E3 From a Distance: Through a Dev's Eyes

My brain has been steeping in the E3 waters all week, and I think I've taken in just about all I can handle. Being up here in Seattle way from the hustle and bustle of E3 (which is very different for me, considering I've attended at least 8 or 9 of these things) is both a curse and a blessing.

I'm consuming E3 as most consumers do, through various web portals, through the consoles that have updates on them, and through my friends. I might have a closer inside scoop than alot of you, but for the most part, I've been reading the exact same stuff as you, and finding out about it just like you are, including the Sony stuff.

Based on what I saw, I saw alot of exciting stuff coming out in the near future. There were definitely some Meh moments for me as well though, and I'll try to get to that too. I think the hardest thing to do is to separate the wheat from the chaff, because it's so hard to figure out what is real and what isn't at E3. I can assure you that the footage getting around on various sites about The Agency is quite real, but I'm a bit disappointed that we couldn't see any real quality footage beyond that of external cameras showing the game. It really is more vibrant in person, than any of the footage i've seen hit the internet.

Stuff I'm excited about:

• I'm excited that the PS3 looked so good this year. I think development for this console is really coming into it's own, and I'm glad to see it being embraced as a game console on top of being a media machine.
• I couldn't believe how good Uncharted looked. I saw previous PvP footage that made me pretty excited for it, but the demo they showed at E3 was amazing. That had to be the most exciting game at E3, hands down.
• I also loved Assasin's Creed II. I never played the first one, but now I want to go buy that to be ready for the new one! I love the setting in the game, and I was floored with how fluid the movement was.
• DCUO is really starting to come together too, and I'm getting excited for that game as well. Lucky for me, that I can log into that right now and play =D
• I was blown away by the visuals of Gran Turismo 5. I want that game so bad it hurts!
  
• I want to play Forza 3 very badly as well, but I felt like the video they had of the cars spinning around was pretty lame and silly looking, which was kind of a turn off. I would have preferred they went a more serious approach like Gran Turismo did. Right now it looks like Gran Turismo is going to dominate.
• Gran Turismo PSP. DO WANT
• God of War III looked awesome, of course. All of the God of War games are awesome. My wife is going to hate it though, because when God of War 2 came out, I told her that I'm the God of War, and the God of War does not take out the trash or change the kitty litter.
• PSP Go! There is no way my wife is going to let me get this when I have a PsP. I'll have to convince her that I need it for work somehow lol.
• I'm stoked a new Professor Layton is coming out. My wife loves those games, and I have to admit, I'm pretty happy when she asks for help on a puzzle, because that means I get to pry it from her fingers from time to time.
• Metroid made by Team Ninja. They wouldn't have to even show me a screenshot and I'll buy this.
• The more I look at the New Super Mario Bros. Wii gameplay, the more I want to buy it. I wish they would just stick to this series and go with it instead of doing another Mario Galaxy.
• Modern Warfare couldn't get into my 360 fast enough. WTF man! Get me a copy of this!
  
• I will be buying Brutal Legend, and I will be awesome.
  
• Castlevania is my favorite game series of all time. Hideo Kojima. Need I say more?
• Lego Harry Potter might be my first lego game purchase. It's too cute.
• I think I'll be picking up Halo ODST. I'm interested to see how they play that story out. I think this one I'll have to keep an eye on.

The "Meh's" of the show:

• As I stated before, I'm excited to PLAY Forza 3, but man oh man was that trailer with the cars flipping around dumb to me.
  
