Helping gaming to Kinect to advertising

 

Seeing as how there seems to have been plenty of discussion of money on Quest Hard lately, I thought it might be time to talk about advertising. This was brought to mind when I saw reports that apparently they are going to integrate Microsoft's Kinect to adverts on the Xbox. The basic upshot being that with a literal way of a hand you could get more info on the product being advertised,  or even twitter your "enjoyment" of the advert.

Now I don't own a Xbox but it did get me wondering about in game advertising. I seem to recall that only a few years ago that there was barely a game being published without some form of sponsorship. I remember clearly a Splinter Cell game that started with a FMV of Sam Fisher clearing his sinuses with a refreshing Wrigley's Airwaves.

Wow it is fairly shameless

As another blogger recently pointed out games generally are a single price point product, so it has surprised me that in game advertising seems to have died off. With it pretty much just existing in sports games now (I assume, I am a geek and therefore don’t “do” sports in any capacity). Please don't misunderstand me I have zero desire for in game adverts, the thought of running past a Coca-Cola billboard in a Battlefield game makes me shudder.

It just struck me as odd that now a lot of mainstream games are trying to squeeze you for every penny with DLC and premium services (yes I am looking art you Call of Duty), that they would seemingly pass up potentially a lot of money. Lets take Call of Duty as an example, because, well,  Activison seem to have no issue exploiting their fan base. I would guess that right now there are probably at least a couple of million people playing some form of multiplayer COD. Now that is a hell of a captive audience, and has got to be worth thousands and thousands I'm advertising.
Well just food for thought. Oh and if, in the unlikely even some video games executive is reading this.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. This is not a thing that any gamer want, needs or desires. It breaks immersion and ruins any  game.

How to make a blog.

Just a little something different for you on a whatever day this is.

TF2-4-3 (well free anyway)

I have sat down to write about the news regarding TF2 becoming a free to play title to find that my good friend and fellow blogger Mr Fish (hangman) has already written that post So felling quite redundant I would like to tell you some other things about Team Fortress 2

TF2 was originally released on October 9th as a part of Valves orange box. It was considered to be ‘the multiplayer component’ of the package.

TF2 was well received on both PC and console. The game was well supported by valve on PC but the console version release little attention making it something of a ‘flash in the pan’ and quickly faded in popularity on that platform.

The PC version has been patched and expanded upon many times and still plays like a modern shooter barely showing its age and still looking great.

There was even rumours of the game becoming a more Persistent-world style shooter and clues in patch files of an RPG mode. None of this ever actually happened but knowing Valves methods it may have been a test to see the response/interest levels without announcing anything and may even still be something they are considering.

The MANN CO item shop was added slowly to the game and for the most part ‘snuck up’ on gamers as components of the service where added piece by piece until the current store was officially opened.

The game is now free. The good news is that if you already own it NOTHING is going to change for you (you may get a free hat). So, don’t panic. No one stole you game. This is not an NGE or LotRO F2P style upheaval of an event, its just a FPS that you don’t have to pay for  now.

There will be a slightly (and i do mean slightly) cut down experience for free players with the inability to trade and craft as freely. The below image explains it all better than i can.

If you have not played TF2 then now is a great time to get in on the action. its a quality competitive team based shooter, in fact its one of the best ever made.

If you have skipped it because your an MMO player (like many visitors to my blog) then you should try it now, it is free after all. In my experience the games diverse class system means that it has something to offer most gamers and the lack of any penalty for death means that you can keep playing until you get better without feeling frustrated.

Try the game. it really is VERY good.

Open the Valve to increase the pressure.

