I've worked in the video game biz for over 10 years.
I wanted a place to dump my thoughts, ideas, and feelings about the experience. So here goes...
Archives
Links
Gaming with Jaffe
Monday, May 31, 2004
LOTSA POSTS (no, I'm not a freak)
FYI...tons of posts tonite cause I copy/pasted posts from a previous BLOG into this one. So it looks like I did like 5-6 posts in one nite when I really just transfered them. Why am I telling you this? I don't know...I guess I just felt like it'd be really dumb to go to a blog and there's like 5 posts within an hour....
whatever.
David
The RESULT of SUPER SIZE ME
whatever.
David
Me and my wife saw SUPER SIZE ME the other day. Since our kid was born (and we both put on weight) we've been talking about/dabbling with eating better. I think the flic was the final straw. If you have not seen it, it pretty much turns you off to any kind of food that is not natural. So my wife got a cook book of vegetarian recepies, went to WILD OATS (healthy grocery store), and started to cook healthy for us!
Tonite we had some sort of beans and pasta dish and it was great! I love it when you try a new food (which I don't do all that often) and you dig it right away! I hate having to aquire the taste of certain foods...who has the time for that?
I know it looks gross in my cell phone pic above but it was so good!
Thanks hon!
I saw it and I really liked it! I did not expect to at all...I wanted to see TROY (cause it relates to GOD OF WAR and it looked like a movie I'd like). But when I called my brother to see if he wanted to go to the movies, he did but really didn't want to see Troy. So I was fine seeing what he wanted to see...more often than not, I just like going to the movies....when it's something I really wanna see, that's even better. Jesus, have I been so conditioned by the machine that is the media that I'll fork over 12 bucks w/out really caring what they show?!?!
Anyway, expected crap. Amusing, fun crap, but crap. And hey, it was darned entertaining. Lotsa fun, cool fx, decent story and look, I'm a dad now ok? So the whole parent/child theme runing thru DAY AFTER TOMMOROW is totally cheese ball I concur. BUT, I like cheese alot AND when it has to do with kids (now that I am a dad) I'm just a sucker for it...
Lotsa fun...if you are not a movie goer who really demands MORE than simply a fun time at the movies (and hey, if you do, good for you...like I said, I've been sucked in by the machine), then you will prob. get your money's worth!
Well E3 2004 is over and I figured I'd post my thoughts on some of the games I saw, things I experienced,etc.
I figured this is a good place to post since it's my little hole on the net. Posting on some offical game board (IGN, GAMESPOT,etc.) didn't seem like such a great idea since I work in games, use my real name in posts, etc. and people might think I was trying to drum up support for my game (GOD OF WAR) or was ragging on the competition in some sort of official, Sony sanctioned way. This way, since it's the DAVID JAFFE BLOG, I assume it is pretty clear that these are my thoughts, not those of Sony...
Anyway, I really love reading people's E3 wrap ups and thought it would be fun to do one of my own so... here's the rundown:
THE GENERAL LEE- At the entrance to the South Hall, Ubi Soft had a version of the General Lee from the DUKES OF HAZZARD show. This was my fave show as a kid and it was SO AMAZINGLY COOL to stand next to it and pose like a dork as some of the folks from the GOD OF WAR team took a picture of me. I will post this to the gallery soon. Did not get around to playing the game...sure it will be average (like the last Dukes game) but I don't care...I played 50% into that last pile of crap and loved every second MAINLY cause I was driving the GENERAL LEE through Hazzard county! Hell, after each episode on Friday nights (back when I was a kid) I would lay the sofa cusions at the bottom of our steps in a ramp fashion, sit in the laundy basket at the top of the steps and RIDE DOWN THE STEPS, hit the sofa cusion ramp, and go flying (sort of!)...shows you what a fan/dork/idiot I am for the Dukes!
-SHADOW OF ROME- this was- to me- the main competition for GOD OF WAR at the show since it was set in a similar time period and seemed to be a similar style game. After playing it- much as I thought the fighting was fun (and I really liked some of the deep strategy in the macro aspect of the combat...things like watching out for the 'health' of your weapon and being able to steal the weapon from the enemy)- I didn't care for the game. The stealth stuff bored me (don't like stealth games very much) and the combat seemed very similar (as in, each combat portion- broken up by stealth missions- would not change that much). This may not be the case AT ALL but that was the impression I walked away with at E3. If I didn't get most games for free, this would be a total RENT FIRST, DECIDE TO BUY LATER.
