Knitting > WoW I stayed up until 3 am Friday night - which I used to do regularly while gaming, usually some MMO or other. But what was I doing Friday night?

Knitting.

Hey, I was in the zone - you can't stop when you're in the zone!

The Power of Potter

Harry Potter, that is. I somehow found myself browsing for designer sunglasses as I am sometimes wont to do late at night while drunk and/or stoned (I didn't buy any, don't judge me) and my Amazon page displayed the following:

Eleven percent of people shopping for Christian Dior sunglasses bought the new Harry Potter book.

Astounding. That's where the clever Amazon preference system breaks down, a little - because obviously the book is nothing like the sunglasses; it just shows you how many fucking people are buying this book - so many that it's skewing results; and by skewing results, it pushes into a feedback loop (the more people buy it, the more it appears in "recommendations", and therefore the more people click on it and buy it, etc.) This is sort of the internet's anti-Long Tail effect - the hit-amplification effect.

Am I the only one left who doesn't own a copy of this blasted book? And will I accidentally one-click it and become one of the 11%?

California Extreme Film Festival

Nice! California Extreme, the arcade-lover's show, has the film festival lineup announced, including King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. You might think that competitive gaming is quite boring to watch, but it depends. Even if you know nothing about the game, the emotions are intense and affecting. Competition always brings drama.

But if you *do* know something about the game that's being played, then it can be mesmerizing. You see players' styles and strategies, you can see when someone is baout to be tricked or outfoxed, you can tell when a player's hands are just vibrating with skill... it's fascinating.

Full press release below.

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Oh, I'm In This Book Well, sorta. I did an interview with Rainey Straus and Katherine Isbister about their art gallery project in The Sims Online. And now the book is finally out!

Rainey Straus is an artist based in San Francisco who likes to play with interactivity. Katherine Isbister researches and designs interactive characters, empathy, and social interfaces. They teamed up on the SimGallery Online Project, where they built a virtual version of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and then also had a concurrent art show at the ACTUAL Yerba Buena Center. The virtual museum carried works contributed by players.

I'm glad the book is finally out!

Tree Story

I came across a design doc for a game, Tree Story, inspired by My Neighbor Totoro. That's one of my favorite films, and the idea behind this game is really quite charming!

I wish I could create graphics like that - it helps so much in creating design docs. Being able to visualize what the game will look like is an invaluable aid in "seeing" how the gameplay will work. Concepts that are clumsy to explain on paper - especially since we still lack a unified lexicon to describe gameplay elements! - are elegantly expressed in a sketch or drawing.

I've been knocking around a game design idea in my head, that I've been talking over with my friend Matt. I should break out my watercolors and get sketching!

Less Grind, More Story

It's because my Night Elf Thistletoes has stalled in the mid-40s in Stranglethorn Vale that I can heartily agree with Richard Garriot, who commented in his keynote at the Develop Conference, "The obsession with damage inflicted over time as the mechanic behind combat reduces games to data management... The fact that people use the nomenclature 'grinding' to describe what they do in online games is a bad sign. Missions have been reduced to taking the next pellet from the slot machine."

And you know, reports are that Tabula Rasa is not looking that bad. And it sounds like - with the targeting system and the reduced HUD - that they are going for a more mainstream, less MO-focused audience. More actiony, perhaps, than usual for an MMO.

I also like that it's NOT MEDIEVAL FANTASY. Seriously. I am, yes, a dork, but I've spent too many hours messing about with trolls and elves now and at this point I'm ready to leave them behind. So the former Lord British's transformation to General British (will he turn his castle into a giant alien ship?) suits me just fine.

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Rockstar Confidential

Remember when I said we need more rock stars?

Let me clarify, just to avoid confusion.

We need more stars, and not necessarily more Rockstar.

At least, according to one former employee.

Everyone always knew there was something about Rockstar. They were usually pretty rude to the press; they declined to participate in almost any type of forum; they pretty much told the ESRB repeatedly to fuck off. And, it turns out, they were very sloppy book-keepers too.

