Adam Creighton is a Professional Actor, and a Producer in the video game and interactive entertainment industry. This is a timeline of his industry-related blogs and events.
Created by adamcrei on May 27, 2008
Last updated: 03/06/11 at 01:36 PM
(I don't work for Microsoft)
Just a reminder -- The Xbox Live Gold Membership service is free this weekend to all Xbox owners.
So, if you're normally a "Silver" or "Free" XBL user, this weekend gives you a chance to see what all of the fuss is about. Get access to multiplayer gaming, things like Netflix streaming (if you're a Netflix subscriber), ESPN-exclusive content, Gold-only (or available first) offers and demos, and a bunch of the stuff that makes gaming (for me) preferable on the Xbox.
If you find you like the service, do yourself a favor and find a friend who already has a membership to refer you -- you both end up with some decent bonuses (extra XBL time, points for purchases, XBLA titles, and the like).
(Oh, and this isn't trumping up one service over another; think of it as a gamer-centric PSA for a weekend event. So, all PSN and other game services fanboys or trolls can keep their opinions to themselves.)
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2011/01/xbox-live-gold-is-free-this-weekend.html
I used to have my various social sites and feeds fairly connected -- in a way I wanted them to be.
That fell apart over time (for mostly good reasons, as authentication between services tightened). Since I'm all about planned setup with minimal follow on work (work smart to avoid working hard, when possible), I stepped back to look at how I could re-set what content goes where (and when), and at the same time push forward with what I'm calling an "integrated gaming" experiment, using Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
Here are the pieces of my "integrated gaming" case study:
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Xbox 360 console title)
Project Legacy (Facebook app)
Ubisoft Uplay Website
The nice thing about the Ubisoft Facebook game and Uplay site is that despite still being in beta (there are some rough edges and non-enabled content), they take care of the integration / relation between the console achievements, uPlay account, and Facebook connections (once you do all of the requisite activations).
Pieces of the Assassins Creed integrated gaming experience.
Outside of Assassin's, to simplify the effort, broadly, here are my buckets of data:
My various blogs (7-12)
Xbox Live data
Social site feeds (specifically, Facebook and Twitter)
Now, I generally share differently for different audiences, and here are my most-used pipes for displaying the data:
The World
My Website
My blogs (The World +/-)
Twitter
Friends only
Facebook
Targeted view
LinkedIn
Game aggregate site (in this, case, Ubisoft's Uplay site)
And, in graphical form:
Data sources and data pipes.
Now, I want to do at least the following:
All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook
Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn
Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook
Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter
For the most part, I use Twitter to fire off to my various pipes. By default, everything that goes on Twitter goes to Facebook (if I want the world to see it, I'm fine with friends seeing it -- but not vice versa). I can narrow that, and make it so that just tweets with "#fb" go to Facebook (and even though I don't use it, for clarity I've marked data in these diagrams I'd like to show up in Facebook with the "#fb" suffix).
Likewise, currently, only tweets marked with "#in" go to LinkedIn, because I want to show a more targeted, professional slice of my micro (nano? pico?) posts on that site.
So, to make 1 and 2 above "easy", I used http://twitterfeed.com/ to post all of my blogs to Twitter, which then automatically pipes all of them to Facebook. To avoid having to create and maintain a separate Twitter ID for "professional posts" to go just to LinkedIn, and because the LinkedIn BlogLink application seemed to be down, I instead added the "#in" suffix in TwitterFeed to any posts from the two blogs I want to go to LinkedIn.
Blogs --> TwitterFeed (all) --> Facebook (all) and LinkedIn (select)
Getting my Xbox Live data (Achievements and what I've played / am playing) used to be as easy as logging onto the various gaming social sites, being careful not to provide Xbox Live credentials to potentially skeevy sites. My previous site of preference was GamerDNA.com, but at some point that seems to have stopped working, and is at best running a week or so behind what I do on my Xbox 360 -- which defeats my real-time notification goal.
Also, with regular changes to Twitter's API to require OATH, etc., and Microsoft understandably not providing an RSS feed of my XBL activity (privacy concerns for minors, etc.), it's a bit tougher to populate that feed. I understand the gimping, but if I've chosen to set my XBL privacy to "everyone", I should have access to that feed to do with as I please.
I was using Xbox Live Nation's Twitter integration, which is supposed to update just once an hour, when I'm online only, but I actually don't think this works anymore, since it doesn't use OATH. Xbox apps on Facebook have been spotty at best, and they don't solve my Twitter post needs.
Xbox Live data piped to Facebook, via three implementations, and only a partial solution.
That said, I'm also using the "Xbox 360 Live Gamercard" app for Facebook for now, which says it will post my status and Achievements to Facebook (I've used it before, but it stopped working, so I removed and re-added it, but haven't yet seen it update my online status). And I'm using the official Twitter / Xbox App, thought that only shows status to people in my XBL friends list who also have the official app installed, too.
So, for now, despite Xbox and Facebook having an integration, I seem to be stuck on being able to post my gaming activity from XBL to Facebook to a narrow audience. Likewise, I'm not able to post my gaming-specific updates (say, from the Assassin's Creed Facebook app and Uplay). Really, all I need to allow this is an athenticated relationship (via OATH or OpenID) that's bidirectional between Facebook and Twitter, and a keyword scraper, so that posts with "via Project Legacy" get piped to Twitter. (Don't worry, I don't publish every level jump and achievement -- that's annoying on Facebook, and more annoying for folks that are trying to avoid Facebook.)
So, here's where I netted out:
All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook (done)
Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn (done)
Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook (partial)
Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter (this is right out)
The complete picture.
If you have a better way to do this, let me know in the comments.
And maybe next time, I'll talk about the actual Assassin's Creed integrated gaming experience itself.
Some housekeeping notes:
While I have my Twitter feed available to the world, and I'm very cognizant, intelligent, and responsible social media user, I would probably change my tweets to "protected" if I were working for an anti-social media corporation.
This diagram is loosely based on "Context Diagrams" from Atlantic Systems Guild, the folks who did a portion of my requirements and systems analysis training back in the day, and I've used many of the tools ever since.
For my toy review blog, I now host the pictures on DeviantART, because this gives me a another audience for cross-posting.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-so-called-connected-gamer-life.html
I'm about a quarter of the way through the single player side of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and a few nights into the multiplayer mode.Color me wicked impressed.The single player -- the third installment in the series -- maintains its high production values, a coherent story and themes across titles, and refines the gameplay mechanics that worked well in the first two console
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2011/01/assassins-creed-brotherhood.html
I so dig the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Partly, 'cause I digz the gadetz. But more, because I like to see technology trends positioned or realized.
Since this is primarily a gaming blog, I'm excited about the expected showings from folks like Turtle Beach for audio (I so need an all-in-one pair of gaming headphones); Mad Catz (for higher end, branded peripherals); and Nyko (for broad diversity and accessible peripherals).
And since 3D is "The Thing" (not a fad; I really believe it's A Thing, on the way to the glasses-less version), I expect to see 3D itself become a new platform for gaming hotness, with a lot of showcase media coming from gaming (I wonder how often Call of Duty: Black Ops will be used as the state-of-the-art for 3D gaming?). I expect NVIDIA to make a strong showing on this front.
And it wouldn't be 3D -- and gaming -- without one of the most anticipated forays in this space: Nintendo's new 3DS handheld device. Nintendo will actually be making an appearance at CES this year -- not a normal occurrence for a company that prefers to throw its own standalone quality debut shows.
Could be nifty...
