[Wow, it's just about the last GameSetWatch post of 2008, so we go to Brandon Sheffield's formerly Gamasutra-published chat with the DC Universe Online creators - it's going to be interesting to see what SOE make of what should be a big deal for superhero underoo wearers worldwide.]

Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming DC Universe Online is a key project for the Everquest publisher, which has latterly been trying to push into more casual markets with its FreeRealms title.

The game is a PlayStation 3 and PC MMO which will feature dozens of characters (from Batman through Superman to Lex Luthor) and settings from the DC comic book universe, as well as customizable superhero or super-villain characters created by users.

DC Universe Online is believed to be due out some time in 2009, and earlier this year, Gamasutra sat down with DCUO senior producer Wes Yanagi to talk about the project.

During the course of the chat, Yanagi discussed the contributions of venerated comic book artist and executive creative director Jim Lee, possible revenue models, and how the studio playtests and balances a game with such diverse characters and environments.

How large is the [Sony Online Austin studio] internal team now?

WY: We're above 70 folks now.

I was just talking to [DC Comics veteran and game consultant] Jim Lee, and he's been on the product since the very very beginning. How, from your perspective, does he work into the pipeline?

WY: Jim and his team, they do a really good job setting the art style and art direction of the product, as you can probably see from the videos and the things that we've shown so far.

The entire world and all the characters are very cohesive, and that's something that can be a challenge on other games without any kind of IP or any kind of art direction from someone like Jim, in which you have a bunch of different pieces that get put together, and they don't necessarily coalesce as a whole.

I know you can't say when it will be released, but how do you anticipate the entire development process? How long has it been in development so far?

WY: It's been in development for about -- I started about two and a half years ago, and I think it was a few months before I started that it officially got kicked off. So, [around that long]. [laughs]

Yeah, it's been a real long time coming, it seems. Are you going to immediately work on expansions afterward? How long do you anticipate this development tale going?

WY: We're still trying to formulate our plan on that aspect, as we're still technically in pre-alpha right now. I imagine that we'll have a portion of our team doing the live events and any kind of live content, and then we'll have a portion that will be dedicated to the expansion pack.

Do you all the customer service and support internally at SOE?

WY: Yeah, SOE has a great customer service staff, and of course, the benefit of working at SOE is there's a lot of MMOs in the pipe. And so, everything from customer service to the platform –- you know just getting the executable out to people and patching -- all that infrastructure is all in place.

How many people do you have working in those departments, if you know?

WY: I really don't know. I can't say.

I'm always curious because usually it completely dwarfs the development team.

WY: Yeah, I'd imagine.

I talked to Blizzard a year and a half ago – they probably have way more now – they had twelve hundred.

WY: Twelve hundred?! Wow, that's pretty insane. That's a lot of guys. But then they have to support ten million folks.

You must have the network infrastructure pretty down at this point, since you've had many many years to air it on this stuff. Do you anticipate any difference for this title or is it going to be using your similar network infrastructure?

WY: We have a standard infrastructure that we share across a lot of the games, and we're really leveraging a lot of that, because it's pretty robust and developed. The demos that we've been showing right now at Comic-Con or at FanFare, those demos were all running off of a client/server environment.

We've even been playtesting over between Austin and San Diego, testing independently and seeing lag to see how that affects the action combat. So far, we've been really really happy with all the results.

With Jim Lee, there's been a lot of back and forth on getting character models to look like how he wants them to look in the comics. Where is the line on what you can do -- obviously there are budgetary concerns -- and how can you really determine what you can take and what you can't?

WY: Generally speaking, we try to get the essence of what he's talking about, if at all possible. And we'll bend over backwards to get that look because that's what his style is known for and it's an awesome style that resonates with a lot of people.

Where we can draw the line is when it runs into a technical issue, where we have something where there's too much detail, or the textures might not fit with the parameters that we have or something like that. When we run into technical issues, we'll discuss that

with him and go over what our limits are. Usually, he's understanding about that and goes, “Okay, I understand,” and moves on to the next thing.

When I was talking to him and hearing him on the panel, it sounded like he's really coming from a good artistic perspective. He seems to have more of an idea of what you can do and not do, when compared to say, directors that come in and are trying to associate themselves with a game product. Have there been any challenges in terms of what is physically possible?

WY: Not really so much a challenge, I wouldn't say challenging. Jim's a really smart guy, and once we walk him through what the issues are, he picks up on it really fast. So, there really hasn't been any issues that way. Maybe some of the more arcane technical server issues might be harder for him to understand, but for the most part, he gets everything and is very accommodating in that respect.

What kind of things are you looking at for dealing with RMT -- real money trading? Is that going to even come up in the game?

WY: We've been talking about some ideas, but those things haven't been solidified yet. We're definitely going to be talking more about that in the future.

And are you guys going with a subscription or item type model?

WY: That's the same thing as with the RMT. All the business side of it we're still trying to figure out. Right now, we're focused on making our core game, making that fun and then figuring out how the business works on top of that.

You kind of have to have it figured out in advance if you're going to go with one of those models or the other, but it's okay if you can't say what it is. [laughter] Because you can't really just build the game, and then put the business model on top of it. But anyway, what do you think of the free to play model?

WY: I think that's a huge potential, especially for a more casual market. You know, just getting lots more eyes in on whatever product or whatever game.

I think so many things have happened in the past through shareware -- Wolfenstein and Doom were huge hits based on that model, and I think that there's lots of potential in that market.

SOE is trying to do that with Free Realms, as you're probably aware of, and I think that that has a huge chance of being a successful product.

I don't think a lot of teams making MMOs have used Scrum. How does Scrum work into that pipeline? Because the big thing about Scrum is that you can meet milestones easier. You don't necessarily have those same kinds of milestones in MMOs. So, how does that work?

WY: For us, the philosophy that we're taking is publishing it internally to the team. We try to take the mindset we're live already and we have our infrastructure in place earlier on where we have our daily builds. They get kicked out, you run the patcher. When you log in, it sees if there's a new build up there and puts it up there.

On an everyday basis we have playtests. All the different Scrum teams -- we have a combat team, a content team, an environment team -- they all do their playtests, and they can see what the other teams are doing, and see how their piece fits into the whole.

I think that's one of the biggest challenges that I've seen in MMOs in the past, that they're so big and they're so massive, and in traditional development processes that I've worked on in the past, you'd have all these teams working independently.

At some point, maybe a year or two between each other, between milestones, they would try to integrate everything, and things would fall apart horribly.

For us, it's really on a three week basis they have to have a demonstrable portion of the game and all the pieces have to fit. And so they're working together really closely on a day to day basis.

It sounds slightly different from the vertical slice thing, in which you make this section and then you go on. But you're a little more compartmentalized and then integrating quickly, that's how you're doing it?

WY: Yeah, so for instance, in the demo that we showed at Comic-Con this year, we built what we're calling a world event, where there's a portion of Metropolis and Brainiac's invading. That involved a lot of different teams working together to build that scenario.

The cool thing about it was that it told us a lot about how our game should be developed, or built, from a combat point of view, you know, where are the issues that come up between, say, fliers and people that are running on the ground.

The other part of it is that the environment guys were really able to push; you know, what do we want our look and feel to be for the end product? And getting all those together in one demo was huge for us.

How do you reconcile that world? You mentioned people with different powers. You got the fliers and the people on the ground. How do you build that universe and not have it break? You got people who can do a lot of different things.

If you've got Aquaman, do you have to have the sea and how do people get into the sea? You've got the air, do you have to have the ceiling past which they can't fly, and that kind of stuff. How are you dealing with those considerations?

WY: Trying not to get into specifics and generalizing that question a little bit more -- a lot of those come out of our daily playtests. We'll put in a certain power set or certain movement type, and then because we have PvP heavily developed in this game, that encourages people to almost exploit it because people are competitive in a PvP environment.

So, pretty quickly you see the exploits come up, and then we have these notices that are on our playtest machines, "Ice powers banned today" or something like that, until the designers can go back and resolve what those issues are.

Again, using agile is great because, as those issues pop up from that Scrum team's perspective, if they're focused on balancing or getting all these powers working together, that can be their highest priority that they have to deal with.

It seems like balance is one of the biggest issues in MMOs. Like you said, there will probably always be exploits, it's impossible to root them all out. It seems like it requires way more playtesting than other game types. Do you have everyone playtest?

WY: We do have everybody playtest just about every day. Our daily routine is we have our daily stand-ups in the morning. While one team is doing their stand-up, another team is in the little play pen that has all our playtest machines. There's a group, they're playing the game, one person's taking notes as people are just chiming in with comments. When they're done they do their stand-up, another group comes in and does their playtest.

I think there's a tipping point in game development where when you still have the core mechanics being built, the game isn't quite fun yet, you have to almost force people to playtest. And luckily, we've finally got to the tipping point where our core game is fun enough that we just have to schedule it and people come. So that's a good position to be in for us right now.

Yeah, you don't have to strongarm anyone anymore. A lot of MMO making companies have a tendency to use the beta as the final QA period. Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing?

WY: I think that's fine and good from a standpoint. There's only so much that you can balance on a smaller scale with a smaller team. Even if you have like a hundred, two hundred people on a team, you can only do so much balance. Once you get a thousand, two thousand people, then the game dynamics change that much more.

The problems that I've seen on projects that I've worked on myself is that, a lot of time you spill some of your game development and feature development into your beta time frame. At that point, it's really difficult to manage between the priority of getting a feature done versus clearly a major flaw in your game that you have to address that came out of beta, or even just dealing with bugs.

Our goal is to make sure that when we get into our beta phase, that all of our features are done so we don't have that conflict between the two. If you have to redo a feature because of gameplay feedback in the beta, then that's okay, but you don't want to be building something that you knew you had to do out of time.

It seems like it's really tempting, since you know that MMOs are never done. They're never finished, so you're always developing. At the same time, when you do that, you run the risk of showing people a game like Hellgate London. The beta didn't go that well, and people weren't really feeling it. By the time the game was actually really fun, everyone had already been like, "I already played that and I didn't like it." So that's a real danger with a beta. But I guess that's where all the internal QA comes in.

WY: Exactly, exactly. And I think even internally, we want to be really sensitive to that. For us, we're playing it with the team, with our team. It's kind of our product, our baby, and so it's always “the best product ever,” and then we can keep playing on that.

But once we release it internally to other parts of SOE, we want to make sure that there's another level of polish there, so that people are excited about that and then going on to the next step of any kind of closed beta.

About the HUD and management of items and powers and things. For me, what turns me off from a lot of these games is how complex it is. There are all these icons, and I've got to remember what all the buttons do, like hotkeys. How do you figure that out, what's acceptable for people, how much they can actually stomach?

WY: I think there's a combination of things that get based on the gameplay. The game that you're building, the game that you have. I think that a lot of it is, how many decisions do you provide the player at a time.

We give more decisions on where you should be moving and how you're controlling your character because we're a much more action-based game. And strategically, what powers you fire off if you're hiding behind something, if you're picking up a bus, or if you have to dodge a bus.

And that's much different than more traditional MMOs, where it's less movement based and it's more picking a combination of powers or reacting to powers, or watching someone's health go down and then hitting the heal button, or casting the heal spell.

By that nature, since there's less movement, you have to make more decisions or give more choices through the UI or through the HUD. For us, ideally, we have a much more simpler HUD, but the much more complex decisions phase is in running.

To take it to the other extreme, if you look at a first-person shooter, there's a very, very simplistic HUD, but you make a lot of decisions in how you're aiming, whether you're going for the headshot or just trying to shoot somebody, or what weapon you're using.

Do you also try to get some outside views? I don't know if a lot of MMOs actually do playtests, like blind playtests with focus groups.

WY: Yeah, we've actually already started that. We did a couple of focus groups with our Comic-Con build before we went to Comic-Con to make sure the public would be okay with it. I was deathly afraid that our UI and controls might be too complex going in, and so we wanted to make sure that that was addressed.

We have a usability lab in San Diego, where our headquarters are, and they've been bringing people in to play the game and giving us feedback on top of that. And there's other things that we can do with heuristic evaluations and those things. So as we get more UI online we'll be running it through that.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[From now until early January, our sister site IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best indie titles of 2008, and we'll be reprinting the best here on GameSetWatch for your viewing and playing pleasure.]

The fourth of the 2008 Best Of Features over on the IndieGames.com blog, we're proud to present twenty of the best freeware arcade games released in 2008.

Action games usually involve players assuming a certain profession and carrying out the task they have been assigned with - whether it is taking out bad guys, rescuing cute little creatures, saving the world from certain doom, or even stealing treasure from cave dwellers, we can guarantee that you'll be having a whale of a time doing it.

Here's the top freeware arcade and action games of the year:

Best Freeware Arcade Games 2008

  1. 8bit killer
  2. Rescue: The Beagles
  3. Aether
  4. Calamity Annie
  5. Destructivator
  6. Thrustburst
  7. You Found the Grappling Hook
  8. You Have to Burn the Rope
  9. ROM Check Fail
10. Samurai Railroad Mansion
11. Virtual Silence
12. Cubes
13. Facewound
14. Pro Killer Man
15. Skullpogo
16. Night of the Cephalopods
17. Karateka Mania
18. Devil Ronin
19. Ropor
20. I Was in the War

[Got feedback? Reasons to disagree? Post a response and we'll do a special 'best of reader comments' round-up at the end of our chart countdowns.]

Posted by timw at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

Rounding up a multitude of only slightly tardy GameSetLinks, this one is headed by Jeff Attwood big upping World Of Goo while examining piracy in a wider software context - and is a good excuse for me to use that Lazytown video in glorious still image form.

Also in here - some late semi-praise for Lips, a couple more end of year countdowns, the Cthulhu indie countdown, and World Of Goo (again!) in a non-popularity popularity contest.

Goo goo goo:

Coding Horror: My Software Is Being Pirated
Jeff Attwood is one of the most well-known programming bloggers, so it's interesting that he takes on software piracy with plenty of reference to World Of Goo in this post.

GameSpot's Best Games of 2008: Best Game No One Played
The press release we got from GameSpot honest-to-god claimed 'World Of Good' won this award, haha. Great typo, but the second problem here is that it's an audience-voted popularity award to determine a game that 'no one played'. Woops!

The Independent Gaming Source: 'Commonplace Book Compo: Results!'
The ever-excellent indie competition reveals the results of its Cthulhu-themed competition, headed by Kyle Pulver.

loonyblog. - random thoughts on games, art, geek culture and living in california. » My games of the year.
Yes, another top list, this time from 2K's Jason 'Loonyboi' Bergman, but worth mentioning because it includes Rock Band 2, a title I think was unfairly overlooked due to its incremental nature, but is brilliant (I had to bump it from my special picks in the Gamasutra countdown to fit in Fable II, sadly.)

Infovore » Favourite Games of 2008
Interesting because it's a non-'mainstream' writer who has GTA IV on his list, breaking my previous observations on the matter.

Game recommendation: Inis' Lips for Xbox 360
Although it has a severe lack of online/replay components and difficulty levels, I really like the basic interface of Elite Beat Agents creator Inis' X360 karaoke game and its weirdass minigames, possibly even more so than SingStar - hopefully they'll be given a chance to expand on it.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Every week, GameSetWatch sums up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent -- and increasingly exciting -- portable games platform, written by guest editor Danny Cowan - lots more reviews coming soon after a little drought, by the way.]

This week's notable items in the iPhone gaming space, as covered by FingerGaming, include Square Enix's Crystal Defenders, a port of Jason Rohrer's Passage, and the upcoming release of IGF-winner Crayon Physics for Apple's portable.

Here are the top stories:

Crayon Physics Gets iPhone Port in 2009
"Hudson Entertainment will be bringing the Independent Games Festival Grand Prize-winning Crayon Physics to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The title is scheduled to hit the App Store in early January, and possibly as soon as next week."

Passage Debuts in iPhone App Store
"Previously available as a PC freeware title, Passage comes to the iPhone this week as a direct port with a new touch-based control interface."

Radio Flare Makes Intriguing App Store Appearance
"Radio Flare takes the lock-on shooting mechanic found in console games like Rez and Panzer Dragoon and adapts it to fit the context of a touch-based shooter — one finger moves your ship, while another can be used to target multiple enemies in a single swipe."

Square Enix's Crystal Defenders Makes iPhone Debut
"Console RPG publisher Square Enix has released Crystal Defenders, a Tower Defense-styled strategy game featuring character classes from the Nintendo DS SRPG title Final Fantasy Tactics A2."

i Love Katamari Patched, Features Improved Performance
"The patch arrives in response to widespread reports of sluggish performance and unresponsive controls, which many buyers noted after the title’s release last week."

MSX's Aleste Downloadable Now
"The release is significant, as this new version of Aleste appears to be running via emulation software. All original aspects of the game are preserved — including the original MSX BIOS bootup screen — with an iPod/iPhone-specific control overlay added to the bottom of the gameplay screen."

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[The Experimental Gameplay Sessions at GDC, organized by Jon Blow and compatriots, is often one of the highlights of the show, and packed to the gills, so we thought it would be good to highlight his call for submissions for those doing... different stuff.]

The organizers of the Experimental Gameplay Sessions lecture at the 2009 Game Developers Conference are calling for submissions for their yearly showcase of innovative games.

This regular extended GDC lecture, which has taken place since 2002, is organized by Braid designer Jonathan Blow and friends.

It's notable for being an early showcase for a multitude of alternative games and game concepts, including a pre-launch Katamari Damacy and Portal.

As the official Experimental Gameplay Sessions website explains while issuing its call for submissions:

"The Experimental Gameplay Sessions are an annual gathering of innovation-minded game developers, hosted at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

If you’re pushing the boundaries of traditional gameplay, we encourage you to submit your work using the entry form. The submission deadline is Monday February 16, 2009."

Other notable projects showcased in early stages at various iterations of the Experimental Gameplay Workshop include Jon Mak's Everyday Shooter, Thatgamecompany's fl0w, Media Molecule co-founder Mark Healey's Rag Doll Kung Fu, Zoe Mode's Crush, and Dylan Fitterer's Audiosurf.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[In a new opinion piece published on big sister site Gamasutra, Wizardry and Jagged Alliance veteran and game design professor Brenda Brathwaite analyzes how you can stop the rot by "talking up" when game development teams have relationship or management problems.]

Games are intensely personal processes, even if they involve a hundred people. You can’t spend eight hours a day with a work of art and not get connected to it.

That connection is born of intensity, and that intensity can lead to people getting upset with one thing or another. Sometimes, it can lead to team meltdown. Here’s a couple moments from my memory:

- An art team mutinied -- they didn’t show up for work for a few days (it may have been longer, but it definitely wasn’t shorter).
- A team walked out -- the whole team left the office and refused to work until the crunch hours were addressed.
- A lead dished all his issues with the company to those on his team effectively creating a group of angry programmers.
- Two executive producers worked to sack an incompetent VP.

These are extreme examples, of course. Usually, it’s pockets of discontent, but these pockets can completely wreck productivity and make unhappy people out of otherwise content developers. It makes people hate a project, hate their part in the project or, at best, feel indifferent.

For those involved in the trash talking -- and maybe unbeknownst to them -- it follows them throughout their career in several potential ways:

- Teams suffering meltdown don’t make great projects. If they somehow manage to get a good one out, the project is not as good as it would have been if the team had been working well. That game stays on your resume. It lives with you through mobygames.com. Eternity is gamerankings.com and a bad game.
- Bad relationships are built, and bad relationships have a long, long shelf life in the game industry. They stop you from getting jobs. They keep closed doors.
- Patterns are made and history tends to repeat itself.

Clearly, everyone’s not always going to be happy, though. So, you have to figure out a way to deal with it. I was a lead for a long time, and this is the kind of situational training you never get. You pick it up on the job. If you’re a "bridge builder" now, if you get along with everyone, if you can genuinely see a way forward in even difficult situations, be grateful. You will use it dozens of times in your career.

On these issues, a couple things have worked for me:

Do not "disbelieve."

Acknowledge that problems will exist in the future, and develop a plan to deal with these things before they strike. Encourage people to talk with their leads, and encourage leads to listen and not criticize or immediately fix it to death. Sometimes people need to vent.

Talk up, and tell people on your team to do it.

If you have an issue with something, take it to your lead. Don’t trash the waters around you. Give people a chance to adjust things, including your perspective. I recently talked with someone who thought he was getting the run around because his boss wouldn’t level with him about an upcoming contract. “I just want to know if we’re going to make the game or not.” My feeling was that his boss genuinely didn’t know. No deal is done until the money’s in your bank account.

If you have a problem with someone, their work or the way they work, talk to them directly, if that seems at all possible to do. Sometimes, it’s a matter of misunderstanding or needing to clear the air.

If that’s not possible or if there’s a company issue that’s driving you insane, talk to the the person immediately above you (unless it is the person immediately above you). Also, remember that it’s probably about 50 percent less dramatic than you feel it might be, but only time will give you that perspective.

At the time, though, just accept that some part of how you’re feeling is reaction, not reality. If you are the person above another person, remember the "drama modifier," but listen and let them vent it all out without interruption. Venting is a valid and important part of the development process, and a good lead learns how to receive it and handle it well.

So why this emphasis on talking up? If you have a problem with someone and talk laterally or down, you are literally trash talking your own team and killing your own project. I’ve seen it happen one too many times as noted above.

The team quickly loses respect for the chain of command and nothing ever gets fixed since no one in a position to fix it was ever actually contacted. People continue to complain about the lead above them, but the lead - blissfully unaware of anything - keeps right on going. Meanwhile, the team falls apart, morale plummets, productivity drops and the quality of work suffers dramatically. Ultimately, your project sucks, and if it’s a professional project, it’ll follow you around for years.

So, don’t trash your lead to the people below you. Don’t trash fellow leads to other leads. If you have an issue with someone, take it to them directly or take it to the person above you, and do it professionally and without drama.

Ultimately, this is about principles, not personalities. When irritated by someone, ask yourself if it’s their work or them. This is game development, not a reality television show. You don’t have to like everyone. You don’t need to play Rock Band on the weekends. You merely need to work with them well and for the betterment of the project. Develop professional discipline to do this now, and it will go a long way for you.

[Brenda Brathwaite is a contract game designer and professor of game design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She has been in the game industry since 1981 and has shipped 22 commercial titles. An an avid player of games, she currently spends an absurd amount of time studying them.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

Hurray, time for another set of delicious GameSetLinks, headed out by the London Review of Books talking about, uhm, video games, in case you haven't seen it - always worth seeing what those august organs make of our burgeoning little culture cactus, I reckon.

Also in here, links out to the (pictured, lunatic) Brainpipe, Simon Waldman on the new digital world, Momus on gaming, Alex Litel on, uh, pie, and a brief ramble about the new Banjo-Kazooie game from myself.

Get to the chorus:

London Reviews Of Books · John Lanchester: Is it Art?
One of these ponderous, New Yorker-style stabs at games as a medium, which nonetheless signifies a lot because the journal in question cares enough to try. Would benefit from more art-game knowledge, though, I suspect. Via Infovore.

December 2008 Indie game Round-Up by Game Tunnel
Aha: 'The 10 games reviewed for December include Soldak's Kivi's Underworld, New Star Soccer 4 from New Star Games and Zompocalypse from Toadtrip.' Neat stuff, as per usual.

The incumbent’s solution: 90% transformation, 10% innovation « Digital disruption
The Guardian's Simon Waldman on how bricks and mortar companies need to innovate subtly to get anywhere digitally. Also pretty relevant to the games business, abstractly.

click opera - Will the games boom birth a new art form?
Momus proves in the comments that he's not up with recent gaming, but nonetheless, interesting: 'Now that computer games are bringing in more income than films and music combined, there's sure to be a rush of talented, ambitious and original people into the medium (along with the moral panics that help make their names).' Via Xian, redux.

Alex Litel's Lackluster Emporium: What happens when you take a Shawn Elliott blog post and change all game-related references to be about pie.
'Question 1: How much is on our minds before we begin eating any given pie for review purposes?' Silly man!

Game recommendation: Rare's Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for Xbox 360
I can't tell you how odd but intriguing Rare's games have been recently - much like Viva Pinata, this ostensibly kid-oriented title has lots of genuinely interesting, perhaps more adult-suitable gameplay complexity in it (the vehicles) - oh, and it's kinda droll and self-mocking to boot. Worth picking up after the inevitable price drop, perhaps?

Official site: 'BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity'
As I've broadcasted elsewhere, Digital Eel's new psychedelic insanity title, as entered in the IGF, has launched - looks a bit Minter-esque, doesn't it?

The Offworld 20: 2008's Best Indie and Overlooked - Offworld
Nowadays, it's surprising how many lists don't have Metal Gear Solid 4 on them (poor Hideo!), but this is a great round-up of the indie-r, shorter-play stuff out there.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The third of the 2008 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog, we're proud to present ten of the best browser arcade games released in 2008.

Fancy a 100-metre sprint event? Hit Benzido up. Thinking about dino racing? Get acquainted with Pixeljam Games.

Or itching for some sword action? Babarageo has just the thing for you, in this special round up of the best links you could possibly have as your favorite browser bookmarks.

Here's the top browser-based arcade games of the year:

Best Browser Arcade Games 2008

  1. Cursor*10
  2. QWOP
  3. Top Spinner
  4. Dino Run
  5. Ginormo Sword
  6. Minotaur China Shop
  7. Gravity Hook
  8. Rose and Camellia (Shockwave version)
  9. Maverick
10. Robokill

[Got feedback? Reasons to disagree? Post a response and we'll do a special 'best of reader comments' round-up at the end of our chart countdowns.]

Posted by timw at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Another 365 days has passed, and in an exclusive GameSetWatch article, regular columnist Mister Raroo takes the opportunity to reflect upon 2008 in terms of not only gaming, but his personal life as well -- and as an added bonus, he includes his top 10 games of the year!]

2008: Challenging But Rewarding

It’s hard to believe that 2008 is already drawing to a close, but looking back it was certainly a full and busy year. Between watching my son Kaz develop and grow on a seemingly daily basis, working full time, and taking courses toward my Master’s of Library and Information Science degree, it’s felt like I’ve barely had time to do much else. That said, I always make an effort to squeeze a little recreation into my days, usually in the form of playing video games. It’s important to step back from things and give yourself a break, even if it’s only 15 minutes here or there.

Financially, 2008 was more than a bit depressing. The economy’s instability led to ongoing budget cuts at work, causing both Missus Raroo and me to worry about our job security. Our home, which we purchased last year, continued to drop in value while, at the same time, we had to pump more money into it to fix a few problems that arose. Our cars both needed to have some costly work done on them while other expenses, such as rising daycare costs, just continued to pile up. We’ve managed to squeak out from under these financial weights and stay in the black, but not by much.

Even in difficult financial times, though, things don’t seem so bad when you have people in your life that make each day feel special. I’m very fortunate to have such a lovely wife and wonderful son, not to mention both sides of our families in town. Holidays and special celebrations are always happy times because we are able spend them with the people we love. As trite as it may sound, I may not be wealthy in terms of money, but I’m a rich man when you consider how much family support and love I have. Family can sometimes be stressful, but the good by far outweighs the bad.

As a parent, 2008 was a particularly amazing year because I was able to watch Kaz grow from being just a cute little guy we took care of to a bona fide member of the family. It’s pretty incredible to think that at the beginning of the year he didn’t know how to walk or say any real words. These days, he’s running all over the place, helps pick up his toys, uses actual words to talk, and even takes on the chore of feeding our dog Howie his dinner. It sounds funny, but Missus Raroo and I often comment that Kaz has finally become a “real person.”

As a whole, I think 2008 was pretty spectacular. There were far more highs than lows for me, and there isn’t much I’d change given the opportunity. My family was healthy, a lot of great memories were created, and even the presidential candidate I voted for won the election, for once! Yep, 2008 was not a bad year by any stretch of the imagination. And when I think about all the excellent games I played during the year, it just seems even sweeter.

Birthday Gluttony

Seeing that I had not only received a generous amount of games for Christmas last year, but was also given a Playstation 3 by my family, I felt a little guilty about my gaming abundance -- and tried to start 2008 off by limiting the amount of games I purchased. Besides, I was officially beginning my MLIS classes and knew that meant I’d have less time to play games, anyway. And, on top of that, once our bills were paid each month I just didn’t have a lot of spending money left over. Thus, I did my best to avoid acquiring any new games from New Year’s Day until my birthday in February. A month and a half is not very long for most people, but for me it was more than a little difficult to hold out!

Thankfully, my family knows darn well that I love video games, and since I didn’t really have anything else that I wanted or needed, on my birthday I was presented with a healthy stack of games as gifts. I’m very grateful for the generosity of my family members, but sometimes being a 30-something guy unwrapping game after game makes me wonder if they look upon me as if were a gaming Peter Pan! The year was still young in February, but thanks to my family I already had so many new games to play.

No More Heroes is perhaps the standout game from my birthday haul, and I had a lot of fun playing it. Particularly, I enjoyed just how bonkers the game was, with strange and interesting boss battles and neat touches like the Wii Remote being used to receive cell phone calls. There have been legitimate complaints about some aspects of the game, particularly in terms of how desolate the city of Santa Destroy is, but all in all I really found No More Heroes to be very entertaining and satisfying.

On the other end of the spectrum, I was also given Endless Ocean, and I thought it was simply delightful. More of a stress reliever than anything else, Endless Ocean’s beauty is not just in its underwater setting, but in the ability it grants for players to take the experience at their own pace and freely explore on their own. There are small missions and objectives to fulfill, but essentially, all you need to worry about is swimming around and discovering the world that awaits you below the water line.

I have a fear of sharks to the point that I have regular nightmares about them, but in Endless Ocean there is no danger of being attacked by any sea creatures, and sharks will harmlessly cruise right by you. You can even swim up close to snap photos of them, too! With such a laid back atmosphere, Endless Ocean is an ideal game for me to enjoy after an exhausting day.

Not Part of the In-Crowd

For the most part, I tended to hold off on playing most of the year’s blockbuster releases. Bestsellers like Gears of War 2, Fable II, and Fallout 3 will be substantially less expensive in but a few months’ time, so I’ve decided to wait until I see them appear in discount aisles and bargain bins. It’s sometimes tough to know that so many other people are playing a much-anticipated game while I’m not, but it’s also sweet to pick up a copy for a portion of its original price.

Rather than focusing on the chartbusters, I tried to steer toward games that were a little under the radar. I have a soft spot for oddities and underdogs, anyway, and 2008 saw no shortage of strange or overlooked gems. The best part of these types of games is that they’re often released at a lower price point to begin with, so it’s not as much of a demand on my budget to pick up some of the low-profile releases.

Everyone’s eyes were on LittleBigPlanet’s passing of content creation to players, but I thought Blast Works had some pretty amazing player-generated ships, enemies, and stages. One of the nicest features of the game is that it bypassed the Wii’s usual Friend Code route and instead let players select and queue up content to download via an outside website, Blast Works Depot.

I tried my hand at crafting a ship and some enemies, but my meager creations seriously paled in comparison to what some other gamers came up with. It was a series of stages lovingly built by a user named Gryzor that were the most impressive. Gryzor designed the levels with title screens, ship selection, and much more. Thinking of the amount of work that must’ve gone into those stages, my mind is officially boggled.

Bangai-O Spirits was another game that featured a workaround for sharing content without Friend Codes. Utilizing a unique sound load system, the game literally used sound as encryption for data, and plenty of user-generated levels could be found online and uploaded simply by playing the sound into the DS microphone. Holding an headphone ear bud up to the microphone seemed to work best, and before long one could easily enjoy the hard work of clever and creative Bangai-O Spirits players from around the world.

Many of the other games I spent a great deal of time with may not have been massive sellers that reached the mainstream audience to the extent of a game like Grand Theft Auto 4, but they received plenty of acclaim from critics and gamers alike. For example, titles like Patapon and Space Invaders Extreme were both extremely satisfying, not to mention released at a $20 price point, which is certainly a perfect combination as far as I’m concerned!

As a higher number of games are released upon the market, it can get increasingly difficult to keep abreast of all the smaller titles that may not be lucky enough to find shelf space in stores, but the popularity of video games means more developers and publishers have the freedom to release titles that prove to be profitable without having to sell a million copies. There are a lot of niche games such as Prey the Stars and Princess Debut that the average gamer may not even realize exist, but it makes me happy that they do!

Home Delivery

More than games purchased at retail, perhaps the largest chunk of my new games came in downloadable form. From Pixeljunk: Eden and The Last Guy on Playstation Network to WiiWare’s Pit Crew Panic! and My Aquarium, there were a diverse and extensive amount of interesting games to purchase and download, usually for $10 or less per game. Even the costlier downloadable games, such as the $20 WipeOut HD or the $15 Braid, proved well worth the price of admission, not to mention likely cheaper than if they’d been pressed on disc and sent to retail.

I was pleased to see Nintendo decided to bring over the previously Japan-only game series bit generations in a new form, namely the Art Style games for WiiWare. The games proved to be perfect for my tastes, especially considering they were $5 each and took up little space on the Wii’s internal memory. I ran out of available “blocks” to download new content months ago and having to juggle what’s available on my Wii at any given moment has been more than a little frustrating.

More than WiiWare, though, I spent the most time and money on Xbox Live Arcade games because there were just so many fun and interesting titles. The high-profile releases like Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and Castle Crashers proved to live up to my hopes, but it was the more humble gems such as N+ and Golf: Tee it Up! that turned out to be my favorites. I also finally got around to enjoying Portal via its XBLA release, and I stayed up well past my bedtime finishing it.

However, as much as I am a fan of downloadable games, the distribution process still has plenty of room for improvement. As much as I’ve come to anticipate Nintendo Mondays, Xbox Wednesdays, and Playstation Thursdays, there is an air of mystery that surrounds each week’s releases, so much so that sometimes nobody has any clue as to what will become available until the online stores are updated. I assume this is related to the nature of digital distribution, but sometimes I wonder if the game companies themselves have no idea what’s going to be released until they randomly select a handful of titles at go-time.

Stuck in the Past

The past year wasn’t all about new game releases for me, and in fact I had a lot of fun picking up some titles that I’d never had the opportunity to play. I’m always on the lookout for any place selling used games, and it’s so satisfying to happen across a great find. Missus Raroo and I regularly frequent the local thrift stores, and I’ve found quite a few winners for a great price.

One of our favorite thrift stores is one we call “The Gremlin Store” because its mysterious and eclectic mix of merchandise makes it feel like finding a box containing a mogwai wouldn’t be at all out of the question. Unfortunately, I’m not good at haggling prices, and the owners of the establishment often don’t put price tags on their items, so I’ve usually left empty-handed because I don’t want to argue that Batman for the NES should be cheaper than the $13 price they’re asking. Nevertheless, it’s fun to visit from time to time to see what newly-acquired items they’ve got for sale.

Of course, if there’s a certain game you’re interested in, purchasing it online is probably the best way to go, and around the time of the Dreamcast’s ninth anniversary since its North American launch date of 9/9/99, I purchased a couple games to celebrate. One of these was Pen Pen Tricelon, a game I’d always been curious about but never got around to adding to my collection. Colorful, simple, cute, and jam-packed with wackiness, Pen Pen is a basic but thoroughly engaging racing game that is still a blast almost 10 years after its release.

I also really had a great time with Game Center CX: Arino’s Challenge for the Nintendo DS, which is a loving tribute the Famicom/NES-era of games. Even though all of the games in the collection are new, their vintage design truly makes them feel like they could’ve come straight from the 1980s. However, the pseudo-retro games were developed with some modern sensibilities in mind, so attributes like screen flicker that plagued many 8-bit games are nowhere to be seen. Anyone who grew up during the 8-bit days will feel their hearts warm when they play Game Center CX.

The Next Gamer Generation

Perhaps one of my biggest joys from this past year has been introducing games to Kaz. His original interest in games was more in terms of the playing with the physical boxes and discs than anything else. In fact, his interest in playing with my game collection quickly prompted me to put them out of his little hands’ reach so as to keep him from damaging them.

Kaz is at the point now, though, where he’s very interested in everything Missus Raroo and I do, and he does his best to mimic it. He likes to pretend he’s talking on the phone, tries to change channels with the television remote, and presses keys on our computer keyboard. In fact, he somehow managed to conduct a Google search, although the results were a little nonsensical because his search term was just a bunch of random characters and symbols.

Recently, Kaz has discovered Mario Kart Wii, and he and I have spent some fun evenings racing through the game’s courses. Kaz sits in my lap and grips the Wii Wheel firmly in his hands, but he doesn’t yet understand that you have to press a button to accelerate and turn the wheel to steer. That’s where I come in. I help Kaz navigate the courses while his eyes are glued to the screen in amazement. Sometimes, when we manage to win a race, he’ll stand up and gleefully dance, copying our character’s post-victory celebration animation.