• I'm not sold on Natal. I thought the demo looked hokey on the stage of the conference, and I couldn't help but feel like the actions were really off from what was going on on screen. I'm trying to imagine some of the scenarios played out in the pre made video, like where the family is all on the couch while a racing game is going on, and I just can't see that playing well at all. I don't see myself waving my arms long distances just to scroll through my friends list on my xbox either. Maybe I'm just not getting it. Then again, I haven't bought into the wii controller too, I feel like the waving around motions have ruined more games then helped them so far.
• Milo. I'm sorry, but who cares? I have no interest in helping an 11 year old boy do his homework. I think it's neat that he can see facial expressions, but where is the fun? HAL 9000 could see facial expressions too you know... Anyways, I just wasn't as floored by this as some people seem to be. It all comes back to wildly gesticulating my arms to get something done in a game. I want accuracy I guess.
• Where are the real MMORPGS? Heroes of Telara, that's about it? If the right people (IE my friends) are working on that project, I'm 100% positive that game is going to be good. But other than that, where are the rest of them? They must have eluded me or something. What a disappointment though.
• Left 4 Dead 2. Seriously? Already? The first one didn't have enough content to last a full year, and that was totally OK! We knew what we were getting! But another one at full price already? I really doubt I'll pick this up at full price.
• No real gameplay footage of FFXIII makes me a sad panda. I can't figure out if I want this game yet or not. I've seen part of like one fight or so, but that's it. Is the game linear? I can't tell if there is a whole world out there or what.
  
• I didn't see any good old school shooters announced at all this year. That's a shame, it's one of my favorite game genres. I would love to make one.
• Nintendo's pulse taker thingie. I mean seriously guys? YAWN
• Nintendo is really screwing this up man... I love these guys, but they are making it hard to love them. Where are the GAMES people? That's great, I can do leg lifts with my Wii, and count calories. I can look at the weather. Where are the fricken games mang!!??
• Deep down inside my soul I hoped there would be some update or attachment that would allow 720p to be on the Wii. Every time I turn my system on, it's so obvious that I'm not getting an HD resolution. I'm thinking of pulling the system out of the living room and putting it elsewhere, because really, It's becoming an eye sore to play games that look fuzzy like that. I'm a gaming snob man.

That's all I can think of for now.

I'm Digging Killzone 2

My broken PS3 adventure ended up leading me to buy a new one altogether after I weighed in all of the options. I'm not a big fan of having refurbished stuff, and I had read up that the newest gen machines were running cooler and quieter, so I just ended up buying one.

I've bought a couple of games since then, most notably Killzone 2, which I am having a great time, at least for the multiplayer stuff.

Being really involved in Pvp on my own shooter, it's really interesting to see how different companies deal with different problems that we universally share as designers.

I like how they seamlessly flow between game modes within one match for example, I think that's really neat. Some of those game modes I like better than others, but for the most part I have a really good time, and feel directed well enough to make a difference in a fight.

I'm not a big fan of having all of the good stuff locked securely away from me unless I have 20 or 30 hours to spend online though. I'm about halfway through the ranks at around 10 hours of play, though I probably could have done it faster if I didn't spend so much time analyzing the map flow and all that other good stuff that non designers don't care about.

I added my psn profile thing to my other random info things on the sidebar of this page in case anyone wants to play sometime. I made a relatively empty clan named -=the agency=-

Repair or No? My PS3 is Dead

My PS3 has been dead as a doornail for a few months now. It was part of that ravenous electronics breaking disease I had running rampant through my house for a few months.

I haven't replaced the thing ever since I called customer service months ago because I wasn't all that thrilled about having to spend $150.00 on what essentially is a used system, because they didnt explicity say that they would fix MINE.

Most people my shrug and say big deal, but I would be bummed out if they send me a refurbed machine minus the hardware backwards compatability in it. I inquired about whether or not I would be guaranteed it to the customer service rep, but they said they didn't know, and said I just just put a note in the box with my system. LOL. Yeah, like they will open mine, before they just send me some other random system.

So, here I am months later, with all of these blu ray movies coming out that I want, Resistance is out, LBW is out, Metal Gear Solid is out, and I'm sitting with a paperweight on the entertainment system.

I still havent decided what I should do. Part of me just wants to buy a new one outright, at least I'll know I got the latest build of the system, while the other part of me still wants the hardware backwards compat.

