Things I learned from videogames #5

The career choice that gives you the most transferable skills is 'plumber'.

GDC stuff: Layton's apprentice saves the day!

As planned, immediately after arriving in San Francisco, I went and picked up a copy of Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I was chuffed to find it sitting next to Prism: Light the Way and Pony Friends, both of which, friends of mine worked on.


Nintendo were pushing the game hard, which was very pleasing to see, especially as I would not have considered it a 'first rank' title for them. Apart from bus stop adverts and ones plastered directly onto the sidewalk, they also had these fellows roaming the area handing out postcards (pic courtesy of Ricky)

Ricky has a detailed review of the game up over on Dinomo, so I recommend you check that out. His opening paragraph is about as close to a perfect description of the art style of the game as you are going to get. I got very hooked on it and I finished the game before I left SF for the UK. The art is wonderful, the puzzles are wonderfully varied and the difficulty curve is spot on. "Lovingly crafted" covers pretty much everything in the game. It's well worth importing a copy and I am sure the game will be in my top ten games of 2008 come the end of the year.

The game also caught the imagination of many of the gaming web comics and here are some of their takes on Professor Layton.

Penny Arcade
God Mode Online
Dueling Analogs

If you too enjoyed the game, there is good news on the horizon with the sequel, Professor Layton and the Devil's Box, apparently due for release in Japan in November. Nintendic also have a nifty photo of a less than 100% English and rather more excitable Layton from the Japanese TV ad.

GDC stuff: IGF finalists

One thing that I found particularly pleasing at GDC was the vibrancy and rude health of the Independent Games Festival. The IGF finalists had a section of the North Hall devoted to them and you could walk along the lines of demo pods and try a great variety of interesting games, while chatting to their creators. Ricky spent even longer there than I did and we spent a lot of time at the weekend comparing notes and discussing the games. You can find the full list of finalists on the IGF website, along with download links for many of the games. Which are your favourites?

I'm looking forward to playing the full versions of Iron Dukes and Crayon Physics in particular. I was really excited by Battelships Forever, but having played it, I think it could do with being slowed down considerably so that you can use your tactical options in a more considered fashion. I'd already played Fret Nice, Cinnamon Beats and Globulos before GDC (through my work) and they are all worth checking out. Ricky highly recommends Ookiblocks and The Misadventures of P.J. Winterbottom.