Mundinator

Working Nintendo Entertainment System Coffee Table

Yes, this is a working NES coffee table.  This coffee table just kicks ass in so many ways.  I can't tell you how I would love to get my hands on this thing.  I was asking a few people around Snowblind what they would offer this guy for it I got ranges from $300 to $1000.  I am thinking he could get $1000, but I would be willing to take it for $500 (if you are out there, d00d...email me).

Grand Theft Auto Is A Murder Simulator. Everyone Freak Out!

Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto.  It’s been the talk of the town for the last week.  Not just for the people around me, but for the American media at large.  It is headed very quickly towards being the biggest selling game ever and is also on track to be one of the most controversial.  Called a murder simulator by some and a revolutionary interactive masterpiece by others…where does the truth really lie?  Can both be right, does one opinion hold more water or does a middle ground exist?  I will attempt to break down the GTA phenomenon from my own perspective as a game developer and designer.

First of all, there will be no characters from GTA appearing at a Wall Street market opening.  I am just thinking back to when Master Chief appeared in New York surrounded by the suits who wanted to attach Halo with the idea that games really do provide the financial potential to make a difference.  Why Halo…well, Halo has a main character that is easily recognizable and Halo is attached to Microsoft, already a business leader.  Forget the fact that Master Chief runs around with guns and kills things (because master chief is not killing humans).  MC is killing evil aliens that want nothing less than the destruction of the entire universe. 

Is Halo a murder simulator?  Well yes, of course.  Players use lethal weapons to make living things dead.  In order to finish the game, players are required to kill enemies that are also trying to kill you.  Players are required to choose which weapon, form an attack strategy, aim the weapon and pull the trigger.  The more methodical a player is, the more successful the killing will be. 

Grand Theft Auto presents a different picture.  In GTA4, you play Niko, a mysterious eastern European man who will kill humans just because he can.  It not hard to see that Niko and the people around him consider human life to not be of much value.  Taking a life may even simply be a normal part of life.

Is GTA4 a murder simulator?  Well yes, of course.  Players use lethal weapons to make living things dead.  In order to finish the game, players are required to kill enemies that are also trying to kill you.  Players choose which weapon, form an attack strategy, aim the weapon and pull the trigger.  The more methodical a player is, the more successful the killing will be.

So on some very fundamental levels of what is required to win the “game”, GTA4 is very similar to Halo.  Now, herein lies the departure AND what makes GTA so controversial in my opinion.  In GTA, to “win” I have to drive my car from point A to point B.  While traveling to point B, I pass a large number of other cars as well as pedestrians.  If I decide that driving on the sidewalk at 40MPH is going to get me to my goal faster, I will most likely do that, even at the expense of running over a bunch of simulated humans.  Am I, as a player, expected to see those pedestrians and tell myself, “No, I can’t go on the sidewalk in this game because I would be running over people.  I would run over people with families, maybe children and loved ones.  That’s bad…so I will forgo driving on the side walk and more efficiently completing my game goal because I value simulated human life.”  I mean, come on…really…REALLY?  Ok, so what I am getting at is that the controversial part of GTA is not so much in the playing of the required elements to win the game, but it is in participating in the simulation of the elements that are violent or sexual that are NOT required to win the game.

So let’s think for a moment about the in-game decision to drive on the sidewalk and the result of running over “innocent” people.  Let’s consider your average college aged player of GTA who has made this in-game decision.  Consider this player now on the real road, stuck in traffic and late for work.  VERY late for work.  So late that this person is basically just driving to work in order to get fired.  The driver has only one option that would enable getting to work on-time.  That option is to drive up on the side walk and race along at 40MPH…not stopping for anything.  Now we seriously have to say that this is the moment of truth.  This is the moment that all the uproar about GTA is all about.  Opponents to GTA who call it a tool that blurs people’s opinion on what is right and what is wrong must look closely at this moment.  They must realize that their suggestion of GTA as a degradation of morals and respect for life will be the reason that this college student decides to roll up on the sidewalk and mow down innocent pedestrians.

