So this past Saturday was Video Games 1.0 at the Museum of Moving Image, where I got to meet and interview the true father of home video games, Ralph Baer. Unfortunately, there were a number or technical problems that really put a damper on things, as well as other annoyances which I really won’t go into right now, but the bottom line was that it was a real thrill and honor to meet Ralph, and since I just submitted my report to Gamasutra, everyone will be able to check it out quite soon I hope.
The actual event had two parts: a conversation with Baer and a panel discussion with three noted game designers, Eugene Jarvis, another legend in the industry, who’s behind such classics as Defender and Robotron 2084, along with local talents Greg Costikyan and Eric Zimmerman. And since my Gama report only deals with Baer, I may as well pass along my notes from the second half of the event…
Things kicked off with each men giving a brief presentation. First on-stage of Jarvis who joked that he too started his career by ripping off Baer (obviously a nod to Nolan Bushnell). Eugene’s basic gist was that, despite all the enormous changes that video games have gone through over the decades, very little has changed and its all fundamentally the same thing, an “essence of conflict with limited resources in an alternate reality.” He illustrated that, while there has been massive “advances” in the area of sights and sound, there’s still much room for improvement before true tactile qualities are achieved, whether it be more sophisticated means of immersing the player in a virtual world (such as holographical imagery instead of three dimensional graphics displayed in a fashion that simply “give everyone headaches”), or via new methods of controls, such as the use of gestures or speech. Next were the social aspects, in which Eugene called Pong a “bi-social” game, since it involved at least two people participating, which is how most games were back in the day, whereas many today are an “anti-social” experience (though it’s worth pointing out that Jarvis was clearly poking fun at gaming stereotypes, specifically GTA). But this lead to talk of another numbers issue, regarding those making the games; back during the Pong era, you had just one guy, who had both the idea and the technical smarts to produce a game. Things soon grew and later you had games created by small, collaborative teams. Now it requires a small army, and things are pretty much run via a “full blown Hollywood system.” To serve as an example, he mentioned how the latest Need For Speed game from EA had 120 people behind it, with one person’s job being specifically to create the reflections in hubcaps. Eugene argued with with such a system in place, with so many people and such high costs involved, its impossible for any real changes to the plan or innovation. Everyone has to agree upon everything from the very beginning, and any deviation “from the script”, which is often necessary for the creative process, would be utter havoc (to which, Greg who was sitting right next to me, began wriggling in his chair in uncomfortable agreeance).
Speaking of, Greg was up next and starting things off by reiterating what Eugene has said, that as the budgets of games soar, its become increasingly impossible for innovation (“unless your last name is Miyamoto or Wright”). Hence why the independent game movement was born, so designers can say “screw the machine” and actually be creative. Greg demoed various independent games: Braid, Cloud, Darwinia, DROD, and Weird Worlds, and explained that, much like film and music, games need an independent movement as well.
Finally there was Eric, who was all over the map. First, following on the concepts and feelings Eugene and Greg had introduced, Eric explained that his company, gameLab, tries to be in the middle of things. He cited how more and more people are playing casual games (even more so than “hardcore” gamers), and by servicing this audience, which can be done so by creating games on a far smaller scale comparatively speaking, is quite liberating. Then it was onto games as an ancient form of technology and communication, and how single player experiences, as provided by electronic gaming, is an anomaly in the history of gaming. Eric also touched upon the societal aspects, such as how video games is seeping into pop culture, yet how it hasn’t effectively worked the other way around (beyond using certain things for the purpose of marketing), and that video games as a whole has an extremely narrow focus (going back to one of the games Greg showed off, Cloud, which used still drawings to set up the story, Eric commented that if a EA person saw that, they would think that it was a cute storyboard, which isn’t too far from truth really).
