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N'Gai Croal

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The Man Behind the Royal 'We' Says 'So Long'

11:00 AM, March 4, 2009 | Comments (12)

knockknock.biz luggage tags. Photo courtesy of justinph . I guess it's finally time for me to level up. It was the summer of '99 when I convinced my then editor to send me on a tour of the U.S. videogame industry. When I finally returned three weeks later,...

A Symposium On Game Reviews. Topic 1: Review Scores, Part IV

9:00 AM, December 29, 2008 | Comments (3)

A Symposium On Game Reviews. Topic 1: Review Scores, Part III

2:11 PM, December 22, 2008 | Comments (3)

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March 2007

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The Artist's Way: Nintendo Design Genius Shigeru Miyamoto Calls Out Third Party Publishers Who Assign 'Fourth-String Teams' to His Systems

N'Gai Croal | Mar 30, 2007 06:19 PM

At the Game Developers Conference earlier this month, we met with Nintendo general manager and design legend Shigeru Miyamoto for a thirty-minute interview. Just the day before, Miyamoto had taken the stage at San Francisco's Moscone Center for a keynote... More

Tag(s): The Artist's Way

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Announcement: Brooklyn, We Have A Problem, Or, What's Wrong With Level Up

N'Gai Croal | Mar 30, 2007 05:51 PM

You see a lot, don't you doctor? Why don't you turn that high-powered perception at yourself and tell us what you see? Or maybe you're afraid to. --Clarice Starling to Hannibal Lecter in " The Silence of the Lambs " Last week, we kicked off our most recent... More

Tag(s): Announcement

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Vs. Mode: MTV News' Stephen Totilo Vs. Level Up on God of War II. Final Round--Fight!

N'Gai Croal | Mar 29, 2007 03:37 PM

The end begins ... now, with today's final round of Vs. Mode. In Round 3, MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo countered our storytelling-focused haymakers from Round 2 with a flurry of jabs about his gameplay likes and dislikes about God of War II . Our... More

Tag(s): Vs Mode

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Hype: Mario and Sonic Come Together in the Spirit of Friendship for the 2008 Olympics

N'Gai Croal | Mar 28, 2007 04:48 PM

50 Cent and The Game. Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell. Mario and Sonic. After today's announcement from Nintendo and Sega, we're going to have to scratch Mario and Sonic from the " $25,000 Pyramid " category of "People Who Just Can't Get Along?" The... More

Tag(s): Hype

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Vs. Mode: MTV News' Stephen Totilo Vs. Level Up on God of War II. Round 3--Fight!

N'Gai Croal | Mar 28, 2007 12:14 PM

During Round 2 of the inaugural edition of Vs. Mode, MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo declared that God of War II is one of the first sequels that is unable to outstrip its predecessor because the original was simply too good to be surpassed--and that... More

Tag(s): Vs Mode

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High Score: Level Up's Top Four Gaming Tidbits for March 28, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 28, 2007 10:28 AM

UKR...weeps, as PS3 sets console sales record in Britain CJR...or GSW? GameSetWatch examines game journos HUH... New publisher focuses on licensed games, VH1 hisses RND...Battlestar Galactica creator answers questions... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Vs. Mode: MTV News' Stephen Totilo Vs. Level Up on God of War II. Round 2--Fight!

N'Gai Croal | Mar 27, 2007 11:39 AM

In Round 1 of the debut edition of Vs. Mode, MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo praised God of War II's epic feel, but accused it of covering familiar territory in its level design and story. We countered with our position that the quality of gameplay is... More

Tag(s): Vs Mode

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Vs. Mode: MTV News' Stephen Totilo Vs. Level Up on God of War II. Round 1--Fight!

