Outside Looking In

Movin' on up

2006-04-11T21:36:00.000-05:00

I've moved to http://blog.jeffool.com/.

If you're seeing this, someone fucked up. Probably me, but I'm still hoping to blame you. I've moved the blog and this place is officially dead. If you got this in your feed aggregator, then you subscribed to my Blogspot RSS feed instead of my Feedburner RSS feed. Here, let me help you. The one you want to subscribe to is here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/OutsideLookingIn

So, if you'll be so kind as to change your subscription over to that one, you'll notice that I've finally moved into new digs over at the webspace I bought many months ago and never used. But in the process I've seemingly broke my sidebar. Ah well. One step at a time. Of course, this could also be a great jumping-off point to remove a blog from what is no doubt the 'well over one hundred' that you already subscribe too.

The Amazing Legendary Frank

2006-03-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

Is this technically fanfic? I don't know. But I'm writing some fiction now, and plan to stay in the habit. What have I chosen as my 'enabler' to keep me going? Oblivion. In anticipation of the game, I decided to play through it not as just some virtual representation of myself, but as a character I've created named Frank. No it won't be a fanmade novelization of the game, imagine it more along the lines of 8-bit Theatre minus Final Fantasy, plus Oblivion, with a twist of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Wow, I'm the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper of gaming fanfic! (Ugh.)

You can follow Frank Smith's journey from Seyda Neen shopkeep to savior of Tamriel at TheAmazingLegendaryFrank.com

Some time tonight/tomorrow Frank should wake up in Oblivion.

Trust is a Tricky Thing

2006-03-21T08:31:00.000-05:00

So, Raph Koster asked people about what they wanted in MMOs. Well, I hate MMOs, so I decided to think up an idea for one.

So, Trust is a Tricky Thing.
(AKA, "The Sound of A Link Unclicked.")
(BKA, Crazy game idea by someone unimportant, so you can ignore this post. I just got bored a few days ago and felt like thinking.)

My game is about trust. And the name of my game is 'The TRUST'. Catchy, huh? Let me give you the narrative set up: It's set in 2020, a bit of a nod to the Roaring '20s, full of nice suits and lavish style. The near-future is an extension of our current day paranoia, and in a world where security promises win elections, many larger cities have continued to change their police forces into military-esque organizations complete with surveillance cameras on every street corner. With these rigid social lines drawn has come a ban on private ownership of guns, and just recently, even a rebirth of prohibition in a political attempt to stop causes of violence. Crime is at an all time low, and what we call organized crime syndicates have been been labeled terrorist organizations. And to combat the last remaining vestiges of crime, the Police Force has began a new campaign, T.R.U.S.T., Tactics to Remove Urban Societal Terrorists. Using undercover agents, they hope to infiltrate and gain control of top crime organizations to get information on all involved.

Seeing as I'm designing this for fun rather than actual production, I have the luxury of being able to do things like say "This game is AO," and not have to worry about the fact that it wouldn't sell gangbusters. And even crazier than that, I can say "The player must use their own credit card to pay, and their real name will be used in-game." Yes, as you no doubt assumed by the title alone, this game will deal with the sharing of your avatar's (and to a small degree, your) private information in the course of gameplay. Like I said, bless the luxury of not having to be realistic. You also get a nickname, a fake address, a semi-fake email/chat address, and a voice chat contact. Why? So people can listen in, tap your email/chat, and plan hits on your house. Oh yes, this will get dirty.

If I'm playing I'd go by the same name I use all over the net, Jeffool. So I'm Jeff “Jeffool” Bridges, living at 119 3rd Avenue, Apt A. My cousin would be Thomas “HotDogCart” Warren, (don't ask,) and be my neighbor at 119 3rd Avenue, Apt B.

As Jeff Bridges I am part of the TRUST Task Force, a guild if you will. But as Jeffool, I've joined the Wallace Crime Syndicate. I'm an undercover agent. My cousin? As Thomas Warren he's with the Schibetta Crime Family, and as HotDogCart he's a cop. This makes him a crooked cop. Our missions are the same. To work our way up the ladder of enemy 'guilds' and as one of the 'second-in-command', you try to be voted in as leader. As the leader of a guild, a player has new options open to him such as changing the ranks of other members, or over the period of a few weeks, disbanding the guild.

Most MMOs show players names above their head as if you were omniscient or recognized every single player as a personal pal of yours. I propose that you never see a players name over them unless they properly introduce themselves, at which point you see their name and their 'secondary alliance'. In WoW-terms, introducing yourself would be akin to highlighting a player that you want to introduce yourself to, and clicking on an 'introduce' button. So now I, Jeffool, and my cousin, HotDogCart, see the others nickname above their head any time we see each other. We recognize each other. Everyone you have introduced yourself to recognizes you by your nickname until you die. And if you change your nickname (which you can do on a whim,) friends still see the old one unless you re-'introduce' yourself. And, you can also share contacts (one at a time,) to see others nicknames (like you're telling someone “That guy? He's HotDogCart, with the Wallace Syndicate.”) And if you know someones real name, you can also point that out. Of course, knowledge like that is information.

While in a guild, PvE is as you'd imagine. Cops fight AI crooks, go on PvE sting missions, report to gang fights, and generally try to arrest these people. Crooks rob NPCs, intimidate people into giving them 'protection money', and do break-ins. PvP comes in when when a player finds out the real identity of an enemy, and reports them up to the proper level of their guild. That mid-level guild member can then put a 'hit' on the real identity of the enemy. And if you give that information you get major money, or perform the hit, you get major skill points (assuming they're a higher level than you. Otherwise you're just wiping out noobs and that's no challenge.)

If anyone's read this far, I realize that this is a lot of info, and may be impossible to comprehend in one reading. (Assuming I've written it in a manner that is readable. Here's hoping.) But the idea is to make people have to expect their fellow guildies of being enemies, and at the same time be reluctant to prove that they are not. Would you follow a guild leader who could rat you out and have you bumped off (completely losing all skill points you had built up,) if you didn't trust them?

And why do it? As guilds are disbanded, the final guild “wins.” That server is over. A new one opens up, but each server has a different city name. Everyone on that server in the winning guild for a period longer than X months gets a free novelization of their server from opening to end-state. No matter if the cops or robbers win, the story should be told using the real players names and actions. And the head of the guild should get to open a new guild on any server they choose.

So, you get to actually affect the world in which you're playing. And to remember it, a novel chronicling the history that you lived, of which you may even be a part. I think that's a pretty cool bonus for beating a game. No to mention that the only way to win is to find trustworthy people and 'game the system' together.

Well, at least I like the idea.

Voting power!

2006-03-18T02:26:00.000-05:00

Hi. Yes something's different. Can you notice it? No, I haven't lost weight. Yes I cut my hair but that was months ago...

A button! A brand new button! I found some a while back that I thought fun, but with the advent of the Video Game Voters Network I decided that I needed a button for it, and I offer it to you all to download, steal, and share at will, slightly smaller than the one Jeff Freeman offered (here.) I put it out there to help, even though these guys really should've had all this stuff ready. Let's hope this isn't a half-assed effort. We as gamers really need this.

(Provided by my pals at TG Productions. They'll get a site up eventually.)

Where is YOUR in-game home?

2006-03-16T02:41:00.000-05:00

This month for Corvus' Blogs of the Roundtable (here,) he asked about "home," and where, in what game, did we actually feel like we are at home. Ahhhh home. Remember home? I had a little trouble picking out my video game home. I almost blogged about the first time a pal of mine got a house in Ultima Online. That was amazing, and something that simply can't be done in World of Warcraft (as it would serve no purpose.) But the more I thought about it, my in-game home wasn't even in a game that was 'amazing', but just 'pretty good'. Why? Because I felt comfy there, damn it. And that's what home should be; the place where you always feel comfy. My video game home? Seyda Neen. Here, let me sell you on it.

Are you tired of people dropping in unannounced? Would you like privacy and seclusion while still being only one quick trip from major cities? Is variety in the homeplace important to you? Do you like ocean swimming and/or luxuriating in mudbaths? If you answered yes on one or more of these questions, then boy have I got the place for you!

Come visit Seyda Neen! Most recently known as 'the first town' in the excellent game Morrowind by Bethesda, Seyda Neen is one of few port cities in the land of Vvardenfell that is able to retaining that quaint small-town charm! Yes that's right, this 'out of the way' gem has both a ship port AND a silt-strider port allowing for easy access to both Balmora and Vivec. Given proper instruments (a hefty graphics card,) the serene oceanside view is a great sight to behold, particularly coupled with a forest on the other side, and can be yours for the low low price of massacring a village!

That's right, there's no escrow to worry about with this baby. The only thing standing between you and complete ownership of the entire town is a little massmurder, and really, what's so bad about that? Let's compare the up and downsides to owning your own Seyda Neen. The upsides?

1. Ports. With both a silt-strider and a ship port, Seyda Neen is in a prime location for trading being so close to Vivec and just a silt-strider away from Balmora.
2. Luxury. There's no need to confine yourself to the bad things in life. With just a little work some of these fixer-uppers can be first rate!
3. Grit. If you've watched too many episodes of Les Stroud's Survivorman, go spend the week camping in a shanty in the swampy side of town.
4. Double Decker. Formerly an item store, once you take it, it's yours to remodel as you please! Perfect welcoming area for guests and a spacious upstairs.
5. Fake treestump/safe. Everyone looks behind paintings for the safe, but who looks in tree stumps in the middle of bogs?!
6. A Keep. That's right, a tower, just in case you ever need to store illicit materials or extra supplies.
7. Lighthouse. Seriously. A friggin' light house!

And now let's look at the downsides to taking Seyda Neen into your possession.

1. Residents. You will have to evict some tenants from their homes, but with a little force they soon learn that they would be better not only departing this town, but this plane completely as they shuffle off this mortal coil and head for bright lights in tunnels.

Now, I'm just a real estate agent, not a mathematician, but I don't have to tell you that seven is a lot more than one. And even being a real estate agent, I don't think of myself as selling land. No, I like to think of it as selling 'dreams'. And to tell you the truth, I'm not even making enough commission off of this deal to make it worth my time; I'm just looking out for you, the consumer. I want to make your dream come true by helping you get this little slice of Heaven. Now if you like the hustle and bustle of the big city there may be other spots in Vvardenfell that you'd like, so steer clear of this one.

But if you're looking for a place to call home, and actually fell like you're at home, then this is the place for you. After all, something earned through your blood, sweat, and tears is always more meaningful to you than something given with no effort. So claim what's yours today!

--
Feel free to visit some of the kickass participants in this month's Roundtable:
Please visit the Round Table's Main Hall for links to all entries

Odds, Ends

2006-03-01T02:01:00.000-05:00

Oh this is crazy, this tumultuous world of blogs we live parts of our lives in.

David Jaffe? I previously posted about how he quit blogging, and restarted blogging, on the same night. Well, he's on an indefinite moratorium again, citing his drive to be known for what he creates rather than what he says. (Here.) That's damn admirable. Of course I still like my conspiracy (here,) but that's cool. :D Besides, I'm sure we'll have a post from him when he wins a Game Developers Choice Award, having been nominated in five of the eight categories. (Here.) What can I say? David, his team, and his game kick ass. Good luck, you've got stiff competition.

And Jeff Freeman, who quit and deleted his blog recently, has answered an important question. "What happens when a good blog stops running?" As it turns out, it goes into reruns. He seemingly has no interest in blogging new topics but has decided to reprint old posts that, I must say, are as spiffy the second time as they were the first. Though he has quite a few up, the first reprinted post is the most interesting to me. It tells a story based around the idea of a MMO minigame that's an abstract simulation of sex, and why players would/could use it. (Here.) It even rewards monogamy.

Raph Koster recently asked people what they wanted in an MMO. (Here.) Well, more accurately, what was the spirit of what they wanted? My answer to Raph was:

I want an MMO where:
(a)any single player can effect meaningful change in the world around him,
(b)player skill (items/effects excepted) is what matters and not time spent in the world doing any repetitive task.
(c)a world that would be interesting even with no players. If Days of Our Lives can go for this long and still have viewers interested, I fail to see why an MMO canÂt change the story a tad bit every week/month in a player-participatory fashion. (Not just a static story with additional events tagged on with larger events happening in expansions.)

So, I want a system that's fair to everyone, where everyone can completely change things, and where the world lives. Gee, that's not too much, is it? (Note the sarcasm. I realize what I'm saying, but hey, he asked. I guess I could've asked for a better grasp of grammar as well.)

Reading Jeff's reposts and seeing Raph's 'lessons of MMOs' (Here.) has really got me thinking about what kind of MMO I would play. See, I'm not really an MMO kinda guy. So I think I owe it to myself to spend a post or two talking about 'my' dream MMO. (Do you know what yours is? I'm torn between a 1920s setting and feudal Japan.) And a few posts after that, I'll get around to ending and restarting this blog.

Jeff Freeman: A Free Man

2006-02-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

(Well, at least so far as in he isn't tethered to his blog any more.)

I've been getting lots of people searching for Jeff Freeman due to an old post I made with his name in the title, so I thought I'd sum it up here.

Jeff Freeman packed up shop on February 9th at about 1:30pm. He tossed up an image that mimics a World of Warcraft informational item pop-up:

Apparently he wasn't happy with the amount of blogging he was doing, though it's a shame he deleted it completely. Sometimes people like to read older posts. But hey, it's his blog and I'm not going to tell him how to do it. Well, not too much anyway. The very next day on February 10th, at about 5am, he deleted his blog from blogspot/blogger.

I don't know Jeff Freeman. I don't know much about his past, aside from what he put in a post about his entrance into the video game industry that ended with mentioning the recent changes to SWG. Of course it turned into a SWG-player bitchfest, and was promptly deleted, which is a shame. It seemed like a pretty good insight to him and his style. And I think that Jeff Freeman has some good ideas for MMOs. Wanna read some of them? Here, read this.

