September 12 is a free Shockwave game where players try to solve the terrorist problem - a sort of editorial cartoon rendered in simple simulation.

September 12 is the first game from Powerful Robot Games, based in Uruguay. Powerful Robot is run by Gonzalo Frasca (of ludology.org), who has been studying the social implications of games for years; now he's finally glad to be using game design to trigger discussions: "It was the first game we made where every design decision was hell. Do people cry over dead terrorists?"

The art is fantastic in September 12, the sound is critical (play with your speakers turned on). Frasca is eager to use video games to provoke political and ethical discussions. September 12 is a witty little thing - we look forward to more like it from the folks at newsgaming.com.

Friday was the fall open house for Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center. My project group is working on an open-source game/simulation engine that will be making its official public debut shortly, and one particular item of feedback we got struck me as possibly being of interest to GGA readers.

We were told that potential customers for this product were the assorted "game design" classes that have been popping up at universities around the country in recent years. Usually these classes are offered only in the Computer Science department, and taken only be computer science majors. These "game design" courses could probably be better titled as "game programming" courses for this reason, as students probably do not have access to tools, time or talent needed to create real 3D models, and usually resort to whatever they can steal, or simply create games with a lot of cones and cubes and a particle system. Aside from having very little to do with "design" in the sense that a designer would use it, these courses also fail to prepare students for the very interdisciplinary world of actual game development.

I'm curious if any readers are aware of universities that are aware of or addressing this issue, or if there are any with "game design" courses that accurately try to work cross-discipline. Bonus points if you know one available at the undergraduate level.

You probably already knew that you could buy your own Tecmo Extreme Beach Volleyball bikini. We saw them for sale at the Tokyo Game Show, and they were less than impressive - they seemed designed for display, rather than for actual wear. Still, it's interesting to me when videogames spawn fashion, even in this manifestly obvious and commercial way.

(FYI - The one pictured to the left is my favorite. I'm a size small. Just in case you were looking to buy something.)

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to talk about "videogame fashion". Is it fashion inspired by videogames? Is it a trasparent copy, like the Tecmo bikinis, which are merely replicas of code? Or is there something deeper about the aesthetics of videogames which could perhaps be translated into the wearble?

And if the latter, then what is "videogame aesthetics"? Isn't it more than thematic deisgns? I tend to think of pixels, and modular pieces, like parts of a program.

All theoretical musings aside, we did see some fly Space Invaders gear on display at the Tokyo Game Show! My heart is filled with lust for those pastel Space Invader bags - they remind me of the Murakami LV bags. But about a jillion times cooler.

In the next few months, we're going to see a whole bunch of devices designed for fancy mobile gaming. Something costing more than $200 that runs like a Palm, keeping track of your appointments, while also managing a few games of Tony Hawk.

So what? The nGage and TapWave are all launching with big licenses and little multiplayer. I'm still waiting for a mobile phone game that's both social and addictive. After surveying the initial offerings from a few of the mobile device, I will sadly say the innovations are in the hardware only (if that).

Hopefully, these new mobile gaming machines will be a platform for game designs as yet unseen, games harnessing the immense potential of a constantly networked personal media device. I bemoan all this at greater length here: TheFeature :: New Devices, Same Games.

At a San Francisco IGDA meeting back in March, Kathy Schoback explained that it's nearly impossible to get shelf space in mainstream retail stores for a GameBoy game that isn't a license or a sequel.

During the Game Developers' Conference that same month, Warren Spector gave a keynote speech explaining that there was still room for innovation in this kind of market, where original concepts for characters and story can be hard to sell.