N'Gai Croal | Mar 26, 2007 11:39 AM

In last month's rave about Sony Computer Entertainment's God of War II for Playstation 2, we termed MTV News' Stephen Totilo our gaming sensei. That's because back in 1999 when we began seriously covering videogames at NEWSWEEK, Totilo was an intern fresh... More

Tag(s): Vs Mode

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Announcement: Level Up Introduces a New Section For Discussion and Debate About Videogames

N'Gai Croal | Mar 26, 2007 11:17 AM

Part of the joy of blogging stems from the flexibility of the form. From our High Score link roundups to our guest contributors at Player Two (NEWSWEEK colleagues), Outsourced (people who work in the videogame industry) and P2P (folks who are observers... More

Tag(s): Announcement

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High Score: Level Up's Top Five Gaming Tidbits for March 26th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 26, 2007 10:12 AM

OY!...See PS3's bizarre European ads for yourself DNF...The first step: admitting you have a problem PPT...Should Wii become a tool of The Man ? PS3... owners come together to aid protein research RND...Rapper uses MySpace to try to foment G.I. uprisin... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Critical Hit: Talkin' 'Bout My Generation, Or, The Struggle To Make Sense of This Latest Round of the Console Wars

N'Gai Croal | Mar 23, 2007 12:09 PM

CEOs, analysts, journalists , bloggers : we're all struggling to put this generation of consoles into perspective. The truest thing we've heard on this subject came from Electronic Arts' incoming CEO John Riccitiello, who last year said of our relentless... More

Tag(s): Critical Hit

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Loot: Redmond, We Have a Problem, Or, What's Wrong With the Xbox 360

N'Gai Croal | Mar 21, 2007 03:27 PM

"You're not the champ until you beat the champ." The entire staff of Level Up is seated in the Manhattan speakeasy Little Branch , opposite two Microsofties--one former, one current. Several drinks into a conversation about the console wars, Former has... More

Tag(s): Loot

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Outsourced: Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack On Why The Marketing Of Videogames Is Broken--And How to Fix It

N'Gai Croal | Mar 20, 2007 02:18 PM

At the cocktail reception at the February D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, we ran into fellow Canadian Denis Dyack, better known as the president of Silicon Knights . But rather than discuss hockey or beer, our conversation quickly turned to the progress... More

Tag(s): Outsourced

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Loot: Tokyo, We Have a Problem, Or, What's Wrong With the Playstation 3

N'Gai Croal | Mar 20, 2007 12:03 PM

In the end, the good news was simply too good to last. From the beginning of 2006 through the first of this month, the Playstation division has plagued by bad news and negative buzz. There was the Spring 2006 worldwide launch that never materialized,... More

Tag(s): Loot

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High Score: Level Up's Top Five Gaming Tidbits for March 19th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 19, 2007 10:20 AM

In!...the Navy: Crackdown's U.K. in-game recruiting ads MP3...Should Metroid Prime 3 focus on campaign or online ? MMO... Music , smell and taste are what one MMO fan wants WHY... do we love games when not all games are worthy? WAR...is hell when your... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Critical Hit: The Dialogue In the Official Trailers For Electronic Arts' Upcoming Army of Two

N'Gai Croal | Mar 16, 2007 01:33 PM

We've been intrigued by Electronic Arts' upcoming Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 game Army of Two ever since we got an early look last year at some video footage. The mixture of ingredients assembled for the project at EA Montreal--the reputation for artistry... More

Tag(s): Critical Hit

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High Score: Level Up's Top Seven Gaming Tidbits for March 16th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 16, 2007 10:06 AM

ALL...Work and no play makes Jack a dull boy No3...Playstation Germany's new mag is, um, interesting EDI... The truth about Warhawk's struggle to take flight P2P...Our Tuesday guest post continues to get coverage DOG...Fable 2 creator on how the industry... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Alt-Ctrl: Level Up Takes A Deeper Look at The Don's Edition of The Godfather For Playstation 3

N'Gai Croal | Mar 15, 2007 12:29 PM

At the end of January, Electronic Arts senior producer Joel Wade gave us some insights into the process of adapting The Godfather from PlayStation 2 and Xbox to Nintendo's Wii. That new version is set to ship on March 20th alongside the Playstation 3... More

Tag(s): Alt-Ctrl

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High Score: Level Up's Top Six Gaming Tidbits for March 15th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 15, 2007 10:40 AM

TOO...Human creator vs. game journalists and the Net : fight ! SDF...Mark Rein on the champ: Sony is " still the one to beat ." SAD... Metacritic says Japanese DS games > Western ones UGH...Rumor: no unified ID for Wii games; what will Ozy say ? BOO...Film... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Player Two: Why Crackdown for Xbox 360 is a Half-Empty, Half-Full Glass of Guilty Pleasure