That's an old blog posting by Ole Bald Angus, (a pal of Freemans.) Worth noting is that back in the day used to go by "Dundee." So when you see "Dundee," think "Jeff Freeman." Of course, on February 5th, at 1pm, Ole Bald Angus quit his blog too. Admittedly I know nothing of Angus aside from reading him on Freemans and others blogs, but he seemed quite a nice fellow. And the two gelled rather well. So, who knows, maybe one day we'll see a new community blog between them.

Visiting a Carnival.

2006-02-03T00:19:00.000-05:00

I never really post links saying things like "The Carnival of Gamers is up, you can peruse the possibilities at Game.Slashdot this time around. (Though it is, here.) The reason why being that if you're reading my blog, then you likely either got here from the CoG or Corvus' Roundtable (here), or at the very least are aware of them. That said, some slashdotters have apparently talked some shit about gamebloggers, one in particular that raised the ire of Corvus (Man Bytes Blog), Josh (Cathode Tan), and Tony (Button Mashing, the CoG creator.) Personally, I could give a damn about the guy. Few people read what I write and I'm perfectly fine with that. And I usually only post when I've got something to say anyway, so it's not very taxing on those who do. But some others took it slightly more personal. Me? I thought it'd be interesting as I more or less am blogging alone over here. :D The original post can be found on Slashdot (here.)

Gaming blogs are for people that don't actually play the games, and would rather write about them than fire them up and play them.

I get my gaming in with much Animals Crossing: WW and Civ IV, and Guitar Hero should be coming in the mail next week. And next paycheck I'm fixing (and modding) my Xbox. (Though if anyone is rounding up a good group for CivIV, count me in. The one I was with has fallen apart.) Does this meet your standards or should I be playing more Counter-Strike?

I'm sure that there are incentives to being a gaming journalist, but I don't know any "journalist" that has stayed up 3 days straight camping for an Everquest drop (just to get spawn jumped) or bought 14 different mice before returning 13 just to see which gets you the most headshots. You know, attributes of real gamers.

I'm no journalist. I'm just some guy who's curious. Have I played Everquest for three days straight? No. MMOs bore me because the player has no impact on the world around them. Now, I don't even call myself "hardcore" any more, but a 'real' gamer? I wonder if you've ever spent a weekend in an apartment with nineteen other people for games of Mario Kart, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, wrestling games, Halo, Soldier of Fortune, Settlers of Catan, Munchkin, Risk, and then Monday morning you all work your asses off because you didn't do any of your programming homework? (Occassionally interrupted by trips to Denny's, of course.)

And fourteen mice? Dude, have you ever bought a 'real' gaming mouse? Who the fuck are you to be able to afford fourteen at once? Christ, my credit cards don't even go that high...

People that play World of Therycraft[sic] instead of actually raiding. Message board campers that brag about thier[sic] FPS skills. They all share commonalities with people that write about games and game design; they arent real.

Yeah, bloggers are a bunch of assholes because they theorize on gameplay. Go tell that to Raph Koster, Brett Douville, Jamie Fristrom, or any of the game developers listed on the right.

Now, non-dev bloggers? People like me? Sure we talk about what we'd think we like. If you've never started a sentence with "Wouldn't it be cool," then I guess you have a point. I've already said that I no longer consider myself 'hardcore', but 'real'? Man, fuck you. People like you are why Slashdot has become like Fark. Everyone does their best to troll like it's a good thing, and that any attention is good attention.

But this persons complaint boils down to (what I think) the idea of the Carnival is. It's a good way to find new blogs that may interest you. If you like my little corner of the internet, then great! Glad to have you reading! I hope you comment some time if the feeling strikes you. But if you don't the look of a ride at the Carnival, don't get on it. You don't have to click a link just because it's there.

JFK: Revolution

2006-02-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

Remember JFK: Reloaded?

It was the game by the company Traffic in which you became Lee Harvey Oswald and shot Kennedy. Well, Gamecloud.com had a news story about it the other day (here) and in it Traffic's Kirk Ewing said "We did not expect that the game would have that kind of reaction," and I believe him. In this day and age where more virtual World War II soldiers have been killed than there are real ones left alive, who cares if we kill Kennedy a few more times? Apparently many people as the game caught massive flack not only from the mainstream, but from gamers also, who on the news linksite EvilAvatar.com said things like:

"Tasteless."

"Who even thought this shit up?"

"Apparently this company is run by a bunch of crack whores and druggies who give nothing they do any forethought."

"Heck while there[sic] doing that they should create a sidescroller about gassing innocent people and then incinerating their bodies! The faster you can get the chlorine gas cannisters[sic] from storage, the more points! And remeber[sic] folks, PITCHFORKS work great against dead people, when it comes to cleaning up fast."

And this gem: "The fact that they launched it around the anniversary of the JFK killing and offered 10,000 dollars to "whom ever" could reproduce the event closest to the actual killing is in fact tasteless." I point that one out because it could almost be taken seriously if not coming from a guy who calls himself 'SATAN'.

But why would people get so angry about this? Well, okay, maybe the Kennedys have a right to be a bit disconcerted, but that's it! Traffic had an idea that Oswald did it, and that a lone gunman could have easily done it, and wanted to share that idea in the form of a game. Oliver Stone took the exact opposite idea, that there was a larger governmental conspiracy, made a movie of it, and won a metric shitload of awards. (Yes, a shitload is a metric unit. Go metric system!) Of course, Stone also made assloads of cash. (Assloads are a standard unit of measurement.) Because this guy makes it for a different artistic medium, we crucify him. So what if he wanted to cause a little controversy with it? You think Stone didn't?

I not only think that they should still offer the game (that they took down, due to legal threats from the Kennedys,) I want an updated version of the idea with a multitude of famous historical events. I want the ability to become anyone there, and try to interact any way I could. I want to be a bystander at JFK's assassination and trying to run and take the bullet for the President! Could you make it in time, or would the secret service take you out first? Would Oswald still get the shot off? What if someone modded it to give an alternative idea, that of there being a 'second gunman on the grassy knoll' and you were able to be him or take him out?

Yes, it all builds up to the eventual goal of a reality simulation (and the unreality simulation,) and the limitless things that can be done within. But far before we get to that point, we as gamers need to acknowledge the simple idea that games can be used to exhibit and share ideas/arguments, even if we don't like the ideas, the artists behind them, or their execution. Otherwise we'll end up as "Comic Books II," a beautiful medium with amazing potential that is almost completely looked at as childish. We're damn near there already. But hey, maybe other gamers want our artistic pinnacles to be Madden and 50 Cent: Bulletproof.

Y'know, I think this would be a fantastic game for the Nintendo Revolution. It would be great beside my fishing sim, matador sim, and kayaking sim.

What's up with David Jaffe?

2006-01-30T09:46:00.000-05:00

Careful, I could be stringing together posts that have no meaning and/or no relation, but I'm kinda bored so I pose this question: What the hell is up with David Jaffe?

On January 18th David Jaffe posts (here):

A NEW ZORK STATE OF MIND
You are floating in a river with no current.

All around you are bricks of gold and shiny red lips.

It feels nice to float here; like you never want to leave...but it is very hard to swim in these waters. And if you stay here too much longer you may drown.

The bank of the river, off to your left side, is dark and mysterious. You are terrified to get out of the water...but staying in the river will probably kill you.

What do you do ?

Seems odd, no? Sounds to me like a man at a crossroads asking if he should submit to gold and big-talk despite personal loss, or risk the unknown path in an attempt to save himself. Should he tick with what has become comfortable, or take an opportunity to reinvigorate his life by striking out, away from the comfort? Stick with Sony, or leave'em. Then on the 26th, this possibly unrelated post came (here):

The blog is going on hiatus for a bit. Not sure how long…a few days? A few weeks or months? Maybe for good (in which case it would not be a hiatus, but an ending).

I have really, really enjoyed working on this blog and chatting with all of you guys and gals. So much so that I may very well come back in a week and be like: what the hell was I thinking?!?! I can’t give up the blog!

But for now at least, I’m going to give it a shot.

For the last few months, I’ve been toying with the idea…it was something that kept coming up in my mind. But I’ve been reluctant to stop blogging not only because I enjoy it but because this blog has raised my visibility as a game designer; amongst gamers, amongst fellow game developers, and with the press as well. I’ve gotten lots of coverage, gained new players for the games I’ve worked on, and gained lots of great career opportunities. I have to admit I am worried about letting all of that go.

But I’ve always followed my gut. Within my personal life and within my work as well. And it’s never steered me wrong. I started this blog from a gut desire to have a space on the web to share my game development life and it’s been a blast. But right now my gut is telling me it’s time to let the work- and the work only- speak for itself.

...

Thanks for the interest and support. And thanks to Sony for letting me do this crazy thing. You guys have been nothing but supportive even when I’ve said stuff I maybe should not have said! Thanks!

So, he decided to go with his gut and stop blogging, despite at least two blogs before this one. The artist decides to let his art speak for itself, rather than speak for his work. He thanks his readers, his fans, and Sony, then signs off (after recommending potential game designers keep two very important things in mind; Red Lobster and Service Merchandise.)

It's not unheard of for employees to catch shit for their blogs. Though it's more likely he's being sincere and appreciates Sony, that doesn't fit in with my ranting and raving, and I'm going to pretend that's not the case. I believe that David Jaffe has made up his mind to leave Sony, and is trying to convince himself to finish his current projects before leaving. Why else would someone put the kibosh on a blog that has elevated his status, helped his games, and created job opportunities? He's trying to avoid those things so that they don't become a distraction and he can finish his PSP game, "HL." Think about that. If you had helped create a famous IP like Twisted Metal, and given your all in a wonderfully reviewed game based on IP you first through up back in high school ideas (which is now owned by Sony, who optioned it for a movie and gave you a role in the production (that for the sake of this I'll argue was a pleasantry to keep you happy and slightly paid rather than actually involved in the film),) but only achieved a newfound level of respect and popularity after going out of your way to create a free blog on the internet... You may not be perfectly happy with the company that you've been working for. In fact, you may be more pissed at them than you are yourself. And you should be.

But then, good to his word, he soom completely posted his mind and posted an update on the same entry:

EDIT: Ya know...fuck it. I changed my mind....the minute I posted this it just felt....I don't know....wrong. There is SOMETHING about not blogging anymore that feels right....but then the moment I step away from it, it feels wrong....and I miss it very much....I like having a spot on the web.....so I don't know.....I will keep doing this for awhile....but I will keep this post up so you guys can see how confused I am about the whole thing.... :) Take it easy....going to bed....will post soon! Sorry for the confusion!....David

Fuck he's a confusing guy. My prediction? He'll keep blogging, and soon quit Sony. He may even finish the games he's working on, as he seems to be intent on that.

In the comment-section of his blog I asked for him to email me, as he (understandably) doesn't advertise his email address on his site. I realize he's a busy guy and can't email every schmoe who asks him too, but at least I tried to get an interview of sorts. (Not that I'm a big draw. I'm just saying, I tried.) But hey, I still welcome him to call me "batshit insane." I call it "bored" and "creative." :D

Legally? It's just an opinion.

2006-01-22T02:55:00.000-05:00

Inspired by Shivam Bhatt's open letter, I've decided to share two notes with the vastness of the internet. Mostly because writing letters to people is fun, but also because looking up their email addresses would take five minutes I don't wanna waste.

To: Valve
Re:In-game advertising.

Fuck you. I can do whatever I want on my server as long as I'm not enabling people who pirate your game. If you want to host all of the servers, then fine, you can choose to not advertise and decide if you want to go after private servers. But if you're not, then don't complain about what I do on my servers. I'm paying for them and/or hosting them out of my own pocket. You either provide full functionality of the game, or you keep your hands completely off of what I'm doing to provide that. You want to label them as an advertising server on your game browser? Hey, I think that's a fantastic idea. I'm sure a single bool or bit on the server telling if it advertised wouldn't be too hard to implement. Hell, I'm rather sure that most server ops would be honest and set it accurately. You want to not list advertising servers at all? Completely within your right. But if I'm paying for it and doing the work, then you don't get to make the rules.

And no, I don't really run any servers. I don't even really use the webspace I paid for aside from hosting a few files of DJ Z-Trip's excellent music (which I heartily recommend, and you can get at http://ztrip.jeffool.com/) and a few pictures. But I still hold firm the opinion that whoever is paying-for/running a server gets to decide everything about it. Be careful Valve. You've already launched the next great step in publishing with Steam, not to mention you make damn fine games on your own. But remember Image Comics? Founded by a group of guys who didn't like the 'Suits' telling them what to do? Well, it turns out they were just jealous of the Suits, and wanted to become Suits. And most of them failed at it and again make their money off of Batman, working for the same Suits they walked away from. You're going to have to decide. Are you going to go all the way or are you going to go home. Are you going to become those guys you were trying to get away from, or are you going to make them irrelevant?

Jeffool.

Also,

To: Shoe
Re: Moore's Law interview

Don't let Penny Arcade give you a big head. Your interview with Microsoft's Peter Moore was cool, and much closer to what we as readers should expect. But it wasn't overly ball-busting. Well, okay, that 'naming names' bit was fucking hilarious... Here, lemme quote that:

EGM: Wouldn't you be pissed if you paid $400 for a new console and many of its games looked only marginally better than their current-gen equivalents?
Peter Moore: You wanna call out some games? Because I'm not gonna call out any games.
EGM: The 2K Sports games. Amped 3. Tony Hawk. Need for Speed. Gun. King Kong.

hahaha! Hoooo boy. That was fun. But next time, go ask Neversoft about why THAW and Gun looked unimpressive on the 360. Peter Moore didn't make the game, he's in marketing for fuck's sake. We all know where most marketing people rank on the list of importance.

Shoester, I firmly believe that you know just as well as I do that there's an air of change about. And you've placed yourself firmly on the cusp of the coming change. Don't let us down. You owe us. We're not only readers and subscribers, we're just like you. Rather, you're just like us; you're a gamer, and you want better games. So to use the 'cliff' metaphor, when you see the change coming, don't doubt what to do for a second. You jump right off that mother fucker head first. We'll catch you.

Jeffool.

PS. When/If you ask questions that they don't answer, print those questions noting as much. There's little as embarrassing as people knowing you're afraid to answer a few honest questions.

Why you make me hurt you, Games Journalism? You know I love you!