Spector later argued that point with Greg Costikyan, on Costikyan's weblog. Now on his site, Greg hones his critique of licensed games, taking issue with the upcoming "Starsky and Hutch" licensed title. His primary objection is age-based - Starsky & Hutch is too old a show to be relevant for game-playin' kids today:

I'm old enough to remember when Starsky & Hutch was on TV. I'm also old enough to be outside the target demographic for games, even though the age range is increasing. Basically, with few exceptions, people in their 40s don't play games.
In other words, the people who actually remember this TV show don't play games and aren't going to buy this thing. Those few of us who DO remember the show also remember that it sucked. No, make that, it sucked huge wads of crap.

The money spent on the license and the 70s costumes might have been spent on some kind of original story. But then it might not have had the odd location in our memories, as the title for a show many of us heard of, but never really saw. Does that make us more likely to play the game? I'm picturing half the shelves at my local gaming store flooded with entertainment software based on TJ Hooker, Cageny & Lacey, Hill Street Blues, My Favourite Martian, My Three Sons, Gilligan's Island, MASH, and All in the Family.

Perhaps the S&H game will be great. The recent Simpson's Hit and Run game took the open ended play of Grand Theft Auto and added enough of the content of the show to make fans respect this game. But the Simpsons is a clear license, with a fanatical following. What about Starsky & Hutch?

We assume that licenses are selected primarily for their vast revenue potential. But Jason's back of the envelope calculations favor original content. So perhaps S&H represent safe synergy - TV+movie+game=guaranteed opening weekend sales. Or, if you buy Costikyan's argument that the Starsky & Hutch license is irrelevant, then perhaps the people running game studios and making content aquisition decisions are too old. We'll see if a movie marketing blitz or compelling gameplay can help Starsky & Hutch compete with the Matrix game!

As many of you already know, White Wolf is suing Sony over its new Underworld movie for copyright infringement, claiming that Underworld's characters, theme and setting are based on White Wolf’s Vampire: The Masquerade® and Werewolf: The Apocalypse™ roleplaying game series. While the lawsuit itself is rather ridiculous, it did make me think about the intersection of goth culture and gaming.

During the Austin Game Conference last week, I went with some friends to the Elysium Nightclub to see the Crüxshadows perform. I had never been to a goth concert before but I had nothing better to do and was desperate for entertainment. Surprisingly, I rather enjoyed it and will mostly likely be attending their next show in SF. Upon entering the club, I was immediately impressed by the amount of games they had. In addition to the pool tables you would expect in most bars, there were two pinball tables (with the suitably gothy themes of Dracula and the Adams Family) and a whole section devoted to classic arcade games (which were not noticeably gothy at all unless you consider Joust somewhat intimidating). Who knew gaming was so prevalent in the goth scene?

After a little digging around, I was able to find official Sims skins for the Crüxshadows' lead singer and a full featured Underworld Half-life Mod. Anyone else know of other examples of goth gaming?

I've gotten into a terrible gaming funk lately, and I want to appeal to the gaming experience of the readers of GGA to see if they can find what I need.

I'm totally dissatisfied with everything I play currently, and there aren't any games out there that I find appealing. I don't want a new FPS, Driving Game, or Strategy Game.

I want simulation.

But not just any kind of simulation. I want asset management, but I don't want the focus to be any sort of combat, nor do I want any sort of civilization builder. As my friend pointed out, this pretty much rules out everything but Rollercoaster Tycoon, which I've already played. I've even joked that I'd be willing to play a baking sim at this point, if one existed (and I've already experienced Harvest Moon, so that's out, too).

So what do you guys say? Let's see those suggestions. Don't worry about the console type or system requirements; so long as it isn't on a Mac I've got at least one of each in the house.

I've been thinking lately about various "Game Nights" I've attended over the past year. There's the testerone-drone of Halo night, with three X-boxes and three TVs and two bloodthirsty teams shouting boisterously at each other. Then there's the group of game developers and a stack of board games, some untranslated from the German which we have to muddle through. There's Saturday D&D. There's after-work impromptu Quake. After-dinner DDR. High-stakes poker at the GDC (I didn't actuallly *play* in that one).

