The first installment of my report on the year’s biggest gaming event is now live at JustAdventure. Check it out!
Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 274 user reviews.
Category Archives: Games
My new article about the re-release of the entire Quest For Glory series is live at JustAdventure.com! http://www.justadventure.com/article/160/featured-article-do-i-want-to-return-to-quest-for-glory
Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 195 user reviews.
You can read my new interview with Chris Jones, creator of the legendary “Tex Murphy” computer game series. It went live on www.justadventure.com today! http://www.justadventure.com/article/145/interviews-interview-with-chris-jones-and-aaron-conners-of-big-finish-games
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 189 user reviews.
My new column, Eaten By A Grue, has premiered at www.justadventure.com. I’ve been writing for the site for over 12 years, but this is the first time I’ve had a regular column! In it I’ll be discussing, you guessed it, games.
Here’s a link to the very first column, which deals with my predictions about he much-ballyhooed new game Diablo III:
http://justadventure.com/article/140/featured-article-tell-me-i’m-wrong-about-diablo-3
And here’s a link to the second column, which is my Kickstarter Wishlist.: http://justadventure.com/article/143/featured-article-kickstart-me!
I hope you enjoy the new column!
Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 177 user reviews.
New York
April 5, 2011
The Bank of Ray
I’ve been interested in microloans for some time. Are you familiar with the concept? You make loans in tiny amounts to people across the globe that you’ve never met.
I finally decided to take the plunge. I joined Kiva, an organization I highly recommend (www.kiva.org). The site is well-organized, which makes it easy to zero in on what kind of loan you’d like to make.
I skipped over the boring stuff like farming and manufacturing and went straight to Entertainment. Hey, just because I’m being altruistic doesn’t mean I have to stop being shallow.
After only a couple of minutes of searching I found my guy: Sugar Ayush, a married father of one, wants to raise money to expand one room of his small grocery store to make a PC gaming center. Well, that’s an idea I can get behind! Just because a kid lives in Mongolia shouldn’t mean he can’t get his Gears of War on, right?
At first I was worried, because I was the very first person to loan Sugar a chunk of the amount he was trying to raise. But in just a week, other wise lenders had followed my lead and I was delighted to see that his loan amount had been met! I’m actually quite proud that my name is listed as the first lender right on his page. The smug feeling of righteousness I feel when I think about Sugar’s PC game room is well worth the $25 I lent him to expand his business.
So. The next time you’re in Ulan Bator and you have a hankerin’ for some Halo, go see my client Sugar and tell him Ray sent you.
Other Microloans I Should Make
- Help open a bodybuilding gym
- Help pay for World of Warcraft subscriptions in a developing country
- No Child Left Behind (Without Her Own GameBoy)
- Open a Mrs. Fields in a developing country
///
Here are some more photos I’ve taken while in New York.
I’m still learning both my Nikon D90 and Lightroom 3.
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 231 user reviews.
- On the porch of their gorgeous 100 year old home in Toledo.
Toledo
March 26
Distance traveled today: 240
Total distance traveled: 2755
Today I drove west to Toledo to see my old World of Warcraft buddy Eric, better known as Kirian/Kirinas. He and I go all the way back the days of The Older Gamers / Thorns of Gold days in late 2004. After we were thrown out of T.O.G. (long story) we formed a guild called More Explosions that turned into sort of our WoW alma mater. Eric and I haven’t been in the same guild for a while now, but we’ve remained friends.
He and his wife and 20 month old daughter live in a beautiful 100 year old house in a lovely part of Toledo. We had a lovely visit which included Mexican food – always a plus!
In the 6.5 years I’ve been playing World of Warcraft, I have always jumped at the chance to meet up with friends I’ve made in the game. I don’t know anyone who’s met “IRL” more WoW friends than I have. Highlights:
Memorable Meetups with World of Warcraft Friends
Tantred, Neverwind and Lavalia – From the Bay Area, met in Hollywood
Drajh, Gaspard — Houston
Cclaudius – From Australia, met in Los Angeles
Nerual and his family – from Pacific NW, met in Los Angeles
Cloudblueyes – From LA, met in LA
Sacred – From Long Beach, met in LA
Aetropos and Thal – from Connecticut and Northern Cal, met in New York
Ardwen and Kulgarr – in Scottsdale
Iconia, Adam, others – Orange County
Jone, Newt, Natalyst, others – BlizzCon Anaheim
Kirinas – Toledo
Elithamaeter – from Seattle, met in Los Angeles
//
After tonight’s screening at the Cleveland International Film Festival, I have to pack, blech. I have to go stay in another hotel for two stupid days before coming back here to finish the week. What a bore.
Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 265 user reviews.
