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Jon of ZippyGamer: Hey Tom, thanks for agreeing to do the interview with us. I noticed your last name rhymes with my last name, so I assume that means we’re both geniuses. Anyway, please give us some basic info on who the heck you are.

Tom Sennett: I’m Tom Sennett. I’m a student at Penn State University, an independent game developer, and a genius.

Jon: Tell us about your first video game. What was it? How did you come up with the idea?

Tom: The first real game I put together was called Atomic Wall Ball, and it was a Breakout ripoff. Not quite a clone, because it made less sense than Breakout. I was 12 or 13 years old, so I take no responsibility for it.

RunMan: Race Around The World

Jon: What are you majoring in at Penn State? Do you intend to create a career as a game developer?

Tom: My major at Penn State is Information Sciences & Technology. It’s pretty undemanding. All the work I’ve done on games has been far outside my curriculum.

At this point, I’m hoping to go full-time indie once I graduate. That’s a year from now, so I’ve still got some time. If it doesn’t work out I will probably find myself at a game company though. I am committed to working on games professionally in some capacity.

Jon: When creating a game, what is your typical design process like?

Tom: I try to think of something interesting or fun, then run with it and see where it leads. Like one of my older games, Acwabatiacs, I came up with while sitting in physics class in high school. I was doodling in my notebook and I drew this long segmented centipede, and then to make it interesting I attached a bear to its rear end. And I looked at it and was like, “What if this was your character in a game?” and all of the gameplay grew out of that naturally.

Other times I’ll think about things that have been done before and how I’d do them differently. So with RunMan it was, “What if we made a game about running really fast?”, and anyone who’s anyone knows Sonic did this a long time ago. But we totally ignored everything about Sonic and just focused on our question, and ended up with something considerably different.

My design process usually involves beer. And if anyone else is around, yelling.

Jon: What do you have next up your sleeve?

Tom: I’m working with Matt Thorson of MattMakesGames.com, my partner on RunMan: Race Around the World, on a new game titled Deepak Fights Robots. It’s an homage to some awesome old arcade games, including Bubble Bobble and Pac-Man. We’re developing it in Flash and hope to have it out before Summer 2010. So far we’ve only released screenshots, but I can assure you, it’s totally sweet.

Deepak Fights Robots

I’m also working on a three game series called Brutus + Miranda, or Miranda & Brutus with a friend of mine. That’s in Flash too, and is too convoluted for me to explain, but keep an eye out for it.

Hopefully you’ll also see some Flash ports/remakes of my older downloadable games soon, so Mac and Linux users will finally get a chance to play them.

And we have some plans for RunMan: Race Around the World. I can’t go into details now, but I think people will like it.

Jon: I appreciate your time, Tom! Thanks for giving us a lot to look forward to.

Be sure to check out Tom’s Official Website. You won’t be disappointed.

Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV revived the series with its fantastic gameplay and art style. Even if you’re not traditionally a fighting-game lover, you may find something to like here with all the bells and whistles that are thrown in. You can tell Capcom spent a lot of time balancing and paying attention to the details. Easy to learn and tough to master, Street Fighter IV is a new classic.

Average critic score: 9.3 out of 10

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Considered by many to be the best game in the series, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a must-play for all fans of first person shooters. Although many have moved onto Modern Warfare 2, its multiplayer mode was great and challenged Halo 3 as the most played online Xbox 360 game. With an insane amount of action packed in, even the single-player won’t be disappointed, albeit the campaign is a little short. The realistic sounds of guns and explosions really help to immerse you, especially if you’re playing with a nice set of surround sound speakers. Give this one a try!

Average critic score: 9.4 out of 10

Resident Evil 5

Taking a more action-oriented perspective than before seen in the series, Resident Evil 5 (along with RE4) caught the attention of those who had previously ignored the series for many years. Solid game mechanics and a fantastic co-op campaign sets this game apart from the norm, especially if you have a friend to blast your way through it with. Mercenaries mode adds a lot of replayability as you can team up with a friend to kill swarms of enemies and rack up new high scores.

Average critic score: 8.6 out of 10

Rainbow Six: Vegas

If you’re a fan of tactical shooters then you will love Rainbow Six: Vegas. It’s a nice change of pace to the frantic type of shooting we find in games like Halo. The new health system makes the game much more stress free, and could very easily fix the problems you had with the other ones. The campaign is top-notch and the multiplayer modes were considered to be some of the best yet seen on Xbox Live.

Average critic score: 8.9 out of 10

Bioshock

BioShock is widely considered to be an outstanding game and is ranked as one of the best games of all time. The game has a fantastic story and atmosphere that you will not find in 99.9% of other games. Besides that, the game has a great soundtrack and a mix of first-person-shooting and RPG elements combined to make a unique gameplay experience. Be sure to give this one a try.

Average critic score: 9.4 out of 10

Conclusion

You have likely played at least one of the above titles, but be sure to give a try to any that you’ve missed. There’s no need to break the bank on buying the latest titles. Pocket the extra cash or spend it on something important, like pizza. Maybe set aside a little for your girlfriend.

What are your favorite games for under $20? Let us know in the comments below!

Both of these games have something in common: the women are, how we say, gifted in certain ways. But over time it seems Croft is becoming a bit more realistic (though still gifted) meanwhile the girls of Soul Calibur seem to be filled even more with helium. Check out the photo evidence below [click thumbnails for full-size images].