But you know, for all the juicy details of how every project Rockstar touched was a "clusterfuck", to quote the author of the article, I actually think Rockstar served a purpose. They were the assholes, the bullies, the ones everyone wanted to see fall down. Remember how much fun we had about Gizmondo? Stolen Ferraris! The Swedish mafia! Embezzling! A product that was clearly not ever meant to go to market! The games industry, tainted with a whiff of scandal, got just a little more interesting. Rockstar the company, at least, had swagger and style and everyone knew it.

Maybe that's the trade off: fame comes with a dirty underbelly.

Bring on the drug parties, the orgies, the thieving and lying and backstabbing! Bring on the show.

Found on Kotaku

Game Writing Workshop at Austin Attention writers of games planning to go to Austin GDC - Richard Dansky and Daniel Erickson are leading a 2-part, 2-hour intensive Game Writing Workshop at Austin GDC. Here's how it works - you submit your writing sample to agdcwritersworkshop(at)gmail(dot)com before August 15th and Richard and Daniel will tell you if you're in. It's first-come, first-serve. Then for two hours you will receive and provide feedback on fifteen pieces submitted by you and other participants. A writing workshop!

If I weren't working the show I would SO love to sit in on this.

Parappa Songs for Free In the rain or in the snow, you got the funky flow. (Thanks, Kotaku!)

Parappa the Rapper is a seminal music game, one of the first to cross over into North America with cult success. Parappa is such a charming character, and the engaging, clever, sweet songs were part of what made the game so fun.

A great original soundtrack can really elevate a game to the next level. I feel that way about both Katamari and Loco Roco - Katamari would be good, but not brilliant, without the amazingly far-ranging and creative soundtrack. Loco Roco, a less successful game, is still a minor jewel because of its adorable, completely hummable songs. In the case of Loco Roco, the music goes a long way to imparting personality to those simple little blobs, too.

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Gabe Grows Up By Acting Childish

In this case, "childish" is not pejorative. Maybe it never should be. Mike "Gabe" Krahulik has a great post on Penny-Arcade about rediscovering the joy of gaming by entering a Pokemon tournament, and seeing his min-maxing play style through the eyes of kids who are differently emotionally invested in their pokemon. Like a Scrooge, Mike also sees a reflection of the douchebag he could have been in an overly aggressive, boastful kid.

Anyway, it's a charming vignette and I love how it ends. It's wonderful to think that Pokemon is teaching kids to be gracious winners and losers, to appreciate the journey more than the destination, and to really revel in what the best of games can do - bring joy. These kids sound like they are acting way more civilized than most people twice their age who frequent Xbox Live.

Which leads me to thinking - are there games that seem to draw out better behavior than others? Are there games which, by intrisic design principles, bring out and encourage courtesy and consideration for others without forcing it on players as just another stat to max out? How would one design a game to encourage this?

In the case of Pokemon, it seems that the behavior is linked to the values exhibited in the TV show, where Ash and friends are always good guys, even when they lose. Sure, Ash can be a bit of a whiner sometimes, and he's immature, but he's got the sense of justice and honor that one sometimes finds in kids - a simple sense of doing the right thing, not yet corrupted by the world. Something to think about, anyway.

Thanks, Phil!

The Internets Actually Broke Today

Except, it was real, and it was caused by power fluctuations in San Francisco. The power in my office went out six or seven times. Fun! Gaming sites and high tech sites went down, too.

I should have worked from home today....

The $100 Laptop Actually Costs $176

But what's $76 dollars here and there?

The One Laptop Per Child project is finally rolling out, with 3 million units ordered from undisclosed countries. New laptops expected to be in the hands of children around the world by this October.

What games will be made for these devices? I mean here is a truly fantastic opportunity to build and try some cross-cultural educational games. I don't know of any, yet. Can anyone fill me in on efforts in this direction?

