The Fantabulous Contraptions of GDC

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Sometimes all it takes is a soldering iron and a dream

Ephemeral Games

Think Like a Shrink: in Troy
The Pitch: "The first game in the series, Think Like a Shrink: in Troy, is an adventure game that lets you play doctor like never before. Travel back through time with Dr. Z, the games resident therapist, to treat famous historical figures. Visit the ancient city of Troy, under siege by the Greeks, and examine the inner conflicts of ACHILLES, a troubled warrior in this epic tale. With eight other characters to examine, Dr. Z will have players "Thinking like a Shrink" as they explore issues that are as relevant today as they were 2,000 years ago."

The press release also claims that contributing head-shrinker C.L. Zois has written several screenplays. Our IMDB search turned up someone namedChrist Zoiswho may or may not be the writer in question. Though that would explain why s/he seems to think that we can all relate to the inner conflicts of an invulnerable demi-god. Though Think Like a Shrink is being positioned as a franchise in the making, we’ll stick to Trauma Center, thanks all the same.

Angel Cat Sugar
The Pitch: "Today, at the Game Connection event in conjunction with Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco, Swedish-based publisher Pan Vision Games announced a three year exclusive deal to make PC and Nintendo DS games, based on the Japanese IP Angel Cat Sugar. The games are planned for simultaneous release all over Europe in spring 2009."

First off, it’s San Francisco. Now that we’ve cleared that up, what we’re talking about here is a series of games based on a phoned-in Hello Kitty knock off that will only be available in Europe. This announcement suffers from a severe crisis of relevance. Perhaps someone at the Swedish publisher was looking for a way to write off a trip to sunny California? This is decidedly not the way to make GDC more consumer-friendly.

Feb 22, 2008