This year’s EA conference opened with the trailer for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. In the trailer we see a red car being chased by the police. During the course of the trailer other cars show up trying to stop the police cars from catching the main car. Police helicopters join and the chase continues. The car slides into the camera and the logo appears. Criterion has taken over the reigns for this new entry in the NFS series. The release date is shown as 11/16/2010. Appearing on stage is Craig Sullivan from Criterion to present a gameplay demo and footage. He states that when Criterion got the keys to the franchise they wanted to take it back to its roots. You can play through career mode as a racer and a cop. The game will include Need for Speed Autolog which is a suite of tools the player can use to connect, compare and compete with their friends. You will be able to see what friends are online, their records, their achievements and who you’re most wanted player is. Craig goes head to head with Matt in a hot pursuit type race. We see the gameplay from both sides of the game

Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-need-for/101350

Gameplay: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-need-for/101352

EA’s CEO John Riccitiello takes the stage to tell us that this year’s show will focus on “Ten Great Games from Ten Great Producers”.

Visceral Games’ Steve Papoutsis takes the stage to bring us information and gameplay footage from Dead Space 2. He says that they wanted to make a unique stamp in the horror genre of gaming and feels that they have with the Dead Space franchise. You again play as Isaac Clarke and the game takes place on The Sprawl an infected city on one of Saturn’s moons which is crawling with a wide range of Necromorphs. In the demo Isaac has to fight his way through what appears to be a church. Fighting his way through the enemies that are trying to stop him he finally reaches a room with a spectacular view of The Sprawl. A ship suddenly appears and starts to shoot out the windows. As Isaac is trying to avoid being sucked into the vacuum of space he finds a hatch in the floor which he manages to use to escape. He tumbles down into a blood stained room and the Necromorph boss appears. The demo ends with two pieces of information, the conclusion of this battle will be shown during Sony’s press conference and Dead Space 2 will release on January 25, 2011. Gameplay footage: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-dead-space-2/101337

The third game to be shown comes from a collaboration of DICE and EA’s LA Studio. Sean Decker from EA comes to show us the first gameplay footage of Medal of Honor and a live 24 player demo of the multi-player side of the game. Medal of Honor will take place in modern day Afghanistan and feature real world location maps. Two of those shown were Kabul City Ruins and Helmand Valley. The game will be released on October 12^th, with the multi-player beta starting next week on June 21^st. The beta will be available on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The live demo featured Team Assault which is a death match mode. Gameplay appears to be similar a mixture of Battlefield and Call of Duty.

Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-medal-of/101346

Gameplay: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-medal-of/101342

Katrina Strafford was brought on stage to announce EA’s newest player service called EA Gun Club. Members will receive early access to breaking news, games, demos, betas, unlockable weapons, and other rewards. The first reward was announced that all Battlefield: Bad Company 2 members would receive early beta access to Medal of Honor on June 17^th.  You can join Gun Club at www.gunclub.ea.com today. Also announced was the first Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam map pack will be available this winter. 

Announcement: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-electronic-arts/101384

Peter Moore, head of the EA Sports division takes the stage to tell us about three upcoming games. First up is EA Sports MMA, which will feature Randy Couture and Fedor Emilianko on the cover together. The game will release on October 19^th, and feature all kinds of fighting styles, fighters, and global locations.  MMA will feature a new service called EA Live Broadcast. Players will be able to create their fighter, make a hype smack talk video, and compete live online with players they are matched up with. Their will be real viewers through either the console or the web, real commentators calling the shots, and real rewards and prizes for the winners.

Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-ea-sports/101463

Live Broadcast Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-ea-sports/101465

The next title to be shown is EA Sports Active 2 which will now be available for the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3. New features include online, wireless and new biometrics technology. The trailer boasts that you will be able to optimize your work out, have wireless freedom, comes with a heart rate monitor, include 70+ exercises, track your progress online with instant uploads to your personal profile, and the game will release on November 16^th.  The live demo footage shows that each console will have its own unique controls. The Wii will continue to use a Wii remote, heart monitor, and leg tracking device. The PS3 will use a heart monitor and what appears to be 2 tracking devices and the Xbox 360 will use a heart monitor and the Kinect camera.

