"How I Helped Destroy Star Wars Galaxies"

Patrick Desjardins describes how he made "almost a six-figure salary" playing Star Wars Galaxies. His downfall was appropriately cinematic:

After almost two years, I could see that this would not last. Player counts were dropping; the game was being mishandled more and more. When they did away with the holo-grinding, it wrecked a large part of my business model. And again, when the Jedi-village went live, it was the final nail. No one needed to spend vast amounts on anything any more. You could just become a Jedi from a quest chain.

I started shutting down my enterprise. I had bought and sold dozens and dozens of accounts, billions of credits; for the remaining players on my servers, my accounts were fixtures. They were how they functioned, they were how they survived. Most had no clue it was one person pulling all these strings, and in the end, I liked it that way. I stopped “playing” the day I was killed in Theed starport by a fresh new Jedi who didn’t understand how to even play the game.

I couldn’t even bring myself to fight back. I just stood there. I was one of the few true Dark Jedi Masters, and I let him kill me.

Via.

Link roundup

New Lone Ranger photo, featuring Johnny Depp as Tonto.



Poster for Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom. Via.



Sometimes in Bioware games you choose a seemingly innocent responses, only to find out you've decided to be very evil. Via.

Robot George Washington in Bioshock Infinite

Robot George Washington in Bioshock Infinite, which is available for preorder at Amazon.

New favorite iOS game: AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration)

I recommend freefall game AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration) by Dejobaan Games just added to iTunes.

(By comparison, Destructoid gave Waking Mars, which I'd heard a lot about, a negative review.)

Plants vs. Zombies pistols

Pistols and rifles based on Plants vs. Zombies creatures by Fellipe Martins. Here's concept art he created for American McGee's Grimm.

*Previously: Plants vs. Zombies cosplay.

Playing Metroid with a homemade arm cannon

Samus's arm cannon made by a Reddit user.

Aliens on the Commodore 64

Aliens on the Commodore 64. Via.

*Buy Prometheus posters at eBay.

Hidden item game starring Darth Nihilus?

Apparently, this is a character in hidden item game Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers.

Nihilus is one of the main villains in Knights of the Old Republic 2:

Dance against Slave Leia in Star Wars Kinect

Dance for Jabba's amusement in Star Wars Kinect, which you can preorder for $50 at Amazon. Via.

Interactive toys based on Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, and more

The Verge looks at upcoming toys from Mattel designed to interact with iPad games like Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope.

*Buy plush Cut the Rope toys at Amazon.

Illustration roundup

Good idea that should be explored more - - comparing how artists draw Psylocke. (This is a page from the outstanding The Apocalypse Solution, btw.)




Hunger Games game coming soon. You can read about it here.



80's-style cartoon adventurers by Cory Loftis.



Eric Orchard put a bunch of original art from his webcomics on sale at Etsy.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is now available as a digital download.

Link roundup

1. Apple's free guide to developing iOS apps. Via.

2. A look at the wild parrot population boom in Los Angeles.

3. I love video game review site Action Button, but I was awfully disappointed with the just recommended iPhone game Ziggurat. (I like Action Buttons reviews so much that I feel betrayed.)

4. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed Leviathan Wakes by Daniel "James Corey" Abraham. It's excellent pulpy retro-scifi about an oddball crew jetting throughout the solar system to unravel a conspiracy that threatens all humanity.

SCP-087 (the creepy staircase game)

SCP-087, a creepy journey down a series of stairs. Here's the download link. Via.

Link roundup

1. Destructoid looks at how Bioware writer Jennifer Hepler (she worked on Dragon Age and The Old Republic) has become enemy #1 to a group of video game players. Her Twitter account is very sad. (I actually like the idea of being able to skip combat the way you can skip dialog - - one of the first things I do when I'm considering buying an action game is to see if there's an invulnerability code. In fact, I would gladly buy expertly made video game playthroughs.)

2. A President's Day story by Neil Gaiman.

3. I haven't tried it yet, but Rock, Paper, Shotgun recommends browser game/Diablo clone Dungeon King.

4. Am I imagining it, or are there no Studio Ghibli films available at iTunes?

New photo gallery of the Sigma Samus figure

New photo gallery showing off the upcoming Sigma Samus figure available for preorder at the BBTS.

Five minutes of Far Cry 3

Five minutes of Far Cry 3 gameplay - - kind of like playing as Arnold in Commando. If you missed it, here's the excellent cinematic trailer by Blur:



It's available for preorder at Amazon. Via.

Sculpture of the Milkman level from Psychonauts

Sculpture of the Milkman level from Psychonauts:

Far Cry 3 trailer by Blur

Intense new trailer by Blur for Far Cry 3 (adult language). There's not much at the official site, other than a desktop wallpaper.

Double Fine Adventure Game update

The Kickstarter-funded Double Fine adventure game will be available for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and some versions of Android. The beta will be on Steam for backers, and the game itself will be DRM-free.

(I wonder if at some point this project has gotten too much support - - like they wanted to just make a small charming adventure game for enthusiasts, but now the pressure's really on to create a grade A title.)