iGame Radio

 

The third day’s interviews from the floor of Macworld 2010 is now available.

What’s inside this episode:

• aHandSoft has released the Comic Hero Meter, which is a first step into making the reading of comic books on eReaders more interactive. Though there’s no real gameplay involved at the moment, the potential to create little mini-games based on this technology within the comic storyline is tremendous.
• TeamPhobic released Bounce On, a slide-scrolling arcade game for the iPhone, in 2008. It’s success has been partly dependent on the developer releasing fresh content on a regular basis. Jonas of TeamPhobic talks about his experience creating and maintaining the game, working within the confines of the App Store, and his experience at Macworld 2010.

 

ETA:I kept on getting Mark’s name wrong throughout the entire podcast. For some reason I wanted to call him some variation of Matt and Damon, rather than Mark Darin. So you know that meant I was going to screw up somewhere. Sorry about that Mark! Updated to reflect your *CORRECT* name.

The second day’s interviews from the floor of Macworld 2010 is now available.

What’s inside this episode:

• An exclusive interview with Mark Darin, Will Armstrong, and Chris Schmidt of TellTale Games about Tales of Monkey Island, how the games are being ported to the Mac, and why the decision was made.

The first day’s interviews from the floor of Macworld 2010 is now available.

First Impressions

Walking into Macworld Expo I feel of two minds. I know that I will be meeting up with folks that I have known for years, but don’t get to see very often (maybe just during Macworld?). On the other hand, I turn on the street to the wrong side. It will take getting use to the fact that the convention is smaller. There’s only one hall for the Expo this year.

And yet, it feels cozy, like a community. I walk into the Expo floor and see many of the same people I’ve seen before. Exhibitors are showing off their wares to the same people as before. Really, the only thing that has changed is that Apple doesn’t take up a huge section of the floor, and some other booths have shrunk down a bit as well. But nothing seems to have been sacrificed. Everything has become more streamlined.

The floor isn’t too crowded, but it’s not open either. There’s just enough room to move around in, but you still have to bump some shoulders to do it.

But Where Are the Games?

But you won’t find a separate game section here. The days of the games pavilion are history, and I don’t know whether we’ll ever see them back. None of the old stalwarts of Mac gaming are here. Not Feral Interactive, Aspyr Media, Freeverse, Ambrosia Software.

There’s a section for iPhone apps. If you go there, you will find iPhone gaming companies. But none of the ones you’ve probably heard of. Gameloft isn’t here, or Hudson or Com2uS.

So, where are all of the companies that publish and develop Mac and iPhone games? Why aren’t they here? At a convention of Macworld’s type and size, they get an opportunity to sell a large number of games to a large audience who is focused on the world of Apple in a small location. Many if not most of Macworld’s attendees will probably stream past their booth. For iPhone developers this is especially important, considering the noise in the App Store.

One reason could be that some companies just weren’t certain how well Macworld was going to do this year. And for a small company on a tight budget especially, which most Mac publishers are, this is very important. “Pretty much the reason we are not going is just that we are taking a break and sitting this one out to see what happens with Macworld,” said John Champlin of Ambrosia Software.

Others may be reconsidering whether the price of a convention appearance is worth the compensation in advertising and sales with the explosion in online sales and downloadable content for games. Does a company like Aspyr, which now sells all of its games as downloads (with some retail as well) need to show up at Macworld to make a significant number of sales of Mac games?

A Community of Gamers

But there is also the community aspect. More than many other technology industries, Apple has created a tight-knit community of Mac lovers who value the connection they have with the companies who provide the products and services that they use. There’s an expectation that a relationship exists beyond just the impersonal seller/customer one. One way to encourage that relationship is for companies to appear at events such as Macworld to remind the community that the company does care. By not showing up, a company risks becoming more impersonal, and the community relationship can be broken down.

PAX is a gamers convention, but for all Gabe and Tycho’s support of the Mac, you won’t find Macs in the gaming rooms. Macworld was the only real place to do that, but gaming at Macworld has been dying for years. With the refocus of Macworld as less of Apple’s personal selling convention, and more about the Mac and the community in general, the environment is ripe for true community gaming to come again.

But that can only happen when Mac gamers and the companies that support them (and that they support) work together to achieve that goal.

ETA: I misread the press release. Call of Duty Deluxe Edition is for both PPC and Intel Macs. This is just the first time that it is available to Intel Macs. I originally posted it incorrectly.

