Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming

Comic-Con 2008

2008-07-22T22:59:00.005-04:00

Every year, Comic-Con becomes more and more the "everything" pop culture mecca.

I'm not going this year (not that last year was enough), but I will be watching for that peanut butter and chocolate mix of comic books and video games that I so desperately crave.

If I don't post Comic-Con-related shenanigans this week, be sure to check in on the convention-skewed offerings from Kotaku.com and IGN (they'll also be at the left side of the page for a week or two).

I'm sure Microsoft will be adding their Comic-Con specific coverage and Xbox downloadable goodies shortly (starting last year, they became great givers to the comic/geek/Adam crowd).

I'll add more links as I find them.

EDIT: Added the Xbox.com Comic-Con page.

Gamebryo / EGT updates

2008-07-19T22:00:00.006-04:00

So what's up with Emergent Game Technologies and / or the Gamebryo game engine recently?

On the Gamebryo-powered games front (at least retail), there's Space Chimps from developer REDTRIBE and publisher Brash Entertainment, on the Wii, 360, PS2, and DS.

On the MMO front, the open beta for Magic World Online (dev Goldcool Games and publisher Ingle Games Ltd.) starts June 20.

The big PC MMO for this year, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, started its closed guild beta July 11. This is from long-time developer licensee EA Mythic, and is being published by Electronic Arts.

On the partner integration front, Allegorithmic's ProFX for Gamebryo 2.3 and 2.5 is available, as is our updated Gamebryo 2.5 integration with Audiokinetic's WWise.

Finally, there are also new case studies on the Emergent Web site, including Image Metrics (from the facial animation demo we showed at GDC this year), and Coldwood (another GDC demo with a long-time licensee, showing what seven or eight people can do to create a hot tech demo in about a month's time) -- video accessible via the pict below.

Right, that's good for the work side of my gaming life for now.

(EDIT: Cleaned up links -- thank, Vince, for the heads up.)

E3 2008: Day 1

2008-07-14T23:34:00.003-04:00

I'm tired, but it's been a big day on the announcement front.

You can catch my live tweeting of the Microsoft press conference.

Biggest announcement was Final Fantasy XIII coming to Xbox 360. Other cool stuff includes a NetFlix announcement (download videos via Xbox Marketplace, for the cost of the NetFlix account), Xbox Dashboard redesign this fall (sexy 3D-ish), sequel Portal Still Alive is a 2008 exclusive to the 360, content deals with NBC / Universal, and titles Fallout 3, Fable II, RE:5, and Gears 2 all look fantastic.

Electronic Arts robbed the Activision cradle (?), snagging id Software and Rage, and introduced Nucleus, a system/service that will connect a bunch of their games (29 by end of 2009), and Rupture, an API that "allows anyone to bring data in and out of the Rupture website. The API has two major components, the Rupture Client API and the Rupture API."

Sony's and Nintendo's and pressers are on Tuesday.

E3 Preview(ish)

2008-07-14T00:05:00.005-04:00

E3 starts Monday, with the console pressers on Monday and Tuesday.

I'm excited to see what shakes out, but there are a number of titles and rumors that have me pumped.

On the titles front, I'm going to miss something I dig, but Borderlands (Gearbox Software) just looks fun; I'm hoping Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization continues the great stuff from Civilization: Revolution; Capcom's got me jonesing for Resident Evil 5 and Dark Void, Flock has me intrigued, and I'm hoping "New games from Capcom Interactive" include Dead Rising 2; from D3 Publisher, I think Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers looks to be the video game version of wonderfully trashy camp; Dead Space looks be a brown trousers equivent to 28 Days Later; Mirror’s Edge may improve on the Breakdown formula for "first-person thing"; Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning may be the MMO that gets me on board with the genre (and it's Gamebryo-powered); I'm hoping The Lord of the Rings: Conquest successfully merges the Tolkien IP with the Star Wars Battlefront gameplay; Left 4 Dead could be the shot in the rotting arm the zombie genre needs (like it needs anything); Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe may be a great expression of the component IPs; and SquEnix's The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery look like uber-epic super-production value offerings.