And then there's my fantasy - "JaneCon". I'd make everyone dress up, we'd have a panel of speakers, and then we'd all get geeky playing obscure games.

What about you? What does "Game Night" mean to you?

I'm at the Austin Game Conference right now, typing up this entry thanks to the free wireless access they'll have available during the entire two days that I'll be attending. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting for me to report about the conference proceedings as they occur by appending them to this post. According to the schedule posted, the first speaker will be Mark Jacobs, the CEO and President of Mythic Entertainment. No idea what he's going to be speaking about, but I hope to hear something about their upcoming scifi-alternate-history MMPOG Imperator.

Please discuss the conference here. And if you're also attending, feel free to post up your own reports here. Since there's six different conference tracks (and I plan on attending mostly online design sessions), I'll only be able to report on 1/6th of the proceedings.

I'm all in favor of the spread of gaming culture. It's an exciting pleasure when I find someone out in the world that shares my frame of reference for digital play.

Today, though, I had an unsettling experience in this vein -

My credit card company had called asking for verification of a series of unusual transactions (large GGA web hosting bills, 2 plane tickets from United, and a cash withdrawl from a convenience store in NYC). I was on the phone with three different operators explaining that the cash advance had been accidental - I meant to draw out my ATM card, but I must have selected the wrong plastic. I would never use my credit card for cash, so could you please let me pay down that cash withdrawl amount before usurious interest kicks in?

Christopher, a customer service supervisor, couldn't help me with that. But he did tell me how I could change my PIN so I wouldn't use my credit card as an ATM card by accident.

As we were wrapping up our call, he said, "Just one more thing: I'm looking through your transaction history here, and I see you've been playing Star Wars Galaxies. How is that game?"

I was a bit stunned. I gave him a capsule review (appealing game, but though I pay for it I don't have a lifestyle that suits long-term MMOG play - too much travel and other play). He explained that he'd wanted to try SWG, but hadn't yet found the time. There was a lot more I could have said, but somehow I didn't feel much like sharing.

His computer access was broader than mine; he could study my recent financial past. Part of his job is peeking into people's lives all day long; reviewing and discussing transactions with troubled customers. It must be lonely to anonymously study people's potent personal data. I can muster compassion for him now; at the time I felt intruded upon. Even if he did know my spending and gaming habits, I didn't want him to tell me that he knew. His position is inevitable in a society where massive databases track our movements. Perhaps I should have shared in his power with him? I could have asked, "Do you see a lot of online gaming subscriptions?" - mining him for data as he was mining me for opinion and friendship.

Via Slashdot Games, an intriguing editorial on the state of independent, digital wargaming. Produced by small development shops and sold almost exclusively online, these games are near-duplicates of old-school SPI hex-map cardboard-counter military simulations, sometimes souped up with online play or even (gasp!) 3D graphics. Party like it's 1971. For those unfamiliar, here's some opinionated history on the hobby that gave rise to D&D, and its major players (including the aforementioned SPI).

We went to Lounge Arcade last night and had a great time. It's not a LAN party, it's not an arcade; it's a bunch of retro multi-player consoles grouped together amidst comfy couches in a cozily designed space called Halcyon (which initially made me think I was going to some kind of crazy gaming rave.) It's a small game party put on by Seth Rosenfeld. By day he's a producer at NewKidCo; by night, a track-suit wearing party promoter. We got a chance to chat with him about Lounge Arcade and the way electronic games have become a socializing activity.

We'd heard over and over again that there aren't that many game developers in New York City, for a variety of reasons. So I consider us lucky to have been able to meet with as many as we have. Of course we were staying with the kids who are starting Invasiv Studios, because they are generous wonderful people we can have a lot of laughs with. At Halcyon we also met not only Seth, but Jason Schreiber, president of Powerhead Games; he took the photo of us interviewing Seth on camera. And now we're crashing with Eric "gameLab" Zimmerman. Every time we come to New York there's a steady increase of people and parties we want to check out. So much so that we've extended out stay by another day. And there's so much more to do. We haven't even gone shopping yet!

