Hooray for Owlchemy and the Boston Indie Scene!

One of the many marvelous things about PAX East is the Boston Indie Showcase. It was really nice to see my perennial favorite Cambridge's own Fire Hose Games with a release build of Slam Bolt Scrappers out today on PSN), but the highlight for me (besides getting a picture with Tim Schafer SQUEE!) was getting to watch the game Smuggle Truck by small indie developer Owlchemy Labs.



I have talked a lot recently about wanting to see games tackle mature, adult subject matter and I would definitively say that this is a major first step. I would call this game way more "mature" than Duke Nukem any day of the week because it's not afraid to tackle a tough subject matter, and not just boobs and guns (not that theres anything wrong with that).

The game reminds me of a Southpark episode. It is cartoony and melodramatic, yet it tackles the difficult issue of immigration policy in the US to aplomb. The game is definitely an inexperienced effort and very simple, yet it is a great way for a budding developer to get some income and make a statement and a name for themselves.

The game play revolves around tilting your iPod or iPad to guide a truck filled with illegal immigrants as fast as you can through hilly terrain without losing any out the back. Sounds simple right? Sure is, but also is a ton of simple, portable, nonviolent fun. It is whimsical yet poignant and everything that I would want in a videogame.

I really hope this game does amazingly well (and we all know that simple iOs games can) and that we see and hear a lot from Owlchemy in the future. Cheers guys and nice to see your booth at PAX East!

Homefront and the questions it raises

The launch trailer for Homefront was released at PAX East over the weekend and I have to say that it looks pretty damn awesome. I love the classic rock!

Now you will notice in the trailer it advertises "violent, shocking and brutal" as a quote from GamesRadar, and that is a whole other beef of mine to begin with, but I honestly could have high hopes for this game because it set itself up to be mentally challenging and thought provoking (something I think would be great for our industry). A game about North Korea invading America, with themes of culture clash, xenophobia, and in general not just another Tom Clancy-ish war thriller would be a fabulous break from the Call of Duty franchise.

Now the first thing that really concerns me about this game is that it is reportedly very short (thanks Escapist). Now to claim, "well a person of average skill will take 3 hours longer to play it" is saying that you count difficulty curve as a way to pad out game length which is unacceptable. If you have such an amazing story because you hired famed writer and director John Milius to do your game, I would think you would want to make the most of your investment. Of course there is a separate question of the differences of writing for a videogame over a book or movie, but that is another topic for a future post!

A prevailing argument is that a large bulk of their resources went into developing the multiplayer experience. I am sure they are out there, but the only AAA strictly single player FPS to come out in the last 4 years without mp I can think of would be Bio Shock, and that game did just A-okay monetizing (as of March 2010 the game was reported to have sold 4 million copies on the XBox alone). Despite their success it seems that developers feel compelled to add a multiplayer in their game to compete with COD, but it brings up the same concerns that I raised for competing with WoW.

Despite pretty damn good reviews so far, Homefront will make me sad for what it could have been and represented. I suppose it is the same argument that has been presented time and time again; that in this console generation with the graphics and development costs it is just way too expensive to take a risk, so publishers demand that developers put out cookie cutter games to guarantee a return on investment rather than take the high risk-high reward route, but there are so many recent and amazing examples that buck this trend. I just wish that I could stand behind Homefront as one of them.

PAX East 2011 Day 1

Well day one was quite amazing as to be expected. I did skip the keynote speech for reasons I already went over (and will prolly do a follow up to that soon anyways). Let's start with a few highlights for me.

[Quick side note, the pictures look like ass because they were taken with my phone camera. Taking a real camera today to get some MUCH better pics]

First off, I am happy to report that I am starting to think I was wrong about 38 Studios and Kingdoms of Amalur. Now full disclosure; I did get the shake Curt Schilling's hand, and as a huge RedSox fan, that is kind of awe inspiring. I didn't get any pictures though much to my chagrin. Anyways, the game looked reasonably solid, considering the gameplay demo we got was a pre-alpha build. One thing that really impressed me about Curt's attitude is that he is fully aware that KoA is not breaking any new ground as a fantasy RPG, but he wants it to be the absolute best. He is going for the Die-Hard effect (topic of a future post). The game right now looks an awful lot like Fable to me with more of a focus on fast paced, combo driven combat. To be honest the demo looked like a hell of a lot of fun, with really fast paced and visceral combat, beautiful visuals, and an interface that seemed very streamlined and functional, yet potentially as deep as many hardcore RPG nerds demand. Of course he is going to have some stiff competition in 2011.

