BobbyBlackwolf.com - Video Game Podcasts And Opinion http://BobbyBlackwolf.com/ Bobby Blackwolf has covered the video game industry for almost 6 years, and is the host of the long-running live internet radio show and podcast "The Bobby Blackwolf Show". en-us Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:13:42 -0700 BobbyBlackwolf.com Custom RSS Generator 2011 Edition Celebrating Six Years Of Podcasting - Be A Part Of It! Bobby Blackwolf http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/5/Celebrating-Six-Years-Of-Podcasting--Be-A-Part-Of-It/

PAX'08 LIVE!
Regular listeners hold up the PAX'08 LIVE banner at PAX
On July 24, 2005, the current edition of The Bobby Blackwolf Show went on the air for the very first time. Before Ustream and Justin.tv, before services like BlogTalkRadio, we took live chat comments over Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and live calls over Skype (a relatively new technology at the time) while broadcasting over a Shoutcast stream. Six years later, this is the same way the show is broadcast today, even with the advances in streaming technology. Why change what works?

This Sunday, I'll be celebrating six years of podcasting. I never really thought I'd be doing this thing that long, it was a fun hobby. I always wanted to do radio (or something on the air) but it wasn't something I was going to be able to do professionally, due to me having a Computer Science degree and being a software developer at my day job. I turned down an opportunity to college radio and that was one of the biggest regrets of my life.

So, thanks to Scot Rubin and the All Games Network, I was given a chance to make up for what I missed. I was the first weekly show on All Games Radio, and went continuous for 147 straight weeks without missing an episode. I honestly don't remember what it's like to have a Sunday night free anymore...I think a part of my life would be empty if I didn't spend an hour locked in my basement office/studio.

The Little Room In Atlanta
The Little Room In Atlanta

Where We've Been


Since starting the podcast, an entire new generation of consoles have been released, social games and even social media has risen, a new genre of game has been made popular (and then died) and we've moved closer and closer to those old AT&T You Will ads from 1993. In my personal life, I have changed jobs twice, bought my first house, left a long personal relationship, attempted to do internet video, and started becoming a semi-professional musician. I can't say that I lead a bad life.

A short list of some of the amazing people and experiences I've been fortunate enough to have because of the podcast:

I have also been able to meet many people off the air that I greatly respect, and I enjoy catching up with them at events I am able to attend because of the podcast.

But honestly? The best part is on Sunday nights, and talking with all of you. Whether you've been in chat every week since the beginning or you just joined for the first time last week, I thank you. I hope that I have entertained you at least a little bit over the last six years, and I hope to entertain you a little bit more.


Be A Part Of The Anniversary!

This Sunday, I'll be looking back at my experiences but I also want to hear from you. You can attempt to leave a voicemail - however Skype is not delivering all my voicemails for some strange reason - or you can send an MP3 to bumpers at bobbyblackwolf dot com. State your name and your favorite memory of The Bobby Blackwolf Show, or why you listen, or anything else. I will be montaging all of these together on the show this Sunday night.

I will also be taking calls for the entirety of the show, so if you don't get a chance to get anything in early, you will still have a chance to call in.

I hope to see many of you live on Sunday, July 24, 2011, at 8PM ET/5PM PT on All Games Radio.

]]> http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/5/Celebrating-Six-Years-Of-Podcasting--Be-A-Part-Of-It/ Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:13:42 -0700 video games gaming podcasting bobby blackwolf all games radio live internet radio Editorial: Questions About The 3DS Terms of Service Bobby Blackwolf http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/4/Editorial-Questions-About-The-3DS-Terms-of-Service/

Nintendo Owns This?
Does Nintendo Really Own This Image Of My Cat?
Nintendo really needs to send Sony a thank you card. For the past few weeks, I, any many others in the independent gaming media, have been covering the recent downtime of the PlayStation Network. Meanwhile, folks at the Free Software Foundation have uncovered some possibly scary terms that you must agree to in order for your Nintendo 3DS to be fully functional.