Pittsburgh
March 26
Distance traveled today: 280
Total distance traveled: 2315
Great day trip today to see my friend Randy in Pittsburgh. For eleven years, I have written about computer games on Randy’s website, www.justadventure.com. Randy is a passionate enthusiast of games in general, but most particuarly of that most maligned genre, the adventure game.
After having a brief heyday in the late 80s and early 90s (until The Sims came along, Myst was the biggest-selling PC game), adventure games have been in a long, slow, sad decline. But at least partially thanks to Randy, the genre is still hanging on.
Through these years I’ve met many interesting people in the gaming industry through Randy. My involvement with JustAdventure also led to a couple of actual paying gigs in the industry. I was the puzzle design consultant for the second and third Law and Order pc games.
I used to see Randy once a year, when he’d come to Los Angeles to attend the Electronic Entertianment Expo with me. But for the last several years, Randy’s been fighting life-threatening d so he hasn’t traveled as much. It’s been ages since I’ve seen him, so I’m awfully glad I had this opportunity.
I finally got to meet his other two sons (I’d met Randy, Jr. before once when he also came out for E3), as well as Randy’s wife Sandy. After a tour of the city, they cooked me a fabulous Polish dinner before I hit the road back to Cleveland.
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 203 user reviews.
Recently I was lucky enough to attend the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the largest event of its kind in the universe! For three days I was a kid in a candy store, checking out the new games, interviewing developers, playing with hot new hardware, and hobnobbing with old friends. Check out my comprehensive Big Fat E3 Report at JustAdventure+. Included: Possibly compromising photos with actual Booth Babes! Click on the pretty link now!
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 196 user reviews.
Blizzard has a cool new World of Warcraft Magazine that I’d really like to order.
However, THEY don’t seem very interested in me ordering it.
The order page doesn’t work.
So I tried contacting Future, the publishing company. No one at home (middle of a business day in my time zone). No way to leave a message.
I tried contacting Future’s subscription service folks in Des Moines, Iowa. They had no idea how to contact a human at Future either.
So, Blizzard . . . I hope your magazine can somehow be a success . . . without paying subscribers.
Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 223 user reviews.
Everyone loves Nancy Drew. Well, everyone with any sense, anyway.
Are you a Mom with a daughter? Looking for a fun activity to do together? Read on . . .
Does it surprise you that moi, , rough-and-ready manly man Ray Ivey that I am, am a huge Nancy Drew fan? It shouldn’t. I do have a big sister, after all, and I grew up with the books in the house. I loved them. Of course, when I became aware of Teen Sleuth Series that was gender-appropriate, I tried it. But like many other disappointed readers I quickly learned that compared to Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys are lame, lame lame.
I also love computer games, and so I was very happy that Seattle software developers Her Interactive (“For Girls Who Aren’t Afraid of the Mouse”) began releasing Nancy Drew adventure games in the late 1990s. Since 1998, in fact, they have released twenty-one of them. The games are terrific, and I’ve long been a big fan of them.
Starting a few years ago, a new type of casual adventure games began appearing on the PC. Known as “Hidden Object” games, they are fast, fun, and yes – casual. I love them as well.
Therefore I’m very happy to report that the talented folks at Her Interactive have adapted the plucky teen sleuth for the Hidden Object Game market!
Their spin-off series is called The Nancy Drew Dossier, and I just had the pleasure of finishing the first game, Lights, Camera, Curses.
The plot is classic Nancy: There’s been trouble on a movie set! A remake of an old Egyptian epic has been plagued by mysterious accidents, and Miss Drew has been tasked with going undercover to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Upon launching the game, I immediately recognized that Her Interactive’s biggest strength – recreating that elusive yet essential “Nancy Drew Vibe” – had translated beautifully into this new, more casual format. All of the elements of the game – art, music, sound, voice work, puzzles and arcade sequences – work together to immerse the player in that irresistable atmosphere created by the original books.
The game takes the Hidden Object formula and adds a nice twist: The goal on most screens is to figure out how pairs of objects work together. This makes the hunting-and-finding chores feel less like chores and more like good detective work.
The plot, which features a greedy studio head, a flamboyant film director, a questionable production manager and a high-maintenance star, feels just right as well.
Clues are important to pay attention to, as at several points Nancy finds herself in conversations in which the player must choose the correct responses based on the information that has been available.
The game includes several fun mini-games which add a nice break from the hunt-and-find action.
Sneaking around the movie sets and production offices as Nancy Drew is a blast.
My only regret is that it took me so long to get to this game, which was released in 2008. Upon finishing it, I immediately went back to Big Fish and downloaded the second game in the series, Resorting to Danger.
I highly recommend The Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses to Mom-and-daughter teams and to anyone else who is a fan of the durably appealing teen sleuth.
Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 240 user reviews.