Afterwards all three gathered on-stage to answer questions, moderated by Keith Feinstein. Among the things asked is what makes a game good or bad, and Greg responded by explaining how we’re at the point of diminishing returns and that game designers need to stop being lazy; they have to stop making prettier games and start making better ones. Eric also noted that games have “cinema-envy” and that they need to stop trying to tell film-like stories and instead acknowledge and exploit its medium. As an example, he mentioned that he has yet to play a cell phone that he could only image playing on a cell phone. Though Eric was also quick to mention that its hard to “avoid what works.” And of course, regarding the subject of cinematic games, Final Fantasy was brought up, which Greg affectionately described as “boring game, cutscene, boring game, cutscene, boring game, cutscene.” Eugene made a curious comment, equating such games as a film was no editor, so its the designer’s duty to make every single event and outcome exciting, which is no easy feat.
But perhaps the most interesting question was how each person had to name the last good game they had played. Despite the fact that it pretty much went against every single point he had stated in regards to what games need to do and get away from, Eric named Shadow of the Colossus, which he felt was a big budget game but with refinement. And in addition to its balance and how each encounter is a puzzle, the whole game felt like a fable (“when fighting the Gorgons, Perseus didn’t have to worry about hit points and how much magic points he had left”). Greg simply stated DROD and Eugene responded with Nintendogs, due to its emotional elements, as well its use of voice. Keith mentioned how his pick was Electroplankton, in which Greg immediately asked “So how long did you play it?”, and Keith responded by mentioning how he has a three year old son. Eric then explained to the audience that he knew were Greg was going at, that its more of a “non-game”, which is a point of contention among some, but while Greg mentioned how he personally would be more interested in a defined, deeper experience, there’s still “no dishonor in doing something well.”
I also got to met Eugene shortly before the event, and I got to talk briefly about hot dogs and pizza. Totally cool guy. Plus I chatted a bit with Greg and a few others from Manifesto Games. I discovered that they’re finally ready to launch. The date has been set: May 32nd.
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Afterwards was the NY Shitty Punk Rock CD release party. I got there just in time for the BDF‘s set. Joe, who was already drunk by the time, treated me to a couple of shots of rum, and in no time I was pretty blasted as well (having not eaten the entire day also helped). I then ended up getting like a million phone calls all at once, so friends who didn’t make the show were still able to enjoy how seriously sloshed I was. At one point I called Katie who wasn’t in and left some bizarre message which she intends to sample for her next podcast. I’m both flattered and afraid.
As for the show, the highlight had to be The Spunks, which is two Japanese guys, one’s the guitarist and singer, the other’s the bassist, and one American guy on drums. Their set was super short (since there were 15 bands on the bill, each were limited to a 20 set only) but fucking phe-nom-e-nal. Between songs the singer, Hajime, and drummer, Al, had this funny routine going on, playing off the singer’s broken English…
Hajime: “Okay, the next song is a cover from one of our favorite bands, the Crash!”
Al: “Who’s that again?”
Hajime: “The Crash!”
Al: “Don’t you mean the Clash?”
Hajime: “Yeah, the Crash!”
Al: “Because there’s no band called the Crash. It’s the Clash.”
Hajime: “ENGLISH SUCKS!!!”
As for their last song, get this: so they’re rocking away, and the pit is going insane (the craziest I had seen all night), so while playing, Hajime goes into the audience, picks out a girl, brings her on stage, puts the guitar on her, and shows her how to play the chord. Then while she’s playing with the rest of the band, and while the pit is still going nuts, Hajime goes into the crowd to give everyone high-fives, and is then disappears, until twenty seconds later, he’s back on stage with a drum kit on his head, and then starts to spin around. Again, everyone is going bat-shit loco. Hajime then take guitar from the girl, asks the audience to give her a round of applause, goes back to playing for a bit, then pulls out a vibrator and starts to play the guitar with it. Seriously, performance of the year. And further proof that the Japanese ain’t just good at making video games and television sets… they seem to do the punk thing very, very good.
Speaking off, the biggest surprise of the night had to be the return of the guys from the Rohynols (or at least two of them), which is a Japanese punk group that Joe and I were major fans (and whom I did some gig posters for). By the time the Black Out Shoppers were done with their set, I was done for the night and decided to go home, so I didn’t end up checking out BENT after-all.