Debut Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-ea-sports/101380

Demo Footage: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-ea-sports/101378

The last sports title being shown is Madden 11. The new game boasts 3 vs 3 co-op online play, play by play commentary by Gus Johnson, and full games in half the time. The tagline is “Simpler, Quicker, Deeper”. Calling plays will now be simpler to do and you can create game plans like the NFL coaches.

Evolution Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-madden-nfl/101395

Rod Humble was brought out to talk about the Sims 3 move to consoles. The game will be available for the Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and DS. In the console version you will be able to Create, Play, and Live. Give your Sims the look you want, create homes that you want them to live in, explore the neighborhood like never before, and change their fate with the all new karma powers system. Play the Sims like never before on your favorite console.

Console Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-the-sims-3/101341

John came back out on stage to talk about EA Partnerships and give a shout out to new partners Insomniac Games and Respawn games. He then introduced one of those partnerships to show off the next game.

Cevat Yerli from Crytek came on stage to talk about Crysis 2. In Crysis 2 the developers won’t be telling you how to play the game. A new sandbox experience is being introduced and the game takes place in NY. The nanosuit and environmental destruction were featured in the gameplay footage shown. The demo took place in what appeared to be a ruined New York Central Station in the year 2023. Using the nanosuit’s visual tactics mode the player is able to spot some alien enemies nearby which were disposed of quickly. Next we see one of the new enemies revealed a giant mech-like creature called Master Pinger. Battle is shown between these two and several rockets are needed to finally take this enemy down. An armor vehicle appears to pick you up and you race away to avoid the falling debris. A nearby civilian pleads for help, but with a building getting ready to crash down into you; you speed away leaving him behind. The demo ends there and Cevat announces that Crysis 2 will be available in stereoscopic 3D at launch for all three platforms. He then tells the audience to put on their glasses that they were given and shows the 3D gameplay footage.

2D Gameplay: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-crysis-2/101431

3D Gameplay: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-crysis-2/101366

Next we see Cliffy B and Tanya from Epic Games and Adrian Chmielarz from People Can Fly came out to show us gameplay from their collaboration, Bulletstorm. The game boasts a high adventure storyline about redemption and revenge, lots of action, gun play, and you will be able to kill with skill. The demo starts off with our player and a team mate inside of a building. The team mate has run out of energy and needs to recharge. So the player takes control. We move outside to a view of the scenery and the player uses a zip line to reach the area below. Our first enemy appears which seems to be some type of drone and the player quickly disposes of it with gun fire. In the next building the player kicks in the door and actually causes it to go flying into an enemy who doesn’t survive impact. It appears that your kicks are just as powerful as weapons since you can kick enemies into generators and electrocute them. Your team mate seems to use the energy from that to recharge himself. The next objective appears on screen stating that you need to escape the hideout. More action and battles pursue as we make our escape. Different types of kills are worth different amounts of points. Our demo comes to an end with our team fighting off enemies while trying to make their escape on a train looking vehicle.

Gameplay Footage: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-bulletstorm/101397

And last but not least, we hear the Star Wars theme queued up and played for the presentation of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Out on stage we see Greg Zeschuk from Bioware and Mary Bihr from LucasArts. Their first announcement is that ever player will receive their very own star ship which will be used as your base of operations to explore the galaxy. Each ship will represent a rite of passage and the players own personal style.  PvP will take place in war zones such as the one on the planet Alderon. These zones will feature fierce battles that will remind you of ground battles from the movies.  Players will choose to play as a Jedi or a Sith to represent the Republic or the Empire. They are also here to show off the new trailer, simply called “Hope”.  The trailer features a great story, great combat and great characters from the game. What you see in the trailer you will be able to experience in the game. They also tell people that a playable version of the game will be available on the show floor.

Announcement Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-star-wars/101354

“Hope” Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-star-wars/101354

Well another EA conference comes to an end with an AMAZING trailer from Bioware for Star Wars: The Old Republic! I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see or hear anything about Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 3. My favorites from this year’s conference are the Need for Speed announcement and footage, EA Sports Active 2 footage, and of course Star Wars: The Old Republic. I can’t wait for Beta to start. Hopefully I will be one of the chosen few who get to experience the game before its release.