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/12/ces-2011.html
As an update to this post about the sale of Emergent assets (the company behind the makers of game engine Gamebryo) -- Gamebryo lives again!
South Korean company Gamebase purchased the assets, is creating a new US-based company, and it will be run by the former VP of sales, David Brame.
From Gamebase president JY Park:
"The Gamebryo 3D engine has been a flexible, transparent, dependable solution for video game developers and publishers globally and has been used to develop hundreds of titles. Our first goal is to focus on the company's roots - working closely with customers and providing excellent customer service. This is one of the key reasons why Gamebryo evolved into such a popular development engine."From new stateside president David Brame:
"This is an exciting day for Gamebryo customers. Over the next few weeks we will be actively communicating with Gamebryo developers around the world to update them on our future plans and activities."I'm no longer associated with Emergent, but I'm glad to see something I invested some serious time and effort into back from the brink. Gamebase were great partners for us while I was there, and it's good to see the U.S. incarnation in the hands of someone as capable and supportive as Brame.
(Note, Gamebase in South Korea is different from the stateside GameBase.info, a much-needed initiative to make gaming accessible to gamers of all abilities.)
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/12/gamebryo-lives.html
Vincent Scheib over at his Beautiful Pixels blog links to a bit of news about the sale of assets from Emergent Game Technologies, and offers a bit of his own, typically eloquent commentary.http://beautifulpixels.blogspot.com/2010/11/gamebryo-emergent-ip-and-assets-at.htmlI'm frankly mixed about the news (assuming it's legitimate). Gamebryo did well for quite a while, and had even greater potential. I'm grateful for my time there, proud of what I was able to accomplish while I worked for them (both in Product Management, and as the producer for their demos), and -- most of all -- grateful for the relationships I forged.I have an opinion about what happened, and what could happen with the assets from a biz dev perspective -- but I'm going to leave that alone for now.Feels a bit too "jackals dancing around the kill" right now.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/11/gamebryo-is-dead-long-live-gamebryo.html
I played the Vanquish demo on my Xbox 360, and I'm stoked and sad at the same time.Stoked, because I like how slick, polished, and punishing Platinum Games titles can be.I just noticed my Bayonetta review seems to have been lost to the ether. I've been calling that particular Platinum title, "The slickest, wildest I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-this I've played in some time." Production values are
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2010/09/vanquish-xbox-360.html
I'll be in San Diego for Comic-Con -- Since Disney Epic Mickey will be there, too.The official line:Game designer Warren Spector of Disney Interactive Studios' Junction Point and Peter David, award-winning comic writer and author of the upcoming Disney Epic Mickey "Tales of the Wasteland" themed comics, will share their insights on bringing the world of Wasteland to life in the upcoming Wii video game, Disney DigiComics and graphic novel.Though you'll also want to pay attention to this little nugget from the press release:The panel will include discussion, gameplay footage, artwork and a sneak-peak at the comics.I'm just sayin' ...
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/07/disney-epic-mickey-and-comic-con-2010.html
I'm a bit late on my post-E3 coverage, but that's (mostly) because I was in the thick of it for the event itself.If you caught the Nintendo press event, yeah, I was that Adam Creighton blessed with sharing the stage with the amazing Warren Spector, as he and Nintendo announced Disney Epic Mickey as an exclusive for the Wii, due holiday of this year.In addition to the Nintendo event, Warren and I spent probably 12-14 hours each day of E3 doing demos, interviews, and game- and studio-related meetings. The game (thankfully) has been tremendously well received, people are excited by what they've seen, they want to see more, and they have lots of questions.Hang tight. I'm not the official outlet. ;-)I will say I am stoked to be working on a game that -- as a core gamer and as a family gamer -- has me so wicked excited.But that meant I didn't get to see a lot of E3 itself, other than the overall spectacle, and a few moments with various game devs. I still may write a bit about my thoughts of the games and tech of this year's show -- some really good stuff there.Like the Nintendo 3DS. Spent a lot of time with that. That thing's Teh Shizzle.(You can also read some more of Warren's thoughts about the week here.)
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/06/e3-2010-great-and-limited-view.html
Junction Point Studios (a Disney Interactive Studios studio) in Austin, Texas, is hiring a number of temp environment artists.Are you interested? Are you amazing?If so, please contact me directly (with your contact and portfolio info) ASAP.Those who get their resume/portfolio in early will get first shot at interviewing for open positions. Craigslist PostingID: 1759258302
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/05/junction-point-disney-hiring.html
Anyone else play Halo 2 last night, during its supposed swan song on its last eve before being shut down for online play?Did it suck as much for you as it did for me?I've admittedly got a bit of a Halo fixation. Partly because I write about games, and it's a juggernaut in the market; partly because I genuinely enjoy the franchise. Enjoyed.Last night, as Microsoft prepared to kill the game that is allegedly holding the Xbox Live service back (I'm sure it's not because it's potentially eating into other game sales and online play), I tried to get a bunch of long-standing Halo friends together to play.In the end, there was only me.See, you had to update Xbox Live to play the game. Then update the title (with artificially downrez'ed retro original XBL update screen, but points for trying). Then update all 4 map packs.That was too much for people, and they fell away, went back to Modern Warfare 2, and it was just me.Playing game after game that was only team slayer, and only ever on two maps. Glad I took the time to re-download all of the others.And, like I posted last night, I was reminded why I don't like playing with those cartoons that make up online anonymous idiocy. I am frightened by how many dysfunctional people don't seem to realize they're racist social troglodytes.And, Halo 2 evidently isn't dead, yet, as people have been playing it today, well after the midnight (PST) cutoff. Mistake? Mea culpa for a sucky last night? Unholy tryst?Dunno. Stopped caring. Last night was aw bit of a stake in the heart of my sentimentality. Maybe I'll refresh it offline for my friend's once-a-year offline Halo / Halo 2 weekend, but probably not much beyond that.Should have gone out with a bang, but it's just kind of fizzling out.At least people who played last night will supposedly be getting free stuff.Oh, wait; I haven't seen that, either.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/04/halo-2-not-bang-but-whimper.html
Written and directed by Patrick Jean and DPed by Matias Boucard, this may be one of the cooler commercial / video game vids I've seen in some time:I'd love to link to these two guys, but "DIVISION" is a sucky name for a company when you're trying to Google it, and it turns out there are a ton of "Matias Boucard, Director of Photography" out there. Who knew?
