Steve Demeter talks about what it's like to be an 'App Store Millionaire'

In case you're wondering, "Who the hell is Steve Demeter?"--he's the openly gay developer of Trism, one of the first success stories to come from Apple's App Store. (I profiled him in an article that appeared on The Advocate's website earlier this year, and Newsweek recently published an article about him too.)

Actually, the Newsweek article seemingly prompted Demeter to update his blog a few days ago, and I have to say the post in question ("One Year and Counting") provides an interesting and intriguing look into the life of this "App Store Millionaire."

"It's hard to get approached by an Apple rep and be told 'Why haven't you put out anything new?' To be honest, I've had game ideas that have been upwards of 75% complete," he writes, "but I've canned them because I felt they weren't a worthy followup to Trism."

Later, Demeter says he's working on a number of apps and games that are "based around ideas people have never seen before, because frankly that's really the only kind of thing I'm interested in doing with my life at this point. The cultivation of these ideas take time, and I feel like I'm in the unique position of being able to take my time and do things right."

Have a few seconds? Fill out the 'New Gaymer Survey'

Three years ago, Jason Rockwood, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student, set out to "quantify the existence of an invisible minority" with the first-of-its-kind "Gaymer Survey."

Well, it seems someone finally decided to follow in Rockwood's well-worn footsteps. Earlier this week, Paul Nowak, a Full Sail student, unveiled the "New Gaymer Survey," which focuses on "questions of content: such as plot, genre, customization and other in-game experiences."

Nowak recently talked to the folks over at Joystiq.com about the survey. Here's what he had to say about what he hopes to learn from it:

"I want to learn what exactly it is that gaymers want from their games and how that differs from their heterosexual counterparts. I'll take that information to develop guidelines the industry can use when trying to make gaymer-inclusive games that don't become offensive or insulting to any gamer regardless of sexual orientation.

"If someone had done the same kind of research when the industry was trying to reach out to female gamers, girls wouldn't have had to suffer through the wildly unsuccessful attempts of games like Mary Kate & Ashley's Winner's Circle pony racing. I'm hoping to help the industry avoid the same mistakes as it reaches out to gay gamers."

I've already completed the survey and I think anyone who stumbles upon this post should do the same. It won't take you more than a few minutes--a drop in the proverbial bucket when you consider that your responses may result in the release of more gaymer-inclusive games.

BTW, mixvio over at GayGamer.net has written a wonderful article about the response this survey has received on some gaming sites (such as Joystoq and Kotaku) and I suggest you read it--either before or after you complete the survey itself :)

Sorry to nerd out ...

but I can't help myself.  I just found out about a retro-games shop that's literally (well, almost) in my backyard.

The best thing about this shop--called Pink Gorilla--in my mind: It has a *ton* of Japanese games and systems. For instance, it currently has 165 PC-Engine games in stock. Oh, and it has a Twin Famicom. Yikes!

It should go without saying, I guess, that I'll be playing Pink Gorilla a visit--and soon--though I might have to leave my credit card at home...

The headline says it all: 'New Super Mario Bros. Wii is as hard as Contra'

I'm excited about a number of games that'll be hitting store shelves between now and the end of the year, but none of them excite me more than New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

The only thing that has kept that excitement in check: My experiences with New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. Don't get me wrong, it's an enjoyable enough game--but it's a cakewalk compared to earlier (two-dimensional) efforts centered around everyone's favorite mustachioed plumber.

Thankfully, it seems New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be anything but a cakewalk. At least, that's the word from the crew over at MTV Multiplayer.

"You've rocked the whole All-Stars collection, you mastered the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, you think you can handle just about everything," says MTV's Russ Frushtick. "Well New Super Mario Bros. Wii is going to teach you a lesson in humility. It's really hard."

During a recent trip to Nintendo's New York City offices, Frushtick sampled some of the title's later levels. "The first they dropped me [into] was level 8-7 ... very near the end of the game. And it showed," he shares.

"You remember those ghost house levels from Super Mario World where you had to stay on the moving platform as it slowly chugged past ghosts and other obstacles? OK, imagine that, but turn the platform into a slavering bone dragon and speed it up by about three times," Frushtick adds. "Oh, and throw on three other homicidal friends who would rather jump on your head than let you make a perfectly timed jump.

"I went in expecting instant success," he says. "I left with zero lives and a lower sense of self worth."

'Why on earth would I do that?'

The latest issue of The Escapist features one of the most interesting articles about homophobia among gamers I've read in a long time.

"Not That There's Anything Wrong With That" is the headline of the article, and it was written by Robert Yang, an undergraduate English student at UC Berkeley who "designs levels and weird pretentious art-house mods for Half-Life 2" in his spare time.

In the article, Yang discusses the homophobic reactions he received after releasing one of those aforementioned mods, called "Handle With Care," which "tricks" gamers into playing as a gay male. One offended gamer, for instance, responded by demanding that Yang "re relese [sic] the game without the GAY!" Yang's reply: "Why on Earth would I do that?"

"In a way, 'Handle With Care' isn't really about gay marriage at all," he writes in the article. "With only one casual mention of a word, the significance of which was likely lost on many players, it's hardly anything to talk about. 

"What about the mind-bogglingly frustrating gameplay, the inconsistent implementation of physics or the esoteric in-game "visions" that resemble mediocre video projects cobbled together by art school dropouts? I expected criticism of my work," he adds, "but to me there were far more pressing issues than the player character's sexual orientation."

Yang makes many more insightful, intelligent and interesting observations in his article, so please head over to The Escapist and read it in its entirely when you have a few minutes.

Also be sure to check out the other articles that make up the magazine's "Queer Eye for the Gamer Guy" issue.