We Won A Major Award!

It may not have been the best year for us at THQ, but at least it's going to end on a high note. GameSetWatch has awarded our Jim Huntley, global brand manager, with the "The Mark Jacobs Award for Corporate Communicative Achievement" for the following quote:

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.

Oh wait, I guess that was sar-cas-m. It must be french. I hope everyone on this list have egos that aren't fra-gee-lay.

Holiday Season Bloodbath

While it's good for my wallet, I'm sad to see that Afro Samurai has been pushed back till January 27th, 2009. While an official release date may not have been announced, many retailers had it pegged for an October or Fall release, a long with just about every other title we know about.

I will never understand our industry's continued dependence on the holiday quarter for release schedules. Firstly, with the escalating costs of development and vast number of choices all competing for limited funds out there, makes little business sense to me to force a game on the public. Then, year after year, quality but lower profile games get over looked by the masses further enforcing the downward spiral of publisher reluctance to produce original IP.

I also see a drastic effect on overall quality as well. We have just over 70 skus in test right now. And that is just Nintendo platforms. With a nine man team, every game is not going to get the test time that they need. Granted we aren't testing the functional stuff, but those teams are stretched thin as well. The rush to hit dates is on and quality is the first to be sacrificed. Instead of pacing ourselves for the year and bringing more quality to store shelves, we burn ourselves out in the summer to get anything we can to Fall shoppers.

But, obviously, we aren't the only publisher with this mentality and I wish a few would start seeing that there are other months throughout the year. Especially when we almost always go from January to August with high profile releases very few and far between.

October was already going to be expensive with Fable 2 and Fallout 3 coming out. There's also Guitar Hero World Tour and Dead Space. Afro Samurai looks like a very fun game but it would have probably been relegated to a game I borrow from someone instead of full purchase. Being released in January may be the best decision their publisher has made.

THQ Does Something First

This is old but I've been busy with the baby and work. I'm pleased that we at THQ have decided to do something that someone else hasn't already tried (well almost the first). So, that's encouraging. Unfortunately, it's unleashing Wall-E on the middle east.

Well, hopefully we'll at least get a chance in QA to look at it before any one else.

Two Of My Favorite Things

MLS expansion team, the Seattle Sounders, have landed a shirt sponsorship deal with Microsoft. I think this is cool. As Kotaku mentions, it may not have worked out for the Dreamcast and their Arsenal deal, but Nintendo was sponsoring Fiorentina long before that, so it can't be a curse. I also think that Sony had the PlayStation logo on Lyon or Marseille's jersey in France, I can't remember exactly. I'm just glad the MLS has joined the rest of the word and is putting sponsors on the jerseys.

On the other hand, I hate this: Guitar Hero will feature during Colorado Rapids halftime show. This doesn't even make sense to me. I don't see the connection or relevance. But then again, it is the MLS, and they still thinks that a two division, season ending tournament is the best way to determine the champion. Go figure.

That's Not "In The Game"

Unfortunately, neither is this man. That's too bad. Even though I've been a Niner fan all of my life, Favre will go down as one of the all time greats in my book, and for most football fans I believe.

Do Over! Madden Mondays Week 6: EA SPORTS REWIND [GameStop Blog]

Insert Foot in Mouth Week

There seems to be a running theme for developer quotes this week. Firstly, Greg Donovan, Producers for Saint's Row 2, lowered every ones expectations by reminding us that the game "won't be bug free" since no game is. Working in QA, I know the truth far too well on the bugs that get through to the final product but stating this up front is not getting off on the right foot.

Not to worry though, because Spark CEO Craig Allen one upped Donovan by telling us why most of us don't like his game, Turing Point: Fall of Liberty.

Turning Point, the idea there was really a high concept idea. I think that we're finding that the people who look at it like, "Is this going to be fun, something I can drop into, in a world I haven't seen before and have a good time?" really love the game. People that are looking at it with more of a critical eye of "Is this game revolutionary, is it doing play mechanics I've never seen before, is it driving new technology?" it was never meant to do those things. If people look at it in the right way, I think they really enjoy what they see. You can certainly look at it and say it's not revolutionary, so those opinions are certainly a lot more critical.