Well this year E3 started off again with Microsoft presenting their highlights of what they will be showing at this years show.

Microsoft opened the show with a bang and some explosive footage from Call of Duty: Black Ops shown by Mark Lamia from Treyarch. The gameplay started out in what looks to be the jungles of South Asia. The player is crawling through some pretty close quarter tunnels and encountering enemies in close range combat. Once he reaches the end of the tunnel an encampment full of enemy soldiers, heavy tanks and a chopper is revealed. After a couple of grenades and combat with the remaining soldiers the player commandeers the chopper with a co-pilot and takes to the air. Some amazing visuals of the jungle are shown and then air combat begins. The chopper armed with missiles and what appeared to be a machine gun on its nose, starts taking out enemy choppers, bridges, and some kind of pipeline. The explosions were amazing, the air combat was impressive and this appears to be Treyarch’s best CoD to date. You can check out the footage here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-call-of/101273

Next, Don Mattrick takes the stage to announce that Microsoft has signed an exclusive contract with Activision that will allow all Call of Duty add-ons to be released on Xbox 360 first through the year 2012. He then brings out Hideo Kojima to the stage to reveal something new and unique. Mr. Kojima didn’t spend too much time on the stage as he passed the torch to Shigenobu Matsuyama the producer of Metal Gear Solid: Rising who is here to show of the first ever footage of the game. The trailer opens with the camera panning a sword from hilt to blade. The Kojima logo appears and we are taken to footage of Raiden slicing an enemy soldier up. He then picks up the soldiers spine and seems to draw power from it. We are then treated to a montage of Raiden’s sword skills as he slices up things from vehicles to enemies. The word “Cut” appears on screen followed by the phrases “Cut at will” “Cut what you will” and “What will you cut?” The trailer ends with a very comedic performance of Raiden cutting up a watermelon into hand-sized chunks. See the footage for yourself here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-metal-gear/101271

Out walks Cliffy B. with his red controller to present the new four player co-op mode in Gears of War 3. Live gameplay footage from the game including the two female Gears characters Anya and Sam were shown. The demo takes place in Anvil’s Gate where the Gears have a base of operations located. Standing between them and the base is a bunch of angry Lambent enemies which can come up from the ground, breath fire, spit out smaller enemies, and use their multiple limbs to throw objects at you. At one point you see a Lambent Berserker throw a car at Marcus which he uses for cover for a brief moment until the berserker charges at him. The team races to the base where they regroup with more Gears characters, thinking they are safe. The Berserker jumps over the fence and down into the camera where the demo comes to the end. See the demo footage here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-gears-of-war/101281

Next on stage is Peter Molyneaux from Lionhead Studios to present the debut trailer of Fable 3. The game takes place 5 decades after Fable 2 and will feature exciting new content and storyline. He announces that the game will release October 26^th. From the trailer we can see that the story is about 2 siblings. One is the ruler f Albion and the other and adventurer. The player’s choices will decide the fate of Albion by helping them rise against the ruler or siding with their sibling’s tyranny. The choice is yours to decide. Debut Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-fable-iii/101279

After that wonderful debut trailer we are treated to another debut from Crytek’s new game for Xbox 360 called Codename Kingdoms. See it here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-kingdoms/101275

Marcus Lehto from Bungie came out to present us with new gameplay footage from Halo Reach. He stated that this is the most ambitious Halo game to date. The demo footage started off with a space view of the planet Reach. Next we see a dropship dropping off four Spartans Soldiers. Incoming is a Covenant ship that begins to eject drop pods carrying Elite Covenant soldiers. Battle ensues and the Spartans work their way to the base showing a variety of weapons and grenades. Inside the base we get to see some close quarters combat and the player is ordered to get to the Sabre before the Covenant destroy it. The Sabre turns out to be a multistage ship that the Spartan boards and launches into space. Once out of Reach’s atmosphere the boosters eject and the Sabre turns into a maneuverable ship that is used to fire upon oncoming Covenant ships. It appears that air battle will be possible in the game. The game ships in September, but you can check out the footage here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-halo-reach/101277