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/04/wicked-cool-video-game-commercial.html
A lot has been said about this already, so let me add my voice to the throng:Street Fighter -- the gameplay -- should look like the stylistic trailers with which Capcom keeps teasing us.Have you seen these? Watercolor! Splashes! Sandblasting!Like this "Valentine's Day" trailer:Ergh.Give us beautiful innovative game visuals with the super fluid gameplay. Oh, and please take us out of "2.5D".Put Okami, Street Fighter, and Mirror's Edge in a blender, please. Push the "Awesomate" button.Iterate as needed.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-street-fighter-should-look.html
Bummer.In mid-April, Microsoft's pulling the online rug out from under original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox games playable on a Xbox 360, and the Xbox Originals they sell in the Xbox Live Games Marketplace.While it sucks that they're going back on Xbox Live support for the awesome that was the backwards compatible games list [sic], it's surprising they're also yanking network support for their Xbox Originals, which are Xbox v1 games downloadable and playable on 360, that they sell on Xbox Live Marketplace (granted, only like 4 of them support mutliplayer, but hey -- it's the principle).Bigger, though, is Microsoft calling out that this will also include Halo 2. Now, the cynical savvy side of me says H2 (and maybe other Xbox 1 games) are waaay to popular on Xbox Live, and cannabilizing sales on online play of other 360 (and maybe even, specifically, Halo titles).This is far from conspiracy theory. Back when Microsoft's resident mouthpiece, Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb (majornelson.com), was actually reporting breakout of Xbox Live activity, Halo 2 was far and away more played than 360 titles. He at one point even briefly removed original Xbox games from his list, until people cried foul, and it went back on the report -- but without the unique user data that was pretty damning for Xbox 360 online titles.Admittedly, holding on to and supporting older tech can slow down forward movement quite a bit (look at Sony's waffling about PS2 support, first supported with what was basically a physical PS2 inside the PS3, and then later removed from post-launch versions of the console).Worst case, this reduces cost for Microsoft (which is balls as far as benefits for gamers, since it's not like cost savings will be passed on).Part of me is hopeful that the upcoming breaking changes that are "incompatible with" original Xbox games will be so compelling that folks don't even miss the dropped support for original Xbox titles.And honestly, as a guy working in games, I find myself playing fewer and fewer older titles on a recreational basis, since it's kind of like designing the next version of an operating system and using Windows ME as my reference materials.But, I am concerned Microsoft is making this change "because they can" -- what are gamers going to do?Anyway, here's the official announcement from Xbox LIVE GM Marc Whitten (Notwen):http://gamerscoreblog.com/press/archive/2010/02/05/gh789.aspxA Letter from Marc Whitten: Discontinuation of Xbox LIVE for Original Xbox Games Dear Xbox LIVE Members,On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn't a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we've since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the “Halo” franchise. “Halo 2” has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it’s difficult to see that run come to an end, the “Halo” franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with “Halo 3,” “Halo 3: ODST” and soon “Halo: Reach” on Xbox 360.Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.We’ll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we’ll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn't be more excited about what we have in store with “Project Natal” and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it’s because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.See you on LIVE,Marc WhittenGamertag - Notwenwww.twitter.com/notwen
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2010/02/microsoft-drops-xbox-live-support-for.html
With MAG doing an open beta this week (through today), me being a shooter fan, having access to a PS3, and wanting to see if they could pull off 128v128 online play, I spent some time tooling around the game.Brass tacks is the game has tremendous promise, and I hope people look at for what it is: A PS3-exclusive massive military-based shooter, who's promise lies in its premise -- a large-scale
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2010/01/mag-ps3.html
I've been playing Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks since it came out, and I'm pretty sold on it.It's a great little adventurer that fits into the Zelda canon, with intuitive but clever puzzles that are for the most part challenging without being frustrating. It's got the trademark fun and humor inherent with the franchise (Princess Zelda is particularly a hoot).I'll save my larger write-up for when
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2010/01/legend-of-zelda-spirit-tracks.html
It's been a crazy, productive initial couple of years in the game industry, piggybacking off of a decade of previous tech and biz dev work, and now I'm taking it to the next (for me) logical step in my newly launched career.I've moved from product management for a middleware (game engine and tools) company to a production role for a studio on an upcoming game. More specifically, I'm now an associate producer for a studio, working on a cool game for the Wii.For those that don't know me, this might feel like a bit of a 90-degree turn, but it's actually a sensible next step that presented itself, and I jumped at it.Remember, I previously left a very productive (but brutally demanding) senior gig in the financial services world to go to middleware. I did that because I wanted to be less fractured between my toy job and my passions -- the latter of which encompasses the creative me, and my passion for video games. Middleware seemed like a good (sorry) middle ground between the game industry and my enterprise background, where I could use my mad biz dev skills and help a large number of game developers.As is often the case, the reality was slightly different. The job was necessarily more about the company first, and the developers second (it is a business, after all), more marketing than biz dev (the latter of which I had to fight ridiculously unnecessarily to do, not that I didn't still make massive hay on that front), and actually took me too far away from the project and personnel management skills I was leveraging at my prior gig at BigHugeCorp.So, after much conflict, I took this associate producer gig. While I'll probably talk about the squishier aspects of that life decision conflict in my other blog, some of the conflict, frankly, revolved around the possibility -- on the professional path front -- this gig could make it look like I fell off a ski lift over the last few years; International Technical Director to Product Manager to Associate Producer.But the reality is, at it's heart, my interest in video games is about me being able to help great teams make games. So, my title aside, it's about that. This is a great first studio and first title for that.Interestingly, it turns out this gig gets me closer to the project, dev, and personnel management skills I found myself missing in my last job. I'll be managing sprint teams, doing resource juggling, and negotiating requirements and various trade-offs as I work to help get the project out.Not that this isn't going to be hard. For all intents, I've moved from an executive career path to kind of starting over mid-career. This takes me away from explicit biz dev (though I'm wired that way, so I'm sure I'll find a way) . Not easy things, but concessions we were willing to make to be a part of something important (yes, I think this game is important).But on the career front, this opp is also about me figuring stuff out about the game industry. See, the game industry thinks it's so damn special. I have never seen a vertical industry so adamant that if you're not from within their industry, you can't contribute to their industry. Ludicrous. I've been pursued by and successfully navigated everything from financial services to health care to the film industry, and never experienced this kind of bigoted attitude before.So, I wanted to get into the game industry, and see if it really is that special, or whether software development is software development, and professional impedance in games is just the result of a cottage industry that just hasn't completely grown up yet. (The reality is it's likely somewhere within the continuum, but I'm guessing it's closer to the latter than the former.)Now, my studio is a great place for me to start to try to figure this kind of thing out. Unlike other studios, they've been up front about wanting to work with good people, regardless of background. This creates a good space for me to learn the ropes, ramp up on the obvious learning curve, and not worry about also fighting against folks who expect me to fail (and may want me too, so they can stay special).Starting to ramble. Let's just see if I sink or swim.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-new-gaming-gig.html
I'm in the midst of a move, so I'm not going to be able to do my typical pre-Black Friday shopping suggestions lists.Be sure to check out value-add Black Friday ad aggregators like BFADS (link is to the video game section, but check out other categories as well), and deal mainstay CheapAssGamer.There are some great deals from last Sunday through this weekend, like $15-20 off just released games (Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, etc. at Target), amazing bundle deals (like an Xbox Live Arcade unit with Guitar Hero World Tour and free shipping for $199 at Amazon), and Xbox titles from $10-$25, but you need to be watchful to scalp stuff quickly or you're SOL (ask Mom to explain the acronym).Me? I've already picked up things like the Tekken 6 LE version (with the Hori wireless fighting pad) for the price of the game alone, and will likely run around to get some cheapy games as stocking stuffers. Maybe.Apologies again for punting on the Black Friday list this year -- things'll settle down once I relo.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/11/black-friday-gaming-deals.html
I'm excited about a few of this week's game releases, as (after a bit of a lull), the holiday game season starts in earnest.You can get full lists of the games at places like GameSpot.com or Kotaku, but here are a few to watch:Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PC, PS3) -- The sequel to a mondo game is a mondo game of its own, and the biggest of the week -- if not the year. We play every Monday and Wednesday nights.Phantasy Star Zero (NDS) -- As an RPG franchise, I really dig Phantasy Star, and Zero looks to rock the Nintendo DS. At around 20 hours of story / gameplay per character (and three characters), this game'll likely take up residence in my handheld, now that I'm finally wrapping up Chrono Trigger.Dreamkiller (360) -- I'm unabashedly a Painkiller fan (on the PC). Dreamkiller looks to be a spiritual successor to that game (complete with eastern European dev team), with a creepy, supernatural hook (psychiatrist goes into crazy's heads, a la an FPS trope, and ... erm ... cures them). Works for me!Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (NDS) -- Dunno if this one will work. I still keep trying to finish Dragon Ball: Origins, but the freaking 10-minute, non-skippable intro pisses me off, so I play it rarely. Still, I'm a franchise fan.Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (PS3, 360) -- I think DBZ: Burst Limit was really under-rated, and if you played this demo on XBL recently, you may agree that this frenetic 3D fighter might be the next Saiyan evolution. Or, you may not. But you're probably wrong.Final Fantasy XI: Ultimate Collection (360, PC) -- Granted, on the PC it's the "Vana'diel Collection 2010" ('cause that'll get you the ladies), but whatever. It's the MMO version of the FF universe, and while it's been patchily received, this rendition will have the base game, all four expansions, and all three add-on scenarios -- all for less than twenty bucks.Braid (PS3) -- If you missed this solid little indie title on XBLA, then PC, now's your chance on PSN. It's a fun, hearty little platformer that does a better job than some full-box titles. Sure, it might be a little over-rated. But genuinely good games are.WorldShift (PC) -- Pretty sure this title, from Crytek-purchased Black Sea Studios, is actually powered by Gamebryo tech, since development was fairly far along before the acquisition. It's a good-looking RTS / RPG online / offline hybrid.Rogue Trooper: Quartz Zone Massacre (Wii) -- OK, this one actually came out way earlier this year, but seeing it inadvertently included one someone's list for this week gives me an excuse to tout it again. I so liked this PS2/PC/original Xbox game, and gushed over it. Twice. Now, with my yearnings for a next-gen update, I kind of got my wish, as it's as it's polished and available for the now-gen Wii. No new content, per se, but if you missed it the first time, find an inexpensive copy. Go nuts.That's it for this week. Next week, it's New Super Mario Bros. time!