I guess that explains why I didn't like the demo at all. Not only am I not smart enough to get the concept but this first person shooter is not for core gamers. Duh!!!

Dexter to Grace Consoles

My wife believes I have a very, very unhealthy obsession with Dexter. It’s not that I identify with the questionable morals and rules developed by a cop who moonlights as a killer serial killer, I think the acting and writing are top notch and is one of only three or four shows that can actually keep me engaged for long enough to sit through them (Lost, Heroes, and my guilty pleasure, NCIS, are the other ones). It’s dark and demented for sure, but it also deals with some very real issues of how people deal with relationships and what is right and wrong. Now, Mark Ecko is teaming with Showtime to make a game based on the series.

In a clear sign that people are running out of ideas or feel the need to make a game out of everything, I can only ask, why? There is no way a good game can be made from the source material here. I can see it now: the game play revolves around stalking your prey and gathering evidence in order to prove his or her guilt of evil, somewhat reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed. Then, after a quick mini game of covering a room in plastic, the mark is stealthily tracked until an opportune moment arrives and you bury a needle in their neck. This is followed by another mini game in which a blood sample is taken from their face for a collection and then the body is systematically chopped up into little pieces. Each level is completed with a jaunt on Dexter’s boat to dispose of the body in the Atlantic Ocean. Dexter then brings donuts to all his coworkers to celebrate his successful night! The only problem being the furor that would erupt from a certain unscrupulous lawyer who would see the inherent murder simulation and a news channel that has less moral ambiguity than Dexter himself.

No details are known at this point but it’s probably a safe bet that it will fall somewhere between The Sopranos game and the new Lost: Via Domus game. Showtime should go back to what they do best; producing one of the best shows on television (and bring us a new season sooner than later). Mark Ecko should go back to what he does best; I don’t know what that is but it’s not making games.

Cool Job Postings

While reading through the daily Gamasutra newsletter, I always browse through the job postings. 2k Marin really out did themselves with their descriptions for several available positions on an unannounced project (Bioshock 2, perhaps?) I've posted two of my favorites.

Animator:

If you made the most awesome flip-books when you were a kid and were undeterred by the unimaginative people who told you that you could never do that for a living, but you continued to refine them until they intersected with computers and you actually started to pay the rent, you might be just who we're looking for. As an animator with 2K Marin, you would be responsible for animating characters using a combination of keyframes and motion capture.

Lead Designer:

You see straight to the heart of games. You are able to hold, fixed in your mind, the paradox of their simultaneous existence as both systems of mathematical purity and as living, breathing emotional entities. This either makes you a genius, or insane, or both. Such distinctions are irrelevant - you're down to earth like that.

Hopefully this sense of humor is not stifled by a possible assimilation.

One More Reason to Not Shop at Wal-Mart

In an effort to "protect the children" from the ever risque box art, Wal-mart is going to start placing M Rated games in 3/4 paper sleeves. In other news: R rated DVDs will still be displayed next to the "Family" section.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ender's Game Coming to Consoles

This is fairly old news, but I was very exited the last time this info surfaced. Now it's official, but I'm cautiously optimistic. The developer is Chair Entertainment, who created Undertow. The game was a technical achievement but, even after it became free, I still found it to be nearly unplayable. Maybe I just didn't "get it," but despite all of my AI companions, I always felt like I was fighting hordes of enemies on my own which lead to overwhelming frustration.

Ender's Game the game will focus on the Battle Room, which is both exciting and perplexing. While it is easy to imagine a game based on the rules provided for the Battle Room, Ender's success was directly related on how he was able to bend these rules in order to combat seemingly insurmountable odds. If every match begins with someone rushing for the enemy's gate before the other team knows what is going on, there will be some very disappointed fans and gamers. I guess we'll just have to wait for more information regarding the game play in this upcoming Ender adventure. In the mean time, I'll be recruiting for Dragon Army!