Rolf Ebeling | Mar 14, 2007 02:35 PM

At Newsweek HQ, most of our colleagues are either boomers in name or boomers in spirit, which means there haven't been many serious gamers among our ranks. But from the increasing number of game-related conversations we've had with our office mates, it's... More

Tag(s): Player Two

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High Score: Level Up's Top Six Gaming Tidbits for March 14th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 14, 2007 01:50 PM

P2P...Level Up guest post gets strong reactions , comments WOW...NDAs: made to be broken , ground up for haterade GOW...Cory Barlog speaks: " THIS! IS! SPARTA! " BYE... Computer Games Magazine is no more PS3... Neil Young loves Sony . No, not that Neil... More

Tag(s): High Score

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P2P: GoNintendo.com's Kevin Cassidy Challenges Nintendo Fans' Rejection of Third Party Games

N'Gai Croal | Mar 13, 2007 02:16 PM

As we announced last week, P2P is the forum for industry observers--journalists, bloggers, analysts, academics, politicians and even regular gamers--to speak their minds on topics of our choosing. We were in the midst of an email exchange with Kevin Cassidy... More

Tag(s): P2P

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Player Two: Putting Logitech's Xbox 360 Harmony Remote Control Through Its Paces

N'Gai Croal | Mar 13, 2007 12:10 PM

At Newsweek HQ, most of our colleagues are either boomers in name or boomers in spirit, which means there haven't been many serious gamers among our ranks. But from the increasing number of game-related conversations we've had with our office mates, it's... More

Tag(s): Player Two

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High Score: Level Up's Top Four Gaming Tidbits for March 13th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 13, 2007 10:07 AM

GAY...characters a "non-troversy"? Comments say otherwise . $$$..."300" director Zack Snyder on videogames PS3...Phil Harrison spills more details on Home RND... Iranian official says "300" is U.S. psyops cultural attack... More

Tag(s): High Score

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High Score: Level Up's Top Five Gaming Tidbits for March 12th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 12, 2007 11:17 AM

GIV...Videogames get their own " We Are the World " PVP... Duelling rumors of a PSP redesign , plus flashback SID...Suda 51 argues for more anarchic game designs BIZ...A look at Fairy Godmother Tycoon RND... Thank you, ma'am . May I have another?... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Exclusive: Seth Delackner, the Director and Lead Programmer for Ubisoft's Jam Sessions, Tells Us the Story Behind His Acoustic Guitar Game

N'Gai Croal | Mar 8, 2007 12:29 PM

Seth Delackner is a rarity: born and raised in the U.S. and directing videogames for a Japanese company in Japan itself. His first game, Hiite Utaeru DS Guitar M-06, developed a passionate following for the clever way that it transformed Nintendo's wildly... More

Tag(s): The Artist's Way

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The Artist's Way: The Jamil Moledina Interview, Part III

N'Gai Croal | Mar 8, 2007 12:01 PM

In Part II of our interview with Game Developers Conference executive director Jamil Moledina, he talked about why this year's keynotes might be more to Level Up's liking and why publishers and developers were taking more of an interest in GDC as a place... More

Tag(s): The Artist's Way

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Exclusive: Ubisoft to Publish Jam Sessions, an Improved Version of Japanese Cult Hit Guitar Game, in North America This June

N'Gai Croal | Mar 8, 2007 09:01 AM

If Level Up were a weekly magazine like our parent company, we'd have to call the current edition Exclusiveweek. Today, we alone are bringing you the news that in June, Ubisoft will release Jam Sessions, a game that turns your Nintendo DS portable into... More

Tag(s): Announcement, Hype

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Exclusive: Organic Motion's Marker-Less Motion Capture System Makes Its Debut at GDC

N'Gai Croal | Mar 7, 2007 09:01 AM

Novelist Arthur C. Clarke famously said that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That would be a very bold statement to apply to any equipment being demonstrated at this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.... More

Tag(s): Hype

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The Artist's Way: The Jamil Moledina Interview, Part II

N'Gai Croal | Mar 6, 2007 12:39 PM

In Part I of our interview, Game Developers Conference executive director Jamil Moledina discussed Apple's relevance for game developers as well as some of this week's conference sessions. Here, in Part II, he addresses our charge that last year's keynotes... More

Tag(s): The Artist's Way

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Exclusive: The Producers Guild of America's Will Wright Tribute Video