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/11/this-weeks-releases.html
So, my previous post, "Cost of games, slice of the pie, and business opportunities", has caused a bit of stir -- most of which, despite my urgings, haven't made it into the comments of that post.To summarize that last post, I wrote brief thoughts about what percentage of a given game's sales go to which groups. For discussion purposes, I used numbers from Dave Thomas ("The Crispy Gamer") / Jesse Divnich (EEDAR), which suggest the following breakout from a title's sale:$12 (20%) goes to "Retail"$5 (8%) goes to "Marketing"$10 (17%) goes to "Cost of Goods"$33 (55%) goes to the "Publisher"These numbers and that post are helpful as groundwork for some follow-on posts I want to do. These work as placeholder numbers (and maybe they're totally fine), but they don't feel like they address some very diverse business scenarios.The "bit of a stir" I reference above is from the mix of comments I received, largely on the extreme ends:"Spot on -- nice job!" (or, conversely "Too accurate, please do not share")"Not even close to accurate"I wonder how closely these numbers match what people actively experienced in the industry have seen throughout their career. I say "actively", because I think folks need to have a historical sense to dissect these figures, and they need to be in the industry now -- because it's changed in the last 2-3 years.As I said before, I'm personally not crazy about the numbers as actionable, mainly because I'm concerned they're too averaged to be individually applicable, and/or are not representative enough -- and I'm looking to refine them.Obviously, there are several levers /complicating factors that start significantly shifting percentages, and therefore opportunities.For example:How do these numbers compare across console versus PC titles?Do the percentages stay intact between a $60 MSP 360 or PS3 title, compared to a $50 Wii title?Where do the first-parties (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) get their piece of the pie -- from the "Publisher" slice? Is it spread throughout?What happens to the percentages in a $30 "budget" title?Where are the cost savings and additional expenses in a digital distribution only model (Publishers, for example, are (arguably) largely in the risk management / brokering business, so how do the financial risk model change when that entity isn't involved)?What about royalty models?Are first- or third-party marketing development / discretionary funds "on top of" the "Marketing" budget?How do the numbers change (or do they) based on geography, or cross-geography development and publishing?I'm very interested in identifying financial risk and revenue opportunity by further refining these numbers.Feel free to respond directly to me, or as a comment to this or the initial blog post.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/10/muddying-who-gets-what-piece-of-pie.html
(Here are my single-player impressions for Halo 3: ODST. I'd like to give co-op and Firefight impressions as well, but my yahoo friends who also bought the game never have time to play this title, so updated impressions will have to wait.)First, to get things out of the way, I'm a bit of a Halo Whore. This is partially because of the gameplay, universe, and mythos; partially due to my being
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/10/halo-3-odst-xbox-360.html
This is more of a biz dev(ish) post, because I want to talk through the cost of games, and use this post as a possible launching point for some other biz dev topics.Since I think some of the industry numbers I have may not shareable, I'm going to use some public numbers, like those from Dave Thomas ("The Crispy Gamer").Dave digs into the $60 game -- a price point I've railed against repeatedly in this blog. It's kind of an arbitrary price point, I would argue it should go down to $50 (for consumer and economics reasons), and the PC gaming side seems to "get" this, with the same newly released games routinely being available on console costing $10-20 less on the PC side.Anyway, for purposes of discussion, I'm going to use Dave's numbers for who gets what pieces of the retail pie. Assuming a sixty-dollar game, Dave (citing Jesse Divnich over at Electronic Entertainment Design and Research) argues $12 goes to "Retail", $5 goes to "Marketing", $10 to "Cost of Goods", and $33 goes to the "Publisher", looking something like this (using my own charts and graphs):And it probably helps to understand three quick things:Each of these areas would have a breakout underneath them (e.g., "Retailer" has facilities overhead, employee salary / benefits, etc.) that defines their monetary success criteria.What these categories include.How this percentage breakout varies on a case-by-case basis (which is partially why the numbers bother me).Assuming the first item is pretty self-explanatory, here's a brief description of each of the categories, and representative costs associated with them (some from Thomas, and some from me):Retailer: The (usually brick-and-mortar) establishment from which you buy your game -- so think of it as the money Best Buy gets when you by a $60 game.Marketing: Discounts, game returns, and retail cross-marketing (Toys "R" Us gift cards and exclusive action figures, etc.). Cost of Goods: Cost of getting the goods sold, which includes making the game disc, shipping the games to the store, translation, and anything else directly related to production, and distribution of the game package.Publisher: According to Thomas, "It is generally accepted that most publishers receive $30 to $35 per game sold before they run into overhead, development and marketing costs."Now, this varies widely, and the devil is in the details.For example, in an interview with Wired Magazine, Epic Games' Mark Rein talked about Gears of War ostensibly being cheap to make:"We spent less than $10 million to make Gears of War. Somewhere between nine and ten million dollars. People are always saying that making next-generation games is really expensive, and we’re saying, you should license our technology."The interesting part of this is I would argue, in this context, Epic wasn't using licensed tech. Since they're the makers of the Unreal Engine, this was basically the equivalent of using internal tech, and reduced the cost to Gears significantly, because it they didn't have to bear the license fee that an external studio would have to bear. So maybe their cost of goods was down (or at least in line with) that 17%. (Now, the "unfunded" R&D expense that went into adding features to UE for Gears would be another interesting piece of the puzzle.)But what about marketing? I think Mark is just talking cost of development --not Microsoft's hefty marketing part of the pie.Remember those excellent "Mad World" and "Rendezvous" prime time NFL Football commercials? Those weren't cheap in licensed content, production, or placement, I'm sure easily blowing an 8% marketing budget, and/or eating heavily into publisher Microsoft's 55%. Add to that limited editions (expensive and small-run metal cases, art books, music CDs, etc.) and promotional deals like the radio controlled Centaur Tank that shipped with special editions of the game at Best Buy, or Fallout 3's lunch box / bobblehead / making of DVD / art book, and you can see costs for each of the categories eaten away at pretty quickly.