Logic to me suggests that very few people in the world would take the sidewalk option.  Even fewer would honestly have been so transformed by GTA that they would only have taken the option AFTER playing the game.

GTA4 is an interesting simulation, to say the least.  Its topics of sex, violence, crime, drugs and alcohol are nothing new to this world.  The topics can all be see in a single 60 min of watching something like the Sopranos or any number of gritty mafia movies…not to mention in literature from the beginning of recorded history.  These shows and movies and texts, while obviously less interactive, are still stimuli and still get people to think in certain ways.  These stimuli also numb people to the sight of violence and of pain and of death…and even at times seem to authorize violence (if interpreted as such)…yet none of these things generate the uproar that GTA4 has. 

Video games (interactive entertainment) will remain in the spotlight for quite some time, I imagine.  I recommend sitting tight and not freaking out too much.  I know I won’t.  The talk around violence in video games is a good discussion to have as long as we are mindful of the extremists.

Off to Focus Test Project Bananna

Written Monday, May 5th while traveling from SEA to LAX...

I’m sitting here on a Vigin America flight from Seattle to LA listening to Cherry Blossom Girl by Air and Halcyon And On And On thru Virgin’s new seat back entertainment center, Red. My lovely Noelle let me use her TINY Sony Vaio for my trip so I could do some work and not lug around one of my larger Ltops. A few members of my team are traveling off to do some focus testing and see what peeps think of our work on Project Banana. I’ve only been at Snowblind for a little over two months, but already have a bunch to show for my time…and now I get to see what people think of it…always the exciting part, if you ask me.

You know, I am still really disappointed that Gods and Heroes will never be coming out, because I was anxiously awaiting being able to see people run around in a world I helped create. My plan was to run around and play with people and not have them know I was a developer…so I could get honest feedback on my work. I equate it to an artist walking around in disguise at his or her own gallery showing.

While I did hear the rumor that the original owners of Perpetual might try to buy the content and server tech to try to finish it, I don’t think it’s wise to beat a dead horse. If an idea or a concept struggles to get out the door (or out of your head), well then maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

GTA4 Is Out: Is it Really All That Good?

Well Grand Theft Auto 4 is out and people all over the place are talking about it.  Funny thing is, I hear more people talking about the merits of GTA4 being a truly good game or not.  There  are a lot of interesting issues and discussions happening around this game and I sure am listening.  I still need to play a bit more before I write up some additional thoughts, but I am having fun so far.

Until then...here is what Conan O'Brian thought of the game.

Grand Theft Auto 4 Is HERE!

Today is the day!  Well, for those of you who want to stay up until midnight just to get your copy...I'll get mine tomorrow.  Just in case you have no idea what I am talking about, GTA4 is coming out.  ZOMG!!! WTFBBQ!!!  I can't wait.

Just a few notes here...if you are not convinced that this game will rock, just check out this review from GameTrailers.com

Also, while out and about in Seattle at a bar, I came across a pitcher of these matches.  I was awe struck with how well placed this marketing was.

Mr Do! and My Dad's Game Addiction

The next installment of Project Game Scan took waay too long to get in order, but that is the way of a game developer when in crunch.  I've been over at Snowblind workin my tail off over the last few weeks and progress on the game has been great!  It been a great feeling to be in an intense environment again.  Perpetual never got to this point in the three years I was there...so it's been three years since I have been in this focused of a work environment...and I love it!

So this time I am sharing one of those games that has a special place in my family history of game playing.  I give you none other than the cover of the Coleco Vision version of Mr Do!

The history behind this game for me is quite simple.  I was too young to understand what video games were, but my dad was not.  He purchased the Coleco Vision system and a number of games.  From what I can remember, he was way into the system and our of all the games, Mr Do! was his favorite.  He even occasionally stayed up late in order to continue playing his game (there were no save games back in the day).

