So the intertubes are saying that Sony plans to cut the price of the PSPgo in the US from $250 to $199. This is a good start and I hope they follow up with more for this platform.
Why? First off, the PSP version of Savage Moon was a game I was really proud of and from a purely self-interested point-of-view it would be good to spread the word.
But also, as a gamer and a developer, the PSP is a great platform, but one that has arrived in the post-iPhone world and it needs to recognise that. It needs to push it’s better graphics and great controls system. It needs to push the connectivity. It also needs to revisit basic – but vital stuff – the shop system, the ease of access, the web-browser and so on.
For the PSPgo to grow, it needs to look again at it’s grounding…
Dawn of a New (Gaming) Day
I’ve been reading the fascinating final huzzah from the now former Microsoft vision guy, Ray Ozzie. In it he points (diplomatically) to Microsoft failure to truly think in a networked manner and says that the company needs to think beyond the PC. This is going to be tough for them as much of their income comes from PC-installed systems:
We’ve seen agile innovation playing out before a backdrop in which many dramatic changes have occurred across all aspects of our industry’s core infrastructure. These myriad evolutions of our infrastructure have been predicted for years, but in the past five years so much has happened that we’ve grown already to take many of these changes for granted: Ubiquitous internet access over wired, WiFi and 3G/4G networks; many now even take for granted that LTE and ‘whitespace’ will be broadly delivered. We’ve seen our boxy devices based on ‘system boards’ morph into sleek elegantly-designed devices based on transformational ‘systems on a chip’. We’ve seen bulky CRT monitors replaced by impossibly thin touch screens. We’ve seen business processes and entire organizations transformed by the zero-friction nature of the internet; the walls between producer and consumer having now vanished. Substantial business ecosystems have collapsed as many classic aggregation & distribution mechanisms no longer make sense.
Organizations worldwide, in every industry, are now stepping back and re-thinking the basics; questioning their most fundamental structural tenets. Doing so is necessary for their long-term growth and survival. And our own industry is no exception, where we must question our most fundamental assumptions about infrastructure & apps.
With this he challenges Microsoft to think beyond their fundamental assumptions;
And so at this juncture, given all that has transpired in computing and communications, it’s important that all of us do precisely what our competitors and customers will ultimately do: close our eyes and form a realistic picture of what a post-PC world might actually look like, if it were to ever truly occur. How would customers accomplish the kinds of things they do today? In what ways would it be better? In what ways would it be worse, or just different?
It’s worth reading the whole thing. It’s very interesting and Ray comes over as a genuine guy and a strong visionary. Pity they are letting him go. Having worked on a game for the new Windows Phone 7, I think Microsoft have started this journey, but have a long way to go. Ray also offers things for us in the games industry to learn too. Here’s my thoughts on Ray’s thoughts (if you see what I mean…);
There is more stuff that I’d like to say, but I think that will have to wait for another day, as I’ve got to feed the cats now… so I’ll end this post with a quote from Ray:
In 1939, in New York City, there was an amazing World’s Fair. It was called ‘the greatest show of all time’.
In that year Americans were exhausted, having lived through a decade of depression. Unemployment still hovered above 17%. In Europe, the next world war was brewing. It was an undeniably dark juncture for us all.
And yet, this 1939 World’s Fair opened in a way that evoked broad and acute hope: the promise of a glorious future. There were pavilions from industry & countries all across the world showing vision; showing progress: The Futurama; The World of Tomorrow. Icons conjuring up images of the future: The Trylon; The Perisphere.
The fair’s theme: Dawn of a New Day.
Sneak Peak into Mountains of Madness Script (possibly?!?)