-DOOM 3...hmmm, dug DOOM 1 and DOOM 2 very much. This could be the best FPS in the wolrd for all I know as I did not get my hands on a controller (too crowded in there). BUT watching someone play was enough to make me want to keep on walking to find something else to look at. It just seemed dull, repetative, and derivative. I've seen several comments from Carmak about how GAME DESIGN is over rated and it's all about tech. For a while, I was worried he might be right. But the tide has turned. Most all games at the show looked decent...these days it IS all about GAMEPLAY and new ideas. So as a GAME DESIGNER/GAME DIRECTOR it was nice to see that. Still, sad the game didn't seem any better.
-DEVIL MAY CRY 3...seemed just like DMC 1....WHICH I AM 100% FINE WITH!!! Great control, cool style, nice viz...looking forward to playing it. That said, I'm annoyed that Dante doesn't FEEL like DMC 1 Dante. Before he was JUST arrogant/cocky enough to be goofy and endearing. Now he's just a dork...and since I don't really get Japanese ascetic for all I know they were GOING for making him ultra dorky and they want the audience to giggle and laugh at him...but it sure didn't seem that way. I got that they wanted us to watch Dante doing all his 'bad ass stuff' (eating pizza, twirling an AI skull on his finger; posing in a dumb ass way when he slammed the juke box;etc) and go 'dude he is cool!'....I just thought 'what a lame dork'....even so, the game itself was REALLY, really fun.
-MGS3-...uhm, ok, I'll play it. Didn't LOOK that great; didn't PLAY that great (kinda dull); but I am sure it's gonna be fantastic just because I have faith in Kojima and his team (love MGS 1, really liked MGS2). Kinda stupid that you kill animals to eat and instead of you grabbing the bodies and eating them, canned foods just appear once the dead animal vanishes....seems to kill the whole survival vibe. You;d think they could have executed the concept a bit more dramatic. ALSO, PLEASE KOJIMA STOP WITH THINKING YOU ARE A GREAT STORYTELLER! You are not...or if you are, MGS 1 and CERTAINLY MGS2 don't show us this. And hell, even if you do tell a good story (which I don't think you do...but you make a great game!), please stop telling SO MUCH OF IT....there I am playing the demo and- I kid you not- I have to 'X' my way thru 30-50 pages of damned CODEC TEXT! I mean, PLEASE....it took about 45 seconds just to X thru all of it and I wasn't reading any of it....It was like playing TRACK AND FIELD!! Still, looking forward to playing this over the holidays...
-NINTENDO DS...ok, I work for Sony....and I LOVE the PSP...looks amazing. That said, I own every system and will buy both the PSP and the DS. THAT said, what are these people smoking who say the DS is amazing?!?! I did my time, waited in that stupid line and got to play with the thing. Heck, I even got two of the stylists that they let you keep. Man, with the exception of a submarine demo which was fun (which I just read MIYAMOTO personally worked on...naturally) everything else was silly and dumb. Reminded me of Eyetoy...interesting novelty but do I want to play games like this?!? My answer= NO! I mean, the touch screen deal was interesting but SO WHAT...Maybe I'm a real shitty game designer (some have argued this) but I didn't see the DS and go 'dude, the possilbe games we could make with this...amazing!!!'. ...I saw it and went 'hmm,that's amusing....hey look, 5 minutes have passed and now I'm over it...what else can I see at the show?'...THAT AND- to make it worse- the 4 face buttons ARE WAY TO SMALL and way too close together !!! I am surprised no one is writing about this....they suck so bad!!! I don't have big hands and I kept hitting two of the tiny damn buttons instead of one! FINALLY, played the multiplayer MARIO 64 * 4 and all I have to say is 'so?!?'...it's capture the flag with MARIO and it's not very fun....I got really bored and all you used the bottom screen for was a map....so what? You could have had more fun with a CRAZY TAXI arrow on a single screen...then you would not have had to keep looking away from the action....ah well, seems like I am in the minority....
-FINAL FANTASY 12...really liked it. Combat system was LOTSA FUN (reminded me a bit of Parasite Eve)...Have not liked a FF game since FF7....this will bring me back to the series...like the 360 camera control, like the characters, like the combat...seems more like a REAL GAME for the first time in a while and less like a MOVIE with a touch of gameplay thrown in....REALLY looking forward to this and I am NOT an RPG head...I dig the RPGS but I have NEVER finished one and only play them every now and then...