So, I'm prolly gonna be remembering this wrong, but here goes the story behind Mr Do!  Basically, one night my dad was playing the game and my mom decides to go to bed.  Well, my dad was on a roll.  Round after round, not losing lives but continuing on.  Dropping fruit on monsters heads and progressing forward in a methodical manner.  Finally, after hours of playing, he broke 1million points and lost his final life.  Not wanting to have the moment go unwitnessed, he went to my sleeping mother at something like 2am and woke her up to share his excitement.  Wanting to have no part in getting up, my dad instead took a Polaroid of the screen and turned it off and went to bed.  I'd love to find the picture, but for now I will just have the story to tell. :)

I blame my dad for getting me into games and even tho he doesn't play anymore I still respect my roots.

The Atari 2600 Mario Brothers Cartridge FTW

There comes a time in everyone's life where we decide to go through things and reduce the clutter that we have accumulated over the years.  Sometimes we call it spring cleaning.  Sometimes it happens when we need more closet or garage space.  Sometimes it just happens when we move. When we move we're forced drag things out of closets, cupboards and drawers and look at all the crap we have all at the same time.  We realize then that we have saved things we don't really want and will never use again...so we choose.

We choose what is no longer of value and what still remains a part of who we are.  Yeah, we like to say we are not defined by our stuff...and I like that idea, but truth of the matter is that one very intelligent woman in my life explained that our past really can be defined by what we save.  What we look back upon and recall a memory of a time we spent with someone we may never see ever again.

I have all sorts of objects and reminders of my previous 28 years.  I turkey caller from the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Novato, CA that my dad bought me.  My tiny boy scout shirt from when my mom was den mother.  A trinket box that my sister made for me.  It is covered in .22 shells from a trip to the high desert with my college roommate Jeff.  It was where I actually fired an M1 from WWII (wow, what a kick that thing has).

Noelle and I recently picked up and moved all our things to Seattle, forcing me to really reevaluate all the things that I have saved.  Going through my stuff this time around, I took yet another look at all the video games and systems that I have kept over the years.  I really have tried to keep them all...and I still can't part with any of them.

Colleco Vision, Atari 2600, NES, Sega Master System, Genesis, SNES, Dreamcast, Playstation, Playstation 2, Xbox 360 and the Wii.  Let's, of course, not forget all the fun that was had in the heyday of the PC game...with companies like Sierra, Interplay and Bullfrog.  I did miss a bit of the Nintendo Generations (the N64 and the Gamecube), but then again I have always considered myself a bit more of a fan of more mature games.

While I may not play all these systems very much, they bring back so many memories of how I became the person I am today...so they will remain with me as long as I have a place to store them.  Since I don't have a place to display them physically, I have decided to start a little project.  I am taking all those games that have meant something to me.  All those crazy manuals from Sierra, all those catalogues for games and all those cool game covers...and scanning them to share with you.  Some have stories and some are just nostalgic in their own right.  At the top of this post is my first scan...of an original Mario Bros Atari 2600 Cart.  While I can't say I have any particular memory tied to this game...but come on, its Mario Bros!

I'm in the middle of a crunch at work, but I'll try to get the next post up with some maps from the original Everquest packaging.

Domo Kun vs Gears of War: Which Is More Mad?

Just been watching all the videos that came along with my new Domo Mimobot and it reminded me of Domo Darko, the first video...which, of course, reminded me that CliffyB used Mad World for his Gears commercial.  Great work for both.  I really want to make a Domo game.  It's the first time I think I have ever considered making a kids game.

SXSW: No Really, It Is Spring Break for Web Developers

Yeah, I know I was going to post a bunch of things from SXSW Interactive, but as you can see from the list of posts from March...I didn't give two flying fucks about posting each day.  One part is that I was really tired for all of the trip.  The other part is that I honestly was really fed up with the conference.

