Retro Gaming Art Show
Tonight I got to check out some talented Seattle artists at Retro Gaming Night at The Piranha Shop. With over 30 artist participating there were all types of styles to pick from. The selection in games was great, Mario, Donkey Kong, Punch-Out!, Ghost ‘n Goblins, Battletoads, Dragon’s Lair, and more. Some amazing items all which made my pocket book hurt as there were a couple I would have loved to own. Here are some photos from the show.
2011 in Review: Games
Continuing with my 2011 in Review posts, this time with my favorite games of 2011. I’ve been quite bad this year as I really didn’t pick up many of the games you will see on others lists including Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3, and I have a nice stack of games waiting to be played including RAGE, Resistance 3, Batman: Arkham City, and some others. Out of the games I did play this year, here are the ones that made lasting impressions.
The king is back and DICE and EA have returned with an amazing return to Battlefield with Battlefield 3. Packed with a strong single player and amazing multiple experience, it just brings back great memories of Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2.
Orcs Must Die is the perfect game for me these days. Quick and addictive fun. Robot Entertainment have perfectly combined a tower defense game with a great feel of an action game. For those that like to plan and place traps you have that, and for those that just want to kill Orcs, you have that. The comical nature of trap development just makes you want to be more creative. Well done Robot!
I’m getting older, but blowing up stuff never gets old. The good people at Avalanche Studios have created just the game for that with Renegade Ops. This game combines two of my childhood favorites in Jackal and the Strike Series. Take your vehicle and blow shit up, that simple. Big huge explosions! Great looking graphics, and just fun to play.
What can I say about Uncharted 3 that hasn’t already been said. Go play it. It is great. Well done Naughty Dog, can’t wait to play The Last of Us.
Dead Space 2 was great. Perhaps a little more action heavy over suspense, but beggars can’t be choosers. Everything about it is polished and well designed. I’m looking forward to what they do with Dead Space 3.
It is very rare that I finish a game in just a couple days, but Portal 2 had me hooked. Smart, creative, funny, and just darn right great from start to finish. The only thing that could have made Portal 2 better is Valve to finally upgrade their streaming technology. LOADING…
I remember seeing Deus Ex: Human Revolution years ago at GDC and was blown away by the art direction that they were going after. I followed the game and it didn’t disappoint. Amazing in every regard, thrilled to see what Eidos Montreal does with Thief 4.
PAX Prime 2011. My Feet Survived.
PAX Prime 2011 is over, and it was great fun. Like the previous PAX, having strong panels was important and this year wasn’t any different. I was lucky being able to invite some great community managers to join me on Getting Past the Forums: The Future of Community on Friday, which was great. The discussion was great, and from everyone I talked to the feedback was extremely positive. One of the highlights was the focus on video in various means, such as broadcasting via a service like Twitch.tv, Ustream, or Justin.TV or the Twitter like video service Tout which has 15 second clips built for quicker updates with video. Everyone agreed that video is a powerful medium that will continue to grow. As James Stevenson said, 13 year olds are editing HD video. And we continue to see the power of Youtube every day. Gamespot even wrote an article on the panel! If you went to the panel, tell me how we did, I’d love to hear some feedback.
On top of the panels I was able to see tons of friends I hardly get to see and meet tons of new people. It was great being able to meet Adam Sessler and Wade Beckett from X-Play. Chris Fowler and Adam Fletcher from Gearbox Software were super cool and I hope to work with them on PAX events in the future. My old boss Tarl Raney made it out to Seattle all the way from Berlin and it was great catching up with him.
In the end buying insoles for my shoes were by far the best decision I made for PAX Prime by far!
A Seattleite’s PAX Prime 2011 Guide
PAX Prime is just four days away, and with 70,000 people coming into downtown Seattle, it can get a little crazy. I thought I’d give some tips to those who are going to their first PAX, coming to Seattle for the first time, or just like reading some random notes from someone who has gone to every PAX so far.
PAX Prime. Next Week. Panels & More.