The irony is that while I’m so excited Kaz is starting to appreciate games now, there will come a time when I’m sure I’ll have to discipline him for playing too much. I’ll have to remember to be a good role model and demonstrate self-control in not playing games when there are other priorities and responsibilities to fulfill first. Still, I’m hoping that Kaz and I have plenty of fun playing games together throughout his childhood and even beyond. Maybe video games will be one of the ways we can stay connected even when he’s an adult and has kids of his own.

Hopes for a New Year

As much as video games are a part of my life, when I think of the upcoming year, it just seems petty to worry about it in terms of gaming. Instead, I’m simply hopeful that my friends and family stay healthy and safe. I always worry too much about everything, but with the instability in everyone’s lives lately, it’s hard not to. However, it’s better to take a deep breath and look at the bigger picture, realizing that it’s important to appreciate the little things in my daily life.

On a more personal note, I’m excited about the joys parenthood will surely bring. Kaz will turn 2 in March, and Missus Raroo and I are definitely thinking about expanding our family. I’m not sure if 2009 will be the year it happens, but I think our family definitely has room for growth. That said, even if we end up never having another child, I feel so lucky for the awesome son I already have. It has been such an honor to be a parent, even during difficult times.

I’m also looking forward to continuing my studies towards my MLIS degree. I’m about a third of the way to completion and it’s been very interesting thus far, if at times a little grueling. I do my best to put my family life ahead of my studies, so it can be tricky to find time to dedicate to school work. I’m often up way past my bedtime trying to listen to online lectures or write papers. But my hard work will hopefully pay off and before long I’ll be able to promote to a higher position in the library system I work for.

I’d also like to take a moment to give my best wishes to all GameSetWatch readers for a safe and happy New Year! I’ve appreciated the opportunity to write articles for GameSetWatch and I’ve been grateful for all the kind words I’ve received from readers. It’s been so generous of the GameSetWatch crew to welcome me into their family of amazing columnists and I hope to continue writing more content in the coming year. Happy New Year and thanks for reading!

Bonus Round: Mister Raroo’s Top 10 Games of 2008

Alphabetized and adorned with one-sentence summations:

Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
Tons of missles, tons of challenge, tons of fun!

Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360, Playstation 3)
Driving over a chasm on rickety train tracks while trying to knock other cars to their doom never gets old.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
The challenge is a little to steep at times, but it’s beautiful in looks, sound, and execution.

Endless Ocean (Wii)
Put simply, I can get lost in this game, and that’s the way it should be.

Game Center CX: Arino’s Challenge (DS, import)
Confirmation that my recollection of gaming being better during the 1980s may very well be true.

Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds 2 (PSP)
Creative courses, perfect gameplay pacing, and just the right amount of challenge make it a winner.

No More Heroes (Nintendo Wii)
The slower city-based segments can’t detract from the pure fun found in the speedy combat and brilliant boss battles.

Portal: Still Alive (Xbox 360)
I always wondered what the heck gamers were talking about when they mentioned “The Cake,” but now I finally understand… and believe it’s real!

Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS, import)
It’s packed to the gills with toe-tapping tunes, charming characters, and countless small touches that made me happy to be a gamer.

Wii Music (Nintendo Wii)
The game to hate in 2008 is seriously fun and endlessly replayable if you take the time to truly understand and appreciate it!

Honorable Mentions: (Not Quite Top 10, But Still Great!)
Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy (Wii), The Last Guy (Playstation 3), Mario Kart Wii (Wii), Space Invaders Extreme (DS), The World Ends With You (DS)

[Mister Raroo is a happy husband, proud father, full-time public library employee, and active gamer. He currently lives in El Cajon, CA with his family and many pets. His only New Year's Resolution is to keep enjoying the small, wonderful moments that come together to create each day. You may reach Mister Raroo at mister.raroo@gmail.com.]

Posted by Bill Sannwald at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['Game Mag Weaseling' is a weekly column by Kevin Gifford which documents the history of video game magazines, from their birth in the early '80s to the current day.]

It's the last column of the year, and as always, my mind turns to final issues of magazines. (That and drinking beer, but you didn't ask about that.)

I've written about final issues a few times in the past, from famous last words to the swan song of the Official UK Playstation [One] Magazine in 2004. In lieu of repeating myself (and also because I have nieces vying for my attention right now around the Xmas tree), I'd like to point you to what I think is some required reading for any mag-fan: the final issue of Your Sinclair, a British computer mag that influenced the entire print industry there for years to come.

YS's last installment is, in my opinion, the ultimate final issue of any game mag ever published. By 1993, there was no professional software scene for the ZX Spectrum; it was dead in the marketplace and whenever other mags referenced it, it was about how old the machine was or what a wonderful doorstop it makes.

Your Sinclair's circulation was almost certainly in the low thousands, and there was no way Future Publishing would've let that continue for long, so September 1993 marked the mag's last installment. But what an installment it was! The editors raised the price and dumped the cover-tape to fill the mag with as many pages as possible, featuring cameos from nearly all its top contributors and a complete guide to the past, present and future of both YS and the system it covered.

Instead of reading this column, jump over to World of Spectrum and read YS #93 in its entirety online. It'll make you feel warm even if you've never touched a real Spectrum.

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. In his spare time he does writing and translation for lots and lots of publishers and game companies.]

Posted by Kevin Gifford at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[GameSetWatch's sister console digital download info site GamerBytes has been following the Xbox 360's Community Games project since its launch in November, and is proud to present the Top 10 XNA games of 2008, in association with independent site XNPlay.]

For the first time ever, a major console company has allowed hobbyists to create peer-reviewed console games, and publish them directly onto the console for worldwide download.

Thus, Microsoft's launch of its Xbox Live Community Games service in November 2008 has already brought nearly 100 free time-limited, pay for unlimited-play independent games to the service -- and a distinct need for critics and reviewers to seek out and showcase the best.

For this year-end countdown, GamerBytes is handing over the reins to Robert 'Oddbob' Fearon and his staff from XNPlay, an independent website dedicated to bringing you news, views, reviews and previews of games featured on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Community Games program.

Here's their picks for the top XNA titles released onto the Xbox 360 in 2008, all currently available for download from the console's Community Games section:

10. Galax-E-Mail (BogTurtleStudios) - 200 Points

The early '80s arcade game that never was. Galax-E-Mail begins with the bizarre premise that you're an intergalactic e-mail delivery service (which kinda defeats the point of e-mail, don't you think?), and you're charged with guiding a flock of ships from A-B to ensure a safe delivery.

A curiously authentic retro look may put some folks off. But scratch the surface and there's a glorious game lying underneath. It forgoes the usual twin stick arena fare that we've come to know and love -- instead showing an intriguing set of game mechanics melded into a rather sweet maze game.

9. Monaco360 (Cognatus Systems) - 200 Points

Harking back to the 1979 Sega classic Monaco GP, Monaco360 resurrects the almost lost top-down racer genre for the Community Games service. For those weaned on a diet of bloom, realistic cars and cityscapes, Monaco360 may look and feel a tad primitive.

But for those like me who dearly miss the hours spent on games like MonacoGP, Spy Hunter and Road Fighter - Monaco360 is an absolute must have.

8. CaveIn (Johnny Death) - 400 Points

It's certainly far from the prettiest game on the Community Games service. But what CaveIn lacks in the looks department, it more than makes up for in gameplay.

Mixing and matching 3D adventuring with Sokoban and Puzzle Bobble-style puzzle segments over 80 stages provides a fun, if occasionally a little easy, family gaming experience.

7. Star Pilot (jsmars) - 400 Points

Dragging the Tron light-cycles concept into 3D and into space certainly isn't a fresh idea. However, rarely has it been done with as much polish. Star Pilot may not have the brain bending nature of Knot In 3D/Counterclockwise, or indeed any number of older titles.

But it proves there's still a lot to be garnered from even the most classic of game design fundamentals. Throw in an incredibly accessible drawing mode where you get to paint with the light trails, and you've got a winner.

6. Weapon Of Choice (Mommy's Best Games) - 400 Points

This is a flawed gem amongst the Community Games, but one worthy of note, all the same.

Weapon Of Choice is a Contra-style 2D run and gun game, with more than its fair share of bizarre enemies ready to burst forth their innards upon being assaulted with your heavy artillery. Lives are replaced by "operatives", each with different skills for you to take charge of.

It's a loud and brash game that doesn't always achieve the giddy heights it's aiming for. The sheer amount of hand-drawn art is breathtaking and makes Weapon Of Choice look like no other game out there. We're still not sure if the art is a work of genius or if someone threw up a rainbow on our televisions, but we can't help but appreciate the balls-out approach Mommy's Best have taken here.

5. Hexothermic (David Webb) - 200 Points

Lying somewhere between Q? Entertainment's Every Extend Extra Extreme (more so than Omega's original Every Extend) and a color-matching game, Hexothermic is a luscious and aurally pleasing little puzzler.

On first glance, it may feel like it rewards straightforward playing, but hides a surprising level of strategy. Change the color of gems on the board to unleash a chain reaction, aiming to clear the board in just one move. It's relaxing, pretty and incredibly enjoyable stuff.

4. Duotrix (Caffeine Monster Software/Binary Zoo) - 400 Points

The jewel in the crown of XNA puzzlefests to date, and one of the earliest games to hit the service, Duotrix still stands proud. It works due to its compulsive playability, and succeeds where many similar games fall down - actually adding something worthwhile to the block dropping genre.

The main twist, as implied in the name, is that the player controls two sets of blocks at the same time in a mirrored environment. It may sound unwieldy and awkward, but Duotrixmakes it feel like second nature after only a short time. The addition of Zoots (the developer's own achievement system, as seen in their previous freeware PC title Echoes) and multiple game modes helps a lot.

And with visuals clearly inspired by veteran developer Jeff Minter, this is one of the most polished and compulsive titles on the service.

3. Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp (Ishisoft) - 200 Points

A port of the homebrew DS game of the same name, Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp is an incredibly pleasing platform/puzzle game with some fine pixel artwork.

Recalling the heady days of 16-bit platformers, JPBR mixes elements of Qwak, Super Mario Bros and even the 8 bit "classic" Exolon together to good effect.

With 55 levels to work your way through, and one of the smoothest difficulty curves we've encountered in a long time, JPBR is proof positive that there's life in the old platforming dog yet. Not that we ever doubted that, of course.

2. Ultratron (Pumpkin Games/Puppy Games) - 400 Points

Ultratron may already be familiar to PC gamers, since the original Windows version having been floating around the internet since 2005 -- but it's fresh out of the wrapping on the Xbox 360 Community Games service.

A more casual arena shooter than available on the Community Games "big daddy" service, Xbox Live Arcade, Ultratron feels like it's finally found its natural home on a console. A twin-stick shooter with the ultimate goal of defeating the four robots of the apocalypse (didn't you get that memo?), it clearly owes a massive debt to Eugene Jarvis, but is still very much its own beast.

Pumpkin Games have provided a tightly knit package that utilizes the strengths of the service, throwing in their own brand of achievements and new shader effects to sweeten the deal. With a neo-retro graphics style that will outlast many games and a gentle difficulty curve with nary a spike, Ultratron is a fine example of how Community Games can provide an appropriate home for indies more au fait with the PC.

1. CarneyVale Showtime (Gambit) - 400 Points

The well deserved winner of the DreamBuildPlay 2008 competition, if there's any justice in the world, CarneyVale Showtime will be the game that puts the Community Games on the map.

It's a blazingly simple concept. You guide a ragdoll up the screen via a series of rotating grappling ropes, and complete the level by flinging him through a flaming hoop. What makes the game so special is its wonderful show of coherence coupled with joyous arcade-esque thrills.

Hurling your little acrobat through the air, popping balloons as you go is just so much fun. It'd be a hard-faced man indeed who wouldn't raise a smile after a particularly successful run of tricks, the crowd cheering them on as they hurtle through the fiery ring and onto the next challenge.

At the frankly silly price of 400 points, and with 18 inbuilt levels and a level editor thrown in for good measure, CarneyVale Showtime deserves your time. Play it and wonder to yourself why XBLA occasionally drifts into the realms of utter tat, and yet sitting there unattended on the Community Games service lies this gem that eclipses a vast proportion of XBLA games. Then smile and spread the word.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Game development involves a lot of uncertainty -- but could inviting professionals from other walks of life help? Turbine and Disney veteran Patricia Pizer shows how an architect, a naval officer and a professional CSM have helped "serve as examples and inspiration" while working as game professionals.]

If you ever played any of the Zork games, you know that being in the dark for more than a turn or so is a bad thing; it inevitably leads to being eaten by a grue. (If you haven’t, go find a copy to run on your phone or PDA; your education is incomplete.)

Exactly what’s a grue isn’t germane here. The important point is that wandering in the dark is a bad thing. You run into walls, you go in circles, you fail; in general, you’re not the highly productive output machine we like to think of as Game Development.

Fact is, we game developers walk around in the dark a lot. We don’t intentionally do this; culturally we’ve just become accustomed to believing that only game people know how to make games. Largely, this is true. We’ve seen some disasters result from coupling the film industry with game development.

More recently, we’ve seen some better entries in this field (such as EA’s recent Boom Blox) but historically, the track record hasn’t been encouraging. Game dev culture is somewhat insular, like gamers and game devs themselves. Why should we ask some other industry how to do what we know and do best?

Occasionally, we decide to hop on the Escalator of Enlightenment and ascend the Ivory Tower. After all, academia offers so much... information. So much research. Surely there are lessons to be gleaned there. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for research.

I firmly believe in user testing, large scale studies of people and their avatars and research in general. For instance, Ted Castranova’s work on Everquest’s economy got game developers actually talking about, studying, understanding and adjusting their in-game and out-of-game economies. This is a Good Thing.

What’s not particularly useful are the ethnographies that are so often the product of academic research; imagine Margaret Mead playing a game as a hard-core fangirl, then publishing her "results" as an in-depth study of an MMO. It’s been done. Plenty.

A number of academics approach games and cyberspace with either the magic dust of fandom in their searching eyes or the complete blindness of a lack of context for why and how games have evolved the way they have over the years.

This research isn’t invalid; it’s merely not as useful as academia would have us believe. Often, the Ivory Tower is presented as the only source of "growing" our knowledge base and improving our games. It seems there must be something useful lying between our deep, dark dungeon of Game Goodness and the sparkling tower of Academic Light.

What, exactly, occupies the Main Floor of this castle and what lessons can be learned from it? Are there industries we can glean from other than the aforementioned pair? Is it possible that these other industries might teach us lessons about the experiences we craft and make them better or make the dev cycle run more smoothly?

Is it conceivable that some other industries could even make games more appealing to more of the market than we’ve garnered with our FPS/RTS/MMO/Sim/Sports offerings?

Yes. Absolutely. We haven’t begun to tap the resources that other industries offer us. Rather than analyze a slew of industries and what they might offer, let’s profile a few real-life individuals[1] who brought great gifts to the game development community – individuals who can serve as examples and inspiration in casting our nets wider as we investigate resources, informational and human.

Case Study 1, Subject M

Oftentimes, game devs show dislike, contempt and outright hostility for players. "If only we didn’t have players messing this up, it’d work perfectly." This is a direct quote from a dev; in fact, more than one dev on more than one project.

It seems that, in the ordinary course of business, the customer is... important. Often revered. "Always right." But all too often, this is not the case in game dev. Somehow, this seems like a Bad Idea. We have "Community Management" and "Customer Service" departments, but neither lends much credit or importance to the Player. You know, the one who actually plays the games we develop.

In light of this, let’s look at M. When a large online gaming service was building a Customer Relations Management (CRM) system and team, a resume from a totally unexpected source came in –- this individual had been managing Customer Service for a global trendy furniture vendor. This was like a lightning bolt to the hiring manager: "But of course!! Why didn’t I think of this before?".

During the interview, the candidate asked the interviewing panel some very difficult questions. "What do you do when you get a bomb threat?" The CRM folks looked at one another blankly or with raised brows. Who’d threaten to bomb a game company? Well, it happens. And they had no answers.

Again the candidate shocked them, "What about suicide calls?" Now, no one assumes that a person making a decision between couches in a furniture catalog pushes even the most unstable individual to contemplate suicide, never mind the time it’s taking to level up to use the uber-armor. However, if the catalog is lying in front of that individual, there’s a good chance your phone will be ringing momentarily.

And how would a team of kids trained to deal with trivial issues like dropped connections, downed servers and player killings deal with such a serious call (this is not to say that servers going down isn’t very serious... but let’s be real here).

Of course, running a global customer-care operation of this type, the candidate had seen pretty much everything any ostensible customer could produce, and on a very large scale. This candidate proved to be one of the best CRM managers of all time -– that team had a handbook that walked them through virtually every crisis that could come up.

They once even used flashlights and lighters to walk through and document the problems and corrective steps as they suffered a power outage so that the future team would know what to do, quickly and efficiently.

Case Study 2, Subject Q

One of the most challenging roles in a solid game dev team is that of Producer. Often, the producer plays Wendy to a gaggle of Lost Boys, trying to get them on the same page and moving in formation.

Add to that the complexities of dependent development items, MS Project, dealing with outside developers, vendors, IP owners and a host of other interested (or involved parties) and it becomes clear why being a Producer can be a nightmare. Very few individuals are "naturals" at this particular type of project management and even fewer have good training.

The luckiest (and best) have held the supporting role of Associate Producer (AP) beside an accomplished, mentoring Producer and have a clue; the rest simply flounder through and have to learn very difficult lessons, often to the detriment of the project and the team.

In light of this, the next unexpected game dev hero in this list is Q, a former United States Naval officer who helped coordinate 1,100 combat aircraft sorties per day from two difference aircraft carriers during Desert Storm. What other jobs in game development could possibly require that level of organization and attention to detail, with the stakes for failure being so high?

If being a Producer, often compared to herding cats, isn’t doing exactly this sort of thing, we’ve missed the point. Driving towards a strategic objective, giving clear orders under pressure, delegating authority, coordinating schedules and getting results is exactly what this naval officer had been doing for many years.

Knowing how to get results out of diverse individuals with tact and respect to each and every one on time is the thing. Q was a master at this. Ever polite but firm, the cats are herded, the ferrets are rounded up and put to work and the job gets done. Thank you, Captain Q!

Case Study 3, Subject L

The final example cited here started out as a professional architect. Architecture provided L with not only the ability to design physical structures but the ability to draw reasonably well (with perspective even!) and turn someone’s "vision" into a concrete structure.

The ability to translate vision into a working model is a rare skill and one designers constantly draw upon. L was hired to be a Content Designer but, more significantly, as Structure Czar, working with each and every designer or artist to make sure that any structure (above or below ground) followed reasonable and consistent architectural principles.

Each building would thematically match others of its type and origin. Every structure would feel as though it not only belonged in this world but that it would be an emotive experience (pleasant, restful, really scary) in keeping with the objective or mission that brought players to that structure. It wasn’t long before L became the Lead Designer of one of our most historically successful MMOs.

This is not to say that we should promptly stop looking at game developers with experience and troll for the odd gem; rather, it’s an indicator that we might consider widening our search when looking for great talent.

What about when you meet someone who so obviously has great talent and intellect, has an aptitude for games but is working in a completely different industry? Try asking if that person has any interest in game development. My Good Deed for 2008 was getting a fabulously talented individual to give up his law practice and enter game design for which his aptitude and passion was obvious. He’s doing a great job, by the way.

Obviously, we’re just scraping the surface here. What about the hospitality industry? Are there lessons there for Virtual Worlds? Publishing of periodicals provided the subscription model of Virtual Worlds. Anthropology, psychology, sociology and other social sciences help us build worlds that are more compelling, pleasant and sticky.

Is it possible that we can get consumers to spend some of that enormous pool of cash that Neal Stephenson claims is mostly "spent on pornography, sugar water & bombs" on our games[2]? Stop and think about it. Try to come up with an industry worth looking at and learning from to make your worlds better places to play. Consider it a game.

1 All names altered to protect the privacy of the individuals in question.
2 Anathem, Neal Stephenson, 2008, ISBN 978-0-06-147409-5

[Patricia Pizer debuted in the gaming industry at Infocom in 1988, making games back when you didn’t even need graphics. Over the next decade, she worked at such studios as Boffo Games, THQ/GameFX, CogniToy and Harmonix Music. Patricia moved into massively multiplayer games as Creative Director at Turbine Entertainment before working on MMOs at Ubisoft and Disney’s VR Studio, makers of Toontown.

After applying her design skills to Alternate Reality Games for 4orty 2wo Entertainment and an unannounced MMO, she returned to Disney Interactive Studios where she designed DGamer, a DS and online avatar SNA service and worked on the recently released Club Penguin DS adventure, completing 20 years in gaming. Mostly though, she just likes to play games.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, rants, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

Having just done some rather complex layout work on another Top 10 countdown (coming soon to this very weblog, countdown fans!), I'm attempting to relax a little by penning the intro to the latest GameSetLinks RSS-trawl.

This time round - a little Insomnlunacy about the state of the game media, Momus on games and moral panic, a Joystiq look at developers' innermost design thoughts, the New York Times on the top titles of the year, and quite a few other fripperies.

Good golly:

Insomnia | Commentary | State of the Gaming Media
Not from the regular source of Insomnia lunacy, but a little ranty, even as it praises Gamasutra, which I appreciate. Some good points buried in there somewhere.

Video Games - With Grand Theft Auto and Left 4 Dead, a Bountiful Year for Gamers - NYTimes.com
It's odd how a lot of mainstream critics love Grand Theft Auto IV a lot more than niche critics. Don't really understand it.

'SSH, Games, Blogs, Passwords' - Hak5 — Revision3
The latest Revision3 video podcast show features a look at some of the IGF Student Showcase entries, rather neatly.

Telling stories: Balancing gameplay v. narrative - Joystiq
Ex-Gamasutra stalwart Dobson tries "asking whether or not narrative shares an equal burden as gameplay in carrying the video game experience" to a bunch of industry folks - with interesting results.

New Indie Videogame Movement - WSJ.com
A nice IGF-mentioning WSJ piece on the indie games scene which I (and apparently the rest of the indie world) was interviewed for, heh, although my remarks are on the cutting room floor, I believe.

click opera - A brief history of moral panics
Quirky pop star Momus: 'To recap, our brief history of moral panics sees a pattern emerging which is not to do with general social standards changing, but to do with the same panic happening at different dates around different media. If we use moral panics as a way to measure how hot a medium is, we get something like this: Books: hot in 1959ish. Pop Music: "bigger than Jesus" in 1965 (vinyl, pop) and 1985ish (CD, rap). Film-in-cinema: peak in power 1976ish. Film-on-VHS: peaks 1984ish. Internet: considered at its most dangerous circa 1996. Computer games: hot and dangerous now, baby!' Via Xian.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[From now until early January, our sister site IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best indie titles of 2008, and we'll be reprinting the best here on GameSetWatch for your viewing and playing pleasure.

First up are a pair of novelty but amazing countdowns - alongside a Top 10 for Jesse Venbrux of 'Karoshi' fame that you can only read over on IndieGames.com, this Top 20 consists ONLY of delightfully messed-up retro art games made by Jonatan 'cactus' Söderström this year -- crazy productivity alert.]

For this particular 2008 Best Of Feature over at the IndieGames.com.blog, we're proud to present another slightly novelty -- and pretty insane -- chart, in the form of twenty of the best freeware games released by cactus in 2008.

Known for his broad variety of freeware games, Swedish designer Jonatan 'cactus' Söderström says that much of his work are small experiments dressed up as games. Nonetheless, he has made more than twenty of them over the last twelve months.

So we're presenting you with a selection of his best works released this year, for your gaming pleasure:

Freeware Games by cactus 2008

  1. Ad Nauseam 2
  2. BlockOn
  3. Cactus Arcade
  4. Deep Wing Break
  5. Kryzta
  6. Life is a Race
  7. Lovecraft Game
  8. Minubeat
  9. Precision
10. Protoganda 2
11. Psychosomnium
12. Retro 4
13. Seizuredome
14. Shotgun Ninja
15. Stallions in America
16. Stench Mechanics
17. Vicious Cycle
18. Xoldiers
19. xWung
20. Unfinished Games

[Got feedback? Reasons to disagree? Post a response and we'll do a special 'best of reader comments' round-up at the end of our chart countdowns.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[A little while back, Gamasutra and Game Developer's Brandon Sheffield chatted to Oddworld's Lorne Lanning about his company reboot and bringing classic Oddworld-ian titles to Steam - and here's the delightfully pleasant result.]

Oddworld Inhabitants has been largely off the radar for the past few years, having publicly departed from the mainstream games industry following the release of 2005's Stranger's Wrath.

But reports from earlier this year suggest the company is getting back to game development.

The studio followed that up by releasing its first two games -- 1997's Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and the followup Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus -- to Steam and now CD Projekt's Good Old Games.

In addition, Oddworld Inhabitants got a new president, Brash CCO Larry Shapiro, last month, as part of a plan to "break the model of where games are today in a unique and entertaining way."

Gamasutra recently caught up with co-founder and creative director Lorne Lanning to discuss the decision to publish via Steam, the freedom of digital distribution, and the future of Oddworld:

Why go with Steam and GOG at this stage?

Lorne Lanning: We’ve long been big believers in the digital distribution promise, but only with Steam did we see the manifestation offered through a model that worked best for us.

The “us" in our case is passionate creators that own their own IP and are looking for reasonably fair terms in getting to the customer. Comparatively, it’s night and day from the retail environment.

Not to sound like an advertisement, but the following is true: With Steam, not only are the distribution terms fair and the delivery system reliable, but they have the world's largest network for digitally delivering big data games.

It's a robust and easy-to-monitor system [that] has been built by brilliant minds that have taken the time to envision, invest, and also work out the kinks. Steam is indicative of the digitally distributed landscape that is inevitably going to be the de facto content distribution model for all electronic entertainment.

When you compare the cost of digital distribution to conventional channels, it’s a hard decision not to make. It's also obvious to us that people will be buying games at the same place they are increasingly buying the rest of the consumer goods in their lives -- which is, of course, on the internet.

We have all come to expect that whatever we want can be bought easily through the internet, so anything that is selling outside of the internet is often through an old-school -- and soon to be outdated -- model. Physical distribution is endangered for many reasons, but most importantly, the cost of bringing physical goods to physical locations is killing it at the moment.

If we look at it globally, we’re witnessing unsustainable increases in the cost of distribution of all consumer goods due to our increasing energy prices.

There’s petrochemical manufacturing for the DVD jewel cases, fuel for the container ships bringing goods over seas, trains and trucks taking games to the retail shelf, forklifts in the warehouse, paper for the hint guides, labor, facilities, etcetera.

Every one of these costs has increased, and will continue to, but with Steam, these costs no longer exist. And that’s great, because none of those [distribution costs] has ever brought any additional value to the actual gameplay experience, but has doubled the price of a game by the time it hits the shelf.

What is your benchmark of success for digital distribution of older titles like this?

LL: The beautiful thing is that if you own your library and your games were high-quality and originally on PC, then you really can’t go wrong.

Our measurement of success is no different than everyone else's; it is relative to our financial investment and overall risk. Considering that we own the Oddworld library and the initial games on Steam were already ours, our current investment was next to nothing.

With an investment of next to nothing, we’re still able to reach the global gaming audience with titles that are ten years old. We even see them get a little time on Steams top ten sales list.

What’s incredible is that with zero dollars in marketing, zero advertising, zero manufacturing, and zero licensing fees to console manufactures, we are happy with the sales.

That’s a lot of reduced financial risk we didn’t have to take on or have held against our returns. It’s the breath of fresh air we’ve been waiting for and, quite frankly, Valve is doing it right.

As for how we feel about the Oddworld titles that are currently on Steam, we couldn’t be more thrilled. For us, it's not only a venture, but it's a learning experience.

Not only are we able to witness how a robust digitally-distributed business behaves, which is huge to us at this juncture, but its also exciting to design towards because its an entirely new creative business paradigm to be explored.

The basic assumptions toward what constitutes competent game design shift dramatically once you begin to explore how to best maximize and grow a digitally-distributed universe.

What’s going on with Oddworld these days? Anything outside of games? We've heard hints.

LL: We’ve got the Citizen Siege film in development. And we now have an even better idea of why they call it "development hell."(laughs)

We’ve still got secrecy around another "Hollywood meets gaming" project that we’re very excited about, and while it's taken us a while, we’re also working on something new for Oddworld.

We still don’t want to get into any details on at this time but from my previous answers you’ll likely have an idea for where all this is heading.

Now that more casual and adventure-style games are making something of a comeback on PC and DS, do you have any plans to revisit the older style of Oddworld games?

LL: We're open to exploring how to best maximize our existing library, but haven't been focused on creating huge story games with 40 hours of linear gameplay recently.

We’ve been focused on a slightly different chemistry that we believe will prove appealing to gamers and Oddworld fans alike, but it's a big risk because it's way outside the box.

And that excites us. In some ways it will be very alien to Western gaming, but it's in this direction that we believe the excitement will be. Hopefully, not too much longer.

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Even though it's Christmas week, we've still been posting some neat stuff over the past seven days -- both before and following Xmas dinner -- over at big sister site Gamasutra and educational site Game Career Guide.

Here are some of the fruits - including a fascinating postmortem of last holiday's awesome Ratchet & Clank title, an Ian Bogost analysis of Mirror's Edge, a neat interview with Mother 3 fan-translator Clyde Mandelin, and other fun GCG design articles and bizarro Tommy Refenes multi-threading relationship sponsored pieces.

Journey to the center of the Earth:

- You Say Tomato: A Pro on Fan-Translating Nintendo's Mother 3 (Gamasutra)
"Gamasutra talks to Mother 3 fan-translator Clyde 'Tomato' Mandelin on the unofficial translation of the Nintendo classic, his day job in translation, and his localization heroes."

- The Megatrends of Game Design, Part 4 (Gamasutra)
"Veteran game designer Pascal Luban (Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory) concludes his fascinating series on major game industry trends by tackling user-generated content, player aging and emotion."

- Persuasive Games: Windows and Mirror's Edge (Gamasutra)
"In his regular Gamasutra column, author and game designer Bogost analyzes EA DICE's Mirror's Edge, suggesting just why the title "presents a new view of our own experience of the world"."

- Postmortem: Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Gamasutra)
"Reprinting one of Game Developer magazine's most acclaimed 2008 postmortems, Insomniac exclusively details the creation of the iconic PlayStation 3 platformer Ratchet & Clank Future."

- Sponsored Feature: How to Start a Multi-Threading Relationship (Gamasutra)
"In his own inimitably amusing fashion, Goo! programmer Tommy Refenes tackles the serious subject of creating and managing efficient and effective multi-threaded relationships for this Intel-sponsored Visual Computing feature."

- GameCareerGuide.com's Game Design Challenge: Eco-Racing Campaign (GameCareerGuide)
"In this weekly edition of the Game Design Challenge, you're in charge of designing a marketing campaign for a new (fictional) game called Eco-Racing Wars, a racing game with user-generated eco-friendly vehicles."

- Characteristics of Successful Game Designers (GameCareerGuide)
"The video game industry is still a meritocracy, where game designers are valued and hired for what they can do and create. And those who ‘do' and ‘create' typically share some basic characteristics, as Dr. Lewis Pulsipher, a game designer and educator, explains in this article."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[In this technical analysis, originally printed in Game Developer magazine earlier this year, former High Moon Studios programmer Noel Llopis provides a guide for setting up your own build server to quickly and reliably compile code for various platforms or ensure assets and levels load correctly, leaving you to work on what's really important -- the game.]

Have you ever given some thought to why you decided to become a game programmer? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t to do mundane, repetitive tasks.

Yet sometimes we find ourselves spending a significant portion of our time making sure that the code compiles for all platforms, or that there are no potential bugs lurking in the depths of the game, or even building the assets for each level and running them to make sure they load correctly.

Clearly, those are all things that need to be done, but if they are so repetitive and mindless, couldn’t we put some of the computers around us to good use and have them do the job for us?

A build server will do all that and more, much faster and more reliably than we could, and it will free us to work on the thing that made us fall in love with this industry in the first place: the game.

Getting Off The Ground

Before we can start thinking about setting up a build server, we need to be able to build the game with a single command from the command line. No clicking around, no GUI apps, no multiple steps, no magical incantations that only work during a full moon. Just type a command and the build for the game and all its libraries starts.

This is not just a necessary step to set up a build server; it’s a very good engineering practice. So if you’re not there, spend some time on it right away and you’ll be glad you did when candidate submission time comes around.

Building the game with a single command should be fairly easy, but the specifics will depend on your environment and build system. If you’re using Visual Studio, you can put the game and all the libraries in a single solution with the correct dependencies.

Then you can invoke the devenv.com command line program specifying the solution and configuration you want to build: devenv.com mygame.sln /build Debug. You can wrap that up in a single batch file buildgame.bat for extra convenience and you’re done.

If you’re using another build system, such as make or jam, you can probably already build it with a single command. If you’re using a bunch of mode-made scripts, at least wrap them all up in a single script file so they can be run with a single command.

Just building the game with a single command isn’t enough. We must have a way to automatically detect whether the build succeeded or failed. Fortunately, most build systems (including devenv. com and make) return an error code when the build fails. If you’re rolling your own build script file, make sure to capture build failure and return an error code as well.

Setting Up The Build Server

A build server should be a dedicated machine with access to version control. Whenever a new build is needed, the server syncs to the latest version in version control, starts a build, and notifies the team in case of any errors.

That’s a fine start, but we could make things much better. For example, we could include the error message in the notification email so programmers can see right there what the problem was instead of being forced to sync and build the game themselves.

We could also trigger a build in different circumstances (for example, code checked-in, forced by a person, or some other event) instead of only at fixed intervals. We might want to distribute the build across multiple machines, or keep logs and make them available on a web page, or format emails better, or use more direct notification methods …

Put away those Python reference manuals because fortunately, someone has already done all the work for us: CruiseControl (and CruiseControl.Net). It’s a free, open source build server program with all the bells and whistles that you could possibly want. And did I mention it’s free?

There are three main parts to it:

1. The build server. It runs as an application or a Windows service. It’s configured through a very simple XML file that tells it when to sync, where to sync, what to build, and how to report it.
2.The web front end. CruiseControl features a pretty, web-based dashboard showing all the builds, their status, past logs, and other pertinent data.
3. The system tray notificator. This is a little app that runs in the system tray and shows the status of all the builds and notifies you of any changes right away with a message and by playing some sounds. This is my favorite way to keep up to date with the build status. You’ll be up and running in about 10 minutes. The most complicated part is probably installing a web server (if you don’t already have one) and getting the web dashboard running. You’ll spend a few more hours tinkering with it to get it “just right,” and then you’re done. The only time I have to mess with it is to upgrade to a new version every so often. Other than that, it’s virtually maintenance free.

At this point you’ll have a fully featured build server in place. It verifies that the game can be built from the latest checked-in version of the code. It notifies developers of failed and successful builds right away. It increases version numbers, keeps a build history and statistics, archives executables, and emails logs.

CruiseControl and CruiseControl.Net are the two build servers I have most experience with. There are other build servers out there, with slightly different features, integrations with different environments, and so forth. Some of them are commercial and come with full support in case you’re more comfortable with that model.

It’s important to stress that a build server is not intended to be the only machine that builds the game. Every programmer (and maybe every member of the team) should be able to build the game in his or her own machine from scratch.

The build server is there to verify that all the checked-in changes build correctly on a clean machine, and to make sure that all platforms and configurations are building successfully. Any official builds should be created exclusively from the build server, though. Especially any builds distributed externally to publishers or manufacturers. This ensures that the build is clean, was created in a repeatable manner, and is free of any idiosyncrasies from a particular machine.

How Often?

Once the build server is in place and is producing successful builds reliably, the question arises of how often to make builds of the game.

It used to be considered good practice to do a weekly build. The team would start ramping things up on Thursday to try and get a build out the door by the end of the day on Friday. Anybody who has done that knows how stressful it can be and how it can easily become a bottleneck.

Why wait a week if you can do one every night? More teams started switching to the daily build, which is much less stressful because there are fewer changes in each new build. It also gives the team a chance to fix anything that was found broken in the previous day’s build. Soon, teams took it beyond the daily build and started making two builds a day, or even one every hour.

The build server has been very appropriately described as the heartbeat of the project. A “green build” is one heartbeat and one small step forward. A “red build” is done when something is wrong and needs to get fixed as soon as possible. If you have a red build several days in a row, the project is in serious trouble. The more often you make a successful build, the better. You’ll find fewer surprises and stay more on course that way.