You can view the End User License Agreement on your 3DS device by going into System Settings, then Internet Settings, then Other Information, and then finally User Agreement. The Privacy Policy appears in the main 3DS manual on Page 100. Be aware that everything I'm going to talk about here only matter to you if you ever turn the Wireless switch ON on your 3DS - if you keep it off all the time, then this will not apply to you.

While I am used to reading EULA's that have a lot of "cover your ass" terminology, Nintendo's seems a little bit more excessive than most. I admit that I do not read through EULA's as thoroughly as I should, just as I'm sure you don't, but thankfully there are people that DO read them and tend to make a lot of noise if they feel that there's something horribly wrong. Sadly, because the majority of EULA's have at least something "wrong" in them, we tend to tune out the cries of the watchers.

You may be perfectly fine with all of this, and if so, great. If not, then at the end I'll send you to a site that is trying to make a difference about this.


Gotcha #1: Nintendo Owns All Your 3DS Content

By accepting this Agreement or using a Nintendo 3DS System or the Nintendo 3DS Service, you also grant to Nintendo a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display your User Content in whole or in part and to incorporate your User Content in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed, including for promotional or marketing purposes. (Chapter 1, Nintendo 3DS End User License Agreement)

Now, there's a couple of ways to look at this one. First, wording like this is required in order for you to be able to use your content in a game or related games. For instance: when you play Face Raiders, you take a picture of yourself and play a game of shooting yourself down. Your picture will ALSO appear on the System Menu when you have the Face Raiders game highlighted. This paragraph allows that to happen. This paragraph also allows a possible Face Raiders 2 to come down the line on the next iteration of the 3DS and allows it to use the same facial data that already has been established. That's fine, I think the vast majority of people will be fine with this. It's what else is in this paragraph that may be troubling.

Nintendo could, theoretically, use your pictures as promotional content. They could take your face that you took with their camera, and use it in an upcoming advertisement. And you DO agree to this, because you have the wireless switch turned on. Any photos taken with the camera are considered "User Content" - and that's where we get to Gotcha #2.


Gotcha #2: Nintendo WILL Take Your Data

You agree that your Nintendo 3DS System will connect to the Internet and to Nintendo???s servers???including in both Active Mode and Sleep Mode???for a variety of purposes, including to obtain system or User Content Restriction System updates, for diagnostic purposes, to transmit system log files as described in the Privacy Policy, or to receive Content. (Chapter 1, Nintendo 3DS End User License Agreement)

We also may share such information and any User Content you create with third parties. We may share your PII, Non-PII, and Aggregate Information with third parties to complete your transactions and provide you with advertising and other promotional materials on your Nintendo 3DS System.(Nintendo 3DS System Privacy Policy)

Okay, so since we're jumping around, I shall explain what "PII" is, other than an acronym that will make us all giggle as much as we did the day Nintendo announced the real name of their "Revolution" console. PII is "Personally Identifiable Information" which is your name, address, telephone number, email address, and whatever else they want to add to it in the future. These can be collected in the 3DS - when you create your Mii, for example - or when you call technical support and give them your information along with the serial number of your 3DS. This, combined with your Activity Log - the internal application that tracks what 3DS apps you've used, how long you've used them, when you first used them, and when you used them last - are very valuable to advertisers. And note that you cannot delete a game from your Activity Log - you can merely hide it from you being able to see it, but once you put that game back in, it will then bring back the stats. So you can only hide games from your own view, you cannot remove them from the log altogether.

Now, something that is not clear from this, is if they actually do transfer any pictures you take with the 3DS Camera. The resolution of the images are very small and can easily be transferred quickly whenever the 3DS phones home. But really, this gotcha is more for people who like to use their systems for more than the creators intended.


Gotcha #3: Nintendo Can, And Will, Brick Your System, Evil Homebrewer!

After the Nintendo 3DS menu is updated, any existing or future unauthorized technical modification of the hardware or software of your Nintendo 3DS System, or the use of an unauthorized device in connection with your system, will render the system permanently unplayable. Content deriving from the unauthorized modification of the hardware or software of your Nintendo 3DS system will be removed. Failure to accept the update may render games and new features unplayable. (Chapter 3, Nintendo 3DS End User License Agreement)

So basically, when you upgrade your firmware, the 3DS will look through your Activity Log. If they see something like an R4 card pop up, they will then make your system "self destruct", void the warranty, and render it inoperable. Nintendo has even stated that they do not believe even a third party repair shop would be able to restore the device to a workable state (which actually sounds like a challenge to me!)