As far as console rumors, I'm hoping they all do something actually phenomenal with media intersection. Brass tacks, Microsoft owns the show with Xbox Live, Sony should have exploded a long time ago (since it has the media and video content six ways to Sunday), and Nintendo could get so much more addressable market if they would get into that space (by way of focused online).

For Sony, it's probably a bit stupid of me that the most exciting thing for me would be a Twisted Metal follow up, (a la Black). Oh, and Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain looks closest to bridging the uncanny valley -- and tugging the heart strings to boot. On the hardware front, I wonder if Sony will drop the price of the PS2; seems like a win/lose, because it'll bring revenue, but feels like it'll cannibalize PS3 adoption (unless there's an equivalent PS3 drop, which I don't expect).

For Microsoft, I wonder if there'll be any motion controller announcement, to add to the news of the price drop for the Pro SKU. I'm a Halo be-otch, so Halo Wars, Peter Jackson's project, or whatever the #### Bungie is working on would be keen. Aside from that, I'd really love "Live Anywhere" to materialize (or even "Live Somewhere") -- like some big E3 presser announcement, simultaneous dashboard download and Windows Mobile update. That'd be sweet.

Nintendo? They say they haven't abandoned the "core gamer", so I hope that means some unexpected announcements from them. A Nintendo DS more akin to the Wii, or integrated with the Wii, or something, with content that matches the stereotypical gaming demographic. Franchise wise, I'm thinking Donkey Kong. What about the Wii? I'd love for Nintendo to do something disruptive -- a "Wii 1.25", or something -- with basics like DVD, a focused network initiative, etc.

So that's my quick-and-dirty preview -- more in a few hours.

Xbox 360 20Gb drops and deals

2008-07-13T10:35:00.002-04:00

Ahead of its E3 keynote, Microsoft has made official the rumored $50 price drop for its 20Gb Xbox 360, ahead of the release of the new, replacement 60Gb version.

Not only can gamers get the 20Gb version starting today at most major retailers, some are doing shopping incentives in addition -- like Target, who's are giving $25 gift cards plus the fifty-buck price drop.

(Dunno if the new 60Gb version will be $300 or $350.)

Full Microsoft press release:

Redmond, Washington—Microsoft is giving consumers more gigabytes for their buck. The company today announced an Xbox 360® console with triple the storage space of the original console, but for the same price of $349 (U.S.) estimated retail price.

Available in retail stores in the U.S. and Canada starting in early August, the upgraded Xbox 360 will include a 60GB hard drive for storing the growing wealth of digital entertainment available for the console, including music, movies, television shows, and game content. In addition, Microsoft today dropped the price of its 20GB Xbox 360 console in the U.S. and Canada to just $299 (U.S.) (ERP) while supplies last, a savings of $50.

"We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we're giving it to them at no extra charge," said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft. "No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 can deliver, and now you'll have three times the storage to manage all that great content."

Xbox 360 is just one of three Xbox 360 gaming and entertainment systems Microsoft offers. Microsoft's Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes with a 256MB memory unit and five Xbox LIVE Arcade games, is a value for the whole family for $279 (U.S.) (ERP), and the premium Xbox 360 Elite console is available with a 120GB hard drive for $449 (U.S.) (ERP).

Gamebryo / EGT updates

2008-07-09T19:30:00.005-04:00

As Product Manager for 3D engine Gamebryo, it probably makes sense for me to -- at least every once in a while -- summarize what's happening on that video game front.

Aside from our recent release (was it just over a month ago?!), we're not standing still.

Here's what's happened in just the last few days (I'm too lazy to go back through the whole month right now).

On the games front, there are a few titles with recent movement from that long list o' titles I posted for this year alone.

Notably, this week (today) sees Gamebryo-powered title Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution hit store shelves.

There's also a little Gamebryo-powered offering from Google (Lively). It's for Google to talk about, but there are number of online interviews where Google mentions the Gamebryo engine.

Emergent is also good about technology partnerships -- we understand we can't build everything, and we're sensitive to our licensees' investments in other middleware. More than just "paper partnerships", our partnerships are generally tech integrations available out-of-the-box (or via easy download) that let you leverage other top-tier games middleware in a powerful way.