My favorite approach is continuous integration. With continuous integration, the build server starts a new build as soon as there’s a new check-in. If multiple check-ins come in while the build is in progress, another build starts right after it’s done, with all the new changes queued during that time.

When following this practice, programmers sync to the latest version often, make small changes, and check-in code frequently, rather than batching many changes. Very conveniently, Cruise Control has a setting to start builds whenever anything changes.

The main benefit of continuous integration is that you are notified as soon as a check-in breaks the build—not a day later, or even an hour later, but minutes later. It tells you, “The last build was good. This one is not.” You can look through the last couple of check-ins that happened during that short time period and quickly narrow down the problem and fix it. Imagine trying to narrow down an elusive crash bug from all the check- ins for a full day or two!

Another benefit is that all programmers are working on a version very close to the latest one. This means that there are fewer source code conflicts when checking-in code, and fewer surprises lurking in the code. The flip side of that is that working on the latest version is living in the proverbial bleeding edge.

It’s not unusual for someone to check-in code that has some accidental bad side effects. As long as those bad check-ins are limited, and that whenever they happen they are fixed right away, I have found the benefits to outweigh some instability in the main branch. Some of the ways to minimize disruptions when working with continuous integration are:

- Make sure that any code compiles before checking it in (that should go without saying!)
- Execute a fast set of unit tests to verify that basic functionality is working correctly, and
- Have the build server notify everybody as soon as there’s a broken build so it can be fixed and so that nobody else syncs or checks-in any code while the build is broken.

Need For Speed

Ideally, I’d like to check in some code and see whether the build server found any problems right away. In the real world, things can be much slower. After all, the build server needs to sync to the latest code, kick off builds for multiple platforms and multiple configurations, and perform some other time-consuming steps.

Even so, there is work we can do to get feedback as soon as possible. Perform incremental builds during the day, so only the affected sections of the code need to be built. It’s still a good idea to do a full build at least every night to make sure that everything can be built from scratch.

Set up each platform and configuration as separate builds. That way you get feedback as soon as one of them completes. The only downside is if an error makes it through that causes all the builds to fail, get ready for lots and lots of broken build sounds playing all over the company. Speed up build times through good physical dependencies, modularity, precompiled headers, and good use of forward declarations.

Split up different builds and configurations in different machines. The easiest way is to set up one machine per platform and configuration (or maybe do a couple of configurations per machine). Cruise Control lets you easily integrate several build servers into the same web dashboard and system tray application, so this is a very easy solution.

Don’t Skimp on Hardware

Get the beefiest computers you can afford. Throw fast CPUs, disk access, and gigabit ethernet. Get multiprocessor cores and make sure your build system takes advantage of them. Does it sound like a lot of money? Not when you take into account how few servers you’ll have and how much time you’ll save all the members of the team.

I have tried several distributed build systems, and even though they can sometimes be beneficial for some codebases, I’m still not a huge fan. I find that you can often achieve the same (or better) results by using multiple processors and good build architectures, and you avoid the complexity and overhead of a distributed build system.

One “gotcha” we ran into when we scaled our build farm beyond about 15 build servers was that each of them was hitting our version control repository every few seconds to see if anything had changed. That wasn’t a trivial operation, and so many servers doing it so frequently definitely slowed things down to a crawl.

To remedy that, instead of having the build servers poll the overtaxed source control server, we had the source control server push out a notification. Whenever there was a check-in, the source control server changed a timestamp in a file located on an internal web server. We changed the build servers to constantly monitor the internal web server for changes in that file, and whenever it changed it triggered a build, which completely eliminated the overhead on the version control server.

Beyond The Build

So far, we’ve only been talking about building the game. But the build server is a great tool that we can put to good use for many other purposes. Why restrict ourselves to just the game? All the in-house tools would also benefit from getting the same treatment. We can even take it a step further and deploy the freshly-built copies of all the tools on a network drive or web page so they’re available to the whole team.

The build server can also double up as a symbol server. That makes it much more convenient for programmers to debug an earlier version of the game and libraries and have all the debugging information available without having to rebuild everything locally.

There’s no reason to limit the build server to just building source code. One of the most useful things you can do with it is use it to build game assets as well. Building assets is usually a slow process. Having a fast asset build system that can correctly perform incremental builds is crucial to keep asset build times down.

Build servers are general enough to perform just about any task. Running both unit tests (small tests on each class or function) and functional tests (tests that exercise a larger module or even the whole game) are perfect uses for the build server. Functional tests can be pretty slow, so make sure that they’re treated as a separate build and not as the last step in building the game.

Nobody wants to wait for hours for all the functional tests to complete before they can see the successful build status after a check-in. The sky is the limit with what the build server can do. We use it to run static analysis of our source code, checking for spots in the code that can lead to subtle and dangerous bugs (uninitialized variables, implicit type conversions, and the like).

Another great use is to run through the different levels of the game, recording frame rate at different points of each level, logging the results, and failing the build if it ever drops below a certain threshold. Having the performance history for specific levels can be really useful to narrow down why a particular section is chugging at 20fps but was running at a solid 60 a couple of weeks ago. For bonus points, integrate all the collected data into easy-to-visualize graphs available through the web front end.

The build server is definitely the heartbeat of a project. Keep those check-ins coming and those builds green, and you know you’re heading in the right direction.

[Noel Llopis regularly contributes articles to Game Developer Magazine and the Game Programming Gems series, and he is the author of the book C++ for Game Programmers. Some of his past titles include The Bourne Conspiracy, Darkwatch, and the Mechassault series. He earned an M.S. in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section, including positions from Armature Studio, NetDevil, Sony Online Entertainment, Longtail Studios, and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Gamasutra.com - Game Industry Jobs

Armature Studio: Senior Game Systems Engineer
"The Senior Game Systems Engineer will work closely with the Technical Director to develop innovative software solutions for our upcoming projects. This role will also involve close collaboration with artists and designers as well as helping to direct and manage outside engineering experts. It is expected that this person is well rounded and able to work within multiple game systems."

Blue Fang Games: Game Designer
"Blue Fang Games is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactive entertainment, delivering original and compelling experiences that evoke the full range of emotions. We believe in innovation, teamwork, professional development – and having fun making great games. We are looking for a designer to assist in our game design and development efforts. Someone who understands fundamental design principles, can internalize the big picture, and knows how to “find the fun”."

Longtail Studios: Senior 3D Modeler, Senior 3D Animator
"Everything we do aims to achieve two clear objectives. First, create the best games with vivid characters, engaging storylines and superior gameplay. Second, provide our team with a superior work environment, best occasions to excel and unique opportunities to put their imagination and creativity to profit. By working in small teams on short projects, we ensure that everyone can take pride in the fruits of their labors while benefiting from the stimulation that provide constant new projects"

WorldsInMotion - Online Game Jobs

Sony Online Entertainment: Lead Game Designer, Sr. Gameplay Programmer
"Based in San Diego, Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) has an array of games in development at studios in Austin, TX, Denver, CO, Seattle, WA, and Taiwan including The Agency, Free Realms and DC Universe Online. These new titles are being designed to push the envelope of online entertainment quality, innovation and delivery."

NetDevil: Systems Designer, Level Designer, Senior Game Programmer, Producer, LEGO CS Developer Support
"NetDevil’s latest and biggest project to date is the recently revealed LEGO Universe, the first MMOG professionally developed for LEGO fans and supported by community members from around the world. NetDevil is also involved in numerous other projects and explorations, such as Warmonger, the first step in NetDevil's pursuit of a vision that will change the way online shooters are played, and Jumpgate Evolution which is a new game based on NetDevil's first title."

To browse hundreds of similar jobs, and for more information on searching, responding to, or posting game industry-relevant jobs to the top source for jobs in the business, please visit Gamasutra's job board now.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Continuing our set of Todd Ciolek-written interviews, profiling offbeat or neglected developers and subjects for the benefit of GameSetWatch readers, here's a chat to Tilted Mill, who seem to be hunkering down and adapting to post-digital life as a PC strateg game developer in a most intriguing way.]

Tilted Mill made a name by making cities, or at least by letting players make them. The developer was born from the ashes of Caesar developer Impressions, and its first major PC strategy game projects were all unified by the theme of urban creation -- from the Egyptian simulations of Children of the Nile to the modern SimCity Societies and its Destinations expansion.

Recently, Tilted Mill announced several new games that diverge from city construction; Mosby’s Confederacy is a wartime strategy title based on the exploits of Civil War cavalry commander John Singleton Mosby, and the fantasy RPG Hinterland requires player to develop a village by exploring the land around it and wiping out supernatural threats.

Nile Online, another new Titled Mill title, takes the Egyptian city-building of the developer’s Children of the Nile into a Web-based online simulation. To find out just how the company branched out with these new games, we interviewed Tilted Mill President Chris Beatrice.

Tilted Mill is known largely for city-building games like Children of the Nile and SimCity Societies, but you've recently developed two games, Mosby's Confederacy and Hinterland, that involve strategic combat. How would you compare the development process for a largely combat-free game like Children of the Nile to a title like Hinterland or Mosby's?

Before starting Tilted Mill most of us worked on a wider variety of strategy games, including war games and more RTS-like games (mostly at Impressions). These were similar in scope to Mosby’s and Hinterland. So it’s not at all something we are unfamiliar with.

Like a lot of PC developers, over the past eight or ten years we trended toward fewer, bigger titles and of course that means less variety in a given amount of time. Tilted Mill did three big titles in our first six years, but we’ve already done three smaller titles since June of this year.

In terms of scale, how did your approach to making a city-building game like Children of the Nile differ from your approach to making Hinterland, which could be described as a village-building game that's a bit smaller in scale?

It was a pretty big adjustment going from SimCity Societies to Hinterland. Even though we’d all cut our teeth back in the day on games that were about the scope of Hinterland, it was still a big transition for us to go through. That’s just on the production side.

As far as the actual approach to the game, well, because Hinterland is so unique, we were always walking a very fine line, and running the risk of being a “not good enough” city-building game combined with a “not good enough” RPG, or whatever. Games are tough that way – if you have some strong RPG elements, you’re compared to the very best RPGs. If you have some city-building elements, people expect a full blown city builder.

On top of that, with the game being only $20 (our plan from the get go), then of course there are limits in terms of how robust each part of the game can be. So, on the one hand, it was tough making sure we were always getting the best bang for our development buck, but, on the other hand, working with a smaller team that was more senior overall was a huge advantage as well.

Both Mosby's Confederacy and Hinterland are more focused than their genre standards; Mosby's has the player lead small groups of soldiers instead of an entire army, while Hinterland involves building and protecting a fantasyland village instead of a city or nation. Does this closer focus broaden the games' appeal, or make them more niche-oriented?

Who knows? We’ve always tended to be interested in a more intimate scale of game versus. abstracting huge hordes of people or soldiers. In some genres you need to do that to some degree, and of course we’ve done that ourselves.

But in general we tend to prefer things more up close and personal, at least relative to typical strategy games. There are soooo many games out there now, of all “sizes” so to speak, it’s hard to say what is niche and what is not.

Was Mosby's Confederacy inspired more by the Civil War leader's legacy, or were you already looking to create a wartime strategy game based around a smaller, more detailed theater of operations?

We were looking to make a Civil War game, and Jeff Fiske remarked that he’d always thought Mosby would be a good subject for a game, in part for the reasons I just noted above (you could approach more of a squad-level type of feel, and focus on individual soldiers versus. dealing with massive battles, as well as the generally interesting nature of this particular character).

How did you adapt Children of the Nile into Nile Online? What were your main goals with Nile Online?

A lot of different goals came together with Nile Online. First we wanted to see if we could make a much simpler, much more accessible and less demanding game that still provided a lot of the city building experience, and also looked really great.

This seemed like a huge hole out there just waiting to be filled. As an independent studio, we also wanted to explore a variety of different business models, and felt that the monthly subscription approach was worth checking out.

Lastly, we want to continue to develop and build upon the Children of the Nile brand, because it’s always been our “baby.”

When do you expect Nile Online to finish its beta testing stage?

Oh…pretty soon...I’m not sure how much of a hard line that will be. At some point we’ll feel it’s time to remove the beta flag, but the game will continue to evolve and grow just as it has been doing all along.

You previously mentioned that Tilted Mill titles often do better in Europe than in the U.S. Do you expect that to be the case with Hinterland? Is there a European market for distinctly American wartime strategy games like Mosby's Confederacy?

So far since we’ve been download only we’ve been selling more in the U.S. than abroad. We never expect a Civil War game to have as much appeal outside the U.S. as inside, yet we have seen a fair amount of interest in it from gamers and publishers as well, so I’m not sure...

Do you plan on releasing any of your games on Xbox Live [Arcade] or another console download service?

We do have some Xbox Live Arcade plans in the works, actually…

Posted by Todd Ciolek at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

'Twas the night after Christmas, and all through the GameSetLinks, there were a few things still stirring, in the way of random links. Oh dear, that really is poor.

But luckily the links aren't - and include the ihobo folks (in this case Chris Bateman) on casual games, Greg Costikyan's new MySpace social RPG thingie, the distinctly ignored Japanese horror oddness Theresia from Aksys on DS, and Steven Poole on 'cognitive panic' as a gameplay concept.

Hurray yay hurray:

ihobo: The Casual Players Aren't Coming to Your Party
'Here's the most important thing to understand about the mass market for videogames: these players – the ones who aren't even remotely interested in the kind of videogames the hobbyists want to play – have very specific tastes, and when something takes off with them it continues to sell, and sell, and sell.'

» Why I Don’t Own Stock In Game Publishers »Make It Big In Games
Dynamix/GarageGames veteran Jeff Tunnell is right on the money here: 'I have advocated for years that I think making a game is much more like making music than making movies.'

The Plush Apocalypse » Blog Archive » Your choice, and your fault.
EA LA's Borut Pfeifer: 'Maybe if we work really hard, pacing those rewards and punishments as Randy suggests, we might slowly get over everyone’s impression that games are inevitably going to f*ck you over when it comes to your choices.'

Theresia (DS) - Games - Console, PC & Handheld Discussion - FiringSquad Forums
Spotted this in my local Fry's, here's a decent synopsis of the apparently gory DS horror adventure title which has gone completely under the radar in the States.

Nightfall: Bloodlines: Play This Thing! | Game Reviews | Free Games | Independent Games | Game Culture
Costikyan and Meretzky-designed MySpace/social network-based online RPG vampire thing.

Steven Poole: Don’t panic
An Edge Magazine column talking about 'cognitive panic' as a gameplay state, and asking: 'When we experience it in real life, on one of those days where everything goes wrong simultaneously and there seems to be a never-ending hail of demands on your attention, it’s not usually very welcome.'

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[You thought we were done with year-end Gamasutra countdowns? Hardly! For this bonus end-of-year round-up, MMO expert Michael Zenke looks at 2008's five most notable trends in the online game space, from broadening microtransactions to WoW's clear dominance of the fantasy genre and beyond.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra presented a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

Previously: 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, overlooked games, gameplay mechanics, indie games, surprises, PC games, trends, handheld games, developers, controversies, and games of the year.

For one more special bonus, guest MMO expert Michael Zenke takes a look at the year's five most compelling trends in online gaming.

The world of MMOs is an enormous business, and a huge opportunity for the game development community at large, from World Of Warcraft's $1 billion yearly haul to microtransaction-based firms like Nexon that make tens of millions yearly in the West.

Here are the biggest stories of 2008 in online gaming - and just maybe some hints as to next year's top titles and trends:

The AAA Fantasy Game Is A Solved Problem

Two multi-million dollar epic fantasy MMOs launched this year, and by the standards of both of the companies that made them they are simply not successful.

Funcom, the developer of Age of Conan, has admitted as much in interviews. Game director Gaute Godager stepped down as a result of the game's post-launch failure, and the company is now focused entirely on restoring good will with the title's diminished playerbase.

Warhammer Online developer Mythic Entertainment hasn't admitted anything, but by the standard of comments made by company head Mark Jacobs they haven't achieved the success they were looking for. Pre-launch statements had him saying that if a company is closing or merging servers within a few months of a game's launch, there are problems. Warhammer has merged several servers in the days since its release.

Meanwhile, Blizzard's launch of Wrath of the Lich King has completely reinvigorated the World of Warcraft community. More than simply 'ten more levels', Blizzard has made significant improvements on the game's basic design. A more casual-friendly leveling experience and technology-rooted storytelling advances have made WoW players completely reassess what the IP giant is capable of.

Burning Crusade may have offered entry-level content more appropriate for a new player, but Wrath of the Lich King has given new players an actual reason to play: high-end content of a quality previously unseen in the MMO space.

Successful expansions for both Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest II are also well worth noting, as these high-quality games reinvigorate their own dedicated playerbases. Their internal success only serves to highlight the stark reality 2008 has borne out: the AAA fantasy MMO is a solved problem.

The inn is full, there are no seats left at the table, the plane door is closing... whatever metaphor you want to use, AAA fantasy games are a niche in the games industry that is now nearly impossible to enter. Existing market players (Blizzard or otherwise) are going to continue to have a high rate of success with retaining and pleasing their users, while new entrants onto the scene are going to face nigh-onto insurmountable odds.

The half-dozen or more Western developers currently working on their own fantasy games are well-advised to note the challenges of 2008.

The Microtransactional March To Victory

More than anything, 2008 signaled a death-knell for the future of subscription-based online gaming. In ten, maybe even five years, paying a monthly subscription for an online game will sound as archaic as paying a play-by-the-hour fee does now.

The microtransaction model has been gaining in popularity here in the West for years now, but 2008 truly highlighted the waning power of the subscription model. From the rollout of Sony Online Entertainment's Station Cash program to the blockbuster success of companies like Three Rings and Nexon, Western players have made it abundantly clear that they're very comfortable paying smaller amounts of money over time to get the services they want.

Compound that with news of MT plans for upcoming products and the growing popularity of even formerly-reviled Eastern online imports, and it's clear that there's been a substantive shift in consumer thinking about online content.

At GDC this year, Rob Pardo of Blizzard described the microtransaction question as an East vs. West issue, but increasingly, commentators have noted that's simply not the case. Microtransactions may have taken off as the business model in Eastern markets, but Western consumers are quickly adopting the free-to-play pay as you go mindset.

The gains in popularity and mass-market appeal online gaming have achieved in recent years are almost certainly the root of this transition. Shifting demographics have helped this along as well, as younger players will eventually force this kind of change through to 'older' games. It's all about perspective: most of the kids playing Runescape right now aren't going to want to pay a monthly fee when they graduate to a different game.

The tantalizing hint Jon Riccitello offered about the future business strategy for BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic may be the strongest indicator of Western microtransaction adoption yet. Though EA tried to take back the comment, though they may not have 100 percent solid plans for the title yet, even the indication that one of the West's biggest publishers is considering that kind of market strategy is a sea-change in MMOs.

To see the front-lines of this change, you need look no further than your local Target. The gaming section of the electronics department is dominated by a display of 'cash cards' for everything from Eastern games-gone-Western to Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

The vast majority of the world's population not only doesn't have a credit card, they don't even have a bank account. Addressing that market, be they 6 or 60 years old, is a big change – perhaps the biggest change - for online gaming.

The Heroic Position Of Middleware

Though it went largely unnoticed by the gaming public, ongoing advances in MMO middleware have quietly been working to change the face of online game development. There are now four different competing products all working to capture the title of "MMO in a box". BigWorld, the Icarus Platform, Multiverse, and HeroEngine are all directly targeting companies looking to make massively multiplayer games, and each has their claim to fame.

The 'browser approach' used by Multiverse combined with high-profile connections to properties like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer has made that company quite noteworthy in certain circles. The Icarus platform showed off an iPhone in-world browser at AGDC this year, and their post-apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth looks to capitalize on the no-show status of the Fallout online game sometime soon. BigWorld, too, has had some quiet successes connecting with in-development titles like StarGate Worlds.

And then, of course, there's the folks at HeroEngine. Two years ago they quietly made the announcement that they were collaborating with BioWare on an unannounced title. Today, they're the drivers behind one of the most highly-anticipated MMOs in development. As if backing Star Wars: The Old Republic wasn't enough, they're also connected with the developers at Stray Bullet games, Colony Studios, and Zenimax Online.

Whether the average online player has heard of these companies or not, their successes in 2008 may very well shape the future of Western MMO development.

The MMO Gold Rush Takes A Left Turn

Despite the economic slowdown affecting most of the industry, more companies and intellectual properties than ever seem to be interested in jumping onto the online gaming bandwagon.

Even as existing MMO developers make cutbacks and layoffs, new developers are continually seeking to enter the space and additional projects are announced. Despite the dangers inherent in the space, despite the ‘lessons learned’ from the fantasy genre, most of the year was spent in a mad rush towards online gaming.

Most compelling (or appalling, depending on your point of view) was the notion of connecting the unique offering of gaming in an MMO space with the very traditional medium of television. The announcement of a Sci-Fi channel television show somehow ‘hooked into’ a massively multiplayer game is almost certainly the most ambitious of these online space gold rush projects.

Trion World Network is the harbinger of many gold rush elements, not only heading up the Sci-Fi channel project but an MMO capitalizing on the Heroes of Might and Magic series as well. Many such games were announced in 2008, with perhaps-wisely cancelled projects like the Halo MMO further highlighting the appeal of this space.

The desperate downturn the online games industry has seen in the last few months may have finally curtailed that charge, but online gaming continues to be seen as one of the most lucrative elements of the industry. As soon as venture capital money begins to flow again, expect a return to the mad rush towards online gaming.

User-Made Content Marches On

The developers say ‘why not make your own content?’ While -– just yet -– the user-made content movement isn’t quite as big a deal as microtransactions, it’s getting there. Several different initiatives came to the foreground this year offering users the chance to not only play games but make their own, customize an online space, even roll their own MMO entirely.

The two most important are undoubtedly Metaplace, which is now in Beta testing, and the now-commercially launched Whirled from Three Rings. Both are abandoning the field of AAA games, multi-million dollar dev cycles and incredibly costly content to embrace the quick-and-dirty ethos of Web 2.0.

As Metaplace co-founder Raph Koster puts it, people just don’t care about high-rez 3D images if the fun is there. Metaplace is banking on this by providing the tools to create seriously tricked out MMOs in a 2D space.

Participants only need to know how to make use of the LUA scripting language to make full use of the project, and even participants that can only make use of a GUI will be able to pick-and-choose from pre-built components.

Meanwhile, Whirled, from the makers of Puzzle Pirates, brought the flash gaming craze to a persistent online peak. A disjointed world of player-made rooms and games, Whirled actually allows users to upload their own content for resale using a meta-currency.

Offering a business model that supports not only the company but content contributors, Whirled looks to capitalize on the creativity of its users much as Metaplace does, but with even less up-front preparation required.

The modest successes of these projects in 2008 will give way to their real potential in 2009. Their success or failure will most likely pave the way for the integration of user-generated content and online gaming in the Western world.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[The latest in a series of Japanese game music interviews from Jeriaska, this time he chats to classic Sega composer Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, with insight on his history in the game biz and his contributions to the EXTRA Hyper game concert held just after Tokyo Game Show this year.]

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi has written music for such Sega arcade series as Daytona USA, Sega Rally and Virtua Fighter. He was also involved in composing music for the soundtrack to the acclaimed Sega Dreamcast title Shenmue. In 2003 he created the album "From Loud 2 Low ~Takenobu Mitsuyoshi Works~." Published by Hitmaker Records, the selections include arrangements from various Sega titles, featuring the musician's participation as a composer and performer.

Mitsuyoshi has performed his videogame music live on stage in various contexts. He sang at this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany and attended the Montreal Game Summit.

For the past two years, he has participated in both EXTRA Hyper Game Music Events in Tokyo, hosted by 5pb Records. Singing vocals as part of the Sega Sound Team, dubbed "H.," their set included rock remixes of classic Sega titles including Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier.

Following the game concert, we had the chance to hear from the musician on the challenges inherent in arranging Sega arcade songs for live rock and roll performances. The discussion offers some insights into Mitsuyoshi's unique path in the videogame industry and how it intersects with the Sega sound team's enthusiasm for rock music.

Interview by Jeriaska. Translation by Ryojiro Sato. This article is available in Japanese at Game Design Current.

GameSetWatch: First of all, congratulations on H.’s pulling out all the stops at this year’s EXTRA Hyper game concert.

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi: Thanks for mentioning it, on behalf of H.! This performance marks our second year at the EXTRA event, and it was a thrill to witness the excitement of the packed audience as we got up on stage to perform. The first song we played was from Space Harrier, the drummer keeping time without a click track, and I was impressed with how well it captured a genuine rock sound.

GSW: This is your second time performing at the concert. Do you find it useful to take a break from writing music every so often and sing for a crowd of pumped videogame fans?

Mitsuyoshi: Normally I’m in front of my desk, typing away at my PC, so definitely yes! I work on songs and sound effects, so my work is related to music, but it’s a different kind of relationship. Our jobs at Sega allow us the time to really study music, and to a certain extent it enhances our motivation to work together to create something for a live event like this.

GSW: We spoke with composer Hip Tanaka after the show, and he said that his only qualms with the concert were the number of men there to see the 8Bit Idolm@sters perform.

Mitsuyoshi: That’s Tanaka-san’s sense of humor. Truth be told, it’s men that make up a large percentage of videogame music enthusiasts, for whatever reason. This is actually a really old discussion that goes at least as far as back as when I joined the SST Band. The ratio of men to women hasn’t really changed much. In fact, this time around, the popularity of the Idolm@ster vocalists has led to the number of male fans multiplying out of control, I’m afraid. That’s just a given, considering the circumstances. Gender aside, we can in all honesty express our gratitude to the 2000 attendees who turned out to listen to our videogame music.

Performers from the Famison 8-bit Idolm@sters series on stage at the 2008 EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event.

GSW: Last year was the first ever EXTRA. How did you and your fellow band members at Sega decide which songs to perform for the show?

Mitsuyoshi: As with last year, the concept behind the EXTRA series was to summon up memories of the good old days of arcade music as an affirmation of its significance to us. With that premise in mind, H. was allotted the role of transforming slices of Sega’s classic game themes into a musical performance. We brought this combination of the established melodies and altogether new ideas, and the audience was genuinely delighted with the results. It was all grounded on the basis that these were pieces of music that they remembered listening to in the arcades. To make it a novel experience, we have the live drums on hand, for instance, and all the music has been arranged once more from the ground up.

GSW: Do you find it difficult coming up with lyrics to games like Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone, seeing as dialog is not a prominent aspect of the experience?

Mitsuyoshi: Well, one of the songs features the refrain “YA-DA-YO!” (”What are you doing to me!”) I think this phrase pretty much sums up the player’s frustration when facing certain bosses. “Let’s Go Away!” is another one, which relates to the desire to lose yourself in the game world. You could say the lyrics change depending on the character of the game that is chosen as the subject of the arrangement.

GSW: When did you start working on the songs from for this year’s concert?

Mitsuyoshi: We received word that we were invited to this year’s EXTRA about two months before the performance, though it took a month before we had arrived at all the particulars of our plan. We were fortunate enough to need less time to prepare, seeing as it was our second year in succession, though there were difficult passages, including a ten minute medley, and the songs were new as well.

GSW: Are there any notable differences between this year’s selections and last year’s?

Mitsuyoshi: I would have to say that the most significant change was having live drums. Last time all the drums were recorded, which makes for a huge difference. There was a much stronger sound to the band this time around. You might have difficulty believing it, but our drummer was an 8th grader! Our set was ten minutes shorter in duration than it was last year, so we were a little worried about that. We kept the idea of the medley, this time including one from Fantasy Zone, but had to cut the ballads from the set list out of consideration for the time constraints.

GSW: What would you say were some of the highlights of the show for you?

Mitsuyoshi: I would have to go with the Korg DS Trio. The idea of performing live on a really practically priced piece of equipment has been something that people have talked about for awhile, but I think it was finally demonstrated on stage with tremendous impact. I thought, this surely was pure videogame music, from the instrument down to the conception and composition.

GSW: Nobuyoshi Sano of the Korg DS Trio often goes by the name Sanodg. In terms of your own career as a videogame composer, you are sometimes listed as R. Saburomaru. Is there a story behind the pseudonym?

Mitsuyoshi: When I was first hired to write music for Sega, the company was working on a competitive bike racing game called “GP Rider.” At that time there was a dedicated cabinet released called the R360, which had both vertical and horizontal rotation. They created a game for the cabinet called G-LOC, which they asked me to write music for. After that, I became a member of the SST Band, and everyone there was named after a Sega title.

I had long hair in those days. Though it wasn't like I wore it in a topknot like a samurai, I liked the idea of that kind of image. I took on the nickname R. Saburomaru (”三郎丸” being an antiquated way of saying “360"). At the time, Sega didn't list the names of musicians on CD liner notes, so I was credited as “R.三郎丸.”

GSW: You come from Fukuoka originally. Was working for Sega something that you had always planned on doing, or did circumstances take you by surprise?

Mitsuyoshi: It's no mistake that I was born in Fukuoka, but at three years of age my father, who was a businessman, was transferred to Chiba Prefecture, and our family changed residences. I have no trace of a Fukuoka dialect. In high school and college I worked hard to maintain my musical craft, majoring in economics before deciding to pursue a career in music.

I started learning classical piano when I was in my second year of high school. At that time, a friend of mine introduced me to Galaxy Force. I was surprised at how different the sound was from what I thought of as typical videogame music. At that time I was in a band, and I wondered whether this might be relevant experience to the videogame music industry. I eventually applied for a job at Sega, hoping that I would be chosen as a member of the SST BAND. While many things came about by happenstance rather than by design in my winding up applying for a job at Sega, since then I can honestly say that my life has headed in a direction that I feel I have determined for myself.

GSW: You have participated in the development of some rather historic arcade game series. Were you always a fan of the arcades? What was it like making songs for Daytona USA?

Mitsuyoshi: I am honored to be a part of the history of arcade music, knowing there are many others who have contributed to its development, so thank you for your mentioning that. My first encounter with a games was through the PC. I had an NEC PC-6001 mk2 when I was in high school and I was into games like Mappy, Xevious and Pac-Man. Space invaders was another favorite of mine. In college I occasionally played the NES, but not so many arcade games. It was not until I entered the game industry that I discovered the arcade titles of Sega.

During the development of Daytona USA, Namco released Ridge Racer. We received executive orders from Sega that we had to make something better than Ridge Racer, so the team really hunkered down, taking on the spirit of a sports team, to create the best possible graphics and music. I was working on sound for the game, so we put lyrics to the music, added the noise of a V8 engine, along with a CD quality audio system. Ridge Racer had none of these features. It was a big success.

GSW: How did you become involved in the Shenmue project?

Mitsuyoshi: It took a long time to develop Shenmue. It was my tenth year at Sega when the game was released... but it didn’t feel that way because half of that time had been spent on the soundtrack to Shenmue. My job as a sound director was to give instructions to staff regarding the music, which required understanding the setting and scenario, avoiding the mistake of letting the soundtrack wander too far outside the thematic concept of the project. I was involved in discussions with designers and programmers, while collaborating with Yu Suzuki. It was more of a directorial approach than has been the case with other projects… and there were a lot of meetings.

GSW: This is a game series that many players look back on with great fondness. In terms of your own experience writing music for the game, what do you remember most vividly about the Yokosuka chapter of the series?

Mitsuyoshi: The main theme of Shenmue stands out in my mind. You might have heard this already, but at first Yu Suzuki gave me an overview of the storyline before asking me to start writing the music. I then proceeded to compose one song, purely based on my impressions. While it did not become the main theme for the game, that song has gone on to be played by many orchestras worldwide. Another memorable musical theme from the game is Ryuji Iuchi’s “Earth and Sea”. This piece of music for me conjures up the “will to battle,” which I think is a significant motif of the game.

GSW: Another memorable music project that you participated in is the Street Fighter Tribute album. How did you become involved in the arranged music project, and what was your experience remixing the famous Ryu stage theme?

Mitsuyoshi: When I was first asked to work on this arranged album, the videogame industry was just beginning to experiment with venturing beyond the perimeters of individual companies on a given music project. I was really interested in the idea of Shinji Hosoe inviting many sound creators to work on it together. I had also spent a lot of time playing Street Fighter with my brother on the PC Engine, so I felt no hesitation in joining the team.

Working alongside so many well-known sound creators, my task was to make a remix that was unique, so I decided to incorporate a vocal track, knowing it was my particular strength. I also had the idea that since I was a member of the project, I had might as well work on a tune for a major character in the game. I submitted my request and luckily I was able to work on it. Initially I had in mind that I would write English lyrics, so I chose an 80’s American pop style with a fast-pace. The only thing I regret is using the direct translation from an online service, so the words themselves do not quite manage to express what I had in mind.

GSW: We only had time to briefly touch upon your many original and arranged videogame music projects, but is there anything you would like to say to those in English-language territories who enjoy your music?

Mitsuyoshi: Recently I have had many chances to visit other countries, meeting listeners in person to hear their feedback. It has been a chance to discover directly that there are a lot of people who enjoy my work. I’m touched by the enthusiasm of gamers, and the particulars of their language, ethnicity, age and gender are not an issue. Because my music uses the game as a medium to connect with the player, the experience is universal. Right now I am thinking about game players outside of Japan more than ever, and I feel more motivated to do good work. Following the experience I had with Daytona, I hope that when people hear the name "Mitsuyoshi" they will think of the drive to make memorable music.

H. at the 2008 EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event in Shin-Kiba, Tokyo. From left to right: Mitsuharu Fukuyama, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Takehiro Kai, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Eisei Kudoh, and Hidenori Shoji.

[Images of Idolm@ster and EXTRA Official Compilation courtesy of 5pb Records. Photos of H. by Jeriaska.]

Posted by jeriaska at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You know, it genuinely appears to be Christmas-time, so while I'm knocking back the eggnog, I'd like to thank all GameSetWatch readers, commenters, and contributors for the entirity of 2008.

Rather unbelievably, we've been operating since late 2005, and we're still piling on RSS readers and (reasonably) appreciative fans for what we do nowadays, which is, we've decided: "In-depth articles, interviews & opinions from the Gamasutra Network, plus industry jobs, exclusive alt.gaming columns and link round-ups."

So - thanks, you awesome folks, and I hope you have a beautiful Christmas Day. We'll be around, posting random stuff, of course. Here's some links:

Tale of Tales» Blog » Not to be forgotten aspects of videogame design
The folks behind The Path make a good list of game items that people sometimes don't pay attention to - and should do!

Tiny Q&A: Lock's Quest and producing artwork for DS, Part 2 - Tiny Cartridge
I was just discussing how 5th Cell's title was under-rated, too - nice chat about the alluring pixel art.

Lost Garden: Fishing Girl Prototype results
Daniel Cook's prototype competition spawns a successful Flash game, sold for real money. Impressive.

Games and Men: The indie game developer's start-up cost
A nice idea, if a bit fixated on fixed costs, perhaps: 'This article is a free exploration on the cost of starting an indie game business.'

T=Machine » Does It Lose Money When You Do That? Don’t Do That
Ex-NCSoft-er Adam Martin is obnoxious _and_ opinionated to all heck, but it turns out he's pretty smart, so I guess it's OK? Here's some discussions of MMO failures.

Experience Points: A Touchy Subject
You know, this is a really good point, and one I hadn't considered: 'Outside of cut scenes, people rarely touch in videogames.'

Banana Pepper Martinis: Feedback on Feedback
Further discussion on the Shawn Elliott reviews symposium, rounding up backlash and un-backlash, including the still ARG-like (but apparently forgiven!) PixelVixen707.

Llamasoft's Jeff Minter Interview - Eurogamer
I'm delighted that Jeff Minter gets it now, albeit reluctantly: 'As far as I'm concerned, I like to do things cheap, but ever since I did that on Live, loads of people have been telling me I was trying to sell it too cheap! There's this thing called 'perceived value' I suppose, so I'm now just trying to be in line with what other independent games are like on PC, really - roughly the same ballpark, I think.'

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

['Homer in Silicon' is a biweekly GameSetWatch-exclusive column by Emily Short. It looks at storytelling and narrative in games of all flavors, including the casual, indie, and obscurely hobbyist. This week she considers MolleIndustria's social message game Oiligarchy as an example of persuasive narrative -- as opposed to persuasive simulation.]

Oiligarchy might (at first glance) seem like an odd game to mine for narrative content. It is a game written for political persuasion by Molleindustria, whose previous works included a ruthless dark satire on McDonalds, and a disturbing game about concealing pederasty within the Catholic Church.

