- The Sims is being made into a film by 20th Century Fox. Seems like they intend to work the “god game” angle for the film. Probably the only way to handle it, given the nature of The Sims. Even so, I’m dubious.
- Steam has 13M+ “active” accounts. I’d like to know the definition of “active.”
- According to Nintendo, female purchases of the DS have increased 42 percent. Purchases by people 30+ are up 127 percent. Some interest info about the Wii in there, too.
- Nintendo also recently unveiled a bunch of games; the one that caught my eye was Drawn to Life, which lets you draw your in-game character, weapons, create moving platforms to help you traverse pits, etc. I’m consistently more impressed with DS titles than Wii titles; hoping that changes soon.
- The NY Times is publishing ‘newsgames’ created by Ian Bogost’s Persuasive Games. The games appear in the op-ed page (for paying subscribers only.) First up: FDA-themed Food Import Folly.
- Director John Woo and Warren Spector team up to create a game and movie called Ninja Gold. Easy to get excited about those two working together! That said: is it just me, or does “Ninja Gold” sound like the name of a $2 scratch-off lottery ticket?
- Google Maps: now letting you navigate urban areas in 3d, photo-realistic splendor. Pretty cool! Watch out for the avalanche of effusive blog posts declaring the imminent advent of google maps 3d MMO gaming. 😉
- Microsoft just unveiled “Surface”, a tabletop display that’s extremely scratch-resistant, sensitive to touch, capable of “reading” printed information placed on it, and able to identify and interact with other digital products (like cameras). I’ve had the opportunity to play with Surface in the lab; it’s almost impossible to communicate how awesome it is in a few lines. This is going to be my new coffee table the instant a consumer model is available… and I almost never buy first generation tech products (Microsoft’s or otherwise!)