I did spend some time in the expo hall as well checking out all the booths and what some AAA and indie developers had to offer and I am sorry to say there is really nothing new to report. Gears of War 3 looks an awful lot like GOW2, Battlefield 3 looks an awful like like BF2BC, COD, and all the rest of the military shooters to the point I couldn't discern (and I am sure it will sell accordingly), BioWare had a short playable version of TOR that looked exactly like it does in all the videos, and Bethesda had a multiplayer build of Brink for people to play that, once again, looks an awful lot like other online shooters on the market. Lots of fun to check everything out, but no new revelations.

On the floor I really enjoyed the Kingston booth, where they had EGiNcontroL playing Starcraft 2 against challengers from the crowd while being cast live by professional shoutcaster Day[9]. I have to say it is really exciting to be there, surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd, watching high(er) level live matches. There was one game when the challenger got almost all of his army blown up by blings and just hearing the crowd holler and jeer was almost reminiscent of any professional sporting event I have been to. It really makes me want to pursue my thought of getting a small, local tournament up and running (more to come on that).

Regardless there was a lot of gaming, a lot of Magic the Gathering, a lot of great booths and great sights, and I got to meet a lot of amazing people already. Day 2, here we come!!

Quick note for all of you who will not be at PAX East

I will be there all 3 days and blogging throughout to let you know the awesomeness that transpires. Stay tuned!!! Btw that's me front right from last year's Pax East!

Can I actually ditch my Consoles?

I would definitely consider myself a member of the PC master race. I started playing games on a computer when I was 6 and it has always been my prefered method of experiencing our exhalted hobby. Despite my preferance I have always had at least one current gen console set up and I think I may be ready to buck that trend.

My house right now is an XBOX 360 household. My old, white, non-HDMI console sits there, usually gathering dust, occasionally seeing a AAA title enter it's oft-neglected DVD drive and I think to myself; why not just move my PC downstairs? I have an HDMI out on my videocard. Most AAA titles come out on Steam. I can get a blu-ray drive for my compy as well as use an XBOX 360 controller. Can I make the jump?

The decision isn't just one of practicality either. It would be a major life decision to rid myself of the white behemoth. I have had that ugly machine for quite a few years and have racked myself up a decent gamerscore. It's also fun to pop on to XBLA and download some indie or small titles and kill some time. I have definitely, and I think most of us have, built up an emotional connection with our consoles.

There is also the question of fighting the wife for our nice, sexy 42" LED LCD with the well positioned surround sound system. God forbid she doesn't watch all the fat fly in Biggest loser in full HD.

Also PAX East 2011 is less than 24 hours away! w00t!

Why I'm skipping the Keynote at PAX East and why Art can't cure Cancer

Jane McGonigal is slated to be the keynote speaker this year and I think I would actually rather see the Kingdom's of Amalur live demo. Granted last year Wil Wheaton was absolutely amazing and his speech definitely was tear jerking-ly amazing to listen to live, but Jane is crazy and not all that smart (and also wasn't on Star Trek TNG, the best iteration of the show by far). For full disclosure I have not followed her career very closely and my opinion is solely based on her performance on Colbert not too long ago, but still she definitely seems to paint a picture of her views and her mission. It seems to me that she see's videogames as some sort of super-media capable of solving world hunger and curing cancer at which I have to laugh. Her goal is to get more people playing videogames because it would better society. I definitely think she is denser then a steel cheesecake encased in Paris Hilton for one reason; games are art.

Art, in any form, is at it's core entertainment; but art is also much more than that. Art is designed to evoke an emotion, any emotion in us for better or for worse. For example I would argue that the jackass movies are art. At their core they are just a bunch of very stupid dudes hurting themselves and each other, but ultimately I believe it is more than the sum of it's parts. Watching a dude get his junk bitten by a snake conjures up feelings of whimsy and escapism; surely I don't envy the poor sod but it makes me feel something I wouldn't normally feel. It pushes my comfort zone and personal boundaries. That is, by my own personal definition, art.