Oiligarchy sets up a scenario in which, as oil tycoon, you can only perpetuate your play by buying politicians, pushing for wars, and pillaging the planet to the point of apocalypse. The goals of the game are simply incompatible with a sane environmental policy or a legal relationship to elected officials.

Is this a fair piece of propaganda? Not really, and I say this as someone who strongly supports a more environmentally responsible agenda and a reduced dependence on non-renewable energy. There's no doubt that big oil has caused serious problems, but I don't hold oil corporations solely and uniquely to blame for our problems in the middle east, nor do I imagine that no one in the oil industry has a conscience.

But Oiligarchy doesn't have time for such caveats. It works, essentially, by saying -- as the McDonalds game did as well -- "Look, people in this position have every self-interested reason to behave like villains; thus we may conclude that, in fact, they do."

For added impact, Oiligarchy juices up your interactions with hilariously cruel pictures and sounds. When you build a new oil pump, it clangs and drums like an instrument from hell's orchestra. Put a new building in the wilderness, and you get to watch trees fall, caribou disperse, tiny birds scatter into the sky. In third world countries, the inhabitants peacefully enjoy life around a campfire, until you build over their village and hire their own government to oppress them.

There is even a happy whale swimming in Alaska's waters-- until you come along and set up your offshore rigs. It's basically the same message as the one implicit in the interface of Electrocity, only amped to be considerably more extreme: nature is good because it is pretty. Industrial development is bad because it is not pretty.

Never mind that nature sometimes produces things like forest fires and volcanoes and earthquakes and tsunamis, all on her own, that turn the landscape into a twisted smoking wreck. But Electrocity is responsible enough to offer some perspective on the gains and costs of different kinds of infrastructure. Oiligarchy doesn't bother with any balancing points.

Oiligarchy has a beautifully smooth, responsive design, too. Naming no names, I've played several persuasive games whose authors were banking so heavily on the value of their content that they didn't bother to make the gameplay smooth, fast, or comprehensible. The slickness of Molleindustria's work adds substantially to its appeal, and to my willingness to replay.

But all these trappings, on top of the already biased model, make Oiligarchy feel so extreme that even people who sympathize with some of its message are likely to find themselves muttering "oh really" from time to time.

So it's a little hard to take the game seriously as a piece of persuasion.

It's outright impossible to take it seriously as education, because it doesn't even pretend to deal in real numbers and facts, or the real tradeoffs at work.

But in another way I found Oiligarchy compelling, and that has to do with how it works as a story -- a dark, angsty fan fiction of reality. In fiction, there are always some characters who are on the sidelines, unexplored or simply not understood by the viewpoint character.

Fan fiction goes back in and explores the motivations of those people; it stitches together the pieces we know about (from the canonical work from which the fan fiction is derived) with the pieces that we can only imagine.

In its black-hearted way, Oiligarchy is doing that with recent history. As you explore and drill, corrupt politicians and start wars, the game throws up headline after headline that suit the situation but which are... disturbingly familiar. The old same narrative spools out from a new point of view.

Greenhouse effect? It's the oil industry's fault, of course. Invasion of Kuwait? Oil. 9/11, Iraq, Hugo Chavez, instability in Africa and Iran? All oil. Anthrax scare? Oil industry messing with our minds. Homeland Security's stupid color codes? That was Oil too. And then it goes over the top. What's next? Widespread civil unrest. Cannibalism "in some southern states". Population control. Eventually, nuclear holocaust.

On the flip side, if you just stop meddling, the politicians and the people of the US will Do The Right Thing, embrace train travel and sustainable living, pass virtuous laws, and clean the planet! Peace and prosperity will prevail!

It's funny, in a horrible way -- just as The McDonalds Video Game is funny. But it goes way further than the McDonalds game away from the realm of simulation (where you can bring about diverse results by manipulating the world model) into the territory of story-telling (where you encounter just the results that the author wants you to, though they're presented as the consequence of your acts).

Game play is simple, which appears at first to be due to admirable design, but on replay proves to be a clever constraint that prevents the player from going too far off the storyline. It's possible to wind up with a couple of different outcomes, depending on how ruthlessly and for how long you practice your Oiled ways -- but not the wealth of nuanced end-states that one gets out of a well-honed simulation.

I don't know that that's a flaw. Campaigns are all about "establishing a narrative" these days. What may confuse people is that Oiligarchy has some of the trappings of procedural persuasion -- getting the player to accept a world model, then demonstrating via that world model that certain principles hold true. What it's really doing is persuasion-by-narrative, which is much more about personalities and trends and motives. Persuasion by narrative can get away more easily with blatant bias.

Satire does not, as a rule, pretend to be fair.

[Emily Short is an interactive fiction author and part of the team behind Inform 7, a language for IF creation. She also maintains a blog on interactive fiction and related topics. She can be reached at emshort AT mindspring DOT com.]

Posted by Emily Short at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

[Still blasting with IGF Mobile in its second year, thanks to organizer Mathew Kumar, and here's who we have judging the cellphone, iPhone, 'homebrew'/indie PSP and DS competition this year.]

Organizers of the Independent Games Festival Mobile have named the judges for the second annual Independent Games Festival Mobile.

IGF Mobile (created by Gamasutra parent company Think Services) is the event which celebrates innovation in games for cellphones, the iPhone, and other mobile devices, including Sony’s PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS.

This year, the event is proud to announce that the list of judges will consist of independent mobile game developers -- including several winners of IGF Mobile awards -- and leading journalists working within the mobile games industry.

They are to help award $30,000 in prizes -- including a $10,000 Best iPhone Game award -- at this sister event to the IGF, and to take place at Game Developers Conference 2009 next March in San Francisco.

Confirmed judges for the second annual IGF Mobile event are:

- Kris Piotrowski, Creative Director, Capybara Games
- Paul Farley, CEO, Tag Games
- Tommy Palm, Research & Development Manager, Jadestone
- Brandon Boyer, Editor, Offworld
- Alan Yu, Vice President, ngmoco
- Stuart Dredge, Writer, Pocket Gamer
- Neil Trevett, Vice President Mobile Content, NVIDIA
- Steve Palley, Editor, Slide To Play
- Blake Patterson, Editor, Touch Arcade
- Liz England, Designer, 5th Cell Entertainment
- Beth Marcus, Senior Vice President, Zeemote
- Tobin Lent, CEO, Punch Entertainment

Full biographies and details of the judges are available at IGFMobile.com.

Like the main IGF competition (part of Think Services, as is Gamasutra), the IGF Mobile will have its own pavilion featuring the finalists on the show floor at the Game Developers Conference 2009 next march, and all finalist games will be available to play at the pavilion.

Winners are to be announced at a ceremony during the GDC Mobile conference and honored during the main IGF Awards on March 25th, 2009.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Wrapping up big sister site Gamasutra's year-end retrospective, our entire staff looked back on 2008's top ten games, determined and ranked things collaboratively, from Persona 4 to LittleBigPlanet, added individual editor picks, and... hey presto! Hope you guys enjoy.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra presented a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

Previously: 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, overlooked games, gameplay mechanics, indie games, surprises, PC games, trends, handheld games, developers and controversies.

Now (finally!), we look at this year's top 10 games, collaboratively chosen and ranked by our staff. Each member of our team also highlights his or her own personal picks that didn't make the group list:

10. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Konami, Nintendo DS)

Order of Ecclesia isn't dramatically different from any of producer Koji Igarashi's other Castlevania titles -- almost every release follows Symphony of the Night's template -- but it adds and changes enough to make this latest refinement of the "Metroidvania" formula an easy addition to our year-end list.

Ecclesia thankfully casts out the juvenile and generic anime character designs that blighted the previous two DS games, in favor of Hirooka Masaki's more fitting "gothic" art direction. The game also replaces Portrait of Ruin's clumsy two-character gameplay with a strong, graceful heroine, Shanoa, who takes on Dracula and his minions just fine without the help of a Vampire Killer whip.

Adding to our enjoyment, Ecclesia is probably the hardest Castlevania title since the franchise's NES years, requiring quick wits and a lot of boss pattern memorization, much to the appreciation of series faithfuls (and the chagrin of softer gamers). As a fan once succinctly described the game's difficulty, "This ain't no Casualvania."

9. Valkyria Chronicles (Sega, Playstation 3)

The Japanese have a reputation for being the most conservative market in game development -- and whether or not it's truly deserved, it's heartening to see an example of a development team starting with a rigid, conventional idea and tossing it aside in favor of a spirited new evolution of a genre.

While Valkyria Chronicles began its development cycle as a top-down strategy title in debt to classics like Final Fantasy Tactics, it was released as a genre-defying, engrossing new blend of realtime and turn-based strategy, with a perspective that has more in common with Gears of War than Square Enix, but retains the pleasingly crunchy tactical depth Japanese games are best known for.

Add in a surprisingly mature story and beautiful watercolor visuals and you get a cult classic that is getting nowhere the attention it deserves from gamers this year, and one of the strongest exclusives on Sony's platform.

8. Braid (Number None, Xbox 360/PC)

Jonathan Blow and David Hellman's Braid is likely one of the most-trumpeted indie games of all time - partly due to it winning an IGF prize all the way back in 2006, before an extensive graphical rehaul and its subsequent debut on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008. But try to shut the hype out, and you'll find something special.

Specifically, Braid is a title with carefully thought-out, ingenious puzzles, David Hellman's evocative art, and an underlying story that doesn't lack soul - however many different interpretations you might have of it.

It's a game that makes you think and one that you care about, ultimately - and its rapturous critical reception reflects that.

7. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (Bizarre Creations, Xbox 360)

The simple majesty of Geometry Wars 2 is easy to grok, of course. The first Xbox Live Arcade version of Geometry Wars, itself following up a programmer-created homage to classic '80s twin-stick shooters like Robotron, re-ignited the genre.

It also raised an interesting question. When you've been to 10 already, where is 11 in the world of abstract shooter gymnastics? That would be Geometry Wars 2, then -- particularly to be praised for the ingenious 'side stories' that make clever alternative use of the gameplay.

When you have glorious variants like 'King' and the fiendish 'Pacifism' being, plus robust online score integration and the perfectly thought-out 'Sequence' mode, you end up with an adrenaline-bespattered winner.

6. Persona 4 (Atlus, PS2)

Modern, hip and overtly Japanese, Persona 4 is proof positive that the Japanese RPG can evolve for a broadening audience. The game sheds dated conventions and implausible fantasies in favor of a stylish, immensely thought-provoking and surreal self-discovery story set in a rural-area Japanese high school.

Though many JRPGs hinge on the stories of teenagers, Persona 4's themes focus on the perils of self-denial and the necessity of facing one's inner self, particularly poignant and useful in the context of the characters' believably confusing life stage.

Persona 4 is a game that requires no small measure of patience. The reward, however, is character and story growth via an intriguing system of social and behavioral rewards that perfects the promising formula introduced in Persona 3.

5. Left 4 Dead (Valve/Valve South, Xbox 360/PC)

There may be no other game released this year that can promise as consistently a thrilling and hilarious multiplayer experience as this. Out of Valve's ongoing attempts to bridge the gap between its highly-tuned single-player titles and the necessarily chaotic nature of multiplayer gaming comes Left 4 Dead.

Its AI director and tight four-player cooperative play create a team-based atmosphere that is both coherent and unpredictable, even upon multiple playthroughs of the same campaign.

Hitting the right notes between necessary player-to-player interaction and the independence demanded by a first-person shooter, Left 4 Dead is possibly the most accurate video game representation of the classic cinematic zombie invasion to date, partly due to the group dynamics that the game fosters.

During a given game, emergent archetypes like "that idiot who accidentally makes a noise and alerts the entire horde" or "the sole survivor who somehow staves off wave after wave and makes it to the chopper" begin to appear.

On top of that, the seemingly endless supply of brief character quips continues Valve's recent trend of summoning up surprising depth to characters who exist outside of any substantial defined narrative.

4. No More Heroes (Grasshopper Manufacture, Wii)

At first blush, it's a bizarre and comic-bookish send-up of the American otaku. But No More Heroes quickly reveals its charm -- amid the mashed-up game homages and lewd humor is a surprisingly classy and vaguely disturbing allegory for the video game hero.

Travis Touchdown, of the fluorescent-lamp lightsaber and implausible fantasy motorbike, isn't nearly the smooth operator he thinks he is.

This makes his strikeouts in love just as weirdly poignant as his confrontations with unlikely assassins -- including a viciously intoxicated teen queen, a batty old lady with a shopping cart, and a crooner with a handlebar moustache.

Of course, famed director Goichi Suda's savvy act of holding up a mirror to his audience and his industry might just be a bit of forgettable cleverness if not for how brilliantly it uses its controls.

No More Heroes is that rare title that aptly leverages the Wii remote appropriately at every madly joyful, blood-spurting, coin-jangling turn.

3. LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule, PS3)

What is perhaps most surprising about LittleBigPlanet is that it lived up to the creative promise that was initially made (contrast Home, which debuted simultaneously). Anyone really can make whatever they want and share it with the world, and that's crucially important to the appeal, longevity, and landmark status of the game. Anyone can become a designer.

There have been stumbling blocks, but they have mostly been vaulted with finesse: ropey server stability at launch and a black box review process for standards-infringing levels have given way to the free-for-all promised. And while the game has not sold as well in Japan or North America as hoped (we think Europe went better), it has made an impact.

But more importantly, perhaps, and often forgotten when discussing games, is the way LBP so expertly catches the now in the most appealing way. It's a beautiful, inviting, vital, charming land of zeitgeist that defines a new visual, aural, creative language for platformers.

Most importantly, Media Molecule's game finally follows up the Mario aesthetic and ethos with something as aesthetically, conceptually, and socially compelling.

2. World of Goo (2D Boy, Wii Ware/PC)

After leaving their jobs at Electronic Arts, Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel founded development studio 2D Boy (it's just them, and there's not really a physical studio) and spent two years making World of Goo, a physics-driven puzzle game for PC and WiiWare.

The risk paid off -- World of Goo was adored by gamers and the press, and was seen as an inspiring indie success story in a year that has not wanted for inspiring indie success stories.

World of Goo works by marrying gameplay that is outwardly simple in scope with an underlying physics system that allows for solutions to challenges that are neither random nor overly restrictive in approach -- a rarity in the puzzle genre. And it's all wrapped in a clean, coherent visual theme and accompanied by a lovingly handmade score that is epic and nutty in equal measure.

1. Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios, Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Perhaps the greatest argument to date that games are about more than wish fulfillment -- for who'd wish to be a vault exile in an expansive, exhausting wasteland? And yet Bethesda's vision of the American dream languishing in nuclear post-apocalypse is as compelling as it is haunting.

The bar was high for Bethesda after the much-vaunted Oblivion, lauded for its freedom of choice -- and Fallout 3 topped it, offering an unprecedentedly exhausting array of options and a rarely-seen level of subtlety.

There's just so much to do and see that Fallout 3 becomes that rare game that asks the player to wonder what life would feel like in such ruthless circumstances, offering an impressive level of immersion and placing the burden of careful thought -- and, sometimes, emotion -- behind every tactical selection and progression decision.

Despite its flaws, the larger swath of experiences to be had throughout dwarfs the main storyline, and the vast wasteland begs to be lived in.

Staff Picks

The individual staff of Gamasutra and its sister publication, Game Developer magazine, each chose our personal favorite titles that didn't make our team top 10.

Leigh Alexander (News Director, Gamasutra)

Metal Gear Solid 4 (Konami, PS3) Tying up all those loose ends was a feat in and of itself, while so many moments of gameplay brilliance went overlooked because of the format.

PixelJunk Eden (Q Games, PS3) Compelling, frustrating, utterly satisfying audiovisual genius.

Chrono Trigger DS (Square Enix, DS) The RPG genre's most venerated installment gets perhaps the best remake ever seen on DS.

Eric Caoili (Associate News Editor, Gamasutra)

Space Invaders Extreme (Taito/Gulti, DS/PSP) An arcade classic with new mechanics, new audio and visuals, and new life breathed into it.

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (Chunsoft, DS) Only for gamers who love a challenge, Shiren the Wanderer is the finest Eastern-developed roguelike, finally brought to the West after 13 years of dungeon crawling in Japan.

I Wish I Were The Moon (Daniel Benmergui, Flash) "I still look for her as soon as the first sliver appears in the sky, and the more it waxes, the more clearly I imagine I can see her..." from Italo Calvino's "The Distance of the Moon," the short story that inspired I Wish I Were The Moon.

Simon Carless (Publisher, Gamasutra)

Fable II (Lionhead, Xbox 360) A wonderfully realized living game world, with plenty of quirks, but even more heart.

N+ (Metanet/Slick, Xbox 360) Delightfully pixel-perfect retro action, with super-addictive online scoreboards.

Pure (Black Rock, Xbox 360/PS3/PC) Marauding into the ATV-drivin' genre and showing its predecessors the super-addictive gameplay they missed.

Jeffrey Fleming (Production Editor, Game Developer magazine)

Korg DS-10 Synthesizer (AQ Interactive, DS) Cheaper and more powerful than the original all-analog Korg MS-10 (circa 1978) and thankfully free from any "gameplay".

Lost Odyssey (Mistwalker, Xbox 360) Delivers the same shivering intermingling of wonderment and melancholy that we remember from the old days without pandering to childish nostalgia.

Siren: Blood Curse (SCE Japan, PS3) The reduced difficulty level and Americanized presentation of Blood Curse makes it easier for the uninitiated to discover what the rest of us already know: Siren is the raw horror of seeing our own tangled neural pathways externalized.

Christian Nutt (Features Editor, Gamasutra):

Yakuza 2 (Sega, PS2) The underrated and overlooked gem of Sega's current development efforts returns with another compellingly adult and sophisticated tale -- with visceral punchy-kicky and unmatched verisimilitude, particularly for a PS2 title.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix, PSP) You say fan service, we say "brand extension done right" -- a compelling prelude to the original game, and, perhaps more importantly, gameplay design that's perfectly tailored to the PSP platform.

Gears of War 2 (Epic, Xbox 360) More of the same? More or less. Expanded in scope, and with expert polish and great gusto, boldly reminding us the value of dialing in your focus and embellishing only what you know you can get right.

Chris Remo (Editor At Large, Gamasutra)

Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft Montreal, Xbox 360/PS3/PC) Its gameplay can be unfriendly at times, but Far Cry 2's design is appealingly risky, and the experience pays off player investment in spades.

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North, Xbox 360/PS3/PC) It's not revolutionary after its last-gen predecessors, but Rockstar North's latest provided plenty of sandbox fun, a compelling plot, and heroic attention to detail.

Sins of a Solar Empire (Ironclad Games, PC) With its debut effort, Ironclad successfully balanced RTS and 4X gameplay to make a game that is both of massive scale and eminently playable -- no mean feat.

Brandon Sheffield (Editor-in-Chief, Game Developer magazine)

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (Nintendo, DS) Slickly presented, this iteration finally took its audience into account, aged up a few years and maintained the same precise gameplay -- with a hint of luck -- that the series is known for.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (Backbone, Xbox 360/PS3) Unattractive looks aside, the heart of SSFIIT is beating stronger than ever.

Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe (Midway, Xbox 360/PS3) I never considered Mortal Kombat a "real" fighting series, but the system differentiates from existing 2D-oriented fighter -- and this game in particular emphasizes arcade-style fun over everything else.

[Do you agree or disagree with these picks? Feel free to comment below. We'll pick the best reader comments on each list for our final retrospective, to debut on Gamasutra close to the holidays.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

With Xmas Day rapidly approaching, I hope GameSetWatch readers have worked out if they're naughty or nice in time for the presents to arrived (or not, as the case may be!)

Luckily, here's some link-based presents to help you out, including some good Id and Quake history posts, a Persona 4 critique, inside LittleBigPlanet, too much game design documentation, the awesomeness of Chore Wars, and more.

In the hangar:

Daniel Primed:: Gaming Analysis, Critique and Culture » Quake and the Feeling of Nightmare
An excellent design analysis of Quake, also teamed up with an early history of id that's well worth reading.

Crispy Gamer - Feature: A Kiss on the Blips
Another excellent write-up of the New York chiptune scene's mega-fest.

The Brainy Gamer: You're not the boss of me
Some nifty Michael Abbott writing on Persona 4: 'If you're willing to accept the game on its own terms and allow it to define itself in its own way, you are in for a rich and stimulating RPG experience that will dispel the bad taste that some recent JRPGs may have left in your mouth.'

chewing pixels » UGC: Restoring our Sense of Wonder?
Simon Parkin on LittleBigPlanet: 'Now we’re a few weeks post the game’s release, I thought I’d survey the most popular UGC levels, not in terms of in-game downloads, but rather in terms of viral interest on the internet, to see if there are any common characteristics that have driven their popularity.'

Avant Game: I am on a ninja quest (to clean my apartment)
Jane McGonigal recommends Chore Wars, which appears to be a website where you gain XP by doing real-life chores - conceptually adorable.

My Uncle’s Box Of Pirated Games: Pandora, Floor 13, Conflict | brilli.am/writes
Fun time capsule-like reviews of overlooked Commodore Amiga games: 'Let me be bold for a moment: Pandora deserves to be incredibly important. It delivers what might be the best version of a mystery narrative within a game I’ve ever seen. In a nutshell, the game drops you inside a sentient, evil starship bent on destroying Earth.'

gameslol » Blog Archive » Game Design 101 Rant: Over-Reliance On Documentation
'You can’t design something just by writing 100+ pages about it. Game design isn’t about precisely predefining everything in a set of blueprints like an architect and then building it to spec. It’s a highly dynamic process.' As a (thankfully) ex-designer, I agree completely.

Broken Toys » In Eve, Even The Dupes Are Massive
Fascinating EVE Online exploit - as a commenter points out: 'The exploit basicly makes it so that the starbases that make the components don’t need any resources at all.'

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

['The Interactive Palette' is a biweekly GameSetWatch-exclusive column by Gregory Weir that examines the tools and techniques of the digital games trade with a focus on games as art, using a single game as an example. This time - a look at goals and immersion in Minotaur China Shop.]

Virtually all digital games provide goals. It's a defining feature of the medium. Even games often described as "toys," such as The Sims or Tamagotchi, provide implicit goals that players can choose between. It's through the pursuit of these goals that players experience challenge and interactivity.

When a goal is difficult to achieve, it creates challenge. A game is interesting because of the challenge, but if a game is too hard, it becomes frustrating. Frustration is the enemy of fun and engagement. It makes players detach from the game, and possibly quit altogether. If a game is too easy, however, it can become boring, which also causes the player to give up. Even worse, different players have different difficulty sweet spots; some players want hard games, and some want easy ones.

There are several solutions to this problem. Selectable or adaptive difficulty allows the player to customize the game, and RPG-like experience mechanics allow the player to adjust their character's strength. However, there is another way to address frustration and boredom: offer more goals to the player, in the form of side quests or alternate play modes. That way, when a player becomes frustrated or bored with one goal, she can switch to another.

Flashbang Studios has taken this one step further. In their latest free web game, Minotaur China Shop, they have created a game mechanic that channels the player's frustration and boredom and uses it to add sympathy for the player character and transition smoothly into an alternative, opposing goal.

Customer Service

In Minotaur China Shop, the player controls the Minotaur, who has finally achieved his lifelong dream of selling fine china. At first play, the game comes across as a simple time-management simulation, where the player must fulfill orders for china by fetching them from the shelves of the shop. However, the Minotaur can accidentally knock inventory off of the shelves, and lose money from breakage.

The twist comes with the introduction of Minotaur Rage. The more damage the Minotaur causes, the angrier he gets. At a certain rage level, Minotaur Rage Insurance kicks in. Suddenly, the player is compensated for any broken china. The game's goal is flipped on its head, and the player is trying to break things to make money on insurance.

The cleverness in this approach is how the Minotaur's emotions mirror the player's own. The controls are deliberately clumsy, and the player is bound to knock a plate or two off of a shelf eventually. If the player becomes frustrated with the difficulty, she can decide to toss away caution and take out her frustration by breaking things. Instead of giving up on the game due to difficulty, the player channels her rage through her character, turning failure into success.

The concept of an alternate goal that is the opposite of the primary one has appeared before. Katamari Damacy had the fiendish Cow Level, where instead of picking up every object, the player must avoid the great majority of things in the level. Messiah incorporates bodily possession as a primary gameplay mechanic, which allows the player to eliminate a powerful enemy by committing suicide. However, these and similar mechanics don't have the perfect balance of Minotaur's opposing goals.

Minotaur's effectiveness is helped along by the simplicity of the game. The game takes place in a limited space, with simple physics-based gameplay. The player can purchase new moves and attributes, but each of applies directly to the primary goals of caution and damage. These opposing goals could easily lose their impact in a more complex game.

Complete Destruction

There's a broader lesson to take from Minotaur's design, though. The opposing goals work so well because the gameplay is tied to the feelings of the player and the player character. Developers would do well to consider this tie when developing gameplay. When the interaction method supports the setting and story of the game events, players feel more immersed in the game and identify more strongly with their characters.

In the case of Minotaur, the developers recognized the clumsiness and frustration inherent in their physics-based gameplay, and chose to turn it from an annoyance to a feature. When the player is frustrated with her own ham-handedness, so is the Minotaur. When the Minotaur bursts into a rage, the player feels free to cut loose.

The trick is to identify a possible source of frustration, and embrace the player's feelings by flipping the goal around. If the player is having trouble achieving a certain goal, she might prefer achieving the opposite. Because this transition point between goals is different for each player depending on their preferred difficulty, it's a clever way to resolve the issue of differing player skill.

Posted by Gregory Weir at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

[Every week, we sum up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent -- and increasingly exciting -- portable games platform, as written by editor Matt Burris and guest editor Danny Cowan.]

This week's notable items in the iPhone gaming space include mobile adaptations for the SimCity and Katamari Damacy franchises, the awaited debut of ngmoco's Rolando, and news of Konami's initial iPhone lineup.

Here are the top stories:

Rolando in App Store
"ngmoco's most ambitious iPhone project to date, Rolando, features interactive environments, physics-based puzzles, and a control setup that takes advantage of the hardware's tilt and multi-touch functions."

Equilibrio Developer Diary 4: Screenshot Day
"I can now say that we're in the last phase of the game’s production. We're polishing text and levels, and improving the overall framerate and pacing of the game. We also pushed a version of the game to the IGF. I hope the judges will enjoy it."

Konami Reveals Four for iPhone, Including Metal Gear, Silent Hill
"Konami has announced four new iPhone and iPod Touch titles, including the mystery Metal Gear Solid release recently teased at developer Kojima Productions' website."

SimCity in App Store
"Resembling the 1998 PC release of SimCity 3000 in looks and function, the new iPhone adaptation of SimCity also boasts its own set of exclusive features and control options."

Toy Bot Diaries Entry 3 in App Store
"IUGO Mobile Entertainment has released the final installment in its Toy Bot Diaries series, Toy Bot Diaries Entry 3. The trilogy's finale promises 'a crescendo of challenges, superb levels and an exciting conclusion,' in which the amnesiac Toy Bot confronts his nemesis War Bot and attempts to save the Earth."

inXile Acquires Fantastic Contraption, Announces iPhone Port
"inXile entertainment announced today that the company has acquired the rights to develop and publish mobile and console editions of the online physics-based construction puzzler Fantastic Contraption. An iPhone adaptation is planned for release "in time for the holiday season," according to inXile's press release."

i Love Katamari in App Store
"i Love Katamari follows up on the franchise’s previous console and mobile offerings with a new accelerometer-controlled twist on Katamari Damacy's unique roll-em-up gameplay."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Immersive realism may be the "Holy Grail" of game development, but should it be? In this opinion piece, author and designer Lewis Pulsipher argues that most players don't want "role-fulfillment," in support of the idea that strong mechanics -- and even player design awareness -- is a more suitable goal.]

"I think a video game is all about articulating a dream." Mark Meadows, as quoted in Virtual Apprentice Computer Game Designer (p. 7)

"Immersive": "generating a three-dimensional image which appears to surround the user” Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English (second definition)

"Grail": 1. A cup or plate that, according to medieval legend, was used by Jesus at the Last Supper and that later became the object of many chivalrous quests. Also called Holy Grail.
2. often The object of a prolonged endeavor. (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Some well-known game industry professionals, especially those interested in establishing video games as "Art" (with a capital "A"), believe that the goal of game-making is to produce a game so immersive, so "real", that it becomes an equivalent to the Star Trek holodeck or the world ofThe Matrix -- a detailed simulation of reality.

A recent representation of this point of view is Steve Gaynor's 'On Invisibility in Game Design'. If I can characterize his point of view, he feels that gamers should not notice the "hand of the designer," so that the game will feel more real and less like a game -- hence the reference to the designer's "invisibility".

Is this "immersive" separation from reality what all designers should strive for? Absolutely not. While immersion may be a worthy goal to pursue, it is not where most game designers should concentrate their efforts if they want to pursue their profession successfully.

'Role-Fulfillment' Versus 'Rules Emergent'

While role-fulfillment is at one end of a spectrum of game types, at the other end is the "rules-emergent" game, one that doesn’t depend on a story (dream?) for its interest; where the interest comes from the interaction of the mechanics with the player(s), and of the players with one another.

Immersiveness is certainly more attainable with video games than with older non-electronic games, though it is easy to argue that pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons provided make-players-cry immersion long before video games could aspire to it.

Yet most non-electronic games are generally not immersive simulations; not "role-fulfillment", not "articulating a dream". Part of this is the limitations of the medium, but part reflects the purposes of the players.

Such games are often social occasions, and if there’s any immersion, it’s with your friends, not within a dream or alternate reality. Such games may be competitions, to see who can work best within the framework of rules and mechanics, and immersion is irrelevant. In these cases, everyone knows they’re playing a game, and the designer need not feel an urge to be fully "invisible".

Some might suggest that games are "progressing" from the rules emergent tradition of early video games to role-fulfillment. But is that the case? Apparently not from the game buyer’s point of view, at least.

Immersion And The Mainstream Audience

Look at popular Wii games, and at casual games. These are generally rules-emergent games, with no pretense of "immersion". Arguably, Nintendo chose not to compete in the technology-driven "realism" field with the Wii, and most casual games are 2D, not 3D.

The high numbers of buyers and players of these games suggests that a significant proportion of the audience -- if not the majority -- wants to play games, not immersive "simulations".

Put another way, is the immersive simulation (Star Trek Holodeck, Matrix) only the desire of some of the hardcore fans? Shooters may be seen as the poster-child for the immersion Holy Grail: known to be popular with young, hard-core, male players, but less so among older males and female players. [Check the recent Pew Survey, question K14: shooters were played less by teens (males and females not separated by gender) than any of 12 game categories except survival horror games.) ]

The core market's criticism of the Wii reflects the "quest for the Holy Grail" of immersiveness. To hear it told, Wii isn’t "next-Gen" because the hardware isn’t up-to-date, because it’s not “immersive”.

Yet as Steven Levy pointed out (Nov 2008 Wired magazine, p. 114), "the Wii, Guitar Hero, and the iPhone have shown us that we can interact intimately with the digital age without ‘virtual reality’ immersion."

And venerated Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto has said: "we want to entertain people by surprising them . . . we are nothing but entertainers." This certainly doesn’t require "immersion".

While casual games are not generally individual big sellers, some of the Wii casual-style games are. And casual games as a whole are likely to be the growth area in video games, not AAA fare. Why?

It seems there's a significant number of adults who want to play a video game for a while to relax, to have their attention diverted from ordinary life. They don’t want to be immersed in some simulation, some dream-fulfillment–if nothing else, they don’t have the time for it!

Perhaps teenagers and 20-somethings, frustrated with a heavily-monitored existence and (apparent) lack of freedom, want to immerse themselves to escape their frustration, but that’s not the norm for gamers. The hardcore male teenagers and 20-somethings are the most vocal -- but the average video gamer is now older than that, and not overwhelmed with frustration.

Hills First, Mountains Later

Developers deeply committed to making immersive AAA games may not notice all the hills around the very high mountain they’re trying to climb to attain the Holy Grail. Climbing the mountain is a worthy goal, but most video games are in the easier-to-climb hills–-easier for players, and more practical for publishers and developers.

While games may not be recognized as "high Art" until we attain the Grail, profitability and employment for thousands of artists, engineers, and designers depends on games that are good games, not High Art or Ultimate Escape.

From a designer’s point of view, the immersiveness of games ultimately depends on technology and large amounts of money, not on the imagination of the designer. If a designer wants to make highly immersive games and is fortunate enough to work for a company that can afford to pursue that quest, well and good. But most professional game designers do not have the opportunity to make immersive games, or do not want to.

In historical board gaming, a related discussion has gone on for decades, posed as “realistic simulation” of warfare vs. “good playable game”. In general, the most realistic “simulations” (realistic in historical terms, not, of course, in personal immersion) have been poor games.

"Immersion" is an illusion of another reality. The danger with this Holy Grail is that we’ll forget gameplay while trying to improve immersion. Games are games: gameplay, not “Art”, is what counts.

Many of the games that go furthest toward immersion do not offer gameplay that interests the majority of game buyer. They are temporary illusions rather than long-term favorite games.

Let’s not make the mistake of equating escape from reality with fun. Games have been enjoyable for centuries, long before escape from reality was a major design component of any game. Video game designers, most of the time, should concentrate on good gameplay, not on extremes of illusion.

[Dr. Lewis Pulsipher comes from the non-electronic side of game design, and teaches video game design at Fayetteville Technical Community College, NC. His most well-known game, Britannia, is among the games described in Hobby Games: The 100 Best, edited by James Lowder. ]

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Wow, we really are edging up on the holiday season, aren't we? Along the way, we've got a bumper set of GameSetLinks to unspool this week, starting out with Chuck Jordan discussing how you tell the player what to do in adventure games - always a bit of a problem, to be honest.

But there's plenty of other good material here, include a silly game publishing brand-skewering from 1UP, a neat analysis of the design complexities of Beatmania, a chat to the inventor of the Speak & Spell, and other eruditions from varied RSS feeds of interest.

Take it away:

Spectre Collie » Blog Archive » Feedback’s a bitch
Telltale's Chuck Jordan discusses Manveer Heir's Design 101 article on Strong Bad for WiiWare, since Jordan helped create the game: 'His main observation is dead-on accurate. Adventure games suck at giving feedback to the player.'

g-mixer . mark cooke . blog: Japanese Saint's Row 2 Commercial
Grasshopper's Cooke points out a truly odd SR2 Japanese commercial: 'I'm not sure what market this advertising appeals to, though I enjoyed it.'

Top 5 Silly Names for Game Brands from 1UP.com
How come there isn't a website trying to do timely game news pastiches, like a more direct Onion-y version of this fun Sharky pastiche on the execrably named Surge? Poochie FTW!

Wired.com: Games Without Frontiers: Why We Need More Torture in Videogames
Clive Thompson: 'I'd like to see games that had more torture — and better torture — in them. In this alarming chapter of American history, they might wind up fueling the best public debate yet.'

Welcome to Special Round: The home version of IIDX 15 is completely absurd
A really interesting game design analysis of Konami's Beatmania and its super-high difficulty levels - I haven't seen it explained as well as this before.

Vintage Computing and Gaming | Archive » VC&G Interview: 30 Years Later, Richard Wiggins Talks Speak & Spell Development
Benj Edwards: 'Thirty years ago last June, Texas Instruments introduced Speak & Spell at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago' - and he managed to find and interview its creator for his always excellent VintageComputing blog.

Game recommendation: 5th Cell's 'Lock's Quest' for DS
5th Cell are helping to judge IGF Mobile, too, and I just checked out this 'Rampart vs. Tower Defense' title, which is one of the unsung DS games of late 2008.

Xemu's Long-Winded Game Industry Ramblings :: Bittersweet
Ensemble's Rob Fermier links to Crispy Gamer's Ensemble coda posts, which are excellent, also sighing: 'In the end I actually spent more time working on games that eventually got killed for MS political reasons than actual shipped products (though punctuated with helping get our other games out the door)'

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Are we done with big sister site Gamasutra's myriad of year-end countdowns, yet? Of course not - this time, News Director Leigh Alexander takes a delighful dig through the controversial moments of the year in gaming.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

Previously: 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, overlooked games, gameplay mechanics, indie games, surprises, PC games, trends, handheld games and developers.

Next, we'll look at this year's ten biggest controversies, the public issues that fueled the big disputes and blog hits, alongside the industry moments that drew enough attention for their impact to resonate into the coming year:

Video Games and the Music Biz: Who Needs Who More?

