Know Your Roots.
The Brits have opened a video game historical archive at the National Media Museum in Bradford. This is a Good Thing.
The nature of our industry has made it far too easy for us to “fire and forget” products in the past with the result being the loss of awareness of the history of great games that have been released over the years. Furtive and legally difficult efforts have been made to preserve the availability of so-called “abandonware” and the success of handheld devices has given added life to older games that get ported to things like the DS, but even then all that’s being saved is the data.
What makes efforts like this archive helpful is the addition of context.
Without understanding where something came from or why it looks, feels and behaves the way it does makes it hard to appreciate the significance of many older games. How can you explain the significance of text-based MUDs to a kid whose first online gaming experience was a graphically intensive shooter on XBox Live? You need a narrative. What was the world like when these games came out? What sort of impact did it have on players? On developers? On future game makers?
People tend to try and compare what we do to movies, which I don’t think is correct. We’re a lot more like music. I was talking with Barnett a few days ago and he mentioned something that struck me as very true. Anyone who loves games – as with people who love music – almost certainly has a “season” in their past where that love was first established and fortified. What you experienced during that “season” is lodged forever in a priveleged part of your mind and psyche and – while you’ll continue to seek out and enjoy new games (or music) for the rest of your life – you’ll always have a disproportionate affection for the things you LOVED during that specific time in your life.
For most of us, that happens when we’re young. I distinctly remember rushing over to my best friend’s house in the Winter of 1993 to try and grab DOOM off of the U. Madison FTP server the day it was officially released. And then, of course, failing to do so and desperately trying to get onto a local BBS that had it available. I have fond memories of weekends spent playing through old Sierra adventure games with my friends – taking turns at the keyboard while the rest of the group shouted suggestions and demands. I remember playing the original Civilization for the first time, then losing the next six months of my life to it. I’ve enjoyed hundreds – maybe even thousands – of games since then, but the games I played in those formative years mean the most to me on a core, emotional level.
It’s hard to communicate what old games meant to people simply by porting them to a phone. You need to offer the human side of it as well to capture the full narrative and history of where we as an industry came from. I hope we see more of this sort of thing in the years to come because the work of the early generations of game developers deserves to be preserved and remembered not simply in screenshots and emulation, but also in stories and in the collective consciousness of new generations of gamers.
Halloween Costume (in progress).
So, in a fit of lunacy, I decided to opt out of my standard costume of “zombie wearing whatever Josh had on at work that day” this year. Instead, I’m going as a medieval Plague Doctor. I figure it’s a pretty “Warhammery” sort of costume already, but I’m going to ramp that up with a belt full of random totems and potions and such (so far, I’ve got a cross made of “Sigmar’s Bones” and a wax-sealed jar with a witch’s toe inside… oh, and a dead rat).
This is the image I’m working off of:
After a few nights of fussing about, I’ve got this much done:
It gets REALLY hot in the mask (and I may want to let the paint dry a bit more before trying it on again… fuuumes…), but I’m pleased with how it worked out.
The hat’s not quite right, but I think the floppy look of it is somewhat creepier. I don’t like how bunchy the robe is, so I’m going to look into getting a 5’x5′ square of leather (or pleather or some such) to make a bib/cassock type deal. I need to do something with my hands also. Probably weird gloves and skull rings or some such.
Anywho, I’ve got two days to finish the damn thing for use at Paul’s party. Pictures of the final deal to follow at some point.
Massive Gamer Magazine
Heads up, you readerish types – this months issue of Massive Gamer is chocked full of WAR.
Theyre a fairly new publication put together by a great, energetic team thats always fun to talk to. So, if you havent checked them out yet, nows a great time to start!
Added bonus: They have possibly the handsome-ist picture of the Hickman thats ever been printed.
A game worth playing.
Barnett’s been getting us all to try out “World of Goo” recently. It’s an inspired, joyful little thing that’s definitely MORE than worth your time. The demo is tiny and you get a glorious array of weird and wonderful levels in it, so you should take some time to check it out.
And if you like it, you need to drop a few bucks and buy the full version. Cool, indy games need love. Lots of love.
That is all.
The “New” E3 – Bigger, not public.
Apparently, the rumors of public-access to E3 ’09 were false.
