Be a work of art in Fable 2!

I love these contests that game companies come up with! Like designing a perk for Fallout 3 or the God of War 2 alternate outfits. Well, now you can be in Fable 2 as a work of art! Take a photo of yourself in some period painting-esque clothes and environment and voilà! You're a masterpiece! Thankfully this is open to people outside of the U.S. as well.

[via Joystiq]

Summary of Halo 3 environment art presentations

So my summary from last week's IGDA meeting about the art in Halo 3 is now online. Oh yes, the photo does not lie, there was an endoscopic video involved. It was disgusting *shudder*. But the session as a whole (well, both of them) were very informative. In the summary there's also a link to the Bungie site where you can download both presentations. The video of the event should be up soon too.

Code Monkeys: Still loves whores

w00t! One of my favourite TV shows, Code Monkeys, is going to be available for download on Xbox Live! I'm guessing they mean season 1, though season 2 is about to commence next week (or has already started if you count the 4/20 episode that aired in April). There are few shows out there that actually "get" gaming. And Code Monkeys nails both gaming and the industry. It's hilarious and brutal and oh so raunchy. If you haven't seen it yet, you really oughta check it out!

Making bad feedback work for you

Penny Arcade did it with the ads for their new game, so why not try it in other areas? Like blogging for instance! BSAngel is trying to decide which of her trolls to feature. I personally like this one best:



I think it's the condescending "sweetie" that really twists the knife.

I'd follow in her footsteps, but I've been unfortunate enough to never have had a troll to call my own. I've only received thoughtful and intelligent comments from this crowd. Maybe I just don't have that level of internets popularity....yet ;)

More than just sex in games?

This guy made a video for a class presentation, the topic being getting past superficial sexiness and delving into intimacy in games. It's a well-written presentation that makes some excellent points.



[via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

New games I've been playing

Over the past few months I've played a lot of games. I haven't finished many of them, but I've gotten what I wanted out of them.

I had been playing Pokémon: Pearl (DS) a while ago. I put it down for a months and recently picked it back up again. I bought it because Pokémon is one of the franchises I'd never played, but I'd heard lots of good things about the new DS version. So why not? It's incredibly addictive. Not because it's awesomely fun or anything, but because you're never where you need to be. There's never a good time to save and quit because you're ALWAYS in the middle of something. I'm actually kind of afraid of picking it back up again because of what an incredible time suck it is! But really, you do feel compelled to "catch 'em all".

Harvey Birdman (Wii) has been my favourite cartoon since it came out in 2000. Back then we'd get home in the wee hours of the morning and chill out while watching the Teletoon network. With it's 15-minute episodes you barely had a chance to get what was going on before it was all over! True to form, the game is short, sweet and totally messed up. All your favourite characters are there and they make tons of references to things that happened in the show. If you're a fan, it's really worthwhile to check out.

I love button-mashing hack-and-slash fighting games. They're fun! Unfortunately, Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox 360) isn't fun. Well, the fighting is fun enough, there just isn't enough of it. Japanese games are notorious for their cut scenes (90 minute cut scenes, plural, in MGS4? yikes!) and this one is no exception. What's worst of all, is that the majority of the cool fighting moments happen in cut scenes! I didn't understand that at all. You run endless hallways, back and forth, through albeit pretty environments, but the fights are few and far between. There just wasn't enough fun in it to keep me going past a few hours.

However, Elite Beat Agents (DS) is totally a fun Japanese game. There's some cool music in it that gets your head bopping along and the graphics are really great. I love the comic style and the bright colours. The stories that go with each song are pretty funny too. Beating the game isn't all that difficult. What's hard is being bad enough to get the different story endings for each song without screwing up so bad that you end up losing. The only problem is trying to play a game that requires perfect timing and exact precision with the stylus while playing on public transportation. Otherwise, it was a great value to find it used.

Out of a sense of obligation to myself, I had also picked up Brain Age 2 (DS). I find my brain enough junk that I feel like I oughta do something useful with my time now and then. The minigames are neat and can get you thinking more quickly for certain types of things. It'd be nicer if the Brain Age check had a greater variety of games, but you don't have to do it daily. It's also a great way to play Sudoku, since I used to play it on my phone. The DS, having a bigger screen of course, makes it much easier on the eyes. And I don't have to worry about getting my fingers covered in pencil, pen or newspaper ink either.

