Posted by
Anne
Let's start off by saying, so far, there is no structural damage to gaming offices and facilities. PR officers of big gaming companies in Japan started twitting one after another or sending PR statements, and for the most part, their messages all say that employees are safe, and facilities are undamaged.
Here's what some of them had said exactly:
Capcom - "Capcom is okay in Tokyo and Osaka."
Microsoft - "All Xbox employees in Japan are ok"
Konami - "Everyone @Konami Japan seems to be alright. Received confirmation earlier via twitter from @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN #japan."
Sony - "sounds like everyone is ok in Tokyo. ... Facebook is connecting everyone."
Nintendo- "We appreciate the concern shown in the aftermath of the recent disaster in Japan. We can confirm that at this time it appears that no one from Nintendo in Japan was injured and there was no apparent structural damage to our company headquarters in Kyoto and other offices and facilities in Japan. Business operations, including future product shipments, have not been affected. Our thoughts and best wishes are with everyone who has friends and family members who may have been affected by the earthquake or tsunami."
But, after listening to the news, watching clip after clip of devastating minutes go by in Japan rescue efforts, news of rolling black-outs, food shortage, gas shortage, etc., the question on all gamers remain... "IS THE GAMING INDUSTRY AFFECTED BY ALL OF THESE?" The no-brainer answer is "YES! OF COURSE!" Although there are no lives lost (as of now) that have been confirmed who directly works in the Japanese Gaming Industry, the power outages, supply problems, gas, and everything, have also obviously affected 1 aspect of the industry, which is launching of new games. Further, unquantifiable effects are slow-down in terms of new game developments, servers for online games like FFXI and FFIV are down to help conserve energy, and people (employees) cannot go to work because public transportation is unavailable. One launch delay is Ubisoft's downloadable contest for "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" - "The Da Vinci Disappearance." listed in MSNBC (some delays are also caused by censorship - some games are too apocalyptic for release).
One good thing about one of the biggest Industries in Japan, is that it's supported by billions around the world and there are just too many creative ways to send gamer donations from anywhere in world!
Read this article for an idea how you can be part of this industry's effort to give financial aid to a country that is still trying to wrap their heads around the devastation that has caught them, and the world, by surprise.
Sources:
http://content.usatoday.com/
http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Posted by
Anne
1) Warlords 2 (click here to play)
This is a strategy game that requires attention (yep, no blinking), fast hands and a good set of eyes. Of course that's exaggeration but you do need to pay attention to the game or risk being overrun by enemies.
Controls: Mouse: Select menu / W,S: Choose lane / A,D: Choose unit / Space: Send unit
Screenshots:
2) Hungry Shapes 2 (click here to play)
A new twist to the shape puzzlers. You have to place shapes where they can touch the food and eat them. Certain colors/shapes would require a certain amount of food to be eaten. That means, you sometimes need to find a spot where a shape can roll down and touch several burgers when you let it go.
Controls: Click = Drop Shape / Feed all the hungry shapes according to their colors: 2 burgers for red, 1 for yellow, none for green!
Screenshots:
3) Moo (click here to play)
Same principle as Hungry Shapes 2, but this time you have to move the cow so it touches the bottle and fill it with milk. Sounds easy, but as the levels progress, of course it gets difficult. You would be require do knock-over some things to use them to get to one thing, etc..
Controls: Mouse / AD-move cow
Screenshots:
4) Sift Heads:Ultimatum (click here to play)
This is probably the coolest free online shooting game ever! Interactive movie scenes, never bores you with the same shooting/sniping missions and gives you something else to do. Wonderful cut-scenes and action-packed stick mercenary game!
Controls: Mouse / ASDW / Space / R-reload
Screenshots:
5) Inquisitive Dave (click here to play)
An adventure game with a sense of humor. The lines are too funny to skip sometimes. Seems quite easy, but the bosses can be a challenge.
Controls: A or Left arrow: Move left D or Right arrow: Move right W or Up arrow: Jump Control or Space: Action
Screenshots:
Happy Gaming!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Posted by
Anne
Friday, February 11, 2011