Thank You, EA

It shouldn’t bother me as much as it did, because it is expected from Fox News to disregard fair and honest journalism, but they went way too far this time. In this clip, from a segment called “Se”Xbox, the host, an “expert” psychologist and a panel of ill-informed reporters spout off on a number of blatant inaccuracies regarding Mass Effect. I give a lot of credit to Geoff Keighley, for whom I also have new found respect, as he attempted to get a few words in edgewise. The words he did get in were to the point and achieved the desired effect of pointing out that they had not played the game and were in no place to make hearsay judgments about the game. The gaming community responded the best way possible by spamming the reviews of the psychologist’s book on Amazon and venting in forums.

However, in a move that I’m not sure that anyone expected, based on the reaction, EA stepped up and defended Bioware’s work in a letter to the show’s producer asking that the inaccuracies be addressed on the show.

The resulting coverage was insulting to the men and women who spent years creating a game which is acclaimed by critics for its high creative standards. As video games continue to take audiences away from television, we expect to see more TV news stories warning parents about the corrupting influence of interactive entertainment. But this represents a new level of recklessness.

It’s encouraging to see EA, who is usually cast in a malevolent light, sticking up for not only their newly acquired IP but for video games in general in the mass media. Our medium is a threat not only because it is an unknown to them but because it takes away viewers and therefore advertisers. We’re still waiting for that apology and I hope they take legal action if needed since they’ve used the word “slandered” to describe the hard working folks at Bioware.

The worst part of the situation is that Fox News clearly neglected to do any research on the topic or game itself. It appears as someone caught wind of this rant on the conservative Townhall Blog (which, curiously, is no longer available) and ran with it. If they had done a quick search on their own website, they would have seen it was “one of the best-written and best-looking games in a long time,” earning three and a half stars out of four, and one of their top ten games of the year.

Update: Cooper Lawrence, the psychologist on the show, admitted that she received bad information about the game and has since seen someone play the game for a couple hours, saying that she has "seen episodes of Lost that are more sexually explicit."

News Round Up

PAX and the holiday weekend threw off my posting schedule, so here’s a rundown of things that have caught my attention over the last couple of weeks as I play catch up.

• Manhunt 2 is Dated for a Halloween Release: I was off by a couple of months as far as the release of a ‘modified’ version, but I think they have achieved the desired effect – buzz.
• Guitar Hero III Achievements Unveiled: I love achievements but these suck. I know, I know, you should have to achieve something to earn them. But for the love of all things holy, I can understand a few, but not the majority of them. I initially thought that these achievements were fake. Firstly, they are way too specific and require unnatural skills at the game. Secondly, some of them have errors in them, like the ‘Now That’s Impressive’ achievement that states 750,000 points on a song with a 1 million point image. Thirdly, there are no achievements for progressing through the game past the bosses, like Slash and the recently announced Tom Morello. Finally, I noticed that there were 59 achievements. Juiced (a THQ game) had submission problems because they had 60 achievements but was then passed, maybe because of Guitar Hero. But, come on, look at the requirements for Tone Deaf and Button Masher. Seriously?
• Sequel to The Ship is Coming to 360: I love the premise of this game. You are given a name and must find this person on a cruise ship full of people and kill him – all while avoiding the unknown person who has yours. Quite a departure from most online multiplayer games, this one requires some stealth and skill, not just run and gun. Awesome!
• Pit’s Intro in Super Smash Brothers Brawl: I don’t care about SSBB. Not one bit. But if Nintendo finally went ahead and created a new Kid Icarus game, I would finally have enough reasons to own a Wii. It looks like they have the assets. Come on Nintendo, let’s get this done.
• Zero Punctuation Reviews Bioshock:

