Driver: San Francisco Usability Review (Part 1)
Driver: San Francisco is a new multi-platform action racer game and is part of the popular Driver series.
Unlike last weeks post, this week I’ve looked at the real usability issues (and pluses) in Driver: San Francisco. This week I’ll be looking at all the elements that create a positive player experience. Next week, we’ll be looking at the major usability issues, and what can be done to resolve this!
Driver: San Francisco
This week’s gaming usability roundup – Portal 2, Deus Ex, Driver San Francisco.
It’s amazing how many of the top current generation games have major usability issues. I’ve taken a look at some of the biggest releases out now, and have highlighted a few of the usability and user experience issues that came up!
now that's just silly
Gamification by Design by Gabe Zimmerman and Christopher Cunningham – Book Review
Gamification is a controversial area, and a current hot-topic in the world of marketing. Based on the idea of utilising concepts lifted from games in non-gaming contexts, it claims to allow businesses to engage customers to a much greater extent, through the creation of ‘sticky’ experiences. In this new book, Zimmerman and Cunningham (Z&C) aim to teach the reader how any brand can implement the techniques learned from games to create loyal and engaged customers.
Some great articles on games usability and player experience
A short update this week, as I’ve been focused on a number of other projects, most importantly polishing off “Beyond Trash Talk – Understanding player motivation through analysis of social interaction in collocated multiplayer gaming” (of which, more soon!).
Today, I’d like to share some articles on usability and user experience in games that I’ve enjoyed recently, in case you missed them. I’d also be interested to hear recommendations of things I should be reading, feel free to leave a comment! Click to read more…
Valve’s philosophy with User Research in Games (Gabe Newell & Mike Ambinder)
Gabe Newell at Valve is infamous for replying to emails. Having previously featured articles on this blog from developers such as Mainly About Games, and NimbleBit on their ethos with user research in games, and the practicalities of implementing it, I thought I’d have nothing to lose from emailing Gabe for Valve’s unique perspective.
Remember to be polite....