2006-01-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

Warning, below are the half-assed angry ramblings of someone who's annoyed with all the hubbub on Games Journalism.

Twisted Metal and God of War designer David Jaffe complains that Games journalists aren't doing their jobs but merely becoming cheerleaders for games, sometimes regardless of the quality of the game. The argument being "Games are something developers make. Journalism is what journalists make." He argued that if Games Journalism would hold Games' proverbial feet to the fire, then maybe games would be better. Yes, an assistant producer to the game "3 Ninjas Kick Back" wants to be held to a higher standard of gaming greatness. Masochist? No. He wants to do better, and to do so he needs better feedback and critique. That's admirable.

EGM editor Shoe comments on how sad it is that 'cover story' journalistic coverage is up for sale. (Here.) And to put this in perspective, let me remind you that this coming from a man who, literally, sells the cover of his magazine. So that's saying something. (Apparently that ads-for-covers should be an option, just not an open bidding process.) And he caught a little heat for not revealing who did this. Should Shoe have named names? Naaah. It's like he said on his blog, "that's for some news organization to take care of, not EGM." In dereliction of duty? Quite the opposite. His magazine's intentions have never been 'hard journalism of the underside of gaming', of which there is apparently much. He just knows where his strengths lie (in actually covering the games,) and is saddened that his peers don't take their jobs as serious as he does. That's unfortunate.

-
Now the two articles that were the straws that made me think more about this.

Just the other day Slashdot linked to 1UP editor Sam Kennedy's blog where he laments that developers rarely help his job. (Here.) This after he says that "publications like 1UP are still a business -- we're all here to grow. And we're going to deliver (within reason, of course) what our audience wants in order to accomplish that. "

(Speaking to Games Journalism in general here, mind you...) Well, why should developers scratch your back? You're going to scratch theirs regardless of what they do to you. Your aching for their acceptance to 'Gaming' and their input to your magazine has you trying so hard to make it all seem so 'cool' that John Carmack could beat you like an abusive spouse and you'll not only completely gloss over that if got an exclusive review of id's next game, you'd possibly go out of your way to make a Romero joke in the article.

I'm not suggesting take their insulting behavior out on the game critique, but that doesn't mean that you can't express disappointment or anger at a developer.

But Sam Kennedy linked to what I think is possibly the best article of this entire thing. (Here.) And so far as I know, it's just by "some guy," much like myself. Shivam Bhatt says:

How intellectual can you really be when talking about something like final fantasy or metal gear? The medium is barely into its teens when it comes to depth in story telling, and the stories we're being given are as deep as a teenager's high school journal. There's very little subtlty and hidden meaning in games, as producers browbeat us with their points over and over across a span of 50 hours or so. Yes, square, i get it. Catholics are bad. Organised religion is control. etc. Kojima and his obsession with nukes comes to mind as well.

And that's what it's all about. Even David Jaffe's original article. Games aren't even a teen in my eyes, but a toddler. Games are just now developing their own language. After decades they've began to form words to describe the world around us.

Games Journalism, do you remember highschool and/or college? Remember the kid that constantly takes shit from the popular kids just because they let him hang out with them occasionally? Don't be "that guy," Games Journalism. No one likes "that guy." Games are finally beginning to grow a little, and it's time for you to do the same. So the next game that comes out and beats you over the head with "organized religion is bad" for fifty hours by having, gasp, a religious leader using the religion for his own evil deeds? Print "I don't like being repeatedly browbeaten with obvious points. The developers treat the player like a simpleton." And if you call them on it, even half the time, then hopefully people will begin to catch on and demand more. Better to be known as demanding prick than an oblivious suck-up, Games Journalism. And besides, the developers asked for it.

-
That's the end for now. Just had to get that off of my chest. For the record, this started off as three paragraphs, but then I got angry and made it two pages of raving lunacy. Then I tried to cut most of the anger out. (Though, I loved that domestic abuse bit too much to cut.) I mean no offense to anyone mentioned, for the record. Nothing but love for you all. Tomorrow's post? Angry and silly outtakes!

Shadow of the Slashdot

2006-01-06T06:47:00.000-05:00

The Carnival of Gamers is up at Kill Ten Rats (here), I suggest you check it out as there are some cool entries.

But I'd also like to take this post to say, wow, I was chosen of them all to be quoted on Slashdot? (here) Sure it was Games.Slashdot, but it's still classically cool. Especially considering that I didn't know it was there and happened across it. As a bit of a follow-up to my Shadow of the Colossus post, the day I posted that entry was a bad day. It ended that night in my writing that post, extraneous words and all, and then going to kill the final colossus. And I instantly regretted it. (I'm going to catch shit for that, I'm sure.) Without beating it, I figured I hadn't 'won', but I also knew that I didn't lose. Thanks to the excellent design, you obviously figure out something's amiss just by playing. And because of that I resigned myself to living without Mono (the girl) and quitting before I look that final plunge into damning myself, and maybe her, by enacting whatever horrible thing that no doubt awaited my killing of the final colossus.

And that was the, badly relayed, point of the post. Games don't end at the end of the narrative that supports them; games end whenever gameplay stops. That's why I think that so many gamers easily stop playing games before their narrative end. It's easy to do and makes enough sense. (It was all inspired by thought I had while posting on Jamie Fristrom's blog long ago, here. The pertinent data being that only 55% of a focus group finished Spider-Man 2.) If the entire premise behind the medium is the interactivity, then if a game does nothing on any level to the player, it's logical for the player to do nothing in return. There has to be some catalyst that urges players to be inspired and want to continue, and you have to harvest that. Otherwise the player sits the controller down, and that's it. The game's over. And if only 55% of the people that played Spider-Man 2 finished it, that's still no reason to worry. So what if they didn't finish the narrative? The narrative is second to the gameplay anyway. And swinging along New York City was fucking great. I didn't stop playing when I beat Doc Ock. I stopped after I finished swinging.

One last note, sorry that my last post wasn't spellchecked. Seems to be a running gag in my life that things people actually read are horribly written. :D

You got your MMO in my platformer!

2005-12-29T08:37:00.000-05:00

No, actually, Raph Koster's wondering why we don't have more platformer in our MMOs. While playing some other games Raph has gotten curious if people paid attention to more than leveling in MMOs. One example being:

Our environments could learn a lot from games like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones — at one point my daughter shouted out, “Now that’s a Jackie Chan moment!” when I ran off a wall, jumped off a springy shutter, caught onto a overhanging plank, clambered on, then dove into the gap between two buildings, lodged myself within, flipped around, and dropped down onto an unsuspecting soldier.

He's got the right idea, but it's not environments that we need to learn from this, but the gameplay itself.

Just adding the relatively simple action set [grab, hang, climb, push, pull] to typical small set of MMO actions [run/walk, jump, attack, evoke via spell, use/equip item] would, I think, introduce such a larger variety on the already existing styles of missions/instances that I don't get why it hasn't been done. And that's not to mention entirely new quest/skill options. Sure most MMO gameplay happens on a 2d grid, but I'd say it's true that few games use the vertical dimension to really add to gameplay. (Some examples would be FPS' that use high sniper spots, low trenches to dig in, and let you hide behind objects by ducking or climbing, and some action games like Prince of Persia and Spidey.) But I think creating an interesting world may possibly be easier to do with an MMO than a game like Prince of Persia.

You don't really have to design every nook and cranny of a world by hand. With the simple action set I mentioned above players and NPCs could do a lot of the work in shaping their world for you. I think it's easy to see different types of fun emerging here on it's own for people to get a good grasp of their abilities. (Ever play Halo with friends or online? You'll eventually run into fifteen other people who just want to pile on top of each other and move level objects around to try new feats and gain access to new heights. It's in our nature to be inquisitive.) At most a player just needs a few easy training missions like climbing up a tree and out on a limb to rescue a cat, or swinging across a small stream. So let players/NPCs worry about placement of tables, chairs, fruit carts with springing awnings, barrels, planks/boards, ropes, and all the derivatives they could create with those tools.

By letting players actually place objects that can be physically interacted with (even if players still can't collide, like in WoW), you can free your designers up to worry about larger and more spectacular mission-related interactive environment items like strategic ledge placement, vines, columns, and chandeliers to swing from.

Sure you'll get someone who'll try to make a hundred-barrel pyramid, or fill a tree with chairs, but that's all in good fun and if one wanted could be curbed with NPC 'street sweepers'.

Of course, the problem as always is latency. Though, anyone want to do a broadband-only MMO on the premise of new gameplay that will lampooned as "you can move your own crates!"? Nah, didn't think so.

But I don't want to be a murderer!

2005-12-20T02:15:00.000-05:00

On the internet there's few places that I 'make' time for, even when I don't really have time to be on the internet. One of those places has become, for some reason I can't quite place, EvilAvatar.com. While on a visit there earlier tonight I saw someone post about Shadow of the Colossus. That someone said "It could have definetely used enemies. But I love the game for what it is. But I consider it more of a filler game then anything else,". I shit you not. My reply?

I absolutely loved Shadow, but to want more colossi? I actually made it all the way to the last colossus. The killing has to stop somewhere, people. If the price of love is my soul, I would gladly pay it. But was it love I was fighting for, or my own selfish desires I was commiting murder for? It took far too long, but I came to realize it was the latter. And that's not something I was willing to do any longer. Once I laid eyes on the final colossus, I just sat the controller down. And I turned the game off. I still haven't beaten that colossus and I don't plan to.

That seemed to surprise a few people, who insisted I had to finish it, to see the ending. Now, instantly I could draw the parallel to books or a movie. If you stop reading a book, that doesn't change what happens in the story. The ending to a movie still 'takes place', even if you don't see it and don't know it. But what about games? Particularly one in which the entire game does not progress if the player doesn't initiate it? (As opposed to Mario, if you stop playing, the time runs out and you die.) Is the game truly 'unifinished' just because the player stop playing it before an assumed 'end'?

Most games would have us believe yes, and reinforce that by giving us 'completion rates', but those aren't true gauges that we've exhausted a game's fun or emotional range so much as they are a measure of the amount of content we've plodded through. I propose that this comparison to books and movies does not hold water. Claiming a game is 'unifinished' is just silly. You may not finish the 'story', but you certainly finish the 'game'. When I turn off Tetris, the game is over. When the spoiled kid takes his football and goes home, the game is over. When file Shadow of the Colossus away into my gaming library, it is over. One day, I may just finish the story... But not today. And no time soon. Because I've finished 'my' story. And I didn't have to slaughter every Colossus to do it. Right? Right?

....

Y'know what? Nevermind. I'm already a murderer fifteen times over. My soul is as damned as can be. At this point, if the sacrificing of one life can bring my love back hers, then it's something I've got to do. I'm going right now to kill that fucker.

Anyone up for a game of Civ 4?

2005-12-01T02:06:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while. But aside from life annoying me, and me getting tiny bits and pieces of programming done, there's one thing that's holding me back. Civilization IV. So now I'm curious if anyone else out there's up for a huge email game. I'd like to set a specific time for everyone to ideally have their turn over with so that we all get at least one turn a day, unless folks are up for more turns. I'm talking a long-term game, though with the development on 'quick', just to help us along.

If you are, go ahead and comment or email me (jeffool at gmail.com) with the, let's say, hour, that you'd like to take for your turn. I'm cool for any time midnight-7am Eastern, so I'm sure that won't be slighting anyone else.

The Mark of Quality

2005-11-11T06:04:00.000-05:00

Have you ever went to buy a game, movie, album or book and wondered if it was an honest attempt to create art? Or, more likely, if it was just another product pushed onto shelves that, while may have had heartfelt effort behind it, and may even be entertaining, did not succeed in being special? How about a label that told you just that? One that said "Quality Book," "Quality Album," or the like? Well, Tadhg Kelly wants to give us that. And he wants to start with games. I recommend you read the article yourself here, where he's quick to point out that "The label is not a '5 star' seal. It's a label that says 'Discerning people might like this'."

I was a bit curious about the boundaries of his tastes, so I asked what kinds of games he felt would be worthy of the mark. I offered a short list of mainstream stuff that I felt was all quality; GTA 3, Spider-Man 2, Max Payne, the recent Shadow of the Colossus, and the not-as-commercially-successful, but still excellent Psychonauts. He countered back with a list of games that he would offer for vote, "Killer 7, Ico, Starcraft, Grim Fandango, God of War, The Neverhood, Cannon Fodder, Worms, Zelda."

Yeah, this is an idea I could get behind. Makes an interesting compliment to David Jaffe's recent critique of Games Journalism, as well.

Sharing links

2005-11-08T23:40:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd take a minute to point out a couple of websites that I didn't know about, and you may or may not either. Firstly, is Raph Koster's. Sure he's had like three other blogs, but he seems intent on keeping this one updated. Seriously. He's even posted LiveJournal-esque quiz answers and poetry. But I'm sure we'll all be better for it in some way. (If you haven't read his book, A Theory of Fun, you're really missing out.)

Another is one that's been around a short while is that of Tom Buscaglia, which the author admits will be updated sporadically. He's not a developer, but an attorney who deals in video game law. He's even given himself the subtitle "The Game Attorney." Want cool points for an attorney? He's even part of a clan. He's shown himself to be rather unafraid about the industry. He's pointed out developers by name for being dicks. He's lamented the fact that 'we' (gamers) have lost Gaming to big business and can only save it via indie games. And while many hesitantly touch on unionization, he grapples the subject unapologetically with:

So, I gotta wonder…why is there so much hostility toward even discussing the idea of some of the bigger studios becoming union shops?

I have a few ideas…possibly it is snoberism. Being in a union is considered working class and most developers consider themselves to be “above” that. Though it is difficult for me to see much of a difference between making chevies on an assembly line and making Madden 2007 on an assembly line. Sure I get it for small creative teams. But not for a line workers and they are the ones getting screwed the most, with the least power, at a time in their careers when they are most vulnerable.

Too bad that senior developers don’t take a bit more responsibility for those on the lower tiers of the industry. I suspect that if Will Wright asked management at EA to please treat those working on his SIMS games a little better, EA would do it. Especially if Will said that if they did not he’d take his next game to Midway!