Here's the talk founder Nicholas Negroponte gave at TED last year:

Shane Kim: Clueless

Anyone else find it endearing that Shane Kim was hoping to surprise Billy Berghammer with the news that Resident Evil 5 was coming to Xbox 360? Aw, Billy, you should have played along, like one does when little kids tell you something they think only they know.

"Really, Shane? You say RE5 is coming to Xbox 360? That's so great! How about Assassin's Creed, is that coming to Xbox 360 too?"

"How about a lollipop?"

P.S. The game is looking pretty nice.

Less than Impressed with Google's Game Pitch Kim Pallister took some notes at Casual Connect on the session led by Bernie Stolar featuring how Google Adsense can work with casual games.

Kim's first impression is, the audience expected something a little more... well, impressive, I guess! Integration with Google Earth! Search! I dunno, something more than Adsense...

His conclusions:

This from the company that only hires PHD's that know kung-fu and have x-ray vision? The fact that I work for MS isn't coloring my opinion here. I think this was an embarrassment to Google. Talk around the show seems to indicate that many share my opinion. The presentation was poor, the product was undefined and seems to be non-existant. Didn't help that one of the presenters sat down through the whole thing. "I'm really excited to be here" - yeah, right. How about standing up while you say that. The audience questions were mainly along the lines of trying to extract a little information about what exactly they might be doing. Answers were vague, and seemed to indicate that while they see an opportunity to take adsense to in-game ads, they've started to think about the sticky issues that come up when you try to do so, but haven't yet thought of answers to those questions. Oh, they did indicate web first (didn't say when), then download PC (didn't say when), then consoles (didn't say when but hinted that it's Sony that they are talking to).

Sounds like Google needs a little more help refining their conversations with casual games people. A potential consultant job for the right qualified person or persons?

When Audio IS the Experience As some of you might know, I've been working on the Austin GDC, helping to get content up as the Advisory Board sort through the hundreds of submissions to pick the best candidates. The Audio Board found a real gem that I wanted to highlight because it was added just last week; also, it revolves around a very interesting subject - increasing the accessibility of games.

The session, by Michelle Hinn and Richard van Tol, is When Audio IS the Experience: Games for the Visually Imparied. (See also my blog post about it for the Austin GDC website.)

I used to have an English teacher in high school who was legally blind. But ever majestic, she refused to carry a stick or keep a seeing-eye dog but instead navigated the campus by memory, sense of hearing, and a light touch on walls and banisters. She was tall, thin, and regal, with silver hair cut in a bob, looking always sleek and slightly rakish in oversized Jackie O sunglasses and soft neutral-colored suits. We submitted our papers to her by reading them out loud onto tape. You certainly notice overwrought turns of phrases when forced to read them out loud - I think it made me a better writer.

But it startled me that she knew so much about film, which she loved. And that she still went out, even when blind, to see new films that came out. I had always thought that films were primarily a visual delight. She taught me otherwise. She also attended all our high school drama efforts. I remember seeing her sitting alertly in her chair, leaning forward to catch all the words. Her fading sight didn't seem to dull her appetite for drama, nor impair her enjoyment of it. And in fact she had a memory like a steel trap, able to recall details of dialogue in the film, plots twists, emotional heights... she was remarkable.

That was a very long tangent to say simply that I'm glad Michelle and Richard are giving this talk; it should be very interesting; and to me, at least, a reminder that not everyone sees the world in the same way; and not everyone experiences art in the same way.

Monday Morning Missed Links Groggy this morning, catching up on the news of the weekend - there's always more to read. Here are interesting stories I missed, that I'm bookmarking to digest and think about later:

Unreal Engine 3, Half-Baked, Broken and Late?

Related: Silicon Knights: Epic Sabotaged Us How scandalous!