Aspyr Media announced today the release in digital form of Call of Duty Deluxe Edition. Featuring the combination of the original Call of Duty and the expansion, Call of Duty: United Offensive, CoD Deluxe Edition is available as a digital download from Game Agent.

In the war that changed the world, no one fought alone. Experience the cinematic intensity of World War II¹s epic battles including D-Day, the Russian Charge at Stalingrad and the Battle for Berlin.

I’m worried about Aspyr’s continued support of Mac gaming, actually. They’ve been a big supporter of Mac games, porting a large number of PC games over to the Mac over the years. In 2007, they released eleven games, I think (half of which were Sims 2 expansions), whereas in 2008 that number dipped to something like three. This year, they’ve announced two retail releases of deluxe editions of games that were already released several years ago and one expansion release, Guitar Hero: World Tour. But Guitar Hero: WT won’t be released until this summer. The last game released for the Mac was Guitar Hero: Aerosmith in October of last year. That means eight or more months between releases.

Reviewing the site, there is no indication from their calendar or anywhere else that they are planning on a release for the Mac anytime soon (I guess Guitar Hero: WT doesn’t merit the space). They mostly focus now on PC, DS, and Xbox 360 games. I suppose I shouldn’t blame them so much…they just had some layoffs in late 2008. Ya gotta make decisions. I wish them luck.

I’m back from Macworld and exhausted and ready for some rest. Just a quick note to let everyone know that I’ve posted my first podcast from Macworld SF 2007. You can open up your podcast catcher and download it (you *are* subscribed, right? ;-), or you can surf to iTunes, Yahoo Podcast, Odeo, iPod Nova, etc and download it that way. I don’t yet have it up on the MacRadio site.

Right now I just want to relax. Play some games for fun. I’ve been playing Quake IV multiplayer deathmatch. I’ll probably play Civ IV and Legion Arena later too. Oh, and I found out how to fix that nasty problem that some players of Legion Arena have (including me) where the battle button gets greyed out after the third level. Thanks to Justin from Freeverse for letting me know about that! I’ll post about that in a bit too.

If you have a question about Macworld that you want answered, or a comment you want to make, post it here. I’ll be happy to answer questions, even going out and locating stuff if you are interested. Want a picture of something? Let me know. Want me to tell you about whether something sucks or not? Tell me, I’m your gopher. Well, maybe not, but this is as close as you’ll get.

This is me, working for you. Just finished doing an interview with Ultimate Ears. They put out an earbud with serious bass that caters to the gamer market. Awesome sound. You’ll just have to listen to the interview later tonight or this week (whenever it is posted) for the rest. ;-)

Also, I am somewhat unimpressed with the offerings of game publishers this year. Granted, I’ve only been in the North Hall (where the gaming pavilion is) for a short bit, but still, it seemed quiet and, well, subdued. I’ll be visiting it later tomorrow for a serious amount of time. Feral is there, so I get to play some The Movies. Yay!

Everyone asks me what I think about the iPhone. iPhone, iPhone, iPhone. I keep telling them the same thing. We’ll see games on it. We’ll see third party hardware for it (why do you think it will be six months till release??) like memory sticks for added storage, and battery sticks for added battery time. I see a holder for the iPhone, where you put the iPhone in the front part, and in the back are little openings to plug these other hardware pieces in. No, seriously.

Another interview. Gotta go.

This is my first day of the conference, despite the fact that yesterday was the keynote and all. I figure that Steve Jobs never says anything that is relevant to Mac gaming. No really. Then he goes and unveils the iPhone on me. Boy, do I feel like an idiot. Ah well. I will get a photo of it later today and post it on my blog so you can see it. It really is remarkable. I mean, it’s a video iPod merged with a Blackberry, with five years of future stuff everyone will need thrown in. Take that, Zune! ;-) And yes, it will become a gaming machine, of sorts. I see mobile gaming competition, here.

I am busily gathering interviews as well. There will be interviews of interest to the Mac gaming geek, and the Mac game developer geek, so you don’t want to miss out on those. I’m currently blogging from the Microsoft Blogging lounge. Talk about a juxtaposition. Actually, of all Microsoft’s products, I have to say that I like Microsoft Word the best…which is why I still use it.

I’ve got another interview to get now. Gotta go. More blogging later!