Updated integrations include Audiokinetic's awesome Wwise audio pipeline offering, compatible with Gamebryo 2.5.

Then there's Aristen, a new company with a special effects sequencing tool. There launch press release was earlier than I expected, but it has a nice plug for Emergent.

Finally (at least on this) we released our first Allegorithmic ProFX integration with Gamebryo. Massive procedural textures, itty bitty compressionables. Yum.

Good stuff -- more to come shortly.

E3 links

2008-07-09T19:11:00.007-04:00

In preparation for next week, I brought back the "E3" link on the top left side of my page, and added a few of the big dogs that come to mind -- including their scheduled press conferences.

On the console front, only Microsoft seems to have their E3 site up and discoverable, so if you know where Sony's and Nintendo's are, let me know.

Links:

Press conferences:

Monday (7/14) 10:30 a.m. PDT: Microsoft
Tuesday (7/15) 09:00 a.m. PDT: Nintendo
Tuesday (7/15) 11:30 a.m. PDT: Sony

Bungie Day 2008

2008-07-07T21:27:00.002-04:00

(Forgot to post this this morning.)

It's Bungie Day 2008 ("the seventh day of the seventh month ..."), and there are some online and Xbox Live goodies for download -- with the Xbox Live goodies mostly available for today only (gamerpics and theme).

On Xbox Live Marketplace:

Download Cold Storage for Free
Download The Official Bungie Day Gamerpic7ures (free, available ONLY on 7/7)
Download the Bungie Day Theme (free, available ONLY on 7/7)

On Bungie.net:

Get 'em while they're hot:

7.7.08 (Bungie.net)

Gamebryo games releasing this week

2008-07-06T21:57:00.002-04:00

I'm away from the official list, so the only Gamebryo-powered release that comes to mind for this week is Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution.

The demo's available online, and is a solid console offering for the storied franchise.

Upcoming Gamebryo titles

2008-06-25T21:14:00.003-04:00

I mentioned I work for Emergent Game Technologies, the company behind the Gamebryo game engine.

I'm pretty proud of our tech being foundational in somewhere around 200 titles. There are also 100 or so additional titles in development.

Which got me to thinking: Which titles built on Gamebryo are coming out soon?

The trick is finding titles I can actually mention. We're very protective of our licensees (people in our own office often don't know what titles are being worked on, since we keep that info need-to-know).

So, with the help of Reid at work (a top-notch Technical Account Manager at EGT), I've got a list of Gamebryo titles that have shipped or are coming out in 2008. These titles have been mentioned in some form or fashion in the media. If they haven't crossed a press barrier of some sort, they aren't here.

And EGT doesn't make games -- so these are other folks' properties, and they retain all the rights, licenses, etc.

And this is list isn't a commitment for shipping in 2008. Production schedules can and do change, blah blah blah.

Here are a buncha titles that have licensed Gamebryo, and have shipped or should be shipping in 2008:

Animal Garden Online
Blood Bowl
Chiquititas
Cragsgirl
The Creeping Dark
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Disney Magicboard Online
Dungeon Party
ePGA Golf
Fallout 3
Freaky Ceatures
G-Town
Jeopardy
Kickoff
Lazeska
Live Show
Mary King's Riding School
Mr. Okatami's Winning Post
Rat Race
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
Wizard101
WorldShift
X-UP Table Tennis

GLN: Breaking 4000

2008-06-24T18:01:00.002-04:00

All right, this installment of Gaming Last Night (GLN) recaps me, playing Dragonball Z: Burst Limit, and ...

(... wait for it ...)

... breaking 4000 on my Xbox 360 Gamercard.

Which is ... dunno ...

Well, it's something, isn't it?

Might be more impressive if I hadn't bought my first 360 on launch night. Or if I still had my first 360 (sniff, I'll miss you, One-eyed Pete; HAL is so pissy). Or if I was a Gamerscore Whore (luv ya, Ryu!), and my numbers were cresting seventy thousand.

As it is, it's an excuse to post and get snarky.

Like I need an excuse.

