Brother, Can You Spare An Exploding Duck?

I nearly forgot, what with all the July 4th hoopla. There's a nice little piece on Kotaku about the latest tinkering I've been involved with at Microsoft Game Studios. We've been laying some groundwork for connecting games on different platforms (in this case Xbox LIVE and Facebook) so friends who like different types of game can still pull toward a common goal, even if the games involved are very different.

The usual trollish comments aside, it's been really interesting to watch this stuff take shape. The real goal here isn't to fragment games and force players to jump around between platforms and devices. It's also not just a marketing gimmick. The idea is to create larger world for games and to allow gamers to stay involved, no matter where they are, or what devices they happen to own.

This silly game and our earlier effort with Toy Soldiers are both steps in that direction. Games like Chuck's Ducks 2 and Match Defense: Toy Soldiers aren't the ultimate destination, but they contain interesting hints of things to come.

And yes, I did the initial design on this one, as if you couldn't tell from the part where you shoot hunters instead of ducks.

CK