Just because I never actually blogged about it here, wanted to alert y’all to Video Game Deep Cuts, the weekly newsletter I started up a few months ago.

As described in the overview, it’s “the best longread & standout articles about video games, every weekend”, and it started because, as I noted in the inaugural newsletter, “Inspired by REDEF in particular, & other recommendation newsletters like Level Up Report in general, I’ve found there’s a lot of value in compiling good/interesting content in one focused place.”

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[Totally delighted that we’re debuting the first Game eBook Storybundle of 2017 that I’ve once again curated! Some of the highlights of this one are an excellent Dark Souls book, an exclusive book on classic video game bugs, a tome on the launch of the NES, & lots more – with the Video Game History Foundation – of which I’m a board member – the designated bundle charity.] 

“Continuing its popular “pay what you want” ebook bundles, StoryBundle is very proud to present the Rogue Souls Game StoryBundle. This very special bundle includes 10 standout game-centric ebooks headed by Dark Souls tribute ‘You Died’ & Rogue genre history ‘Dungeon Hacks’ – with the newly launched Video Game History Foundation non-profit designated as the charity for this bundle.

The basic purchase tier ($5 or above) for the Rogue Souls Game StoryBundle includes ‘Beep – The Complete Interviews’ from Karen Collins & Chris Greening, conducted for the acclaimed game audio documentary of the same name and featuring a ton of amazing interviews with notable Western and Japanese game audio greats. Also included is ‘Boss Fight Books – Mega Man 3’ by Salvatore Pane, an affecting personal history that’s also a deep look into Capcom’s all-time NES classic Mega Man 3, one of the trickiest but most rewarding platformers ever to grace Nintendo platforms.

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As we’re getting ready to put on Game Developers Conference once more (it’s Feb. 27th to March 3rd in San Francisco!), thought it might be a good opportunity, as a co-organizer, to point out some of the new things we’re doing this year – many of which i’m QUITE EXCITED about.

And yes, although we’d love you to get a full GDC 2017 conference pass, a number of these new things can be viewed/played with by Expo Pass holders. More neat things for more neat people! Here’s the highlights: Continue reading →

[One of a few new things we’re doing for GDC 2017, I wanted to highlight this collaboration with the wonderful folks at iam8bit, because I think it’s a great example of a community-centric ‘thing’ that we can help to provide.

A free-to-enter art showcase which’ll have spectacular art from _all_ parts of the game dev process and a physical gallery at GDC itself is a super-cool thing, and we’re very excited to work on it. More GDC announcements soon…]

The Game Developers Conference is partnering with creative production company iam8bit to present the first annual Art Boss, a new art showcase taking place during the GDC 2017 conference February 27 through March 3rd at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Art Boss aims to be the definitive annual showcase for artists working in the games industry and highlights all forms of artwork created during the production of a game, from concept to release.

All videogame art, including, but not limited to, pre-production concept art, production art, and in-game assets can be submitted online with no entry fee required. Artists can submit their work for consideration via the official website. Continue reading →

[So it’s time for the latest Game Storybundle, and I’m particularly happy with this latest one. It features the super-cute ‘fantasy console’ creation software PICO-8 & some related zines – newly converted to Kindle format – plus a LOAD of other great eBooks, from Dungeons & Dreamers to a ‘Worlds Of Power’ Dark Souls pastiche to a Super Mario Bros 3 book & much more. And the PICO-8 & zine bundle shares plus my curator share AND the optional charity cut go to Pixelles – infinite thanks to Lexaloffle and SectorDub for their kind generosity here! Miss it at your peril.]

Continuing its popular “pay what you want” eBook bundles, StoryBundle is very proud to present the Pico Game StoryBundle. This very special bundle includes the full version of PICO-8, the acclaimed ‘fantasy console’ 8-bit game creation software allowing creators to make their own ‘stories’, plus the PICO-8 Zine eBook & 8 other standout game-centric eBooks – with a major share of the bundle benefiting women in games non-profit Pixelles.

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[So excited to be debuting the latest Game Storybundle – this one took some compiling, and had me commissioning exclusive eBooks, finding some supercool hidden gems like Jon Peterson’s tome, and even researching books on Go! My comments on each book are below the announce, and I hope you enjoy.]

Continuing its popular “pay what you want” ebook bundles, StoryBundle is very proud to present the Giga Game StoryBundle – the latest in the series of its acclaimed eBook bundles. This specially picked set of 8 fascinating game culture & history books once again features a multitude of great titles – including exclusive eBooks – for a fraction of their retail price. Continue reading →

[Virtual reality still has a (long?) way to come before becoming a truly mainstream technology. But there’s a lot of fascinating innovations – and problems to solve.

Which is why I’m delighted that myself and my colleagues are starting a standalone VRDC – spanning all types of VR, beyond just games & entertainment in SF this Nov. Info below!]

Great news, VR enthusiasts: GDC organizers are proud to announce that the first ever standalone Virtual Reality Developers Conference, the premier event for creators of immersive VR (and AR) experiences, will be held this November 2-3 in San Francisco.

This will be the second edition of VRDC, following the strikingly successful debut of VRDC as a sibling conference to GDC 2016 earlier this year.

Bringing an expanded focus overseen by a new advisory board, the two‐day event will bring together VR/AR experts from multiple industries to share best practices, demo new technology, create new business partnerships, and exchange ideas with innovators shaping the industry. Continue reading →

I had a chance to check out the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) trade show – http://www.e3expo.com – in Los Angeles this week, alongside some of its related press events.

I thought it might be useful to write something up for those who didn’t attend – or are intrigued about where the show, which is the dominant ‘consumer-centric video game show’ in North America, is going.

And actually, I don’t think ‘E3 week’ is going anywhere right now – but some of the physical constituent parts of it may be shifting around.

Here’s the six key takeaways, from my view: Continue reading →

As many of you know, I’ve – as a spare-time project – been involved in helping to run veteran game database website MobyGames for a couple of years now – there’s more about this on my ‘You Might Know Me From…’ page.

But the latest thing we’ve done, just announced by Tracy Poff on the MobyGames news page, is adding the ability to contribute watermark-free, hi-res promotional images of all kinds to the website – including official screenshots, wallpaper, concept art, & other images. Continue reading →