Studying Poker?
26 January 2012While I am personally not a gambler, gambling games that merge together strategic skills and luck are an extremely fascinating genre to study for anyone with an interest in game design since they can provide valuable lessons on how a basic set of game mechanics can originate a complex and exciting gameplay.
Poker, which originated in the early XIX century around New Orleans, most likely on the floating gambling saloons on the Mississippi river, is clearly one of the most famous among card based games and, in the last few years, it also gained an extremely wide popularity online. Among the different websites that offer online play, I found PartyPoker.com to be particularly well done and instructive, not only because it is localized in several different languages (including even languages like Greek: http://gr.partypoker.com/ !) but also for the wealth of information about the game itself that we can find over there. There are video tutorials and well designed sections for teaching beginners and more advanced players alike, ranging from basic lessons and a glossary to more advanced tips and strategies. In particular, I found the “Poker Trainer “ feature, where you can simply play on your own against virtual opponents for free, very instructive and entertaining.
In the end, the website provides many good resources for learning more about this fascinating game and… well, if after learning more about the game you feel the itch to actually try it in practice, you won’t have to go far away as players of all different skills and abilities are represented in their community (the website claims its client playing software has been downloaded over 30 million times since 2001!).
GameProgramming Italia
7 January 2012Thanks to the effort of some great guys with game development in their heart and souls, the website Game Programming Italia is starting a new life with the aim of becoming a central discussion and sharing space for all developers, not necessarily Italians as content can be submitted both in Italian or English languages.
I was recently invited to write an introductory article on the 6-11 Framework and the website is getting more and more lively. If you are an Italian developer or gamer you HAVE to check this out as you’ll surely enjoy the friendly atmosphere, networking opportunities and knowledge sharing that’s getting more and more interesting day after day.
See you at http://www.gameprog.it !
My 2011 Best Video Game Award!
15 December 2011Another exciting year for gamers on all platforms!
The categories changed a bit from last year to cope up with my interests and activities. Anyway, enough writing, let’s see which titles impressed me most (with the platform I tested them on)!
Best Artwork: L.A. Noire (Rockstar Games, X360)
Best Sound Design: NBA2K12 (2K Sports, X360)
Most Unique Experience: Child of Eden (Ubisoft, X360/Kinect)
Best Mobile/Indie Game: GUA-LE-NI (Double Jungle, iPad)
Best Student/Non Professional Game: Void (DigiPen, PC)
Best Retro Game: Prince of Persia (Mr.Sid, C64, http://popc64.blogspot.com/ )
And the final winner is…..
Robbie’s Best Game Award 2011: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softwork, X360)
Interview on CommodoreFree
30 November 2011The Retro Gaming and Computing scenes are thriving and it’s easy to find some excellent online resources, communities and magazines. In the latter category, I have been following with interest for a while a free publication named “Commodore Free” and I am very happy to say that, last month, its editor Nigel Parker interviewed me very extensively.
Our talk can now be read in the latest issue (#56) which can be downloaded in a multitude of formats here: http://www.commodorefree.com/issues.html
Enjoy and let me know your comments!
Upcoming speaking engagements
1 October 2011Not many posts lately as I keep being extremely busy with classes and R&D work, anyway quite a few things are happening and I’ll be speaking in different places during the next couple of months.
First, on the 7th October I’ll be giving a talk titled “Analyzing Fun in Social Games” at the Symposium on Social Dynamics in Online Gaming while in the second half of the month I’ll give a speech on the Italian Videogame industry, from its origins in the 70s up to today for the Italian Institute of Culture within a series a seminars organized by the GRIS group. More information on this will follow and i hope it will be an interesting session as I’m sure I’ll unveil a few tidbits about Italian games that no one remembers and that, nonetheless, were quite significant back in the day or simply amusing when seen today under an historical perspective.
Last, in November (7-9) I’ll be in Daegu for the Korean Games Conference for the fourth time in a row (I wonder if that’s a record?)! Over there I’ll be talking about the history of video games and some important lessons we can learn from it today.