Now I just have to figure out which console to buy Lego Indy for....

Pac-Man movie in the makes

Wah?

Via The Escapist...
The movie studio behind the upcoming Tekken film has signed a $200 million movie financing deal that includes adaptations of Castlevania and Pac-Man.

I just don't get how that could be an interesting movie. Much like the The Sims movie announced last year...

The art of Halo

Last night was pretty interesting! I went to the IGDA monthly meeting where two of Bungie's environment artists did a couple of presentations. I really got a lot out of it. They have a fairly unique approach to designing games over there. And it was really cool to see the whole development process of the Flood levels. I'll be writing up a full report (with links to the PowerPoint presentations and the video of the event) later on.

I didn't like the game when I first tried it and a lot of what they said made me understand why that was. The process on their end focused on the art of the levels rather than the functionality. And it shows. But after seeing their presentations, I want to try playing though at least some of it, this time with new eyes. It'll be neat to go through and pick out those things that they talked about.

Women and games, people still think it can't work?

This seems to be a pretty hot topic lately. Are women interested in this kind of thing? Are they being stereotyped into the nagging bitch roll? Are they even interested in geeky things?

How My Wife Ruined GTA IV
One guy complains that his wife playing GTA made the game so boring, all because she wasn't playing it the way he wanted. Isn't that what sandbox, open-world games are all about? Thankfully most of the commenters also share this point of view and the comments like "Time to get a new wife. What a stupid bitch. LOL" are few.

A Woman’s Take On The Very Worst Of ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’
This woman takes a more global view on women and their roles in the GTA worlds. She's not offended by the games and enjoys them, but says she'd love to see a female main character for a change. She also mentions the prostitute video that Rockstar was using to promote the game, a very poor decision.

Haze dating game video makes us uncomfortable
Speaking of poor decisions, there's this one where Ubi's new Haze game is being promoted with a viral video where a Frag Doll is supposedly being pimped out as a prize.

Cliffy B: Gears of War 2 More 'Girlfriend-Friendly'
WTF? Those things make a game more girlfriend-friendly? Like BSAngel points out, those things are desirable for any co-op multiplayer experience. And just because a game is co-op doesn't make it girlfriend-friendly. What about those times WE want to escape from our boyfriends and want to play solo?

What Video Game Should Become More Girl-Friendly?
Geeksugar is running a poll today, asking women which games they think should be more female-friendly. But that term isn't really defined, so in the comments some people are clarifying their answers, saying mostly that they want more female main characters.

Interview: Playboy Cyber Girl of the Year Is A True Player
Leigh from Sexy Videogameland did an interview with the new Playboy of the year, who is a legitimate gamer girl. Awesome article. Apparently hot women game too.

ANALYSIS: Here Come the Girls
And little girls too. People are still posting about the growing demographic, still sounding fairly surprised that girls like gaming. When it's proven, it's big news!

What Chicks Don't Like About Science Fiction
However, it's just not games that women apparently aren't supposed to like, apparently we don't like Science Fiction either.

long weekend gaming fun

Despite alllll the new games around the house, the only one I played all weekend was Diablo II. Still. We're now half way through Hell difficulty. It's the first time I've played through Hell, I've tended to go for breadth, not depth in games. I've played the game with each character at least once, but have never played through all difficulty levels once. My paladin and his sorceress are kicking butt in Kurast right now.

(And it's not like I played games all weekend, only when it was raining. Spent the sunny times outside and enjoyed the beautiful long weekend weather:)

Bayonetta

First there was the trailer for Wet, then Mirror's Edge, now for more female destructiveness, Bayonetta.



They all look so ass-kickingly awesome! This latest one is just a teaser, but I think it's the one that intrigues me most since it's from Platinum Games designer Hideki Kamiya, the guy behind such masterpieces as Devil May Cry and Okami. *squee* Release date says only 2009, but I'm eager to see what they do with it! They've got a couple other games lined up too that also sound pretty unique. If you want to see concept art, check out the original Japanese version of the post.

Sony's NSFW ad makes women drool

Kotaku reports on the PS3 ad that is making all men uncomfortable. I say, HOT DAMN! Finally Sony is trying to appeal to us gamer girls! They've certainly got my attention! So awesome! The full NSFW version is here.