-JADE EMPIRE- didn't play it...but I was just glad to see the combat was REAL TIME....very interested in picking it up now....before, I could have cared less....
-ZELDA MINISH CAP- this is the GBA zelda where you shrink down...dug it, looking forward to it very much. First brand new ZELDA GBA game and- to be frank- didn't care for the 3D Zelda games...I thought they were too big and too overwhelming....LOVE D the 8 and 16bit and the GBA zeldas are very much like that....I may go back and play LINK TO THE PAST on the GBA to bide the time....this was cool...I like how link got all shrunk down and he was teeny tiny on screen....and I liked how the game played with perspectives (sometimes you were teeny tiny on some screens; other screens you were normal size the the enviroment art was all big to make you still feel small)....
-TIME SPLITTERS 3- seems fast, polished, and fun. Very early....there was a helicopter boss at the end of the train stage (only stage I played) that seemed like 10% done...looked more like a sprite card you were shooting at than a 3D model...And I could not damage it...shot it over and over and over and no sense of killing it....nice to see such an unfinished game at E3 again...I am not joking. Used to be that you could show stuff that was really early at E3 (I've been to all 10 and in the first few years, sometimes you'd see stuff that felt like tech demos alongside more finished products)...anyway, so that was cool...plus, early as it was, what I played was fun....
- ZOE FLOWER....I imagine you know who she is. She does all kinds of gaming press as this hot, gamer girl kind of persona. She's cool and she played lots of GOD OF WAR and even posted about it on her website saying it was GREAT! That was fantastic!
Random Thoughts
I figured this is a good place to post since it's my little hole on the net. Posting on some offical game board (IGN, GAMESPOT,etc.) didn't seem like such a great idea since I work in games, use my real name in posts, etc. and people might think I was trying to drum up support for my game (GOD OF WAR) or was ragging on the competition in some sort of official, Sony sanctioned way. This way, since it's the DAVID JAFFE BLOG, I assume it is pretty clear that these are my thoughts, not those of Sony...
Anyway, I really love reading people's E3 wrap ups and thought it would be fun to do one of my own so... here's the rundown:
THE GENERAL LEE- At the entrance to the South Hall, Ubi Soft had a version of the General Lee from the DUKES OF HAZZARD show. This was my fave show as a kid and it was SO AMAZINGLY COOL to stand next to it and pose like a dork as some of the folks from the GOD OF WAR team took a picture of me. I will post this to the gallery soon. Did not get around to playing the game...sure it will be average (like the last Dukes game) but I don't care...I played 50% into that last pile of crap and loved every second MAINLY cause I was driving the GENERAL LEE through Hazzard county! Hell, after each episode on Friday nights (back when I was a kid) I would lay the sofa cusions at the bottom of our steps in a ramp fashion, sit in the laundy basket at the top of the steps and RIDE DOWN THE STEPS, hit the sofa cusion ramp, and go flying (sort of!)...shows you what a fan/dork/idiot I am for the Dukes!
-SHADOW OF ROME- this was- to me- the main competition for GOD OF WAR at the show since it was set in a similar time period and seemed to be a similar style game. After playing it- much as I thought the fighting was fun (and I really liked some of the deep strategy in the macro aspect of the combat...things like watching out for the 'health' of your weapon and being able to steal the weapon from the enemy)- I didn't care for the game. The stealth stuff bored me (don't like stealth games very much) and the combat seemed very similar (as in, each combat portion- broken up by stealth missions- would not change that much). This may not be the case AT ALL but that was the impression I walked away with at E3. If I didn't get most games for free, this would be a total RENT FIRST, DECIDE TO BUY LATER.
-DOOM 3...hmmm, dug DOOM 1 and DOOM 2 very much. This could be the best FPS in the wolrd for all I know as I did not get my hands on a controller (too crowded in there). BUT watching someone play was enough to make me want to keep on walking to find something else to look at. It just seemed dull, repetative, and derivative. I've seen several comments from Carmak about how GAME DESIGN is over rated and it's all about tech. For a while, I was worried he might be right. But the tide has turned. Most all games at the show looked decent...these days it IS all about GAMEPLAY and new ideas. So as a GAME DESIGNER/GAME DIRECTOR it was nice to see that. Still, sad the game didn't seem any better.