Xfire's Chat with Harmonix re: Rock Band (When did Xfire become involved in music, btw?)(via Slashdot Games)

Roger Ebert sez: Games Still Not Art

Angry Gamer on Where the Wii Fits In

Viral Game Designing for Dummies

Why WoW is Good for MMOGs.

Chore Wars!

David Sirlin's Book Playing to Win is Now FREE Online (via Derek's blog)

Speaking of books, still been meaning to get Ian's book Persuasive Games, which I hear is quite good.

A Turn of Phrase? I posted Saturday under the headline, Tragedy is in the Details: The Death of Theresa Duncan. This morning Killerbetties has the exact same headline for the story.

Coincidence? a quick Google search doesn't show a lot of results for "Tragedy is in the Details" outside of my story (and one story about bathrom remodeling - go figure) so I don't think it's a common phrase or anything.

Sure, it could be coincidence. or a mistake. But it feels a little like someone saw my story, took my headline, then linked directly to the NYTimes. That's just sloppy blogging etiquette.

Okay, I admit it's also bad blogging etiquette to complain about something so trivial as this when there are so many other bigger things to worry about - death at too young an age, for example. Forgive me, I am cranky today! Had lots of stressful dreams again last night.

RPGs, Kidnapping, Orkut, and a Dash of Sex

This is just priceless.

Walking Sexy and Sassy This has nothing to do with games, but it amused me all the same - and yet, it is totally useful! I work in downtown San Francisco, in the financial district, so I see a lot of women wearing high heels, and the number of women who can pull them off is pathetically small.

It's not really that hard to look graceful, effortless, and beautiful in high heels. It just takes a little practice, and with practice comes confidence, and with confidence comes true beauty!

Here's a brief video that illustrates the worst offenses.

Tragedy is in the Details: The Death of Theresa Duncan

The New York Times reports that writer, game designer, and filmmaker Theresa Duncan is dead, apparently by suicide. Her partner, artist Jeremy Blake, is still missing, presumably at sea. The police found a note among his folded clothes by the ocean. Theresa Duncan also left a note.

What could the notes have said?

Combing through the recent entries on her blog, The Wit of the Staircase, reveals nothing - as usual. Interestingly, it was because she had stopped posting on her blog that fans and readers suspected that something was wrong.

How does one explain to the living that one no longer wants to be among them? Is it ever possible for those left behind to understand?

The story that emerges from the small details we can piece together seem to sketch a tale that could be the subject of a film. Talented, beautiful artist kills herself; her lover comes home to discover her body; distraught, he goes to the beach, writes a note, takes off his clothes, and swims out into the ocean. Readers of her blog wonder what happened; friends talk to friends of friends; and the police find the body.

I'm not sure there is an end to a story like this.

On a mailing list I'm on, Heather Kelley writes:

Theresa was one of the early "girl games" designers from the mid 90s and was a big inspiration to me at the time. Her work was quirky and smart. She created the decidedly non-pink CD-ROM games Smarty, Chop Suey, and Zero Zero, then she left the games arena to pursue film and animation projects.

I never met her but I'm sad she left.

So am I.

Here is the funeral announcement. Those who feel so moved can also make a donation in her name to The Whitney Museum of American Art, where her oartner Jeremy Blake had three biennial exhibitions. Here's a Salon piece on her transition from game designer to filmmaker and writer.

Photo Essay: Chinese Gold Farmers

Julian wrote a really excellent article on Chinese gold farming for the NY Times a little while ago - check out his Flickr photo set. Fascinating.

When Ryan read this story, his comment was, this would make a great documentary film. Think of these photos as location shots?

Game Journalism is not the Only Journalism that Sucks We all complain about how bad game journalism is (and always point to to a handful of the usual suspects as exceptions) but maybe that's just because we actually know about and care about the industry. A friend of mine (who shall remain anonymous!) forwarded me this story yesterday: Japan's lonely hearts turn to dolls for sex, company.

My first thought was, how the hell can you write this story and not mention the very famous RealDoll, which is an American product?