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick went to war with words against Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman over whether games like Guitar Hero are helping keep music artists afloat -- or whether the games would sink without the songs.

Bronfman stated that, given that band games depend on their track lists, the amount of royalties the industry pays is "far too small", while Kotick retorted that such comments were not "respectful of how much we’ve done to bring new audiences into the market."

Although the long-term outlook for the popularity of band games continues to be in dispute, it's inarguable that neither party can do without the other. Kotick points out, however, that Activision's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith generated more revenue for the band than any individual Aerosmith album.

LittleBigPlanet's Qur'an Lyrics

Media Molecule said it felt "shellshocked and gutted" when its long-awaited LittleBigPlanet was yanked back just at the cusp of its launch, after audio samples from the Qur'an, Islam's holy book, were discovered in the game's soundtrack.

Many Muslims consider the use of the Qur'an in music to be an offense, although the song's artist Toumani Diabate, a Grammy-winning Muslim himself, explained at length the context for the music.

Case of paranoia? Perhaps, but Muslim groups praised Sony's decision to be extra-respectful, while fans bemoaned the extra days' delay.

Electronic Arts' Bid For Take Two

The great big battle royale for the fate of Take-Two went on all year, through numerous bid renewals, FTC investigations, sports monopoly worries, nondisclosure agreements and, ultimately, a surrender.

The hostile takeover attempt drew the attention of Wall Street because of its similarity to Microsoft's languishing bid for Yahoo!. But it also attracted game fans largely thanks to what EA CEO John Riccitiello calls a "personal narrative" -- the visual of two powerful CEOs who both refused to yield their position.

Even analysts wondered if ego didn't play a role in the power struggle somewhere. The coming year is sure to yield some insight on the wisdom of both companies' positions.

Spore's DRM Debacle

Fans had awaited Will Wright's latest project since 2005. But the launch of Spore was met not so much with discussion of its game mechanics, but with a firestorm of controversy around its digital rights management system.

Those who stood in opposition to the title's comparatively rigid DRM fought back, inundating the game's Amazon listings with negative reviews -- and at one point reducing the title's user rating to a single star.

More importantly, the Spore issue brought to light just how complex the issue of game piracy is. And it increased the urgency on organizations like the PC Gaming Alliance to lead the charge in evaluating how piracy's impact on sales can be measured.

Ultimately, BitTorrent news site TorrentFreak claimed that Spore is the most-pirated game of all time, and armchair analysts speculate that the title was made to receive retribution for its copy protection methods.

Mythic's Crediting Controversy

Mythic Entertainment's drew fire when it was revealed that its new MMO, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning would only credit those staff members currently working at the developer, a move the International Game Developers Association immediately called "disrespectful".

The debate was on -- does providing credits to all employees on a project, regardless of their status, remove their incentive to stay with the company until the project's done?

IGDA chairperson Jennifer MacLean called that assertion "arbitrary, unfair and in some cases even vindictive... they simply don't hold up."

In the end, Mythic emerged as a studio on the forefront of thorough employee crediting. It announced its intention to create an online database that will list the names of all staff members who contribute to its projects. The IGDA's MacLean later apologized to Mythic's Mark Jacobs.

Itagaki Takes On Tecmo

Already a controversial figure in part for his vocal criticisms of other developers' work, Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki claimed he was entitled to a $1.4 million completion bonus from Tecmo regarding Dead or Alive 4.

Itagaki abruptly resigned and filed suit, which might have prompted others to take on Tecmo. Shortly thereafter, 300 other employees raised a class-action suit against the company for unpaid overtime and an illegal "flexible hours" work scheme. Tecmo has yet to resolve things with Itagaki, but in the meantime, has slapped the vocal developer with a gag order.

"Stop Doing Interviews"

A spat erupted at Activision over the Call of Duty franchise, when, promoting Call of Duty: World at War, publisher-side senior producer Noah Heller was apparently too vocal for some tastes on all the shortfalls of CoD4 that CoD5 would address.

Robert Bowling, community manager at CoD4 developer Infinity Ward, posted a rant on his personal blog entreating Heller to "stop doing interviews," to "promote YOUR game" instead of comparing it to others.

He also pleaded with the media to stop interviewing Heller -- whom he now-famously referred to as "Senior Super Douche" -- and speak instead to the development team at CoD5 developer Treyarch directly.

(This controversy was so pungent that Gamasutra staffer Chris Remo recently used his spare time to set it to music, with delectable results.)

Wilson And Romero Revisit The Past

When Doom creator John Romero referred to former Ion Storm colleague Mike Wilson's work with his venture, the now-defunct Gamecock Media Group, as "jackass stunts," Wilson fired back in an open letter to consumer weblog Kotaku, opening an old argument -- who was responsible for those ill-advised Daikatana ads?

"Unlike you, I didn't get to file a federal trademark for my own personal catch phrase, 'Suck it Down,'" dug Wilson, offering many eyes a look inside the long-running dispute.

The public spat featured fairly gruesome mudslinging from both sides, backhanded snark and lots of public airing of unresolved grievances. Ugly.

Salary Cap Collusion in Montreal?

A former Eidos employee reached out to fellow publishers in Montreal to suggest a "collaboration" to "avoid a bid for higher wages which would only benefit the employee."

That employee, Flavie Tremblay, was allegedly let go from Eidos at that time, and it's still unclear the extent to which any Montreal companies colluded on salary caps, if at all.

But Tremblay, who worked at Ubisoft prior to Eidos, was subsequently re-hired by Ubisoft, and the latest information suggests she still works there. Most parties involved are tight-lipped, but is Tremblay's continued employment an endorsement of her efforts?

ESA Sees Mass Exodus

Throughout the year, the Entertainment Software Association saw a slate of high-profile departures including Activision, Vivendi and LucasArts.

The accompanying discussion suggested big publishers were beginning to question the benefit of the association -- and its E3 event, which has struggled to find its groove amid changes to its formula in recent years.

The publisher departures brought a wave of questions about new president Mike Gallagher's leadership, the function and future of E3, and the cost-benefit equation of ESA memberships that may have prompted the association to announce it would try to return E3 to some of its former glitz and glamor in 2009. Next year will be key for the association to answer some of those lingering questions.

Other Controversies: The PSP 3000's unfixable scan lines, GTA IV's PC release, Activision's Kotick wants franchises with the "potential to be exploited", PEGI vs. BBFC war for UK ratings dominance, Microsoft knew about the Xbox 360's disc-scratching problem, Factor 5 employee reveals studio problems.

[Did we miss anything? What issue do you think stirred the pot the most this year? Feel free to comment below. We'll pick the best reader comments on each list for our final retrospective, to debut on Gamasutra close to the holidays.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

['Game Mag Weaseling' is a weekly column by Kevin Gifford which documents the history of video game magazines, from their birth in the early '80s to the current day.]

Ho ho ho! Are you in a jolly holiday mood yet? No? Well, neither am I, actually, thanks to looming tax deadlines and the thought of dealing with my entire extended family in a few scant days. But even my hearts' frigid cockles were warmed by the above print ad for Nyko's Wing wireless controller for Wii -- a page almost certainly modeled after NES-era accessory ads, one which gave me flashbacks to the Freedom Stick and the seemingly dozens of controllers Beeshu released. Bravo! (I don't mind the cord on my Classic Controller that much, though...)

This is the last Mag Roundup of the year, and it's a packed one thanks to all the specials and such. Let's see what's out on stands right now...

Electronic Gaming Monthly January 2009 (Podcast)

Cover: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I'm not sure I like this cover much. It's blown-up and pixelated, Wolverine's right eye looks like it's glowing, and you can't help but wonder if something a bit less in-yer-face (like the very nice-looking prerender of Wolverine in the table of contents) would have been a preferable choice. Maybe the designers thought that would make EGM look too much like a movie magazine cover-wise, though. It's a balance, eh?

The feature inside is straightforward, to the point, and accompanied by two preview roundups: one covering other superhero games, and another on the lesser-hyped games of '09 to watch. That, alongside a whole bunch of reviews, rounds out the mag. The main highlight, then: the front section, laden with interviews (the LittleBigPlanet guys, the Fable II guys, the Tenchu guys, Metal Gear Solid music guy Norihiko Hibino) and industry think pieces. Worth readin'.

Game Informer January 2009

Cover: Uncharted 2

Hey, remember what I said a month ago about Game Informer seeming to weather the painful print-mag market pretty well? Never mind! This issue, at 92 pages, is the tiniest GI since the early 90s, and also the first one smaller than the corresponding month's EGM in a fair while. The news section is a bit off its game this month, too -- other than another Fable II postmortem and an interview with the Dead Space guy, it's mostly composed of straight (ie., old) news and "what we'd like to see in X"-type pieces. There's a new column devoted to MMO news, but it's nothing too out-of-the-box content-wise.

The twin hotsclusive features inside are both surprisingly meaty, though, even including an interview with Metallica's Lars Ulrich.

GamePro January 2009

Cover: Resident Evil 5

GamePro seems to specialize in these sorts of "blow out as much info as possible on a game just before its release" cover features. Even if their shelf lives aren't all that long, they're still fun to read and certainly a must if you're a fan of the game in question. This RE5 piece is no exception, and it's joined by a zombie-game preview feature and a few multipage looks at the rest of Capcom's '09 lineup.

It's a Capcom-heavy issue, no doubt about that, although I was saddened to see 4 pages from Brady's Gears of War II strategy guide in the mag as well -- I thought that era was over with for the mag.

PlayStation: The Official Magazine January 2009

Cover: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

PTOM's superior design shines through again this issue -- the only one this month with a "Top Games of '09" preview whose design I could reasonably call eye-grabbing without having to cross my fingers behind my back. The virtual-whiteboard treatment they gave Heavy Rain was the standout in my eyes, along with the bloody and extremely red-colored cover feature. Two quick spread features, one on PS3 menu system "secrets" and another on top Rock Band overlooked hits, are also fun and prove that good design can take a throwaway news-section piece and make it into a rockin' couple of pages.

Nintendo Power January 2009

Cover: TMNT

This issue comes with a page of Pokemon Ranger stickers, including a very large one of Riolu which is key to slap on your laptop or notepad if you're a furry, a young girl, or just that awesome.

After that anything else would seem anticlimactic, but NP doesn't do too bad in the followup, with a TMNT feature that's mainly interesting thanks to the fairly big-name Japanese folks on the development team. There's also another GTA Chinatown Wars blowout, another MadWorld blowout (NP is revisiting past cover subjects like mad this issue), a piece on Naoto Ohshima, and so on and so forth.

Sometimes I wonder how Nintendo Power has managed to become the "interview" game magazine in the US, instead of -- say -- a publication devoted to a less mainstream subject than the Wii and DS. Not that I'm complaining, of course. Hell no. I'd rather read this than 2000-era NP, that's for sure.

PC Zone Xmas 2008

Cover: Star Wars: The Old Republic

Top quote from PC Zone this month: "Let's be honest, freeware games that can hold your attention for more than 15 minutes are as common as hen's tits." Aww, reading it is bliss. They also, you know, review Fallout 3 and a lot of other important Xmas titles. Case you're interested.

Retro Gamer Issue 57

Cover: Level 9

Level 9 was a British text-adventure company that, like a lot of other Retro Gamer cover subjects, are well-known and gazed upon with teary eyes by Euro game freaks but are unknown to us meat-eating Americans. A lovely feature inside, nonetheless, though US readers will appreciate the making-of for Alien vs. Predator on the Jaguar far more -- that was one of the system's only high points, after all.

Santa's Cavalcade of Holiday Specials

   

None of the specials this time around are worth major attention, being mostly buyer's guides and cheat handbooks, so I'll gather them up and be succinct. Wii Handbook 2009 is a straight-on hardware introduction and capsule-review compilation; quite nice but nothing too fancy. 2009 Game Guide (done by GamePro, though you won't notice this on the cover unless you look hard) is, as you'd reckon, almost entirely preview content, except for a few review rankings and cheats in the rear of the book.

   

2009 PlayStation 3 Cheater's Handbook is from the "maker's" (oh dear) of PTOM and features a few neat strategy features which I assume are from one Future UK title or another, along with a GTA4 "did you know" bit and Teresa Dun answering Soulcalibur IV questions. Beckett Massive Online Gamer Presents the Ultimate Guide to Warhammer Online is as opaque as any other Beckett mag -- at least Future's WHO special had nice art!

Last and never least is Game Developer's December issue, whose cover story -- basically, a compilation of all the really good "What Went Wrong" sections from previously-published postmortems -- is a blast. Really. A blast. I loved it. I am also soooo glad I am not a game developer.

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. In his spare time he does writing and translation for lots and lots of publishers and game companies.]

Posted by Kevin Gifford at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Finishing up the weekend with the best of last week's long-form posts on Gamasutra and our other Gamasutra Network site which publishes multi-page features, GameCareerGuide.com, we start off with Christian Nutt's interviews providing a neat tech look at Monolith's (pictured) F.E.A.R 2.

But also in here - Matt Matthews dissecting NPD for November, the latest Game Design Challenge results, sound concepting with Spider-Man, the return of Analyze This for year's end, plus an intriguing student serious game interview.

Here we go:

The Technology of F.E.A.R. 2: An Interview on Engine and AI Development (Gamasutra.com)
"What puts the F.E.A.R into game technologists? This Gamasutra interview with a Monolith duo discusses F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin's tech underpinnings, from workflow to AI and beyond."

Analyze This: Looking Back at the Year in Gaming 2008 (Gamasutra.com)
"Ending the year, Gamasutra's regular 'Analyze This' column sees analysts from OTX, Wedbush Morgan and EEDAR looking back on the hits and misses of 2008, from Wii Fit to Too Human and beyond."

Results from the Game Design Challenge: Cut the Cutscene (GameCareerGuide.com)
"Cutscenes provide an easy way for game designers to tell a part of a story or convey information, but they do it in a way that is not integral to playing games. In a recent game design challenge, we asked you to think of ways to give the same information, but through gameplay rather than a cinematic."

Sound Concepting: Selling the Game, Creating its Auditory Style (Gamasutra.com)
"This audio feature has Shaba's Meyer explaining how sound concepting plays a vital role in a game's creative direction, with real-life examples from Spider Man: Web of Shadows."

Inside the IGF 2009: Sneak Peek at De Menezes International (GameCareerGuide.com)
"In this series of interviews, GameCareerGuide is talking to student game-makers who have submitted projects to the IGF student competition. Here, the students at the IT University of Copenhagen who made De Menezes International talk about the serious game, which deals with the anti-terrorism movement."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, November 2008 (Gamasutra.com)
"In this exclusive analysis, Gamasutra's Matt Matthews looks in-depth at November's NPD U.S. results, revealing the real economic picture, Sony's challenges and much more."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Game Developer magazine EIC Brandon Sheffield recently caught up with Grasshopper Manufacture boss Suda51, who has a little of the buzz about him recently, thanks to his new projects - here's a fun interview about No More Heroes and targeting the Western market, among other things.]

Grasshopper Manufacture's always interesting CEO Goichi Suda (aka Suda51) has a lot on his plate, what with No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle slated for 2010 and an untitled EA Partners project in the works with Q Entertainment (Lumines) and eminent designer Shinji Mikami.

His company's visually unique titles like Killer7 and the original No More Heroes have kept Suda and Grasshopper in high demand.

In particular, Marvelous Entertainment noted the studio's growing popularity and published a Nintendo DS remake of Flower, Sun, & Rain, one of its older PS2 games, earlier this year in Japan. Marvelous' U.S. branch plans to bring the game stateside next month.

In this candid interview, Suda talks with Gamasutra about where the No More Heroes sequel is going, why that destination isn't away from the Wii, and what he'd tell himself about Flower, Sun, & Rain if he could go back in time:

When we first spoke, you talked about how you wanted to make an open-world game. No More Heroes is kind of along the path to that. Are you going to take that further into the user sandbox environment with the second game?

Goichi Suda: Yeah, we'll once again manage to do what we want to do with realizing the open world, but expect big changes for No More Heroes 2's open world.

Now that there are no more heroes, what happens from now?

GS: Actually, there are still some heroes left. (laughter)

I thought maybe it should be called No More Heroes More, or Some More Heroes.

GS: We'll probably have to change it as we go ...

Before, Grasshopper developed games one at a time, finishing one and starting the other. Now that you're working on multiple projects, do you have to have a multi-team structure within the company?

GS: Right now, Grasshopper has two development teams. They've been in alignment.

Is it different, having to manage that? I know you have a lot of creative input yourself on all of the projects, so are you having to share directorship with other people and things like that in order to make these two flow?

GS: For No More Heroes 2, I'm going to be credited as executive director. I'm just going to take care of the character script and the scenario, but the director's going to be someone else. We actually have set a director at Grasshopper -- a young one.

Are you going to be grow more in the future, as you work on more projects?

GS: In my mind, the studio would like to keep the team under one of the people.

Each team, or the whole of Grasshopper?

GS: The whole of Grasshopper.

Maintaining smaller sizes probably helps keep a consistent creative vision. What are the things that you feel you still need to accomplish with the No More Heroes universe? You haven't really made sequels before at Grasshopper. What do you feel you still need to get across with that game and style?

GS: The world of No More Heroes should have more parallel stories running at the same time. The evolution of Travis -- I still have some stuff to write about with him and his growth.

So are you anticipating doing that kind of parallel story stuff in No More Heroes 2? Is that possible to do with one character?

GS: In the case of No More Heroes 2, it's just going to be one story again that takes place after No More Heroes 1.

Why target the Wii with this game when there are a lot of action games on the Xbox 360?

GS: One of the main reasons why we're back on Wii is because of the controller. When we released the first one on Wii, you had this feeling just finished with moving the controller; it was really good.

So, if we released it on Xbox 360, for example, we'd have to rethink this feeling. I wanted to keep the game's controller gimmick, so that's why the fighting was more fitting on Wii, rather than on other platforms.

More Japanese companies nowadays seem to be targeting the North American market as the first, primary market. I feel like Grasshopper's games do this as well. Are you specifically targeting North America first?

GS: Yes.

As a company in Japan, how are you going about targeting the Western market first?

GS: First, we check all of those games that set a standard, for example, in the FPS style in the U.S. We always want to make new stuff and new games, and try to create something innovative there, because there's always a market there for people who are tired of playing this style or level.

Would you ever consider doing something like an FPS, in order to gain more of that market? It's kind of flooded right now.

GS: Definitely, if it's for our audience. If we need to make an FPS to get into this market, we will.

I'm curious to know how you feel about Flower, Sun and Rain finally coming out in the West on the DS now. Traditionally, these games come out in sequential order, in terms of when they were released, but in the case of your games, it's more like now that Grasshopper is more popular, some of the older games are able to come out in the West.

What do you think about people now playing games that you made previously? Obviously, you're continuing forward with your game design and creation philosophy. What do you think about people playing the older games now, perhaps not knowing that they're actually older?

I'm just happy about that, because we had these games that were made eight years ago that I couldn't really sell outside of Japan. And now, because I have Killer7 and No More Heroes, and I have some working conditions outside of Japan, too, people are really enjoying this project.

When I developed Flower, Sun, and Rain on the PS2 all those years ago, it was one of the most difficult times at Grasshopper. I would like to jump into a time machine, go back to eight years ago, and tell myself not to worry, and that things were going to be all right, and that we were going to release this title on the DS, too.

But if I told myself that the game was going to be released on a handheld with two screens, I wouldn't believe it. (laughter)

If you're going back, you should convince your old self to patent the idea.

GS: (laughter)

You'll be rich! I actually really liked Flower, Sun, and Rain. None of the characters spoke properly. Actually, I thought my copy was defective, because they had the...

GS: (laughter) Don't worry, because when we released it on the PS2, we got some comments from Japanese users saying, "There's something wrong with my copy. The voices aren't working for me." So it's not just you.

BS: I think it's because it had the subtitles. Do you think that maybe Silver Jiken [PS1 and now DS murder mystery The Silver Case] would come to the West? Many people have said it's one of the top games from Grasshopper, story-wise.

GS: It needs time. Presently, I'm really busy with No More Heroes 2.

I was wondering how having foreign staff was working for you.

GS: It's good. Of course, nothing is perfect. Sometimes we have issues with foreign staff, but we always try to solve and fix them. It's not really a problem of nationality with foreigners. We just have issues with communicating with employees, too.

How important do you find it for them to be able to speak really good Japanese to fit in?

GS: It would make things easier if they could speak decent Japanese, but even if their Japanese isn't great, I can still, to some extent, manage to explain what I want them to do.

Does it help with trying to release games that are targeted to the Western market? I assume it would.

GS: Yeah ... When it comes to designers and programmers, [they bring] some know-how that we didn't have here. Even if [they weren't] here, we'd be trying to think of strategies on how to get into this market, but it would never beat an actual, real foreigner who's coming to the company and doing stuff himself.

Do you consider No More Heroes as a continuing series for you? Will it keep on going, or is 2 it?

GS: That's something I don't really think about -- the future or the sequel. I'm just focusing on each title, so now I'm focusing on No More Heroes 2, and then we're going to see later.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[As we wander into the holiday season, our buddies at GDC just announced a lot more interesting lectures for the March event. We'll be covering this more track by track soon, but in the meantime, here's a basic, delicious overview.]

Game Developers Conference organizer Think Services announced several speakers and sessions for next year's GDC event, to be held in San Francisco's Moscone Center from March 23 to 27, 2009.

As part of the Game Design track, Lionhead Studios CEO Peter Molyneux will present 'Lionhead Experiments Revealed', a lecture on a range of experimental ideas and technologies at his company, and how they might might be incorporated into new Lionhead projects.

Other highlighted design sessions include "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Design Lessons Learned from Rock Band" with Harmonix senior designer Dan Teasdale, and "Player's Expression: The Level Design Structure Behind Far Cry 2 and Beyond?" with Ubisoft's Jonathan Morin.

Other notable speakers in the Production track include Maxis producer Caryl Shaw on 'Spore: Fulfilling the Massively-Single Player Promise - How'd We Do?', Bungie producer Allen Murray presenting "a brutally honest look at the evolution of production at Bungie from Halo-s 1 to 3".

In addition, the Business & Management track features Demiurge Studios CEO Bill Reed and studio director Albert Reed on "proven strategies that can help small studios run a stable business in an unstable industry", and a number of other newly announced lectures.

Elsewhere, Electronic Arts' International Development Services VP Jaime Gine will deliver a keynote at GDC09's Localization Summit, while alternate reality game specialist Jane McGonigal will do the same at the conference's IGDA Education Summit.

For more information on the scheduled speakers and sessions, or for details on registering for Game Developers Conference 2009, please visit the event's official site.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['Chewing Pixels' is a regular GameSetWatch-exclusive column written by British games journalist and producer, Simon Parkin.]

“Wow. This is excellent wine.”

She is exactly right. This is excellent wine.

In fact, that’s not the half of it. This is an excellent restaurant. The excellent food we are about to order will have been cooked from excellent ingredients by an excellent chef and we’ll eat it to the soundtrack of an excellent jazz trio (whose standards we’ll pretend to know by name).

The waiters, perfectly poised between attentiveness and professional detachment will provide us with excellent service. The loud bits of conversation that float over from our neighbours’ tables will be spoken by an excellent clientele, one that brims with that cozy warmth that comes from relaxing in excellent surroundings.

Outside it is cold and slush, a city returning home from a day’s Christmas shopping, shivering and spent in service to capitalism. But inside, here at this table, in this glass, all is peace and excellence.

I am the unknown quantity, the dark spot on the otherwise blemishless potential of the evening. Still, my hope is that, even if my performance is only satisfactory, the excellence of everything else will make this an excellent date nonetheless. This will be an excellent first date, I tell myself again. This will be an excellent first date.

“Yes. It is rather good, isn’t it?”

“So, where did you hear about this place?”

“Oh, er. A friend recommended it to me. Said they do an excellent tuna steak. Um, I mean, I don’t know if you eat fish but…”

“Yes! Fish. Lovely”.

She smiles for a beat, then her gaze retreats into the menu, lips parting as her head bows. Oof. She’s done this before.

We’ve both done this before. This is excellent wine.

“So, I think this is going pretty well...” I remark. We both laugh a bit.

“Yeah. You’re doing good. So, tell me a bit about yourself. Your advert said you like music and films and that you’re friendly, et cetera. All the usual stuff. Not much to go on though. I mean, who doesn’t like films and music? Also, nobody’s going to advertise themselves as a grumpy serial killer with a terrible sense of humour, right?”

“I guess not and you’re right: I don’t know why I wrote that. Blanket tastes are so dull. Like, when you ask someone what music they’re into and they say: ‘Oh, you know, a little of everything!’. I hate that. Saying that you like a little of everything is the same as saying you love nothing at all. I think you have to hate something if you’re to love something else. When it comes to music and films, at least. Possibly ex-girlfriends, too."

“Haha.”

Her eyes twinkle with an agreement that goes beyond mere politeness. She is beautiful. Also: phew. Risk reward and all that.

Then she asks: “So other than dismissing people who don’t polarize their tastes, what‘s your hobby? What do you do to relax?”

Oh God. The question.

I can’t tell her. I won’t blow it all again for the sake of Pacman. Sure, playing games for a living and a pastime makes you a hero to every twelve-year-old boy, but the flipside is harrowing, all encompassing disdain from society at large.

The confused looks at dinner parties, the conversations cut short, the parting shot glances of pity. Not here, not now.

Sure it won’t be like this forever, but at this moment in history, saying you review games is like saying you critique Enid Blyton for a living. You are the boy who never grew up, the man-child who plays with himself (or worse still, with strangers, over the Internet) and for a woman that picture’s never going to be anything but a deeply, deeply unattractive one.

Her mind will race to the future, to when we’re married and she sits neglected, night after night, knitting on the sofa while her husband hunches cross-legged on the floor, barking orders into a headmic. Oh God. There’s me in a headmic. I am wearing a headmic and I am talking to teenagers over the Internet.

Then, the horror of the image fully digested, her mind will race back to the present and she will run far, far away and never look back.

But wait. What if I took the offensive here and, instead of mumbling apologetically into my soup about Mario and Master Chief, stood ground, raised my game and went for a conversion? Games are more than endorphins for tiny victories, right? There’s more to gaming than endless faithful model replicas of AK-47s and racing cars, surely. Where’s my ambition?

OK, let’s see. I need an argument, a pitch, a sell. Survival horror teaches us about how to cope with a scarcity of resources. Yes. That’s good. The Resident Evil series is basically an allegory for our inevitable dystopian future. Mhmm. The zombies represent nuclear meltdown and the intermittent SMG rounds and health packs are our food and clothing.

Hmm. Too much ambition, perhaps. What about MMOs? These giant social experiments teach us on a microcosmic level about our macro characteristics and challenges; they reveal the transient nature of society and the power of community via the medium of strangers coming together to beat on a swamp rat…

Er, what about Desktop Tower Defense, a game that teaches us how to simultaneously juggle the demands of the present and the future? Or Braid, whose four-dimensional puzzles are something that could only have been constructed and presented in a videogame. Surely there’s some merit in uniqueness.

Oh gosh. I am a terrible gaming evangelist. Every time I think I’m onto something my mind’s invaded by Marcus Fenix and his sweaty, homoerotic pecs, by Cloud and his implausible sword and cod-philosophy and, most poignantly, by me, in my pajamas aged nine playing Tetris on the toilet and by me, in my pajamas aged twenty-nine, playing Tetris on the toilet.

Who are we kidding? There's not one Schindler's List amongst our eight thousand Pearl Harbours. We’ve nothing of worth. Even if we do have something to say to the world, I’m not sure we’ve come close to articulating yet.

The band strikes up a melancholy carol.

Silent Night.

She’s looking up expectantly.

Holy night.

Now I don't know what to say.

All is calm.

Here goes.

“Um. I like to play video games”.

“No way! Me too.”

All is bright.

Posted by Simon Parkin at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The weekend is upon us, and in between watching slightly dodgy CG whales play volleyball on the reliably chilled Mixmasters DVDs, we're whacking through the latest RSS-impelled GameSetLinks for your reading pleasure.

Some of the notable ones in here - Tuna Technologies on the appeal of Peggle, Matthew Wasteland on the PS3's odd journey, Mark Cooke on Linger In Shadows, a cute Atlus production diary, and other things that seem to fit into our 'smart games writing you maybe didn't see' remit nowadays.

Space invaders smoking:

Serial Missteps on the Parallel Road (Magical Wasteland)
Game Developer mag columnist Matthew Wasteland wanders thigh-deep into the history of the PS3: 'One day, deep in crunch, I finally realized that PlayStation 3 games would be about as good as Xbox 360 games, in the grand scheme of things– that there were more similarities than differences in the two consoles’ relative power for typical video game software.'

g-mixer . mark cooke . blog: The significance of Linger in Shadows
Cooke on Sony's PS3 demo-scene crossover neatness: 'The two significant and unusual things about Linger in Shadows are first, that the group was funded and published by Sony, and that second there are a number of interactive elements in the demo.'

Constance Steinkuehler» Blog Archive » NYT article & funny backstory
Cute piece about stolen credit cards and gamer nerds, and not what you might think.

Tuna Snax Features - Peggle, it's a love hate thing
Intriguing design analysis of PopCap's awesome psychedelic pachinko sim: 'I’m a terrible chess player, but I’m aware of the need to look ahead, and make presumptions about actions and reactions. Peggle is not that different; it’s not a case of firing your ball at a single peg and then letting fate decide the rest, it’s about trying to direct the ball into a series of events that benefit you.'

auntie pixelante › tower re
Anna Anthropy continues to be the premiere anthropologist of the ROM hack subculture: 'Seemingly modelled after the tower that connects the earth and sky of super mario bros. 3’s fifth stage... tower re is organized into twenty floors of abstract platforming.'

Shawn Elliott: Symposium Part One: Review Scores
It's.... long. And much-discussed on the Internet already. But, as an attempt by 2K Boston AP Elliott and an all-star pundit cacophany to work out where things are going, I think it's worth looking at.

Andrew P. Mayer » Blog Archive » The Edges of the Sandbox
An interesting piece on gamers breaking through in-game boundaries: 'Gaming is about turning thoughts into action, and if you’re not keeping them busy with planned entertainments they’ll always find a way to overcome the limits of the system.'

:::: Atlus.com :::: Production Diary fun from a U.S. translator.
Amusingly twisted stuff: 'We don't have to deal with all of the headaches that a project lead has to deal with, so we are pretty stress-free. After translation is finished on one game, we get put on another project, or shred CDs in the warehouse, or dance through the aisles, so work is pretty versatile.' Via NichM.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Continuing big sister site Gamasutra's year-end retrospective, Editor At Large Chris Remo looks back on 2008's top five developers demonstrating outstanding achievement this year, from Bethesda Game Studios to Media Molecule and beyond -- also including ten honorable mentions along the way.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

Previously: 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, overlooked games, gameplay mechanics, indie games, surprises, PC games, trends, and handheld games.

Next, we'll look at this year's top five development studios and ten honorable mentions. Included developers released at least one title during the 2008 calendar year.

They also demonstrated uncommon achievement with that release and/or exhibiting significant dedication to community, innovative business models, frequently-unheralded genres, or other noteworthy areas. Only specific development teams, offices, or divisions were eligible; entire publishers were not:

Top 5 Development Studios of 2008 (listed alphabetically)

Bethesda Game Studios (Fallout 3)

As a developer, Bethesda has carved out a remarkable role for itself, spending years to create massive, open-world, single-player RPGs -- hardly a booming genre in the industry at large -- to great success, bringing a once-niche PC genre to a broad multiplatform audience.

And after over 15 years of developing its own Elder Scrolls fantasy universe, Bethesda has become the custodian of Black Isle's Fallout, successfully transitioning that legendary property into the modern era.

And continuing its tradition of delivering new material post-release as it prepares to ship new story content next year, Bethesda has made available the world editor for Fallout 3 on PC, continuing a practice it carried out for years with The Elder Scrolls Construction Set.

Media Molecule (LittleBigPlanet)

Young UK-based studio Media Molecule practically oozes enthusiasm. Founded by four Lionhead expatriots, the small studio's first game LittleBigPlanet immediately grabbed the attention of the development and enthusiast communities for its lighthearted emphasis on user-driven content and systematic focus on physics and cooperation.

Upon release, LittleBigPlanet was hailed for delivering to gamers the same powerful level creation tools used by its own designers, offering accessibility without sacrificing depth.

And Media Molecule set itself apart by creating a unrestrainedly joyous gameplay experience that somehow manages to elevate goofing around with friends (or strangers) to a level rarely seen in major game releases.

Ubisoft Montreal (Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed [PC], Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Shaun White Snowboarding, Lost: Via Domus)

With the number of titles produced by this ever-growing studio, it admittedly becomes harder and harder to single it out as one developer in the same sense as some of the other entries on this list -- and some of its 2008 releases, like Lost: Via Domus didn't exactly make the biggest splash.

But over the last decade, Ubisoft Montreal has become the crown jewel in Ubisoft's extensive development stable, and it consistently manages to turn out innovative, risky titles alongside its safer bets.

Like last year's Assassin's Creed (released this year for PC), Far Cry 2 generated strong discussion (and disagreement) among gamers due to often interesting and unusual design choices.

Employees of Ubisoft Montreal have become known for espousing the belief that it is important to attempt new types of gameplay and design systems, even if they aren't executed perfectly the first time out -- an unusual ethic for such a major division of a large, mainstream publisher.

Valve (Left 4 Dead, Portal: Still Alive)

Valve continues to be one of the shining examples of a successful independent studio that has diversified to the point that its fortunes never hinge on the success of any single major venture.

Over the last few years, it has broadened the scope of game experiences it develops, and this year delivered the creative and brilliantly executed Left 4 Dead after having picked up the game's developer Turtle Rock Studios

With Steam, Valve has invested not just in its own IP, but in PC gaming at large. On a seemingly constant basis, new developers and publishers of all sizes are signing up to the service to host their back catalogues and release new titles.

And Valve has used its growing position of influence to speak up for the virtues of the platform, becoming a visible and vocal proponent of PC development and gaming in a financially-justified way virtually no other individual studio can.

Independent Game Developers

In a year that has increasingly seen layoffs, salary reductions, and studio closures across every segment of the industry, it is worth recognizing the collective efforts of independent studios worldwide, including those not explicitly listed here.

With economic uncertainty lessening available funding and causing speculative cost reductions even as industry revenue continues to grow, those studios that continue to operate self-sufficiently, despite the difficulties and dangers often inherent to that model, deserve credit.

Development Studio Honorable Mentions (listed alphabetically)

2D Boy (World of Goo)
Atlus Co. (Persona 4, Persona 3 FES, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard)
Black Rock Studio (Pure)
Blizzard Entertainment (World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King)
Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise)
Epic Games (Gears of War 2)
Firaxis Games (Civilization IV: Colonization, Civilization: Revolution)
Ironclad Games (Sins of a Solar Empire)
Q-Games (PixelJunk Monsters, PixelJunk Eden)
Telltale Games (Sam & Max Season 2 [Episodes 2-5], Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People [Episodes 1-5])

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch-exclusive column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. This time, he is here with his own year-end round-up.]

Here is my contribution to the reflective canon, a look back at the best in things said in press releases in this fine year.

Over the past few days, I have scoured through more than 1,500 press releases, and I am certain that I have found the very best of the best.

Also, I should probably note I have excluded Mark Jacobs, as his contributions are so far and beyond anyone else that his inclusion would simply turn this into a countdown. In his absence, the top quote will be awarded an award with his namesake.

(Really, including statements like "We want any and all interested players to be able to join the ranks of Order and Destruction, regardless of location or language. The battle between Realms can only get better as more warriors join the fight for the Age of Reckoning." or "In three days the real battle begins -- we have declared September 18th the 'Day of Reckoning,' and WAR will soon be upon us!" would make things unfair.)

The Mark Jacobs Award for Corporate Communicative Achievement

“The game All Star Cheer Squad was designed with the growing number of girls on Wii and Nintendo DS in mind. We strived to deliver an authentic cheer experience for those players and believe this partnership with CoverGirl is a unique opportunity to do just that. The CoverGirl brand and its spokespeople are instantly recognizable among our target demographic and will further immerse players in the competitive cheerleading world.”
Jim Huntley, director of global brand management, THQ

Expressing approval of indoctrinating imperfection into malleable minds without inciting even the slightest indignation in the blogosphere is nothing short of top-flight cunning. If I could give this award to more than one person, I would give it to all the those in the industry—seemingly universally male—who have used their empiricism to speak on the interests of young girls. But I cannot, so I honor the sheer epitome.