Most people who do use modchips or other circumvention devices realize that, by doing so, they will not be able to use the 3DS for any future functions - it is like stopping the device in time. "Either you play with the new upgrades and goodies, or you play games for free," is what one person told me the other day. However, that's not the problem. What if a bug occurs and your 3DS gets labeled as a false positive, and then Nintendo bricks your device and voids your warranty so you can't get it fixed? Even if you were doing nothing illegal, you'd be screwed out of a $250 system with no recourse.


But here's the kicker: Privacy laws of children

As we all know from The Internet, "Nintendo Is Kiddy." Nintendo always aims for the children. No matter what. That Grand Theft Auto game on the DS? Kiddy. Madworld on the Wii? So kiddy it's not even funny. That's what The Internet says. Now, there are laws in place to protect children's privacy, so obviously, Nintendo can't REALLY do all of this, right?

Children must not include any PII in their Nintendo 3DS System user name, Mii name, Mii profile information, in-game nicknames or other User Content. Children also must not disclose PII when communicating with other Nintendo 3DS System users or Nintendo through the Nintendo 3DS System wireless communication features. (Nintendo 3DS System Privacy Policy)

In other words, don't let your kids name their Mii with their real name. Don't let your kids put down where they're from in StreetPass. Don't let kids take their own picture for Face Raiders. Don't let kids take pictures of themselves or their friends with the cameras. That's against the EULA and the Privacy Policy.

In other words, Don't let your kids use the majority of the functions the 3DS provides and advertises. Really?

Maybe all you do is play games at home with the wifi turned off. None of this will affect you, then. However, even if you never put in a Wifi service into the 3DS, you may not be truly safe. If you have the 3DS in StreetPass mode, you may come across a "Nintendo Zone" which will allow you to use the SpotPass notification system and, yes, receive firmware updates and data collection. As I have not encountered one before, I do not know if the "Nintendo Zone" automatically registers with the 3DS or if you still have to explicitly connect to it. It has been recently announced that Best Buy is partnering with Nintendo to bring Nintendo Zones to more people so perhaps this question will be answered soon.


I'm Outraged, How Do I Help?

The Free Software Foundation's blog "Defective By Design" has you covered. They are mounting a campaign to send bricks to Nintendo CEO Reggie Fils-Aime with a letter demanding that they curtail some of the language in the Terms of Service. You'll probably notice that a lot of my information here came from this blog's breakdown of the EULA and you'd be right - but I did verify that these sections do exist in the real 3DS and manual.

Do I think the brick campaign will do any good? Not in the slightest. Do I think having more coverage of the matter in independent and mainstream media will do any good? Absolutely. And that's why Nintendo should thank whoever hacked Sony...This story might come and go and be old news by the time we stop talking about PSN.

What do you think? Is this a story that really needs to be shouted from the rooftops, or is this just the status quo and we just don't realize it because we never read our EULA's? And, why would Nintendo want a low resolution 3D image of my cat, anyway? Would that sell more 3DS's?

]]> http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/4/Editorial-Questions-About-The-3DS-Terms-of-Service/ Tue, 17 May 2011 15:30:36 -0700 video games gaming nintendo 3ds eula tos privacy policy free software foundation defective by design homebrew Editorial: SCEA vs. GeoHot Over This Quick? Bobby Blackwolf http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/3/Editorial-SCEA-vs-GeoHot-Over-This-Quick/

Use This In Court!
Use This In Court, I Dare You! But I'm Not Going...
Do you own your console, or just lease it? What rights do you have as a consumer of physical hardware you have in your house? The corporations feel that they should determine how and where you use your hardware, consumers feel differently. There are compelling arguments for both sides, and we were all looking forward to hearing what a judge would say.

Unfortunately, that's not happening now. The drama, for now, is over.

