Sunday morning, I joined Corvus Elrod on a podcast devoted to his recent Round Table discussion on the adaptation of literature to a game environment. We had some technical issues, so I hope the editing cleared some of that up. I’m not sure how useful I was, but it was fun and it was a good small group. I would have liked a little more back and forth, but, like I said, there were technical issues.
Ensemble Wake Continues
February 2nd, 2009 by Troy Goodfellow · Ensemble, Industry
Over at Gamasutra, N. Evan Van Zelfden has written up an account of his tour of Ensemble Studios as the place packs up. I’ve never been to Ensemble, so I can’t look at the pictures and say “Hey, that was where X”, like I can with, say, Firaxis. Still, there is something about a business closing shop that really gets to me, even if many of the principals here already have plans – including working with Microsoft on new content for Halo Wars.
Van Zelfden writes about some of the uncompleted games:
They included: a fantasy-adventure RPG called Sorcerer; Nova, a “Diablo in space” game; a pirate-themed take on Diablo; a game called Wrench; a Ratchet & Clank-style platformer called Bam.
Most detailed was a game called Agent, with an art style and universe inspired by Pixar’s The Incredibles, and using gameplay elements from Tomb Raider. As the concept art shows, the game was instantly iconic and unique.
Another title was Graeme Devine’s Phoenix — an RTS game featuring earthlings versus Martians in a War of the Worlds-style conflict. The game changed over time, and would eventually become something different entirely: Halo Wars.
Good luck, guys.
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When is a game ready for review?
January 29th, 2009 by Troy Goodfellow · Industry, Media
There’s a lot of talk in my circle about the public beta for THQ’s Dawn of War 2, a game they are still doing a lot of balancing for. This is, after all, a beta.
Still, Future publishing has had no problem running reviews of the RTS.
Considering the prevalence of balance patches throughout the lifetime of a real time strategy game, I suppose many reviews go to print without being the “final version.” But beta means work in progress. So how much work needs to be incomplete before you can tell the media that its ready to go?
And don’t reviewers have an obligation to write in their reviews that the version is, in fact, still being tweaked?
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Starcraft for Credit?
January 28th, 2009 by Troy Goodfellow · Blizzard, Education
According to Starcraft Wire, Berkeley is giving students a chance to earn college credit by playing Starcraft.
From the course description:
What may look like complex topics are just ways we want you to think more deeply about the game to derive a greater satisfaction from playing. Furthermore, this understanding should have applications in real life, to further synthesize new information from limited inferences. The primary goal is for students to learn, enjoy the art of competitive StarCraft, and have fun. Overall, students will be applying critical thinking, quick decision-making, and game theory skills throughout the sessions. Students will also learn what to look for in a replay or game to learn most effectively.
I don’t buy it. At least not as anything serious.
First, look at the syllabus. This outline meets none of the standards for a basic university syllabus, though Berkeley’s are, admittedly, a little lacking in the usual syllabus matter. There’s not even a course number yet.
It’s not listed anywhere on the Berkeley website. Neither is Mr. Feng. That’s because this is apparently a DeCal course – a student initiated class in Berkeley’s democratic, alternative education program. There are also classes listed in playing outside, Firefly, and Chinese for restaurants. The Starcraft course is nowhere on the official DeCal list, though.
And there are limitations on the DeCal’s utility for students. “DeCals do not count towards any degree requirements.” The credits may count, but only as electives.
There’s nothing wrong with this sort of thing, I suppose, and it may be news to the Starcraft community. But I figured I would puncture this bubble before anyone else decided to pick up this non-story. This is not some great victory for games in academia – it’s a guy who got the business school to sponsor people talking about his hobby.
EDIT: Gamespy is claiming that, even if this is a light student led thing, that “we could be witnessing one of the first efforts to bring the study of video games into the upper echelons of academia.”
This is so far from being “one of the first” that it’s ridiculous. Berkeley has game design courses already. Stanford has had game themed courses. NYU, too. All taught by full time faculty. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were five or six game themed university courses in my Metro area. This Starcraft class is on the leading edge of zilch.
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Podcasting
January 27th, 2009 by Troy Goodfellow · Blogs, Me, Media
This weekend, I’ll join a friend on his initial podcast. I’ll have more on the details once they are worked out. I’ve never been on a podcast before, and I haven’t been on TV or the radio since high school. I hope my stutter doesn’t reappear.
But it has, once again, led me to consider the possibility of a Flash of Steel affiliated podcast. There are lots of general gaming podcasts out there, but I’ve been looking for one that is devoted to the types of games that I am interested in. I couldn’t do it alone, of course. I’ve neither the technical expertise for editing, nor the captivating personality to hold an audience for forty minutes, nor the server space for such a thing. I have a long list of people I’d probably invite, but you know how these things work. StratiCasters would probably violate a couple of trademarks anyway.
Podcasting looks hard, which is probably why there are so few good ones. Yes, any idiot can sit in front of Skype and chat to the ether. But just like anyone can blog, doing it right and making it interesting requires effort. It takes more than inside jokes, nerdly outrage and vapid speculation. The best gaming podcasts are well-structured and have a good interplay between the hosts; they are not just Talk Radio for the Internet.
But video and audio are the future of online games commentary, I think. As people are decreasingly likely to read, they turn to the easy listening of ‘casts while they commute or work in the office. Let a thousand quasi-public radio stations bloom.
So what would a good strategy/wargame podcast look like? Developer interviews? Debates? Themed discussions (maps, economy, etc.)?
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12th Annual AIAS Awards
January 26th, 2009 by Troy Goodfellow · AIAS, Awards
The nominees for the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards have been announced.
The strategy and simulation nominees are:
* Advance Wars: Days of Ruin – Nintendo – Intelligent Systems
* Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Electronic Arts – EA Los Angeles
* Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution – 2K Games – Firaxis
* Sins of a Solar Empire – Stardock Entertainment – Ironclad Games
* Tom Clancy’s EndWar – Ubisoft – Ubisoft Shanghai
Not a bad list, except for Red Alert 3. I’m surprised Spore didn’t get a nomination here, though it get picked for the Best PC Game category, a category that is itself an odd list since the PC port of Mass Effect is there, but not Sins of a Solar Empire.
Winners will be announced in three weeks.
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