Between Android and Chrome OS, gaming has been a small but growing part of Google’s business. With Noah Falstein’s recent appointment as chief game designer, it looks like Google’s gaming ambitions are growing. However, there’s a lot of speculation as to what exactly those plans are and which products they’ll cover. Many have surmised that the company will up its Android gaming efforts, while others believe that Google Glass will be getting games.

For some background info on Falstein, here’s a clip from TechCrunch:

According to his bio Falstein’s

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Overhaul Games president Trent Oster posted a long and excellent postmortem on Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition on Gamasutra. Oster goes over several things that went right and several things that went wrong during the remake of this BioWare classic. As a fan of the original game, the new game, and BioWare, I really enjoyed all five pages of the postmortem. In addition to the behind-the-scenes factoids you’d expect, the article covers a lot of BioWare history. It was one of the most enjoyable videogame postmortems I’ve read in years … more

Ouya has announced that Kellee Santiago has joined the company as DBF (Developer’s Best Friend). She’ll be heading up the company’s developer outreach. Santiago is best known as cofounder of thatgamecompany, the creators of Flower and Journey. In the official announcement, she said:

Oouya gets it. This is the first console company that really understands how important it is to remove the barriers to development. By freeing up the development process, Ouya is opening up new doors in console gaming.

This is a big score for Ouya. Santiago has … more

As a Bill Simmons fanboy, the “Ewing Theory” is far more relevant to my life than any scientific theory. When Simmons posted a column revisiting the Ewing Theory, I started thinking about it in videogame terms. Obviously videogames are larger team efforts than sports are, so some of the principles of the theory don’t apply, but it was a fun exercise. Over the last week, I asked a bunch of friends if they could think of any videogame franchises that improved when a “celebrity” developer moved on or left the team.

The most common answer I received was the God of War series. A lot of my friends feel…more

Wargaming, the makers of the popular free-to-play World of Tanks and World of Warplanes, has announced an agreement to buy Gas Powered Games, the creators of Demigod, Dungeon Siege, and Supreme Commander. Gas Powered Games recently made some news with its Kickstarter pitch for Wildman. The beleaguered company was facing financial issues and had to let several employees go to stay afloat, while its fate was in the hands of Kickstarter. Gas Powered Games CEO and founder Chris Taylor posted a teary and heartfelt … more

My morning started off with the depressing news that Yasumi Matsuno is leaving Level-5 and taking a long break from game development. Matsuno is one of my favorite game directors/developers of all time. He dazzled RPG fans with his excellent Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre games before being handed the keys to the big car – Final Fantasy XII. As many of you know, FFXII’s development cycle was disastrous and took a huge toll on Matsuno’s health. I had high hopes that Matsuno would revive his career at … more

The other day, I was reading this excellent GI Biz interview with Oddworld Inhabitants’ Lorne Lanning. As many of you know, I’m a big fan of Lanning and his company’s games. It was great hearing him talk about games after a hiatus from the business. It was awesome to hear that he appears to be stubborn as ever and that he’s still thinking about ways to empower videogame creators. Here’s a clip from the interview:

There’s an interesting rumor going around that BioWare-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk are leaving the company. I don’t believe that rumor just yet, but I’m dreaming about the possibilities. As many of you know, I am a huge fan of both of these guys. They’re just talented, intelligent, and super-nice people.  They also helped make some of my favorite games of all time. When Marvel Comics coined the term “homo superior,” I’m pretty sure it was in anticipation of the BioWare doctors. They’ve both done well … more