Let's take a look at the timeline of events. Sony removes the OtherOS functionality from the PS3's that, honestly, not many people used. Human nature being human nature, people suddenly wanted the right to access something they never would have used, and started raising a stink. Sony's unofficial reason for removing it is because someone came very close to allowing piracy on the system through the OtherOS feature, and it was no longer secure to Sony's stockholders or business partners.

Have you ever been told not to taunt Happy Fun Ball? Sony apparently never learned that lesson. This led people to start poking at the PS3's firmware, finding vulnerabilities, and throwing them into the wild. Now, the PS3 is practically wide open, and the man we can thank for that is George Hotz.

While Hotz was not the only person working on exposing the vulnerabilities, he was definitely the most visible. He also helped expose the iPhone, and that led to an exemption in the DMCA to declare iPhone jailbreaking to be legal. People believed this also was the case for their game consoles, but it isn't. Not right now. George set out to change that.

So, when Sony sued him, he declared he would put up a fight. Sony did some less-than-cool things, such as demanding the IP addresses of everyone who viewed a YouTube video, which gave Hotz the public sympathy he needed. He started taking donations for his legal defense so he could hire good lawyers. He was villified by some in the media for a pre-scheduled trip to South America while his lawyers attempted to get the case thrown out of court because of jurisdiction laws. (No donations were used for the trip, and Hotz was in constant contact with his lawyers during this time.)

So we all trenched in and waited to see what would happen. Would we have more rights as consumers? Unfortunately, for those of us in the peanut gallery, the story seems to be over, as Sony's official PlayStation Blog posted a joint statement about a settlement.

Joint Statement

Sony Computer Entertainment America (???SCEA???) and George Hotz (???Hotz???) today announced the settlement of the lawsuit filed by SCEA against Hotz in federal court in San Francisco, California. The parties reached an agreement in principle on March 31, 2011. As part of the settlement, Hotz consented to a permanent injunction.

Both parties expressed satisfaction that litigation had been quickly resolved. ???Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,??? said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. ???Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.???

???It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,??? said Hotz, ???I???m happy to have the litigation behind me.??? Hotz was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony???s internet services and websites.

In the action, SCEA accused Hotz of violating federal law by posting online information about the security system in the PlayStation 3 videogame console and software that SCEA claimed could be used to circumvent the security system in the console and allow the playing of pirated videogames. Hotz denies any wrongdoing on his part. Hotz???s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction was still pending before the federal court in San Francisco but a preliminary injunction was issued requiring Hotz to take down the postings challenged by SCEA.

???We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network,??? added Russell. ???We appreciate Mr. Hotz???s willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution.???

So after all of the YouTube raps, public admonishments, DDoS attacks, it all ends with...a whimper. Nothing will be resolved, the language in your EULA will not be changed, and George Hotz will be off the hook. He has stated that any remaining donations that people made to his legal defense will be donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation - we'll see when that is.

My personal opinion is a little bit of a conflicted one. On one hand, I am a programmer. I have done a little bit of "homebrew" programming myself. I have made a square bounce around on a Game Boy Advance screen, all thanks to homebrew. I like the idea of being able to learn Wii programming thanks to homebrew dev kits. I liked the ability to stream Shoutcast stations on my PSP back before Sony included an internal Shoutcast player. It helped me further my education on how to program for other systems.

On the other hand, I am a programmer. While I do not program in the game industry, I can feel my game colleagues' pain when they see that more people pirated their games than paid for them. I see it all the time in our chat room at All Games Radio - people are proud of how much money they saved by downloading a game and playing it to completion just so they could say "Yeah, I didn't like it, I wouldn't have paid for it anyway." They were excited when they learned they could pirate PS3 games now, they were about to go out and purchase a PS3.

Oh, I'm sorry, did I invoke your "Homebrew is not Piracy" switch? People hate it whenever anybody equates Homebrew and Piracy, but the fact of the matter is, that's exactly what it is right now. Don't believe me? I did a Google search for "PS3 Homebrew Apps" and found this site. Let's take a look at the highest listed apps available for your jailbroken PS3 as of April 11th, shall we?

