In 2012, both F2P and mobile gaming did amazingly well, until pretty well everyone would admit that they have their upsides and are here to stay. Legions of ex-console developers have dived into mobile. How much of a...

What do you think is the most important, influential or interesting game that was released in 2012, and why?

Is energy over? Zynga uses energy as a monetisation method, and as a result, many players now see energy as a cynical money-grabbing ploy that typifies the cynical exploitation endemic in free-to-play games. Yet Boss Alien, the...

One of the GAMESbrief design rules is that players must not fail, using examples such as Backbreaker and Bejewelled Blitz. It has also been one of the more controversial, with comments via Twitter and the web saying...

In the GAMESbrief rules, I propose that developers should make sure that customers can spend at least $100 in a game, mainly because to designers who are new to free-to-play, this seems like a staggeringly high amount....

Much attention is being paid in the press to traditional game companies (such as Valve) who are starting to integrate F2P ideas into their products - the (slightly offensive?) implication often being that "real" game companies are...

While other companies in the console games business are struggling to adapt, Nintendo has so far defied expectations - most notably by managing to sell tens of millions of 3DS consoles, despite the ubiquity of smartphones and...