I think I speak for Justin (and Andrew W.K.) when I say, "I! Love! New York City!"

(photo (c) 2003 Jason Schreiber)

At the Tokion conference, or though Souris and Silvio Jane and I are meeting New York hipster artist writer designer kids. They ask us, "When is your game coming out?" Somehow they translated our brief "We're writing about game culture" into "We're experimenting with game design."

It's inspiring when people don't fix Jane and I with the identity of journalists. Here in New York, we've met fewer serious programmers, fewer serious business people, fewer dedicated game designers - instead we've met a bunch of writers and artists who are experimenting with game engines and bootstrapping small game design group projects. More cultural experimentation than studied game development. Dabblers - why not? The future of games has many designers.

Jane and I are going to stop by Lounge Arcade tonight in Brooklyn; some antique and modern consoles in a bar with DJs and strangers. If you're in the neighborhood, let us know!

There's this BBS where I co-moderate the Games conference with a game developer by the name of Mike Sellers. Recently, he had this to say in a discussion on game design:

Over in the discussion in the Books conference on J.R.R. Tolkien, someone posted a sermon given about The Lord of the Rings. It's worth a read on its own. Here's an excerpt that struck me game-wise, though:

On the third evening we went, I sat down next to a mom and calmly turned to her and said, "Three times, one week." She looked at me and laughed and said, "Oh, that's nothing. Try eight times in two." I looked over at her son.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Seven." He responded.

"How many times have you seen this movie?"

He grew sullen. "Only seven. They wouldn't let me see it the first time they went."

Then I leaned still further to chat with the daughter.

"How old are you and which character do you like in the movie?" I asked, pretty sure of her response.

"I'm 14 and I like Frodo," she giggled.

"So do I. But why do you like this story?" I continued.

"Because they gave Frodo something important to do," she said wistfully.

Gaming, like the rest of the software industry, is becoming more of a service-providing field rather than just exclusively concerning itself with box-sales and moving on to the next game. Instead, more and more companies are using subscription-based models to sell their products (witness Valve's recent announcement of Half-Life 2 availability through Steam) or launching yet-another MMPOG, the epitome of service-based gaming.

Yet as demonstrated through Alex "Marweas" Rodberg's now infamous public forums posting and consequent public lambasting on Penny Arcade and gaming news sites, sometimes conflicts arise when gamers and developers (or their representatives) meet on public forums. But who's fault is it? The people who make the games or the people who play them?

Like any complex issue, it's a little bit of both. Speaking as someone who's last job dealt mainly with providing "community support" for A Tale in the Desert, let me first state that the whole profession is in its infancy with no real standards on what types of policies companies should follow for their customer relations. ATITD, because of our relatively small playerbase and close developer-player ties, still utilizes volunteer Game Masters (GMs) and relies heavily upon player-run fan sites. However, most current MMPOGs have eliminated volunteer customer service positions due to the legal complexities involved and fear of a potential fiasco like the UO Counselor Lawsuit. Increasingly, more games are using streamlined and automated service systems rather than costly individual personalized support. And perhaps that's the main reason for Mr. Rodberg's outburst of frustration.

With traditional methods of customer support becoming more "corporate and standardized," message boards and forums are one of the few remaining places where players can rant and rave about the game and perhaps get some treasured developer feedback. Players want to feel like their opinions and problems are unique and special, not be "Support Ticket #4832953" and answered by an auto-generated reply system. Thus, more pressure is being put upon developers and community managers to be the "public face" of the game, which may explain why SWG has a developer tracker on their official forums to counteract their widely criticized customer support system. And with Raph Koster, the former lead developer of SWG and now recently-promoted Chief Creative Officer for SOE personally answering the playerbase's concerns and questions in an affable and reasonable manner, many players easily forgive the purging of their support tickets.