So I came across this blog, which in turn came across this review of an older script version of the alleged script for the forthcoming 3D Lovecraft epic to be directed by Del Toro. I think you’d need a good Libary Skills roll to confirm the authenticity of this, but it’s fun anyway:
Those who perceive Lovecraft merely as an eccentric who wrote about some cool mega-monsters with lots of tentacles and slimy orifices are in for a treat here. Because that’s ALL of Lovecraft they’re gonna get. … It is a period piece: the frame story takes place in 1939, at the very beginning of World War 2 … but the bulk of the film is made up of a flashback narration by the last survivor of the previous expedition to the South Pole from 1930. Of course, it is told to the chief of the new expedition going there… This being a classic, I guess there’s no need for going too much into details, you know the plot. Scientists go to Antarctica, find remnants of primaeval, alien creatures, reveal terrible things about the (pre)human history. In this version, it is somewhat simplified into: Scientists go to Antarctica, resurrect primaeval monsters, mayhem ensues.
TIGA (the Independent Game Developers Association) is helping to promote the Wellcome Trust’s people awards – which is great news and a good opportunity if you’re a small dev studio looking to do something different:
People Award £30K Grants available for small games projects that explore the impact of biomedical science.
The Wellcome Trust, the second largest charitable foundation in the world, has a small grant scheme that enable you to explore the impact of biomedical science on society, its historical roots, effects on different cultures, or the ethical questions that it brings. Games are a great platform for exploring these issues and we invite proposals using this medium and we’re interested in what ideas you may have. The project aims to encourage people of all ages and from all walks of life to consider, question and debate the key issues of now and the future. We want people to be informed, inspired and involved. The People Awards support projects that aim to achieve at least one of the following:
* stimulate interest, excitement and debate about biomedical science through various methods
* support formal and informal learning about biomedical science
* reach new audiences not normally engaged with biomedical science, as well as continuing to target existing audiences
* examine the social, cultural, historical and ethical impact of biomedical science
* encourage new ways of thinking about biomedical science
* encourage high quality interdisciplinary practice and collaborative partnerships
* investigate and test new methods of engagement, participation and education.Applicants can apply for up to £30 000, for projects lasting a maximum of three years.
Organisations might include: museums and other cultural attractions; arts agencies; production companies; broadcast media; schools; local education authorities; universities and colleges; youth clubs; community groups; research institutes; the NHS; and science centres.
Partnership projects (between different people and organisations, e.g. scientists and ethicists, educators and artists) are welcomed. It is suggested that a possible approach is to find an organisation (e.g. science centre, museum, NHS trust, educational establishment, research department etc) and/or a scientist/s currently doing working in biomedical areas – then submit a joint proposal to make a game and/or interactive project. We would expect the resulting project would be distributed for free.
Please note: Standard health education and promotion projects, or projects dealing purely with non-biomedical sciences, are not eligible. In addition applicants must be based in the UK or the Republic of Ireland and the activity must take place in the UK or the Republic of Ireland. Finally, applicants need to need to have enough experience to demonstrate that they can deliver the project to a high standard.
Deadlines:* 29th October 2010
* 28th January 2011There is more information including applications forms, lists of past applications etc online: http://bit.ly/peopleaward
Any questions and queries can be directed to; people@wellcome.ac.uk – however please check the website for answer before emailing questions to us.
I should note that Auroch Digital – my new venture is working with the Wellcome Trust on this and a few other things…
Swarm Video for Radiohead
This project interested me – it’s a peer/crowd (or swarm as the nodes doing the information gathering are in clusters…) sourced video of the band Radiohead playing a gig where the video footage taken en mass is edited down to a single video. It’s a great idea that gives a massed crowd-eye view of the action:
If you’ve been to a gig recently, you may have wondered what, if anything, people actually do with the shaky concert footage they insist on filming on their cameras and phones. Usually, the answer lies somewhere between “absolutely nothing” and “stick it on YouTube despite the rubbish sound quality”. But not in the case of 62 fans who went to Radiohead‘s Prague show last summer. They pooled their footage together before editing it into a two-hour film of the show. The result, available at radiohead-prague.nataly.fr, is still on the shaky side of things (motion-sickness sufferers beware), but it certainly makes for an absorbing fans’-eye view of the concert. The cherry on top, though, is that Radiohead gave the fans their high-quality audio recordings of the show to soundtGrack it, thus elevating the project from an intriguing curio to an essential watch/listen.