  • PSVibe - A tunable vibrator. Great.
  • Multiman - Backup+File Manager and AVCHD+BDMV Video Player - "Backups" here mean "pirated copies" and I would assume that the video player strips out the Blu-Ray copy protection to allow you to play your pirated movies.
  • Showtime - A video player for HTPC Media Centers. This is actually legit, as it allows for video formats the PS3 doesn't play natively. I have no problem with this one.
  • IrisManager - Backup manager. Remember, "Backups" is code for pirated games.
  • OpenPS3FTP - FTP server for your PS3, mostly used to manage your backups and videos at this point.
  • ES35's Customize - Flashes customized RCO's and RAF's. These change the look, feel, and sound of your XMB. Not a bad thing, IMHO. No different than reskinning your iPhone but with more options.
  • E3 Goldenfinger - Cheat device, so you can aimbot your way to the top of the leaderboards online.
  • HManager - Another Backup Manager
  • Rogero Manager - Another Backup Manager
  • Package Manager - Listed as an alternative to "Install Package Files"
  • 3.60 Firmware Spoofer - This allows you to spoof your firmware version so you can use your pirated and cheated games on PSN.
  • PSIDPatch - This allows you to change your console's ID so you won't be banned off of PSN anymore so you can continue to play your pirated and cheated games on PSN.

And the list goes on and on. Lots more Backup Managers, custom firmware loaders, and cheat devices. Not a single homebrew game. Only two real homebrew "apps" (the vibrator and the media player.) I'm surprised there are no emulators listed, which can be listed as just a means to play pirated ROMs.

The point I'm making is that, while the THEORY of "Homebrew allows you to run anything you want" is there, the FACT is that everyone is concentrating on allowing you to play your pirated games rather than creating those wonderfully unique apps that could only be done on a jailbroken PS3. I was told that the reason to allow for jailbreaking your PS3 was so you could browse the web while playing a game, and receive Skype calls directly to your PS3 and allow for cross-game chat...If that's the reason to jailbreak your PS3, why isn't that there? Why are "Backup Managers" dominating the app space for the PS3?

It kinda kills your argument of "Homebrew isn't just for Piracy!" when 95% of the available apps for a jailbroken system facilitate Piracy. Just sayin'.

In closing, I'm disappointed that there was no final answer in this case. While I didn't agree with George Hotz's pagentry and demeanor, I wanted to see what a judge decided. I am VERY surprised he caved in this quickly. I would love to know what the terms of the settlement was - but I believe we will never see that. It will be interesting to hear what the reactions are outside of this "joint statement."

Support your game companies. Purchase the entertainment you consume. If you don't think you'd want to pay for it, don't play it. You don't have a "right" to play video games. Go mow a few lawns if you're that broke on cash - the weather is nice and you probably could use the excercise.

UPDATE 6PM ET: For those wondering what the settlement terms are, there are settlement documents online that basically show that nothing changes in terms of Sony, and George Hotz now has a permanent injunction saying that he cannot partake, assist, or disseminate anything to do with circumventing security on ANY Sony Product. This includes cameras, phones, TV's, and the PS3. If he does, stiff fines will ensue and he will be tried in California. None of the stuff Hotz stated he would settle for (the return of OtherOS, public apology, etc) are in the settlement. This is 100% Sony bending Hotz over and telling him like it is.

Also interesting to note that this settlement was reached on March 31st - days before Anonymous attacked PSN. So anybody telling you that Sony is scared of Anonymous and settled to get rid of them is full of it.

]]> http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/3/Editorial-SCEA-vs-GeoHot-Over-This-Quick/ Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:39:16 -0700 video games gaming sony ps3 playstation 3 george hotz geohot scea jailbreaking homebrew piracy settlement Announcement: LIVE INTERVIEW With Grammy Award Winner Christopher Tin March 13th Bobby Blackwolf http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/2/Announcement-LIVE-INTERVIEW-With-Grammy-Award-Winner-Christopher-Tin-March-13th/

The Bobby Blackwolf Show welcomes Grammy Award Winner Christopher Tin with a live interview on Sunday, March 13th, at 8PM ET/5PM PT on All Games Radio. This live interview will then be available on The Bobby Blackwolf Show podcast feed several hours later.