Gamestop

Gamestop.com is having a Power Saver sale with some fantastic prices on older used games with free shipping if you spend over $39. Check it out.

Best Buy

Best Buy has a couple of deals. Nothing too special.

Xbox 360 deals include Singularity for $39.99, $20 in savings. We also have DarkStar One: Broken Alliance for $39.99, $10 in savings. This goes for the Playstation 3 version too. And finally you can grab a Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for $39.99, $10 in savings.

You can also grab Super Mario 64 DS or New Super Mario Bros. for free with the purchase of a Nintendo DSi or DSi XL.

Target

Target has a little more for us.

$49.99:
Dj hero bundle (360, PS3, Wii)
Modern Warfare 2 (360, PS3)
NCAA Football 11 (360, PS3)
Skate 3 (360, PS3)
Tony Hawk Ride bundle (360, PS3, Wii)

$39.99:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (Wii)

$29.99:
Sims 3 (PC)
Sims 3 Ambitions (PC)
WWE Smackdown Raw 2010 (360, PS3)

$19.99
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (360, PS3, Wii)

$5 Gift card with purchase of the Last Airbender $39.99 (360, PS3) or $29.99 (Wii).

People like to have fun. This is obvious. Games are a part of virtually every culture and gaming has the power to make the world a better place.

The Fun Theory

Not long ago I heard about The Fun Theory, which is simply brilliant. The idea of the fun theory is that having fun is a good way to change behavior. The web site challenges visitors to think of creative ways to improve the world by using the concept of fun.

We all know that taking the stairs is healthier than taking the elevator. The age of computers is causing more and more of us to sit on our asses all day. What if taking the stairs was more fun? Check out the video below:

Check out The Fun Theory web site for more videos.

Jane McGonigal

Jane McGonigal is a well known game designer who is working to encourage game designers to improve the world with their games. She claims that reality is broken and game designers can fix it!

In the 20-minute video below, McGonigal discusses gaming and how we could use it to solve real-world issues like hunger and poverty. Sounds crazy, right? Check out her fascinating talk:

Be sure to check out her web site as well. As McGonigal says, we need more epic wins!

DICE 2010: “Design Outside The Box”

In the video above, Jesse Schell of Schell Games gives a presentation on the future of gaming. This video is interesting because it shows how gaming has already changed the world and how we spend our money on games.

Games like Farmville and Wii Fit came out of nowhere and changed games as we know them. The possibility of earning Gaming Achievements has changed how gamers play their games.

Could our real-world lives be more successful if we acquired achievement points for performing certain tasks? The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid explores this idea by having you grow a tree in the dashboard. The better gas mileage you get, the taller your tree grows.

Some teachers are already successfully using video games in their schools and UC Berkeley even taught a class using Starcraft.

How do you think gaming has changed the world?

Image attributions: featured banner, thumbnail

Warning: These are not safe for work!

Sega gives a new meaning to “playing with your joystick.”

A classy reference to the “masturbating will make you go blind” myth.

Yeah, it’s somewhat common for those in the North to pee their name in the snow. Don’t ask me why.

This advertisement is nuts.

And finally, the best for last…

Probably the best advertisement for any video game, period.

Have you seen any other funny ads? Let us know about them in the comments below.

The free game that so many of us loved, 1 vs. 100, has been canceled. It was just recently confirmed that there will be no third season for the popular Xbox Live title.

This is a shame, since it was arguably the best free game on the Xbox Live network and was a lot of fun to play with friends if you were in the mood for some relaxing and non-serious gaming. It was also a very unique experience, an online trivia game show with a live host and real prizes.

The developers plan to take the lessons they’ve learned from the development of 1 vs. 100 and apply it to future games.

We knew starting on this project, that 1 vs 100 was completely different and would be an idea we would continue to evolve. We’ve learned a lot from this experience and we’re committed to applying these lessons to the cool, new stuff we’re working on, but can’t yet discuss.

We’d like to thank them for the two seasons we had and we’re looking forward to seeing what’s next.

Here are 10 images that explain why.

#1

Ouch. Congrats to Spain for winning the cup. You earned it.

(click the image above for the fun animated version)

#2

This guy can throw better than Ken and Ryu combined.

#3

Hey what’s over there?! PUNCH!

#4

Scientifically proven to increase back pain.

#5

Can you seen my new shoes?

#6

Practicing his hurdles.

#7

The knee just isn’t supposed to go there.

#8

How did this even happen?

#9

That’s gonna leave a mark!

#10

Perfect kick, yeah!

Bonus Animated GIF!

Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

Someone I know from the GameSpy forums is making his own video game documentary titled, You Meet The Nicest People Making Video Games.

Check out the trailer:

Here’s a message from the creator:

Hey, guys! It’s been awhile. A few months ago, I started work on this documentary. Everything I’ve done so far has been with equipment borrowed from a community center here in San Jose. After my first batch of interviews, I decided I’d like to go on the road and speak to some more people, and so I launched a page on Kickstarter to raise funds for this project. I’ll be traveling across the US and speaking to people who make videogames on their own time and dime and finding out what makes them tick. Part of my motivation for this is, as said by Anna Anthropy in the trailer above, to see more people making games.

I’ll be interviewing students and indie game makers and golden age veterans alike, and in the end, the movie will be given away freely under a creative commons license, and all equipment turned over to the community center that has enabled me to film as much as I have to this point, so please take a look at the page, kick in if you’re so inclined, and definitely spread the word so this movie gets made!

If you’d like to learn more about the project, check out his page.