Website hacked
11 August 2011I realized my website was hacked recently and several files are missing while other files (not mine!) were added to use my storage and bandwidth. I’m trying to restore everything asap and see how I can tight up security somehow…
More on GES
10 May 2011The fourth annual Game Education Summit will take place on June 22-23 at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington. The event is for faculty and administrators at colleges and universities that offer game degree programs or are planning to do so. It is also geared for video game industry professionals interested in sharing requirements of game program graduates, as well as developing relationships with top institutions offering game programs.
Besides my own 6-11 Framework for game analysis and design, some of the topics featured in this year’s program include:
· Interdisciplinary collaboration.
· Components of a new Masters program: Incubator, Entrepreneurship and Game Studio Partnerships.
· Playing like a game designer – the first thing a design student should know.
· Success factors for graduates joining traditional vs social game development teams.
· HR panels – what large and small studios look for when they recruit game development graduates
· Alumni panel – feedback from graduates working in the game industry…how they transitioned from school to industry
Whether you’re a game educator or working in the video game industry, don’t miss this prime opportunity to network, share research and best practices, and foster relationships.
The website is www.GameEducationSummit.com. You may use this promo code to receive$49 discount off the on-line registration fee: GES9856.
Hope to see you at this year’s GES.
The Golden Age (plus Orfeo in Rio!)
23 April 2011Finally my second book, “The Golden Age of Video Games“, is available on Amazon and other online retailers should soon follow. I’m really curious to see what will be the reception of my latest effort: retro games got more and more popular and relevant in the last few years and, naturally, this also led to quite a few very good books on the subject to be published recently. Hopefully also “The Golden Age” will be considered as one of them too 
In the meantime, my experimental game “Orfeo” is being showcased at the FILE Games Festival in Rio de Janeiro (12 April - 8 May) together with indie masterpieces such as “PixelJunk Eden”, “Limbo”,”Flower”, “Bit Trip Beat”, “Blueberry Garden”, “The Path” and other inspiring titles including some from the friends I met at last year “Sense of Wonder Night” like “Spirits“ and “Record Tripping“.
Update: GDC, GES and more!
24 February 2011I realize I didn’t write a post in a long time… indeed I have been quite busy lately (as usual!)!
First of all, I’m very excited I’ll be going to GDC again this year, where I’ll definitely gain new knowledge and ideas to transfer in my classes while getting up-to-date with all the latest industry trends.
Unfortunately, at the same time, I’d have presented a paper on the 6-11 Framework at the GameOn-Asia conference here in Singapore. Paper that will be presented by one of my game design sophomore students, Mr. Keith Tang, instead. Good luck, Keith! 
I also just found out that my submission for the upcoming Game Education Summit (GES) has been accepted too! 
In the meantime, I decided to get my hands “dirty” again with some development and I’m starting to dig into iphone and social games… will see what happens!
Last but not least, my experimental game “Orfeo” was invited to be showcased at the FILE (Electronic Language International Festival) Games Expo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, later this year. Sadly, though, it was not picked up for the Experimental Games Workshop at GDC, which I was really looking forward to. I confess I’m a bit disappointed for this: not really for being rejected, though, but because the organizers didn’t provide any meaningful feedback on why “Orfeo” was not considered experimental enough to join the other titles and, eventually, what would be needed to push the concept further.
In any case, I look forward to all the exciting events coming up and this year will definitely look promising and very interesting, besides very busy!
Breaking news!!
23 December 2010Just before the holidays, I have some time to post some very exciting news: my new book “The Golden Age of Video Games: the Birth of a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry” is going to be published, like “On the Way to Fun”, by AK Peters!
But that’s not all: the book will feature a foreword by Atari Co-Founder Ted Dabney, who also helped me with some very valuable feedback on the early Atari days, when the industry was in its infancy but several very exciting things were happening which shaped the future of the industry as we know it today!
Hopefully the “Golden Age” will be available by March… I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, after the success at the “Sense of Wonder Night” in Tokyo earlier this year, I also submitted my experimental game “Orfeo” to the “Experimental Gameplay Workshop” to be held at GDC. It’d be fantastic if I’d present it also there and get feedback from the GDC crowd… well, let’s see!
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy and Playful New 2011!!