The Game Attorney is so hippo.

A novel abortion and Jeff Freeman.

2005-11-06T06:39:00.000-05:00

There's this tricky thing about time, it doesn't stop for one second. In fact, in order to make good use of time, you have to take time to make plans about time management. It's insane, quite frankly. And I'm horrible at making good use of time. So, I'm quitting NaNoWriMo. After the first two days and three thousand words, I was feeling pretty good about it. Then I got in this beta for a forthcoming MMORPG, and decided to try it for three days. I mean, I could always make up the time by pulling all-day sessions on my days off of work, right?

Well, that MMORPG, like virtually all MMORPGs I've tried, did nothing for me. S'shame, really. (I'd like to see someone take note of Jeff Freeman's ideas, which you can read via Ole Bald Angus, here. Though, now that Freeman is "Lead Game Play Designer" on Star Wars Galaxies, maybe a few more folks will listen to him. More on him in a sec.)

The point here is that I'm thinking that this time novel-writing and particularly MMORPGing, would have been better spent programming. So I'm going to do more of that.

I mean, after over a week of not doing it, I probably couldn't even program pong efficiently. I'd end up having to google something. (Okay, bit of a stretch, but still.) As much as I want to take on a large project, but first I think I first want to do something small and fun that gives instant results to warm the brain back up.

I'm thinking overhead free-roaming shooter. I love spilling zombie guts.

Though on Mr. Freeman becoming LGPD, kudos to him. Despite his insistence "So don't get the crazy notion that I'm "in charge" here. "The Man" is a many-headed beast called Management. I just try to help it make good decisions. With regard to game mechanics, it even lets me decide, sometimes." He should remember the wise words of my crazy pal Eddie. To be The Man, you must beat The Man! Wooo!

A story from the Montreal Games Summit

2005-11-04T06:52:00.000-05:00

Found a great post via Jurie of Intelligent Artifice. (Who got it via Robin of gewgaw.)

It's a recap of an incident at the Montreal Games Summit as blogged by Kim Pallister, a Microsoft employee of who-knows-what-type. Allow me to repost part of his blog, including the heavy French accent that somehow drives the point home.

"You talk about de need for critical acclaim. And you talk about de need for de big boodget. Der is a painting in France called de monah-leesah. It is famous. It might be very expensif too, if you can buy it, but you can't buy it."

Then he pulls out a peice of loose leaf paper from his pocket and unfolds it, holding it up in front of 600+ people, to show a cartoon drawing. Noticably choked up, he says, "Dis is a picture dat my son drawed for me. This drawing makes me cry, and de monah leesah doesn't effect me one damn bit".

Do yourself the favor of reading his post, here. I love blogs. Without'em we'd never hear these gems.

NaNoWriMo, and a good reason to like David Jaffe

2005-11-02T11:39:00.000-05:00

Crazy-happy-kill-yourself-fun-time. Yes, I also am participating in National Novel Writing Month, like fellow gaming bloggers Josh, Corvus, and Brinstar. Much like Josh, I'm thankful that NaNoWriMo isn't about winning, but about writing. I already know I won't be hitting the 50,000 word mark, but that won't stop me from writing anyway.

Sure it's not exactly gaming related, unless you count NaNoWriMo as a game which I suppose is possible. But it's not a game I'm playing to win. I know I won't be hitting the 50,000 word goal or anything, but I've always meant to get around to writing something of size, and this is as good as an excuse as I'm ever going to find.

On another topic, David Jaffe (dude who made God of War, Twisted Metal, etc.) made a good post today that berates the quality of gaming journalism. He argues that game journalists think that the line between Games and Games Journalism is a thin one. Rather, he argues that they are wrong. And if they truly want to help Games, then they should effectively put up or shut up. That doing their job and scrutinizing games with an honest eye is the best way to help Games. I think he's right.

Admittedly he reminds me of a movie I watched recently, a documentary on Z-Channel that I recommend to all. It talks about how a bunch of people who loved movies (and reviewed them,) were able to change film via distribution, rather than solely critique. (Costikyan, I'm looking at you here, pal.)

In addition to when Jaffe calls for "LESS FUCKING PREVIEWS AND MORE FEATURES!!!!" I find it kinda funny when he brings up their interviews.

Did you see ROLLING STONE with the BONO interview?!? Give me THAT but with KOJIMA....OR MIYAMOTO! And no more of this bullshit about how he plays the fucking banjo and likes to garden. Wow, that's hard hitting! Shit guys, dig into the man and let us know what makes him tick, what he really likes and dislikes, his political views, what his stresses are, what his vices are, does he feel stress to save Nintendo,etc....you know, go and WRITE something!

Seriously. If some anonymous blogger (me) can say 'Hey, I wonder what Alex Seropian thinks about this,' or have Mark Healey tell me "I would love to see all the corporate grey middle men banished from the industry, those that don't care about games, only about cashing in on factory produced crap." then a major magazine should have no problem not only getting big names, but big interviews.

Speaking of which, I should write a review of Rag Doll Kung Fu. In short: Worth the cash.

Reality versus virtual.

2005-10-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

So which one's more real?

Yesterday the Weather Guy at the station I work in comes up to me and says "My sources tell me you've got a blog. I'm going to investigate and confirm if this is true or not." Without thinking I tell him just to visit jeffool.com and he'll be redirected to it. I actually regret it. The accusatorial tone in which he said "My sources tell me you've got a blog." was hilarious. It's like he's just discovered some hidden treasure. (Maybe he was expecting pages of me crying about high school and dark poetry?) I guess I should've at least let him feel like he 'discovered' something, rather than leading the way. Ah well, sorry Chris. But it's okay pal, you're a solid cat.

I never really gave much thought to someone I know in real life finding this. It doesn't bother me; rather it's interesting. It brings up that whole debate of self versus virtual self. CmdrTaco of Slashdot fame had quite an interesting experience himself the other day.

Blizzard said he couldn't use 'CmdrTaco' as his name. That's a shame. Who am I, if not Jeffool?

Wideload Games' Alexander Seropian

2005-10-26T23:18:00.000-05:00

I told a pal of mine "Dude, Alexander Seropian said he'd answer a few questions for me!" He responded with "Who?" and I wept a solitary tear.

Okay, not really. I sighed heavily and said "Damn it... He made Bungie. Y'know. Folks who did Halo? Then he dumped that and made another company, Wideload Games and just released Stubbs the Zombie." Of course then my pal went "Ohhhh." (Of course a Mac-loving friend of mine's jaw hit the floor when I told him that.)

1. On a scale of 1 to 'hippopotamus,' how was working on Stubbs and how was your foray into studio-model game production?

Alexander Seropian: For the most part I'd say full out hippo. Launching a brand new company, business model, and game at the same time is a big challenge, but we had a lot of fun and we learned a lot. Apart from the really long hours at some times, it was a blast.

Personally, I set out to build a work environment that's focused on being creative and the business model that supports it. We've done that, but we still have a lot of potential to fill. I'm looking forward to taking Wideload to the next level.

2. Do you think that the studio model will become the norm, or will it remain an alternative production model?

AS: Yes, I think so. Games will continue to get more expensive and complicated to produce and the quality/accessibility bar will continue to rise. Both of those reasons are big drivers for the Wideload production model. Will every studio be set up like mine? No. But I think most studios will begin using some of our techniques.

3. Every project has its own setbacks and challenges. Did the studio model help easy any difficulties in the process, or produce any new ones that you'll know about next time?

AS: Our model enabled a lot of things for us. But of course, this project wasn't without its hiccups :) The obvious big wins or us were the things we foresaw - being able to work with talent without restriction to location. Avoiding a fifty person overhead. Being able to switch up personnel quickly. There were lots of subtle things that we didn't expct - like how much work it is to get accurate bids, things like that.

4. What is the size of your core team at Wideload, and how does your team break down by field?

AS: The core team is about a dozen evenly split between programmers, designers, and artists.

5. Were those your starting numbers, or did you ever need to change the team size to better suit the project?

AS: The core team has been consistent throughout the project.

6. As a developer who's doing something completely different in the means of production, have you considered also trying alternative means of distribution (Steam, etc.)?

AS: Yes we did, but I felt like there were only so many of those groundbreaking nuts we should try to crack at once.

7. Recently Stephen Spielberg signed a deal to work with Electronic Arts on three games. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9690079/) Do you think that, aside from a development model, there are things that games can learn from films?

AS: Absolutely. Film is an ancient form of entertainment compared to videogames. Film can teach us a lot about storytelling. One thing that we tried to do from the beginning was to make writing an important part of our development process. It's amazing how important good writing is and how catastrophic crappy dialog can be to the whole experience in film or games.

8. Gaming is an industry that's largely publisher branded. Do you think that the attachment of a popular name like Spielbergs will draw attention away from the designers/developers who will actually be making the game?

AS: I'd say no. Regardless of Spielberg's involvement, games bearing his name will be judged on the one thing that matters: how fun is it? From that perspective, I really hope they team him up with some talented game designers. I think that will be the telling part of the equation.

The film studios have tried to make games many times without much success. Game making is a different literacy from film. I'm guessing spielberg understands that fact considering he sold off Dreamworks Interactive long ago and is getting back in through a partnership with EA.

Much love to Alexander Seropian. He was a swell fellow to bother answering my curiosities. For the record, this was actually intended to go along with Corvus' "Blogs of the Round Table" which usually kicks out pretty good articles. I've intended to participate in them all, but have never quite gotten that 'timing' thing down.

And for the record, I'm going to start calling cool things 'hippo'. "That is so hippo."

Help me catch up?

2005-10-11T23:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, so after being offline for about a month, I've been trying to catch up with all the stuff I've missed. The two that really have my attention thus far have been the Revolution controller and Greg Costikyan putting his money where his heart is, in Manifesto Games. Talk about something truly commendable.

So, while I'm going back and reading the (literally) hundreds of blog posts I missed, is there anything as equally 'wow'-ing that I'm leaving out?

An 'update' post.

2005-10-10T01:55:00.000-05:00

Y'know the type. The kind that just tells you that I finally have a computer again, though my AIMing will be sparse while my brother and I fight about the computer. I have no doubt that by now my coding abilities have gone to poop. (Try as I may to stay abreast by reading and thinking programming.) And while re-learning to ride that bicycle, I've decided to punish myself by entering NaNoWriMo. Anyone else out there getting into it?

For anyone who doesn't know, NaNoWriMo stands for 'National Novel Writing Month'. It's more or less a genius idea someone had to get tons of money by motivating people to write a ton. But it looks fun. The idea is to register on the site and starting November 1st, write a 50,000k novel by the end of the month. Now the question is which obviously-plotted story do I want to write? The zombie novel, the quarter-life-crisis novel, or the
post-apocalyptic one? Ahhh, decisions decisions.

RussianRocket Rendezvous

2005-10-02T22:47:00.000-05:00

I'm still not 'back online', but I've grabbed a few moments to check email here and there, which is where this comes from.

The games industry is a small world after all. Within a few clicks you can get from any blog/forum to any other blog/forum. Taking advantage of this I've asked questions of many people I've met, and struck up friendships with others. Hell, one or two have offered me a helping hand and for that I'm appreciative. One thing that I've heard about constantly is the industry's insane turn-over rate, so I asked around. People get burned out and just plain pissed off at the industry. Sometimes for the same reasons that gamers get angry, but sometimes a bit more personal.

And it's on that note that I present a few questions I asked a developer for a rather well known studio. I hate the thought of anyone catching any flack over their honest opinion, so I offered the developer anonymity. But to their credit they answered my questions and said that they didn't need it. They believed what they said and didn't think any of it was malicious or false, and I quite agree. But I'd hate never forgive myself if they caught any flak at all, so I'm choosing to go ahead and give them anonymity anyway. You've likely played a WWII FPS game this person has worked on, and another WWII FPS they worked on is coming out soon. I knew going in that this person wasn't completely happy with the industry, so we talked about why.

1. How and why did you get into games?

RussianRocket: I can't recall exactly what the titles were, but i remember the first time i discovered video games. I was very young and I was hooked from the first moments of just watching other people playing them. After that, besides school of course ;) hehe, my days as a kid were based around video games. Years later i acquired my top-of-the-line 200 mhz PC, and with it a copy of Duke Nukem 3D and Quake. I played both games to no end. I completely admired both of those titles, but Quake felt and looked so different. The ambiance, the music, the gameplay, the look and feel, excellent multiplayer; everything about it was so engaging that it pretty much monopolised my time. And that is when i became aware of the mod community and was introduced to a level editor for quake called Qoole. That same feeling when I played a video game for the first time, was back. So, I spent countless hours tooling around with the editor and building levels that made no sense really, hehe. But, just the thought that I now had a capability to make and place my own levels into a game world was incredibly exciting. That was the point where I realized that this was what I wanted to do for a career and that one day I would achieve that goal.

2. Do you have any tips for those of us who would like to get into gaming, as someone who made it?

Yes. Decide on on area of main interest, for example 2D/3D art, level design and building, concept art, programming, etc. Decide on what you really want to focus on and do just that; focus on it. You can find the tools and lessons you need to begin online and/or at a good book store. You do not need a college degree but, you do have to be very proficient in your expertise if you want to break into the game industry. It is not easy to get into this industry without experience, so having an impressive portfolio of work (be it personal projects, mod community work, or freelance) is a must, in my opinion. I suggest including only your best work. So, until you feel like you have reached a point where your stuff is close to industry quality, keep it to yourself. Once you are happy with your collection of work, make a simple yet professional resume, (you can find templates online) and start applying. Your big break will most likely not find you, so be prepared to spend some time looking for it. Keep practicing and improving in the meantime and if you are dedicated enough and have even the slightest bit of talent, then you have a good chance of succeeding :)

3. You've made it clear to me that you're not completely happy with the state of the games industry. Is this a feeling shared by many people around you in the industry?

Absolutely. Almost everyone I work with is pretty unhappy with the state of the games industry, seeing as how it used to be, and how it is degenerating in the present. A good friend and a co-worker of mine that got hired at the same time as I did, is very much contemplating leaving the games industry for something else. That is a bummer because just about 2 years ago, this was his dream.

