PlayFirst Grapevine
Player of the Month: Heather89
2007
by sorbet
SEP
27
So you're in a crunch, overwhelmed by the number of games on our site and unsure which to try first. Enter Heather89! One of our most frequent and articulate review contributors on PlayFirst.com, Heather89 also gets props for playing through so many games to begin with!
As a happily married mother of 3, Heather89 has a lot of free time to spend at the pool or game on her computer. Her youngest son is Autistic so she also participates in Autism Advocacy and Early Childhood Intervention groups. Read on for more info on her:
How were you introduced to video games and what was the first game you remember playing?
The first video game I can remember was a text based RPG on a brand new Commodore 64! Yes, I'm that old!
How often do you play games?
Every day for at least an hour or two!
How long have you been a gamer?
Since I was very young - I always make time for having fun!
Aside from playing games, what are some other ways you like to relax and unwind?
I love to spend time with my kids. We like to travel, do arts and crafts, bake, go for walks, or take long dips in the pool!
Mouse or joystick?
Mouse
What games are you currently playing?
Wedding Dash and still trying to get a better score on Mystery of Shark Island!
What is your favorite game of all time?
This isn't an easy answer! I'd have to say Plantasia is my all time favorite game, followed by Diner Dash - Restaurant Rescue!
Anything else you want to say?
I'd just like to say thank you to the PlayFirst team! I'm honored to be a featured member! The community feeling here at PlayFirst is wonderful as are the games you produce!
Behind-the-scenes
2007
by applesun
SEP
26
Do you like movies or can you wait to catch it on DVD? While I like the thrill of being the first to see the latest flick (before all the reviews can influence me), I prefer renting a DVD. Sure, I'll see the movie later than everyone else but it's the extras feature that makes up for it. I love seeing behind-the-scenes stuff, hearing commentaries about what went into a particular scene, and laughing at bloopers.
We thought we'd share a little of that behind-the-scenes magic with you in celebration of the release of Diner Dash: Hometown Hero. Over at DinerDash.com, I've interviewed SunPath, the producer of the game you're all raving about. Check it out!
With all the activity in the past weeks leading up to Diner Dash: Hometown Hero, I've missed posting about new games. Not this week! Nurture your inner gardener in Plant Tycoon or boost your brain with Mind Medley. More new games will be popping up later this week, so keep on your toes!
Ladies and Gentlemen...
2007
by sorbet
SEP
24
We're live!
We've been waiting for this day for months now - and it sounds like some of you have too ;) There are so many exciting new things we've launched today that I'm not sure where to begin but here it goes:
- Diner Dash: Hometown Hero: Join Flo and Grandma Florence as they take a stroll down memory lane; You'll see who Flo inherited her sass and spunkiness from!
- Multiplayer: Play with friends in a collaborative or competitive match of Diner Dash
- My Diner: Here's your chance to create your own personalized diner. (Meet me in my Pork Palace!)
- My Waiter: Personalize your own waiter and hit the tables with fellow Diner Dashers
- DinerDash.com: Can't get enough Flo? Check out her bios, meet her friends and family, send a postcard and much more!
We hope you enjoy the new game, features and site!
We also wanted to thank all of you for being so patient and keeping us motivated. There were some long work days here but one of the things that really kept us going was reading all of your posts in the forums. We especially enjoyed this post last week!
http://www.playfirst.com/forums/thread/23774
So take a look. Poke around. Tell us what you think and join us for a match or two in Diner Dash: Hometown Hero!
See ya in the lobby!
Sorbet
There's one on every board
2007
by Nemone
SEP
24
There's one on every board
Before coming to work at PlayFirst, I worked in the comic book industry. It was an exciting field full of legendary characters, both fictional and otherwise, insane deadline pressure, and rabid fan-boys. The term "fan-boys" has come to have a somewhat negative connotation, but I came to really like them. They're people who allow themselves to become excited about and connected to the products they're interacting with, they're the backbone of most smaller entertainment industry sales, and they're usually quite bright people with a lot of information at their fingertips and interesting ideas to share.
But like all heroes, they have a shadow-self. There's a dark side of fanaticism and internet posting. There are people who aren't content to just be well-informed and enthusiastic about a company, product, or medium. They have to pretend to something greater, attributing imaginary privileges to themselves and guessing at or making up an odd little arsenal of facts to which they then hold others accountable.
I call him the anti-fan boy. You've read his posts. He's critical, mean-spirited, and the first to tell you how much he knows about everything. He usually has a few cronies who generate a lot of posts, at first fooling you into thinking their numbers are strong. Upon closer examination, the monster 84-post-threads usually turn out to be a conversation between three or four people. They do not speak for the majority, but they're loud and persistent and good at chasing away nicer and less ambitious posters. In the comics industry, they rose to the level of true evil. It's one thing to criticize someone's work, but they would go after people's home life, relationships, and entire careers. They'd spread vicious, personal rumors and channel so much irrational vitriol into their posts that at times they become truly astonishing examples of hate-speech and psychosis.
