Recommendation: Game Dev Story

Game Dev Story is an iPhone and Android game about my favourite thing, video games!  In it you play as the owner of your very own game studio.  Your mission is to turn your little company into a powerhouse in the industry.  There aren’t any specific set goals or missions to accomplish in the game which can be a little weird when starting out but provides lots of freedom.  Luckily your secretary walks you through the basics so you get a quick feel for the game.

Now like I said there aren’t any set missions to complete, the only thing the game asks of you is to have as much money as possible after 20 years.  That is when the game “ends” and your score is recorded (your score is the amount of money you have) but if you want you can continue afterwards and it will continue to keep track of your besting selling game.  I can’t remember how far I played till during my first play through but I believe it was well over 60 years, which is a strong testament as to how fun and addicting this game is.  At first the premise seems a little boring but once you start training your employees, moving to bigger offices, hiring more people, reaching the top of the sales chart, getting better reviews, making it into the Hall of Fame and winning awards including Game of the Year the game will have you hooked.  The management of all your employees and projects is really simple and loads of fun.  Also in addition to trying to make the best games once you level up an employee to level 5 in every job they can become Hardware Engineers which allows you to build your own console.  This is actually my one gripe with the game, once you are big enough to make consoles which may only come after the 20 years it is incredibly hard to make your console the most popular.  After the 20 year mark consoles are still produce by other companies with outrageously high sales numbers.

All in all the game is loads of fun despite my problem with the console aspect which should be noted is only a small part of the game which you don’t have to do.  Game Dev Story will provide hours of fun and allows you to make games of all different types and see if you really know what people want to play.  If you have an iPhone or an Android phone this game is one of the few you must own.  

Weekly Wrap Up

Green Lantern sequel in the works

            Despite the fact that the Green Lantern movie wasn’t able to make enough money in theatres to recoup its $200 million budget Warner Bros. still wants to continue the series.  I haven’t seen the movie yet but I’m glad that they are going through with a sequel.  The next movie will hopefully pit Hal against Sinestro which is what I would like to see but if that doesn’t happen at least there’s still First Flight which is amazing.

Toy Story 4?

            At the end of an interview with BBC about Larry Crowne, Tom Hanks was asked about the possibility of there being a Toy Story 4 to which he responded. “I think there will be, yeah.  Yeah, I think they’re working on it now.”  I don’t know how reliable that statement was, whether he has heard talks from people at Pixar and it’s accurate or is just assuming based on how successful the series has been and could be completely off base.  While I do enjoy the Toy Story movies especially the 3^rd one, I don’t see what they could do that wouldn’t be done before in the series and even if they could I don’t see how it could compare to Toy Story 3.  I hope Pixar does the right thing and lets the series go out on top; they are great at coming up with new and exciting ideas so I don’t see why they would need to milk the Toy Story franchise.  If they really want to do more with the characters they could always do shorts like the one that plays before Cars 2, which was nice but felt a little too short so just expand it a bit to 15 or 20 minutes and continue the franchise that way like what they did with Cars Toons.  

Forza 4 limited edition detailed

            All of the bonus content that will be available to those who purchase the limited edition of the game has now been disclosed on the game’s website.  Here is a basic run down: It will come in a Steelbook DVD case, have a VIP car pack containing 5 cars, a 10 car American Muscle pack, custom designed BMW cars, “Cars of Forza Motorsport 4 Presented by Top Gear” which is a 96 page album full of real life and in-game photos of the cars, a set of vinyl stickers, exclusive BMW theme from Xbox Live plus the all new 2012 BMW M5 which will be available on Xbox Live for those who don’t buy the Collector’s Edition.  All of this is going for just $79.99 CDN which is impressive since it comes with so much including an additional 5 cars for those who pre-order early.  To see the full article click on the link below.

http://forzamotorsport.net/en-us/LCE_ForzaMotorsport4/

Marathon is coming to the iPad

Daniel Blezek is a programmer who has been working on porting the classic Bungie FPS to the iPad for about a year now.  He is using the source code which became available in 1999 and is doing his best to complete the project and make sure the game is as fun on the iPad as it is on the PC.  I think it is really cool that Bungie is supporting an indie developer (not financially but in spirit) who is trying to pay homage to a game he loves and I have faith that the port will be a great one since it is being done as a labour of love by Mr. Blezek.

Crysis 1 for Xbox 360 and PS3

            The ESRB has claimed that they have rated the first Crysis for the Xbox 360 and PS3 however EA has not yet confirmed the news.  I assume that it is true and that the game will be downloadable from Xbox Live and the PSN since they don’t need an HD remake and can’t in my mind release it in stores even as a budget title since it is over three and a half years old and Crysis 2 has already dropped in price.   

Transformers 3 blasts into theatres

            I’m a big fan of Transformers and have been for the vast majority of my life.  I really enjoyed the first two movies and while I hate that they replaced Megan Fox I will without a doubt check out the supposed end to the series.  I say “supposed” because when a franchise is very successful the studios usually try and keep them going to rake in the cash even after they say it’s over like they did with Pirates of the Caribbean.  I don’t know much about the story in this one so I’m still wondering how they are going to make Megatron relevant after he was tossed aside and than ran away from Optimus at the end of the second movie.