4. Often in games when a team of developers becomes known for something, that's what they do. Over and over. For instance, id software does FPS'. Tiburon does Madden. Rockstar North does GTA. From what you've told me, I assume you started wanting "a job in games" so you could share your art via games. Not necessarily "a long-term job working on WWII FPS'." As someone who wants to get into the industry myself, I must admit that the prospect of success is pretty damn scary. How do you deal with it?

Success is a good thing, don't let it scare you. I feel fortunate to be where I am, working with the people that I work with. If you ever feel like you are just being completely held down by being restricted to doing the same type of content, then you can always apply somewhere else. If you are successful at what you do, then you will most likely get hired somewhere else that currently suits you better. Problem is, that in a couple years you might be in the same situation with your new company as you were with your old one. Success is definitely a good thing, the bad part is that if you really like the people you work with, the place where you live, the weather, etc., you really might not want to move companies and states and sometimes even countries. That to me is the biggest scare. You start to enjoy where you live and your co-workers become like a second family. It is hard to leave that behind for a question mark of what this new company and location might hold in store for you. This of course, is only my opinion and my outlook; you might feel differently.

5. For all this talk of being stuck in a category, some companies have been able to break the mold they themselves built. Neversoft first got my attention with Spider-Man, then repeatedly stole my heart with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (boo THUG!), but are now making their western 'Gun.' Blizzard made Warcraft into an MMO. The rumor is that EA didn't like Will Wright's The Sims at first, but he's Gaming's Spielberg. We don't know what he's going to make, but we do know it will have that Wright-air about it. And we know that it will make most other games out there feel like small potatoes. And Sid Meier appears to have the ability to put his name on any box cover he pleases. Are developers like these the future of gaming, or are they just a small faction of game development rockstars that can break the rules "just because?"

These guys get to do their own thing because they have earned the right and the respect to do it. They have proven that they know what they are doing and they will get it done, and more often then not, it will pay off, big time. I believe that with time, more of these "game gods" will emerge and gain enough of a rep to be able to lead their own thing with their own ideas for the most part. While we might see more developers like Will Wright, who have tremendous talent and the ability to think outside-the-box with the means to execute their visions, I do not believe there will be too many of them in the future.

6. Film and recording artists constantly drop bombs. Hollywood had a horrible summer. While I understand games are not yet on that level, in the games industry we often hear that the budget of 'millions of dollars' for a game that takes three years to develop is too much to gamble on new untested ideas. I know that you're not in charge of finances for a company, but as a developer, do you think that the claim that 'taking chances can be too cost prohibitive' holds water?

While I can go pick out hand fulls of recent video games that are complete bombs, you are right in the regard that video games do not yet have horrible quarters of time as a whole. Within those games that will be considered junk, you may still find a good collection of new, quality titles which will keep you interested and busy for sometime. Now, most of these titles will probably be FPSs or RPGs, sport titles, etc. So, there might not be much innovation but still fun and refined gameplay to be had. Now, to answer your question :) I don't believe the claim that taking a chance on a new, original idea is too cost prohibitive for a major publisher. I'm sure everyone is aware that only the big boys of publishing are still thriving in the games industry. I don't think that a big publisher, which pulls in millions and millions of dollars in profit per successful title, not to mention per year, would be hurt by an unsuccessful try at an original idea here and there. It is not too uncommon for a publisher to do this. Look at Neversoft and their try with GUN. Here you have a team of developers and producers that proved themselves with numerous successful, shipped titles, and now they get this new opportunity. It would be nice if this happened more often and not only after 4 or so proven attempts at the same thing to show that "Hey, we have the talent, we have what it takes. Let us do something that wont have us falling asleep at our workstations with the feeling of 'been there done that', now i have to do it again..." :) If you want your developers to work at their full potential. Do not pigeon-hole them in a cycle of rehashed ideas and content.

7. Do you feel that you're consistently able to achieve your full artistic potential when you're forced to use someone else's IP?

Yes, as long as I am not working on, oh lets say a WW2, FPS shooter over and over and over again :) I can't reach full potential unless I get to dip into different genres. If I can't completely do my own thing but, if I get to work on a variety of different genres, then I think I would be pretty damn happy with my career.

8. My blog is 'Outside Looking In'. As you are 'in' the industry, is there anything you care to share that us 'outsiders' might not see that this interview hasn't touched on?

I just want to add that even with the negative changes the games industry has undergone in the past years, it is still a very satisfying experience if you truly dream about making it in. Seeing a game that I helped develop on the shelves and knowing that many people will play it and hopefully enjoy it, is very satisfying. If you know you would share that feeling, then the games industry is definitely for you. Don't give up on it, be persistent, practice, and you will get there.

My computer and XBox died (or, Arrr!)

2005-09-15T13:49:00.000-05:00

So, I don't have a computer now. I haven't for about a week and I'm not sure when I'll get another, though hopefully soon. I'm actually breaking rules at work and using a computer here (with my boss' permission. He's a solid cat.) What I was using was mine and my brother's computer. But we decided to sell it and get a better one. Now that we've sold the old one, there's problems with the new one. *sigh* Damn.

Also, my XBox died. My cousin and I played Halo 2 every second or third night, so I'm really missing it by now. Not to mention I occassionally found a good game of Tetris Worlds to hop into on Live, though that was sadly rare. So now I'm left with a chunk of metal and plastic that died while consuming my Tetris disc. But I'm feeling Frankenstein-ish. My inquisitive side is rearing it's ugly head and I've decided that since I have nothing to lose, now's the time to mod it, assuming I can get it fixed. Johnny of Johnnyz House of Modz tells me that he charges $10 just to look at it, a total of $50 if he can fix it and return it to it's original state. Then a softmod costs another $40. (I should point out that I'm not 'horrible' with hardware, but I prefer to leave it to professionals. Worst case scenerio he can't do it and I'm out $10.)

Obviously this'll make me seem like a 'pirate'. And y'know what? I am. We've all done it before, and I occasionally do still. I'll download some music, use my computer (when I have one) as VCR, and rarely movies. But if you trust me at all, realize that if I enjoy something and think it's worth my money, I'll support the people behind it financially. (And if you still feel ill toward me, I'll go ahead and let you know that the TV shows are from channels that I've already paid for, and the music is largely illegal music anyway. DJs who've not paid royalties for the music (and sometimes themselves aren't charging for it.))

Of course, this is no less illegal than any other piracy. I'm still one of 'the bad guys'. Oh, and also about a year ago I downloaded a game, to be completely forthcoming. Somehow my copy of Civ III got lost, so while I was waiting for my new (purchased) copy of Civ 3 to arrive in the mail, I downloaded it and played it. Though while I'm thinking about DJs, go to DJ Z-Trip's site and listen to some of his new album for free! Though even if you don't like turntablism at all, I recommend downloading the WFNX mix you'll find here; it's a good sample of the style he does. (And he's cool with you downloading those older mixes, too. And a pal of mine colored a record sleeve for one of his singles on the new album. Swell stuff, huh?)

Oh, but back to the main topic. The main reason I'm wanting to mod? The XBox homebrew scene. There's lots of homebrew XBox stuff out there these days, so I'm already behind the times. And the 'hacker' in me wants to poke around with the box and see what I can do.

m_nFailure += 2;

2005-09-09T13:32:00.000-05:00

So it's a good thing I convinced myself I likely wouldn't have liked that job. I found out that I didn't get it. They actually mailed me an honest-to-God rejection letter, though. The kind that takes a stamp to get here. I graduated about a year ago and for a long time afterward didn't do any job hunting. I wanted to stay around my home area to deal with some issues. But in my four-or-so months of serious job hunting I've only ever had one other company send me a letter and that was Epic. So I thank them for taking care of business. I mean, I've seen companies just stop responding to inquiries about the job I interviewed for. Most often it's having a great talk and I call back a week later to hear "Oh, Jeff, hi. Yeah, we went with someone with more experience." I mean, just call me up and say "Hey, it ain't happening Jeff. Sorry man." It's cool, really.

Now, my second failure? I failed Josh's homework assignment. In this month's Gaming Round Table, Corvus asks people to take a closer look at genres in gaming, and Josh at Cathode Tan does just that with a two-part test that you can read, and participate in, here. The first part asks you to match up existing properties with the genre in which their game should be made. You can only use each genre once. You can mix genres, but that counts has a half-use. The second part asks you to look at game mechanics and remember your first experience with them. I can't remember jack; my memory has always been horrible. But matching up licenses and game genres? Sounds like fun. So, let's see my choices:

1. Ghost In The Shell - Music&Rythm / First Person Shooter
Not being much of a manga/anime fan I only know of it peripherally, but after watching the trailer, I'm going with a dance pad/lightgun combination game where staying on beat has you gracefully dancing around dodging bullets, while at the same time taking out the bad guys. (Of course the gun will be wireless.)

2. Doctor Who - ARG
Really, is there any other choice? Running mysteries in the Dr. Who show should be extrapolated upon which ARGs that wrap themselves up with each season should be experienced. It should reveal completely separate info about the 'badguys' with little overlap from the Doctor himself. Doing this with a time travelling show should be easy and fun, and make for fantastic DVD extras.

3. Scrubs - Mini-Game&Party / Music&Rythm
Each player picks a character and advances through floors in the hospital by achieving tasks (mini-games) in their quest to make it to the top of their field. The player's characters each have their own theme of games that they drag other players into from 'Mop up the Puke' and 'Boobies', to the hit 'Remove the Tumor, But Don't Cut the Pulmonary Artery'. Ahhh, good times abounds. And just like every episode, floors end in a well-chosen-song related minigame.

4. Stargate: Atlantis - Adventure
Not being much of a sci-fi guy I'm going to go with what I understand the series being about, which is a new world (or Atlantis on the regular Stargate world? I dunno.) How could that not be a good adventure title?

5. Firefly (Serenity) - First Person Shooter / Flight&Space Sim
I've never seen the show. I know, I know... But I mean, is it all flying around? Is it on-foot adventure that drives the show? I have no clue. So I'm going with a FPS, because where there's one space ship, there's bound to be some kind of weapon-toting conflict. ;)

6. Fraggle Rock - Platformer / Mini-Game Party
Again, an obvious choice, but it could be fun! Imagine going on a mission to save your fellow Fraggles in a near-endless streaming underground world. Remember those great NES Ducktales and Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers games? This could be those in 3d. (Admittedly, I'd love to see/make a Care Bears game.) And tons of fun Doozer mini-games!

7. The Last Starfighter - Flight&Space Sim / Platformer
Anyone who's seen this movie would love to have a game where they were the last Starfighter. And we all want a combat-flight game where the reticule disappears completely when moved away from the origin point! And gameplay cuts between the real you in space, and the Beta Unit android replicant left in your place on Earth.

8. Black Adder - Real Time Strategy
Another one I had to Google to find out more about. (I'm so unhip.) But I'm thinking an RTS like no other before it. Don't think Command & Conquer, but rather Dungeon Keeper or Freedom Force, only a complete comedy. You control the cast of the show and must try to stop the populous from revolting (or turn them in your favor.) There's just not enough comedy in games.

9. High Fidelity - Life Sim
The ultimate Life Sim that would make Chris Crawford cry. You're dropped into Rob's position (you can choose, American or British,) and make your own mistakes in life and love.

10. Gattaca - Management Sim
Completely the opposite perspective of the movie, your job is to find the rumored genetically imperfect man and weed him out through a series of challenges and proper resource management while leading everyone through the space program.

Take a stroll over to his site and do the homework yourself!

MMOSports?

2005-09-05T08:52:00.000-05:00

With the popularity of sports games, the only surprise is that MMOSports games aren't already a norm. But, MMOSports games are on the way. (Tony over at Buttonmashing.com has a pretty good roundup of plenty of them last week, too.) Everyone knew they'd happen eventually. It's a no brainer really. Sports games sell well. MMOs offer continuous income. So MMOSports games should offer a lot of cash. But what are MMOSports games?

I mean, I barely know what classifies a game as an MMO anymore. Is it anything with more players than an id software game will support? Is it NeverWinter Nights' 64 players on a server 'massive'? How about 1000 players? That 'Massive' part has always been the trick. But we can't apply the standard 'thousands per server' to sports games as you can't have 3000 people on a baseball field playing at once. The best I can come up with is we either (a)change our definition to mean "thousand/hundreds of players in a designated league who play in scheduled and/or pick-up games," or (b)define it as "a sports game that allows every member of every team to be represented by a user." But '(a)' is essentially the same is '(b)' with arbitrary league restrictions. And both definitions could make FPS' like Counter-Strike and Halo 'MMOs'.

But if "MMOSports" games must exist, I believe that's what they'll be. So I'm going with (b). And while Tony did cover lots of the games out there, he didn't mention International Online Soccer. (Maybe soccer isn't a sport to George Carlin, but I'll let it slide this time.) It's a Half-Life mod (with a Source version coming out soon.) The Beta was originally released May 12th, 2003, so it's just over two years old now. And looking at the stats from August, it's doing 'okay'. Over that month only three days did they have below 400 players (5670 unique players the 31 days.) Sure it's not Natural Selection, the HL mod with 66,500+ players in a given month, but it's something.

Speaking of which, I've been kicking around the idea of making a sci-fi sports game myself. I figure it's time I updated the resume with something, y'know? Need to look around the Quake 3 code and see if I wanna go that route or just mod Half-Life 2. Think "Halo 2 meets Soccer." That's right baby, Rocketball.

Making Me.

2005-09-02T01:43:00.000-05:00

I saw a post about a book being made about gamers and their online avatars. The makers of the book are looking for people who either look like their avatars, play a different gender than their avatar, met their significant other online, or just have colorful, off-the-wall, or unusual stories about their online experience. Well, I'm possibly D. After all, we all get a little bored and screw around occasionally. But A? Definitely.

