I am the ghost of groovymother.com. Woooooo!

This is an old page from Rod Begbie's blog.

It only exists in an attempt to prevent linkrot. No new content will be added to this site, and links and images are liable to be broken. Check out begbie.com to find where I'm posting stuff these days.

Filed under 'videogames'

April 13, 2011

4th & Battery

New imprint from Popcap to release smaller, more experimental games that their team devise and build. Can’t wait!

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December 22, 2010

YouTube - The Incident 1.3 on my TV

The Incident (fab iOS game) now has a TV mode. You connect your iPad via video cable to your TV, then use your iPhone (over wifi) as a controller.

Does anyone watch this and *not* see the future of Apple TV? Games downloaded to your telly, controlled by the handheld iOS devices in the room. I’ll eat my hat if we don’t see something like this promoted by WWDC 2011.

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August 15, 2010

The Pac-Man Dossier

Relentlessly thorough documentation of the history, design and strategy of Pac-Man.

August 5, 2010

Achievement Unlocked 2

More fab meta silliness. ProTip: Don’t launch this if there’s anywhere you need to be in the next 30 minutes!

June 23, 2010

Tilt to Live

Outstandingly enjoyable iPhone game — like Geometry Wars if it had been designed from the outset for the iPhone. Challenging, smart, funny, and rewarding.

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June 4, 2010

Manufactoria

Finite state machines, the video game. Currently sapping productivity at Slide.

May 22, 2010

Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde: Smarter Than You Think

The strategies of the four ghosts in Pac-Man. I had no idea they had personalities!

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May 12, 2010

Portal is FREE!

The free game is not a lie! To encourage download of Steam, Valve is giving Portal away for free for the next two weeks. If you haven’t already played it, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE NOT TO.

March 8, 2010

Valve Brings Hit Games, Steam Service to Mac

This is a big shift: “We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac and the Xbox 360.” I will never need Boot Camp again.

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October 4, 2009

Norwegian Wood - No Fun Games

How do you legally release a game based upon a Beatles song without incurring the wrath of Apple Corps? By asking the user to supply their own MP3!

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September 27, 2009

Plants vs Zombies

Plants vs Zombies is now playable online for free. If you haven’t already had a shot, you’re a fool.

July 17, 2009

Janey Thomson's Marathon

Track & Field meets Desert Bus. Can you keep going for 26.2 miles?

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June 4, 2009

New Super Mario Bros Wii - E3 2009 Trailer

I love Love LOVED the 2D DS Super Mario game, and can’t wait to throw my money at Nintendo for the Wii version.

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June 1, 2009

April 10, 2009

Plants vs Zombies

Popcap’s take on the Tower Defense game is coming soon, and is being teased by an awesome and bizarre music video. Edge Magazine has already given it 9/10 which is high praise. Can’t wait!

April 9, 2009

Close Range Game

Ultra-violent game demo, from The Onion.

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November 24, 2008

Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon M.D.

Upcoming Qix-like iPhone game from ngmoco. While I didn’t care much for MazeFinger, these guys are clearly putting a lot of work into making the iPhone a respectable gaming platform.

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October 29, 2008

The Unfinished Swan

Video preview of a really interesting looking new indie game where the world is completely blank until you fire at it with your one weapon: A paintball gun which helps you “see” the obstacles. Watch the video to see it make sense.

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September 26, 2008

Spore: Turning Gold into Lead

Interesting decription of why Spore isn’t as good a game as hoped. My interest in it certainly waned between playing around with the Creature Creator through to the game’s release.

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September 4, 2008

Raptr

Just-launched social network site for video-gamers. A month ago, I wouldn’t have paid much attention, but having really gotten into the social side of Xbox Live, I can see the appeal.

August 18, 2008

Braid's ending explained

SPOILER, natch. Internet theorising about a non-obvious subtext to Braid’s story. If Portal was a video-game short-story, is Braid a video-game poem?

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July 31, 2008

Zero Punctuation : The E3 Trailer Park

Zero Punctuation is always worth watching — viciously funny videogame reviews — but this week’s is a great sampler if you haven’t watched before.

January 13, 2008

2007's Worst Wii Games

Thankfully, I was completely unaware that any of these games existed — I had to do a quick search to make sure they were real, and not created purely for the purposes of this article!

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March 22, 2007

Media Molecule - We make games.

This month’s issue of Edge practically creams itself over the game which is now named “Little Big Planet”. Watching this preview video, it certainly looks like it could be fun, but it’s not convincing me I need to rush out and drop $600 on a PS3 like Edge suggested it would.


About This Site

This is an archive of groovmother.com, the old blog run by Rod Begbie — A Scottish geek who lives in San Francisco, CA.

I'm the co-founder of Sōsh, your handy-dandy guide for things to do in San Francisco this weekend.