As for the next day, I spent most of the day just playing assorted Dreamcast games, mostly Typing of the Dead and Border Down, while MK toiled away on Lost in Blue. I finally showed her my Nintendog, which is a wiener dog that I’ve named Snickers. Thus far he’s only learned how to sit and really doesn’t have the hang of fetching quite yet. But he’s cute, even when he’s eating garbage off the street. We also watched the rest of season five of Red Dwarf.
I supposed I should mention Friday night and how I saw Drawing Restraint 9, the new Matthew Barney/Bjork thing with Mike Simses. First off, you have to consider I actually liked Cremaster for assorted reasons, which will take far too long to explain (when it comes to most fine art, I can both see the qualities that make arty farty people swoon, as well as understand why the rest of the world gets annoyed, even offended, by such stuff). Anyway, it was pretty good. It was no Cremaster mind you, but at the very least, it did not come off as some vanity project for Bjork which was what I was most afraid off/expecting.
Like his previous work, the emphasis is on symbolism, rituals and tension, but unlike, say Cremaster 3, which had all these bizarre, almost otherworldly things and people going on, all working together and against each other, and on so many levels, things this time around are far more concrete and grounded, and therefore everything just ends up being a tad boring and drawn out in comparison. I think even the most hardened Barney fan has to admit that the tea ceremony was way too long. But on the plus side, Bjork’s music is fantastic as ever, plus Barney really know how to make a killer title sequence. And I totally loved the use of the Cremaster “logo”.
Real quick story of why seeing movies in a theater in NYC is a pain in the ass because it seems everyone else if fucking nuts: so Mike and I were chatting before the movie began, and when the lights went down and the theater started playing their promo reel, we were still talking, though to simply wrap up the conversation. Again, we weren’t talking about the movie, nor any previews, just this animated film that tells everyone “Welcome to the theater.” Basically, nothing important. Yet it didn’t stop this guy in front of us from loosing his cool, who turned around and yelled at us, in the most gayest way possible: “Give me a break guys, can you please cut it!” Again, this wasn’t some tough guy, but one of those frail arty-farty types, the ones that’s extremely Upper West Side, tall, bald and frail looking and wearing a turtleneck, even though it way too warm outside, and who also has some docile looking Asian girl as a girlfriend, but who looks young enough to be his 11 year old daughter (the whole Woody Allen/Soon-Yi thing going on). And I absolutely love it when stuff happens when I’m with my nice and quiet friend, the one who doesn’t resort to yelling and simply laughs off any situation and he’s the guy out of the two of us that decides to bark back. Among Mike’s response was “Gee, I really hope that wasn’t the best part of the movie, otherwise we’re in trouble!” which got a nice laugh from the folks sitting behind us.
While I’m at it, I may as well mention last Wednesday’s movie night included I Heart Hucklebees, which I’ve always been curious about, but never felt like watching since it screamed pretentious over-intellectual borefest to me (despite the fact that most of my friends saw and loved it). And I have to say… first off, there’s very few films like it. The story and subject matter is totally original and the presentation, as well as the directing and pacing, is all totally fresh and frantic, plus the acting quite stellar. But, at the same time, it was a bit too in love with itself, plus I really thought that things sorta fell apart about 75% of the way through, which was both super distracting. But I still enjoyed it, though most of that is due to Mark Wahlberg, who’s a fucking amazing actor.
And the South Park that night was pretty awesome, though that’s just because I fucking hate Oprah Winfrey with a passion.
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And hey, I may as well pass along some game related stuff that I wrote about last week but never got around to posting, including…
- Here’s something totally unexpected: Keita Takahashi, the man behind Katamari Damacy, recently had some not so nice words regarding Nintendo’s Revolution. Up until then, they guy’s been the darling of the game design world, but now, lots of folks are calling him a hack (among other things). Which is of course, totally retarded; the guy’s entitled to his own opinion and the bottom line is that he’s singlehandedly responsible for one of the most inventive games in many years, so he’s hardly a hack. Hence why his comment makes zero sense, given that control input was what really set his game aside from everything else out there. You’d think that he’d be all up for embracing a totally new control scheme… since that’s basically what he asked for us not too long ago.