From WoW, to Tony Hawk, to crappy wrestling games, to The Sims, I'm all about making me. I make my avatar in the game look as much like me as possible. Sure in Warcraft all that means is that I'm a bald Orc with a scraggly beard. (Ugly, balding, beard.) But in Tony Hawk and wrestling games? I make a pretty damn good me. Anyone walking by who takes a glance will see a fat guy with a balding; bearded; baggy jeans, green t-shirt, and black glasses wearing guy; skating (or doing a DDT) and say "Damn, is that you? Did you make yourself in the game? Huh, that's cool." And I really don't know why. I have a pal currently going through a checklist of MMORPGs, (let's call him... Craig,) sampling the MMO-flavors out there. I asked if he ever customized his characters to look like him and was quickly replied with "Nah, I'm into escapism, not ego soothing." Is that it? Ego-stroking? 'I dislike aspects of my real life, so I do this to feel better?'

I find that a curious assumption, only earlier that day I had said "I do it because it's my avatar. My virtual representation. If I'm to be as immersed as I can be in a world, I want the character I'm playing to fully represent me in at least the looks department." So, Craig and I have taken opposing positions on this one, and it's squarely an issue about how we interact with the game. How about anyone else out there? Is this balancing escapism with immersion? Is it a personal preference, or does it matter at all to you?

Back for the first time. (or, Job Prospect 1)

2005-08-31T02:54:00.000-05:00

Got back from my Maryland job interview on Tuesday at about 9:30ish pm local (Eastern, as I'm in Georgia.) And I'm not sure how it went, to be honest. It didn't go bad, but I didn't kill'em like it was Def Comedy Jam or anything. Sort of that 'meh'-ish middleground. But from that hour or so I spent in a room with them, they seem like a really good bunch of people. I'm one of those folks who believes that someone you can entertain is someone you can work with. (And vice versa.) At least that's my theory based on my non-gaming-and-only-twenty-four-years-of-life experience. And of course, they haven't offered me the job or anything, they just flew me up for an onsite interview that lasted three hours tops. (I'm kinda worried that flying me up and sending me back after three hours is a bad thing... But I dunno.)

It's an entry level programming job. The company ports cell phone games and mentioned some sports titles as examples. Okay, that's where it goes a bit 'out there' from what I expected or wanted. I mean, I'm not above sports games. I'm not really a sports gamer, but I appreciate the work put into'em and the love shown by fans. And I'm not above porting. I just like the idea of having the choice to pick your platform for games and I think it's a worthwhile job. But that whole cell phone thing... Am I taking my preconceptions about cell phone games (ie: they suck,) too far? Would I let it keep me from putting my foot in the proverbial door? I once touched on many wannabes failing because they become closeminded to the point of only loving particular IP or companies, but is choosing against a platform the same thing? My brain says yes. It's stupid and if they do offer me the job I should fall to my knees and thank them. Even if it's no dream job it's experience. And it's a job programming, unlike my current job which isn't even programming related. Of course my heart's still being a whiny bitch about it. I guess I'll be okay. I'll strangle it down with some Chinese food. It's not like cell phone games have nothing to offer. I'm curious about the Elder Scrolls Travels games for the Nokia NGage. I mean, even Carmack's doing cell phone games. They must be cool, right?

(Don't you just love how I've rationalized not wanting a job offer that I quite possibly won't be offered? Oh the ego. :D )

Wish me luck.

2005-08-29T02:11:00.000-05:00

And not just for getting a solid posting schedule going. Not only did I want to update Wednesday and get a Wed/Sat schedule going, (unfortunately personal issues pop in the way.) But my planned interview for Saturday also had some issues come up, so I didn't even have anything to update with there. And finally, I won't be updating this Wednesday (maybe not Saturday,) either. I'll be spending all day Tuesday on an airplane going to/from a job interview. Maybe I'll be able to change that title to 'Inside Looking Around' or something like that soon.

Upgradable consoles? My ass.

2005-08-20T06:15:00.000-05:00

Being in television news as I am, I've been a news-junkie for quite some time. So I'm constantly check out link-sites like Evil Avatar and Blue's News. The only news site I actually take time out of my day to read for original content is Next Generation. Yes, it's really that good. Not to say the others don't have shining moments, but I find Next-Gen consistent and more 'industry-based' than 'player-based'. So when I saw that they had a story on developer's opinions on the two types of XBox 360s being released, I was naturally intrigued. So, I clicked.

When Dave Perry (of Shiny Entertainment, whom I'm sure is a cool guy,) said "The PC model is the example, giving gamers the experience they are happy to pay for. Xbox 360 actually beats the PC as there's a common high-quality 3D baseline, so you can only go upwards. I hope Microsoft enjoys the experience from this strategy and truly opens up the model for Xbox 720. Meaning if I choose to add extra features or enhance features, I can do that. (Faster hard drives, more texture memory, physics chips etc.) Fingers crossed." my jaw hit the fucking space bar. (And my tongue even rolled out and typed in "WTF?!" before pressing enter.)

But seriously. Upgradable gaming machines? They have those. They're called PCs. You don't think that some would consider Windows XP the 'base' computer model? "What about Win95?" you ask? Hell, why stop at '95 instead of 3.1? The problem by saying "The PC model" is that just like PCs, some games will require certain modifications. Then we're right back where we've been with PCs. I mean, it's good that Dave likes cool toys and can afford them, but there are reasons why people have gravitated towards consoles over PCs. Not having to worry about setting shit up and installing it is a decent one, I'd assume. And I mean, this isn't just me. In response to Dave, Tycho of Penny Arcade fame (and a reluctant voice of gamers everywhere) said "made my blood run cold." And I don't know the guy, but he does carry that 'I'm largely a cold-blooded mother fucker' attitude around to begin with. (Love ya, PA guys.)

But Tycho's simple math is undeniable.
$340 = X360, and a $40 memory card.
$400 = X360, the $60 difference of the HDD rather than memory card, the $15 difference of a wireless controller, a $20 headset, and a $30 remote. Oh, and backwards compatibility on "top selling" titles. Not to mention a better cache, etc., on games that support it.

And then there's the cost to 'all' gamers, regardless of their choice. Do developers have the money and time to support two versions of a given console? It's apparently hell enough to port titles to three different consoles as it is. (I've heard mixed opinions on concurrent development.) And Lord knows many publishers/developers are happy going for the lowest common denominator. I don't think I have to convince anyone of that. Gaming doesn't need a more diversified gaming spectrum. We need standards. A new, and successful, 3D0.

Y'know what? If you read this and you are even remotely close to the fence that lies between Dave's opinion and mine, let me point to one last argument that is very convincing and won't take long to read. Here, read this.

What does a 'Rockstar' look like?

2005-08-19T04:50:00.000-05:00

A game has been under assault recently and people are calling for an AO rating. A government tightens it's grip on art amid attacks on gaming and rather than buckle like a belt, someone fights back. I know that's a amazing thought to many gamers, but who is this mystery man? Marc Ecko. Take note, other gaming companies, this is how a rock star acts. It took 'sex' to get Rockstar in trouble. All it takes for Marc Ecko is paint. Yes, graffiti is the next target on those who think games are an inferior art form, if they recognize games as an art at all. But what evils does Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure hold that would require an AO rating? After all, Keep America Beautiful's Predisdent, Ray Empson said "We can't stop Atari, but we can warn local governments to what may be coming." Warn local governments?

Let me give you the quick recap of the game. It follows a graffiti artist, Trayne, who is pissed by the tightening control and exploitation of his government. He begins a one man revolution against it in the streets with the most powerful weapon he knows, communication. Sure his methods are unorthadox to many if not most, but anyone who denies that a painting is a piece of art because of it's physical location... God I hope you haven't bookmarked this site. I just don't have the energy or time in my life to even try to convince you that games are an artistic medium and worthy of protection.

Yeah, I wasn't surprised when I first saw Next Generation's story on groups asking for the AO rating. However I was amazed when NYC City Hall revoked his event permit for an outdoor art exhibition meant to coincide with the game's release, claiming it promoted vandalism. And I was utterly astounded when I saw him write a letter about it, and post it in his blog. I'll be damned. It's almost like some people out there make art they believe in. And they fight for it.

Marc Ecko plans to file a lawsuit citing the First Amendment, saying "... it's not an exhibition of criminal activity...I do not condone illegal activity. I'm not a provocateur...But I can't stand here and say that I condone censorship."

And even better yet, from his blog, "In the meantime, I will continue to focus on what promises to be an enjoyable day of free art and music for the city that is home to my operations and that so generously embraced our "Save the Rhinos" benefit concert in Central Park less than two months ago."

God I hope his game's good.

Mack Ecko's blog post about this:
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=5467106&publicUserId=5613073
Next Gen news story on calls for an AO rating:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=804&Itemid=2
Game Politic's covering of the story:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/70854.html

Rag Doll Kung Fu Interview

2005-08-17T00:15:00.000-05:00

The Video Game Industry is an odd business. Our artists are often unknown, but when the game is a one-man-show, one can't help but be interested in the person. Especially when that game is something as cool-yet-quirky as Rag Doll Kung Fu. RDKF is a fighting game where the fighters aren't animated at all. Instead the player grabs them with the mouse and swings their arms, legs, head, and the fighters themselves around to fight with rag doll physics. Mark Healey is the man behind the curtain, and while it's a name you may not recognize offhand, you know his work. Assuming of course you've heard of great games like Fable, Black & White, Dungeon Keeper, or Magic Carpet. Mark was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions.

Making a kung-fu fighting game itself is very cool. Everyone loves martial arts. But with Ragdoll Kung Fu you took it a totally different direction than other fighting games with your application of ragdoll physics for the animation and mouse-only movement. What was the inspiration for those ideas?

Actually, the game started a bit more like a traditional street fighter type game, (e.g. fixed sprite animations,) it wasn't until my mate Alex gave me some code for rope physics (he wanted me to put ropes in the game), that the game took a turn – ropes I thought – sod that, I can make characters with this!

I've never really got on with learning strange button combinations etc that you find in most fighting games, wanted something more direct, and logical – something that's easy to understand, but has plenty of room for becoming skillful at.

You're currently working at Lionhead, a developer that people seem to love or hate. Either way, people are passionate about you and the games you create. (Well, and passionate about Peter Molyneux.) But what's the day-to-day life like for an artist at Lionhead?

Well, it's a nice place to work, and I especially have a lot of freedom, as I've worked with Peter a long time, and he trusts me. Towards the end of a project though, people have to work long hours, which can be very tiresome (but this is the same in any games company).

Overall, it's a great place to work.

You've been in the industry since (mobygames.com claims) you did some artwork on the DOS version of James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod. (It was a solid platformer that had an impressive two colons in the title!) Did you seek out this career in games, or was it something that you just 'fell into'?

I wanted to make games from the second I got my Commodore 64 at school, many years ago – I remember making some small games in basic, making cassette inlays and selling them to my friends – the first one was called agoraphobia, a text adventure with three locations, you had to escape, I seem to remember the solution involved flushing your self down the loo.

My first break came when I met a guy who was making games for Codemasters(they used to sell the games for 1.99 on cassette) – he landed me a contract to covert his spectrum game, K>G>B Superspy – which I did in a few months. (I have fond memories of my Mum phoning them up, and hassling them to send me some money, so I could pay my keep.)

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the game was first talked about back in March of 2004 with a planned summer 2004 release. Also the 'word' then was that the game would be free. Now there are reports of the game costing £10 ($18.) What happened in that time to push the game so far back? And did that have anything to do with the institution of a price?

Well, I never ever said the game would be free, I don't know where that came from, not me, that's for sure. And the release date, well, yes, you know how these things go – I never intended for it to become such a time consuming project – after the initial buzz that was created, I felt this pressure to make something really special – and I am very proud of the result; I've amazed myself. There's a hell of a lot in the game now, 10 quid is an absolute bargain, if you ask me.

Your releasing this brings together a lot of things that, five years ago, would've seemed too crazy to work. A modern game with a very barebones team and digital distribution. Personally, I love the idea of Steam. I think the money going straight to developers for their games is an obviously good one. And I think the fact that a single developer could make a game and have so many people looking forward to it is a testament to the power that a good idea still has in modern gaming. That said, where do you want video games to go in the future?

I would love to see all the corporate grey middle men banished from the industry, those that don't care about games, only about cashing in on factory produced crap. Anything that can help with that vision (such as Steam) has my vote. Making games with your mates can be so much fun, I think more should be done to encourage homebrew projects.

Thanks Mark. For both taking the time to talk with me, and for what looks to be a great game. I'll guarantee you at least one sale. Look for Rag Doll Kung Fu coming soon on Valve's Steam network! (Press release here.) (Game trailer, and excellent theme song, here.)

If any other nice people on the 'inside' would like to answer a few questions, feel free to drop me an email. I'd love to continue to develop these rusting interview skills.

I'm right back...

2005-08-13T02:29:00.000-05:00

After those messages. No, I'm not some flash-in-the-pan blogger who's going to disappear. You'll be reading my blog years from now. I guarantee it. But yes, I've been taking some time off from it. I've been trying to line up a few interviews with folks. After Josh (of Cathode Tan) had a good one with Jeff Freeman and Justin (of Get The Sugar) did a good one with Amanda Lannert, I've decided it's a good bandwagon to jump on. I do like a good bandwagon.

Speaking of bandwagons, one I'll be jumping on is one piloted by Corvus (of May Bytes Blog). The Gaming Roundtable. So, by Thursday you'll be able to pop right back in here and get info on 'Innovation in the FPS genre' as seen by me. And better yet, you'll be able to look around the table and get the opinions of other swell guys as well. If you're interested in sharing your opinion, send an email over to Corvus. His email address is here. Again on bandwagons, let it be said, as sad as I am that my petition to get Jellyvision to make another You Don't Know Jack game was only signed by 26 people, I'm more saddened that no one said anything about it being a wonderful gesture while at the same time a funny slam on Kotaku's 'game editors tired of covering outrage' petition. Then again, I still haven't solved Josh's puzzle from his hosting the Carnival of Gamers. And he's giving away a prize, $50.

Oh, and if you're a bored developer, feel free to drop me a note if you want to do an interview.

No such thing as a 'final' Fantasy.