It is that time of year again where 70,000 gaming fans converge onto the streets of Seattle and cause extremely long lines at Subway. Yes, it is PAX Prime again, and like the last couple years, I’ll be on panels again. I’ve been lucky enough to attend every PAX and speak at the last three.
Getting Past Forums: The Future of Community
The days of throwing a forum on a website and calling it ‘community’ are over. Facebook Integration, YouTube Uploads, Twitter Updates, User Generated Content, and more are causing the way we think and participate in the community to change at an incredible pace. In this panel we talk to various community managers about how community has changed since they started and where they think the next steps will be. Join Kimi Matsuzaki (Senior Community Developer, Ubisoft/Red Storm), Gabriel Graziani (Senior Community Developer, Ubisoft), Evan Berman (Community Manager, En Masse Entertainment) J Goldberg (Community Manager, Volition), James Stevenson (Senior Community Manager, Insomniac Games), Collin Moore (Community Manager, Sucker Punch Productions).
Serpent Theatre
Friday 3:00pm – 4:00pm
A Panel on Panels: Creating the Comic Inspired Cutscence of inFAMOUS 2
Come and see how Sucker Punch Productions creates our distinct comic inspired cutscenes. Starting from the script to storyboarding to inking to composite and post production. We are going to cover it all. You will get to see some never before versions of cutscenes. Here is a trailer on the style we are going to be talking about, inFAMOUS 2 2D Comic Cutscene. We will also have some special treats for those that show up, so this isn’t something you want to miss! Join Dave Malloy (Video Production Creative Lead), Jance Allen ( Composimator), Mike Haney (Senior Artist), Edward Pun (Digital Penciler), and Collin Moore (Community Manager) for an hour of fun.
Pegasus Theatre
Saturday 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Be sure to stop by both panels, especially the Sucker Punch panel since we are giving away one of a kind t-shirts for our upcoming release inFAMOUS 2: Festival of Blood.
For all you out of towners, or first time PAX attendees, I’ll be making a little guide for PAX and Seattle. So look for that later tonight.
Journey Beta
thatgamecompany has been making amazing games for the last couple years, but Journey takes them to a whole new level. Parts Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda, and a little music game and you get an idea of what they are doing with Journey. Visually it is striking! The sand, the flowing landscape, your scarf, the characters. Everything is inspiring to look at. For those lucky enough to get into the small beta, you know exactly what I mean. Those that aren’t, you will just have to wait to play it. I was only able to play the single player due to a crash bug, but it is a beta and wanting feedback and bug information. thatgamecompany really have something special with Journey.
The Roads to Becoming a Community Manager (East Coast Version!) Audio
PAX East 2011 is over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t relive it all over again and again. I recorded my panel, The Roads to Becoming a Community Manager (East Coast Version!). Please excuse the electronic interference, I blame James Stevenson’s phone, and sadly Jennifer Kye and Sam Houston can be a little difficult to hear at times. I did my best to clean the audio up.
I think I can speak for everyone on the panel that we all had a blast with this panel at PAX Prime and PAX East. We hope to do it again, but would love to hear feedback. So please feel free to share your thoughts.
PAX East Panels Done. Tell Us How We Did.
PAX East is over. I’m slowly recovering, washing laundry, catching up on work, and returning to normal life. But since PAX East is still fresh in everyone’s minds I thought I’d ask the interwebs how each of the panels went. I can say that everyone on the panel had a great time, we really do enjoy being on panels, and talking about community, but we also love feedback. So tell me what you thought about either panel, what we can improve on, if we can narrow the focus, or just general suggestions. Just use the comments below, message me via Twitter, or a smoke message.
Again, thanks to everyone who showed up the panels. We are already planning on things for PAX Prime.
Note: If you have photos or video of either panel, I’d love to get access to them. Shoot me a message.
Come to my panels at PAX East!