Christopher Tin is best known to gamers as the man who wrote the main menu music from Sid Meier's Civilization IV. The piece, "Baba Yetu", features lyrics of the Lord's Prayer in Swahili. It was included as the first track on his new CD "Calling All Dawns" in 2009, which made it eligible for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. The album won Best Classical Crossover Album, with "Baba Yetu" winning Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals. This marked the first time a piece of music originally written for a video game won a Grammy award, further legitimizing the industry.

He has also written music for video games Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Pocket God, films X2: X-Men United and Lilo and Stitch 2, and commercial campaigns for Puma, Verizon, and Nokia.

We're very excited to have this LIVE INTERVIEW on The Bobby Blackwolf Show at 8PM ET/5PM PT. You can tune in live at All Games Radio and join the live chat room to submit questions. If you can't make it there live but still have a question, feel free to use the contact form on BobbyBlackwolf.com to submit one, and it might just get used!

]]> http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/2/Announcement-LIVE-INTERVIEW-With-Grammy-Award-Winner-Christopher-Tin-March-13th/ Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:53:47 -0800 christopher tin calling all dawns baba yetu live podcast interview internet radio grammy video game music bobby blackwolf civilization iv all games radio Editorial: Why E3's New Rules Are Okay...Mostly Bobby Blackwolf http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/1/Editorial-Why-E3s-New-Rules-Are-OkayMostly/

See You Next Year!
But you seemed so excited last year!
If you follow writers for independent (or enthusiast) gaming blogs on Twitter, then you've probably heard all of the latest commotion and e-drama to hit this world. E3, the trade show for the video game industry, has finally cracked down on who can cover their event. They have actually been cracking down for years, but they were taking it one battle at a time. First, it was rejecting retail clerks. Now, they've come for the bloggers.

My first E3 was in 1997, in Atlanta, where I'm from. I attended as a developer for my father's company, as I was still in college at the time. I continued attending through his company or through my day job once I graduated, where I was also a programmer. I was not a programmer in the industry, mind you, but I was still a programmer creating interactive systems, and that qualified me to receive an Exhibits Only badge. Then, in July of 2005, I started The Bobby Blackwolf Show, and suddenly I was gaming media. In 2006, I started attending with a Press badge, and continued attending as press from then on.

On the cusp of my 15th E3 in a row, I was informed I did not qualify for admittance as press under new standards. My website (that I have run since 2003) did not register with various websites that track browser history of people with spyware plugins installed. Most of my audience either listens to me live on internet radio (on another website) or downloads my podcast directly in iTunes. If I do my job right, my audience never has to come to their computer and visit BobbyBlackwolf.com. Unfortunately, I did my job so well, I have been labeled as inconsequential to the industry and therefore E3 is better off without my presence.

And you know what, that's okay.

E3 Isn't The First...


E3 isn't the first gaming industry event that has shut out smaller outlets. Several years ago, the Game Developers Conference took the same approach to a more harsh level. I was not applying on my own, but rather with All Games Radio, the network I did my show on. It did a decent amount of traffic, and it does qualify under E3's rules. However, GDC switched to a professional journalist only policy - you had to actually be paid by a reputable organization to receive press credentials. Now, I personally felt that this was awkward, considering that GDC is the top stage for the Independent Games Festival (which I had covered extensively the previous two years) yet they were locking out the independent media from covering it. They agreed, and had offered me a complimentary Exhibits Only pass so I could cover the IGF but not the keynotes or panels. It was, unfortunately, too late to secure airfare or hotel for a decent price, and I politely declined their offer. The gesture was very much appreciated, though, as the offer came from out of the blue as I did not do any type of appeal after the rejection letter.

Why did GDC do this? Because some bloggers didn't understand what GDC was. Most of what goes on at GDC is really of no interest to gamers - it's developers and designers having conversations about methods and techniques to each other. Me, being a programmer by trade, was able to sift through it and present what I felt people should know, since I spoke both languages. But unfortunately, others weren't as qualified. The story I heard is that there was a panel by the designers of Final Fantasy XIII to discuss design philosophies and development strategies. The room was filled and people were being turned away - people who had paid upwards of $1000 for their badge to be able to get into GDC and learn from other designers and developers like themselves. 15 minutes into the panel, the many bloggers who went into the room seeking FFXIII news got up and left because they realized they were going to get nothing of value out of the talk and they were frankly bored by the discussion. Thus, there were empty chairs in a room where they turned away actual professionals in the industry.

