XGamerX writes "The iStory Creator is a freeware application used to allow anyone to create their very own custom interactive games for Apple's iPod. There are also a number of freely downloadable games to get you started. The text-based games play similarly to 'choose your own adventure' games." Amusingly, there's a game called 'XOPlay Rampage', referencing the commercially-sold iPod adventures that were previously featured on Slashdot, and in the game: "XOPlay has stolen your ideas and used them for their own greedy purposes. Show them who is boss!"

Thanks to TotalGames.net for its article discussing the oddest retro videogame plots of all-time. Among the highlighted titles are Sega's Genesis title, Greendog ("All you hafta do is find the six pieces of the Surfboard of the Ancients. They were hidden long ago by the Aztecs somewhere in the Caribbean"), along with Konami's N64 version of Mystical Ninja ("A giant UFO shaped like a peach has suddenly appeared in peaceful Oedo Town! The evil musical corps, The Peach Mountain Shoguns, have come to steal the Great Stage Plan.") What classic game made the least sense to you?

Thanks to 1UP for its article mentioning that developer Oddworld Inhabitants is seeking a new publisher for the next title in its Oddworld game series, after the allegedly lucrative Xbox-exclusive deal for the slightly disappointing Munch's Oddysee seems not to have been continued - apparently the new, "Western-vibed Xbox shooter... [formerly called Steef's Oddysee] has nothing to do with Microsoft anymore." The Depths Of Oddworld fansite has the most recent CG screens from the next Oddworld title, whose name is uncertain, though "Oddworld's website simply refers to the new project as 'Stranger'", and 1UP notes: "Oddworld Inhabitants representatives didn't specify any companies that may be interested in the game, although they said they were 'in talks with several'."

Tmuk writes "The second part of Jeff Minter's Complete History of Llamasoft has just gone up over at The Way of the Rodent. Straight from the man himself, it's a fantastic read after the previously Slashdot-covered first part. Enjoy!"

Thanks to GameSpy for its article covering the "Iron Chef"-like Game Designer's Challenge at last week's GDC 2004 in San Jose, in which "three famous game gurus were pitted against one another to tackle one of the thorniest of game design problems: creating a love story." According to the piece: "The three 'contestants' were Will Wright from Maxis (creator of The Sims and Sim City), Warren Spector from Ion Storm (visionary behind Deus Ex and Thief), and Raph Koster the Creative Director of Sony Online Entertainment (who was instrumental in creating Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies.)" The eventual winner was Will Wright, who "created a war-time romance game that he called a 'First-Person Kisser'", in which "...a man and a woman, chosen by the computer for having similar interests and romantic possibilities, would start on opposite ends of a raging battlefield. They'd have to arrange for a place to meet and they'd try to get there without being killed."

pyman writes "The 4th Ludum Dare game competition is being held over the April 16-18 weekend. A forum discussion can be found here, and you may register your details here. Previous compos have spawned some interesting games, as well as provided a unique insight into the creative process of the programmer mind."

Thanks to GamerFeed for its article noting that Square Enix's PlayStation 2 remake of Dragon Quest V has debuted big in Japan, since this previously mentioned SNES remake has already "sold over a million units in just 2 days", additionally helped by "the inclusion of a preview disc of Dragon Quest VIII." The series, known as Dragon Warrior in the States, has never really taken off outside Japan, however: "Dragon Quest VII went on to sell more copies than any other PSOne game in Japan ever. By contrast, Dragon Warrior VII, and the Dragon Warrior series, has never attained more than a small but loyal cult following in the US."

Thanks to Curmudgeon Gamer for its article discussing technical problems with PS2 title Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest, and why official reviews of the game didn't seem to mention those problems. According to the writer, who had been "experiencing frustrating lock-ups and hangs which have caused the loss some of my progress through the game", it turns out that "two of the reviewers did see the game hang and didn't mention it in their reviews." However, he argues: "That's a judgment call, really, and since each saw the problem precisely once I can understand leaving it out of the review", and ends by suggesting that "the real burden rests not on the shoulders of the reviewers but on the creators of the game and, potentially, the console itself."

Steeda95GT writes "A Reuters story reprinted at Forbes.com is an interesting read, saying that 'The gaming industry will shrink unless we start to see new games'. It talks about how the ratio of original titles to sequels is dropping dramatically, but it also goes on to say that upcoming sequels (Doom 3, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, GTA: San Andreas) will be successful only because their predecessors were."