Read on for the next, uhh, 49 quotes:

2. “Any band that can go from 'Don't Want to Miss A Thing' (Aerosmith's #1 smash hit) to the ass-kicking 'Sweet Emotion' to the cheekiness of 'Love in an Elevator,' to the classic ballad 'Dream On' shows why Activision chose us to headline this game based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog. Not only is songwriting a bitch, but then it goes and has puppies.”
Steven Tyler, Aerosmith

3. “This is the first time Pitchfork Media has partnered with a videogame publisher, which is exciting since we share the same dedicated passion for highlighting new artists and being involved in independent music. We've always respected their impeccable taste and no-holds-barred voice in the music industry because it complements our approach to games - we both want to push our respective industries further by supporting independent substance over mainstream smoke.”
Tim Rosa, director of brand and lifestyle marketing at 2K Sports

4. “Our goal was to create an entertaining game that also embraces the rich history of Dairy Queen and its place within the community.”
Brian Kirkvold, Executive Producer for GameMill Entertainment

5. “This is not just another run-of-the-mill, licensed Hollywood knock-off. Wheelman features revolutionary new game design mechanics like cinematic super moves and vehicular combat. Once you experience Wheelman's Vehicle Melee, you'll never want to play another driving game without it!”
Matt Booty, president and CEO, Midway

6. “Interscope has the perfect roster of gaming rock and rap artists to provide the playlist for this year’s show.”
Casey Patterson, executive producer and senior vice president of Spike TV talent development & studio relations

7. “As marketers, we’re always looking for inventive ways to keep the brand cool and relevant with our audience.”
Vinay Sharma, senior brand manager, Capri Sun

8. “No other game has over 250 feature changes and additions focused on improving core gameplay.”
David Rutter, Producer of FIFA Soccer 09 on the PLAYSTATION 3 system and Xbox 360

9. “What surprised me about Deadly Creatures is how it looks...like watching a movie. The scorpion and tarantula are like two actors meeting up for a gun fight.”
Billy Bob Thornton

10. “His experience in portraying tormented characters on-screen translates incredibly well to the tortured character of Hayden Tenno in Dark Sector, a true anti-hero who makes no excuses for his actions. The combination of his voice talent and the compelling storyline of Dark Sector will offer a truly immersive experience for players.”
Peter Andrew, vice president of product development, D3PA

11. “The game gets players jamming through the decades of rock 'n' roll alongside era-defining artists such as Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bon Jovi, R.E.M. and Queen.”
Dusty Welch, SVP and Head of Publishing for Guitar Hero Franchise at RedOctane

12. “Activision's brands are at the forefront of entertainment and popular culture today, and this opportunity is a perfect match for my creative philosophy and approach, which is to truly engage and inspire consumers in new ways delivering compelling content which people actively engage in – mirroring the success of Activision's core business today.”
Brad Jakeman, Chief Creative Officer, Activision

13. “Blood on the Sand has non-stop action and exclusive music tracks from me and the G-Unit that you won't find anywhere else. Plus our fans will be able to play together with online co-op, and maybe even join me or one of the G-Unit online.”
50 Cent

14. “What would Monster Jam fans do if they could unleash the raw power of the world's biggest and baddest monster trucks in an urban setting, however they liked? Monster Jam: Urban Assault is our attempt to answer this question. We are confident Monster Jam fans and all gamers will enjoy doing things like crushing a NYC cab or smashing through one of London's famous double-decker buses.”
Dave Oxford, Activision

15. “‘You’re in the Movies’ gets you off the couch and into a rich, interactive movie experience for movie lovers everywhere, exclusively for Xbox 360. Xbox LIVE is home to the best movie games, more than 400 high-definition movies available for download, and with the New Xbox Experience, Xbox LIVE now offers thousands of instantly watchable films from Netflix, including over 300 in high definition.”
John Schappert, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment LIVE, Software and Services Business at Microsoft Corp

16. “Madden NFL Football and Brett Favre are sports icons who have set the standard and revolutionized their positions within their respective genres.”
Madden NFL Executive Producer Dale Jackson

17.“We know that Guitar Hero fans love David Cook and David Archuleta too. So, for us, these ads were about delivering two fan-favorites in a fun and memorable way. And with a creative director like Brett [Ratner], it was a perfect match that could be made only in Hollywood.”
Robert Kotick, Chairman and CEO, Activision

18. “Our relationship with EA has been instrumental in bringing the Nissan brand to a passionate and unique audience. By launching the all-new 2009 Nissan Z(R) first through Need for Speed Undercover, we also gain the spirit and energy that EA gamers experience so strongly. Together with EA, we have truly integrated the all-new 370Z in the overall game experience in a meaningful, multi-layered and profound way.”
Christian Meunier, Vice President, Nissan Marketing

19. “As part of the LITTLEST PET SHOP game development process, we conducted extensive focus group testing, which tapped the insights of more than 1,000 young girls. The feedback was loud and clear -- girls want games that better suit their interests and gameplay styles. We're truly excited to deliver LITTLEST PET SHOP to this demographic as we know that it will meet girls' wishes and demands on so many fronts from the rich graphics and animations that bring the pets to life to the exciting adventures and mini-games that will keep them exploring, collecting, nurturing and playing for hours.”
Chip Lange, General Manager and Vice President of EA Casual Entertainment

20. “Working with the PS3 System Software, R&D and game development teams at Sony Computer Entertainment, we made a great effort to develop the most compelling headset for the PS3 community and are excited to bring it to market with the launch of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation. With the new headset, we were able to implement new game features such as proximity chat which utilizes high quality voice chat play back within the game in full surround sound with reverb and sound occlusion to match all of the sound effects and VO in the game; providing players with the most immersive voice chat experience seen in any game title.”
Seth Luisi, director of development, SCEA

21. “To our team the original game was just a tease, the appetizer to the ‘Gears of War’ characters and new style of gameplay. We were so amped to get to the next chapter, and dig deeper into the universe of this franchise. ‘Gears of War 2’ is an even bigger, better, and more badass experience than the first game, and we can’t wait to get it in the hands of eager gamers this November.”
Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer for Epic Games

22. “Gamers have come to expect a certain level of realism in video games and by collaborating with key brands in the industry we're able to deliver with Guitar Hero World Tour. With the most advanced wireless instrument controllers, the in-game likeness of multiple multi-platinum recording artists and authentic on-stage gear, the game offers the ultimate rock and roll experience.”
Dave Anderson, Head of Business Development for Activision

23. “The cops and robbers mode will thrust players into adrenaline-pumping battles as they utilize the Heroic Driving Engine to deliver or prevent the delivery of the package to the safe house.”
Bill Harrison, Executive Producer at Black Box

24. “Imagine being rushed by an eight-foot tall, nine hundred pound grizzly bear. You are not thinking about stuffing the bear and placing it in your mountain cabin. Your only instinct is avoiding death.”
Dave Oxford, Activision

25. “We were looking for a left-of-center band to connect with a great soundtrack opportunity, and From First To Last is the ideal act to showcase in this game. Add in their new album, their upcoming Warped Tour appearances and a few surprises still to come, and you've a 360 degree partnership that totally 'gets it'. Simply put, we've matched the new with the new like never before. The dual impact of FaceBreaker and FFTL is going to be undeniable.”
Steve Schnur, worldwide executive of music and marketing at Electronic Arts

26. “The popularity of music rhythm games is at an all time high, but to date the games have primarily featured hard core metal, classic and alternative rock music. With popular songs from today’s top pop artists, PopStar Guitar is a game the whole family can enjoy. We’ve also created a dynamic new air guitar game play experience with our AirG peripheral for the Wii, allowing players to have a blast as they unleash their inner pop star.”
Steve Grossman, chief executive officer of XS Games

27. “I was stoked when EA committed to putting our etnies Goofy vs. Regular event in their new game! GvR is one the best skate contests of the year and has created some of the most hype and friction over the past 5 years.”
Don Brown, senior vice president of marketing for Sole Technology and goofy footed skateboarder

28. “As an artist, Wyclef Jean is a great match for the PlayStation brand, and SCEA is excited about working with him on this music video because it showcases our platforms in an organic way that's relevant to our audience.”
Peter Dille, senior vice president, marketing and PLAYSTATION®Network, SCEA

29. “Ubisoft Montreal and I have worked together for over two years to create something I would be proud to put my name on. I feel like we’ve captured the true essence of the action sports lifestyle and brought it to players around the world.”
Shaun White

30. “Players will get the chance to reap the spoils of war this summer as they annihilate the enemy and search for gold in the dark, character-driven, single player storyline while returning Battlefield fans will love the intense and vehicle-heavy multiplayer.”
Karl-Magnus Troedsson, Senior Producer for Battlefield: Bad Company

31. “For Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue, we've created an entirely new interactive experience for preschoolers that is only possible on the Wii. Nickelodeon's intensive study of how two through six-year-olds experience the new technologies offered by the Wii helped us create an all-new play pattern that extends beyond current games. Physical activity is an integral part of the fun and the new title is perfectly suited for the younger gamer.”
Steve Lux, Vice President of Business Development for 2K Play

32. “My Horse and Me is a great success story for Atari as it brought something special to equestrian gamers with its realistic depiction of the horse riding lifestyle. We are taking the realism and entertainment of the original game even further with the sequel. Our goal is to establish My Horse and Me 2 as the leading equestrian gaming brand and give players the most authentic and entertaining way to enjoy the horse riding lifestyle in a game.”
Cyril Voiron, VP Brand Management, Worldwide Publishing, Atari

33. “God of War is one of the biggest PlayStation franchises, and with its portable premiere on PSP just around the corner, we wanted to offer something special that would appeal to both loyal God of War fans and non-owners who want to enjoy PSP’s multi-functionality. This bundle delivers great value, starting with the ‘Deep Red’ PSP – one of the most highly sought-after colors based on our consumer research – and the Kratos silkscreen. We’re also showcasing the diverse entertainment experience PSP offers, centered on a UMD game in God of War: Chains of Olympus that’s every bit as impressive as its console sequels, a free download of the award-winning Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, and a box office hit movie in Superbad.”
Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President, Product Marketing, SCEA

34. “The Ener-G games will not only satisfy parents, but they also give tween girls a new outlet through which they can express their creativity and love for sports.”
Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft North America

35. “We are excited that Eco-Creatures now joins the ranks of Cooking Mama, Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends and Cake Mania as a phenomenal game launching with the support of a great demo available through the Nintendo kiosk program. We are confident that anyone who tries Eco-Creatures will be compelled to pick up the full version once it ships and help save the world from ecological disaster.”
Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco

36. “Set on a vast oil-rich island, located off the eastern coast of Russia, north of Japan, Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising’s fiction occurs during a time of tension between Russia and China over the island’s disputed ownership. The game will open as Chinese forces launch an offensive and, referencing the title, as the dragon rises over the island, players will find themselves in a situation that is set to flare up into a flashpoint like never before.”
Andrew Wafer, Brand Manager for Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, at Codemasters

37. “Need for Speed Undercover features a deep and engaging story of spectacular Hollywood-style live-action that will transport players into the fictional world of the Tri-City Bay Area. Working with talent the caliber of Maggie Q allows us to deliver an unparalleled level of storytelling that will keep players engaged in between 180-mile an hour races.”
Bill Harrison, Need for Speed Undercover Executive Producer

38. “This is a new and highly innovative use of dynamic in-game advertising and really demonstrates the creativity and marketing power of this medium.”
Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive

39. “Mama has become a certifiable icon since her original introduction in Cooking Mama DS. Her first brand offshoot captures those features that made the Cooking Mama series a best seller--an innovative concept, full Touch Screen control, approachable gameplay for everyone and, of course, a charismatic mentor who pushes you in her own endearing way to give a gold medal performance every time.”
Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco

40. “We created a very deep piece of fiction for the game and really pushed the boundaries on the violence, gore and psychological terror needed to produce a high quality horror entertainment product. We think that people will love the universe that we created and have a lot of fun with strategic dismemberment.”
Glen Schofield, Executive Producer on Dead Space

41. “Our goal was to create the ultimate digital game closet of favorite board games that would rally families to gather, play and make memories together. Hasbro Family Game Night is a video game that people can gift with pride and is sure to become a family tradition right alongside tossing the football after the big holiday meal.”
Chip Lange, EA Hasbro Vice President and General Manager

42. “Xbox LIVE is the world’s fastest-growing online social network on TV.”
John Schappert, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment LIVE, Software and Services Business at Microsoft

43. “We are excited to inject the marketplace with Haze and its Nectar-driven twist on the classic shooter genre. Today, gamers everywhere can fight the good fight as they get their hands on the next big PLAYSTATION 3 system exclusive shooter.”
Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft

44. “This has always been a game with global underground credibility, and our responsibility is to always take its music to the next level. For FIFA Street 3 we've created a soundtrack that digs deep into hardcore electronic culture, bringing together the genre's most radical breakthrough artists from more than a dozen countries. It's more than just the world sound of the streets; it's the sound of FIFA Street.”
Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Music Marketing at EA

45. “Although an incredibly successful PC genre, the hunt and find adventure category has yet to be introduced on Wii. Escape the Museum's online success coupled with category opportunity and an attractive price point make this an ideal title to bring to market.”
Liz Buckley, Director of Marketing, Majesco

46. “Sonic and the Black Knight is a stunning adventure into an epic land and story that no gamer can resist. Gamers will experience all the excitement of mastering a sword and true knighthood, as well as the classic, speedy, 2D/3D gaming action that Sonic is famous for.”
Sean Ratcliffe, Vice President of Marketing, SEGA of America

47. “Bangai-O Spirits was named Best DS Shooter of E3 2008 by IGN.com, and was nominated for Best Nintendo DS Game of E3 2008 by GameTrailers.com. This is a high quality game.”
Bill Anker, vice president of business and licensing, D3Publisher

48. “The fundamental link between video games and music, namely the emphasis on creative spirit, is something that cannot be ignored. By developing this contest, with Korn and our partners at GameTrailers, we have found a way to let amateurs try their hand at playing producer, and really bring their passion for both industries to light. We’re looking forward to seeing the submissions and anticipate having to make a tough decision in declaring a winner.”
Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft

49. “There is a rich history to the Civil War, especially in terms of covert military tactics. American warfare in the 1860's was brutal yet surprisingly sophisticated, so it was essential for us to capture this duality.”
Dave Oxford, Activision

50. “We're already deep in development on Project RedLime and the team at EA is giving us the time we need to perfect our vision. We're excited to bring a new perspective and gameplay innovation to this beloved fiction.”
Johan Kristiansson, CEO of Starbreeze Studios

Disagree with any of my choices? Anything I overlooked? Please opine in the comments.

[Alex Litel can be reached at alexlitel@gmail.com and occasionally found at alexlitel.blogspot.com. His intent is to celebrate, not mock.]

Posted by Alex Litel at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days, as well as any notable features on his sister 'state of indie' weblog.]

This week on 'Best Of Indie Games', we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week.

The delights in this edition include a time-management game from Flashbang Studios, an original game with C64-style sprites and music, a remake of The Graveyard, a puzzle game inspired by Daniel Benmergui's I Wish I Were the Moon, and a visual novel recommendation by colleague Brandon Sheffield.

Here are the picks:

Game Pick: 'Devil Ronin' (Howard Kistler, freeware)
"An original C64-style game created for the Retro Remakes 2008 competition, where players assume control over a rebel oni who has sided with humanity and seeks to rid Japan of the demon scourge plaguing the entire country. This will involve travelling from one prefecture to another as he makes his way north for the final showdown with the Demon Shogun."

Game Pick: 'Minotaur China Shop' (Flashbang Studios, browser)
"A new physics-based time management game from the folks who made Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Jetpack Brontosaurus. In it, players can choose to either serve the needs of their customers by fetching the goods they request for, or destroy as many fragile objects in the shop as they can before the local enforcement arrives to arrest our protagonist for misbehaviour."

Game Pick: 'I Fell in Love With The Majesty of Colors' (Gregory Weir, browser)
"A short puzzle game created by GameSetWatch columnist Gregory Weir, where players can arrive at any of the five separate endings by experimenting with different action (or inaction) for each scene."

Game Pick: 'The Eggyard' (Yxxa Zu and Monochrome, freeware)
"A single-screen art game mashup of Custer's Revenge featuring Dizzy as the main character. In it, players attempt to guide our old buddy to the end of a short level without being hit by coffins falling from the sky."

Game Pick: 'Crimsoness' (Porn, freeware)
"A visual novel which tells the story of a girl with plenty of bottled up rage caused by pressure of studies. A tense exam pushes her over the edge, and players are given a total of three minutes to help our protagonist with crucial decisions on how to go about wrecking havoc in her school premises."

Posted by timw at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Yep, we're still going with big sister site Gamasutra's year-end retrospective, and this time, our own Eric Caoili looks back on 2008's best handheld games across all portable platforms -- from The World Ends With You to Patapon -- along with ten notable handheld titles that get honorable mentions.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

Previously: 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, overlooked games, gameplay mechanics, indie games, surprises, PC games, and trends.

Next, we'll look at this year's top five handheld games and ten honorable mentions, the portable titles that managed to overcome their small-screen limitations to steal a big chunk of our time. The games picked are the editor's choice, and are chosen from the handheld titles released in North America during 2008's calendar year to date.

Here are our choices:

5. The World Ends With You (Square Enix/Jupiter, DS)

On a system that seems to receive a new forgettable Japanese RPG every other week, it's invigorating to see an original title like The World Ends With You, a game unique not only in its modern Shibuya (Tokyo district) setting and character designs, but in its story, which serves as a commentary on Japanese youth and hikikomori.

And it's from Square Enix, no less -- a studio recognized by most for its reliance on rehashes and spin-offs of established franchises, not for its catalog of peculiar and risky titles, which is an apt description for TWEWY. And while it's a surprise to see such an oddball title from the Final Fantasy publisher, it's even more astonishing that the company brought such an overtly Japanese game stateside.

TWEWY's bizarre combat system alone demonstrates how much effort the studios must have put into the game to make everything work -- players have to manage battles on two screens with two different input methods, also yelling into the oft-maligned microphone for some attacks. This shouldn't be fun at all, but somehow, it's one of the most enjoyable experiences on the Nintendo DS.

4. Aurora Feint (Danielle Cassley/Jason Citron, iPhone)

The most common reaction you'll see from players who've downloaded and played Aurora Feint -- besides mistaken accusations of the game acting as spyware -- is their surprise that this downloadable title is available for free.

Created in ten weeks by only two programmers, this addictive hybrid of RPG elements and Panel de Pon/Bejeweled-styled puzzles is more than just an iPhone clone of Infinite Interactive's Puzzle Quest; Aurora Feint's emphasis is on crafting instead of battling fantasy monsters. The game also adds an interesting twist to the formula by using the iPhone's accelerometer to tilt the board and puzzle pieces, as well as the system's multi-touch capabilities for pulling in additional puzzle blocks.

The game's more ambitious but less free follow-up, Aurora Feint II: The Arena, released just a month ago, adds new classes, leaderboards, and "asynchronous" player vs. player dueling. Gamers who prefer the original, however, can look forward to an inexpensive upcoming update adding chat and social networking features.

3. Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (Chunsoft, DS)

Considered by many in the know to be the finest Eastern-developed roguelike, Shiren the Wanderer finally made its way to the States after enjoying 13 years and now eight releases in Japan. This is probably one of the most hardcore and niche titles on any platform -- certainly a lot less accessible and yielding than its Pokémon Mystery Dungeon counterparts -- but someone had to give Shiren its due (and properly thank Sega for bringing over this game that hardly anyone bought)!

Though insanely difficult, punishing heedless adventurers at every turn and sending them back to the beginning town without any of their equipment or XP, Shiren is also immensely rewarding to those who can survive the game's trap-filled dungeons and monster-choked corridors. You'll need the resourcefulness of MacGyver, the preparation of Batman, and the prescience of Ender Wiggin just to make your way to the main dungeon's final boss, but you'll also feel as accomplished as all three of those fictional heroes when you finally get there.

2. Patapon (Pyramid/Japan Studios, PSP)

Part RPG, part real-time strategy game, and part rhythm game, Patapon is absolutely adorable, from its chanting, peppy eponymous tribe, to their catchy "pata-pata-pata-pon"s sung as they march towards enemies and intimidatingly large bosses.

Despite its jaunty characters and inviting, silhouetted environments, the game can be exceedingly difficult, demanding that players time their button presses perfectly to the beat for several minutes at a time, and that they watch out for subtle visual cues from enemies and their tribe to decide whether to retreat, defend, or attack.

Like Shiren, though, mastering the art of commanding your troops with simple drumbeats, and then successfully leading them against their mighty foes brings a cheerful sense of reward that will have players tapping their foot along with their tribe's steps.

1. Space Invaders Extreme (Taito/Gulti, DS/PSP)

It was a big year for Space Invaders; celebrating its 30th anniversary, the franchise went extreme, got even, and made plans to further mutate with an Infinity Gene.

As with Namco Bandai's 2007 re-vamp Pac-Man CE, Space Invaders Extreme retains all the fun and challenge of the original arcade game, but modernizes it with a stirring techno soundtrack, clever boss fights, an interesting power-up/level-up system, new enemy types, and branching stages.

While the game is excellent on both the PSP and Nintendo DS, we prefer the latter version for its online multiplayer and leaderboards, support of the import-only paddle controller, more pleasing soundtrack, Mr. Esc (from Exit) cameos, and single-cart multiplayer. An Xbox Live Arcade release is also planned for next year with four-player co-op in the arcade mode and with background visualizers created by Llamasoft's Jeff Minter (Space Giraffe).

Finally, honorable mentions for some of our favorite handheld games in 2008 that didn't quite reach the top five go to: Soul Bubbles, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Trism, Lock's Quest, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Princess Debut, and Bangai-O Spirits.

[Do you agree or disagree with these picks? Feel free to comment below. We'll pick the best reader comments on each list for our final retrospective, to debut on Gamasutra close to the holidays.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section, including positions from Rockstar San Diego, Mind Control Software, Namco Networks America, ArenaNet, and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Gamasutra.com - Game Industry Jobs

Rockstar San Diego: Animation Programmer
"Rockstar San Diego is looking for an energetic programmer to help increase the features and capabilities of its animation technologies as a member of RAGE, Rockstar's cross studio central technology team. RAGE develops the proprietary engine and shared technologies used across Rockstar for its Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC titles. The RAGE technology and special support from the RAGE team have powered Grand Theft Auto IV, Table Tennis and Midnight Club Los Angeles."

Mind Control Software: Community Manager
"We are a rapidly growing, award winning game developer, looking for an experienced community manager who is ready to take the lead on building a top-notch virtual community from the ground up. If you love to build virtual communities and keep up-to-date with the latest emerging social communication technologies, we look forward to hearing from you."

Microsoft Game Studios: Software Development Engineer
"The Xbox division is continuously looking for the next great end-to-end experiences that will (re)define gaming and on-demand entertainment in the future. Would you like to be part of the team that is actively looking for those experiences? The Xbox Incubation team is looking for a seasoned, Senior SDE that will help us find that experience."

WorldsInMotion - Online Game Jobs

ArenaNet: Senior-Level Graphics Programmer
"ArenaNet, located in Bellevue, WA, is a wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft Corporation and is the creator of the block-buster RPG, Guild Wars. ArenaNet has built a state-of-the-art, interactive game network and develops premier multiplayer online games for dedicated game players. ArenaNet's first title, Guild Wars, is a global online role-playing game that allows gamers to play with anyone, anytime and anywhere in the world."

GamesOnDeck - Mobile Game Jobs

Namco Networks America: Senior Game Designer - PC and Online Games
"Namco Networks America is looking for experienced Senior Designers with the desire to create games for the ever-expanding casual PC and mobile markets. The Senior Designer will be required to form the "vision" for the game and communicate that vision to the entire team. An important part of the role is ensuring that the team has a clear understanding of their specific goals and the implementation of their work."

Serious Games Source - Serious Game Jobs

Total Immersion Software: Lead Tools/C# Programmer
"We are looking for highly skilled, self-starters to help build our next generation technology and product offerings. Our platform engine, RealWorld, will enable us to develop AAA titles with unprecedented speed and realism. The cutting edge technology that is the focus of our development empowers us to create blockbuster titles in the entertainment and serious game markets."

To browse hundreds of similar jobs, and for more information on searching, responding to, or posting game industry-relevant jobs to the top source for jobs in the business, please visit Gamasutra's job board now.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['Pixel Journeys' is a new GameSetWatch-exclusive monthly column by @Play creator John Harris, discussing games with unusual design attributes that have lessons to teach modern game designers.]

Subject: dnd, a.k.a. "The Game of Dungeons," a remarkably devious game that also happens to be one of the first computer RPGs made.

Welcome class, if you'll be seated....

Before we discuss the game of dnd, allow me to describe the old networked computer system known as PLATO. It's strange, really, how little-known it is today*. While UNIX systems, buoyed by the strength of its foremost ambassadors Linux and FreeBSD, are, numerically-speaking, more popular than they've ever been, its early contemporary PLATO lies mostly forgotten except by those who used the system in the day.

PLATO systems did many things that most PC users didn't get until 1993 or later. Online bulletin boards? Had them, in the form of notesfiles. Email? Personal notes. Chat? Talk-o-Matic. Instant messages? Term-Talk. MMORPGs? Surprisingly many, most of them older than MUD.

Our focus this month is not a MMORPG, but it is an RPG, one of the first computer RPGs ever created. It is called dnd, and if its title seems a little generic, it should be remembered that, at the latest, its first version was created in 1974, the same year Dungeons & Dragons itself saw publication.

Introduction

(NOTE: Some of this information comes from the dnd history file, which its author Dirk Pellett states may be incorrect in places. I have not found anything to contradict the information stated here.)

dnd is not, to be clear, the first computer RPG. According to the creators of the game and the regulars on cyber1, an emulated PLATO system that accepts new users to this day, that game may well have been called "m199h." Its title was likely selected to be inconspicuous. Most PLATO systems were used for educational purposes in that day, so administrators frowned upon non-educational uses. A number of dungeon games were created, created by users with authoring access, and as soon as their existence became known to administrators they would be deleted. This is why we don't have a copy of m199h.

dnd's history file has it that soon after m199h's disappearance another game was written called pedit5. It, too, was deleted, but a copy was saved and eventually restored. It is often hazardous to make assertions, in gaming, about what came first; recently, it became known that Dungeons & Dragons itself may not have been the first "role-playing game," although that term probably didn't even find currency until a later printing of Basic D&D. But given the age of both computer gaming and D&D at the time, it seems safe to say that pedit5 is the oldest computer role-playing game which survives to this day.

dnd also hails from that age. It was probably written in the same year as pedit5. The version described here is dnd5, which is not the most recent version. (That's the considerably more advanced dnd8, which is interesting for its own sake, but not the focus of this article.) It is the closest we have to the game's creation, however.

For starters, you have to create a character. This is a matter of sitting and watching a column of five numbers, pressing a key repeatedly until they meet your approval. Rerolling has been part of D&D since the beginning, and admittedly it kind of sucks. dnd's dungeon is an incredibly, ridiculously hazardous environment, so even a character with all 18s (the highest stat) will die very soon unless played carefully, but if the player knows what to do it'll make the dungeon more survivable in the long run.

The stats in the game are Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity and Hits. Hits is the easiest stat to raise (slight understatement there, you'll see), but Strength can be increased by drinking the right sort of potions. The only method for raising the others can also lower them, so it's for the best if they're as high as possible beforehand.

When a character enters the dungeon for the first time, he is immediately in grave danger. At this point, fighting a single monster will almost certainly leave him with so few hits that another fight will kill him. He also begins with one magic spell, and one cleric spell. (The player knows all spells at the start of the game, but only has one use of each type.)

Fighting in the game is a matter of choosing to evade, fight, cast magic or cast clerical. If magic or clerical is used, the player also gets to decide which spell is cast. That is the extent of player interaction; if the spell doesn't kill the opponent, then its remaining hits are put up against the player's in a fight. This also happens if he fails in an evade attempt.

Then the player automatically takes damage relative to the monster's remaining strength, and if he isn't dead at this point, the monster is slain. It's a very quick system, which helps greatly in maintaining the game's incredibly rapid flow, which allows fights to end in seconds. No load times, no protracted engagements, no fuss. Not much strategy either, but the pacing, at least, is excellent.

Back to our starter character. With a few hits and his two spells, he has enough resources to handle three monsters, maybe four if he's lucky in his first fight. Healing in the dungeon is extremely rare and not to be relied upon, and the torrent of monsters is often unceasing. In the maze featured on cyber1 (different installations of the game had different maps, editable by the operator), there is an exit near the entrance although it must be searched for. Exiting the dungeon heals the player and restores his spells, a vital resource to the player in this phase of the game.

To say that characters tend to die a lot is an understatement. Probably more than 90% of dnd characters die in this phase. In order to become more survivable, the player has to do one of these things: find a magic item, collect 4,000 gold pieces, or get 10,000 experience points. The first is rare, and is likely to be trapped and do far more damage to him than he has to spare at this stage. The other two, at the rate a new character is earning them, a few steps at a time, will take a while.

(Keep in mind, all this assumes that the player knows of the exit. The dungeon doesn't change between plays, but neither is it mapped out for him beforehand. It's usually a good dozen or so deaths, including a few inadvertent, fatal forays into level 2, before a good route is found.)

There is a shortcut to character improvement. Once in a while on one of those jaunts the player will find a treasure chest. If it's trapped, opening it will probably kill the player, but if it's not then he'll be the recipient of a veritable windfall of loot, possibly over 20,000 gold pieces and a good amount of experience to boot. Two or three of these, and the player will nearly be able to tackle the whole first level without much danger.

Why are these things important? Gold isn't used to buy anything; it's basically just a score, a measure of achievement, but every 4,000 pieces harvested from the dungeon earns the player one additional maximum hit point. Also, every 10,000 pieces grants another max magic spell, and 16,000 is worth another cleric spell. So that 20,000 windfall is worth three more spells, and thus another three monsters that can be killed each trip.

It also adds another five hits to the player's total, maybe enough to get in a second fight. The experience is also useful; it reduces fight damage and makes spells more powerful per every 10,000 earned, shortening the time before the player can explore deeper levels.

But it would be dishonest to sugarcoat the fact: getting started in dnd is one of the hardest things I've ever seen in an RPG. Until that lucky chest is stumbled upon, only the slightest of trips through the dungeon can be risked. But the tremendous severity of the start makes the next phase incredibly gratifying. You see, that 4,000 gold price for a maximum hit point? That never increases. Throughout the entire game, every 4,000 gold taken through a dungeon exit is another maximum hit point, with no known limit.

On the first level of the dungeon, the player might find up to 60 gold in a single pile, and visiting every space may net around 900. On the second level, piles go up to around 260. On the third, they can be over a thousand. Gold values keep going up like that throughout the 20-level dungeon. On level six, piles of over 10,000 are common, enough for two maximum hits all by itself, and there are many piles to be found.

After sweating through the game to get that first hit point, being able to find 12,000 or more in a single trip, and getting 30 hits from it, is a wonderful feeling. People remark upon Disgaea's powergaming design, but it has nothing at all on dnd, written way back in 1974; winning characters often have tens of thousands of hit points. Spell costs similarly don't increase, but their capacities are limited at 25 each.

There is another interesting dynamic at work in this game, one that helps to rein in the ever-escalating rise in hit points: the monsters "know" how much gold the player is carrying on his trip through the dungeon. As the player begins to collect loot on a foray through the vaults, the monsters get harder. The more gold the player is carrying, the harder the monsters become.

Magic spells, if chosen well and the player's stats are good, can wipe out most monsters, but eventually opponent levels will rise so high that even spells won't destroy them outright. Exiting the dungeon resets both the gold carried total and the monster difficulty, but as the player delves deeper and finds even stronger monsters and bigger piles of gold, the onslaught becomes ever more perilous.

Part of this is the result of the player's own expectations. If you have 18 hits (the most you can roll up at the start) then even one additional is a good advantage, and the cost of a single additional hit point never rises. But when the player has 600 hits, gaining one more isn't so useful. The marginal utility of each additional hit point is less than the previous one.

In the same way, a player with 600 hits will find 30 more a good improvement, but a player with 6,000 not as much. The more impatient the player is with his growth, the sooner he'll wish to dive to the lower levels, but tougher monsters hang out there. Conversely, he can play it safe by lingering longer on the upper levels. The balance between the player's impatience with his character's advancement and the strength of the monsters he faces, the dive into danger and greater rewards vs. the frightened cower, this is at the core of dnd5.

Also serving to limit the truckloads of loot the player can bring in are the hard spell caps (25 each), the fact that carrying lots of gold decreases the player's evasion ability, and that he can't carry more than 100,000 times his strength at once. Although with a bag of holding that figure goes up a hundred-fold, allowing the exponential rise to continue a bit longer, it doesn't prolong it indefinitely.

In most cases, the most spells the player can ever have is 25 of each. They're good for more than safely killing monsters in one shot, too. One magic spell can be expended to cast a passwall spell. When one of those trecherous objects is found, the player can get a chance to identify if it's dangerous or not at the cost of one cleric spell. (They should not be touched unless the player knows they're safe, for the damage done by booby-trapped items skyrockets deeper into the dungeon.)

At the cost of two magic spells and one cleric, the player can attempt to teleport one level up or down. This is the kind of thing that should only be used when the player is relatively safe, or in the direst of emergencies, since one time in ten it'll send him a level in the wrong direction instead.

At some point, the player will have to content with the logistics of a dive to level 20. That's where the Orb is, guarded by the Dragon. The instructions state that the Dragon can do up to 100,000 hits to the player, but that he can choose to cast a "dragon" spell at it, killing it instantly but at the cost of most of his magic, leaving him to make a dangerous trek up the maze without most of his arsenal.

Plus, when the Orb is finally collected, the dungeon residents go into overdrive, meaning those spells will quickly become necessary. The player can choose to drop the Orb at any time, resetting the opposition to its base difficulty, but then the player will have to go back and fight the Dragon again to get another one.

Does this sound to you like a game people would obsess over? How much play do you think such a game got back in the heady days immediately after Dungeons & Dragons hit the national scene?

A groupnote from Dirk Pellett provides some perspective. The backup tape off of which dnd5 was scavenged also bore the game's record of how many times it had been played. Its counter listed over two million games since it was first made available on PLATO. Keep in mind, this only counts plays on that installation, and PLATO, although popular among those who knew about it, never had what one might call a wide release. And this backup was not the last; it's certain it rang up many additional games after the backup had been made.

Of course the great majority of those games ended before obtaining their first 4,000 gold pieces, but according to Pellett, over 150 characters were registered on the backup tape's victory board. The game on cyber1 now has been running since May 21, 2008, and at this moment has registered 40,200 games and seven victories. (I personally remember it being less than 40,000 last week; it's possible many of those games are mine.)

Nowadays, the bright lustre has worn off of the bare concept of a dungeon exploration game, for the general gaming public at least. Adventurers no longer stalk dark corridors with no aim other than personal enrichment; they must always have some quest now, usually involving saving a world, which means it's never "just" a dungeon anymore, it's always some dire demonic place. The stakes have increased, all in honor of the dark god immersion.

Yet, put bluntly, most RPGs' attempts at immersion suck. What they have for stories would only make it into print as the worst trash fantasy, and their basic design shows less thought than games like dnd5 showed mere months after the release of D&D's original boxed set. There is sometimes a sense that they are chasing a false idol, abandoning strong design for flashy effects, and probably overuse of the word "corruption." Playing dnd5 may first seem like reaching one's hand into a box of snakes, but it is certainly an educational experience.

What can we learn from dnd5?

First, that an amazingly old game can still have the potential to be interesting. Computer games don't get much older than this, yet it's still possible to enjoy it. Back in its day, it was known to be extraordinarily addictive. Its graphics may have been lapped repeatedly in the race towards photo-realism, but gameplay does not go obsolete.

Second, it teaches us the joy of manual mapping. The ultimate fun of mapping, I believe, is that of personal creation. To use one's wits to produce a document with which to conquer a game, then getting use out of it. The rise of GameFAQs has done much to destroy this joy, but the mazes of the dnd games can be edited by the operator, which may help to keep the game interesting over longer periods.

Third, it has a deceptively elegant set of limits. When the player discovers that gold values increase exponentially and there is no limit to the maximum number of hit points he gets the sense that the game is broken and sets about taking advantage of it. (There are few joys in life greater than exploiting such an advantage.)

But it's not broken at all: the spell caps, the carrying limits, and especially the monster power increase in response to carried gold all serve to check the meteoric rise to godhood. The modern approach to this would be to just lower gold values, or increase the amount needed to gain hit points, showing that, while the time developers spend on graphics has skyrocketed, they spend far less time in cooking up the rules.

