what at least I think is interesting, and dammit I’m failing – I’ll get back to posting something more original someday. Give me time, I’m just finished Baldur’s Gate, and am now on Baldur’s Gate II – I guess I could post up the mod list and Baldur’s Gate Trilogy installation hints for those who are interested.)