Marc Whitten comes out and states that Xbox Live has 25 million members as of today and starts the presentation on Xbox Live and Kinect (formerly known as Project Natal). He introduces Ron who shows us how useful Kinect will be with the dashboard. The camera will pick up movement and sound, watch a movie without a remote or play a game without a controller. To login all you need to do is wave, wave a second time and it brings you to the hub. He states “If you can see it, just say it” You can choose to watch a movie using just your voice. Tell it to play, pause, stop or tell your Xbox to play music and your play list will start playing. Kinect and Xbox Live will be available to all countries where Xbox 360 is sold. Xbox Live will also be available on the Windows Phone.

Kinect will also allow you to video chat with out the use of a headset. You can connect with your friends on Xbox Live or Windows Messenger. Once connected with friends or family through chat you can choose to watch movies together, check the news and other activities. The camera will be able to track you as you move around so you will always be centered.

Microsoft has now partnered with ESPN bringing over 3500 live and on demand sporting events, including College Football, College Basketball, Soccer, NBA, MLB and NFL. ESPN will also be Kinect compatible with the ability to replay, choose the team you are rooting for and playing trivia.

Kudo Tsunoda came out to present Kinect in gaming. Kinect will let you play games the way you want to play them. The first game that was shown is called Kinectimals. This game is basically a virtual pet that you can take care of, play with and train. It will include 40 animals from around the world with 30 different activities you can do with your pet. A young girl is brought on stage to show us her pet tiger, Skittles. In the demo you see her pet the tiger, tell it to go get its toy, play jump rope, and how the animal responds when you are out of its view. See actual gameplay here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-kinectimals/101291

The next game shown is called Kinect Sports, an interactive sports game that truly puts you in the game. You are able to interact with the crowd of spectators, play Soccer, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Boxing, Track and Field, and Boxing. Game will be available this holiday, check it out: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-kinect-sports/101325

Kinect Joyride and Kinect Adventures were the next two games shown. Joyride was shown at last year’s conference and this year it is Kinect compatible. The game is a racing game with 5 gameplay modes and a stunt mode to show off your skills. Adventures will feature 20 adventure modes where you will dodge, jump, and collect using only your body. Throughout you adventures there will be photo ops that you can view and upload to Facebook or share with friends. Two modes were demoed; the first was a railway type adventure where you collected buttons while avoiding obstacles by dodging and jumping. The second was a water rapids adventure where you steer a raft through a river and jump to collect buttons on the water, land and even in the clouds. See what the excitement is all about: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-kinect-adventures/101344  http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-kinect-joy/101389

Exclusively for Xbox 360 comes a new version of Your Shape called Your Shape Fitness Evolved by UbiSoft. The camera scans your body to get your measurements so the game can customize your menus and workouts just for you. You can choose from Personal Trainer, Gym Activity, or Fitness Class modes. In personal trainer you can workout with your own trainer and get pointers from them on what you need to improve. Gym activity is a variety of fun fitness games for the whole family. In class mode you can chose to do yoga, martial arts, or Zen classes. In the demo the player is portrayed as an avatar that looks like it’s made of Jell-O. This seems an unflattering way to portray a person who is using a fitness game to get into shape. See it for yourself: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-your-shape/101376

Harmonix and MTV Games are collaborating on a Kinect compatible game called Dance Central. Alex Rigopulos from Harmonix said this was the next generation of dance games. This is a dance game with real body immersive dancing. The game boasts over 600 dance moves and 90 choreographed routines. Some of the artists named or previewed in the demo were Lady GaGa, “Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe, “Hella Good” by No Doubt, Beastie Boys and “Galang” by M.I.A.  Your character is displayed by a stylish looking avatar that appears as it may either be customizable or chosen through a variety of choices. Moves are shown on cards to the right of your avatar with the current move highlighted and moves queued above it. The move is rated and how you do is displayed at the avatar’s feet in a ring. If you need more help on a move the game goes into training mode and the music is rewound and slowed down until you hit the move correctly. No dance pad is needed, just the player and a Kinect camera. Get your groove on while viewing the demo: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-dance-central/101297