- And here’s something that’s perhaps less surprising: in this Roger Ebert review of Silent Hill, near the end he makes some out of the blue dig at video games. WTF?.
- Plus check out this interview with the man who has “the best job in America” according to CNN. It’s Mark Cochtermann, the director of technology at EA, and he loves his job. Though he does point out that…
“… Still, there’s stress. The worst is a bug or defect. And you can’t waste time tweaking that last whiz-bang feature, given the market pressures…”
Wow, just wow. Its obvious that this guy doesn’t work or even talk with the P.R. department.
- So it would seem that another possible route for independent game developers to reach a mainstream audience besides MS’s Xbox 360 Live Arcade is forming. Nintendo plans on making indie games available for download for the DS in Japan, according to an article in Famitsu, via NeoGAF. And here’s a vid of one of the games in action (looks like fun… and reminiscent of the old Super Famicom shmup, Pop ‘n Twin Bee).
- Speaking of indie games, check out what la Molleindustria has to offer. Among them is their highly detailed and involved McDonald’s simulator which I guess could fall into the “serious games” category (those are games which try to teach the player a valuable lesson, and often deals with sociopolitical issues). Then there’s Queer Power, located on the main page, which is… education I guess (and NSFW).
- As if the Genesis converted to a guitar from before wasn’t proof enough that eBay has anything and everything related to vide games, here’s an auction for an actual developmental team (and an award winning one no less).
- Some might be delighted to know that the Mega Man Effect, which OS X user have had for a while now, is finally available for Windows. It’s great for any Mega Man fan, or that person you just want to play a dirty trick on; its cute at first, but become uber annoying after the fifth time or so time.
- Mother 3 (the sequel to the game that most Americans know as Earthbound) just came out in Japan (last) week, and the early word is that its pretty fucking amazing. Which means that if Nintendo doesn’t announce a domestic release for the game at E3, a small riot may ensue.
Another game that just came out was Okami, which has been getting rave reviews in Japan (some are calling it “Capcom’s Zelda”). Obviously, the most striking thing about the game is the water-colored look… and apparently, that wasn’t always the plan. During a recent press event, Clover (the game’s creators) showed off the game when it had a more realistic look.
- Looks like Dave Perry has his sights on making another Earthworm Jim game, though to do that, he’ll have to buy back the rights from Atari.
- Has anyone else been keeping tabs of the Sam & Max webcomic? It was just updated this past Wednesday.
- The big hit on the web among lots of folks last week was the latest short film from pixel artist Paul Anderson, who’s work I’ve mentioned in the past. Well check out Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006, which is basically an homage to 16-bit side scrolling beat’em-ups. It pretty neat.
And anyone who’s interested in his previous work should definitely check them out.
- Oh, and I know this isn’t game related, but Simon passed this along the other day: a really bad cover of Europe’s The Final Countdown (aka Gob’s theme).
- Sticking with rock, but going back to video games, do you know about Dragonforce? When folks first brought them up recently, I thought they were talking about the old Sega Saturn strategy title, but when I discovered that it was just some power metal band, I stopped paying attention. That was until I actually heard them and discovered that there is a connection with video games after-all. Just listen for yourself.
- And here’s a vid for some band which, according to one guy at Insert Credit, is from director of the best film to come out of Japan, Survive Style 5+. It’s White Surf Style 5 by the Japanese band Supercar. There’s certainly a strong similarity there, but I’m more inclined to say that its by someone who’s a big fan of the movie. Though the same person also says that he had heard from someone that it came out years before the movie…
- Finally, here’s something Katie just passed along: some Japanese guy doing Robocop pantomime, plus a bonus near the end! Once again, God bless YouTube.
… Alright, just to set the record straight, I didn’t write all this in one sitting (dear God no), it just stuff I write on the side when I need a break from what I’m working on (since someone asked about it once again). Speaking off, I better get back to work. Plus I also have to build a bed for MK in Lost in Blue.