It's not likely a real ad, but it's still great:)

WiiWare: TV Show King

Well, it's finally out there! My company made it's first original IP for a console and it's part of the WiiWare launch lineup! It was made right here in Montreal too, so I've been witness to the whole process as try out something new. Many of the people from that team are now on my new project, so hopefully we'll be able to build on their experiences. It's been a pretty dramatic year for them, but not only were they able to squeak in as a launch title, it looks like the final product is getting decent reviews so far. Congrats guys!

Bioshock: Pirates of Ayn Rand?

Lots of gaming movie news today! The big one of course is that the Bioshock movie has been confirmed (yay!) and the director is the guy who did Pirates of the Caribbean (buh?). I'm not sure how I feel about this. I loved the first movie, but the others, especially the last one, were tepid at best. I'm eager to see the trailers to see what kind of direction this will take. From my point of view, this should not be a movie that would be a great Disneyland ride for kids.


The second note is this article from MTV Multiplayer where they note that two of the major blockbusters of the summer, two of the most fabulous licenses, don't appear to have video games at launch. Surfer Girl (RIP) has previously said that the Indy game is coming out with the DVD release but Lego Indy is supposed to be out the first week of June. But there's no game based on the new movie. It's an interesting approach, an unusual one, to be sure. As for Batman, that's a weird one. But super hero movie games have done very poorly lately. Perhaps it's just as well that those movies won't have games then...

Wiiii!

Today has been spent trying to get the Nintendo dev kit set up. Well, setting it up isn't the hard part, it's all the other things that our build requires that's causing problems. In any case, I'm happy to have this big black box on my desk:) (well, not that big, certainly much smaller than the insanely huge PS3 dev kit!) I feel so geekily giddy!

Top video game design lists list

There's lotsa lists out there on the net. About any subject imaginable! Well, here's list of the best lists out there with regards to video game design...

1. How To Make Games User Friendly, Pt 1 and Pt 2This is a must read for all developers. Most of these are the same player complaints you see elsewhere, but the thoughts are more organized and are written with context that's useful to us.



2. 8 Kinds Of Fun
   The list is brief, but there are tons of material on the site, including all his workshop presentations. How many ways can players have fun in your games?



3. The 400 Project
   This is a huge list! It's not all that well organized and the project seems to mostly have fallen by the way-side, but still, there are still some gems in there.



4. The Bill of Player's Rights
   The first few are excellent points that should be taken into consideration. Unfortunately, the last few are more like an airing of pet-peeves by the author.



5. Co-op Gaming Bill Of Rights
   Since co-op games are mentioned in a few of the other lists, this is a good start for things to consider in a co-op game. It's a bit disorganized and as are most gamer lists, it's sometimes a list of pet peeves.



6. 20 Underused Game Mechanics
   There are some great references on there for games that have used these elements well, but then we never see them again in future games. These are gamers saying we want more!



7. 20 Mysterious Games
   I have to admit that this list is my personal favourite. I love the idea of hidden game mechanics, weird quirks that affect the game in ways that the players can rarely predict. You know that something deeper is going on here...



8. 50 Greatest Game Design Innovations
   To understand where you're going, it's good to know where you started from. Game design is an iterative process, innovation is the same; improving on what came before.



9. 50 Books For Everyone In The Game Industry
   This is an amazing list. I've mentioned previously that I'm trying to make my way through it. It's slow progress, of course, but there's some great recommendations in there even if you aren't in design.



10. 20 Unusual Control Schemes
    Another great Gamasutra list! There are a bunch of games out there that have unique controls. Some fail miserably because they're unfamiliar to the player, but some who take the risk succeed beyond what anyone could have expected. It can pay to take those risks!



11. The 7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey
    A short list, but they write out quite a bit for each point. It's pretty much a list of things that piss players off. Most game reviews for the Violators of the commandments would agree with the points in the article.



12. 34 Ways To Put Emotions Into Games
    Emotioneering has been a buzz word in the past few years. This is a fairly comprehensive list of various techniques designers can use to tug on the player's heart strings.



13. 4 Ways To Use Symobols To Add Emotional Depth To Games
    A very short list, but very in-depth. The author provides many examples to illustrate his excellent points.



14. 70 Best Logo Design Resources
    Not so much about games, but heavy on the design part. Logos are all about symbols and so much in games are symbolic. By looking at the history and trends of symbols as well people's reactions to them, we can better use them in games.