Because either the writer didn't know about them - which indicates a lack of simple Googling - or, more likely, because the story is better if it's cast as "Look how weird/sad/lonely/perverted Japanese man are - aren't we glad we're not like that?" In which case it may have been the editor who excised the writer's sentences about RealDoll. I guess "Some Men Like Sex Dolls" is not much of a story.

Gross. MORE...

Echochrome - the Escher Game

Wow! This looks neat.

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Two More at Take-Two Fess Up

Take-Two's naughtiness apparently extends beyond their games...
Fudging financial spreadsheets? Check!
Lying to regulators? Check!
Stock options backdating, check and mate!

Steve Jobs, are you paying attention? There but for the grace of...

Peter Moore Admits: He Is the Prince of Darkness

Go Brandon! In a really solid interview with Peter Moore, late of Microsoft, our intrepid reporter asks him the critical question we've all been dying to know:

[A]re you in fact the Prince of Darkness?

PM: Damn, my cover's blown! Let me just tuck the tail in back there!

I knew it!

The rest of the interview is JUST as thought-provoking. :)

Plus, it's kind of nice to hear Peter say that he never gave up on the Dreamcast. The love was real, people!

Will Wright's TED Talk This is the reason, partly, that Will Wright wasn't at GDC this year he was at the TED conference giving this talk!

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Kokomori: Experimental Art Games Yay! Friends Heather, Phil, and Damien and their game art collective Kokoromi are profiled in This Magazine.

I went to the GAMMA 01 event last year in Montreal, it was fun - a party, with music (Freezepop played although they got stuck in customs and arrived super late!) and DJs made music on DS Lites, and the experimental games were there projected on walls so people could play. The crowd was a mix of game developers, artists, musicians, and Montreal party people.

What I love about Kokoromi is that they explore the notion that games can be used to make art - that they are a medium for self-expression; and by that I don't mean projects like the excellent iam8bit, in which games are evoked in the service of more traditional visual arts; I mean that the gameplay itself is treated as a potential artform - that interactivity is key to the experience.

Can't wait for this year's GAMMA!

Tipping in Favor of Girl Power

This week, several things cropped up on the radar which collectively suggest some sort of tipping point. Or, I suppose, more likely that the point has tipped and we are starting to see the effects.

The first announcements were released in conjunction with the event, Casual Connect. Sony Online announced the relaunch of Station.com, a portal for the casual experience of games, including access to trials of Sony's MMOs. Nickelodean announced plans to spend $100 million over the next two years on casual games and virtual worlds. Oh, and did I mention that casual games are still dominated by female players?

Gamasutra didn't pick it up, but this week also saw the news that Barbie Girls, a virtual world aimed at, you might guess, preteen girls, experienced astonishingly explosive growth, reaching 3 million users in sixty days.

And you thought WoW was popular.

Then in recent game announcements, Ubisoft released details on a new series of games specifically for girls. The Imagine series include aspirational games based on professions, like fashion designer, veternarian, and figure skater. There's also a virtual baby doll with Imagine Babyz. Throw in Imagine Equestrienne and I'm so there.

Speaking of things equine, Atari is coming out with a horse-riding simulation game, My Horse and Me. The language in the official PR is carefully gender-neutral, speaking very coolly of the "Horse-enthusiast community", but you cannot convince me that in North America, at least, this game is not targeted specifically at horse-crazy girls between the ages of seven and fourteen. Which is to say, nearly all girls.

You may also have read that the PS3 has finally sold 1 million units in Japan eight months after launch. It took the Wii six weeks to reach the same milestone. Why? In part because flocks of non gamers (many of them women) bought a console, some, I've no doubt, for the first time in their lives.

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Rock Stars of Videogames

I was flying home from the weekend in LA (where I didn't really go to E3, just sampled the afterparty and saw some friends) when I found myself next to Chris Hecker, whom I hadn't seen in a long time. We got to talking about why there are still very few recognizable names and faces in the videogame industry. He reminded me of the famous ad announcing the founding of EA, headlined, "Can Computers Make You Cry?"