It is hardly a secret that I am a big fan of Valve’s Steam gaming service. It allows me to get games quickly, at a reasonable price (ok it can occasionally be overpriced) and offers excellent social and matchmaking tools. But I think a lot of people still underestimate both Valve and the Steam service. If anyone could said to “be” pc gaming (or Mac gaming for that matter), then it would definitely be Valve.
While Steam continues to grow by being an excellent service, the last couple of months have shown Valve to be true marketing genius’s. They have realised something that should be glaringly obvious to most consumers, but seems to escape most businesses. That giving away free stuff will earn you a fortune.
I am referring to them giving away free mac/pc copies of Portal 2 with the PS3 version, and their announcement today that they are giving away Team Fortress 2 for free. Of course both of these games do have item shops, with Team Fortress in particular having massive number of items to purchase. I should point out that there is absolutely no need to buy any TF2 items, even the weapons aren’t better or worse than the original ones, just different.
So do I think that they will make a fortune from selling hats in TF2? No, if they are lucky they will make enough to make enough money to cover it’s continued development. However TF2 for free, if advertised and marketed right, would bring a huge number of people into gaming, to the point that if you have PC you have Steam installed. Essentially they are offering arguably the best multiplayer shooter ever made for free. A shooter that still looks great and will run pretty well on any PC from the last 5 years.Oh and more importantly, a shooter that can only be launched from inside the online game store that is Steam.
I know that Microsoft are currently working on a free game which they are hoping to reignite Games for Windows, Age of Empires Online. Humm even if it is the best game in the last 25 years, I don’t imagine Valve will even notice.

What? I have to buy what I already brought?

 

I recently wrote a blog about how I thought the pre owned market should be of a bigger concern to publishers than piracy. Well it seems that at least one publisher agrees with me.

It seems that THQ aren't fond of the pre owned/rental/lending a game to a friend, and have taken to shipping their new games with an unlock code for part of their game. I have seen this in Homefront (you couldn't level a multiplayer character past level 5 without entering a code) and Red Faction Armageddon (code needed to unlocked the destruction mode Ruin). Now if you don't have a code, because you brought the game second hand or you rented it, then thq will kindly sell you one for a few pounds.

Now previously EA has attempted to get you to buy new by putting codes for exclusive content or dlc in the game boxes. However THQ has clearly taken this to the next level, and I am not really sure how I feel about it. I can understand that they are ultimately spending millions of pounds on making their games, and within weeks, or even days, people are buying their games used, and they don't see a penny of that money. So I guess when some smart executive suggested the idea, it must have seen like genius. I guess it is something of a halfway house towards free to play, as large portions of the game are still available for your pre owned /rental. I should also point out that we are not talking massive amounts here, 6 pounds for Homefront and 3 for Red Faction, and usually just after a game launches the pre owned price is only a couple of pounds less then brand new, so I assumed THQ would hope that you just buy a new copy.

Humm that was me being quite understanding, wasn't it? You see I get it entirely, hell I even sympathise with game developers, who spend years on making a game. In many cases a game is a labour of love, so when a lot of people get to enjoy your creative efforts, and give you back nothing at all in return, it must be aggravating at best. However I don't like being told what I can and can't have.

Imagine going into a library, taking out a murder mystery novel and finding that the last few pages are missing and you have to log onto the publishers website and pay a few pence to find out who did it. That doesn't happen of course, and we are perfectly free to buy previously owned books, music and films, without restrictions.

But books, films and music are all significantly cheaper too buy than games. It seems to me that the only way to make everyone happy is to make games significantly cheaper, probably to half their current costs. That way there will be a lot less incentive to buy pre owned, you would probably make so little back on trade in's that a lot off people wouldn't bother and game companies would hopefully sell a lot more games. Though that plan requires one brave publisher to step up and take that chance.

All in all, I can't bring myself to hate THQ for the steps they have taken. I think they are wrong, but a business is there to make money and grow. The games industry has a lot of money in it, but it is still a perilous environment. Hell just ask the makers of Homefront, Kaos Studios, ah right you can't because they were shut down a couple of weeks ago.

Point and click, its fun you know.

There is a fine line between a good point and click game and a bad one. Most of the better ones are comedic and lets be honest, a bit silly. Monkey island proved that fact very early on.

You see its not the game play that keeps you involved its the characters. They have to be genuinely funny. So as you can imagine a while back when I heard about ‘Ben  There Dan that’ an indie game with no voice acting that was supposed to be an example of point and click adventure done right i ignored it. I realise that ignoring a game because you think its probably not going to be funny enough is an unusual reason but with the lack of attention the game was receiving from the gaming population i never really came across a reason to rethink it.

Yesterdays Steam ‘Daily Deal’ was ‘Ben there Dan that’ (free from the website if your interested) and the sequel ‘Time Gentlemen please’ for 75p and as we all know, i am a big fan of a cheap game. I have a personal rule that a game should give me a return of one hours enjoyment for every £ i spend, so at 75p it only had to entertain me for a little over half an hour to be a wise investment.

