KEYNOTES

The Count of Clay

Anthony Flack — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:25:58 -0600

Even at the more experimental fringes of the indie scene, few stray beyond the digital. But there’s little need for Maya or 3DS Max at Squashy Software: Anthony Flack uses clay to build his levels and character models, compositing separate stop-motion animations into the scene. It’s a technique he’s refined over time, from Bert The Barbarian to his latest work, the upcoming PC/XBLA title, Cletus Clay. We ask him about his methods.

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The Implications of a Skills Gap

Kris Graft — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:59:14 -0600
Over on MTV Multiplayer, games journo Stephen Totilo draws attention to how certain denizens of gaming forum NeoGaf have called him out for sucking at Street Fighter II.
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Industry Focus: Recession Session

Piers Harding-Rolls — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:09:12 -0600

The entrenched mantra that tends to be rolled out from videogame industry commentators during times of economic turmoil is one of general positivity concerning the resilience of the games market to such conditions. And this viewpoint is held for some very good reasons.
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Essay Questions on Storytelling

Randy Smith — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:39:39 -0600
Essay Question 5. In his closing keynote at MIGS 2008, Jon Blow expressed opinions about the intersection between stories and videogames. Summarise what he said and offer an opinion of your own.
Jon Blow stated that stories in videogames were a losing proposition because they were either not interactive (and therefore didn’t belong in the interactive medium) or, to the extent that they were interactive, they would always be inferior to stories authored in advance by a human mind.
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What Can Ads Teach Developers‭?

NGai Croal — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:42:33 -0600

Is it false advertising when commercials strongly imply that a game is more narratively or emotionally engaging than it actually is‭?
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Drinking Game Wisdom

Steven Poole — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:01:02 -0600

The best game I played this month had zero polygons and no particle effects; it was unscripted, cost nothing and didn’t even require plugging in to the power.

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Emil Pagliarulo Writes for Edge

Emil Pagliarulo — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:30:00 -0600
At Bethesda, Emil Pagliarulo has worked on Morrowind and Oblivion and is now lead designer on Fallout 3. Before working at Bethesda, he was a designer on the Thief series, and worked at Looking Glass and Ion Storm Austin.

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I often struggle with whether or not we as game developers should have a heightened sense of social responsibility when creating entertainment.
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Gabe Newell Writes for Edge

Gabe Newell — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:01:00 -0600

Left4Dead released this week, and I’m extremely pleased with the reception so far.

We set out to create a first-person four-player game in which the action changes each time it’s played. We wanted to use procedural narrative to simulate stories because, in a multiplayer environment like this, we felt a more linear, scripted approach would not deliver in the same way.
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John Riccitiello Writes for Edge

John Riccitiello — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:15:00 -0600

It’s no secret that, when the current generation arrived, EA went through a tough transition. But here at E3 I think we’ve shown how we’ve emerged from that challenge, stronger than ever.

Back in the 1990s, we nailed the launch of PlayStation 1. A few years later, we came through the next generation even stronger. We made a lot of the right decisions and we leveraged the things that make this company great, like our publishing strength, the quality of our IP and a focus on R&D.
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A Year in the Life of a Startup

Jeff_Lujan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:45:48 -0600

The transition from working FOR someone to FOR Yourself
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A Season of Hope

James_Portnow — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:54:47 -0600

James Portnow is CCO of Divide By Zero Games.

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There are some days that you can be unabashedly proud of our industry, some events that remind you what we could be, what we are at our very best. Tuesday, December 9, 2008 was one of those days and the Child’s Play charity dinner was just such an event.
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FIFA’s Online Future

David Rutter — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:43:00 -0600

David Rutter is the producer of FIFA 09 on PS3 and Xbox 360. Working out of the largest EA studio at EA Canada in Burnaby, BC, Rutter leads a global team comprised of individuals from 18 different countries, who speak 20 different languages, all united by a passion for football. He is a native of Stevenage, UK.

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A Few of My Least Favorite Things

Randy Smith — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:42:02 -0600
Randy Smith is a lead game designer at EA's LA studio. His current project is a collaboration with Steven Spielberg.
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The Pleasure of Panic

Steven Poole — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:45:52 -0600

Steven Poole is the author of Trigger Happy: the Inner Life of Videogames.
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Mobile Multiplayer Games: Where Are We Now?

Arthur Goikhman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:37:58 -0600
Arthur Goikhman is CEO of New York-based mobile games company Cellufun.
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Seeding Tomorrow’s 3D Artists

Immanuel Martin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:21:59 -0600

Immanuel Martin is Director of Sales at Luxology. He has been doing sales and business development in the Silicon Valley software companies for more than 15 years. He has been Director of Sales at Luxology for the past three years. In his spare time he spends time improving his modo modeling skills as well as working on independent film projects.

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The Future for Atari

Phil Harrison — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:39:00 -0600

Phil Harrison began his career in the late 1980s, at Mindscape. He spent many years at Sony, guiding the PlayStation through three generations. He is now president of Atari.
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Michael Phelps: Gaming’s Next Big Thing?

Thom Dinsdale — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:49:00 -0600

Is there hope that a game based on Phelps could be anything more than a soulless cash cow?

It recently came to light in a 60 Minutes biography of Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps that a videogame based on the swimmer and, presumably, his sporting achievements.
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The 360’s New Battleground

Jerry Johnson — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:28:40 -0600
Having worked on Xbox Live since its inception in 2002 and headed up the software team that created the new 360 dashboard, Jerry Johnson has just taken a new role as general manager of Xbox Live Europe. It’s part of Microsoft’s new emphasis on catering directly to the European market instead of leading it all the way from Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters.
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Capcom's Ben Judd on Japan

Ben Judd — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:57:31 -0600
For those who could tear their eyes from the cosplay annex,‭ ‬this year’s TGS saw the inner turmoil of Japan’s game industry made public.‭ ‬Typically reserved executives brought passion‭ (‬and pessimism‭) ‬to their keynotes,‭ ‬while their studio booths brought little,‭ ‬the showfloor dominated by western titles.‭ ‬Stealing the biggest queues was a solid and truly global display from Capcom‭ – ‬a reward,‭ ‬perhaps,‭ ‬for its steady courtship of western developers and unflappable in-house values.‭ ‬Key to those is veteran expat pr
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