2005-08-03T03:47:00.000-05:00

It's true. And not only will they never stop making them, apparently they will never stop remaking them. Yes, the latest rumor is that there's a chance that the Final Fantasy VII tech demo used to showcase PS3 software has gotten such acclaim that Squeenix is "not saying that a remake won't happen," to word it carefully. But dear Christ, why? I know, that's a dumb question. "Because people will buy it again." But why? Are graphics that important to everyone? I mean, I've already bought Final Fantasy IV and VI twice. Once the first time around, and the second for the sole purpose of being able to play them from here on out on my Playstations without having to drag out my SNES. (Though apparently the idea of 'backwards compatability' is limited to games, and not any progress I've actually made on those games. There are no memory card slots, instead we'll have to use Memory sticks a la PSP.)

Is it inherent that 3d games will constantly be revised until we reach photorealistic graphics? Or will it stop when the graphics finally reach par with the game's cutscenes? Of course, Final Fantasy 7 was 'the one'. It heralded videogames arrival to the mainstream like few other games for many people.

Revive You Don't Know Jack!

2005-07-28T13:21:00.000-05:00

That's right people. If purported video game journalists can complain about having to cover news, then I, for the hell of it, can demand a new You Don't Know Jack! game. This was spawned by Justin's interview with Amanda Lannert, president of Jellyvision, over at Get The Sugar. Read the interview here.

But most importantly, do your part to revive the line with a new game! By signing this petition! (Because you all know how well internet petitions work.)

Jaffe's Gaffe? (or, Developer IP Part II)

2005-07-27T12:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, God of War is getting a movie. It's a great game, and some of it's core themes, Greek mythology and barbarianism, are ones that game creator and director David Jaffe has enjoyed since school. (He said as much in a great interview over at Eurogamer.) But I'm wandering what, if any, compensation he will get from the movie. Bet your ass it's going to be well publicized that it's from a SONY videogame. But will he get a credit in the movie at all? And if so will it be as character creator, a nod like "Thanks to," or an even lesser "Sony would like to thank..."? Or will it wind up as just a trivia fact on Jaffe's IMDB page?

(edit: Thank Christ my doom and gloom thinking is completely wrong. He's involved in the pic, read about it on his blog here, and the whole process was started by a seemingly good crew, Mosiac Entertainment.)

I don't point this out to poke fun at Jaffe. He seems like a kickass guy that has made kickass games and runs a kickass blog. He likes comics and was a co-creator of Twisted Metal. Twisted Metal for Christ's sake! Wait, you didn't know that? Well, that's the problem I'm talking about. I write this to point out that there's a problem somewhere when a guy like this says:

the thing to understand about my perspective is that NAME ON THE BOX is a stepping stone to the more important aspect of CASH, and how much cash the publisher feels the key folks are worth (versus the brand name being more important). And if you look at it from a movie standpoint, you are right in that the majority of people choose genres before actors and choose actors before directors....butthe difference between games and movies in that respect is that even though most MOVIEGOERS don't know who MICHAEL BAY is or who TOM SHADYAC is (both huglely successful film directors), the STUDIOS DO know who they are and pay them many millions because of their track record....so it's not about being recognized by game fans (or even laypersons)...it's about getting the same kind of financial respect for proven ability and success that we see in other industries....My theory is that this is not happening right now in game because big game success game be generated via the BRAND NAME and an average game. BUT- once we get amazing game makers who mix art and commerce- then the publishers will see those kinds of games blowing away the average games that are jsut brand based and not emotionally/artistic ally driven.

Dude, you ARE an amazing game maker who's mixing art and commerce. Okay, granted you're not gaming's Orson Welles, on that front I blame Will Wright for being EA's bitch, but you've got a pretty damn good track record going. You should be complaining in your blog about a once-a-month-if-not-week phone call during family dinner from developers and other publishers looking to steal you away from Sony, but you won't leave because Sony has thrown fat cash at you. That you aren't says much about the industry. Unless, of course, you just aren't mentioning that part to us. And in that case, good for you.

Why many wannabes fail (or, Developer IP Part I)

2005-07-27T11:17:00.000-05:00

Have you ever, for whatever reason, rediscovered a blog you completely forgot about? Well, Josh just linked to Psychochild's blog that I had somehow completely forgotten about. I like the guy, and I like his blog. While Josh points to a post on free speech, I was also drawn to a post on intellectual property in games.

I went to Full Sail, maybe you've heard of it. I was in their Game Design and Development program. And one surprising thing I discovered in going to a game-centric school program is that from my angle, the Industry looks a lot like the comic book industry. Often the coolest thing to do is play with the big boys toys. Many aspiring comic creators just want to work for Marvel. Many aspiring videogame creators just want to work on the next Final Fantasy, or with Blizzard or Nintendo. And that's why some of them never make it. They graduate, even doing excellent in class, and apply to four jobs that they want at companies they generally (as entry level applicants) have no chance at getting jobs at. And then they give up either going to application development or stop programming completely.

These people don't want to make their own games, they're just fans of existing IP. Now, there's nothing wrong with being a fan; I'm a fan of many characters/series/lines/etc. And I'm not talking the majority of wannabes here. But if you're a film fan, your goal probably isn't to make a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. You may love the line, but that's someone else's IP. You should be making your own. Something that's important to you. That's why I'm amazed when a short while back I saw a post at Scott Miller's blog in which he said:

A good industry friend of mine is trying to start a new studio with some well known developers. He wrote to me: Scott, I've been making the rounds, pitching that idea for a new development studio -- where we retain the IP. Not an easy sell -- but no one has officially passed yet. Everyone asks -- "Why do you care so much about owning the IP?" I say, "So I can someday sell it, like 3D Realms!"

It's 2005 for Christ's sake. If a Big Name wants to make a movie off of your IP, but they required that they own all of the rights, you should laugh at them. If a Big Name wants to distribute your album, but wanted to own your catalog, you should call them insane. If a Big Name offers to print your comic but demands that own your character/story/artwork, they're just idiots to think you'd agree. If you believe in your work, why wouldn't you want to own it?

But, why do some wannabes just want to work on others' IP? I have no damn clue.

Microsoft embraces indy game devs.

2005-07-23T11:50:00.000-05:00

The great news is that Microsoft not only has a plan to allow developers to purchase a devkit directly from them, but a free Prototype Kit to allow anyone to test their XBox code on PC hardware! Read it here! The bad news? It was announced in 2000, before the XBox launched, and to my knowledge a single kit was never shipped by this program. I've scoured Google and have found no mention of anyone working with these programs. I can't find any mention of them ever coming to fruition at all. It seems they were announced, a few individuals (sometimes people on one forum with one post) showed interest, and there was an internet-wide unspoken agreement to never mention them again. What became of it? I'm not sure, but my guess is the it is the direct precursor to both the XBox Live Marketplace and XNA.

Back in January of this year I actually emailed Microsoft about this program, and much to my suprise, I actually got a human response! Score one for Microsoft's customer service! I emailed:

I'm looking for information about the XBox Independent Developer Program. All I've been able to find on it are mentions of the original press release (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2000/Nov00/XPKPR.asp). Was this program scrapped, or is the XBox Prototype Kit still available to independent developers as part of XBox's Registered Developer Program?

I'm emailing on behalf of myself and four associates, the majority of
whom have graduated from Full Sail: Real World Education
(http://www.fullsail.com). A large reason we're interested is
because of the possibilities that we see for small development teams
in the XBox Live Arcade.

If you are able to give me any information that may help me, or are
able to point me toward someone who could, I would greatly appreciate
it. Feel free to email me back at this address which I check daily,
or contact me by your preferred means.

Followed by my name/number/address/etc. The reply was as follows:

Mr. Bridges,

The program you mentioned is no longer in operation. We have a Registered Developer Program, but it is only open to established studios. While you would be unlikely to be accepted into the Xbox Registered Developer Program, there is a viable alternative for smaller and/or independent developers. The Xbox console is built around DirectX, and any expertise you develop using DirectX on a Windows PC will be of great use on any future work you may do on Xbox. Other advantages to developing for Windows are the ease and low cost of access to tools and hardware. I would encourage you to develop prototypes using Windows and DirectX and to use those to interest publishers in your work. The DirectX SDK and a wealth of developer resources may be freely accessed at http://msdn.microsoft.com/DirectX.

Thank you for considering the Xbox console as your development platform and good luck with your efforts.

Scott xxxxxxxx
Microsoft Corporation

So basically, "No, you can't develop for XBox hardware, go program for PC." But I don't blame Scott; it's not like he cut the program, right? (I've got my eye on you, Scott.) And I appreciate his info about Direct X, even if I already knew it. He was as helpful as he could have been. I see this and say "Well, okay, let's make a game and shop it around for publishers. No doubt some of them are going to be making XBox Live Arcade games anyway. Maybe they'd look at our stuff. And my friends, whom I thought were as gung-ho as I was, decided pursuing individual careers would be best (and as of this date, one of us five has a job programming. They're all great guys, mind you.)

But now I see Microsoft is building the X360 around XNA as opposed ot Direct X. Hey, why help the gaming industry out for free when you can instead charge people to be stuck with your code? Code that Microsoft possibly won't support in a few years if the X360 and their constant framework changes are any indication.

(After this and the 'Someone Bitchslap Greg Costikyan' post titles, I'm really going to try to cut back on the sensationalistic titles and instead rely on my wit, I promise. Wish me luck.)

I call BS.

2005-07-20T23:23:00.000-05:00

San Andreas recalled? If hardcore pornography was submitted for approval by the MPAA do you know what it would receive? An NC-17. Why? That's the strictest rating that the MPAA has. How about in the case of music albums? Oh, wait, they don't have age-limits. They only have one sticker that is absent if the album is completely wholesome (in a mind-numbingly pointless way.) What in San Andreas would require someone be 18 years or older to purchase that they could not get at the age of 17 from a film? Anyone? So why is 17 years old inappropriate for people to buy this game at? I've seen posts calling this decision 'saddening' and 'out of hand', but it's more than that. It's complete bullshit. And the worst part of it? It's all voluntary.

And I know it's easy for someone (namely me) to talk trash when they have nothing on the line, but at what point is it the job of Rockstar to coddle every child that may possibly play their game? Obviously even they shied away from releasing the actual content for people to play. Think about that. Rockstar said "okay, this is too much." This is the Rockstar that said killing people in GTA3 is equivalent to Pac-Man eating dots! (And they were right.) Come to think of it, I'm not disappointed about all of this uproar about the content. I'm disappointed that Rockstar was so quick to buckle. And I'm downright pissed that Rockstar didn't include it from day one. I'm pro-"entertainment with sick and twisted shit." Requiem For A Dream was an amazing movie. Go ahead, give it the AO rating. People will still buy it. It's Grand Theft Auto for Christ's sake.

In an interview over at Cathode Tan, Jeff Freeman (a designer with Star Wars Galaxies, and more impressively a parent,) best summed up the the problem by talking about the attitude of most parents. "I can't stop my little children from playing 37 hours a week of Baby-Killer 3, because I don't understand this little letter on the box it came in!"

In fact, Mr. Freeman even goes on to make another great point in his blog about abolishing either the M or the AO rating. Why differentiate between 17 and 18 at all? Y'know, I like that Freeman guy. Hell, I'm tempted to go buy Star Wars: Galaxies in support of such a common sense attitude. Wonder how much I can trade in my copy of San Andreas for...

The pants in the gaming family

2005-07-17T00:27:00.000-05:00

This whole post is more or less a look at another post, this post. David Jaffe, designer of the fantastical PS2 game God of War, made a post a few weeks ago regarding a Deconstruction Group he sat in on. The Deconstruction Group, in David's words:

It was started by the head of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences along with two other key industry folks (one is a game writer, the other heads up the USC game department). Every 3-6 weeks the group takes over a game company's conference room in So Cal (this week it was Naugty Dog), invites a bunch game industry folks, and has a few USC grad students play the key parts of interesting and popular games. As they play, the indsutry types network and chat and discuss the game, while the grad students deconstruct the game, explaining what worked for them, what did not, etc....It's a really cool idea and helps those of us that are sometimes too busy making our own games to explore the newer titles. It's also a nice time to meet up with people in the biz, say hey to old buddies, and make new ones!

Sounds like a great concept to me. He goes on to say "God of War was lots of fun to see being played, chat about,etc....BUT it was when Psychonauts came up that sparks started to fly." And a discussion about developer's rights ensued. He goes on to say "those publisher execs are right in that consumers purchase brands, not games made by specific teams or by specific designers....but they are only right FOR THE TIME BEING...." My God this guy needs to spend more time with Dave Perry, Jason Rubin, and Scott Miller. The time is now! Seize the day! Etc!

Of course the "knock-out punch" in my book is Jason Booth saying "It allways cracks me up when publishers say that branding the developer dilutes the brand of the title. If that were the case, then they wouldn't put "EA" on the box at all. Try pitching that to them."

The moral of this post? Just a bunch of questions. The Deconstruction Group is a great idea, and I have to wonder how common such things are. And seriously, what are some developers thinking? "It's okay if I don't get credit. One day people will recognize our genius on their own?!"

I mean, most casual gamers I know think that EA makes all of the games with 'EA' on them. Good job developers. Since Atari you've done little but give yourself over as indentured servants to publishers for the glorious opportunity to work in games. As a result, when Atari crashed publishers came around and bought everything for pennies on the dollar and they continue to do it today as a course of normal business that it's quickly forgotten. EA bought Criterion for $48 million. You don't think Burnout, the upcoming Black, and Renderware are worth that much? It's like someone wanted to get rid of Criterion.

And how scary is it when developers are okay with EA saying "having your game associated with you will hurt the game," but I and others like me, folks who wants to get jobs desperately, have huge issues with applying at EA?

The perfect "Hot Coffee" analogy

2005-07-16T13:01:00.000-05:00

Eureka! I've found an analogy that conveys to those (often non-programmers?) who don't get why I don't hold Rockstar North/Take-Two responsible.

If I downloaded and applied a patch to San Andreas that caused the game to crash and never work until I uninstalled and re-installed the entire game, does that mean Rockstar/Take-Two put out a shoddy product? Do they owe me a refund? Because I can write such a patch in a heartbeat. Hell, I can do that for any game. If I did, would it be the job of Rockstar North/Take-Two to make sure that such code changes didn't affect the game? If not, why not? It's the exact same thing that Patrick Wildenborg did to make the 'Hot Coffee' missions playable? If RN/TT is responsible in his case, why not mine?