And how are they distributing the 7.23 GB resultant project? By torrents, of course…
Seeing software evolve
This is a great article that shows some really interesting advances in the area of visualising the development of software. This is a visualisation of the development of Python:
Very cool!
(Hat tip to Dan Dixon for the link.)
My Favourite Co-op and Split-screen PS3 Games
I’ve always been a big fan of playing split-screen games – especially ones with co-operative modes. It’s a great way of playing game with friends. I’ve just finished unlocking and completing all the Special Ops games on Modern Warfare 2 as split-screen (not not all on the hardest levels) and really enjoyed them. In fact I’ve enjoyed them a lot more than both the online multiplayer and the single player versions. So now I’m looking for new spit-screen/coop fixes. Thus far I have lined up (now in order, best first…)
- Modern Warfare 2 – As noted above, this is an amazing 2 player co-op game that is great fun and a good challenge from start to finish (and in my humble opinion a better game that Black Ops). Update 1: Can’t wait to see what Respawn come up with now… Update 2: MW3 also has Coop play and it’s good fun too. It’s got more modes than MW2 has and is a worthy addition to the split-screen genre.
- Portal 2 – An amazing puzzle game in single player, that in even more fun in co-op mode. As well as the great gameplay from the single player but in 2-player designed levels, it has fun little interactions such as rock-paper-scissors.
- Resident Evil 5 – I’ve played this a bit in split-screen and it’s good. The online co-op is also a great mode. Dipping into a level as an online thing I found to be a very enyoable way of playing the game – also more fun than the single player. I prefer the online to the split-screen thus far..but its a great game either way.
- Warhammer 40K Kill Team – It’s not too expensive to buy (it’s only available as a download) and is a good 2 player co-op where the gameplay is pretty basic but the action is good fun. Worth a blast.
- Lost Planet 2 – Just installed this, and not played it as yet…so I’ll report back on how it goes. Update 1 – Not great, there are bits about this game I like, but also bits I don’t. The shooting does not feel very satisfactory. If you fail a at any point (both of you die) then you both have to restart the whole pile of linked missions which gets a bit boring replaying same sections over and over. Update 2 – OK, we’ve been still pushing with this game and I have to say I’m coming round to it much more. It is fun and once you get round the slightly different way the game has of doing things, it is good fun. Still with a few tweaks on weapons and saving it could be much, much better. But I am still playing it and having fun, which is what counts…
I hope to build this list with more games to play this way. Feel free to email me or tweet me suggestions…
Some more links on the Medal of Honor row
A few more links following up on the Medal of Honor featuring the Taliban row. There is a long, but good article by writer and developer Ian Bogost. He compares films and games and how they cover war and also brings the issue of free speech into it:
…[The documentary] Restrepo won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. A small cultural victory, to be sure, but a poignant one too in light of the incredible pointlessness of the American occupation of the Korangal Valley. On April 14, 2010 the U.S. closed its outpost there, admitting that no military nor political progress had been made there during the four years it had been in operation.
Restrepo is hardly the most controversial of recent art about a contemporary political issue. It’s tame, in fact, compared with the long history of filmic button-pushing. Movies have mostly stirred controversy through depictions of sex and perversion (a subject about which video games haven’t gotten to first base), but war has had its share of filmic contentiousness too.
How does Electronic Arts measure up? In creating a video game about the war in Afghanistan, the company had “stood firm,” in its words, against myriad accusations of the tastelessness of allowing players to take on the roles of enemy operatives in the game, particularly the Taliban.
…
It should be noted that such controversy continued, with its related publicity benefits, even despite a lack of information about just what it would mean to play the Taliban in Medal of Honor.
As Restrepo showed, the pure anguish of the Afghan war may obliterate the very notion of “good guys” and “bad guys” in Afghanistan in the first place. A generous interpreter might hope for such a subtle reveal in the game, one that might send a knowing chill down the spines of its presumably sophisticated playership.