J. Thompson Hates on Bioshock Ad

In his most recent stunt along his crusade against all things gaming and Take Two, Jack Thompson sent a complaint letter to the FCC. His issues stem from the fact that several Bioshock ads were aired during Friday's WWE SmackDown episode. He claims that Take Two are aggressively targeting all of the "children" who watch wrestling much the same way cigarette companies targeted them with Joe Camel. He even cites Rockstar in the despite the fact that they have nothing to do with the game. Their evil ways must be infecting the entire company. The wrestling is fine for the kids but not the thirty second spot for a mature themed video game; the irony is very thick. Chris Kohler at the Wired's Game|Life said everything I wanted to say. Only he did it sooner and better.

Thompson provides no viable solution, but it's okay, because the problem he's describing isn't even a problem at all.

Why Jack Thompson Is Wrong About BioShock [Game|Life]

An Eventful Week

It seems lots of things happened while I was away camping. Instead of going into too much detail I'll just hit up some details.

• Halo 3 pre-orders at 7-11: WTF??!??
• Resident Evil 5 trailer is racist?: No. You only have yourself to blame for feeling that way. Not all black people live in Africa. My first impressions were that they could have been in on a Caribbean Island, like Haiti, as well. Additionally, they are Zombies, not people. Please stop there. Thank you.
• GTAIV delayed! Nooooo!!!: Damn, now what am I going to get my wife on her birthday? Now, was it technological challenges or the PS3? I'm going with technological problems on the PS3.
• Marathon on XBLA makes you sick: No shit, I nearly needed a bucket after only five minutes. Thank god for demos or I would have been a very pissed off camper.

Owning Up to Your Shortcomings

It looks like the big boys had some things to get off of their chest and clear their conscious before making us forget by flashing pretty images at us from the new and improved E3.

Microsoft made the first move early last week with an open letter to the consumers concerning the ring of death phenomenon. Effectively admitting to a problem and then attempting to make amends by upping the current warranty from one to three years and reimbursing any who have been charged for repairs. I have been fortunate to have a perfectly working 360 from March of '06 but I appear to more of an exception than the rule if we are to believe the outcry that has come from the Internet. Either way, I applaud their efforts.

Then, later in the week, after some rumor rumblings, Sony came out and announced a $100 price cut for the PS3. The price of Sony's console has been a hotly debated controversy since its announcement at last year's E3. Despite their being extremely adamant about its value, it has always seemed way to high for me. I must not be the only one. Sales of the console have been lackluster at best and this may be the injection they need. I, however, will still need some games before I jump on board.

Where has been Nintendo been while the dust was settling on these two bombs? They've mostly been quiet on the damage control front except for the minor hiccup in the Nintendo machine and announced that Metroid would ship a week late.

THQ in the News

My company, THQ, was in the news a bit last week. Firstly, we had a banner year, netting just over $1 Billion in sales. This feat was achieved through a large dependence on licensed titles, including projects that I worked on such as Cars and the combined Nickelodeon titles. This business model has definitely worked for us and made us a major contender amongst the big publishers. On the other hand, it's very calculated and, quite frankly, boring. I am, however, very excited that we are going to step up our original properties. They will mostly fall on to the 360 and PS3, but a few surprises are coming for the Wii as well.

Which leads me to mention De Blob. This looks quite promising, if not at least largely different from the norm around here at THQ. Designed by students at Utrecht, it is somewhat reminiscent of Katamari, but wholly new in it's own right. I like the direction we are heading and I hope gamers reward our bit of daring and not scare those who write checks to shy away from further original games in the future.

Good News. Bad News.

Throughout this blog I have expressed my displeasure of the Wii console. Therefore I pleasantly surprised by the news announced this week from Nintendo. Coming later this year to the Wii is WiiWare, a platform for new games to be delivered to the console in a similar fashion as virtual console games.

Yeah!