And if you think that they are responsible for my changing the code to introduce a crashing bug... Wow.

Someone bitchslap Greg Costikyan

2005-07-15T09:23:00.000-05:00

Seriously, after this post... I don't see the problem why anyone should be angry with Rockstar or Take Two over the Hot Coffee mod. At least not yet. I, like Greg Costikyan, assume that the content (minigame code, animations, and other resource files, are all included on the San Andreas disc. (edit: It is. Here are the Action Replay Max codes to play it on your PS2.) But he (and others) take Rockstar to task for even allowing it on the disc, available to players or not. From his blog:

However, I think it likelier that this is entirely and wholly intentional. It is, in fact, standard industry practice to include game features that are not "public," and release knowledge of them later semi-surreptitiously, to spur a little more gamer interest and public exposure. That's why we have cheats.

(...)

So if I'm right--that is, if the material is indeed on the disc, and Rockstar not only knew but approved its inclusion--Rockstar seriously deserves a bitch-slapping.

Here's what I proposed: The ESRB should refuse to give any Take Two product a rating for the next two years. They can release their games as unrated if they want--and good luck getting them into Wal-Mart.

I think that's a bit much. It's no secret that developers leave extra features hidden for later release. But it's also no secret that developers often leave junk data on discs. Just read up on Halo, where the flame-thrower, gravity gun, and other items were discovered. Fable left traces of items, characters, and even an unfinished level on the gamedisc. Knights of the Old Republic 2 left the majority of the original ending to the game, that was completely scrapped and replaced by a much-lamented "shoddier" ending in time to make their release date, all on the game disc. And players love to look on discs to see what else developers have left behind. So, was it obvious that someone would look around San Andreas? I would say no. Because I've never heard of someone looking on the other GTA discs for loose info. Why not? I don't know. But I haven't heard of it.

The real question comes in when you ask the question of "how did the patch author find out about this?" If he did it by searching the disc and finding it through old-fashioned ingenuity? Fine. Kudos to him and everyone should get off of Rockstar's back. A developer having unintentional material unearthed from a disc was going to happen one day, and it's today. This is a warning to all developers. They now all know. But if Take Two did this on purpose, then I'm for a punishment, but two years of no rated games? How about, instead, we try to think up new ways to educate non-gamers on how games are just as relevant as any other field? No movie would be rated NC-17 for minute-long depictions of sexual scenes. And the number of unnecessary times it can be played, like the number of times a viewer would rewind a movie to watch the scene, is inconsequential. Do we really want to do our best to set the bar so low for AO games?

So, please. Someone bitchslap Greg Costikyan. (I almost apologize for the attention-whoring post title. It was too good to resist! :D Nothing but love, Greg! Nothing but love!)

I'm Jeffool. Welcome to my blog.

2005-07-13T06:39:00.000-05:00

Hi. I'm new to gameblogging. Hell, I'm practically new to blogging. Sure I've got four posts, but those are largely posts that were started when I initially got the bug to blog. So, this is what I should've started off with but never got around to, the introduction. Hi, I'm Jeffool. Sound silly? I choose Jeffool partly for branding reasons (because my real name, "Jeff Bridges" is impossible to google and get results for me,) and partly because, well, I've used it for so long in games and on the internet that I'm sticking with it. It's worked fine for me so far.

I started blogging because I like to talk (, or write as it is,) and conversation helps me flesh out my ideas and opinions. I have no doubts about no one/few people reading this, and that's cool. It's just a place for me to stretch my mental legs as it is. I'm a programmer by habit; I have an Associates of Science from Full Sail. (Which isn't a bad place, despite the rumors. There's some good teachers there.) While in school I found Jamie Fristrom's blog. Before, I was anti-blog, but now, well, I am a blogger. Blame him.

I do hope to one day join the commercial games industry, and to be honest, I want to change the world. Hey, why half-ass it? I have a bit of an ego sometimes. But I think I'm generally an affable guy. I enjoy programming, but that's not why I chose games. I chose games because I want to make my own games. Programming is a means to do that. Just like if someone wanted to make their own comic, they better learn to draw.

More or less, I'm just a gamer with a blog.

What do we make of China?

2005-07-08T04:43:00.000-05:00

Terra Nova asked a very important question the other day. They noted Blizzard's localizing of WoW for China. When looking at the aspect of 1.3 billion new consumers potentially entering the gaming market, "What do we make of China? And what do we make of Chinese gamers, now and in the future?" Two easy answers for that one. The first? Family.

1.3 Billion potential gamers. What could we do except welcome them with open arms? They outnumber us, but more importantly they are us. Granted WoW-China will have it's own servers, but eventually we'll all be playing the same games anyway. What to do isn't much of a debate; games are an excellent learning tool. Maybe this potential interaction will help us learn from each other. Maybe even more interesting, we can study how we all play and compare. After all, if we are so different, it would seem that we would be different at play as well. So, that's what we do. We watch, we interact, and we learn. And hopefully we all get along.

The second answer is we fight. This is what will really happen. Need proof? Play Halo 2 on XBox Live sometime. I can't go five games without being called either a 'nigger' or 'faggot'. Try it sometime. Sometimes it's enough to just make me put the controller down and walk away. Similar points were made by Brooks Brown, the Columbine student who spoke about video game violence, and the blame to be placed on children who go wrong. And think MMORPGs are different? Think players are more 'enlightened'? I'd agree largely, but it's not like it doesn't exist. From the makes-you-wonder hijinks of Leeroy Jenkins to just plain name calling, it happens.

Though there was one thing that gave me hope. Pardon me while I tell a tale.

Playing Halo 2 I was on a team with three other English speakers, and four guys who seemingly spoke an Asian language. It was an eight-on-eight battle and we absolutely wiped the other team out, scoring 3-1 on Capture the Flag. Almost like it was planned the second the game started the four English speakers took the vehicles and went to get the other teams flag. We lost a guy, but we managed to come back with the flag. The second we jumped out to put the flag in the base and score, the non-English speakers were taking off with the vehicles to score on their own, and they did it without losing a guy. After that we lost the vehicles, but we all ran up the same side of the map, grabbed the enemy flag, and ran back. The enemy only took our flag once and got it half-way. (We met them on the way back the third time and killed them, leaving some guys to guard the flag, while others took their flag to our base.)

Sure it's just one story. And it's not a rosy picture of pleasantly working together interchangeably... But it's a start. And it was great. The moral? Hopefully we'll do more learning and playing, and less hating and assholing. (Yes, assholing.)

Narratology v. Ludology: My opinion.

2005-07-07T05:28:00.000-05:00

Why read my opinion?  You've read the opinion of everyone else under the sun on interactive storytelling, so why not?  So, is it possible?  Sure.  Will it happen?  Yup.  Will it be good?  Sometimes.

Just like any other game, sometimes it'll be a pain, sometimes it will be amazing, and sometimes it will be completely inconsequential.  The thing I don't get why people make such a big deal out of it.  Let the narratologists do their thing.  Let the ludologists do theirs.  Occasionally stop in the others camp and say "Hey, how's it going?  Invented the Citizen Kane of interactive storytelling yet?"  "No.  How's that 'game that can make you cry' coming along?"  "Fine." Live together and be done with it. Blah.  Seems to me it's a lot of noise about nothing.

The narratologists are seemingly convinced that the world will implode. "It's impossible," they say, "Impossible!" Of course the ludologists usually aren't too different. "It WILL work, and when it does, narrative stories will be the thing of movies and books! Games will rule the media landscape!" Y'know what really scares both groups of people?  What if it works?  I mean, what if we DO get the genuine "interactive story" up and going strong? What happens then? Who will be right? My guess? Neither. Games will still be relegated to second class citizen status in the world of media for some time regardless of what they offer. (Acceptance only comes with maturity.)

But supposing it does happen soon, do ludologists really think anything will change? It'll be relegated to bullet-point status immediately. Narratologists calm your fears, you'll still have jobs in a decade's time.

Variety in Games, and How We Lost Creativity

2005-07-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Commercially successful indy film, music, books, and comics all offer a huge variety to the mainstream forms of each entertainment and nearly without-fail have much fewer resources at hand and a higher (or equal) financial bar to clear.

And I think the lack of this happening isn't even a technological impetus, but a problem of distribution. We've all made programs that we send to our friends over the internet that do something nifty, if not a tiny game we thought up and wanted to get an opinion on.

Game makers can do this, but it severely hampers the potential consumer base. (It's just a matter of customers being technically proficient and knowing what they're getting into. So few gamers are willing to buy a new game from a complete unkown over the internet. We're just not 'there' yet. Why? That's another post.) But I honestly think that when the people who made Eets, Gish, Hapland, or even interactive fiction are able to burn (or have pressed) discs and sell them out of the trunk of their car, then you'll see variety in gaming. Hell, then people will complain about too much choice.

This entire post started out as a reply to something I read over at Brett Douville's blog a bit back, but I decided to make it a blog post instead. Now that I'm finally blogging, here it is. Brett said:

Lately I'm really interested in how costs can be lowered so that the bar to entry gets low enough for there to be single auteurs, or at the very least, a smaller set of auteurs. I'm starting to wonder if that's not the way to get more interesting games.

Sure, there are means by which single auteur games can get made, but they are unlikely to see distribution beyond a very small group. Interactive fiction continues to be alive, but it's a small audience and there's not really a way to make money from it.

I couldn't agree more on his saying smaller teams could be good for games. It's definitely possible for two hundred essentially nameless film professionals to make a good movie from a script handed down to them from their bosses in the movie company. There's a tiny chance it'll even be a great movie. But you give Robert Rodriguez and a crew of twenty of his guys a camera and you'll get a movie I'd pay to see without knowing anything about it. It makes perfect sense to me that smaller teams (or those with a more unified vision that they actively care for) could make a more cohesive game. (Given the technical proficiency to pull it off, of course.) It only makes sense that more people on a team means more interpretations of any given aspect of said game, and that more team members are more likely to not be interested at all.

Need proof? I recently read in Game Developer magazine that EALA (EA Los Angeles) is adopting Will Wright's concepts of "cells" in which during the time no game is being produced, groups of 7 developers form and brainstorm on ideas. Yup. They've officially co-opted creativity and taken it away as a tool for the small dev to get a leg-up. It was small dev's last weapon, but now the fields are truly even and the creativity itself will be judged.

Gaming Needs Gizmos.

2005-07-02T16:15:00.000-05:00

Today I saw yesterday's post over at Penny Arcade that mirrored the opinions of a post from the same day by Josh of Cathode Tan. They both lament the lack of consoles that allow user-created code to be executed. But I have the answer. Games need more gizmos.

Well, 'a' GISMOS, actually. Gaming and Interactive Simulation Machine/Open Standard. But for marketing purposes I'll settle on calling it this new console a Gismo. Yes, Games needs a new console. Not just any console, mind you, but one that applies a base standard and is open to all producers. Now you're asking "What the hell are you talking about?" DVDs are a standard. All DVD players will play a 'standard' DVD. And anyone can produce a DVD; WB, Sony, Fox ,etc.
And anyone can produce a DVD player; Toshiba, Samsung, etc.  Games needs the same.
  I initially thought "the first console manufacturer to do this will be my hero!" But then reality sets in as I realize there that it will not come from within games. This is a case of evolution vs.
revolution, and revolution is the only way. The current hardware manufacturers lose money on hardware and make money on licensing the right to publish games for their console, so they'd obviously be insane to create an open standard for Games. They're vying for a monopoly on what they want Game Consoles to become. You know, Consoles as "an in-road to the center of the household with one unit that will control every thing about a house." You've heard the
bullshit line before. It will be your game player, movie player, music player, and your DVR for movies, music, TV, not to mention your VoIP-phone.
They won't be Game Consoles at all.  They'll be 'Media Managers'.
But you won't be replacing your all of those contraptions in your entertainment center with one small box. Nope. If this game keeps up eventually you'll have it slam full of Media Managers. One for Sony products, one for Fox, and one for Microsoft (with associated 3rd party content creators.) Of course this doesn't count the Nintendo game console that you'll have to keep on the floor due to lack of room. Think I'm crazy? Let's see if the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD groups can compromise rather than release two competing formats, each backed by different companies. 
Now let's look at the future on the opposite end of the spectrum. The hardware producers decide that graphics are finally cooling down and that entering the game consoles business doesn't mean getting into a hardware war they will never win. They decide that customers have realized that graphics aren't everything. Hardware manufacturers offer Sony, MS, and Nintendo the chance to help join their standards board at the ground floor and form the gaming platform of the future. Which of these three would accept this? 
Surely not Sony. Their marketing and hardware has them with a solid lead this generation with the PS3. And they make their money by licensing games for their hardware. And Microsoft? They've lost so much money on the XBox and X360 hardware that to quit two systems in
would be insane. Especially considering the ground they've covered in becoming a strong second in the consoles with the X360. Nintendo? Here's something interesting. Now in third, what do they do? They have a shot at being the sole company whose IP would be in this new format, assuming the format succeeded. So why wouldn't they do it? They quit the hardware war with the Revolution. They've long been the only company to make money off of hardware. Sure they're in third, but they're turning profit.
So, none of the current console manufacturers make the move. (Maaaybe Nintendo, if they realize their strongest suit is their software.) Now, this isn't a new idea by any means. Lots of people have thought about it and even blogged about it. But it's an idea whose time is nearly here. As graphical improvements slow down the likelihood increases. The question is "Who would but it?" If it was an open standard that allowed me to run my own games? I sure as hell would. And I'm sure many other "hardcore gamers" and "hobbyists" would just so they could have trade homebrew. But what game developers would support it? In today's world of DRM-hysteria game companies are looking at ways to stop piracy, not make it as easy as DVD and CD piracy. 
They could allow a scheme like CSS on DVDs, but gamers are a more technical crowd. That'll be taken apart in no time. Any have serious suggestions on how to allow homebrew but not allow rampant piracy of copyrighted games?