-DEVIL MAY CRY 3...seemed just like DMC 1....WHICH I AM 100% FINE WITH!!! Great control, cool style, nice viz...looking forward to playing it. That said, I'm annoyed that Dante doesn't FEEL like DMC 1 Dante. Before he was JUST arrogant/cocky enough to be goofy and endearing. Now he's just a dork...and since I don't really get Japanese ascetic for all I know they were GOING for making him ultra dorky and they want the audience to giggle and laugh at him...but it sure didn't seem that way. I got that they wanted us to watch Dante doing all his 'bad ass stuff' (eating pizza, twirling an AI skull on his finger; posing in a dumb ass way when he slammed the juke box;etc) and go 'dude he is cool!'....I just thought 'what a lame dork'....even so, the game itself was REALLY, really fun.
-MGS3-...uhm, ok, I'll play it. Didn't LOOK that great; didn't PLAY that great (kinda dull); but I am sure it's gonna be fantastic just because I have faith in Kojima and his team (love MGS 1, really liked MGS2). Kinda stupid that you kill animals to eat and instead of you grabbing the bodies and eating them, canned foods just appear once the dead animal vanishes....seems to kill the whole survival vibe. You;d think they could have executed the concept a bit more dramatic. ALSO, PLEASE KOJIMA STOP WITH THINKING YOU ARE A GREAT STORYTELLER! You are not...or if you are, MGS 1 and CERTAINLY MGS2 don't show us this. And hell, even if you do tell a good story (which I don't think you do...but you make a great game!), please stop telling SO MUCH OF IT....there I am playing the demo and- I kid you not- I have to 'X' my way thru 30-50 pages of damned CODEC TEXT! I mean, PLEASE....it took about 45 seconds just to X thru all of it and I wasn't reading any of it....It was like playing TRACK AND FIELD!! Still, looking forward to playing this over the holidays...
-NINTENDO DS...ok, I work for Sony....and I LOVE the PSP...looks amazing. That said, I own every system and will buy both the PSP and the DS. THAT said, what are these people smoking who say the DS is amazing?!?! I did my time, waited in that stupid line and got to play with the thing. Heck, I even got two of the stylists that they let you keep. Man, with the exception of a submarine demo which was fun (which I just read MIYAMOTO personally worked on...naturally) everything else was silly and dumb. Reminded me of Eyetoy...interesting novelty but do I want to play games like this?!? My answer= NO! I mean, the touch screen deal was interesting but SO WHAT...Maybe I'm a real shitty game designer (some have argued this) but I didn't see the DS and go 'dude, the possilbe games we could make with this...amazing!!!'. ...I saw it and went 'hmm,that's amusing....hey look, 5 minutes have passed and now I'm over it...what else can I see at the show?'...THAT AND- to make it worse- the 4 face buttons ARE WAY TO SMALL and way too close together !!! I am surprised no one is writing about this....they suck so bad!!! I don't have big hands and I kept hitting two of the tiny damn buttons instead of one! FINALLY, played the multiplayer MARIO 64 * 4 and all I have to say is 'so?!?'...it's capture the flag with MARIO and it's not very fun....I got really bored and all you used the bottom screen for was a map....so what? You could have had more fun with a CRAZY TAXI arrow on a single screen...then you would not have had to keep looking away from the action....ah well, seems like I am in the minority....
-FINAL FANTASY 12...really liked it. Combat system was LOTSA FUN (reminded me a bit of Parasite Eve)...Have not liked a FF game since FF7....this will bring me back to the series...like the 360 camera control, like the characters, like the combat...seems more like a REAL GAME for the first time in a while and less like a MOVIE with a touch of gameplay thrown in....REALLY looking forward to this and I am NOT an RPG head...I dig the RPGS but I have NEVER finished one and only play them every now and then...
-JADE EMPIRE- didn't play it...but I was just glad to see the combat was REAL TIME....very interested in picking it up now....before, I could have cared less....
-ZELDA MINISH CAP- this is the GBA zelda where you shrink down...dug it, looking forward to it very much. First brand new ZELDA GBA game and- to be frank- didn't care for the 3D Zelda games...I thought they were too big and too overwhelming....LOVE D the 8 and 16bit and the GBA zeldas are very much like that....I may go back and play LINK TO THE PAST on the GBA to bide the time....this was cool...I like how link got all shrunk down and he was teeny tiny on screen....and I liked how the game played with perspectives (sometimes you were teeny tiny on some screens; other screens you were normal size the the enviroment art was all big to make you still feel small)....