So, many many people all around me appeared to have a great time at SXSW.  Don't get me wrong, I also enjoyed my time there, but from how I started this post you can tell that something at the conference did not sit right with me.  True.  True.  Basically, SXSW was void of content.  Let me repeat that.  SXSW did not teach me a damn thing because it was void of content.  Just about every panel I attended seemed disorganized and/or seemed like the presenter was just there to get a free gold badge.  Ok, I really enjoyed the panel about the 10 Worst Websites (fake ones made up and judged), but come the fuck on.  How am I, a game developer, supposed to take you web folks seriously with all these panels that are just for shits and giggles.  Holy crap will you please get some real info into the place.

Aight, so there must be some reason that SXSW Interactive was not canceled on year 1.  Well, yes there is a reason.  SXSW is a networking orgy clusterfuck for all those people who are intardnet famous or just think they are.  So...if you want to rub shoulders with the people who run your favorite website just to say you met the person who invented Ceiling Cat or Rickrolling, then come to this conference and act like your an anime nut at your first Sakura-Con.  Fuck, I'm surprised no one has invented internet cos-play for SXSW.

I will step back for a second and say that I really did meet a number of awesome people.  No joke, I really did meet some great people, but I didn't want to go to SXSW to just meet some people.  I wanted to learn.  I am eager to learn about design and I came away with nothing.  It also didn't help that I wasn't really in the mood to network.  Gah...oh well, I had a few great conversations over free drinks, so I can't complain about the parties (cept that shitty event at Pure Volume Lounge).

Additional good things to the trip, I was able to do some recon on some games that we at Snowblind wanted to get some info on.  Recon mission was a total success.

Oh yeah, and Noelle and I got to meet the ninja from http://askaninja.com/. Wow that was so damn cool.  He is a very nice ninja.  Funny story is that Noelle and I were introduced to him the night before (yes, he was not in character) and had no idea that he was THE ninja.  We wandered back stage after the web awards thing and tried to see if we could meet the ninja and low and behold he remembered us from the night before!  You rule Mr. Ninja man...please look forward to killing us AFTER we watch a bunch more episodes.

Enough about that silly conference.  I am leaning on not attending next year.

SXSW Day 3

UPDATE: Wow is this conference void of content.  Lots of hollow people and panels.  If you want to network, this is the place to be.  If you want to learn something and improve skills, I am just not seeing how to do it.

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Gah...I missed yesterday's posting because when I got back to my room, I had zero motivation.  Didn't party hard or anything like that, but I think I was in full "zone out" mode.

I am now sitting next to a giant pile of legos that have been dumped out on the floor for people to play with.  While a fun idea, I think there are more people taking pictures of it then using it.

Friday was a fun day.  Not a lot happened, but that is to be expected on the opening day.  We waited in line for a long long time for badges.  It was a bit of Chaos.  With all the design talent here, you would think that they could have figured out a better way to get people their badges.  I commend GDC for being much better.  Wasn't there this year, but past years have been a breeze.

Grabbed some great BBQ at Iron Works.  It was great.  I am all for more BBQ today if that is where I end up.

Noelle and I tried to check out a few panels in the afternoon, but they all seemed a bit on the boring side.  How to Rawk SXSW and Battle Decks were what we checked out.  Heard good things about them from peeps after, but they really were "just for fun" type panels.  Icebreaker panels, if you will.

Not to long after that we gathered with about 20 people to participate in a trip to the local climbing gym for some bouldering.  Check out http://geeksloveclimbing.pbwiki.com/.  I believe Tantek is the instigator on this particular adventure.

At the end of the climbing, we unfortunately were having some trouble finding cabs (we were in what felt like the middle of no where).  Sans cab, somehow Tantek makes a phone call and an RV shows up to take everyone back to the hotel district.  Noelle and I opted out as there was one cab waiting and our hotel is a bit away from the rest of the crew.

So today, I just got out of my first ScreenBurn panel.  It was a snore, sadly.  I had no desire to look at code examples of how to build an entity in Ruby at 10am.

More to come soon...