ILL Clinton writes "Animation World Magazine's website has a nice article about the current state of machinima, which is the process of making movies using real-time game technology. The article features a Quicktime movie from what is probably the most beautiful machinima movie so far, 'Anna' (created using Quake 3) by Fountainhead Entertainment. Also featured are quotes and mentions of other Machinima movie-makers and their latest works, including a new piece to be broadcast on Scottish TV by Strange Company, and the latest live performances by The ILL Clan animator/improvisers. (As my name suggests, I'm one of them.) Interestingly, the article focuses on machinima makers who create their own 3D assets, as opposed to re-using those that come with whatever game is being used to make the movie."

loftydog writes "Gamespot is reporting that our favorite console manufacturer has thrown down a gauntlet in Florida. Seems they didn't want to play in Texas with HardOCP. Turns out that SCO doesn't have a corner on the lawyer market after all, and we'll see something from Infinium, even if it is an overpaid suit."

Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to the Game Developer's Conference index at 1UP, further coverage at GameSpot, more coverage via GameSpy, and yet more coverage at IGN, as GDC finally wraps up. Highlights of newly posted articles include confirmation of Metal Slug Online from Mega Enterprises and SNK, a preview of BioWare's Xbox RPG Jade Empire, a post-mortem of Elixir's disappointing strategy title, Republic, and new information on much-awaited Xbox RPG Fable.

Thanks to IGN for its article revealing that Nintendo has confirmed their Game Boy Advance-based classic NES conversions for U.S. release on June 7th. According to the article: "The collection [already released in Japan as the Famicom Mini Series] will be called [the] Classic NES Series, and will begin as a limited edition NES Game Boy Advance SP as well as a line-up of eight classic games", with the specific titles being Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, Ice Climber, Xevious, and Bomberman. The piece also notes: "Each game in the series will be priced at $19.99, and will be packaged in a standard Game Boy Advance box featuring the classic artwork of the original game."

Thanks to GamePro for its story discussing the $600,000 settling of a discrimination suit brought by Sega game testers who charged that "Sega directed [employment agency] Spherion to terminate the employment of 13 Filipino game testers due to their national origin." Complicatedly, it appears: "The move to fire the Filipino employees stemmed from a complaint of a former employee, who alleged in his exit interview that Sega was giving preferential treatment to Filipinos." Interviews with the testers paint a downbeat perspective of the job, with one of the fired employees saying: "I look around and see some friends who are game testers, and I talk to a couple of people who are in the industry, and what I get from other people is that game testers... are almost disposable."

Thanks to GameSpy for its coverage of id co-founder John Carmack's keynote speech at Game Developer's Conference. Ideas discussed include the now-dismissed concept to do a 'Quake 2 remix' - "to rebuild the game using all-new assets and technology", as Carmack pointed out: "...even the idea of just reskinning an old game brings with it the problems that as we have newer graphics technology, media creation demands get worse and worse." Of follow-ups to DOOM 3, Carmack also mentioned that "they were hoping to re-use some of the assets created for DOOM 3 to help speed up development of whatever they do next, but even that would have a tradeoff."

MattW writes "The gist of this AP/Miami Herald article seems to be that consoles going online will mutate the MMORPG space. Already, there is word that PC game development is withering, even though as a preferential PC gamer I see the best games ever. Is the console destined for superiority, or will the ubiquitous need and superior user input of the PC keep it as a viable game platform?"

ack154 writes "Reuters has a good article from the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, explaining how Sony is planning to milk PS2 sales until 2010. They see a lot of potential still down the road. Also mentioned at the conference was that Sony has no plans to speed up PS3 development based on the next Xbox system. There was also an emulated demo of a game for the upcoming PSP handheld." Elsewhere, GameSpy has a more detailed write-up of the same GDC keynote, and 1UP.com has in-depth information on programming the PSP from another GDC lecture. Update: 03/26 14:31 GMT by S : 1UP has added a streaming movie of Death Jr., the PSP game demonstrated, to its coverage of the keynote.

Team Rocket Elite writes "According to Gamesindustry.biz Nokia's at it again. They plan to make it more like a normal phone and to fix the issues with changing games and using it as a phone. From the article: 'Nokia is planning a major press event on April 14, which will probably feature the first look at the new device.'"

herrvinny writes "As a followup to a previous Slashdot Games article, the upcoming Pokemon Colosseum GameCube game will download an update to a Ruby/Sapphire Pokemon game to fix the internal clock." Pokemon players in the US who want their games patched without buying a new GameCube game can take their carts to EB World or GameStop stores to receive the update. There's also a "special gift" distributed with the patch that requires an open party slot.

Fluidic Binary writes "Now instant messenging can waste our time in exciting 'new' ways, according to Wired News, who reveal that an improved unofficial AIM bot has been created to play Infocom games via AOL's messenging client. According to the article: 'The bot, designed by 26-year-old Web programmer Andy Baio, is a Perl script that acts as an intermediary between the games, which are hosted on his server, and AOL's network.'"