-TIME SPLITTERS 3- seems fast, polished, and fun. Very early....there was a helicopter boss at the end of the train stage (only stage I played) that seemed like 10% done...looked more like a sprite card you were shooting at than a 3D model...And I could not damage it...shot it over and over and over and no sense of killing it....nice to see such an unfinished game at E3 again...I am not joking. Used to be that you could show stuff that was really early at E3 (I've been to all 10 and in the first few years, sometimes you'd see stuff that felt like tech demos alongside more finished products)...anyway, so that was cool...plus, early as it was, what I played was fun....
- ZOE FLOWER....I imagine you know who she is. She does all kinds of gaming press as this hot, gamer girl kind of persona. She's cool and she played lots of GOD OF WAR and even posted about it on her website saying it was GREAT! That was fantastic!
No real theme...just various thoughts on games.
'CITY OF HEROES' MAKES ME SAD
Ok...I had set up my account, loaded the game, updated my video drivers, created my character (a very cool chick by the name of Lady Chaos X), and stepped into the tutorial mode. And almost immediately the game crashed. So I reloaded and played a bit (about 3-5 minutes) and the game crashed again. This went on for about 15-30 minutes (and about 4-6 crashes). After my final crash, I got fed up.
I just cancelled my account and packed the game back up to take into the office. If I had paid for it with my own cash, it'd be going back to the store. With me, this happens 50% of the time with PC games. I don't have a state of the art computer but it was state of the art about 1 year ago so one would think I could run a game like COH...no luck. And it's tough to tell: is it crashing cause of my system or the software itself. You know, I don't have the time to get into a customer support relationship with NCSOFT just to discover and TRY to fix the problem. No thanks guys...better luck next time.
The thing that sucks is I was really digging the game, right from the get go! Love creating a character, the combat seemed fun. I loved the little touches, like how my chat text appeared in a comic book word balloon above my hero's head. Ahh well, I bought ONIMUSHA 3 for PS2 the same time I got COH and I guess it'll be me and Samonoske (and J. Reno) for the next few days. That's what I love about console games. Reliable as hell. There's like a 1% chance I'll get a crash. Too bad too...I was really digging COH and it's the first MMO game I've liked. The rest felt cold and slow...this one I was doing cool moves several moments from arriving in the virtual world. Ah well, if you have the patience to put up with this kind of nonsense, give it a try...seemed like it would be a blast!
THE GAME IS COMING TOGETHER!
Two of the games bosses are coming together in record time. For about 3 months there was sluggish movement in this area of the game, but we tossed some new blood at the problem and now we've got two awsome bosses in the making. It's funny...when I started in games, I was a strong believer in paper design before implementation. I STILL think this is the way to go with high level concepts. You know: a boss made of fire that can only be destroyed by finding the fire hydrants and opening them up on the unsuspecting enemy...or something like that. THAT kind of stuff can be worked out on paper...but the real gameplay, the real nuts and bolts, you gotta get into the system and make the thing before you know if it'll be fun. The mistake we made on the bosses was we paper designed them and then tried to implement them. Now we sit at the PC and mock it up as we design it....really quick to see if it's fun or not. This ends up saving you a bunch of time in paper work/documenting because you only write stuff once you are happy with the design(we'd rewritten the document regarding the paper designed version of the boss over and over!)....also, there's some new AI coming together too, some of the more experimental AI concepts that I wasn't sure would work...well I saw a few today that were functioning and it's like 'damn, that idea really played out well....this AI is gonna be fun to fight'.....always nice when the project takes another big step forward on the road to becomming an actual game!
GOD OF WAR E3 AWARDS
I gotta say, we had a hell of an E3! We really did...I mean, I thought we had a pretty cool game going in, but I never thought we'd be standing in the same company as some of the best games at the show. Check out these awards:
best ps2 game of the show (gamespot)
best ps2 game of the show (gamespy) and third best game overall
Finalist (out of 5) for overall game of show (gamespot)
Finalist for action/adventure game of the show (gamespot)
Finalist for ps2 game of the show (1up)
Finalist for action game of the show (1up)
Most impressive game for ps2 (NEWSWEEK!)
NOMINATIONS FOR BEST CONSOLE GAME, BEST ORIGINAL GAME, BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME (E3 Critics Award)
We were totally snubbed by IGN but ahh well, you can't win them all. Hopefully the game can win those guys over sooner than later...
It really is a a great feeling to be part of a game that people are interested in. You put so much time, effort, and spirit into your games that when people take notice, it makes it worth it.