I spent three hours this morning playing the game. it had me genuinely laughing out loud in places and i maintained a constant smile at the two characters dead-pan humour.

The game is not without its faults, it crashed at least three times before it eventually loaded and the lack of any real audio work (very few sound effects and no voice acting) made it feel especially retro but the script is so great with some wonderful one liners that i can forgive almost anything it does wrong. the puzzle moments are mostly easy (very easy in dead) and the game is almost no challenge for any adventure game veteran but what it lacks in head scratching moments it gains in pure entertainment.

Even when this game goes back to full price its well worth an investment. As i said the package on steam gives you the first game (available for free from the website) and the second game.

‘Time gentlemen please’ continues on from the first game nicely (with a great TV show style recap of the first one for anyone who wanted to skip it…  but don’t) and has a slight graphical improvement, nothing that sets it ahead of the first one in terms of script though. It is a little bit more challenging and maintains the tone nicely. I have not finished it yet as I accidentally clicked the close button (the game runs in a window by default) to later realise there is no auto save function (AGH!) but plan on getting back to it later in the week.

This is to me at least one game split over two episodes and should be played as such. don’t let the lack of voice acting put you off from a really good story and wonderfully realised characters with strange sometimes adult humour that will entertain from start to finish.

Game official website: http://www.sizefivegames.com/

Project Zomboid. - First impressions.

Project Zomboid has hit my twitter feed harder than a truck full of dice at a D&D convention. However I have up until now ignored it because to be honest I was not sure what everyone was going on about.

Last night I found myself on the games home page (due to a tweet from @Notch pleading for people not to pirate it) I downloaded the demo, there was no install program or instruction on what to do with it so i just launched the executable file.

Project Zomboid reminds me of  the old X Com game (UFO, enemy unknown) with its isometric levels and real world lighting, however it feels very modern and very well thought out in its design.

The premise of the game is that you have to help your lady friend and yourself survive the currently happening zombie apocalypse, here is the thing though, you don’t have super powers, immunity, a series of pre built safe houses, three buddies or a rocket launcher. you have everything a real person would have including the need to eat and sleep as well as the effects of fear.

It strikes me as being a word of love by people who genuinley understand what is appealing about the Zombie subculture of horror and suspense this is apparent in the music that is haunting and the dialogue is both moving and deep.

The core of the game is a constant drive to fulfil real world needs such as eating and sleeping while still perusing a more secure ‘safe house’ by means of barricading doors and arming yourself to better cope with the problems you face. clicking the button to sleep is quite a fear filled event as well as the moment you need to venture out the house to get some feed from the zombie neighbours house, the neighbour who is between you and the food faces a swift hammer on route but its all very tense.

i urge you to try this game even if you don’t like it enough to buy it its a really interesting work as both a game and as art. i for one wish that more games would take the approach of story and emotion over shiny graphics.

Project Zomboid’s Home page is http://projectzomboid.com/ and the game is available for a modest £5 however the download is currently offline due to those very naughty pirates who will no doubt be first on the flames when i get voted as president of the universe (is 5 beans, why on earth would you pirate it?)

Duke Nukem: Ironically arrogant

Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) has been in development for a little over 12 years. It came out and was one of the most hated games in recent memory almost instantly.

People where hating on it before they even got past the opening. but I've played it now, and here is the thing. its not that bad.

You see with a game like this that people have been waiting their entire adult life for, it was never going to scratch the itch. much like when HL2 Episode 3 eventually gets released it will disappoint many people, and not because its a bad game (Valve are actually assisted in game development by a band of seraphim so its not possible for them to make a bad game) but we have waited so long that when it does come it will not meet expectations.

DNF is that game for allot of people. Its the unicorn of the gaming world and when it was released it was doomed to upset many gamers. But I am not that guy, I liked DN3D but never loved it the way that many gamers did and as for DNF, well i didn’t really care, so, when i played it i think i was able to be a little more objective.

DNF is not the second Duke Nukem game its the fourth, people forget that and i can say with all certainty that the first game was average, the second game was bad and the third ( first one that was an FPS) was pretty great. The fourth (DNF) is actually a pretty descent sequel.

