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Gaming by introverts, for introverts
An interesting tidbit dredged up from Raph Koster's presentation at the Austin Game Conference comes via Wonderland: most gamers are introverts. Pardon us while we gasp in disbelief for a few minutes. Koster claims that most gamers fall into the Myers-Briggs types INTJ, INTP, ISTJ and ISTP. With INTJ being a classic scientist, and INTP a classic programmer, it seems as if games really are designed by nerds, for nerds.As Alice points out, what would a game designed by an extrovert look like? How are those of us who have Myers-Briggs types beginning with E catered for by modern games? Perhaps we're more likely to head off to the pub and pay someone else to level our MMO characters -- perhaps we're more drawn to social or casual games -- or perhaps we just don't play at all.
AGC: Out on the show floor
Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider.Though Thursday was the second day of the conference, it was the first day for the show floor to be open. As many game developers are here recruiting for jobs (including Bioware, Blizzard, LucasArts, and Perpetual -- among others!), rather than selling a product, there's no ground-breaking new game announcements. But there's a lot of interesting things happening out there, and to see what I came across during my adventures on the convention floor, read on!
Michael Dell at the Austin Game Conference
Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider.Michael Dell stopped by the Austin Game Conference briefly on Thursday afternoon for what the day's schedule described as a "fireside chat." And after sitting through the chat, I have one important question -- where was the fire? Well, while I sit here and grumble about false advertising, you can read on to find out some of the topics Dell touched on in this Q&A session -- which focused on the PC's place in the gaming industry, and why you should buy a PC instead of a console.
Jon Landau at the Austin Game Conference
Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider.What's well-known film producer Jon Landau doing at a game conference? I'm glad you asked, because I have the answers -- or at least, Landau did during his keynote today. Gaming, Landau explained, is an increasingly important part of the entertainment industry. And there's a lot in common with a good game and a good film -- they're both about creating compelling characters and stories, told in an equally compelling setting. The difference is that a film tells a single story, while a game (specifically an MMO) can tell countless stories. So read on for more on his morning keynote.
World of Warcraft hits 7 million subscribers
Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider. Wednesday morning at the Austin Game Conference it was announced that World of Warcraft has hit 7 million active subscribers world-wide. While the number doesn't surprise us -- as we've yet to see an MMO present a serious challenge to WoW's dominance of the genre -- such large figures are rather staggering. Despite all of the technical issues and player complaints, the game's popularity has continued to grow on a large scale (the game only announced it hit 6 million active subscribers at the beginning of March, this year). So congratulations, Blizzard, on another million players!
Rob Pardo's keynote at the Austin Game Conference
Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider.Haven't heard of Rob Pardo? Well, you might want to familiarize yourself with him. Not only is he Blizzard's Vice President of Game Development, but he recently was put on Time Magazine's list of the top 100 people, which points out that Pardo didn't invent the MMO, he just perfected it.So Wednesday morning, when the Austin Game Conference started out with a keynote from Mr. Pardo on the game design philosophy behind World of Warcraft, it wasn't to be missed. Read on for the highlights of the keynote.
Rob Pardo at the Austin Game Conference
Haven't heard of Rob Pardo? Well, you might want to familiarize yourself with him. Not only is he Blizzard's Vice President of Game Development, but he recently was put on Time Magazine's list of the top 100 people, which points out that Pardo didn't invent the MMO - he just perfected it.So Wednesday morning, when the Austin Game Conference started out with a keynote from Mr. Pardo on the game design philosophy behind World of Warcraft it wasn't to be missed. Read on for the highlights of the keynote.