The Game industry needs to step up

2008-06-22T10:54:00.008-04:00

I'm writing this post, knowing it's going to piss people off.

I'm writing it for at least a couple of reasons.

The first is to generate discussion -- about what I think are pretty important topics.

The second is because I've written (here and here, and plan to write) several topics that have needed to point back to a post like this; by writing this post, in the future I can link to here from "the game industry could learn from" type statements, and not derail future discussions.

To be fair, I'm relatively new to the game industry -- six months after a 3-year directed effort to get into this market (I'll write about that some other time), and since I'm on the middleware side, I'm a bit distanced from "core" game development and publishing. I'm also arguably not yet Part of the Club -- but I think that puts me in a unique space to comment on these topics.

And I'm a fan. I'm a consumer, I fought to get into this space, and I recognize the huge potential for this market.

Also, I'm wicked impressed with the creativity, innovation, and intelligence in the games industry. I just think the industry needs to recognize its relatively small size, vertical market maturity, and learn lessons from other vertical markets.

These are generalities, of course -- it doesn't apply to everyone, and companies like Microsoft, for example -- who have enterprise, consumer, and brand maturity -- are arguably going to be more mature in the games space.

Relative size:

The game industry is pretty small. Numbers put it between 6-8,000. Dell, as one company, has more than that. Now, think Cisco, IBM, Boeing, 3M, etc.

That makes for a very small talent and experience pool. On the upside, that should make for a more accessible group of folks -- if you're in the club (see above); but on the downside, it can make for an insular, elitist culture, too. I'm not saying it is; saying it could be. On second thought, I've experienced it quite a bit, so let's say it is.

Relative accomplishment:

I've talked about what film accomplished in its first 20 years, versus what video games accomplished in nearly twice that -- and video games had a more mature technology base from which to start. Not pretty.

There's a lifetime video game vet in Austin I keep encouraging to publish his verbal rant about the elevation of film versus his frustration with his industry's "myopic, uninformed braggadocio". It is a brilliant, informed, very articulate call to arms (and call to accountability) for the games industry.

And, because he's a respected lifetime vet, he could say say the same things I'm saying, but people might actually listen. Maybe.

Relative Professionalism:

OK, maybe. Because brass tacks, the downside of a very small, insular professional pool can be a lack of professionalism.

(This may sting; I hope it does.)

This exhibits itself in different ways. On the upside, I think the games industry is less constrained and more gutsy than a lot of other technical markets. Because of the nature of the deliverables, political correctness and "appropriateness" (as a generality) don't have the same gating powers as they would for say, Cisco or IBM. That leads to some hilarious, open fare (a la Battlefield: Bad Company or Red v. Blue).

But I have been treated with less regard in the games industry than any other part of the technology sector.

I've mentioned I spent a focused 3-year effort to get into the games industry. That's because I got great, focused advice from vets in the industry located with me in Austin who told me because of "the arrogance of the industry", I would need to take longer and additional steps to get closer to a parity title in the games industry.

I was an enterprise technical director in the financial services market. When I went to leave, I turned down executive-level positions in that market and other tech markets.

For video game companies, I was literally offered unpaid internships and associate producer positions at a fifth of my salary -- from people who knew my background and then-current compensation.

As I was getting coached by some top-tier folks to get into the industry, they had concerns about how I would get in and how I would do -- not about me, but about the industry "not acknowledging the skills and process maturity you bring that we so desperately need."

I had one interviewer tell me, "I'm not worried about you being able to do the job -- I'm concerned you'll run screaming when you see how f***ed up we are as an industry" (verbatim, I still have it written down from the interview).

I had a recruiter (one of the people on that side of the house I respect most in the game industry) who was beyond frustrated with the lack of response he would get on my behalf: "Don't they get that if they don't get people like you, they will fail?" (not me -- "people like" me -- I'm confident in my abilities, but I'm no Neo for the games industry; there is no Neo for the industry).

Another example would be on the biz dev front. While that's not part of my current job, per se, it is a part of how I'm wired as a person. I get far fewer responses from within the games industry when I tickle people about potential, exciting unthought-of business opps than I did before joining the games industry (as a matter of fact, I just realized the responsiveness I've had has been from companies outside of the game industry).