15. 10 Mistakes in Icon Design
    Again, symbols are used frequently in games. We want to avoid the same pitfalls.



16. 8 Unstoppable Rules For Writing Killer Short Stories
    Most games have some sort of story to them. There are usually plots and characters and conflicts. If you're a designer who also writes (or a writer who also designs) this list a good reminder of things to do (and avoid).



17. Game Design Is Going To The Dogs
    Who can resist a great metaphor? The list goes over how designing games for players is like training a dog.

Mirror's Edge trailer

whoa. this game looks cool! gotta love Parkour!



I've been looking forward to Wet, which there hasn't really been anything new about lately. But Mirror's Edge seems to be in the same ass-kicking female vein. I'm going to have to check it out!

Updated Xbox Live account info

So I've finally gotten around to updating my Xbox live stuff. I decided to change my nick before posting my account info. In any case, feel free to add me! I'm NilPixelCount (for those of you who read through an RSS feed, my gamercard is now in the sidebar).





In any case, I'm thinking of get a Gold membership. It'd be cool to play online, but I don't have too many games that support that at the moment. Is it worth the monthly subscription? I'd get one for sure when Fable 2 comes out, but until then, what do you guys think? Is it a good value?

weekend = new games!

What's a weekend without a trip to the store for some new games? This week, he picked up Resident Evil 4 for the Wii, I'm interested in checking that one out. Yet again another series I've never played. I picked up Harvey Birdman for the Wii because it's price had finally dropped low enough that I felt it was a good value. I'm a HUGE fan of the cartoon and this game really caters to us Bird lovers:) Even just reading the manual, it's full of all sorts of in-jokes from the cartoon!

I also picked up two games for the DS. I've heard good things about Elite Beat Agents, so I wanna give that a try. I also picked up Brain Age 2 because I feel an obligation to do something productive with that gaming time once in a while:)

Now, we just have to fight over console time! 4 consoles (1 of them portable) and 2 HD LCD TVs, though, so at least we can divide up time pretty fairly...

FOLLOW UP: No credit to Okami creators

So yesterday I posted about how Capcom was making excuses for why they neglected to include the original dev team in the credits for the Wii game. Since then Christian Svensson, the Vice-President of Strategic Planning & Business Development at Capcom, has closed the discussion thread on their boards. Fair enough, no need to listen to people berate you on your own site. But what he said is just insulting, a very American approach to a problem.

I don't see anything constructive coming from this thread moving forward (and no, complaining in this context about a finished game is not constructive).

It's called learning from your mistakes so you don't repeat them in the future. Hand-in-hand with that goes apologizing for doing something that is wrong. And heck, even if you don't think it's wrong, if those around you are saying the call you made was skirting some ethical issues, from a PR point of view, the least you can do is pretend you are sorry.

I loved Okami and was all a-squee when I heard it was coming to the Wii. I'm sure the game plays well enough, the porting team likely did a fabulous job. It's the business team for the game that's brought on all the bad press.

Here's the Okami credits from the PS2 version, with English subtitles...

No credit to Okami creators

First of all, Capcom fucks up with the the Wii Okami box art. Now, they top that since it's come to light at Kotaku that the original dev team wasn't credited in the Wii version. Apparently they aren't all that broken up over it since they aren't happy with the port anyways. But still, I've posted here about how important I think it is to credit people properly in games. What's Capcom's excuse?

The credits were removed because they were a pre-rendered movie that contained the Clover logo. We have no legal right to use the Clover logo in a game they were not involved with directly. We also didn't have the source to the credit movie itself, so we couldn't just use it and remove the Clover logo.

Hadn't even noticed they were missing until you pointed it out, but there's your answer.

Lame. And that last line is the real kicker. Too much of a bother to retype the names. Oh and we didn't even think about the work the original team did either.

As a game designer, that's a real kick in the pants. Just goes to show how much those big business people who sit in those offices think about those of us on the floor, slinging code until the wee hours of the morn while chugging back caffeinated beverages. Thanks big guy.

I'm off of Capcom games, they don't respect game makers, I'm not interested in their games.

Rabbids Battle Chess!

OMG! I love Raving Rabbids (I have the maid figurine on my desk even that was some of the Ubi xmas schwag a few years ago, thanks phrawzty!) and I loved playing Battle Chess back in the days of yore. Now the two mixed together is oh so insanely awsome. *squeeee*

via Game|Life