Gamegrene.com - Computer

Warcraft Destroys Marriages

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:06:49 -0500

A 28 year-old woman known as Jocelyn (who briefly worked for Blizzard) has divorced her husband of six years after he became so obsessed with World of Warcraft that he ignored her and caused her marriage to crumble.

Video Games Cause Brain Damage

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:13:05 -0500

According to a study released the day after Christmas, gamers who spend too much time playing their favorite video games, especially the violent sort, may risk damaging critical brain functions and stunting their learning and emotional control.

Tekken Story Debate

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:40:42 -0400

A singular conflict in my love-hate relationship with GD:T&P, my topic-inspiration crutch, is over a passage on story in the design of Tekken, the first game of the well-known fighting game series. I say the passage is a dirty sucker-punch motivated by some unseen bitterness and deserves a fair shot for rebuttal.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies.

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:05:22 -0500

There's an apocryphal cop-out that bad Dungeon Masters are reputed to use whenever they get pissed at their players, or can't figure out how to end an adventure. It's called "Rocks Fall. Everyone Dies." Spoilers (and an explanation) inside.

Gaming Industry Innovators CCP and White Wolf to Merge

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 23:43:50 -0500

CCP hf. and White Wolf Publishing, Inc. today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement to merge. The creators of the single largest persistent online role-playing world and the world's second-largest developer of offline role-playing, strategy and collectable card games will create the industry's largest independent Virtual World developer.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:58:11 -0500

Overall, Dark Messiah is a decent enough game, but not for something based on a popular game license and an award-winning game engine. It's an amusing distraction, but that's all, and while it deserves praise for some of its more interesting elements, it hardly deserves top honors.

The Indie Developer's Guide to Selling Games

Wed, 31 May 2006 17:45:30 -0400

The word "Selling" is boldfaced and blue on the cover of The Indie Developer's Guide to Selling Games, making it abundantly clear that it's the emphasis of the book. To that end, the book stays away from everything that drifts away from the topic of selling; you won't find advice here on how to design a mascot, or how to create game levels that will keep players coming back for more. You will, however, learn a lot about how best to market your game to the public, both before and after you've actually created it.

D&D Online -- A Longtime Gamer's Perspective

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 23:14:43 -0500

By now, you've heard a lot about Dungeons & Dragons Online, and so I won't write this as if you know nothing. For a primer, you can visit the DDO website, or check out one of the more detailed reviews popping up online. What I will do here is share my overall feelings on the game, laying out what I think are the positives and the negatives.

Uwe Boll's $27 Million Mistake

Sat, 14 Jan 2006 16:17:56 -0500

According to an article on Shacknews, Uwe Boll (director of the upcoming Dungeon Siege, and known for other video game movie adaptations) might become associated with one of the greatest blunders in cinematic history. An extra 5,500 reels of his latest film, BloodRayne, were distributed to theaters, a mistake that could cost someone $27 Million.

Ray Liotta Locks In Dungeon Siege Role

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:20:52 -0400

Ray Liotta has joined the cast of "Dungeon Siege," a sword-and-sorcery movie based on the million-selling PC game franchise. Liotta will play the film's villain, Gallian. The $60 million film, slated to run three hours, is currently filming in Vancouver and expected for a late-summer 2006 distribution.

To Play or Not to Play: Electronic RPGs

Thu, 2 Jun 2005 00:14:13 -0400

I hate electronic RPGs. I know that I’m somewhat old fashioned, but I grew up on roleplaying games that used pen, paper, books and dice. Games where people could use fake accents and props, tell jokes and say and do stupid things during the game. Games where the story was tailored to the players and their characters, where the dialog was spontaneous and no one, not even the GM, knew what would happen next. So what would it take to make an electronic RPG that's worth playing?

Gamegrene: Ghyll Round 2 Starting Soon

Fri, 15 Apr 2005 23:56:47 -0400

Eight months ago, Gamegrene launched an interactive worldbuilding and roleplaying exercise called Ghyll. Constrained to a small set of rules and the intent of building an integrated encyclopedia where Truth is further refined with each entry, Round 1 is nearly finished, and Round 2 is set to begin in the middle of May. If you're interested in playing, start reading.

+5 is Player, Not Character, Skill?

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 17:39:46 -0500

Gamestop has an interview with one of the guys behind the forthcoming D&D MMORPG: "As another example, Troop explained that according to the standard pen-and-paper rules, high-level characters gain "base attack bonuses" that increase their chances to strike true in combat. This ability will be represented by special attacks that can be pulled off with good timing. So a fighter character with a +5 attack bonus might have a five-part sword attack that can be pulled off by clicking the mouse button in a correctly timed fashion."

Gamegrene Multiplayer Game: Ghyll

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 09:59:43 -0500

This is a very special announcement here on Gamegrene. Would the owner of the car with registration plate T15 RQX please come immediately to the parking lot? Oh, and we're also starting up a new multiplayer wiki-based world-creation game for everyone to play. It's called Ghyll. Ghyll is only defined by entries in an encyclopedia, and it's the players' responsibilities to write that encyclopedia. There are four rules.

Online Role-Playing with NWN - A DM's Perspective

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 10:15:31 -0500

Recently I've been considering different ways of refreshing my gaming experience. After all, I've played for 15 years now, and although different games and different players have brought me varied experiences, eventually one settles into a rut and it can be a rough trend to buck. Gamegrene has a stable of writers who form a strong community to support the hobby, luckily. And for my part, I would like to add an experience with a (sort of) new and long-awaited aspect of our favorite pastime.