Hell, I'm also a professional actor, and I find that market more open, accessible, and collaborative (even on the stereotypical LA in-club side) than the games industry.

Learning from Other Industries:

I have not arrived. Neither has any industry. But the games industry could learn a lot from other industries -- and even more if it would acknowledge it could.

Going back to that guy's "run screaming" concern -- if I hear "enterprise" in the context of gaming any more, I am going to run rampant with NERF weaponry, shattering monitors left and right (as an aside, I want this when it launches this year).

I lived, breathed, and managed enterprise (where "n-tier" is not "2") for years: with its defined business and development processes and certifications; data wharehousing; business intelligence software; solutions that have thin and thick clients--> load balancing --> Web server --> application server --> database server --> distributed across 4 data centers on 4 continents.

Think you know clients and servers? Are you able to get mainframe / assembly-level responsiveness equivalent to an authentication check assess available funds do a business rules decision tree do fraud detection tolerance in a worldwide round trip in under 2 seconds? With 6,000 round trips running concurrently each second?

Think you know .NET and MS-SQL? Does Microsoft come to you to figure out how you got that kind of performance from their products? I'm pretty sure that's at least a bar -- and it's being met in other markets.

Think the games industry knows how to eke the most out of a license? No, but the toy industry does (think Hasbro, and their brilliance of growing addressable market through increased IP "expressions".)

Think you know how to be niche vertical player, come back from the business dead, and become a brand powerhouse to rival a media conglomerate like Warner Bros.? No, but Marvel does (they also know how to genuinely do community implementations).

Conclusion:

Obviously, I haven't arrived (and this post may set me back a bit), there's a lot of growth to be had, and I'm looking forward to working with folks who get that.

It sounds high-horse, but I genuinely want to enable creative brilliance to see the light of day, and block the stupid stuff -- from every direction -- that gets in the way of that.

Mheh. I expect tomorrow to be interesting for me.

Video game criticism that matters

2008-06-07T14:50:00.002-04:00

Here's a decent article (and part of a series) on more mature video game criticism: "Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 9: Flaws in Criticism Today".

You should read the article (and the series), but -- in essence -- it's a call for the importance of meaningful critical review of games as genuine feedback to the teams that make them, as opposed to the "this is fun" / "this sucks" or review scores model that is endemic to the review world today.

(As an aside, does anyone else find it ironic that versions of numerical scores are used to grade non-numerical, creative experiences)?

I do think a model that creates -- in essence -- post mortem input to creative teams is far more useful for driving the games industry forward in a meaningful way than the aggregate Metacritic scores currently used by publishers, and (unfortunately) sometimes used to penalize creativity.

I think there's probably some middle(ish) ground between the prevailing system, and ivory tower(ish) critiques like "Repressed Homoeroticism in R-Type" (no disrespect meant, but I'm looking for a subset of enabling criticism that helps development teams, as opposed to "just" cultural implication assessments).

I do have a pet peeve, though: historical pop culture memory gaps.

While I appreciate references to Lester Bangs and Alan Moore, why reference Enders Game, as opposed to Kobayashi Maru? Or perhaps more appropriately (given this particular article), why use Mirrors Edge, rather than precursor (and dead-on candidate for the particular point being made) Breakdown? (Admittedly, I'm perhaps overly a fan of Breakdown, and think that team did something gutsy and innovative and didn't get its due props.)

But those are nits compared to my overall appreciation of this article and its sentiment.

Check it out for yourself.

Gamebryo 2.5 ships!

2008-06-06T17:47:00.002-04:00

Gamebryo 2.5 has shipped -- the newest version of Emergent Game Technologies's game engine and tools (check out the new Terrain System), and my first release since joining the company as Senior Product Manager for the product.

I'm very impressed with the people who made this happen, proud of this release, and wicked stoked for the technology and culture foundation it's built for even bigger stuff coming down the pipe. And I'm a little bruised from the all-out NERF-fueled real-world celebratory team deathmatch that may or may not have involved an alcohol haze for some or many of the participants.