Fourth, and the secret source of the entertainment it provides, is that old human failing: it rides heavily on the urge to gamble. That's what dnd5, and original Dungeons & Dragons, basically are all about. Every trip is a risk, every additional pile of gold raises the stakes and the chances that the next monster will be too strong to beat. Will the magic book increase a stat, or lower it, or even inflect Massive Damage? There is no way to know! (Actually it may be too much of a gamble.

Later versions of dnd give the player more ways to detect if an object laying on the floor is useful or booby-trapped, and I can't say that's a bad thing.) One of the most iconic D&D items is that potent slayer of PCs, the Deck of Many Things, which is simply a deck of cards, each with its own effect. There is no strategy to that, its just a spin of the wheel, either amazing riches or sudden, permanent death. The rational approach to that situation is to not draw, for no possible reward can make up for dying. but really, who in such a situation will fail to pull a card? Casinos exist on that margin, the irrationality of man. dnd rests there too, but no money is lost in its playing, just the life of an imaginary person.

Supplemental information

If you'd like to try this game, or the rather more complex (and strategically interesting) later version, dnd8, up until May of this year you would have been out of luck. It was only on May 16th that both games were rescued from oblivion.

Even so, the only known playable copy of these games is on the cyber1 system, an emulated PLATO server which offers free accounts for the asking. There it is available for play, along with a number of other interesting games from the earliest days of computer gaming, including a few of those early MMORPGs. (The most popular of these is avatar, which still sees somewhat frequent play today.)

Registration for an account can be done here. Keep in mind, new registrations are processed on weekends, and since they're all handled manually it may be some days before yours is approved.

* In actuality, it's not really that strange how obscure PLATO is. Unix's current popularity can be tied, in large part, to the success of Linux and other free work-alikes. PLATO systems have no such work-alike. The only emulator of its hardware appears to be dtCyber, on which cyber1 runs. I have heard it is open source but the extravagant licensing fees on its website speaks against that possibility.

Posted by John Harris at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, you may have noticed a slight lack of GameSetLinks this week, and plenty of cross-posting, to boot. This is because I've been at the Global Online Game Awards in South Korea, and only just got back yesterday.

There will be a picture-laden 'this is what South Korea is about re: gaming' post in due course, but in the meantime, we'll be massively catching up on RSS feeds. Thus, here's some transitional links, including Takahashi, soundtracks, Carroll prescience, and lots more.

Hat brim top:

EA: Henry Hatsworth official website
The downloads section for Kyle Gray's 'indie'-ish EA Tiburon DS title (pictured!) has the entire OST available for download, a GSW reader points out - v.neat!

Noby Noby Boy Preview for the PS3 from 1UP.com
Keita Takahashi is as clipped as ever, but hey, it's interesting. Namco aren't exactly gonna make much money off this title with 3+ years of development and being sold for <$10, tho!

chewing pixels » The Best Games Writing of 2008: Part 1
GSW columnist Simon Parkin's excellent, heartfelt thoughts on the best game writing this year - here's Part 2.

NeoGAF - View Single Post - Gamasutra's top 5 surprises of 2008
The interesting part of this thread points out that Reflexive/Amazon's Russell Carroll was eerily correct back in 2005 in predicting the Wii's success. He's a smart cookie!

Kotaku: 'Farewell: Maggie Has Left the Tower'
Sad to see that Maggie Greene left Kotaku - her weekend posts were always some of the most erudite on the site, and we definitely appreciated all the links along the way. Look forward to seeing her post-Kotaku output, tho!

2008全球最强游戏制作人大排榜-levelup.cn 游戏城寨 | PS3 PS2 PSP X360 Xbox Wii NGC NDS GBA PC
About the 'Top Deck' from Game Developer we ran on Gamasutra recently, from a leading Chinese website: '结果，硅骑士公司的Denis Dyack，由于公开在欧美游戏圈最有影响力的论坛NeoGAF'. Nuff said!

Wolfire Blog - Gish design tour
These are very neat - this is the third in the series.

While !Finished » The Importance of Leadership on Gaming Websites
'The point of all of this is that, despite claims by games bloggers that they have no control over what random people say on the internet, they actually do have a lot of control over the community on their sites, without even getting into moderation: it’s all about tone.'

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Over at big sister site Gamasutra, we've just opened nominations for the 2008 Choice Awards, so if you're a developer and would like to vote on the best games of the year, with winners showcased at the big GDC ceremony in March - now's the time.]

The 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards has now opened nominations for the best games of 2008, with awards given out at GDC 2009 and Gamasutra members able to help decide nominees.

Next year’s 9th Annual Award Ceremony, will be hosted on March 25th, 2009 in the Esplanade Room in the South Hall of San Francisco’s Moscone Center, as part of Game Developers Conference 2009.

The Choice Awards, the most prestigious honors in video game development, are now available for you to nominate, after logging on with your main Gamasutra.com user ID. (You can register for free if you do not currently have one.)

The Game Developers Choice Awards recognizes excellence in the art of game creation in any genre or platform. Last year's event saw Valve's Portal the recipient of three major honors, including Game of the Year, with three awards also going to 2K Boston/2K Australia's BioShock.

The 2009 award categories currently open for nominations until January 5th, 2009, are:

- Best Audio
- Best Debut Game
- Best Downloadable Game
- Best Handheld Game
- Best Game Design
- Best Technology
- Best Visual Arts
- Best Writing
- Innovation Award
- Game of the Year

In addition, the first part of this year's voting process, three special Choice Awards - the Ambassador Award, the Pioneer Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award - is still open for nominations for a limited time. Ralph Baer (Pioneer), Jason Della Rocca (Ambassador), and Sid Meier (Lifetime) were the Special Award winners for 2008's ceremony.

The Game Developers Choice Awards are unique in that nominees and winners are voted on entirely by game professionals, and there are no entry fees. It is produced by the Game Developers Conference and presented by Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine.

The nomination ballot and further details about the Choice Awards are now available online at the official Game Developers Choice Award website. For further information and to register for GDC, please visit the official GDC website.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Our latest Japanese video game-related music interview from Jeriaska chats to a chiptune video game techno duo including quad/luvtrax and Kplecraft - who actually and coincidentally released an EP on my net.label a few years back. And hey, Gradius chiptune remixes!]

Kuske of the Tokyo-based chiptune group Kplecraft and quad of the sound studio luvtrax performed together at the 2008 EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event.

Their sets involved techno arrangements of classic videogame series like Gradius, accompanied by vocal performances and 8-bit console sounds. Both musicians work in chiptunes and their songs will be appearing in the XBox 360 port of the sidescrolling shooter Otomedius G.

Luvtrax is a music production studio run by quad, who has written NES-style music along with compositions for acoustic instruments that have been featured in videogames and anime titles. An experienced sound designer, he has mastered a number of videogame soundtrack albums for 5pb Records, including the 2007 EXTRA Live album, Etrian Odyssey II Original Soundtrack, and Yuzo Koshiro Best Collection Volumes I & II.

Kuske specializes in chiptune music, employing Famicom sound cards and Game Boys, accentuating these retro sounds with saxophone accompaniment. He has collaborated with the chiptune collective 8bitpeoples and has performed at the Blip Festival in New York.

This interview, taking place the night of the EXTRA event, touches on the cultural differences between the videogame industry and the chiptune music scene. In the views of the two musicians, there may in fact be fewer cultural factors separating the music of East and West as there are barriers to the integration of videogame and chiptune music scenes, regardless of location.

Interview by Jeriaska. Translation by Ryojiro Sato. This article is available in Japanese on Game Design Current.

Vocalists of the Famison 8bit Idolm@ster series performing at the EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event

GameSetWatch: Thank you for joining us for this discussion of your chiptune music and various contributions to videogame soundtracks. Could you offer us an introduction that explains a little about your chosen styles of music?

Kuske(kplecraft): My name is Kuske, I make 8-bit style music.

quad: I'm quad. Normally I write techno, trance and chiptune music, while also working as a recording engineer.

Kuske(kplecraft): In the past, quad has worked with me on mixing various songs of mine, but this concert marks the first time we have appeared onstage together.

quad: You're right. It hadn't even occurred to me. Even before we started working together we had known each others' names from appearing at chiptune events.

GSW: How long have you been involved in writing music for the Idolm@ster series?

Kuske(kplecraft): We have been working on the sound for the Famison 8bit Idolm@ster series for about six months.

GSW: For the arrangements you performed at the EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event, what was the source material?

Kuske(kplecraft): There were two different sets. The first one was a medley from Otomedius G (Gorgeous!).

quad: These are arrangements from the original Gradius, such as the first stage tune, called "Challenger 1985." The fourth stage music is titled "Free Flyer." There is also an arrangement from Gradius III titled "Sandstorm."

Kuske(kplecraft): I performed a song from the third stage of Gradius III called "In the Wind" and two songs from Gradius Gaiden: "Snow Field" and "Black Hole." They have been remixed in an 8-bit music style.

GSW: Not all chiptune musicians are terribly interested in videogames. As industry musicians who work with chiptunes, what are your thoughts on gaming?

Kuske(kplecraft): There have certainly been times when I have played a lot of games, but then there are times when I do not play at all. Right now I'm so busy that it's hard to find the time.

quad: I've been playing the Famicom since it first was released, so titles like the original Donkey Kong are the ones I am most familiar with. While today I am working as a musician, my original ambition was to design games, and that was primarily influenced by the Famicom.

GSW: What is it that compels you to keep returning to chiptune music?

Kuske(kplecraft): That might take some time to answer. Everybody seems to have a different interpretation of what makes chiptunes special. Most people simply remember it from their youth and value it for that reason. In my case, I find it a challenge to make this music, because there are limits to the number of sounds you can use. That forces musicians to put a great deal of care into the melody and arpeggios. Those limitations can actually open the doors to a new appreciation for musical forms. I might be alone in that contention, but I find it to be a compelling way to arrange videogame music.

Kuske of the chiptune music group kplecraft
8Bit Goa from KNMS-001 [mtk146] mp3 sample

GSW: What are your opinions of some of the chiptune festivals that take place outside of Japan?

Kuske(kplecraft): I've attended Blip Fest. To tell you the truth, music concerts like the EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event and the Blip Festival, which focuses on chiptunes, belong to two entirely different cultures. While I am not too familiar with the situation in the States, in Japan videogame enthusiasts and chiptune enthusiasts mix like oil and water. I know people that frequent both events, but they belong to different crowds. In Japan it feels like there are many barriers to integrating these genres and uniting these different fanbases.

quad: I would have to agree. In Japan, videogame music has a unique history that developed largely independent of other media. When you talk about chiptunes existing outside of that context, some people find that disorienting.

Kuske(kplecraft): Chiptune events outside Japan have gotten their fare share of publicity, but not a lot of people here even know about the genre.

GSW: How would you describe the mood of the attendees of the EXTRA event? The turnout was exceptional.

Kuske(kplecraft): The audience was very excited. I would say that we don't really have a party culture here in Japan, so you don't see a lot of people dancing at this kind of event. On the other hand, when something interests us, we really focus on it intently. At today's event there were people in the front row who were totally uninhibited about their excitement. However, these are people who love videogames. They aren't the kind of folks who would go out to a club and dance. At EXTRA, the audience is made up of videogame enthusiasts, so that is a marked difference from events like the Blip Festival.

GSW: What has been your experience working with international chiptune and nerdcore collectives?

Kuske(kplecraft): I've released a song for 8bitpeoples. Two other Japanese musicians have participated, namely USK from Fukuoka and Xinon from Gunma. I'm mostly involved in videogame music, but these two specialize in chiptunes. Again, it's just a different culture. It's really difficult to explain, but hard to ignore.

quad: Japan doesn't have much interest in demoscenes like Mega Demos. I think the origin of chiptune culture emerged from that environment. In Japan, hardly anyone knows about Amiga Mega Demos. It has always been a cultural import.

Kuske(kplecraft): There is also a difference in style when you look at 8-bit in Japan and in the US.

quad:　That's true. The prominence of the Commodore 64 in the States leads to different sound styles than in Japan, where the Famicom dominated. The high speed arpeggios are clearly an NES influence.

Kuske(kplecraft): 8-bit music in Japan focuses more on melody. There isn't so much concern with chords.

quad: That's true. Chords were not the central idea.

Kuske(kplecraft): When speaking of videogame music, Japanese listeners seem to appreciate the melody more than anything else. Maybe it's because deep down we are lovers of melodies.

quad: Videogame musicians have always faced steep challenges required by the 8-bit sound source and its limits on the number of simultaneous notes. Like, what the hell can you do with just three notes? There are people who managed to figure out a way on their own through the use of various techniques, and that is actually the root of VGM in Japan.

Quad of the sound recording studio luvtrax

GSW: There are dozens of gifted chiptune artists performing outside of Japan, and I imagine you have had the chance to hear any number of them, but are there any you might mention offhand as having impressed you?

Kuske(kplecraft):　Anamanaguchi is up there. I was shocked to hear their age. They're still in their teens, so why would they even care about Famicom music, you know?

GSW: Outside of chiptune music, what other genres do you enjoy creating?

quad: I work in techno and pop. Some time ago I used to do some simple programming, so when everyone became excited about 8-bit music, I decided to try it for myself. I used to make games on 8-bit computers using assembly language. That was my route to the 8-bit music movement---by building a program for myself that operated like a music driver. I've done that kind of thing in the past and posted my work on the internet, though these days I have not spent much time programming. I want to work on that again, when I get the chance. I actually know Nullsleep. I was chatting with him on IRC the other day. I've sent him some software I designed and met him when he visited Japan.

Kuske(kplecraft): quad has made some really cool music outside of 8-bit tunes. I was watching anime on television the other day and heard this great ending theme. I checked the credits, and guess who was the composer? I was so surprised.

quad: Still, I have to say that videogame music is my background, and it still influences all my music projects today.

GSW: What would you want to communicate to listeners in English-language territories who enjoy your music or are interested in hearing more of it?

Kuske(kplecraft): I think you can order the 8bit Idolm@ster CDs through Amazon, but all the liner notes are in Japanese.

quad: The upside is, there's a lot of pixel art.　

Kuske(kplecraft): I'm certain there are people living outside Japan who are into the 8-bit tunes and techno remixes of NES themes. Those are found on the album.

quad: If you want an idea of what's currently going on in Japan, it's something to listen to.

GSW: Before we go, is there any way for your listeners in English-language territories to drop you a line?

Kuske(kplecraft): I'm on myspace, under Kplecraft.

quad: Me too, as quad.

Kuske(kplecraft): ...Oh yeah? Remind me to send you a friend request later.　

[Images courtesy of 5pb Records, kplecraft and luvtrax. Idolm@ster albums volume [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] can be imported from Amazon.co.jp.]

Posted by jeriaska at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[The latest countdown on big sister site Gamasutra, and this time it's Christian Nutt and the other editors banding together to work out the top trends of the year - with 5 listed here, and 20 if you click through to the full feature. Fun!]

It's been a year of exciting evolution for the game industry that can only be expected to continue. In fact, there are so many changes going on that Gamasutra was hard-pressed to choose just 20 major trends.

The final list was pared down from an initial selection of over 40, and we probably could have thought of many more -- especially as the industry expands to encompass everything from casual online games to Facebook apps, alongside three dedicated consoles and two handheld platforms.

There's so much diversity that choosing isn't simple, but we've identified and explained 20 trends that have risen to the level that they cannot be ignored -- and here are just five of them:

1. The Continued Rise Of Outsourcing

Speak to any number of developers these days about asset generation, and the topic of outsourcing is never far from the discussion. Some companies, such as Alex Seropian's Wideload Games and American McGee's Spicy Horse Games, have built their business models around a "core" team, while using contractors for much of the process.

Whether or not you do, however, it's becoming increasingly relevant in these cost-cutting times. Major publishers, like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Konami, among others, maintain their own fully-owned outsourcing studios in China, which primarily handle art requests.

Though it's most prominent, it's not just Asian outsourcing that is necessarily the most relevant. Wideload's model suggests finding the most talented and experienced practitioners to produce the components of the game.

For example, in the case of Hail to the Chimp, the creators found a firm that had worked on actual news programs to do the game's faux-newscast motion graphics. In this sense, it's as much about talent and relevance as it is about savings, and points to another sign of the "Hollywoodized" future at which the industry continues to hint.

2. Casual MMOs? For Kids!

This market, which began under the radar and burst into headlines last year with the $350 million (plus incentives) acquisition of Club Penguin by Disney, continues to maintain its relevance in important ways.

Chief among them: MMO mavens' firm belief that the kids playing Club Penguin and other kids' MMOs today will demand services that offer similar (but improved) functionality as they outgrow these sites.

When their first taste of the power of social gaming technology is a Disney online world and not a Wii or Xbox 360, the expectations that drive the industry's possibilities for online interaction are being set outside of what is often considered the "norm".

Daniel James, president of casual MMO developer and publisher Three Rings (Puzzle Pirates) puts it this way: "People talk about the digital generation or whatever you want to call them... but I think there is a genuine shift when you have access to something at a young age. It changes your way of looking at the world."

With perhaps a glut of cute, original IP, venture-funded kids' worlds out there alongside a number of major brand-based and consumer-friendly projects (FusionFall from Cartoon Network, Gaia Online's zOMG!) yet to completely launch, it's a space that's still rapidly expanding.

3. You Don't Want DRM - You Want Services

As piracy grows ever easier, and as users become more and more vocal about the measures publishers take to try and stop it -- witness the Spore DRM controversy -- the appeal of user-friendly DRM lumped into a subscription service seems like the best solution.

After all, very few players complain about the fact that World of Warcraft is tied to a unique account that costs a constant $15 per month fee to keep playable -- because that's the very point of the game.

But even for games that don't require online interaction, the tied-to-an-account model can work a charm: Valve's Steam service is typically extremely well-regarded, thanks to its selection of games, its appealing community features, and most recently, the addition of its Steam Cloud service.

This makes online integration all the more relevant, as user data is stored on servers and accessible on any PC the player logs into. Surely, providing a tangible benefit for users to tie themselves to a verification system is the way to make to help the copy protection-related medicine go down?

4. Downloadable Content - A Cure For All Game Ills?

Whether or not GameStop's management wants to admit it, many developers and publishers consider the used game market to be, well, less than benevolent. Whether it should or can be stamped out completely is not the issue; few would disagree that at least discouraging players from selling games back quickly is a good idea.

One of the best current tools for doing so is downloadable content -- or as Xbox Live group program manager Alvin Gendrano put it at Microsoft's GameFest this year, "Using [premium DLC] we can keep your games being used over a long time. The longer your users play your titles, the less chance they give those titles away to retailers and sell them for used."

Moreover, stats Gendrano released suggest that games with strong DLC retain their market value for longer: "Games with PDLC were still selling for $59 in [the second quarter of their release lifespans]; those without were selling for $56." And Microsoft's Gears of War 2 recently took a new tactic; it shipped with one-time-use coupon for free DLC that can only be downloaded by the initial purchaser.

Perhaps the boldest mover in this space, however, is EA's Criterion studio, which has launched the "Year of Paradise" initiative for the company -- its Burnout Paradise, first released in January, is still receiving substantive free DLC on a regular basis, with its first paid pack, Big Surf Island, coming approximately one year after the game's retail release.

5. The Inevitable User-Created Content Entry

LittleBigPlanet is generally viewed as the watershed moment for user-created content in console games. It's true that the game invites and champions it, and has a flexible environment for its creation.

But it's not the only example, and it's sure to be far from the final one. Heck, Microsoft's XNA Community Games experiment, while flooding its Xbox 360 channel with games that are difficult to sort through at times, at least shows the potential of handing console game creation over to high-level hobbyists -- another win for UCC.

And for conventional retail games, as professional creation of content gets ever more expensive, as the economy worsens, as the YouTube generation comes of age, the need to extend the lifespan and interest of titles continues to grow -- for retention and acquisition reasons.

Can there be any doubt that user-created content will become bigger and bigger? With the advent of the form -- big on PCs in one way and another for years -- on consoles in a truly user-friendly, 21st century way, it's going to drive the direction of the medium as much as any other recent innovation.

Want the rest of the list? The full feature on Gamasutra's Top 20 Trends Of 2008 is now available, extensively evaluating the major currents of 2008 that will continue to reverberate into the year to come, complete with examples and links to relevant news (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from other websites).

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Starting out a new series of GameSetWatch interviews on buzzed about and/or overlooked games and personalities conducted by the excellent Todd Ciolek, we talk to the Grubby Games folks about their excellent Flash-based physics sim IncrediBots.]

Calling IncrediBots a “physics game” may sell it a little short. True, Grubby Games’ new Flash-based title revolves around building and maneuvering machines in a 2-D world where everything reacts with realistic motion. Yet it’s also a puzzle game, a movie-maker, and anything else that players can pull off within the game’s highly versatile confines.

IncrediBots walks first-timers through the art of crafting various simple machines, and it's easy to turn them into robots, cars, Rube Goldberg contraptions, obstacle courses, and, using the game's movie-recorder, short films.

Everything is made from basic ideas and simple visuals, but IncrediBots has proven popular enough to overload three servers since its beta launched in November. It’s not the first success for the Grubby Games developers, as their Professor Fizzwizzle PC puzzle game was the 2005 GameTunnel Casual Game of the Year and a finalist for the 2006 IGF Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

We interviewed IncrediBots designer Ryan Clark to find out where IncrediBots came from, where it’s going after the beta, and just how far its user base has taken it:

What inspired you to create IncrediBots? Did it grow out of Professor Fizzwizzle? Did you look to The Incredible Machine series or any other older games?

Ryan Clark: The Incredible Machine definitely had an impact on my brain when I was young, and games like Armadillo Run and Toribash have more recently rekindled my passion for physics games.

IncrediBots didn't grow out of Professor Fizzwizzle, no. Although we did have an early prototype of Professor Fizzwizzle that was more physics-based. We scrapped that idea in favor of discrete tile-based movement, as the physics-y version felt more luck/tweak-based, and less puzzle-like.

IncrediBots actually grew from another physics game idea we had, that we ended up shelving for various reasons. Working on the concept for that game got me interested in the various pre-built 2-D physics engines that were available. During my research, I saw this. I couldn't believe how much fun I had with that simple program! And I wanted to construct other bots and play around with them. IncrediBots was born.

How did you develop the game's physics engine?

The game's physics are handled by the amazing Box2D physics engine. It's the same physics engine used by IGF winner Crayon Physics Deluxe, and many other excellent games. We've made some modifications to the engine, but the bulk of the code is the same.

You've mentioned that you created multiple prototype versions of Professor Fizzwizzle. Did you do the same for IncrediBots?

No, actually! We didn't create any prototypes. The design of the game seemed pretty foolproof, so we just went for it. How can you go wrong when your design doc just says, "open-ended physics sandbox game!"?

IncrediBots is currently in its beta form. What more can we expect in the final version?

We're currently having some server problems (due to higher than expected traffic volumes), and we still have some issues with replays behaving differently on different machines, causing stutters/jerks. These, plus a few other minor bugs, will be fixed.

We also plan to add new features like mirroring, scaling, a "challenge editor" so people can make their own challenge levels, thrusters so you can make flying bots, and more!

I don't think there'll ever be a "final" version. If the game is a financial success, I hope we can keep improving it forever! The community has already come up with a number of amazing ideas for new features...there's always more we could add.

How will the final version of IncrediBots be offered? Will fans have to pay for the final version?

So far we're not quite covering our costs, but that may change as traffic continues to grow. If we can't cover our costs we may go to a "donate and get some extra features" model, where donators would also be able to play a version of the game without advertisements. We definitely want to keep it as free as possible, while still making enough money to pay for our servers and continued development.

Do you plan on putting it on Xbox Live or any other online console game service?

We hope so! We're in talks with publishers, but nothing has come to fruition just yet.

What are the advantages of offering a game like IncrediBots online? What are the disadvantages? Do you think the market for browser-based games is getting too crowded?

The main advantage is that you have the widest possible audience. Pretty much everyone who is connected to the Internet is a potential IncrediBots player! Being online also allows IncrediBots players to share their robots and replays, which helps virally spread the word about the game.

The main disadvantage is the difficulty of monetization. Ads certainly make us some money, but the amount of traffic required to cover our costs with ads alone is enormous! For a traditional try-buy shareware game, you only need some thousands of sales to cover your costs. For a complex web game like IncrediBots you need millions upon millions of players!

I definitely don't think the market for browser-based games is too crowded. It's obviously very competitive, but that's great if you're a gamer!

The movie option in IncrediBots goes beyond what you'll find in the majority of other machine-building games. What inspired it? What's the most impressive thing you've seen a user do with this feature?

I'm not really sure! Perhaps it came from our roots in Professor Fizzwizzle. Our PF games both have a "show solution" option which allows you to view a replay of the author solving the level. We have always received praise for including this feature in our games, so that may have influenced our thinking.

But the feature also just seems to make sense. If you spend hours designing an awesome robot, you're probably quite proud of it, and would like to share it with the world. What better way than recording a replay to show off your skills?

Are you aiming IncrediBots at any specific age group?

We generally go for an "all ages" audience with our games, and IncrediBots is no exception. The game itself is obviously fairly non-violent and colorful, but some of the user creations can indeed be violent or crass. We've had to delete quite a lot of...inappropriate...content, let me tell you!

Posted by Todd Ciolek at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

[Continuing to cross-post the 'best of the year' pieces from our big sister site for GSW readers' delectation, in a year which saw the PC become his main gaming device, Gamasutra's Chris Remo takes a look at 15 of 2008's notable PC releases.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

Previously, we tallied up 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, overlooked games, gameplay mechanics, indie games, and surprises.

Next, we'll cover this year's top five standalone (non-expansion) PC games and ten honorable mentions, highlighting fifteen standout titles from 2008, including both exclusive titles and multiplatform or ported releases. The games picked are the editor's choice, and are chosen from the titles released in North America during 2008's calendar year to date.

This was an encouraging year for gaming's longest-running platform. Despite quite a few online explosions surrounding piracy and digital rights management controversies, the PC continued picking up more multiplatform support from major publishers, and produced a number significant exclusives.

Perhaps most rewardingly for longtime PC gamers, 2008 spawned many games that seemed to build heavily on the PC's heritage of game design built around player freedom, as seen not only in exclusives like Crysis Warhead, Spore, and Sins of a Solar Empire but also multiplatform games like Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3.

And as GameStop and other specialty retailers progressively marginalize PC shelf space, the ongoing growth and substantially increasing relevance of digital distribution platforms like Steam and Impulse has been welcome. Here's our countdown:

Top 5 PC Games of 2008

5. Crysis Warhead (Crytek)

Sometimes derided as nothing more than tech demos, Crytek's Crysis games indeed demand capable rigs and generate some of the most impressive real-time rendering in the medium -- but they are much more than that simplistic characterization suggests. Few non-simulation shooters have been as uncompromising in their willingness to let the player explore the world at will and carve out a particular tactical approach (with one exception in Far Cry 2, below).

Even Crysis Warhead, which consciously takes a few steps back from last year's sometimes overwhelmingly wide-open Crysis, offers leagues more freedom than the rest of today's on-rails shooter experiences in the vein of the Half-Lifes and Call of Dutys (great games in their own right). What Warhead trims in terms of scale is balanced out by a greater attention to pacing and sensible gameplay variety, as well as level design that seems more tuned to the game's unique (and enjoyable) combat and suit mechanics.

Finally, the "tech demo" detractors do have the right idea in one respect: Crysis Warhead is gorgeous, declining to make a statement with nontraditional rendering techniques and instead allowing the composition of its sprawling natural vistas to speak for itself.

4. Sins of a Solar Empire (Ironclad Games)

One of the year's great success stories was this space strategy title from Vancouver-based Ironclad Games, which put the small developer on the map and scored another hit for its increasingly influential publisher Stardock. Ostensibly a member of the "4X" genre of domination-oriented titles, Sins of a Solar Empire, with its explicit focus on battles and its real-time nature, is more like an RTS with 4X scale.

A game of Sins methodically unfolds, blossoming into an epic galactic conflict where tiny fighters zip around huge capital ships, which sail between massive planets -- all of which is dwarfed by the size of the overall battlefield, which can be easily surveyed thanks to the smooth-zooming scroll wheel mechanism that is becoming increasingly popular among PC strategy games. That feature is as useful a staple of gameplay as it is a showcase for the game's attractive visuals, which smoothly transition from ant's-eye views of individual craft out to map-like surveys of the surroundings.

Paradoxically, despite the constantly frenetic nature of the game, in which there is always something that can demand your attention, it rarely feels unduly overwhelming, avoiding the overly micro-heavy pitfalls of many smaller RTS games.

On a final note: Sins of a Solar Empire also deserves some kind of award for one of the most clever and alluring titles in gaming.

3. Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)

Few games of 2008 have been as polarizing on the online forums as Far Cry 2 -- it has been understandably criticized for a repetitive mission structure and sometimes aggravatingly frequently-respawning enemies. But it is also one of the most progressive shooters this year, and for those with whom it hit home, it has been a rare joy.

Ubisoft Montreal took an admirably systemic approach with Far Cry 2 in a genre increasingly defined by scripted experiences. It doesn't ease the player into a difficulty curve so much as it drops the player headfirst into a brutal warzone where scavenged weapons fall apart and everyone is hostile, save the arms dealers looking to make a buck. For those willing to invest themselves into such a world, Far Cry 2 -- with its fire propagation, its recurring malaria, its beautiful open landscapes, its subtly dynamic buddy and mission system, essentially its total dedication to its own rather unusual gameplay premise -- can be immensely rewarding in a much different way to a straight, linear shooter.

Memorable moments abound, both in the ways combat plays out, as well as in the interactions with the environment. There is enormous attention to detail in Far Cry 2's Africa, not so much in terms of discrete content as much as in the way its systems are modeled. Legitimate flaws and all, Far Cry 2 often feels ahead of its time.

2. Left 4 Dead (Valve/Valve South)

There may be no other game released this year that can promise as consistently a thrilling and hilarious multiplayer experience as this. Out of Valve's ongoing attempts to bridge the gap between its highly-tuned single-player titles and the necessarily chaotic nature of multiplayer gaming comes Left 4 Dead, whose AI director and tight four-player cooperative play create a team-based atmosphere that is both coherent and unpredictable, even upon multiple playthroughs of the same campaign.

Hitting the right notes between necessary player-to-player interaction and the independence demanded by a first-person shooter, Left 4 Dead is possibly the most accurate video game representation of the classic cinematic zombie invasion to date, even as its antagonists operate quite differently to their traditionally sluggish filmic counterparts. Much of this is due to the group dynamics that the game fosters, coaxing out emergent archetypes like "that idiot who accidentally makes a noise and alerts the entire horde" or "the sole survivor who somehow staves off wave after wave and makes it to the chopper."

On top of that, the seemingly endless supply of brief character quips continues Valve's recent trend of summoning up surprising depth to characters who exist outside of any substantial defined narrative.

1. Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios)

Bethesda's Fallout 3 not only outshone the studio's previous game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in just about every way, it accomplished the impressive task of satisfying most non-extremist-level fans of Black Isle's venerable Fallout series. Creating a vast world that is a convincing representation of a dismal, post-nuclear wasteland while also being consistently compelling is no mean feat, but here it is.

The sheer amount of content in Fallout 3 is extremely impressive, considering what a consistent level of quality it maintains -- and how much of it a player is likely to completely miss, based on the choices made, the NPCs killed, the routes traveled, and any number of other variables. The main storyline pales in comparison to the larger breadth of experiences to be had throughout, and the vast wasteland begs to be lived in.

To sweeten the deal for PC gamers, Bethesda has also released the G.E.C.K., an end user editing tool that can author any type of single-player content featured in Fallout 3 -- which will surely extend the title's already-considerable shelf life.

Honorable Mentions (listed alphabetically)

Civilization IV: Colonization (Firaxis Games): This standalone remake of the 1994 original takes Firaxis' ever-addictive strategic gameplay and focuses in a specific crucial moment in history.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA Los Angeles): This satisfying sequel adds an unexpected co-op component to otherwise old-school RTS design and gloriously cheesy FMV.

Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores): This vaguely System Shock 2-esque action game feels more at home on the consoles, but is a tight, engaging experience nonetheless.

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North): Major technical problems at launch nearly kept this port off the list completely, but for those who get it working it's still one of the year's standout game experiences.

Hinterland (Tilted Mill): This clever, stripped-down mix of action RPG and basic town-building wears its indie production values on its sleeve (sometimes to its detriment), but it drains the hours away very enjoyably.

King's Bounty: The Legend (Katauri Interactive): It was overlooked (decades-old IP didn't help) and undeniably old-school, but that's never been a big problem for tactical RPGs, and this is a good one.

Mass Effect (BioWare/Demiurge Studios): Demiurge Studios took its time to get BioWare's sci-fi RPG onto the PC, but the effort shows with significantly improved interface and more.

Penumbra: Black Plague (Frictional Games): The second entry in the sort-of-episodic series, Black Plague continues to subvert both the adventure and survival horror genres with its fresh approach.

Spore (Maxis): Though it wasn't all it could have been as a game, with extreme inconsistency in its various stages, those interested in game design owe it to themselves to give this absurdly ambitious effort a playthrough.

World of Goo (2D Boy): Brilliantly simple physics-driven gameplay is complemented by endearing, low-key production values -- and it was made by two guys!

[Do you agree or disagree with these picks? Feel free to comment below. We'll pick the best reader comments on each list for our final retrospective, to debut on Gamasutra close to the holidays.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Have been enjoying my Gamasutra colleague Chris Remo's Idle Thumbs leisure-time podcast of late, and especially the game-related songs he's been doing for it, so I thought it might be nice for him to showcase a couple of the highlights here. So here we go!]

For today's installment of this new series highlighting songs from the Idle Thumbs podcast, I'm plucking out "Stop (Doing Interviews)" from the relatively recent Idle Thumbs 7: Stop Doing Interviews.

Enjoying this piece is heavily contingent on being aware of this blog post by Infinity Ward communications director Robert Bowling, who expressed his frustration with Activision producer Noah Heller for relying too heavily on calling out Infinity Ward's own Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in press interviews regarding Call of Duty: World at War. (It is also slightly contingent on an in-joke from the podcast about the misinterpretation of "senior" as "señor.") The song is sung from Bowling's perspective.

The song and podcast can both be downloaded directly from the official site. The lyrics are as follows:

Stop (Doing Interviews) (MP3)

"Señor Super Douche,
stop doing interviews

And if I see one more
Google alert for Call of Duty 4
because of an interview you did,
I'll flip my lid

Please, Señor S. Douche,
stop doing interviews

Seriously man, you're killing me
(you're killing me)
Interview about your own game, not ours
(not ours)
Call of Duty: World at War can stand on its own merits
(on its own)
Leave ours out of it
Like this gem of a quote from today's article on CVG:
(on the internet)

'In the previous Call of Dutys
it might take three or four shots
from a bolt-action rifle'

And what the fuck are you talking about?
'In previous Call of Dutys, blah blah blah'
You didn't work on previous Call of Dutys
So don't talk as if you're...
(just shut your face)
As if you're down with how slash why
things were designed the way they were
(you don't know anything about my shit)
And secondly, you're completely fucking wrong
(oh snap)

And to the press, please stop talking to this guy
Talk to someone on the team
Or your interviews will be full of lies

Señor Super Douche,
you're pulling shit out of your ass
Stop"

And here's the growing tally of amusing alternate URLs for Idle Thumbs, some of which have been kindly donated by listeners based on jokes from the show:

GOTY.cx
videogamesvideogamesvideogames.com
VigiVigiVigi.com
strategychocolate.biz
Explode-Mode.com
eightbitcock.com

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Another interesting interview here from Christian Nutt - this time focusing on 8-4 and their work localizing a lot of major Japanese RPGs for the West. What can be done to bring the two cultures closer together? Some ideas below...]

Could localization be the key to bridging cultural gaps between Japanese and Western games?

We asked Tokyo-headquartered firm 8-4, who has provided localization services to major companies including Bandai Namco, Nintendo, Sony, and Konami -- partners John Ricciardi and Hiroko Minamoto also work as Japan correspondents for consumer site 1UP.

But Ricciardi and Minamoto see their role as more broadly useful than simple interpretation and translation.

As the team's just passed its third anniversary, and as Japanese companies begin turning a more serious eye to ways they can better address Western audiences, the 8-4 duo has a lot of insight on the divide between Japanese and Western audiences -- and how localization can help.