(Quick caveat is that I own the special / limited editions of a bunch of games, including those listed above, because I'm a passionate gamer, I like to vote for good games with my consumer dollars, and as an industry guy, the "making of" DVDs alone are worth the price of admission.)As another example, MMOs don't fit into the breakout above nicely at all (I get very frustrated with people trying to shoehorn older industry models onto newer business that frankly isn't that new).Look at a game like Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Where does the ongoing server cost, or the forum / community infrastructure and personnel overhead that is part of these games get wrapped into the above model? (Often times, "Community Management" comes out of marketing dollars, and are not well accounted for between developers and publishers.)Exceptions aside, the numbers above give us an interesting launching point to explore return on investment (ROI) for game titles.So, assuming the base numbers are OK (!?), and a game with a $10M overall budget, you would hit a break-even point for the publisher at an MSP of $60 ($33 publisher portion) after selling 303,030 units (303,030.3, to be exact):But "break-even" isn't enough -- because there's no profit. If your publisher's profit target is, say, $5M, you're $5M "in the hole" when you "break even" -- and you need to move an additional ~150,ooo units (~454.5K total) to hit that profit target (and, probably, to realize developer royalties):So, looking at a game like the recent Halo 3: ODST (and totally making up numbers), let's pretend the budget was a "mid-range" $25M -- Microsoft would need to move 757.5K units -- just to break even at the same $5M profit target. Of course, ODST moved 2.5M units in the first two weeks, so even without know their profit targets, it feels like "they did OK":Now, I acknowledge these numbers are a little problematic, in that they're theoretical, and there's a bit of an apples-to-hand-grenades comparison of the $60 MSP price point of a title, and the $33 publisher portion of the pie placeholder I'm using.But that's intentional, as I'm setting this up for some follow-on posts.More later. Comment below.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/10/cost-of-games-slice-of-pie-and-business.html
OK, I meant to follow up fairly quickly from my basically Q3 list of upcoming games, and got distracted -- Largely because I've been playing several of those games, and some from the new list: Games from Q4 (I need sexier names for my lists).To review from last time, I list the games I'm excited about as an armchair analyst, industry professional (?), and gamer -- particularly with an affinity for co-op games (so, L4D2, New Super Mario Bros., and Borderlands rise to the top.Here are the games:Dreamkiller (360, PC) -- There need to be more, frenetic, memorable PC first-person shooters, a la Painkiller (not related to this title, other than it looks like it's unofficially "inspired-by"). So, this title has my interest because of that, and because I've been carefully watching ASPYR and it its evolving business model over the years. I hope the game does well on PC, and while I hope for the same on 360, I expect it to falter as it goes up against top-notch FPS offerings like Modern Warfare 2, ODST, and even L4D2 -- but especially against Serious Sam HD on XBLA, which will provide that same super-frenetic action, with über polish and a fractional price point.South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! (XBLA) -- A South Park tower defense game? Brilliant!Lucidity (XBLA) -- LucasArts brings a new platformer to the XBLA platform? Brilliant!Magna Carta 2 (360) -- I'm always on the lookout for a gorgeous, accessible JRPG. Magna Carta 2, the sequel to the 2002 PC title, may just foot the bill.A Boy and His Blob (Wii) -- I'm a big fan of the original, and the absolutely beautiful nature of this new one has me really excite. I own a Wii, but play very few games for myself, but Q42009 will likely change that.Brütal Legend (360, PS3) -- It's Tim [bleeping] Schafer, ladies and gents! And while this game was on my "must get, but maybe not right away" list, the demo changed that for me. If it's representative, this game is the perfect mix of Shafer humor and gameplay, Jack Black is used appropriately (not overwhelmingly), and the game seems to be scratching every itch for me. I'm excited. Wicked excited.Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (360, PC, PS3) -- This single-player, first-person RPG is one of my all-time favorites, and now you can get the GOTY edition, which comes with the original game, and all five DLC expansion packs (The Pitt, Operation: Anchorage, Broken Steel, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta). And you'll probably be able to find it for cheaper than full price or with purchase incentives. If you haven't bought this game before, you should. Both of you.Marvel Super Hero Squad (Wii, PS2, NDS, PSP) -- I am such a fan of Marvel's cutified franchise, and while I worry about the possible rushed quality of this licensed brawler title, I'm likely to pick it up regardless for its scratching my multiplayer-plus-fanboy itch.FIFA Soccer 2010 (360, PC, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, NDS) -- I'm not a big soccer fan, but I'm savvy enough to know this sport is the big dog 'round the world, and one of the biggest movers for EA (and therefore, biggest moments for sports-minded gamers). So it gets listed.Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) -- This Sony exclusive is arguably the big-dog for October, and probably the first of the genuine heavy hitters for the holiday. Taking a Tomb Raider formula that actually works, injecting top visuals and gameplay mechanics, story, and the introduction of multiplayer, this week's midnight launch will likely have people stacked up like cordwood throughout the nation.Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3) -- You gotta respect the R&C, and this additional PS3-exclusive is (I think) going to make those console faithful happy with an updated take on the franchise.Demon's Souls (PS3) -- YAPE (Yet Another PS3 Exclusive), this game is already garnering rave reviews, with people trumpeting the game's difficulty, but difficulty that makes you a far better gamer (akin to Ninja Gaiden, but with seemingly less profanity; slightly less). And the game looks slick.DJ Hero (360, PS3, Wii) -- While it doesn't exactly float my boat, there are going to be a number of DJ-type games hitting shelves as the next wave of music-related games, so I'm curious to watch the trend. And peripherals make people lots of money. And it does look kind of nifty.Borderlands (360, PC, PS3) -- (This one actually moved to Q4 after I did the original post) Teased for so long, with a relatively recent shiny new coat of paint, I have worked hard not to lose interest in this one. Gearbox has earned their place in the industry, so I'll likely pick up this game just to vote with my dollars as to how to do it right, and I'm guessing the game will live up to the studio that made it. This may be overselling it, but think "4-player co-op Fallout 3."Tekken 6 (360, PS3) -- I've got a hankering for a new fighting game, and I like the marketing win of one of PlayStation's most venerable exclusive fighting franchises now bing on the 360 (starting with 5). That and I want to be able to pit a panda against a kangaroo. Over and over again.Fairytale Fights (360, PS3) -- Twisted fairy tale trope at its best (and most violent). Think cutesy plus Kill Bill plus online multiplayer. Let's see if lands as expected.Dragon Age Origins (360, PC, PS3) -- I think this Bioware RPG is going to be Oblivion / Fallout 3 awesome. Yes. That awesome.