Nowadays, in addition to creating a quality product, game companies have to be politically savvy enough to satisfy their customers wants and desires in a diplomatic manner. Who knows? Perhaps in the future, a polisci degree will be as important as a CS one to the aspiring game developer.

To mix things up a bit this weekend, Jane and I will be attending the New-York based "Creativity Now" conference. Hosted by Tokion magazine, it's jammed sixteen significant culture producers into a marathon session of artistic explanation. Somewhere between Yuko Shimizu, responsible for Hello Kitty, and Melle Mel, who wrote raps for Grandmaster Flash, there's two figures more immediately relevant to games: Stieg Hedlund, running his own design shop after long work with Blizzard on Diablo II, and Matthew Barney, the director of Cremaster the longest video game homage to emerge from the Guggenheim this year. It's heartening to see video games presented as an integral part of a discussion of modern culture! We'll participate and take notes.

Via slashdot - that crash you heard in London last week was the sound of multiple gaming stereotypes colliding at high speed. Xbox Advanced Technology Group director Laura Fryer told an audience of developers that "[g]ames are still too difficult for a mass audience." She described the perception of the gaming audience amongst the public as "geeks and guys."

Will people latch onto Ms. Fryer's gender, and crack jokes about women trying to deal with complicated controllers (forgetting that she is probably the head of an Advanced Technology Group for good reasons)? Will they go for the even cheaper irony I went for in my post title? Will they adopt the opposite stance and continue to focus on supposedly "male" content? Or, on the gripping hand, has Ms. Fryer herself not gotten the news that adult women gamers now outnumber teenage boys?

On another axis, what about complexity? Does a complex control system and detailed gameplay necessarily lead developers towards simpleminded content? Or would simpler gameplay mean even simpler artworks - more abstract, less relevant to the rest of the culture?

From Sir Bruce's chart to the headlines in game magazines, the biggest attention for collaborative online play goes to graphical role-playing games like EverQuest and Lineage, with some attention left over for CounterStrike and Starcraft.

Hattrick is an online soccer game with over 160,000 active players, mostly across Europe. Through a web browser, players manage team rosters and training amidst an active market for football talent. Matches happen a few times a week, but gamers don't control the in-game action - the outcome of the game is determined by the statistics established through player management.

Web-based fantasy sports have been some of the most successful online game types for 'net portals like Yahoo. Still I was surprised here since so many people play and this game has never crossed my radar. It's possible to be a fluent, active electronic gamer and miss entire genres and active gaming communities; Hattrick hasn't received much US press since it's about soccer and it's got no graphics.

Gameplay appears to be a texty mix of Outlook and fantasy Ebay stuffed in a web browser. A giant active market place where your results are tested in the arena of simulated sports. Hattrick has grown since its release 6 years ago; now I imagine there are some players who are more excited by the people they're playing with, or the chance to design their own team. Still others see themselves as expert scouts for under-appreciated talent, picking computer players to groom and set out on the field. Maybe some players are invested in the competition, on a local and then national level - the game was designed in Sweden so they are the country to beat in this e-cup.

It's astonishing to see the amount of detail possible when you harnass computers to track variables for shared fantasy. "Fantasy" is used to describe worlds suffused with magic; in this case, fantasy is simply the chance to act in something not real. But "Play Money" calls that into question - if the virtual marketplace of Hattrick achieves enough value, gamers might trade accounts or team members for cash. Finding real-world economic value in a game world like this one is an easy way to argue that the game has high stakes; stakes higher than the word "fantasy" might connote.

Even without the real economic stakes, the hundreds of thousands of virtual managers and coaches active on Hattrick are fascinating: members of the tribe of people exercising their minds in collaborative electronic simulation. What are they making? What are they learning?

Hattrick is a massively-multiplayer online soccer/football game playable through a web browser at Hattrick.org; sign-ups are free.