I never sat in on panels at GDC, but I did attend the keynotes. The best keynote I witnessed was Shigeru Miyamoto discussing how he designs games, and the various iterations of his ideas. He showed early stages of the Mii back in the Game Boy Color days. He discussed why he created Nintendogs the way he did. It was extremely fascinating...Unless you were a gamer in the chat room I was liveblogging to, they were screaming and extremely upset that they were not announcing new games or showing off a new Zelda. Overall, the reaction was "I understand that they are talking to developers in the room, but Nintendo needs to understand that there are more gamers out here than developers in that room and we are their customers and should know what they are going to be releasing." So, when GDC imposed new restrictions, not many people complained...Because it was justified.

Why E3 Is Right


So how does this tie into E3? A lot of people believe that E3 really is just the world's largest arcade set to Free Play and want to go have fun and try all of the games. People don't realize that, if you belong at E3, it really is a lot of work. Yes, it's also a lot of fun, but that is the reward for the hard work. If you want to have fun, try Penny Arcade Expo. What is PAX? PAX is what people who have never been to E3 think E3 is like. Chances are, at E3, the games you'd want to play aren't even playable. I can't remember the last time a Call of Duty game was playable on the show floor, it was always a demo being walked through by a designer that you needed a previously scheduled appointment to see.

E3 is extremely crowded, and it is very hard for people who legitimately are covering the event to get appointments because there are so many people. And this is why I feel that the metric that E3 is now using - one media badge per 8,000 unique pageviews a month - is okay. It makes total sense. I am sure the heads of Public Relations departments are breathing a sigh of relief because they don't have to vet appointment requests as much. There will be much less "noise" and they can focus on the outlets that will get them the biggest bang for their buck.

You do realize that was why E3 collapsed on itself in 2007, right? 2006 was a record year for attendance. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and EA all said it was no longer worth it because of the amount of people. They said they wanted no part of it. That's why E3 changed to it's invite only format for 2007 and 2008 and then REALLY almost died. (Although, as a side note, E3 2008 was my favorite E3 in terms of journalism. I was able to see so much and talk to so many people and do a lot of great coverage - the only people who liked 2008 were the smaller outlets!) E3 went back to being like it's old self in 2009, but with more scrutiny. E3 doesn't want to implode like it did last time.

The only people who don't like the new rules are the people who don't qualify to get a free pass like they used to, or they don't get as many free passes as they expected to. The exhibitors see this as a good thing - they can concentrate on the outlets that will give them the best coverage, and the "professional" journalists see this as a good thing because they won't have to fight someone with a tiny blog for the same access time. It's a win-win for the people who do this for a living, not so much if you're doing it as a hobby.

In short, E3 needs to do what it can to please exhibitors, and one of those things is to make sure that the press is made up of quality outlets. Not everyone is going to be another Destructoid.

Where The Rules Need To Be Tweaked


It's not all roses, though. While I agree that E3 needs to "cull the herd" (even if it means culling me out as well) there are certain things that I would like to see revamped in future years.

1. Set up rules based on content delivery methods. The reason I was rejected was because I did not meet pageview standards. Unfortunately, pageviews are not my goal - iTunes subscriptions are. And no matter how many iTunes subscriptions I get, not a single one of those will appear on a site that tracks browser history via a spyware toolbar. I would like to see criteria made available to track those of us who do not deliver our content via text on a website, because we are just as powerful as those who write.

2. Pick a different month. For those that do blog, the bone of contention is that E3 is only looking at your statistics from December of 2010. December is one of the slowest months of the year in terms of gaming news. All of the blockbuster releases came out back in November, and not many announcements are made so as to not disturb the holiday buying season. Therefore, readership is usually down on these outlets. One of my colleagues was rejected for a press pass because his site only had 6000 unique pageviews in the month of December - however every other month of the year he had over 8000. That site's best month? June, during E3, where it had 16,000 pageviews - enough for TWO badges.