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PC, PS3) -- I actually expect this game to be the big mover for the holiday season. It addresses all of the right markets -- it's not console exclusive, so it sells more individual units; it's an FPS, so it hits that crowd; It's not as hardcore as a simulation, but hardcore enough to get both casual and hardcore FPS fans on board; it's not niche-genre ("modern war" is much broader than "zombie"); etc. Members of my CoD clan are actually planning to take the day off to play this game. Seriously. (There will also be derivations of this game on Wii, PSP, and NDS, but they are differently titled, obviously have very different game mechanics.)New Super Mario Bros. (Wii) -- It's Mario. On the Wii. With co-op (and adversarial, it looks like), a la classic Super Mario Bros. My hope is to be playing this all holiday long with my sweetie, which may cost me Xbox and NDS time (and will be well worth it).Phantasy Star ∅ (NDS) -- This game (which would make my list just because of my love of the franchise) is allegedly an action RPG amalgam of the best of Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe. Sign me up!Left 4 Dead 2 (360, PC) -- I should not be this addicted to the first game. It's short, it's too niche, etc. Instead, I'm like a social crackhead at a snow party. Every Tuesday night (every), I and 3 other guys get online and play and replay the same campaigns, go after insane achievements, and pull other peopleion for the online modes. And just a year after that game, the sequel is shipping, which makes me all sorts of happy. All sorts.Assassin's Creed II (360, PC, PS3) -- This sequel to a great stealth title from two years ago looks to up the ante on quality, gameplay diversity, and historical tie-in significance. Ok, that's what I have. Dates my change, I feel like I've missed some titles, etc.But it's still more than I can play without being professionally paid to do so.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/10/upcoming-games-through-end-of-year.html
OK, this needs to be a bit ranty / rambly.I was at a great game industry networking gig last night. It was a big turnout, representing a bunch of companies, disciplines, and skill levels. And it's nice to hang out with good folks and enjoy their company.A bunch of folks there last night are between gigs. The current economy is getting everyone -- That's not the issue.So, now the Ranty McRanty part.I've griped before about how the game industry doesn't network to help big things happen for each other like I've seen in other vertical (specifically, technical) markets.But when you're looking for a job, you need to be even more on your A-game.Most of these people in transition didn't have business cards. Or resumes (I don't mean "with them", I mean "at all").WTF?Seriously, am I missing something? If you're trying to connect with someone to get a job, don't you want them to have your contact information? An easy way to see your portfolio? Maybe having a way for them to know who you are and how to get a hold of you might, I dunno, be helpful?Ergh.Always have business cards with you. Always.For me, I have three -- whatever card from my current employer, my acting card, and a generic, title-less card for my next potential gig (like below).And I have my resume on my phone (so I can Email it instantly, with a queued up Email template along the lines of "It was nice to meet you tonight! Here's a copy of the generalized version of my resume for your reference."). And it's available from my Website.I'm not saying this is the way to do all of this, but I am saying it's a way. And it's far better than tripping all over yourself and shooting yourself in the professional foot.Now, there were some people who were prepared last night. One guy even had hard copies of his resume with him (which was kind of cute).OK, enough of the rant. Go get business cards.(Hey, does the logo on my generic card look to much like a tramp stamp?)
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/10/get-your-act-together.html
Crap in a kolache, I totally blew past The Tokyo Game Show, which is normally a pretty important gamer milestone (largely consumer, though there are a couple of biz-dev-ish days that precede the bulk of the show).I blame it on GDC Austin, and a wealth of games coming out as the holiday season groans to life (Halo ODST, Bowser's Inside Story, Scribblenauts, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and L4D DLC) -- all of which I'm playing in rotation.But for what it's worth, despite fewer games and lower attendance at this year's show, here are a handful of things from the event that floated my boat:Natal buy-in -- Nay say as you will about motion controllers (I won't), but the train has left the station, and Microsoft for one is truly making it core to their business (I don't yet feel quite the same about Sony's offering, which doesn't even have a name yet). To add weight to the tech, at TGS Microsoft paraded 7 big-gun Japanese developers who are supposedly bought into Natal. This included Capcom's head of R&D Keiji Inafune (Dead Rising); Namco Bandai's GM Yozo Sakagami; Tecmo's Keisuke Kikuchi (Rygar); Kojima Productions's Kenichiro Imaizumi (Metal Gear Solid 4); Sega's Toshihiro Nagoshi (Monkey Ball); FromSoftware's Masanori Takeuchi (Ninja Blade); and Konami's Naoki Maeda.Epic Games expands to Japan -- Sure, it's largely a support organization, but there's now way it's going to stay that way. And with top game dev talent in-country (and with recent, hefty, in-country game dev layoffs), the makers of the Unreal Engine are well positioned to make use of ground forces to directly address local game tastes, and conceivably work more closely with Japanese-HQed Sony and Nintendo.Nintendo Wii price drop -- I'm not sure what I found more interesting -- Nintendo's price drop of the Wii to $199, or their brilliant timing of making the announcement during Sony's TGS press conference (which felt a bit lackluster anyway, and really lost live-blogging steam once their competitor's price drop was announced).Square-Enix and billing innovation -- This was interesting, and got poo-pooed by a lot of gamers. Since I'm a financial services tech guy who moved into the game industry, and spent years in my previous life trying to push gaming payment solutions (I was told, "there's no money in that"; so I left), it's good to see a high-profile company raise awareness of the infrastructure innovations that must happen for games to evolve -- it's not just about hardware and game design innovation.Universal video capture for 360 games? -- This one slipped a bit under the radar, but, allegedly, a gamer made a sideways comment about not building vid capture functionality into their game -- "... why work on something that the platform holder is already developing".Video capture, by itself, doesn't really float my boat (what is with me and boats, lately?) -- but theater capture (a la Halo 3) does. Why? Because this kind of capture captures (erm) the game data -- not just a video feed of the game being played. This lets you do all sorts of wicked cool things like play the scene over and over from multiple angles, from multiple cameras, speeding up and slowing down motion, etc., with a negligible memory footprint (especially when compared to raw video).Make that available in the Xbox XDKs for developers, and not only do you have cool functionality for gamers, but really useful stuff for game devs as they debug, test, and iterate on polishing their titles for gamers. This is tech on which to keep an eye.Games -- Hey, I'm a gamer, so even if things weren't new, per se, I get stoked for new content for titles I like. For me, this included Snoopy Flying Ace (Snoopy versus the Red Baron on XBLA); Ni no Kuni (NDS RPG from Level-5 Studio (freaking) Ghibli); Dead Rising 2 (zombie games are not "old and busted"); Crackdown 2 (sequel to one of the most underrated games evahr); Alan Wake (I will not lose faith in this game); New Super Mario Bros. (co-op Wii franchise goodness); L4D2 (what is with this franchise? There are so many things that should make this not work, and I. Can't. Get. Enough.); and Dante's Inferno (a classic-made game; I hope it's success signals a Watership Down RTS).Sorry for you letting you down on the real-time updates, Gaming Faithful. Still friends?Anyway, get more retcon coverage from people here, here, and obviously here.(And apologies to any folks in the kolache industry.)