BEST BUY 4.99 A GAME?!?!
That's the word on the street! 5 bucks for some very good PS2,GBA,GC, and XBOX games! I am going tommorow and I hope they are not sold out of all the good stuff (watch, there will be like 100 copies of GITAROO MAN and nothing else)....still, what a deal. Kinda sad as I saw TWISTED METAL:BLACK on that list....my baby, my poor baby, marked down to 5 bucks...ahh well, she had a fantastic run (over a million sold...not bad!)
Anyway, gonna head to bed. See ya!
David
Working Late Again (game biz sux)
'CITY OF HEROES' MAKES ME SAD
Ok...I had set up my account, loaded the game, updated my video drivers, created my character (a very cool chick by the name of Lady Chaos X), and stepped into the tutorial mode. And almost immediately the game crashed. So I reloaded and played a bit (about 3-5 minutes) and the game crashed again. This went on for about 15-30 minutes (and about 4-6 crashes). After my final crash, I got fed up.
I just cancelled my account and packed the game back up to take into the office. If I had paid for it with my own cash, it'd be going back to the store. With me, this happens 50% of the time with PC games. I don't have a state of the art computer but it was state of the art about 1 year ago so one would think I could run a game like COH...no luck. And it's tough to tell: is it crashing cause of my system or the software itself. You know, I don't have the time to get into a customer support relationship with NCSOFT just to discover and TRY to fix the problem. No thanks guys...better luck next time.
The thing that sucks is I was really digging the game, right from the get go! Love creating a character, the combat seemed fun. I loved the little touches, like how my chat text appeared in a comic book word balloon above my hero's head. Ahh well, I bought ONIMUSHA 3 for PS2 the same time I got COH and I guess it'll be me and Samonoske (and J. Reno) for the next few days. That's what I love about console games. Reliable as hell. There's like a 1% chance I'll get a crash. Too bad too...I was really digging COH and it's the first MMO game I've liked. The rest felt cold and slow...this one I was doing cool moves several moments from arriving in the virtual world. Ah well, if you have the patience to put up with this kind of nonsense, give it a try...seemed like it would be a blast!
THE GAME IS COMING TOGETHER!
Two of the games bosses are coming together in record time. For about 3 months there was sluggish movement in this area of the game, but we tossed some new blood at the problem and now we've got two awsome bosses in the making. It's funny...when I started in games, I was a strong believer in paper design before implementation. I STILL think this is the way to go with high level concepts. You know: a boss made of fire that can only be destroyed by finding the fire hydrants and opening them up on the unsuspecting enemy...or something like that. THAT kind of stuff can be worked out on paper...but the real gameplay, the real nuts and bolts, you gotta get into the system and make the thing before you know if it'll be fun. The mistake we made on the bosses was we paper designed them and then tried to implement them. Now we sit at the PC and mock it up as we design it....really quick to see if it's fun or not. This ends up saving you a bunch of time in paper work/documenting because you only write stuff once you are happy with the design(we'd rewritten the document regarding the paper designed version of the boss over and over!)....also, there's some new AI coming together too, some of the more experimental AI concepts that I wasn't sure would work...well I saw a few today that were functioning and it's like 'damn, that idea really played out well....this AI is gonna be fun to fight'.....always nice when the project takes another big step forward on the road to becomming an actual game!
GOD OF WAR E3 AWARDS
I gotta say, we had a hell of an E3! We really did...I mean, I thought we had a pretty cool game going in, but I never thought we'd be standing in the same company as some of the best games at the show. Check out these awards:
best ps2 game of the show (gamespot)
best ps2 game of the show (gamespy) and third best game overall
Finalist (out of 5) for overall game of show (gamespot)
Finalist for action/adventure game of the show (gamespot)
Finalist for ps2 game of the show (1up)
Finalist for action game of the show (1up)
Most impressive game for ps2 (NEWSWEEK!)
NOMINATIONS FOR BEST CONSOLE GAME, BEST ORIGINAL GAME, BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME (E3 Critics Award)
We were totally snubbed by IGN but ahh well, you can't win them all. Hopefully the game can win those guys over sooner than later...
It really is a a great feeling to be part of a game that people are interested in. You put so much time, effort, and spirit into your games that when people take notice, it makes it worth it.
BEST BUY 4.99 A GAME?!?!