I have to say this is very exciting. I love the Xbox Live Arcade format and think the Wii could also harbor a great deal of fun and unique titles. I think the indie developers will rise to the challenge and create some awesome original content. Furthermore, the major developers will also have an outlet for some of the crazier ideas they come up with but the publishers aren't ready to take a gamble on. In any case, the real winners are the gamers. We'll get more games that aim to create new experiences utilizing the Wii Remote.

Now the bad.

With all the great new content coming and the re-release of classic content, those tiny, 512MB hard drives are filling up fast. Not only is there no easy way to currently deal with the problem (delete and download again or save to an SD card as the memory becomes tight), Nintendo has categorically squashed any notion that there will be a add-on hard drive for the Wii. This is just one more nail in the coffin for me. On a system who's main selling point is a wealth of back catalog of titles, it seems that they should have had a long term solution for storage. A 512MB hard drive always seemed small. I already have numerous devices (including my phone) that currently have more storage. This is just starting to look silly now. Without a user friendly method of dealing with the storage issue, it is as if they built in a shelf life. Maybe this is more indication that the Wii 2.0 is not so far fetched after all.

I Want This Guy's Job

He's every ones favorite analyst: Michael Pachter. I wonder if the actual job description at Wedbush-Morgan asked for someone who was willing to sit a desk with a crystal ball and make academic predictions that even the most vociferous posters on the forums could make with their hands tied behind their back. I have done my best to try and ignore the stories about him, but they seem to be appearing a lot more often. Let's look at his track record over the last couple of months:

• Fixing Manhunt 2 will cost Take Two millions. Duh.
• Halo3 to cause GTAIV delay. Oh really?
• Red Octane a better buy than Harmonix. Yes, $100 million is less than $275 million.
• Buy GameStop stock before the holiday rush. Please take all of my money and invest for me.

It seems like the writers that are continuing to give him the spotlight see the same pattern I do, but continue to post his thoughts. I guess they get some kind of enjoyment out it. It's definite that he does:

I don't solicit all this press coverage. The press finds me. I think that the press finds me because I'm colorful, I'm not shy, I have an opinion and I frankly really don't care if someone agrees or disagrees with it. I'm willing to share.

He's enjoying his fifteen minutes but I think it's time to cut him off. Now he starts making some really off the wall predictions, I may start to listen. He has done it once, and I have to admit, I think it's his best prediction yet: Wii 2.

Orson Scott Card interview

I came across this interview over the weekend and it seems that most of the major sites have jumped on it as well. Ender's Game is my favorite book of all time, fueling my love of science fiction when I read it in the sixth grade. When I thought about what to name my blog, this was the only source I wanted to go for inspiration. The writer touches on some great topics such as the role of story in games and the effect of violet games on kids. I was most attracted to the comments Card made on a series of games set in the Ender universe, ranging from what sounds like RTS's to first-person shooters to action-adventure games.

Don't look for one "Ender's Game" game. Look, instead, for games bearing the Ender's Game brand.

The Battle Room. I see several game modules here, using the same graphics base but with quite different game play. There's the game where you're an individual soldier; the game where you're a toon leader; the game where you command.

I have always wanted to interact with this world. The Battle Room, while possible strategy based, would be a very cool. I have always imagined while reading the book how this would play out as a game: teams maneuvering through zero-g and bouncing off the walls, blasting each other with lasers and rotating the room in three dimensions. It would be very cool. He also suggests a game based of my blog's namesake.

Then there's the "mind game" or Fantasy Game from the novel. This would be the hardest to design, since there are so many areas where free-association would need to be rewarded. But it would also be the most fun to explore!

The game in the book was open ended, giving the player the freedom to do anything he wanted. It was essentially one of the first sandbox games. The game would be impossibly difficult to actually create but as emergent AI improves and games continue to become exponentially more complex, it is feasible in the near future.

The Battle Room, and more specifically the simulator from the end of the book, is actually the inspiration for one of my first attempts at creating my own game. With design combined with a popular board game of my youth, I hope to start prototyping and developing in the near future.