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/10/tokyo-game-show-2009.html
(First Impressions.)OK, I need to spend more time with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 ("M-UATU", for those who have been paying attention).I've been looking forward to it for a looong time, and it's ambitious as all get out -- multiple combinations of players and powers; two continuity arcs re-imagined; truly taking advantage of next-gen hardware (the last one was early in the hardware cycle);
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/10/marvel-ulimate-alliance-2.html
I downloaded and played the new Crash Course DLC for Left 4 Dead with some co-workers last night.Very different, in that there are pickups (weapons, ammo, etc.) freaking _everywhere# (at least comparatively). It's also very short, plays fast, and throws a lot more special infected (notably, Tanks) at you.I'm curious as to which of these gameplay tweaks are a nod to those changes in L4D2.At least
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/09/l4d-crash-course.html
I made one session amidst the day of mind-numbing negotiations, and that was Damion Schubert's "The Loner":"This talk explores one of the more interesting puzzles of massively multiplayer game design: why do so many people choose to play these games alone? How should designers reach these customers? How important is solo play to games? Should game designers try to entice solo players to enjoy group mechanics like raiding, sieges or PvP? Or are MMOs destined to become 'massively single-player games'?"I've known Damion (casually) for years, and I'm constantly impressed by his digging into the tougher (and/ or more important) game design challenges, with concrete takeaways. I don't like to summarize his talks, because theres so much rich content there. But I will anyway. Check out is blog, http://www.zenofdesign.com/, for more of wisdom and wittyisms.This talk was about the shift over the last five years in MMOs toward providing (really, requiring) solo play in addition to the "massive". He identified several types of "Loner" - both legitimate (personality type or good game design) and illegitimate (broken game states). Damion offered a large number of concrete design techniques that could help make great games (and avoid game-killing design mistakes)Damion made an important observation that the "massive" is the differentiation for MMOs - "We can't compete in any other area". Despite this, it's not even an option to create an MMO without a solo aspect.He also covered bits of psychology and usability -- like, many people don't want to learn publicly; but even more, they don't want to be embarrassed publicly.Damion made some important real-world data analogies to MMO design (traffic, bars, casino design) that would serve game designers well to consider.There are also gradations of solo players. Many people (like me) choose to play socially with friends, but solo if friends aren't onlineSociopaths, at their simplest, don't recognize social norms for the space they're in. But everyone who's new to a given MMO is a sociopath, until the designer explicitly trains them otherwise (you don't know the social norms for the new space until you're taught them, and they're ingrained). People who don't change or don't care need to be retrained, channeled, or booted.From a game design perspective, being "a Loner" is OK; forced into being lonely is not, and is a borked game state.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/09/agdc-loner.html
After a wicked busy (but productive) burst of partner and Customer meetings, I went to the post mortem for licensee KingsIsle's title, Wizard101 - "Wizard101 - Lions and Tigers and Ninja Pigs, Oh My!":"In this post-mortem, WIZARD101 creator J. Todd Coleman discussed the challenges of making a kid-focused MMO, and the role of iterative design in discovering a games personality. How do you blend family-friendly characters, a cinematic combat system, and a collectible card game into a cohesive virtual world? Find out as the director discusses what worked (and what didn't) in KingsIsle's quest to introduce persistent world gaming to a new generation of gamers."The game is tween MMO that runs lightweight on a PC, it's an 8 Mb download, and streams.You might have seen the Game Developers Magazine article on the Wizard101 post mortem, but if you haven't, I encourage you to check it out.One of the things I found particularly interesting from a planning / pre-production standpoint was their plan to create a game that had 3 areas of focus -- and if some 800-pound gorilla launched during their 3-year cycle, they would shift their focus to 1 or two of the other areas of focus. Very savvy from a risk-mitigation perspective.What's Unique: Personality (the game's got flavor) Combat (card-based)The World (The "spiral mechanic" - which allows for creation of oddly themed expansion worlds and side quests - is brilliant)The story (At the same time, there is a single narrative thread-- as opposed to the typical MMO trope of multiple mini stories -- that keeps things cohesiveThe game is ultimately about saving the world, with stark lines between good and evil, and each player is the hero.Persistence? Respawning? Who cares? It's all about keeping it fun for the individual kid player.The names in Wizard101 may be the greatest part of the game (Samoorai? Sherlock Bones? Meowriarty? Awesome.)Combat is turn-based, cinematic, and uses a card collecting mechanic (the goal was approachable like Toontown, looks like Yu Gi O, plays like older Final Fantasy).On the progression of the battle system, Coleman said they created a physical card game for focus testing with kids (sounds like they did a lot of focus testing throughout pre- and production). Next was a 2D prototype that let them further focus test the gameplay, and the AI. Then they did a canned cinematic to show how it would work together. Then they integrated everything.What Went Right:Scope - 30 people, and linear play made for needing less assetsPrototyping helped refine mechanicsDigital download/FTP mechanism for distributionMinimum spec machine - Coleman asserts that kids get the lowest quality machine in a household; interestingly, he said this also enabled them to unexpectedly hit a chunk of the burgeoning netbook marketSteady, ongoing launch (as opposed to running up to a launch, getting big numbers, then dropping off sharply)He showed comparative stats via Compete.com that I'm going to have to dig into a bit more.What Went Wrong:Modular world building (bland, and the supposed re-use that drove the decision wasn't worth it)Micropayment model (not enough variety at launch, not enough price points at launch)Stats & Metrics ("too much is as bad as too little"; they had to many probes everywhere)Design for growth (technology is scalable, but the design is not; this is due to things like using % for growth rather than absolute numbers, which causes problems when you need to raise your level cap)Q&A:There are social differences in a kids MMO - like for kids, everyone is a friend - but it's different (they'll friend you, but they won't socialize).They offer a family pricing plan (Yay! Console service providers? Can you please do this?)
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/09/agdc-wizard101-lions-and-tigers-and.html
I had to duck out early for a partner meeting, but I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to catch any bits I could get from the AGDC session, "Lead with Your Gut: How Courage and Common Sense Improve Efficiency":"This session provides insight into how studios can gain project efficiencies by communicating more effectively and engaging in constructive conflict. Using the trials and successes at Next Level Games, learn how efficiency drops and work gets derailed when people work in silos, don't communicate or 'assume' they know what's going on. Getting questions on the table at the beginning and throughout the project, along with planning for more face time, creates efficiencies that will reclaim hundreds of lost hours. Attendees will learn how common sense and the commitment to applying these principles consistently will put their team in a better position to turn out a superior product. It may sound simple, but if it was so easy, why isn't everyone doing it?"Edoardo De Martin, Studio General Manager of Next Level Games, is an impressive fella. He was honest about his own experiences, shortcomings, and costs of genuine leadership (and the lack thereof).He was a non-gaming leader poached into Black Box Games (then EA). Kudos to BB for recognizing talent outside the industry and hiring it into a senior position. Doesn't happen nearly enough.Edoardo was actually going to leave the game industry and its burnout work ethos, until Next Level approached him -- and he said he wouldn't unless they did things differently.This "differently" largely revolves around what Edoardo calls coaching, but not the touchy feely vapid non-coaching that tends to give the vocation and skill set a bad rap. What he described is akin to what I probably called mentoring leadership for the development teams I managed in past lives.Other principals of his:Avoid the "squish" (neither upper management or staff are happy with you) - naiive guys take it, but good leaders leaveMake then accountable (requires respect, integrity, constructive conflict, continuous learning)Lead through action (have an idea? Act on it - quickly and consistently)Edoardo reduced leadership in the games industry to business leadership (too often reduced/compartmentalized as producer) and creative leadership (same for game director) - which really requires purposeful conflicts to create genuine collaboration and work two very differnet leadership styles.(Then I had to leave. So I didn't get all the "how to fix its". I need to call Edoardo.)