Well, we're still struggling to answer that question, but take a look at the photo on the right - the founding members of a company that ambitiously and grandiosely called itself Electronic Arts. A name that defies the Eberts who don't see the art in computer and video games. And the photo itself says unequivocally, "Not only are computer games art, we are artists."

It looks like it could be a publicity shot for a moody rock band. The photographer has captured real personality here, individuals - dressed in dark clothes and seemingly passionately united under the aegis of a single goal.

With a few notable exceptions (you know who they are - Will Wright, Shigeru Miyamoto) - the industry has turned away from personalizing game development, from regarding the people who work on games as individually important. No, far better for a studio like EA to let the public see the studio behind the franchise rather than a handful of creative geniuses. The franchise is longer-lived that way, the studio system more stable.

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Last Post About Rock Band I Swear Rock Band versus Guitar Hero III. Very interesting:

So what did Activision/Red Octane decide to do with Guitar Hero III? They decided to "game up" the game. In that single decision, they told the serious player that they fundamentally had no understanding of what the game was really about.

Boss battles? With power-ups? The horror....

So what does Harmonix do with Rock Band? Is there any goofy bullshit, any power-ups, and "battles?"

No. Just music stuff. A ton of career modes, a drum kit controller, vocals. Music, music, music, music, music, music.

Music.

Guitar Hero is the New Karaoke Virtual Frets, Actual Sweat.

This is Guitar Hero night, where curious bar patrons, self-styled bad boys and video game addicts, all usually a drink or two deep, play the game Guitar Hero on a big screen, and fulfill their dreams of being a preening, prancing rock ’n’ roll frontman.

Bars from Roanoke, Va., to San Diego are offering Guitar Hero nights, some providing players with big-hair wigs, Viking helmets and other colorful garb to help them complete the momentary illusion of being Eric Clapton or Lenny Kravitz. Others serve as hosts of competitive tournaments where the winners receive real guitars.

Players come because, for most, it’s as close as they’ll get to being an actual rock star.

“The audience cheers and it’s almost like being onstage,” Mr. Wine said. “You don’t get that playing the game in your living room.”

I like this story because it shows how a transcendent game has had a cultural impact on the way people experience music in social spaces, something I never thought could happen, to be honest, especially considering how unpopular music games were in North America until now. Of course Japan has always had solid music games, especially with crazy peripherals in the arcades - Guitar Freaks was a fun one, although really hard for the casual player. Or maybe just really hard for me!

Not at E3

Yesterday evening Souris IMed me, "See you at the party!" What party? She meant the Harmonix party, happening tonight. Then it hit me - so many of my friends are at E3 and I'm, somehow, not!

And I feel both relief and also a nostalgia tinged with sadness. I think I had a little moment of mourning for an era that is over. Not just for me - E3 is different now. It frustrated and exhausted me when I went but I have to admit that somewhere in a corner of my fangirl heart I miss it....

I Love Nintendo

Wiifit is pretty brilliant.

Nintendo's stats have shown that while males between 6 and 24 still dominate 95 percent of the market, new statistics show that 66 percent of men between 25 and 49 now report playing Wii regularly, and 33 percent of women in the same age group say they are regular users, 75 percent having said they have at least tried the Wii.

For men over 50, Nintendo said, well over half have tried the Wii, and 1 in 8 say they play regularly, while 10 percent of women in the same age group say they now play regularly.

Videogames Cure Cancer

Well, at least one does - a game called Re-Mission, designed to help young cancer patients combat their disease. From CIGNA.

Story here, with videos.

Singing Nerds

Two guys practice boxing in Central Park. Acapella nerds surround them and sing. You find it enjoyable for a minute or two.

It's nice, but personally I would have preferred Johnny Cage's themesong (he's not afraid to die, seriously).