N'Gai Croal | Mar 6, 2007 11:25 AM

The Producers Guild of America typically honors such Hollywood luminaries as Steven Spielberg and John Wells. But on the evening of January 20th at L.A.'s Century Plaza hotel, the organization bestowed its prestigious Vanguard Award upon none other than... More

Tag(s): Scoop

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High Score: Level Up's Top Seven Gaming Tidbits for March 6th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 6, 2007 10:33 AM

DX3...please, Warren Spector . Your fans demand it. WOW...you will say, when you see this ad HOW...to get your girlfriend to play games; reactions NOW...41 percent of U.S. homes have a console HOT... 100 Developers list makes you click every page SQU...are... More

Tag(s): High Score

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P2P: Senior Analyst P.J. McNealy on the Factors That Determine Whether Your Favorite Game Makes a Profit. Or Not.

N'Gai Croal | Mar 5, 2007 03:15 PM

Here's the genesis of our debut post for P2P, the section of Level Up where folks outside of Newsweek who are observers of the videogame industry--j ournalists, bloggers, analysts, academics, politicians and even regular gamers, as we said in our announcement... More

Tag(s): P2P

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Announcement: Level Up Introduces Two New Sections for Guest Contributors

N'Gai Croal | Mar 5, 2007 03:15 PM

During the nearly six months of our existence, our recurring Player Two feature--where our Newsweek colleagues post about their videogame-related experiences--has become one of Level Up's most popular sections . One of our dearest friends in the game... More

Tag(s): Announcement

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The Artist's Way: The Jamil Moledina Interview, Part I

N'Gai Croal | Mar 5, 2007 12:00 PM

The older we get, the more we here at Level Up believe that everything happens for a reason. In January, we spoke with Game Developers Conference executive director Jamil Moledina in our New York offices. During the intervening weeks, we fully intended... More

Tag(s): The Artist's Way

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Exclusive: The Greg Richardson Interview, Part II

N'Gai Croal | Mar 5, 2007 10:40 AM

In Part I of our exclusive interview with Greg Richardson, the newly-minted CEO of Elevation Partners-owned VG Holding, he discussed his initial sadness at John Riccitiello's decision to return to Electronic Arts and his high hopes for the future of VGH's... More

Tag(s): Scoop

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Exclusive: The Greg Richardson Interview, Part I

N'Gai Croal | Mar 5, 2007 10:40 AM

Last week, Electronic Arts announced that its former president John Riccitiello, who had subsequently become a managing director in the $1.8 billion private equity fund Elevation Partners, would be returning to EA as its CEO. We spoke on the day of the... More

Tag(s): Scoop

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High Score: Level Up's Top Five Gaming Tidbits for March 5th, 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 5, 2007 10:01 AM

BET...Producer Just Blaze gets ill with Fight Night Round 3 CRY...German developer Crytek talks mods XMU... Xbox gets 512MB memory card; XBLA file size upped FIT...Story claims Wii promotes health benefits RND...It's never too late to get an educatio... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Double Life: The Inside Dope On Sony's Series of Tricked-Out Playstation 3s, and the Continued Redefinition of the Gift Bag

N'Gai Croal | Mar 2, 2007 11:08 AM

From our recent trips to Miami (Super Bowl) and Las Vegas (NBA All-Star Weekend), our loyal readers know that the staff of Level Up have become mildly obsessed with Sony's automotive-painted-and-laser-etched Playstation 3s. And from the exclusive preview... More

Tag(s): Double Life

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High Score: Level Up's Top Seven Gaming Tidbits for March 2nd 2007

N'Gai Croal | Mar 2, 2007 10:00 AM

PSH...Playstation vs. Kotaku : drama for your mama 2nd...John Edwards' Second Life HQ trashed by cyber-GOP BUF...Sony + Immersion = Sevenaxis controller ? SWF... Play Flash games with Wii remote buttons POD.. Insomniac starts podcast; flOw and Braid folks... More

Tag(s): High Score

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Loot: The Phil Harrison Interview, Part IV

N'Gai Croal | Mar 1, 2007 10:57 AM

In Part III of our voluminous four-part interview with Sony Computer Entertainment worldwide studios president Phil Harrison, he detailed the success of SingStar, defended his nonstop evangelism of MotorStorm (in stores March 6th), and acknowledged that... More

Tag(s): Loot

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