3. Do a little more research into the submission. This is important for people who have content syndicated among many different areas. When I submit my application, I include all of the sites I have done work for. However, they only check the first site I listed, saw that it wasn't tracked, and sent off the rejection. Several other outlets are syndicated across various sites, be it YouTube or GameTrailers or feed aggregators or a multitude of things, and maybe they don't meet the requirements for a single one, but overall they would. Unfortunately, getting your content as far and wide as you can is actually a detriment in E3's current rules. The reason they don't check into every application as thoroughly as they should is because so many people are attempting to get press badges, and they need to work as quickly as possible.

4. No really, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Even though this is the same as #3, it deserves it's own bullet point. I have been doing a live internet radio show and podcast about video games for five and a half years. I am the longest running video game show on All Games Radio - I was also the first. I was rejected because I did not qualify for the new rules, and I was fine with that. Several nights ago, another show on the same network was happily accepted and given an E3 press badge. Why were they accepted and I wasn't? Because they don't have their own website so they only linked to their show page on All Games Radio's website.

The punchline? It's not even a show about video games!!! Yet they're welcomed into E3's press room with open arms and the guy who helped launch the network was told he was unqualified. A simple 2 minute look at the website provided in the credentials would have shown this, however all they did was look at AGR's stats, saw that many people with spyware toolbars installed visited, and sent the acceptance letter.

I do want to note that I hold no ill will towards the host of said show. He realizes (I hope) that I bring this up to make a case for E3, not for him. I have sent an "appeal" email (very nicely worded) to the E3 registration email address but I am not holding my breath for a reply. I was already rejected, after all. I don't want to be annoying and call them because I honestly don't want them to hate me. Someday I hope to be eligible and would rather not do something that might accidentally burn the bridge.

So, What Now?


This is a very tough question. There are people out there giving advice and trying to keep the message upbeat. If you listen to Gamertag Radio's E3 2011 Media Roundtable episode you'll hear them say things like "go all in" "work hard and you'll be rewarded" and while all of that is true, there is also a little bit of luck involved. The sad truth is that you can "go all in" and still get rejected. Remember the person I mentioned above who only had 6000 pageviews in December? He actually IS "going all in" - working on that website IS his job. Various situations can change and factors can cause peaks and valleys that you can't really expect or control. All it takes is one person who has a lot of Twitter followers to make or break you. You may create amazing content but just can't get the word out to the right people, or you may create mediocre content but you get mentioned by someone with thousands of followers. So, just "going all in" isn't going to necessarily get you the reward by itself. There's lots of intangibles that nobody can predict.

One thing to point out: true "journalists", be them professional or enthusiast, should not be doing this just to get into E3. That is where some of the problem lies. Some sites use E3 as the carrot on a stick to get writers to work for them for free for the rest of the year. If E3 is the only reason you're writing words on a site, then I think you might be doing it for the wrong reasons.

Yes, I was somewhat negative. But that's because there's a point that everyone's missing. If you really want to go to E3, you can, as long as you are over 18 years old. It's not free, it will cost you some dough, and E3 can smile that they took your money, but it will get you roughly the same amount of access that free badge gets you. All the media badge gets you is access to the nice couches in the press room and you get to have your email put on the mailing list sent to all exhibitors to send out press releases and announce appointment scheduling. If you have sufficient contacts within the companies on your own, you can schedule appointments and get the exact same amount of access that you would have gotten with the badge. If you're a website that wanted to have 5 people cover E3 but only got 2 badges, you can still get the other 3 people in...It'll just cost you.

How bad do you want in?

As for me? I'll be fine. I've been to 10 E3's without a press badge. The only thing I'll really miss is that mailing list.]]> http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com/article/1/Editorial-Why-E3s-New-Rules-Are-OkayMostly/ Sun, 13 Feb 2011 11:11:00 -0500 video games independent blogs podcasts enthusiast press e3 electronic entertainment expo rejection editorial