The first thing that struck me about the game is that the humour is a little penile and often over the top in an offensive way. BUT (and that’s in capitols for a reason) the game is faithful to DN3D. If you go back now and play that old game, its just as cringe worthy and offensive, but we where all allot younger then (most of us) and this sort of toilet humour put big grins on our faces. That coupled with the fact that is was the 90’s when this was socially acceptable made it more tolerable. When you go back and play it you get nostalgia, nostalgia the new one does not bring out.

Then there is the matter of the graphics. its a pretty game for the most part but there are slight oversights in the scenery such as stacks of casino chips that you can’t knock over when you get shrunk and predetermined routes that are very much obvious paths. this, i think is partly because the game was planned out a long time before the AI director and open world shooters, and partly because that's what Duke Nukem games are about. its supposed to be obvious and silly.

The look of the game does fit with the previous title, its like some one dragged the original set kicking and screaming through the years and fashion be damned.

From a gameplay point of view its not bad either, it has some quirky mini-game style scenes with radio controlled cars and gunnery stations but lacks the quiet finesse we see from the more evolved titles like bio-shock, HL2 and even battlefield. what it does have though is a level of strange self assured arrogance that fits it title character so perfectly that you can almost over look its flaws.

Summery: DNF is an average game with some memorable moments early on and if you ever loved 90’s smut then you have to at least try it. however if your under twenty three's a good chance that the irony will be lost on you, and to be honest that's a feature this game has in bucket loads and should be on the tag line.

Duke Nukem Forever: Ironically Arrogant

Play it. but don’t pay full price.

I fell in love with third person shooter on a Monday

 

 

It won’t come as much of a surprise to you when I say I love first person shooters, I play them both single player and online. However some games try and take all that shootery goodness, and put it in the third person, over the shoulder perspective. Now from a single player game point of view, this is fine by me, variety is the spice of life etc. However it’s the online multiplayer that I wanted to talk about. See l have always very firmly believed that online shooters just don't work very well in third person.

Two of the best examples I can think of, Uncharted 2 and Gears of Wars, both of which are not much more than ok online shooters (though both great single player games). I think I have always felt that the extended field of view killed any connection I might have had to the action (be honest that sounded pretentious right?). So I have always stuck to first person shooters, even though perhaps there might be more innovation in the third person (like Uncharted's climbing).

I am gratified to be finally be proven wrong via the joy that is Monday Night Combat, which I picked upon Steam's daily deal for £2.50 (it is now £9.99 but still totally worth it). It is a multi class third person shooter that is heavily inspired by Team Fortress 2 and DoTA. It is a great game that has great choice of skills, constant action and fun satisfying shooting. So what makes this third person multiplayer shooter gel for me when other, far bigger budget AAA titles haven't?

I think it is all down to 3 feet high walls. Or to be more precise that a lot of third person shooter have a cover based system, where you hide behind a sand bags or barriers, popping out to attack enemies. I think in multiplayer spending half the time hiding behind a low wall or similar, such as in Gears and Uncharted, is just not fun for me. Yes it makes sense in a single player, your character isn't some sort of god and the cover allows you to stay in the action, and not run back around the corner when you are in trouble.

However the thought of 12 players running around a map hiding behind chunks of masonry and post boxes seems ludicrous and under powered to me. So Monday Night Combat, I salute you for changing my opinion that a third person multiplayer shooters just can’t work.

Vlog – The Cake is a Jedi

Cake + Yoda = extra yum!

Got a birthday cake from my sister-in-law. its so awesome i had to vlog about it. – sorry not gamer related.

Community Review: Write on!

This is an article that is specifically relevant to mmovoices.ning.com i have posted it here as a general interest article.

Here we are then. The urge has taken me and I am churning out another little gem of a post for your reading pleasure, or at least my writing pleasure and that really is what blogging is about isn't it. the joy of writing your thoughts.

Every social community like this one has highs and lows in terms of ‘creative development’ what its means in short, is that blogging hobby for all of us and as such we do it when we want to not when we are think we should, so some days i visit the site and see literally a whole page full of new entries and other times nothing will happen for a few days.

It is this creative tide that keeps blogging interesting for me at least. Why is it that some times the creative urge does not take hold of anyone at all and other days people who have no connection and whom live some times thousands of miles apart can have the urge to write all at the same time? is it the inspiration gained from one good post or is it simply the zeitgeist or the universe effecting us?

