When I was 16, a friend of mine and me made a bet: Within ten years, a character in a computer game would be able to do everything and anything that a real person could with other people or inanimate objects within the game world. That was eleven years ago, and I almost won. Surely, technology leaped forward and developed into forms we didn´t even dream of. I can remember how I first saw Strike Commander by Chris Roberts in a then popular magazine and thought that must be the best graphics I ever saw in a game and perhaps, it would be difficult to do better. Couldn´t have been more wrong, honestly.
Anyway, today Spiegel Online published interesting news about the gaming industry. Notable blue chips start advertising in online games like Anarchy Online. The ads version is for free, the ad-free version still costs you. Enough to hook people on the game? Perhaps. I´m curious enough to try it out, there´s a torrent available here. It is the last, but not least, sign that computer games hit mainstream. I wonder whether there´ll be a webwasher for games one day, too.

Another game that cought my eye was Food Force. Not because the graphics are eyecandy, but because of the moral message the game carries. The player´s task is to do humanitarian work, give aid to villages, feed thousands of people - the WFP, the world food programme is behind the game and is certainly worth a look.

The article over at Spiegel Online (in German):

Virtuelle Plakate: Anzeigenattacke im Online-Spiel

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 4/14/2005 10:54:00 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.