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/09/agdc-lead-with-your-gut-how-courage-and.html
Day 2 of AGDC started with the Blizzard keynote, "The Universe Behind World of Warcraft":"Design and implementation is only part of the process in running a massively multiplayer game. Maintaining the player base and achieving sustained growth requires a collective and consistent effort from numerous departments beyond the development team. This discussion will offer an in-depth look at the operational complexities of running a large-scale MMO, including some specific lessons Blizzard Entertainment has learned with World of Warcraft."This was the third in a 3-year Blizzard series, starting 2 years ago with a design principles, followed up a year ago with the business side, and this year with the development and operational side. I've been at all 3. There should be an achievement for that.Interestingly, the Warcraft team was working on now-defunct title, Nomad. Ithink I'd heard this before, but seeing the concept art again made me whistful for what might have been.The talk revolved around detailed descriptions, charts, and numbers of all of the Blizzard WoW teams. While all of that is hugely interesting to me, more interesting is Blizzard's cultural principle of building the organization (and each department, and each team) around the individuals - not just slotting people into rigid org chart slots (no matter how often they may change).I jotted down a bunch of the numbers and detailed org charts, and might post those later (maybe; that takes work). But the main takeaway is the structuring principle above, along with a recognition of the sheer complexity of the company which requires several discreet business units - which are uniquely organized, and appropriately (numbers-wise) staffed to successfully accomplish their charter.And this was just about the Warcraft organization, Diablo and Starcraft have equivalent teams. One cool tidbit was the concept of strike teams from other game teams making sure game teams aren't getting too close to their game - at the game's expense.And despite Blizzcon tickets being sold, the event operates at a significant loss - but to huge marketing gain.EDIT: Gamasutra has detailed breakdown on their site.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/09/agdc-universe-behind-world-of-warcraft.html
I'm on the road a lot lately the last several weeks, so that means I'm DSing it.Having missed Chrono Trigger the first time around, I'm now playing it on the Nintendo DS, and it's stellar.Being updated to take advantage of the DS control scheme and touch screen is keen, as is the implementation of dual screen support. I also dig the the real-time battle option.I'm spoiled; not sure I could have
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/09/chrono-trigger.html
Another video, now that the Game Developers Conference Austin has kicked off?Sure. Why not.
http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009.html
I'm playing the new Batman: Arkham Asylum game on the Xbox 360, and I've been pretty impressed so far.This is a solid, dark treatment of the license, the full game is more polished than the demo (which itself was a good concantenation of a few segments of the game to show scope and diversity), the detective mode has been tweaked (and is pretty slick), the art direction is cool (and consistent),
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/08/batman-arkham-asylum-xbox-360.html
I picked up Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer for the Nintendo DS because I wanted to play a polished roguelike on the handheld.Liking it so far, though I think after it, I want to find a darker roguelike game. If I can't find one, I may make one.
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/08/mystery-dungeon-shiren-wanderer-nds.html
I'm a bit of a Mortal Kombat fan. I'm a comic book fan. I sooo wanted to be a fan of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.Unfortunately, so many things worked against the title for me, that I'm not a fan.Granted, since I'm a fanboy, I had expectations. And they were dashed.The fighting is frustrating, it devolves to button mashing that's not even fun (like Soul Calibur is fun), feels unpolished (art to
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/08/mortal-kombat-vs-dc-universe-xbox-360.html
OK, Conan is an oldish 360 game, and I finished it months ago, but I've been meaning to write about it ever since. Reason for the delay is the final boss battle (more on that later).This a the kind of game that makes me irritated at game reviews/reviewers.This is a solid licensed title that is ambitious and has so much going right for it, that -- especially given the stigma for a licensed title -
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/07/conan-xbox-360.html
I wanted to grab a quick platformer for my recent cross-continental travel, and I'd heard good things about The Legendary Starfy for the Nintendo DS.It's a fun, goofy, solid little NDS 2D platfrom title that makes good use of the two screens, and marginal use of the touch screen (in that you need to touch to select some things on menus, etc.I like the whimsical nature of it, and think it'll be a
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/06/legendary-starfy-nds.html
I'm playing Dragon Ball: Origins as one of the half-dozen titles I'm rotating through my Nintendo DS.This is a fun little, stylus-dependent game, and it's a great gift to franchise fans. Its implementation style fits nicely with the quirky Dragon Ball IP style (gone grittier in later Dragon Ball Z and GT incarnations).I totally dig getting reintroduced to longtime favorite characters, and
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/04/dragon-ball-origins-nds.html
I'm finally giving up on Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, even though it's a great game.Co-workers Vince and Mike shamed me into playing it, I'm glad they did, it's awesome, but I've been stuck at the very end for too long, and there are too many good games to play for me to keep beating my head against a wall.This is a great strategy title for the Nintendo DS not just from the mechanics (air, land,
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/04/advance-wars-days-of-ruin.html
I played the Ninja Blade demo for Xbox 360, and I've decided this is one of those cases where the demo isn't enough for me to decide whether or not to buy this game.I mean, I've been looking forward to it -- this is From Software, and the makers of my beloved Otogi franchise.And Ninja Blade is _very_ slick, and the standard combat would probably keep me well-engaged.On the other hand, I hate
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/03/ninja-blade-xbox-360.html
I played id Software's Orcs & Elves, because I'm a fan of the first-person dungeon crawler genre.While not the best entry in the genre (for me), Orcs & Elves is a fun, engaging, fairly addictive Nintendo DS title -- especially since you can easily get it on the cheap (less than $15)Originally a mobile (phone game), the Nintendo DS version shows its legacy roots, in that more content should have
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2009/01/orcs-elves-nds.html
I'm digging that this year's sequels (Fallout 3, Call of Duty: World at War, etc.) are so top-notch.I'm really enjoying Gears 2, but taking freaking forever to get through it, since I decided to play through the thing only on a co-op only with one friend who is not as irresponsible as me (look, the gutters are already plugged, they're not going to get more plugged... Sh##, they're more plugged).
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/11/gears-of-war-2.html
I'm a big fan of the adventure genre, and while I too often bemoan its decline, Bethesda's adventuring RPGer Fallout 3 is scratching that itch with a now-gen fury.Granted, I'm early into it, and my current gameplay allotment will probably keep it on my plate for the next several months, but this is easily one of the best games of the year for me.The art direction is amazing, the attention to
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/11/fallout-3-xbox-360.html
Monday nights are weekly Halo 2 fests online with known friends (Wednesdays alternate between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4). Camaraderie as we're all now scattered to the wind, my tie to my Austin buddies, and avoids the inanity of the online anonymous dumberatti.Last night was a riot, with the best games being swordball on Lockout (24 medals, baby!), and CTF on Relic, which had us so evenly matched
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/08/halo-2.html
I've been playing the Xbox 360 demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.I know this is just the demo, but _this_ what being a Jedi should feel like -- lightning powers, grabbing and throwing tie bombers, hurling stormtroopers off of gangways, blowing through doors, and taking on AT-STs and taking then apart with Force Push / Grip / lightningAbout the only thing I don't like about the demo is the
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/08/star-wars-force-unleashed.html
I need to write more later, but is there a better combo of gamer geek homage, accessible gameplay, clever puzzling, and thematic depth?Probably ... In an alternate universe!
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/08/braid-xbla.html
Ok, here's the deal: I suck at fighting games. Like tushie handed to me wrapped in puff-pastries kind of suck. That makes them not fun to play for me, when my opponent is some Know the Uber Throw Back-breaker Spleen Removal from Across the Room Without Touching Me button combo (you'd think I'm exaggerating, but no).That said, I sooo dig the SoulCalibur franchise. From the beloved DreamCast
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/08/soulcalibur-iv-360.html
I'm about an hour and a half and three chapters in to Dragonball Z: Burst Limit.This is a solid licensed fighter, but limiting it to that would be a disservice.For fans of the creative intellectual property, DBZ: Burst Limit finally gets it right (at least in relation to the recent spate of games).But for fanboys -- you may wet yourself (I'm dry, but just barely).DBZ:BL (like that?) is a decently
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/06/dragonball-z-burst-limit.html
I so dig Ninja Gaiden, so I was stoked when the demo for Ninja Gaiden II finally came stateside (last? WTF?).The demo gives that sense of amazing ninja bad-assery, which is great, but ...This may be the worst third-person camera ever. I'm hoping it's just an artifact of the demo, though.
http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/2008/06/ninja-gaiden-ii-360-demo.html
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