I'm in the throws of physical and digital shipping, forum announcements, and related activities, but expect to see more noise out and about if you're in the industry.

Insomniac Games moving to NC

2008-06-04T21:40:00.003-04:00

Insomniac Games, geniui behind things like Ratchet & Clank and Resistance: Fall of Man, are moving to Raleigh-Durham Studio by January 2009.

Why am I excited? I'm now in the Triangle, and this brings and will attract top-tier gaming talent to the Triangle.

Sony adds subscription

2008-06-03T21:08:00.003-04:00

Remember how Sony said the difference between them and Microsoft was Microsoft charges for Xbox Live, but Sony would be free?

Sony just introduced Qore, a "a highly interactive, monthly lifestyle gaming program covering the world inside PLAYSTATION", and "will feature exclusive news, developer interviews, in-depth game previews and behind-the-scenes looks at PlayStation games and special access to game demos, special beta invitations, game add-ons and other downloadable game-related content."

Qore is either $2.99 per monthly episode, or $24.99 for a yearly subscription of 13 episodes (Que?).

So, to review: For half the price of an Xbox Live Gold subscription, you can get once-a-month episodes.

But remember, PS3 online is still free!

(For what it's worth, the content does sound cool.)

$100 when you buy a PS3

2008-06-01T13:20:00.002-04:00

Best new deal this week may be the $100 Blu-ray gift card you get if you buy a PS3 at Wal-Mart. It's the 40Gb version, but someone let me know if get this if you buy an 80Gb Motorstorm backwards-compatible bundle -- that would be doubly (quantuply?) sweet.

For value-add schwag when buying new releases Tuesday or Wednesday, looks like Circuit City is the place -- Incredible Hulk ($10 gift card), Ninja Gaiden II (RYU Wall Graphix), Kung Fu Panda (plush toy, and the game only at $50), The Bourne Conspiracy (Bourne Identity DVD), and LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (unlockable Belloq character, a T-Shirt, and the game only at $50).

Check out Cheap Ass Gamer for more of this week's deals.

Character creation randomizer

2008-05-29T22:19:00.002-04:00

I like character creation mechanics in games.

I like having a unique character, and the option to customize the way I want to, if I have the time and / or inclination.

What I don't like is having to take the time when I want to jump in and play, but not be stuck with the canned Space Marine 2099.

So, Devs? Can you please add a character randomizer? I've been able to roll random characteristics in table-top gaming for ages. Please grant me the virtual equivalent.

Thank you.

Dipity Timelines

2008-05-28T18:04:00.004-04:00

I discovered Dipity.com's (you gotta love 2.0 naming) timeline generation tool.

Here are my game-related timelines:

Gaming -- Includes posts from my (this) gaming blog, and from my "I'm Playing" mini-review blog
Emergent Game Technologies -- Posts from EGT employees (including me), and EGT press releases and news items -- including those from partners and licensees
Game Releases -- For years, I've wanted a timeline of the games I care about; this is a down-and-dirty version of something I hope gets much, much bigger.

The timeline implementation is a bit rough, but it's around 70% of the timeline mashup I was building myself, so I'm all for someone else building and maintaining it. And I've made requests for things like reverse chronological sorting, color-coding different feeds, a hierarchy model for promoting / minimizing timeline entries, "timeline includes", tag sorting / viewing, and so on; here's hoping.

Interesting. This post itself will show up in the first two timelines. Clicking on it will open the post. Clicking on the links will open the timeline. Ad nauseam.

PS3 vs. Xbox 360 graphics leg wrestling tourney

2008-05-26T22:23:00.002-04:00

GameSpot.com has a feature comparing the graphics of the PS3 and Xbox 360 through specific games (Assassin's Creed, Half-Life 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, Call Of Duty 4, Burnout Paradise, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Need For Speed Pro Street, Madden NFL 08).

Console fanboys are going to say their console won regardless of the comparisons, and the upshot is, really, you should go with the console(s) that have the platform-only game(s) or deepest library that meets your needs.

Games are coming, color me stoked ...