But EA’s latest move in the Medal of Honor saga seems instead to reveal that its interest in Afghanistan in general and the Taliban in particular never had anything whatsoever to do with a position on foreign war — or really on anything whatsoever.
In a statement issued October 1, Medal of Honor Executive Producer Greg Goodrich caved to “concern over the inclusion of the Taliban in the multiplayer portion of our game.” Goodrich clarified that the opposition wouldn’t be removed from the title, but instead it would simply be “renamed from Taliban to Opposing Force.”
Not sure if that means it’s a text change that happens via and update, or if it’s just in the US that the change has been made? Another interesting point of view comes form Twisted Metal and God Of War creator David Jaffe;
“Interesting. Just tried MOH multiplayer and they spawned me as Taliban and I simply could not play. I would not shoot. Wanted a surrender button. I **** you not. The power of interactive. … I’m not thinking at all; just a gut reaction to the game. I think the game should 100% exist and they SHOULD be Taliban BUT I also think that because there is an ongoing conflict RIGHT NOW and innocents on both side are dying as well as soldiers, it’s something I do not want to role play with other live people. It just felt strange to me. I assure you, I don’t over think this sort of stuff. I tend to think gaming’s claims of the power of interactivity is – in general- hyperbolic bull****. That’s why I posted – this was a unique experience for me.”
Move sells well, Sony must be pleased
I notice that the new Move controller has sold very well:
PlayStation 3 motion controller Move has sold around 1.5 million units in Europe, according to Sony’s Andrew House.
Speaking to Bloomberg, the head of Sony Europe said the company was looking to increase production of the controller, which launched in the region on September 19.
Move has seen “very significant sales in the first month since launch, somewhere in the region of 1.5 million units for the new controller across just Europe,” according to House.
“The initial sales response has been so far in excess of our initial plan that we’ll probably be looking at accelerating production.”
While I don’t yet think they’ve got the super-killer Move titles, that is to be expected at this stage in a new devices life cycle. It takes time for new games to explore and build upon the controller gameplay mechanics. I have a play with it at e3 this year and it was a solid bit of engineering – the responses were excellent and the mapping of movement to the screen to top-notch. Now it just needs to evolve some new gameplay!
MMO Economics
This is an old, but interesting article that summarises the echoes of real-world economics in the virtual world of World of Warcraft:
At one point in time, gold was incredibly rare and individuals often used silver to complete transactions. Large amounts of gold were only held by the most skilled of players and individuals who had been saving up funds since the release of the game. Yet in time the supply of gold began to dramatically increase, and with it, the price of all goods in the game. Hence, because of the constant increase in the quantity of gold (e.g., inflation), prices began to rise. Though the quantity of virtual gold has increased, it is not as a consequence of any Federal Reserve or monetary authority but due to the labor of individual players. The supply for gold has been increased by individuals called “farmers,” whose job is to kill the most “profitable” (i.e., will give up the most gold) beasts and sell the virtual currency they have acquired in the real world. If one were to look up “World of Warcraft Gold” on most online auction houses, they would find a variety of farmers selling their newly acquired in-game currency. At the beginning of this “farming” trend the price of gold in real life online auction houses were quite high but as individuals began to enter the field, the price of United States dollars per virtual World of Warcraft gold piece dropped significantly.
If this interests you, then I’d recommend the novel by Charlie Stross, Halting State which takes these ideas and runs with them (can’t say much more as I’ll spoil the plot!)
Charlie Stross’s latest novel Halting State starts out as a hilarious post-cyberpunk police procedural, turns into a gripping post-cyberpunk technothriller, and escalates into a Big Ideas book about the future of economics, virtual worlds, the nation state and policing, while managing to crack a string of geeky in-jokes, play off a heaping helping of gripping action scenes, and telling a pretty good love story. Here’s the gimmick: Halting State opens when a virtual bank in a distributed, multiplayer world is robbed by a horde of orcs who march in and clean it out of all its prestige items and other loot, a direct frontal assault on the game-economy’s integrity. The losses run to millions…
A Great Becoming... 