Well, i want to know. so its time for a little project. i challenge you to write when you least want to. when you are so ‘into’ a game that you would not usually find time to stop and post make a little blog for your fellow Voicers saying something like:

Hey guys I’m playing [insert awesome game title here] its great. I like it because [reasons for awesome game status here]. and you should play too. – hey here are some screen shots/in game video of me playing

Yeah, it seams like a pain in the ass to take time out but maybe we are all playing the same new super hot web game or retro classic we picked up on sale. wouldn't it be great to kick off a whole discussion with a little gem of a blog like that?

I know it’s hard to pull yourself away long enough to type but how about i talk to Mr Turkey and see if i can arrange a little prize for those of you who do manage it (more details to follow i hope)

Site Tip

You know how on Facebook you click like if you.. well, like something some one has written? MMO Voices has a similar system. here is a picture of it so you know what i am talking about:

its another one of the little features that people over look or forget about. if we all hit that button when we read a blog we like (and comment too, that’s always a good idea) then it makes it easier for me to pick out the most popular posts and highlight/feature future posts form those skilled bards.

Blogs of note

Once more here are a few posts from the site that i think you should read (if you haven’t already) they are jus my own picks but maybe if you all start using that like button i will have a better view of what everyone else liked. So, here they are in no particular order

Contains Moderate Peril Podcast – Rodger Edwards

E3 2011: Thoughts and Opinions – Tramell Hawkins

feedback on this post and all others i write is most welcome

Civilized games.

Civilization is something that has evolved over a period of thousands of years, maybe millions depending what history you subscribe to. the way humanity has come together and build community on top of community,  ignoring our difference's to eventually get to where we are today is so astounding that it has reduced some philosophers to tears on more than one occasion.

Civilization 4 however is a video game that was released in 2005. it was on steam sale last week and i purchased it at the reasonable price of about 4 of my human pounds. and like human civilization it is an epic work consuming massive amount s of time to make fairly mundane things happen. like human civilization the  game is addictive and fantastical just yesterday i was playing and Gandhi went to war with me, i have to say i didn’t see that coming.

I have never played a Civilization game before so when i loaded into ‘Civ 4’ i was a little confused and as i failed to find a tutorial i had no idea what to expect from the game. As anyone who has played it can testify its something of an oddity. it is basically a board game and your choice of starting nation is more to do with your play style than any real national pride. each nation has a special unit and differing ‘starter technology’ that can make or break an early ‘war’ in a game.

i chose the Mayans mostly because i love their calenders and had no idea what i was doing so it was as good a reason as any. I quickly realised that i needed to hit the button that made my settlers, err, settle. i called my first city ‘BoobieTown’ because I’m a child and when given the option to name anything i choose something that will appease my inner 14 year old.

I continued to scratch my head as i played making some little decision's  each turn then hitting the enter key to let the other nations have a crack at world domination. i made some more little settlements and some workers, warriors, shops and alliances. as i played i researched new technology and eventually had access to the printing press.... before i realised i was having fun it was bed time. the following day at work i sat thinking about how strange the game was and could to  wait to come home and start again now i knew what i was doing.

The next night i was a little more focused and had a plan of action i was an expansionist and it served me well, until that incident with Gandhi that is, that was rather unexpected. as a part of the package i brought off steam i had all the games expansions as well as i installed them the moment i realised how great the game it.

I am currently enjoying the Beyond the Sword expansion, i am not sure what content each expansion adds  but darn it i am having some confused global domination fun.

sure its a digital board game and its hard to explain why its fun but i urge you if you haven't to try it. one thing is for sure though, i’ll be picking up civilization 5 before the month is out.

Duke it out for number 1

 

I have been playing Duke Nukem Forever (rented it, did not buy), and well, it’s rubbish. It is a very generic okayish looking shooter that is full of misogynistic jokes that aren’t even remotely funny. It is devoid of new ideas or even a decent amount of polish. Now what I am saying isn’t unique, go to pretty much any games site and you will find remarkable similar opinions.

So what I find really odd is that despite the game getting a very uniform drubbing by critics, it still went into the number 1 position on the says chart. This further surprises me as not only did it knock the highly regarded L.A. Noire off the top spot, new entries (and by all account much better games) infamous 2 and Red faction Armageddon didn’t get close to its sales.

