firehose

Classic puzzle game Tetris has surpassed 425 million paid downloads on mobile devices since its launch in 1984, according to The Tetris Company head Henk Rogers.

Speaking with VentureBeat, Rogers — who purchased the publishing rights from creator Alexey Pajitnov and brought the game to the Game Boy handheld in 1989 — said this number takes into account downloads over the past 14 years and does not include free-to-play versions of the game.

"We have 425 million total paid mobile downloads," Rogers said. "That's all just on mobile. We had 35 million on the original Game Boy. Boxed products, I think altogether we sold something like 70 million.

"It's really spread over the whole period where phones have become able to play games," he added.

Electronic Arts acquired the mobile publishing rights for Tetris and published Tetris Blitz last year, an upgraded and more modernized version of the game that includes power-ups and score boosters. Rogers notes that the 425 million number also does not include this game.

Earlier this year, Ubisoft announced that it had secured the rights to publish Tetris on console. The game will be published for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at an unannounced date.

"Tetris reaches a basic pleasure center that people have, I think," Rogers noted of Tetris' longevity. "It lets you create order out of chaos. The game is very random. The same thing never quite happens twice, so your brain has to be making decisions all the time. People like being able to make decisions instead of just doing things according to rote memory."

Ahead of the game's 30th anniversary this June, Drexel University professor Frank Lee ran an installation that allowed Tetris to played on the side of the 437-foot tall Cira Centre building. Check out our interview with Lee, who hopes that his exhibit will create and expand more social gaming experiences.

In the overwhelmingly male comic book industry, it has been a challenge for some editors and readers to see the ever growing number of talented women currently trying to make a name for themselves. With that in mind, ComicsAlliance offers Hire This Woman, a recurring feature designed for comics readers as well as editors and other professionals, where we shine the spotlight on a female comics pro on the ascendance. Some of these women will be at the very beginning of their careers, while others will be more experienced but not yet “household names.”

Cartoonist Lucy Knisley attended both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Center for Cartoon Studies. She’s written two graphic novels, French Milk and Relish, the latter of which was a New York Times bestseller. She’s also worked for many comics publishers including Boom! and Marvel.

ComicsAlliance: What is your preferred form of creative output?

Lucy Knisley: I love it all, especially the final product! But I suppose if I have to choose a stage, inking is the most fun. It’s the part where you get to really see the piece coming together.

CA: Do you work on paper or digitally?

LK: I use both, depending on the project and how I want it to look. I do a lot of digital coloring, but I will always love paper for inking and watercolor.

CA: What’s your background/training?

LK: I have a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies.

CA: How would you describe your creative style?

LK: Clear Line confessional, travel adventure and pretty eats.

CA: What projects have you worked on in the past? What are you currently working on?

LK: I have two published graphic novels, French Milk and Relish, (the latter was a NYT bestseller and an Alex Award Winner), and I’ve worked with a number of publications on shorter pieces. I have two more books coming out in the next year from Fantagraphics, and another large-scale GN in the works. I also make webcomics at StopPayingAttention.com, and do a lot of freelance illustration and comics for studios such as Boom! and Marvel.

CA: Approximately how long does it take you to finish a 20-page issue?

LK: It depends on the project, of course, but I generally have a fairly quick turnaround depending on what it entails. A full script/pencil/ink/color takes time, but I’m very good with deadlines and I like a challenge.

CA: What is your dream project?

LK: Being a cartoonist who gets to write and draw about food and life and adventure is already the dream I get to live everyday! I love to collaborate with talented people to tell a story or make something beautiful, and I’m always thrilled when I get to do just that.

CA: Who are some comic creators that inspire you?

LK: I grew up reading a lot of Hergé and Watterson and Barry — they’re still my touchstones in comics.

CA: What are some comics that have inspired you either growing up or as an adult?

LK: Hope Larson was a big influence, as we met in art school and she ushered me in to the world of comics. I love her work, and I’m always amazed by what she does.

CA: What’s your ideal professional environment?

LK: I work from home and love it. I work well over email, and enjoy the quiet and solitude. The most successful client collaborations have always been with clients or editors or writers who encourage a great finished piece, and keep up with a quick pace.

CA: What do you most want our readers and industry professionals to know about your work?

LK: Much of my published work is very personal, but I love a break to get out of my head to make illustrations or stories that cut through the usual game of autobiography. I love an illustration challenge, and I have pretty good intuition, after ten years of doing this, of how to make a client happy and understand what they want. I do a lot of smaller jobs, for birthdays or anniversaries or wedding invitations, and I’m always happy to try to work those in alongside my longer projects. It makes for a good variety to my workday, and let’s me feel connected to the people that have read and enjoyed my work.

CA: How can editors and readers keep up with your work and find your contact information?

LK: My website is LucyKnisley.com, my webcomic is comics.lucyknisley.com, and my blog is lucyknisley.tumblr.com. Please feel free to email me through the contact page on my site, and I look forward to hearing from you!

If there is a woman you’d like to recommend or if you’d like to be included in a future installment of this feature, drop us a line at comicsalliance-at-gmail-dot-com with “Hire This Woman” in the subject line.

The recent launch of Diablo III's Reaper of Souls expansion and the accompanying version 2.0.1 patch finally brought support for clans and communities to the nearly two-year-old game. That new feature's introduction brought with it a naming controversy that has led Blizzard to once again respond to an issue over its policy regarding banned "offensive" terms in its games.

The latest controversy began when player Lucian Clark tried to create a clan in the game "for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who would like to play the game together in a relatively safe space of like identified individuals." As Clark explained in a blog post, he found that clans that contained the prefix "tran" or "trans" in their names were explicitly blocked by the game, despite the fact that "gaymer" clans could be created without a problem.

Blizzard says that the "trans" naming block was unintentional and that it is taking steps to fix the issue. "'Trans' was not intentionally prohibited; it was an oversight on our part due to outdated content in one of the source databases we pull from for the game," a company spokesperson told Ars. "We've been working on making the necessary corrections since this was first brought to our attention last week—should be finalized [Tuesday]."

Rumored in February and official today, Twitter's profile pages are undergoing a fundamental redesign. The Twitter blog has announced the changes this morning, noting that they're only effective for a select group of users for now, but will be rolled out globally in the coming weeks. If you really can't wait, you can sign up for a new account and the new look will be your default starting position.

Visuals have been growing increasingly important for Twitter and the new design pushes them even further to the fore, with larger background images and more prominent profile pictures. There's an unmissable similarity to Facebook's profile pages, with the user's photos and friends both being tucked into a tile layout on the lower left.

Other novelties include a size adjustment to tweets relative to how engaging they've been — your wittiest one-liners will appear larger in your Twitter feed. You can also pin one of your own tweets to the top of the page, which would function essentially as a status message or a more temporal way to present yourself than your profile bio. Finally, filtering tweets has been an option when viewing others' profiles, with the site now allowing you to choose whether to just see basic tweets, tweets with photos and videos, or tweets and their replies from others.