You guys had your third anniversary in October. Before that, you were doing localization with another company, so you two have been doing localization for about how long now?

HM: Well, when did you have your first project?

JR: Well, I first worked on a Saturn game with Victor Ireland, like back in, what was that, 199-something; the Saturn game, Magic Knight Rayearth. That was my first dabbling in localization. And then I came to Japan at the end of 2000. So, I started getting more into it again back in like 2002, I guess? Or 2003.

HM: Actually, if I think about it, my first project was when I was in my first company, which is... back in the day.

JR: Really?

HM: Well that was some European language to Japanese. So it's not quite the same as what we do now.

JR: You were 18 or something then, right? Or 20?

HM: 20, yeah.

JR: Yeah, so we've been around, I guess.

Now, your primary business is localization, but do you work on other projects, or do other things?

HM: Yes we do. We work for [consumer games site] 1UP; we're their Japan correspondents, so we do a lot of 1UP stuff. We cover events for them in Japan, and then whenever their people visit Japan, we coordinate interviews and such for them, and interpret them.

We also do some interpreting work for our [Japanese] clients, and occasionally some other sites and magazines as well. We helped out with gathering Japanese speakers for last year's Game Developers Conference, too.

Had you guys been doing any consulting work for companies, or stuff like that?

HM: Actually, we haven't, but we are looking into moving in that direction. And I guess, through localization, we kind of do some consulting, right?

JR: Just by virtue of the process of localization, we end up making lots of little suggestions to the developers that we work with about how they can slightly improve things for the western market.

I mean, it's very minor stuff, but in a way it is like consulting, because it's things they don't know that we know just from having had so much experience with western games; how they can make little tweaks to improve things and such.

HM: And also, these days, a lot of major companies are trying to do simultaneous releases, so, because of that, we get more involved with projects at an earlier stage, which gives us more opportunities to give out advice. So I think we're going to get more involved with consulting in the future.

JR: Yeah, that's true.

What are you currently working on that you can talk about publicly, at this point?

JR: Well, most recently, there were a bunch of Namco Bandai projects that hit within a span of three or four months. First there was Tales of Vesperia, which had a massive script.

Then, we worked on a bunch of Soulcalibur IV -- we didn't work on the voice script part, but we did a lot of the other stuff, like the story bits inside the game and the character backgrounds and such.

We did Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World for Wii, which just came out not too long ago. And then there was the PS3 version of Eternal Sonata, which has a bit more story content than the 360 version. Ah, and we also worked on Castlevania: Judgment with Konami.

Those are the most recent ones. We worked on a few games with Ubisoft, including the next Tenchu game for Wii and a couple of DS titles. We worked on Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon with Nintendo -- which was a really awesome project. We're currently wrapping up Star Ocean: The Last Hope with Square Enix, which we're really excited about.

And then we're working on a big project with Sony, which...

HM: That's gonna be a bit 'til we'll be able to talk about, but we have been working on it for a while.

JR: Yeah, we've been working on it for about a year. So, probably, people who know the games we've worked on in the past might be able to guess what that is, but I'm not allowed to say yet.

HM: (laughs) And then we are currently working on another one...

JR: ...We are?

HM: With the interesting text...

JR: Oh, yeah... I'd love to talk about that one because it's pretty interesting, but I suppose it's too early.

You mostly end up working on RPG titles, which makes some sense because they have a great deal of text. When you talk to publishers about localizing titles, do they favor you for any particular genre, or is it just that those titles get localized more frequently?

JR: I think, generally, a lot of our games end up being RPGs because with the smaller titles, some of these companies can just do them in-house, or they don't need to outsource them. Generally, when you can handle it yourself, there's no need to hire someone like us, so we end up getting a lot of RPGs.

But the fact that we've worked on so many RPGs in the past, now -- I mean, we've worked on quite a few, in different genres too, like sci-fi and fantasy and whatnot -- thanks to that, we're getting known for our RPG work. But I think that, in general, those are just the games that require outsourced translation the most.

Where do you see the health of the market right now for games that are being localized and sold in the U.S.? Do you think it's a healthy market, and do you think that the titles that are coming from the Japanese companies are satisfying the fans the same way they used to?

JR: Hmm. I would say that my impression is that they're not satisfying people the way they used to. I mean, it seems like Western games are getting more and more popular -- but I do think there are still a lot of really awesome games coming from Japan.

And we talked a little bit about this recently with [8-4 executive director] Mark [MacDonald], as well, but I think that the market is not dying. People seem to think that Japanese games are going away or something. That's not the case. They are trying to learn, and they are working really hard to catch up.

I don't think they're going to catch up completely with the West, but I do think they're finding more ways to make games that are appealing for a worldwide market. And I think that you're starting to see that.

We're starting to see, from an internal level -- just the people we know in the industry -- a lot of these companies are having more Westerners, like Western programmers come in. And they're trying to use the Unreal Engine, and everything else. I don't see it dying, but I don't see it, necessarily, being extremely healthy for a little while longer yet, either.

And, there's also a split between the titles, for the Wii and DS, and the PS3, and Xbox 360 -- casual games on Wii/DS, hardcore on PS3/360; are you finding it still the case? You have a little bit of a head view, working on games that may not even be announced yet.

JR: As far as I can tell, it seems to me like the casual thing is still growing and growing, and the hardcore thing is still shrinking and shrinking out here. So, I don't see that necessarily changing.

HM: Although, you know, the Wii titles and the DS titles that we've recently been working on are "game" games -- real games. Hardcore games.

JR: Yeah, but they're just so few and far between.

HM: That's true.

JR: In fact, core games are becoming so rare, it's at a point where if you list all of the core games out, a chunk of them are games we're working on right now; because there's just not that many left.

HM: That's true.

Do you find, when you have discussions with companies that you've been working with, that they want to bring you into the process sooner so they can get your feedback? Or is it a natural consequence of the fact that they want to get the games out sooner in Americ, and therefore have to bring you into it sooner?

HM: Actually, well, I think it's both. Like we said in the beginning, we've been around for three years, so the clients that we've been working with, they're clients that we've been together with for several years now.

So, I think it's come to a point where people have more trust in us, and are a little more open to our opinions. Like, the project we mentioned earlier with the 'interesting text' -- that client is more willing to listen to us and our opinions; not just to translate, but be more involved in the creative process. So, I think it's a little of both.

I think there's a lot of pressure on the Japanese companies to create games they think will appeal globally -- but that's a challenge. There are a very small number of games that can appeal in Japan, the U.S. and Europe.

JR: I do think localization should play a more important role in that. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I wish there were some way I could go give a presentation to the entire Japanese market, of, like, "This is how it needs to be."

I'm not quite sure what that would be yet, but I have been thinking about it. It seems to me like Japanese developers do make really awesome games, and they still have some really unique talents. I mean, the art is amazing; design sense, they're really detail-oriented; their music is generally very good.

They're lacking in other areas, but I think that from a localization side, you can kind of hide some of that stuff. If you involve people like us from the beginning, you can have more natural writing, and we can tell you things like, "This is too corny," or, "This 12 year old girl in an S&M outfit is not gonna fly in the West," and such.

If they had that kind of feedback from the beginning, maybe they would understand better. Because I think they're innocent; I don't think they're trying to go against the grain or anything. I think they just genuinely don't understand the Western market.

What kind of things would you say? You just talked about appropriateness of characters, but if you were to give a base-level presentation about some key points, to Japanese developers, can you think of anything you'd say?

JR: Well that's what I'm trying to work out.

HM: (laughs)

JR: But, I mean... I can't -- I don't know if I can mention specifics, just because I don't really know right now, but I do think that it could be two sections.

There would be general content stuff, which is more like the game consulting side: "Here, we've been reviewing games, and we've been involved in games for years, and this kind of stuff is good; this kind of stuff is not. This kind of interface is very clunky." You know, those kinds of things.

From a technical side, as far as localization goes, there are also a lot of ways, at least from our perspective -- which I guess the end user doesn't really see -- in which the localization could flow more smoothly.

For example, there could be preparing more resources ahead of time, organizing files in a more efficient manner; things that will allow us to more clearly see and understand the vision for the game from the get go, which in turn leads to a better localization.

If we could see the text that we're writing, on the screen, as we're doing it -- which is possible, when developers actually take the time to make tools -- we can actually make the game better that way.

We can save time, we can save money, and we can actually see what it's going to look like, figure out how it's going to affect the player while we're working on it, instead of having to wait until after the fact, when we're always in a crunch and there's no time to fix things.

There are lots of different things that could be fixed about the processes that we would love to talk to them about.

Do you find that different clients have really different demands, or different attitudes toward working with you?

HM: Oh, yeah, totally.

JR: Definitely. Each client is very unique.

HM: Very unique.

JR: Some are very businesslike, like, "Boom, we need A, B, C, by D, and that's it." And then there are others that are involve us very heavily in the process -- and, of course, we prefer to be very heavily involved, but we understand that not everybody can do that.

HM: When we first talk with clients, what I usually tell them is that we are not a normal translation company; we will have lots of questions and comments, so if you guys aren't interested in involving the translation company that much, then we might not be a perfect match for you guys.

Just observing the Japanese market, are there any trends that you think people are missing out on, or aren't seeing yet?

JR: Hmmm... It's tough to say. I often question myself, as far as that goes, because I'm so stuck in it here -- things that I see that are starting to make sense to me wouldn't make sense in the West.

For example, games like Monster Hunter are so popular here, and that's only because of the way things work here. It's not weird to go outside, and turn on your PSP in ad-hoc mode, and find other people to play a game with, whereas in America, that would never happen. Those kinds of things strike me as the current trends here, but they don't translate over to the West, so...

Capcom has been really outspoken about the fact that they'd like to see Monster Hunter catch on in the West, but I don't think that's possible. What about you?

JR: I don't think it's not possible, but I don't think they're doing it right. Or, at least, not yet. To be fair, the last time the director said that, a new game hasn't been out since then, in America. So we've yet to see, and I really want to see, what they do with Monster Hunter 3, to bring it over.

I think it could've had, and should've had, that kind of boom that Phantasy Star Online had, back in the day. I mean, there's a big hole left where that was; remember how amazing that was? Everybody was into it. They could easily have filled that hole, but it wasn't really marketed properly; I don't think it was localized entirely properly.

There's a lot of things about that that could've been done better, and it needs to be online in the West. Well, it is going to be online in the West on Wii, so we'll see, maybe that will help. But you can't do a PSP game, ad-hoc only, and expect it to be popular; it's just not gonna happen there.

I wonder if the Wii is the right console for it in the West, though. I wonder if it's the right console here, actually.

JR: I think here it makes sense. Again, to bring up Mark, who would be here right now if he wasn't leaving for LA today; he mentioned this on [podcast] 1UP Yours. Basically, it's very likely that they're making the game for Wii first because they can easily put it on PSP; they'll port it to PSP after, and sell another kazillion copies.

So, I don't know if that's just an attempt to appease the Western market, or if that's because Nintendo said, "Hey, come do it for us." I also remember hearing, back when it was first announced, just the cost of creating assets for PS3 and Xbox 360 is too expensive, and it doesn't really make sense.

They can make [a lot of money], and if that game was even on DS, they could still sell a gazillion copies, so why put out the effort to make it on a next-gen system, when you can do it on Wii?

Square Enix decided to kill Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Parasite Eve: The Third Birthday, its games for DoCoMo's next gen cell phones, and put them on PSP, because they were getting to the point where they were heavy 3D games, but they could only sell them in one territory. Do you think that, as game development on mobile phones gets more and more expensive, people are going to have to look at ways to sell them globally, and it might affect the market?

JR: Well, definitely, but I wonder -- I mean, we all know that that divide between cellphones is not going to change, just because of how unique the Japanese cellphone market is, but I wonder about the iPhone, because the iPhone seems pretty popular here.

I mean, I don't see the numbers, but I do see them everywhere. I've seen a lot of people have iPhones that I didn't think would normally have them, and the iPhone is a platform on which games could be made in Japan and then localized to the U.S., no problem.

HM: Yeah. It almost seems like an entirely new genre, doesn't it?

JR: Yeah, that seems like one way that this can happen. But yeah, I think it's going to be PSP games, and DS games, and whatnot, because yeah, you can't sell those Japanese cellphone games overseas. There are a lot of really good Japanese cellphone games, but they'll never come out in America, because there's no platform for them.

And if there's no platform, you can't sell them in Japan and America, and you can only make roughly one third of your potential profits. I mean, roughly; obviously, depending on the game, it might make sense only to release it in Japan, period.

JR: Sure, sure. Right. But Final Fantasy IV: The After -- which is like a sequel to Final Fantasy IV -- I think would have been really popular in America, but not in its current form. They're going to have to port it to DS or something.

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Continuing big sister site Gamasutra's year-end retrospective, Leigh Alexander takes a look back on 2008's biggest surprises, recalling some of the year's most talked-about news stories -- from the Rock Band creators' Beatles deal to Microsoft's E3 Final Fantasy XIII kicker.]

Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.

Previously: 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, overlooked games, gameplay mechanics and indie games.

Next, we'll cover this year's biggest surprises, recalling some of the year's most talked-about news stories, listed with no particular ranking imposed on importance -- "surprise" is subjective, after all!

Wii Sold Over 2 Million In November. Perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising -- we always suspected that Nintendo's adept address to the mainstream consumer was an enormously powerful strategy. But in the same month that people finally began to use the word "recession," two million people turned out to buy a video game console -- a record-breaker for any non-December month.

And thanks to the recent Xbox 360 price cuts, Wii isn't even the cheapest console on the market, so its sales juggernaut is something of a monument to the industry's resilience -- or Nintendo's, at least. The company boasts that it's carried 198 percent of the industry's year-over-year U.S. growth on its shoulders.

But the most interesting revelation to derive from Wii's eyebrow-raising performance isn't that Nintendo's console sells like hotcakes. We knew that already. The company's November numbers provide incontrovertible proof of a nagging suspicion that longtime traditional game fans have quietly nursed over the year -- they are now officially a niche, and the majority of "gamers" comprise an audience they hardly even knew existed.

Phil Harrison Becomes Infogrames President. The news for Atari hadn't been good for quite a long time. The company went into debt as it struggled to restructure, received numerous NASDAQ delisting warnings, and finalized its merger in full with French parent company Infogrames, who seemed likely to turn the once-noble Fuji into a distribution house.

But then, Phil Harrison left a prominent post as Sony's head of Worldwide Studios, where he'd become a recognizable face behind the PlayStation strategy. His new role? To head up, in the words of the surprising announcement, a "transformational leadership team at Infogrames that will grow the Atari brand into a leading online game company."

And the transformation seems to be underway. Under Harrison's direction, Atari gathered up some of the promising orphans from the Activision-Vivendi merger, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and Ghostbusters from the newly-merged Activision Blizzard, along with kid-friendly film game The Tale of Despereaux dropped in the Brash Entertainment collapse.

Just recently, the company picked up City of Heroes/Villains creator Cryptic Studios, thereby gaining the team's upcoming Champions Online. Here's to more surprises from Atari in 2009.

Rock Band: Beatles. "We're not in the business of producing standalone games for every artist that's out there," said Van Toffler, MTV Music, Films and Logo group president on a surprise conference call -- but the Beatles are not just any artist.

It was revealed that an exclusive partnership among Apple Corps, MTV Games and Harmonix would bring one of the most venerated bands of all time to the world of video games through a single Rock Band title devoted to Beatles music.

It wasn't only an exciting announcement for fans of music and games both, but it was a serious testament to the power and reach of the Rock Band brand, and the real relevance it increasingly holds for musical artists of all kinds.

EA Partners With Grasshopper Manufacture. Renowned designer Suda51 and his Grasshopper Manufacture have earned acclaim for risk-taking, creativity and a distinct style -- but not so much for high sales and big profitability numbers. That's why it came as a surprise to many that Electronic Arts announced a publishing partnership with Grasshopper for an upcoming horror title -- Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami as producer was the icing on the cake.

Of course, it's up for debate which part is more surprising -- that EA, a Western publishing giant with a past reputation for putting profits ahead of just about everything, would see the potential in Grasshopper; or that Suda51, who describes his studio's games as "punk style", would hitch his star to EA, who's had a bit of a checkered past when it comes to properly valuing talent.

Still, this was the year that EA's reformation efforts finally began to gain attention thanks largely to the overtly repentant attitude of CEO John Riccitiello and publishing relationships with well-respected studios like Valve and Harmonix. The Grasshopper announcement was the moment, though, when the publisher drew a line in the sand and made it clear to industry-watchers that it really seemed to mean what it was saying.

Final Fantasy XIII To Hit Xbox 360. Think Final Fantasy, think PlayStation? Not anymore. In a year with few big reveals coming out of an ill-timed E3, Microsoft's announcement that the upcoming FFXIII would cross sanctified platform lines was nothing short of a shock.

Sony's Jack Tretton said that "disappointed is clearly an appropriate term" regarding Microsoft's efforts to "curry favor" with third parties, while Square Enix corporate executive Shinji Hashimoto said the objective behind the move was "to provide FFXIII to as many fans as possible in the world."

Microsoft kept the deal's only shortcoming close to its chest for as long as it could -- that it covered only the game's Western release, and did not apply to Japan, where Xbox 360 was at the time desperately in need of traction. Turns out Tales of Vesperia made strides to help the console out there -- but if the PS3 continues to be widely outpaced by its rival in 2009, the FFXIII decision may turn out to be a black chapter in Sony's history book.

[Do you agree or disagree with these picks? Feel free to comment below. We'll pick the best reader comments on each list for our final retrospective, to debut on Gamasutra close to the holidays.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A little more GameSetLinks for the early week, starting out with Andrew Mayer's fun post about Burning Man and Fallout 3 - one of the few posts on the post-apocalypse that ties it to current day events, scarily enough.

Also in here - the Minotaur China Shop madness, 24 comes to Japan on PS2 finally, a good Blipfest report, and info on the DQ Tycoon game, possibly the yummiest Tycoon title released in, say, the last couple of weeks.

Losing to Jens Pulver:

Andrew P. Mayer » Blog Archive » 10 ways that Fallout 3 is like Burning man.
Cute - very cute.

Minotaur China Shop Is Live, We Talk To Flashbang | Rock, Paper, Shotgun
I maybe don't talk about Flashbang enough because they help organize the IGF with me, so I forget to call them out - but here's RPS pointing out the Blurst expansion, and the super-funny Minotaur China Shop.

Jeremy's 1UP Blog: '...A Dragon Quest X-inspired rant'
Interesting and perceptive, though from the Japanese game-loving perspective, sure - but maybe that makes it more interesting still? '2008 was the year I stopped caring about AAA releases.'

Fort90 Journal » “OMG, Chinese ROM Hack X 2 FTW”: Blip Fest 2008
Absolutely insanely gigantic BlipFest write-up from Fort90, Click-Stick and DMauro - good job, lads.

XBLA Sales Charts - Week Ending 11/22/08 | VG Chartz.com
Ah, the latest one of these, with total and reaaasonably accurate extrapolated stats for Xbox Live Arcade titles - always interesting.

大都技研公式パチスロシミュレーター『24 -TWENTY FOUR-』　PS2
Interesting, they only JUST released the ancient PS2 game based on 24 in Japan - I've heard the show is quite big for a Western TV series there, hence the, uhh, 24 pachinko. [UPDATE: Colleague Christian Nutt just worked out that this new PS2 title is actually a pachinko machine conversion, not the old Sony title. Even crazier!]

YouTube Videos Pull In Real Money - NYTimes.com
'Mr. Williams, who counts about 180,000 subscribers to his videos, said he was earning $17,000 to $20,000 a month via YouTube. Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos, a model that he has borrowed from traditional media.' V. interesting metrics, tho he is super high-end (he's in Top 20 most-subscribed.)

'Are You Skilled Enough to Run a Dairy Queen?' - MarketWatch
Just got sent a copy of this for PC - 'DQ Tycoon' also comes with a coupon for a free Blizzard! (Shake, not World Of Warcraft developer.) Funny.

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

['Diamond In The Rough' is a regularly scheduled GameSetWatch-exclusive column by Tom Cross focusing on aspects of games that stand out, for reasons good and bad. This week, Tom explores Fallout 3's strengths and weaknesses.]

Playing Fallout 3 reminds me of many of the difficulties I faced when playing Oblivion, also an open-world RPG by Bethesda, as well as many of the joys. It also makes the deficiencies of that gameplay model increasingly apparent. While Fallout 3 makes some impressive strides, in certain structural aspects it is so backward that it makes other games look revolutionary. Jedi Outcast and The Witcher take an entirely different approach to their worlds—are much less obviously “open”. And yet, their common gameplay and storytelling goals are actually more ambitious and innovative than Fallout’s.

While Fallout 3 meticulously recreates a desolate, expansive landscape that is strangely full of activity and experience, it does so by a very specific and often narrow-minded method. While most reviewers have said that Fallout 3 is one of the most vast, varied and rich games of our time, it is also possible to view it as flat and lacking in the things that actually make a game deep.

Fallout 3 simulates a post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., complete with subway stations, factories, a ruined downtown area, and many other locales to explore. It is consistently impressive, a game that easily surprises me, well beyond the 10 hours plus gameplay mark. It succeeds through its depth and breadth.

It breaks the quest-structure of most RPG’s by introducing random but persuasive and diverting gameplay opportunities in the game’s main transit-space, the blasted wasteland between cities and quest-locations. You’ll be walking along (and you have to spend a lot of time walking), and be presented unobtrusively with what are several obvious opportunities to follow side-paths, whether in the form of quests, monster-killing, loot collection, or just checking out the often-beautiful level design.

I’ll be wandering through the wasteland, aimlessly looking for raiders to kill for ammo, when I’ll stumble across a toxic waste dump. Luckily for me, I have my radiation suit with me. I pop it on, and decide I’ll just wade through the mess, so I can get to what I hope is a ruined town on the other side. Halfway through, a mutated bumblebee attacks me, and amid the hail of gunfire I use to destroy it, I notice a small concrete building near a factory, on a hill nearby. Inside, I find the schematics to a “Railway Gun.” Right on the other side of the toxic dump, I find another bunker, this one containing a stat-boosting bobble head. And this was just from playing for an hour or two this morning.

Everyone says this, but I’m going to have to echo them on this one: I haven’t thought about the main quest in days of playing. Whenever I do think about it, I convince myself that I need to level up before I head into Downtown D.C.

That's Great, But...

In creating these brilliant and unexpected moments—rather, in allowing me to create them—the team behind Fallout 3 has decided to leave by the wayside a very important part of game design: Fallout 3 never tries to make you feel like you yourself are doing the things you are doing onscreen. I would argue that Fallout 3 is a simulator, a brilliant way to accomplish various cool tasks in the wasteland. Other games try to make you feel like you understand or enjoy the goings-on onscreen.

Why is this? Fallout 3 succeeds whenever it tries to present you with the blunt, unimaginative side of its activities: you can kill anything, in tens of different ways, as long as you try hard enough. You can harvest enemies for multiple kinds of items and goods, lay live explosives in their backpacks, cripple their legs with poison, listen to the lost travelogues of a doomed family, discover ancient communication towers, and basically soak up the wilderness around you.

However, what Fallout 3 completely fails to do is make any of these varied experiences feel personal, reliable, or “realistic,” to use a difficult term. I’ve never felt a moment of empathy, understanding, or connection with Fallout 3. I am always oppressively aware of the bounds, possibilities and failures of my world. They stare me in the face, never hidden, disguised or integrated into the fabric of the world. This game flaunts its man behind the curtain, whereas other games try to dress him up or explain him away. Fallout 3 presents me with a boundless, versatile gameplay system, but presents a bounded—or nonexistent—narrative system.

When I play The Witcher, the fiddly bits, the minutiae that so entrance me in Fallout 3, are merely part of what makes me like The Witcher, they are not the be-all and end-all of the game. Instead, what attract me to The Witcher are its core mechanics, and the way in which it depicts my journey through this world. It’s the fidelity with which The Witcher tries to emulate moments of visual, emotional and experiential recognition that I love.

Yes, in The Witcher combat is basically a rhythm game, but every style has different moves, every enemy has different animations. I feel that if I met a Drowner or Alp in the wilderness, I could anticipate how they would look or move. Conversely, if you asked me to describe the motions or feel of a Super-Mutant, I might say something about “big, yellow, orc-like guys.” In Fallout 3, the way one differentiates between experiences is always based upon and predicated by its “gaminess,” that particular element’s very nature as a piece of a fake world. Despite being a rather weird fantasy, The Witcher has the air of reality.

I could make the same distinctions between Outcast and Fallout 3, the same distinctions between what I enjoy in both games. In Outcast, I progress so that I can become a more powerful Jedi, but my rewards are the new ways in which I move and fight. My favorite moments by far are those where I accomplish an especially cool or difficult move in combat. The first time I weakened a Jedi warrior with a saber slash, only to throw him into a pit with the Force, was exciting. I wasn’t thinking of the game as a device meant to provide me with this particular combat experience.

Outcast doesn’t wear its desires and goals conspicuously. I’m not constantly aware that I have just been provided with a new way to deal with enemies. Instead, it’s a process, part of becoming a Jedi. It may be artificial and obvious, but it is not intended to be so. Fallout 3 constantly commits this sin: I understand that it wants me to explore and enjoy its world, but its attempts to reveal itself to me are consistently and blatantly ham-fisted.

To an Outcast player, just as exciting as the various pirouettes and flips that my character expertly performs, are the story and characters. Like Geralt, Kyle Katarn and his plight do nothing but reinforce my belief in his world. Try jumping in Fallout 3, or opening a door, or having a conversation with your father, and tell me that any of it reinforces anything but what you are trying to forget: that what you’re playing is a simulation, and a stilted, painfully mechanical one at that. The people I meet are never people, they’re quest givers, sellers, doctors or enemies.

Enemies and friends alike serve no purpose but to talk to you or attack you. Their lives, such as they are, are completely dictated by your every move. Never do they attempt to trick you into believing in their autonomy or self-sufficiency. When you stumble upon a suspicious underground cult of a “Family” in Fallout 3, you stumble upon a bunch of talking heads: they couldn’t be less like the “Family” they’re supposed to be.

Their existence is such a transparent justification for your exploration and gratification that one has trouble caring for their desires or actions: you know that once you complete their quest arc, they will sit in their tunnels, wandering around and saying the same 3 things over and over to each other.

And Yet It Gives Me All This Stuff to Do

In Fallout 3, it is never the act that excites me, but the overwhelming display of depth and detail. The way one subway station leads me to another, along the way the minor character in the Vampire quest becomes a guy I can sell food to, the way I can constantly upgrade my weapons; these things are my reward. But I would never say that I found Fallout 3 to be a game that made me believe in the genuine tangibility or depth of its fiction.

On the contrary, what is fantastic about Fallout 3 is its ability to create opportunities for me to impress myself, to create my own fiction. I rarely take joy in its art or fluent recreation of human (or other) life, but I am often blindsided by its willingness to give me a ridiculously complete set of my own creative tools. The experience of creating is not like life is, though; the only thing it’s “like,” in fact, is itself—a video game of a very particular kind.

Thus, your appreciation of these two kinds of games stems from what you like more: do you like being provided with an experience to revel in and savor (or rush through), or do you want to be given the tools to create your own experiences?

My argument is not a terribly revolutionary one: Fallout 3, Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto IV, Gothic III and other more freeform games forgo strong narrative and structural boundaries in the favor of player freedom and opportunity. The bountiful variety of their worlds is thought to obviate the need or desire for a world that reacts to my presence and inflicts its will upon me in comprehensible, unobtrusive (upon my sense of immersion) ways.

It’s actually unfair of me to label Fallout 3 lacking in authorial presence or intent. On the contrary, it is a game that in its very openness, freedom and lack of restrictions practically screams out its makers’ intentions.

Perhaps it’s that I’m not as creative as I should be. Some people enjoy taking a more or less blank slate and coloring it in. This is the problem that I had with Dead Space. Despite the fact that its world and plot were very much in line with Outcast’s style of narration and presentation (albeit with cleverly disguised cutscenes in the case of Dead Space), its character presentation and development were more in keeping with a game like Fallout 3. I know that it’s practically a staple now–the silent, barely-seen protagonist–but in some ways it seems like an idea wrongly stolen from old RPGs. We have the ability to flesh out characters as much as, or more than, their expansive surroundings. Why don’t we?

Maybe, in the end, this article is just a companion to my previous entry. In a world where we can depict a ruined, nuclear D.C., or a simulacrum for the ill-fated Sulaco, why must we settle for characters and worlds that makes The Clash of the Titans look fluid and natural? I love choice, and I love expansive worlds that provide me with a multitude of experiences. But more than that, I want people and things that remind me of their real or fictional world approximates, I want a way of moving through and interacting with the world that strikes me as “natural” or “immersive” (problematic words, those, but for me they describe the promises and goals that Fallout 3 leaves unfulfilled).

Again, it comes back to presentation, and the thickness of the wool covering our eyes: I don’t want to see through the deception, even if it means it’s a rather simple or thin deception. I put up with the more unnatural, robotic worlds like GTA IV’s and Fallout 3’s, because I enjoy the opportunities they provide me. People may laud Nico Bellic’s deep and sprawling city, but it’s a city of robots without lives, with talking heads that emerge from their apartments to partake in terrible approximations of socialization. This may be the inevitable consequence of the kind of freedom GTA IV offers, in some cases—could every citizen of Liberty City have a back-story? But that might be a reason to consider the value in the other side of the trade off, the value of more narrative depth. And it might also be a reason to consider cutting down on breadth of simulation, in some cases, for depth of emulation, even if a game has to play fast and loose with the fullness of the gameworld to do it.

Closer to Vizima than to the Capital Wasteland

I don’t necessarily want a brilliantly told story; I don’t need every game to be Mass Effect (a game that offended me to no end with its boring, barren, uninteresting explorable worlds). I just want a little believability, maybe some actual complexity of character (or just character presentation). I’m not talking about Final Fantasy here. 500 plot twists and a guy who could so totally be a triple crosser does not make for a good narrative, or a good character. Likewise, expansiveness and thoroughness of coverage (in the areas of gameplay options especially) do not make for a lived in, convincing world.

Instead, I long for games that go out of their way to trick me when I least expect it, games that go to unusual, “unnecessary” lengths to maintain the illusion of existing in another world. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few examples: NPCs who talk about something besides “gossip” and quests (Oblivion fails in this case, The Witcher succeeds). Or, as in the new Prince of Persia game, main characters that have personalities and odd habits, like any real person. What I really want to do is play a game without having to censor my misgivings and wishes, my better judgment.

Posted by Thomas Cross at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

[In this editorial, originally printed in Game Developer magazine's December 2008 issue, editor-in-chief Brandon Sheffield considers the common -- but questionable -- wisdom of publishers' perennial choice to concentrate all their major titles within the same tiny holiday release window.]

By now, you, as game developers, will now have finished your holiday crunch. If you’re not finished, well, I’m sorry for you -- you've probably missed your holiday release. And if you haven’t had to crunch at all, maybe you should write us an article.

Our main feature in this month's issue of Game Developer magazine is about common things that have gone wrong with game development, and most of them tie in to some degree with crunch and schedule problems.

One of these is often the cause or the effect of the rest. It’s easy to see how this ties in to the holiday video game retail meat market.

'Tis the Season to Make Money

Certainly the holidays are a big spending period, so it’s no wonder that publishers, and even developers, want to get their big titles out and in the minds of consumers round about that time. Shareholders, too, want to see or hear things like “holiday blockbuster” in order to keep their investor confidence, and I do think this is a very large part of why we have a holiday glut.

But ultimately, is this really helpful? Consider a game like Dead Space. It’s a good one, certainly, and its System Shock-related pedigree gives it even more street cred. But what it isn’t is a holiday blockbuster.

I want to be very careful with my phrasing here, because I am absolutely not saying it can’t stand toe to toe with the other releases. But when you have a third person game in which the primary action is shooting, it would behoove you not to release it against Gears of War 2. People are waiting for Gears of War 2, and you know that they are. They are not necessarily waiting for Dead Space.

Had Dead Space come out during a softer period, it might have had a chance to be as much of a financial success as it was a critical success. I don’t know its final sales numbers, but I know it wasn’t on the charts long, which is related to another major problem.

One reason that so many companies feel they have to release during the holiday period is because if they don’t, it’s felt that consumers won’t remember the game when that holiday rolls around.

And they’re kind of right, because games don’t stay on the primary shelves for that long, partially because so many games are released during the holiday rush. It seems to me that if major releases were more evenly spaced, everyone would benefit.

You'll Put Your Eye Out

Meeting a holiday schedule has its obvious problems. Unless a game is very specifically planned out to release at that time, there’s a strong chance you’re going to be crunching, rushing, or otherwise cutting corners to get it out the door.

Granted, this can happen in projects regardless, but rushing a product with the specific intent to compete in the most difficult, most cut-throat period of the year is not very healthy for you or for the game.

There are only so many dollars consumers have to spend, and the problem doesn’t just come up during the holidays. Dead Space and Far Cry 2 released against Gears of War 2 and Fallout 3 -- but Dark Sector also released against GTA IV, and that’s got nothing to do with holidays.

Naturally, it’s hard to predict a release window, but the holiday season is a known quantity. You know everyone will be bringing their best and brightest.

The Best and Brightest

I don’t want to sound like I’m arguing against original IP. I could see reading this editorial in that light, and it’s quite far from what I mean, given my love for gameplay experimentation. Original IP is obviously risky though, there’s no denying it.

Returning to the Dead Space example, or even to Mirror's Edge, it does speak well of EA’s new direction that the company deemed its original IPs important enough to launch them against better-understood market movers.

But I do wonder if it was worth pushing them to meet this three-month holiday window. Even Far Cry 2, which was a sequel, didn’t really have the mindshare required to survive in this holiday climate. You shouldn’t have to “survive,” but that’s often what it amounts to when everyone is scrambling for the same dollars at the same time.

Couldn’t the company actually make more money by releasing these games at a different time, all the while increasing quality?

I’m far from a financial genius, so it’s possible I’m totally off-base here, but it seems like a less ambitious release window for original or lesser known IP would yield better results, so long as doing that doesn’t relegate it to lower status within the company.

In fact, it seems to me it could even raise its profile and importance. As per usual, I welcome your thoughts and criticisms.

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So, the end of the weekend, and time to round up some of the top features posted on our network of sites, including big sister site Gamasutra - started out by Friday's jovial interview with The Behemoth guys about, yes, cartoon animals and their bowel movements.

Also hanging out in here - Game Developer's '2008 Top Deck' feature, including the 52 top personalities (and 2 jokers!) of 2008 in game creation, plus a good article on luck in games, an Intel-sponsored tech article about cloth simulation that's all kinds of nerdy, a big piece on used game reselling, and other neatness.

Go for the win:

- Taunting The Behemoth: Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin Cry Out (Gamasutra.com)
"Fresh from Castle Crashers' XBLA success, Gamasutra sits down with The Behemoth's art and code leads Dan Paladin and Tom Fulp to discuss inspiration, future plans, and... pooping animals?"

- Game Developer's Top Deck 2008 (Gamasutra.com)
"Gamasutra is proud to present, in association with Game Developer magazine, the Top Deck 2008 - the 52 individuals (plus 2 jokers!) who were most important to the game industry during 2008."

- A Matter of Luck (Gamasutra.com)
"In this game design analysis, former Midway and current Kuju designer Todd references titles from Diablo to Minesweeper to examine the use of luck in games."

- Sponsored Feature: Multi-Core Simulation of Soft-Body Characters Using Cloth (Gamasutra.com)
"In this Intel-sponsored feature, Intel senior software engineer Brad Werth explains how multicore CPUs can be leveraged for an efficient method of representing soft-body characters by way of cloth simulation."

- Idea Origins (GameCareerGuide.com)
'To consider where ideas for video games come from is to better understand what will make the game successful once it's built. Game designer and educator Dr. Lewis Pulsipher believes most ideas for new games originate from one (or a combination) of five major sources."

- As Recession Deepens, Used Games Get More Painful (Gamasutra.com)
"Gamasutra goes in-depth on the used game controversy, with analyst stats on top resale genres and Frontier's David Braben weighing in on why the resale market keeps game prices "artificially high"."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Here's info on the latest issue of sister publication Game Developer magazine, complete with a 'best of postmortems' round-up - or maybe 'worst of postmortems', if that makes sense - plus some other neat stuff.]

The December 2008 issue of Game Developer magazine, the sister print publication to Gamasutra and the leading U.S. trade publication for the video game industry, has shipped to print/digital subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and single-issue formats.

The cover feature for the issue is a fascinating compilation of excerpts from Game Developer postmorte