Instead, the show will be bigger than last year, but smaller by a full order of magnitude than when the event mattered. And with no access for the general public.
I can’t say I understand this decision at all.
Let’s get political.
Normally, I wouldn’t discuss my personal political beliefs on a site that’s intended to focus primarily on my professional life, but the fact of the matter is that this election is simply too important for me to keep quiet.
I know politics can be confusing at times, so hopefully I can shed some light on things for anyone who’s still on the fence. If you’re wondering who to support, I’ll break it all down for you after the jump.
Worst. Halloween. EVER.
This amuses me, but probably only because it hasn’t happened to me yet.
A new E3?
Apparently, there’s going to be an announcement about E3 2009 later tonight/early tomorrow. Current rumors seem to point to it being open to the public (for a fee), which means it’ll be much closer to things like Games Convention Leipzig and PAX. Personally, I dug this year’s event WAY more than the previous events, but I recognize that I’m in the minority.
As such, my personal E3 “wish list” would be:
– Hold it anywhere – literally, ANYWHERE – but Los Angeles. I realize there’s next to no chance of that happening, but I despise that city more than any other place on earth. And I’ve been to THREE cities in Alabama.
– Four day show (Thursday-Sunday).
– Days 1 and 2, press and pros only. This will give companies time to make “whiz bang” announcements and to do dedicated interviews without being swamped by fans.
– Days 3 and 4, open to the public. This should be plenty of time for fans to see everything and bringing them in at the end gives the press an incentive to get E3 coverage out quickly to help direct fans to the best stuff on the floor.
– “Backstage” area with decent security for press and pros to continue doing interviews and presentations far away from the thumping techno madness of the show floor. No public access on any day.
– Maintain reasonable booth babe restrictions. Trust me, people will want to take pictures with your booth babe, even if she’s wearing as many as THREE postage stamps worth of costume. Borderline nude models create nightmare bottlenecks all over the floor and make us all seem creepy and weird.
– Seating for the public. LOTS of it. In dedicated, strategically-placed areas that are away from main walkways. PAX does this very well and it gives the “tired feet and DS loving” masses somewhere to rest up without creating human pyramids in the middle of every hallway and alcove.
– ANYWHERE but LA. Hey, it can’t hurt to ask twice.
I guess that’s it. If nothing else, this SHOULD mean the death of E For All, which was 1000 times worse than any E3.
Launch party!
Our Launch Party was held last Thursday in the Sequoia Club in Georgetown (a neighborhood in DC).
I didn’t take a ton of pictures because… ya know… open bar + all my friends = distracting. Nevertheless, what shots I DID get can be viewed here.
I tossed in some other shots from various launch-related events that have happened over the past month.
[UPDATE] Here’s a quick video pan-around of the club where we held the party:
Staycation.
FYI, I’m off all week. Which is, to be honest, kind of weird.
I haven’t taken more than a day or two off in a row in… well… YEARS. Anywho, The Hickman is starting to crack down and force his minions to stay away from the office and relax a bit.
I spent my first two days doing chores, but now I’m MOSTLY done and I still have three whole days to kill. Current plan:
– Watch all of my favorite movies repeatedly. Which basically means “watching Patton over and over again while wearing the helmet Paul gave me from Patton’s army.” Did I mention that Patton is available on Blu-Ray? Because it totally IS.
– Read. My “to read” pile includes a bunch of Mark Twain and George Orwell essays, Sarah Vowell’s new book and a nice chunk of the old Ostrander run of The Spectre that I picked up on the cheap at a local funnybook shop a while back.
– Jog. Or walk briskly. Or something. The last few years have been – for lack of a better term – ri-goddamn-diculously brutal on my overall health. I’ve never been skinny, but before we started WAR I could at least do a few chin-ups. I recognize that it’s my fault for letting work trump fitness, but I figure this is as good a time as any to get back on that particular horse (also, I’d rather not look like a land-whale at my wedding next spring).
– Play games that have nothing to do with MMOs. Lego Batman and Dead Space, I’m looking at YOU.
So… yeah. Don’t expect anything useful from me for at least a week.
P.S. Out launch party is this Thursday, so I may have some pictures from that shortly.