PAX East is next week. I’ll be flying back to Boston to see some old friends, meet some new ones, and have a great time. If you plan on being at PAX East you should check out the panels I am on. I had such a great time being on panels at PAX Prime last year, I decided to do it again!
How Your Favorite Game Companies Use Facebook
Like this. Like that. Facebook has taken the world by storm and has become a crucial platform for community managers and companies to help keep in touch with and grow their online communities. With the constant evolution of social media and Facebook in particular, you may not know some of the cool things happening on your favorite game studio’s Facebook page. Join Collin Moore (Community Management Vet) as he moderates a discussion with community managers from across the game industry (Insomniac Games, Playfish/EA, Harmonix, and Robot Entertainment), about the importance of Facebook to game companies, and how pressing the “LIKE” button is just the beginning.
Where: Manticore Theatre
When: Friday, 8:00pm – 9:00pm
The Roads to Becoming a Community Manager (East Coast Version!)
Based on the great feedback we received after this panel at PAX Prime, we’ve decided to do it again! East-Coast Style. You hear us on podcasts, see us in videos, read our blogs on websites, retweet us, argue with us on forums, and give us high fives at PAX. But have you ever wondered how we became community managers? From games journalism to forum moderation to public policy and QA, every road is different. Find out the random history of some of your favorite game studio community managers, and hear their advice on what skills and knowledge you’ll need to become one of gaming’s next-generation of community managers.
Panelists include: Alli Thresher [Community Moderator, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc], James Stevenson [Community Manager, Insomniac Games], Arne Meyer [Manager, Community, Naughty Dog], Sam Houston [Online Content Manager, Playfish, EA], Jennifer Kye [Company Blogger, Social Media Editor, Gameloft]
Where: Wyvern Theatre
When: Saturday, 4:30pm – 5:30pm
I’ll be on Twitter the entire show, so look for some live updates, some fun photos, and perhaps a video here and there. See you at the show!
Gaming Backlog 2010
I recently moved back to Seattle and have been looking for a job, which leads to a lot of downtime, which has allowed me to catchup on my gaming backlog. To make matters worse Toys ‘R Us recently did their yearly “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” deal, which only added to my gaming backlog. So lets begin on what I have been playing.
Madden 2011
I admit it, I love Madden and sports games. I buy them each year. I find them relaxing compared to some other games out there. But this years Madden was a little different with the simplified play selection interface which leads to a much quicker game. The game plays like your typical Madden game, which an improved running game, but passing can be a pain at the higher difficulties.
Halo: Reach
I was able to pick Halo: Reach up a couple weeks after it came out, but I wasn’t able to play it due to moving and not having access to my Xbox 360. But now that I am all settled I decided to fire it up. Having a number of friends working at Bungie, I feel I need to play their games to support them, but they also make great games. Halo: Reach is nothing but polish. From the menus to the flow, the art, the music, the multiplayer. Everything just has the signs of a very well thought out game in every aspect. I am currently a couple missions into the game, and been very impressed. The only problem I have ran into is some silly partner AI and sometimes I get lost and don’t know where to go next, but find my way by just exploring for a couple minutes.
Dead Rising 2
Loading. I loved the original Dead Rising. It was fun just to wander around the mall and pick up hockey sticks and other random weapons, but sadly the sequel has some major problems. First you don’t play the game for what seems like the first 30 minutes. Just cinematic and press button, loading, cinematic and press button, loading, drive motorbike for three minutes, loading, cinematic… you get the idea. I can understand their desire to provide a more impactful story, but let me go kill some zombies! FAST!! The loading is just a flaw. With games like Red Dead Redemption allowing such open worlds with little to no loading, it is disappointing that Dead Rising 2 needs to load all the freaking time.
Super Meat Boy
I love it that the game that has been taking up most of my time is a simple jumping puzzle game. I can’t help myself how fun this game is. The campiness, the graphics, the simplicity, just makes me want to play it more. With all the huge budget games coming out, it is a simple game made by two people that has my attention. I might be in a minority, but I think that minority is growing, rapidly.