Now I am forced to wonder if reviews are no longer relevant to the majority of the game buying public. Games like Brink, Homefront and Medal of Honor also all sold really well despite the lack of glowing reviews, and all three games had very large marketing pushes. Interestingly L.A. Noire also had a big marketing push, I wonder if it would have sold as well if it had not. I suppose what I am suggesting is that you don’t really need a good game if you can get your game famous, or notorius in dukes case, enough.

Yep we are now in a world were if you want a number 1 selling game, it can be yours, if you are willing to, well buy it, with enough billboards, web advertising and over the top gimmicks. I will be taking Duke back tomorrow, smug it the knowledge that them marketing scumbags didn’t get my cash.

I need to Voice something about MMO’s

 

I have been resisting the temptation to write this for quite some time, but I can no longer restrain myself (I am also drunk which may have something to do with it). You see my bested friend in the entire world and co-podcaster/blogger Hex is now community manager of mmo voices, as you will have no doubt noticed.

Now I find myself having something of a moral struggle. Now I understand that mmovoices could bring in a good number of readers for ourselves, and that this is a good move for Hex and Questhard. However I have to reconcile this against the fact that I think the creator of mmovoices is a lazy useless prick, who I hate. My reasons for hating him are long winded, and while I never liked him it only took one minor disagreement to push me over the edge. I never said I was a rational or reasonable person, but lets be honest being polite is a little dull. So while on  one side I want mmovoices to succeed for the sake of my good friend Hex (and also quest hard), nothing would make me happier than to see the aforementioned prick’s little community fail miserably.

Now this doesn’t seem like it this is going to happen, largely (entirely) down to Hex’s efforts, which makes me happy in a self loathing kind of way. Now obviously I am not going to post this on mmovoices, however this is something I needed to get off my chest.

I did try to make my feelings clear about mmovoices on our last podcast but Hex (probably wisely) cut out my fairly inflammatory statements. As I said I have written this whilst drunk, so I am not going to post it until the morning, in a kind of don’t send a letter when angry kind of way. Will this actually make it onto the internet? I guess we will find out in 8 hours or so.

OK back and sober, have read it again and drunk me is apparently quite blunt but managed to hit the nail on the head fairly effectively. I will post this and please let me know if I am just being a twat.

A Visceral rant

I, well I don’t want to say rant, but that would be a lie, about games developers and their lazy use of words. Here is a link to what the word visceral actually means, but it seems not what publisher would like to make us think. It make me angry (hence the one take short vlog).

Damn I do look annoyed

Vlog – OMG E3

E3 2011 is here and rather than writing a long ranty post about E3 so far, i decided to ramble into a camera, because its quicker, i say. then 11 mins later i had a 7 min video.

Back touch… lol

This video assumed that you already know about announcements of E3 and is not an explanation of them, its my opinions about then.

- Tweet me or follow me http://www.twitter.com/hexdsl -
- Daily Booth at http://dailybooth.com/hexdsl -

What came first the Art or the MMO?

This morning as i stumbled towards to coffee making thing in the kitchen I heard my phone make a noise (actually it said ‘some one would like to speak with you master’ a sample from the amazing ‘i dream of genie’ show – retro win) that signified the news of an arriving e-mail.

When my eyes eventually began working and the coffee entered my veins i sat at my desk and read the 43 e-mails that awaited me (while listening to Kiss, because I’m cool!). One of the e-mails almost got archived before i even read it then in a flash of curiosity i clicked it.

Apparently Deviant art are having a competition to design a new monster for Rift. its not unusual for websites and game developers to cross promote each other but what i found interesting is that i had never really thought about the relation between artists and gamers before.

I gave this matter some thoughts as i looked around the competition page. I won’t be entering because i have no artistic skill at all (that’s why QuestHard.com has no header image)

I have written before about games being a form of art but as a budding literary artisan (writer) i think in terms of words and to me art is a story or article that is written with finesse as strange as it sounds i don’t think about images or animation as much as i do story and language so this e-mail activated some new points of view for me.

I wonder what people will come up with for this competition, will the artists just create the image with no thought to the gameplay or will the mechanics of play be as much part of the artistic process as the original sketch?

anyway this is really just a musing of sorts but i urge anyone with artistic skills to get involved in this competition its a great opportunity to get people looking at you work as well as  some really nice prices.

here is the link for the competition page. if you have any game art you have designed i would love to see it so please comment some links to your work