2008-05-14T00:06:00.007-04:00

The Microsoft Xbox 360 Spring Showcase Round Up and Electronic Arts's Spring Break Games Day are overlapping, and those two events plus some other announcements have me excited. (And thank you, kotaku.com, for giving me an all-in-one link source.)

There's a rumored Xbox 360 Dashboard spring update that may support motion controllers.
The footage for Too Human (August) and Ninja Gaiden II (June) has me stoked; (and while the NGII trailer is slick, I'm ticked TH has downgraded co-op from 4 to 2).
EA's moving away from quarterly guidance (take that, non-logical knee-jerk market), and talked its 3-year growth plan.
EA recognizes the PC growth opportunity, and CEO John Riccitiello correctly said the PC market has "been growing for several years... it's categorized wrongly by looking simply at the box side of the equation."
The free Battlefield Heroes is looking slick.
Battleforge, that collectible / RTS(ish) thing, has me interested.
Left 4 Dead, more zombie-killing (and being) love, is still leading me on.
I want Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts to resurrect Rare; lotta people working their tales of on middling received titles, so let's knock one out of the park.
Atlus announces great concepts, and I'm waiting for one to pay out for me. Zoids may be it (I dig the IP).
Fable II? It may end up being my third anticipated game (after Too Human and Ninja Gaiden II)
Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is coming May 21. I will buy it for its lengthy title (eat it, Peter Jackson's King Kong the Official Game of the Movie!); I will buy it to support snarky indie devs everywhere.

Parkour for the People!

2008-05-06T23:11:00.002-04:00

I'm so looking forward to Mirror's Edge, EA Dice's parkour- (and I think, Breakdown-) inspired first-person ... thing.

Speed Racer for the Wii is out

2008-05-06T22:42:00.002-04:00

Speed Racer for the Wii is out now, and it's built on my company's Gamebryo engine.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

GTAIV deals and side bennies

2008-04-27T11:38:00.005-04:00

Grand Theft Auto IV hits this week, and the deals are a-flying -- particularly for Xbox 360 new owner wannabes.

You can get $50 gift cards from Best Buy (Xbox 360 only) or KMart (360 or PS3, and the latter by mail) if you buy a console and any version of that console's GTAIV. At Circuit City, you get a wireless controller & Gamer's Savings Club membership for buying a 360 and GTAIV, or $10 gift card with just the game.

The Special Edition feels about right, at $89.99, it's $40 over the price for the standard* edition, but it comes with the game, a safety deposit box, art book, CD soundtrack, Rockstar keychain & duffle bag. A safety deposit box -- now that I'm in the game industry, I'm thinking of getting the special edition just to store employee reviews in this bad boy.

The soundtrack is allegedly new material, and not a subset of the 200 in-game songs (Updated: Full 16-song list at Kotaku.com).

But don't miss the competitive offers, too -- saving you cash on other big games, as all of the big boys do what they can to move units in the face of one of the biggest releases last year through next.

On the Circuit City front, try $30 BioShock (360 -- why have you not played it? Why?); $45 Frontlines: Fuel Of War (360); $35 Bully: Scholarship Edition (360, which uses the Gamebryo engine, and Wii); $40 Condemned 2 : Bloodshot (360 and PS3) and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3).

At Best Buy, it's $30 Assassin’s Creed (360, PS3); $50 Viking: Battle For Asgard (360 and PS3); $50 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game Of The Year Edition (360, limited, and includes a token for free maps, and they're selling the PC version for only $40).

These are just the games / deals I care about. For a more comprehensive, consolidated list across platforms and stores, check out Cheap Ass Gamer (more Wii titles, newish titles like Dark Sector, Army of Two, and Turok, etc.).

* Yeah, I know list price for console SKUs is $60, so some would say it's "only" $30 over the standard edition. But I think this generation's console software price bump is artificial, and PS3 and 360 owners are subsidizing PC and Wii development and sales when we pay this price. There, I said it. Again.

Odd choice for a PlayStation3 loading screen

2008-04-09T15:19:00.002-04:00

I found this a wee bit (painfully) funny.

Check out the Flash loading logo for the SCEA PlayStation Website:

Look similar to anything else in the game space? ;-)