As I have mentioned in almost every post since I started this blog a monthish ago I believe that videogames are an interactive form of art. I think of the feeling when I **spoiler alert** first interacted with Sovereign in Mass Effect or when I beat my freind's high score in Tetris; it evokes an emotional response. When I am beating a hooker to death in GTA it also evokes an emotional response, albeit a completely different one. Bottom line is that is what art in general does; whether it be a book, movie, painting, ballet, or just a really hot chick in a slinky dress.

Not everyone is privy to the immersiveness of good videogames as artistic experiences. Not everyone will be able to play through Portal and enjoy what I consider to be the best artistic acheivement an artist can hope to strive for; leaving the consumer of their art in such a state where they don't know whether to laugh or cry. We as gamers know what is possible and, like religious zealots, some like Ms. McGonigal believe that everyone can and should be privy to the same experiences we are.

Another very important thing about art is that art is subjective. I believe that everyone ever born appreciates art in some form, but for everyone it is different. I loved the movie Fight Club. I made my mom watch it and she hated it. Does that make it bad art? No of course not; it makes our tastes different. Just because I love videogames and I firmly believe they have made a profoundly large and positive impact in my life doesn't mean videogames, in any form, will have the same impact for everyone. Not everyone wants to play games and not everyone should.

Back to my original point; spreading videogames as a way to cure society's woes is really akin to spreading religion to cure society's woes and if it were going to work it would have by now. Ultimately playing games isn't going to change any society, a general desire to change will (see Egypt, Lybia, or Tunisia). Now Ms. McGonigal may mean very well with her crusade, but to me she may as well have a Bible or Koran under her arm instead of a controler. I'm surely a believer, but not everyone will be or should be.

Regardless God of War meets Oblivion sounds way more awesome! Here's hoping I'm wrong about Schil and 38 Studios. Now if only Charlie Sheen were giving the keynote this would be a much different post!

RustBot and Other Projects

So another part of my life besides video games is music. I am right now a part time musician with a budding production company. We already have contracts and money from some local Boston acts and I will be spending a lot of time in SpeakEZStudios making some extra coin. Of all the pop and hip-hop projects we have lined up the project I am most excited about is working on the sound for an independent game my friend is working on called RustBot.

The game will be about scavenging materials and mechanical pieces and assembling them into machines, structures, robots, and whatever else you need to achieve your goals. I have volunteered (hopefully there will be a little scratch in there for me eventually) to write music and make sound effects. I am really psyched to get started as soon as I can.

Because of the kind of steampunk, patchwork robot theme I am definitely feeling a lot of noise beats, synthy and distorted bass lines and arps, and definitely some cool ambient pads and sweeping effects. Doing beeps and boops for the robotic creations will also be really exciting. Seeing as though I have no coding ability it will be a great experience for me to be part of at least some process.

The goal is to have a rough, pre-alpha build put together by PAX so we can start showing it off and getting feedback. Stay tuned for more!

PAX East will be 28 Days Later

Today is Friday February 11^th and PAX East is officially 4 weeks away. I have been trying to ignore the time between purchasing my 3 day pass and the actual convention in March, but it is hard not to focus on something that is really as incredible as PAX.

I remember quite fondly sitting in the main hall in the Hynes last year listening to Wil Wheaton’s keynote speech. By the time he was through I knew exactly how amazing PAX would be; seriously watch the youtube playlist if you have time. It’s pretty epic. Some highlights for me last year: Being stomped out by a Brotherhood of the Steel dude, getting eaten by Enforcer Zombies, and having an amazing time with some of my best friends.

This year my goals are really to be more social and get a little more involved with the community of fellow geeks, participate in a MTG tournament, play against someone other than my friends in the PC free play room, meet HuskyStarcraft and HDStarcraft who are kind enough to make my commuting into Boston everyday not only bearable, but enjoyable, and mostly I am excited to just be in that atmosphere of common interest.

I do plan on making up business cards with my contact info to not only promote this blog, but also maybe meet some people to play on Steam and Impulse with, and maybe another person or two to get involved in my TTRPG circle. I don’t know if I have time in my life or room in my heart, but I probably would be open to joining someone else’s as well or finding more people to play MTG with.

If there is a Starcraft 2 tournament I will definitely have to play a lot of games to train so I don’t get knocked out the first round. I don’t actually play much anymore but I am a high platinum Terran! (That's me front right BTW)