Everyone in the industry tells you to shake them off and not let them get to you. But I admit that I found this difficult. When the posts got personal, filled with lies I had no way to effectively counter, I got upset. Finally, a colleague sent me on a little fact-finding mission.
"Go to any board, on any topic, and take a look around. Trust me, you'll feel better."
So I did. I visited movie sites, dietician blogs, knitting web rings, and even church home pages. I checked out dog-training threads, TV show posts, and a wine-tasting club. And after crying a little, I started to laugh. My colleague was right. They're everywhere.
Something about the essentially anonymous nature of posting encourages it. People on posting boards are known only by the quality and passion of their posts, so some of them inevitably take this to a bizarre extreme, establishing themselves as virtual dictators of various message boards, inferring upon their poster-ID knowledge and power and popularity they lack in real life. Eventually I learned to ignore them - it never works to defend yourself or argue back, since these people don't move in the realm of reality. If they believe things that they themselves have made up, no amount of logical persuasion is going to change their mind. Facts threaten their very sense of identity, and will never be acknowledged.
The good news is that if enough people ignore them, they tend to go away. They thrive on conflict and argument, which builds their sense of importance. But they're always outnumbered by rational fans, who are often successful at taking back their boards. All it takes is a little critical thinking, a sense of humor, and a lot of patience. Just remember, they're really not that special.
There's one on every board.
Correlations
2007
by SunPath
SEP
20
Hi everybody! I've been at PlayFirst since last November, but this is my first Grapevine post.
I've been noticing some recent correlations between events in my life and the games we're providing here at PlayFirst...
The first is that my fiance and I are currently planning our wedding - it's coming up quickly now next spring. Luckily, here we have Wedding Dash to play as an inspiration (or, maybe it's a welcome distraction!)
And then - my younger sister is an avid mahjong player. When I told her last week about our new game Mahjong Roadshow and its antiquing theme - she pointed out that she actually bought her beloved mahjong set at an antique store.
Probably the most direct correlation between me and the games we're launching is this game that I'm working on and that we're all wrapping up for you right now. I can't wait to play it with all of you soon!
Have any of you had any games correlate to events in your life? Tell us about it!
On Staying Young (Part 1/2)
2007
by unknown_blogger
SEP
12
I've found the secret to effective eternal youth.
It's not a pill, an elixir, a food, a flower, a font or any of those boring old trick answers, like "eating right" or "exercise more". It's probably under your nose right now and stuck into your eyes.
It's communicating. Seriously.
In between my duties for PlayFirst (organizing pixels into collectivist bargaining blocs, putting the dis back into dysfunctional, and the man back into mandatory fun) I spend a lot of time hitchhiking on the internet. Thumb out, destination sign in hand, hip swiveling and showing a little leg.
I watch the semi-trends barrel by, pushing a cushion of hot air ahead of them. I see the little hatchbacks of yore limping along in the broke-down lane. I could set my watch by the rush hour gridlocks ticking by as everyone tries to go where everyone else is going, do what everyone else is doing.
So now if you can picture it the way I see it, see the multiple lanes of traffic full of vehicles whizzing back and forth, maybe wrap it up in an overhead view and remember back to the classic game, Frogger, you get an inkling of what I mean about communication being the key to youth.
Here, I'll spell it out further.
If the means of communication have become a barrier to your communicating, you are officially Too Old.
So what does that mean to you? Come back for my hints.
Mahjong Roadshow and new stuff
2007
by applesun
SEP
10
There's been so much new stuff going up on PlayFirst.com that it's been hard to keep up! For example, Mahjong Roadshow came out last week but I only got to do some serious tile flipping during the weekend. Have any of you found any notable antiques yet?
Forums have also gotten some tweaks. It now shows how many posts you've made for the post counters out there. If you're looking for official news, that's easier now too - employee titles are marked and our posts are highlighted in a different color. Verbose word smiths will be happy to note that the character limits have been increased. That means you can write more in one go!
We hope you like the changes. Keep commenting - we're always listening.
P.S. Have you seen our September calendar yet?
Chocolatier Challenge Circle Winner!
2007
by XtL_
SEP
5
Well, I guess this little experiment proved once and for all who the better PlayFirst gamers were: you guys (and girls) known as the customers. Congrats to LadyChane for edging out our very own jdudley for the win! For those that are wondering LadyChane won by 236 points. Close indeed. Lattegato, RjX_, and KismetPF also round up the top 5 - so congrats to them as well.
A big thanks to everyone that participated!
Maybe we'll do something like this again in the future... what do yall think?
And on that note... it's lunch time.
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PlayFirst is the creator of Diner Dash, Chocolatier, Dream Chronicles and other award-winning casual games.