That's the word on the street! 5 bucks for some very good PS2,GBA,GC, and XBOX games! I am going tommorow and I hope they are not sold out of all the good stuff (watch, there will be like 100 copies of GITAROO MAN and nothing else)....still, what a deal. Kinda sad as I saw TWISTED METAL:BLACK on that list....my baby, my poor baby, marked down to 5 bucks...ahh well, she had a fantastic run (over a million sold...not bad!)
Anyway, gonna head to bed. See ya!
David
It's 8:40 and this is the third night in a row I've been working late on the game.
I know Sony is MUCH MUCH MUCH better about quality of life for the game makers than many other companies, but it still sucks. I heard some of the EA guys on the last Bond game were in crunch mode (i.e. 7 day weeks) for over 6 months! I know a friend working on a new EA game and when that title was in PRE PRODUCTION (as in, they were still working on the paper design) they were ALREADY in crunch mode....
So I don't have lots of room to complain. But what I do have is a wife, a daughter, and a need to exercise and feed my soul. Much as I love my work (and I do, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my work), I need more in my life.
That is why- after GOD OF WAR- I'm planning on stepping down from full on game directing duties. I have SO many game ideas I want to explore but it's just too much...maybe this is a single person's game...actually, it's a YOUNG SINGLE PERSON'S GAME...because once you get to a certain age, even if you have no one waiting at home, you do have your soul waiting for you and it's tough to pay it the attention it demands when you are holed up all day/night/day trying to figure out how many hit points a Cyclops should have or if players should be able to skip cinematics or not or if the puzzle for level 3A is challenging or frustrating...
I am very fortunate to have an understanding wife but even with that, GOD OF WAR has taken its toll. Games and marriage do not mix. No wonder game makers tend to be geeks. What's the point of being social when- even if you meet the girl if your dreams- you can never spend time with her?!?!
I've heard some people talk about unionizing the industry but that seems rather dangerous and doesn'' really take into account the financials of the game biz. You start charging overtime and the budgets will skyrocket into the 20-40 million dollar range for a title like GOD OF WAR....maybe we need to be less ambitious and make simpler titles? Maybe we need to hire more people and work in round the clock shifts? I dunno...it's a bitch....
Still, I am glad to be stepping into a CREATIVE DIRECTOR role for my next projects here. It still keeps me involved in games and trying to help our products be commerical and cool...but I'm not in the day to day trenches. While I will miss it, my soul comes first and it has been sorely neglected for over 2 years...I'm greatful it's still there, waiting for me.
David
I know Sony is MUCH MUCH MUCH better about quality of life for the game makers than many other companies, but it still sucks. I heard some of the EA guys on the last Bond game were in crunch mode (i.e. 7 day weeks) for over 6 months! I know a friend working on a new EA game and when that title was in PRE PRODUCTION (as in, they were still working on the paper design) they were ALREADY in crunch mode....
So I don't have lots of room to complain. But what I do have is a wife, a daughter, and a need to exercise and feed my soul. Much as I love my work (and I do, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my work), I need more in my life.
That is why- after GOD OF WAR- I'm planning on stepping down from full on game directing duties. I have SO many game ideas I want to explore but it's just too much...maybe this is a single person's game...actually, it's a YOUNG SINGLE PERSON'S GAME...because once you get to a certain age, even if you have no one waiting at home, you do have your soul waiting for you and it's tough to pay it the attention it demands when you are holed up all day/night/day trying to figure out how many hit points a Cyclops should have or if players should be able to skip cinematics or not or if the puzzle for level 3A is challenging or frustrating...
I am very fortunate to have an understanding wife but even with that, GOD OF WAR has taken its toll. Games and marriage do not mix. No wonder game makers tend to be geeks. What's the point of being social when- even if you meet the girl if your dreams- you can never spend time with her?!?!
I've heard some people talk about unionizing the industry but that seems rather dangerous and doesn'' really take into account the financials of the game biz. You start charging overtime and the budgets will skyrocket into the 20-40 million dollar range for a title like GOD OF WAR....maybe we need to be less ambitious and make simpler titles? Maybe we need to hire more people and work in round the clock shifts? I dunno...it's a bitch....
Still, I am glad to be stepping into a CREATIVE DIRECTOR role for my next projects here. It still keeps me involved in games and trying to help our products be commerical and cool...but I'm not in the day to day trenches. While I will miss it, my soul comes first and it has been sorely neglected for over 2 years...I'm greatful it's still there, waiting for me.
David