I still don't know what im going to do. Bleh!!

PS3 and Wii Launch

This is a big week for gamers.

Let's start this over. I'm a big gamer. This is a big week for ME.

You may or may not have guessed, but videogames are an important part of my life. From the first time I played Pacman in the airport when I was 7 or 8 years old, to the first time I played an Atari 2600, video games have been a big motivator for me, a source of inspiration and my primary choice of entertainment.

When the Nintendo Entertainment System came out I nearly lost my mind over the quality of the graphics. So much so, that I saved my paper route and golf course caddy money to buy one myself. It was just that important to me to be able to have it and I was around 13 or 14 years old.

I eventually did the same with the Turbografx 16, holding the machine under my jacket while it rained as I walked all the way to the mall and back to get my prize. Held my Super Nintendo aloft in victory on launch day, reveling in it's mode 7 greatness.

Then I got into the game industry.

I was there when the ps1 dev kits arrived at Leland Interactive Media, and we witnessed the then famous dinosaur demo, and its advanced new fangled thing called "texturing" on 3d polygons.

I was there for the Jaguar launch, there for the Saturn launch, there for 32x, the N64 ( have a funny story about that for another time) and many others. In fact. Name a system, I probably did some work on it as a QA Analyst or in some other capacity.

Needless to say. I've seen alot of game console launches, and usually they are a pretty exciting and fun affair, because gamers get to experience new game systems, and nothing is cooler than that for gamers like me.

But all of that has gone out the window since the 360 launch.

I have to word some of what I write here, because well quite truthfully I work for a game company that is connected to the company that is launching of the new systems this week. I don't want to come off as some angry employee or any other such nonsense. I am just a gamer that is sad that he will find it nigh impossible to be part of what should basically be a time of celebration for gamers.

Any true gamer should be excited right now about the new game system launches, but if they are any bit like me, they are either bummed out about the availability of the systems launching, or resigned to a fate of making themselves miserable trying to find one.

I reaaaallly want a PS3. No, I do not get any kind of preferential treatment for working as SOE, so just like the rest of you, I am faced with mean people in lines all night, clamoring to crawl over each other to get that last game system in the store, and for what? Just to watch the person in line in front of you buy 3 so they can resell them?

It sucks the wind out of my sails to watch the greed of certain individuals outweigh what should be the pure and untainted joy of experiencing something new and fun. Too many people heard about ebayers making a killing on 360s last year, so everyone is trying to get into the act. They've had a whole year of looking forward to it, and by God they are going to take advantage of the suckers!

I know, I know... Capitalism blah blah blah. Nonetheless it still taints it for me. I want to be out there and be excited, and get to the store and pick up a new game system. But the idea of looking into the cold dead eyes of the non gaming ebay sharks out there gives me the shivers. That's great and all that they want to make a buck, but $600.00 retail is quite enough for my game system, thank you very much.

The sad thing is, I probably won't get one. I want one, I just don't know where to find one without getting into a fist fight or argument with all of the people out there that are literally waiting in line to screw people like you and me. Please believe me that they do not care, and can only see $$.

There is this guy that I have known in the industry for about 4 years or so, I even tried to help the dude get a job here. Just a few days ago he was bragging to me at the gym that he was getting 3 PS3s right after I told him I was trying to track one down to buy. He just looked at me blankly telling me how he was going ebay them, not even blinking. I knows I'm trying to buy one, and he is putting all 3 up on ebay. What a pal. I won't be helping him again.

After the madness over the next day or so, it all starts again with the Wii. Here I think I may actually have more of a chance due to distribution #s. It just sounds more feasible, but I could end up in the same situation.

The whole thing is disheartening for someone who loves this industry so much. The hype machine, the greed, the news stories, the lines of people who aren't even gamers. It just kills the magic when it's more about the wheel of capitalism than some kids experiencing the wonder of new video game magic.