Phil Spencer comes out on stage to announce the Kinect will be available on November 4^th with 15 launch title games available also. No price was announced, but the camera will be compatible with all existing and future Xbox 360 consoles. One last Kinect game was shown coming from LucasArts that will be available in 2011. The game is being called just Kinect Star Wars for now and you can see it for yourself: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-kinect-star/101301

From Turn 10 Studios, Dan Greenswalt and Bill Griese were here to announce Forza 4. The game will be compatible with the Kinect camera, but wasn’t stated that it was only playable that way. In the demo shown you can walk around your car and actual open the door to sit inside. Racing was shown using the camera and the game is scheduled to be released in 2011. Check it out: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-forza-4/101303

Finally, Don Mattrick was back on stage for the final and most exciting announcement of the show. Since Xbox is celebrating its 10th year, they feel its time for something new; by bringing interactive entertainment and a whole new era for Xbox Live to everyone. He then revealed the new re-designed, sleeker, slimmer Xbox 360 console. The new console will come with a 250 GB hard drive, built in Wi-Fi, Ethernet port, and be Kinect ready. The new system will retail for the existing price of $299 and will be shipping today, so it will be available at your local retailer later this week. He then pulled an Oprah move and stated that everyone in the audience will have the new Xbox 360 console shipped directly to them.

With that the conference came to a close. This wraps up another Microsoft conference and kicks off an exciting week of E3 ahead. So what are your thoughts on the announcements, trailers shown, and technologies revealed? I for one was actually pretty amazed with the new name for Project Natal, Fable 3, Gears of War 3, Dance Central, and the addition of ESPN on Live.

** Post and Pre-Show Announcements**

Before the Microsoft Conference, Game Trailers held its own pre-show with some interesting announcements. On July 27^th the first DLC for Alan wake will be available called “The Signal”. On July 13^th, Season 4 of Felicia Day’s “The Guild” will begin with new surprise guests and surprise pairings. On July 14^th the game version of Deadliest Warriors will be available through the XBLA service. Trailers were shown for two new XBLA games, Limbo from PlayDead and Dust: An Elysian Tail by Humble Hearts the winner of the Dream, Play, Build contest.

Post show announcements were the line up of games for Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade event on XBLA. Upcoming titles are Limbo, Monday Night Combat, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Laura Croft and the Guardian of Light, and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. See the announcement here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-xbox-live/101417

Also, some more info about the new Xbox 360 console was clarified. The System will have a new smaller internal hard drive inside the bottom of the system, 5 USB ports (2 in front and 3 in back), a TOS Link slot, a Kensington Security slot, Kinect port, and an Ethernet port for those who still want to use a wired connection. The system is 15% smaller than the original and will have a smaller, cooler power brick. The whisper quiet feature will include the fan and the disc drive.

Existing systems will be price dropped and phased out. The Arcade will be priced at $149, the Elite at $249 and the new Slim at $299. The Kinect will be available separately and in a bundle available for the holidays. See the Slim un-boxing here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-xbox-360/101403

The Subscription plus Item mall debate is something that rages on and on these days. People come up with witty equations to illustrate the differences. Comparing the price of; (Insert unrelated product here) to the price of a game subscription. It’s all very cute and all, but the primary arguments, generally aren’t based completely in reality. A lot of the associated costs of an MMO gets left out, or blatantly ignored.

Is $15 bucks too much for a subscription?

Not really, yes different currencies translate into more or less, that goes without saying. Yes the cost of servers and bandwidth might be down, but that’s not all that’s being paid for, neither is Customer service the sum total of what you’re paying for.

Something that seems to be forgotten is that just like Single Player games (which you used to only pay for once, but with DLC you now pay for expanded content) is the cost of development for the games. For several years games are in design and development, internally tested, worked on and so forth. In the case of triple A titles, that costs a huge amount of money.

Designers, Programmers, Artists, Animators, Writers, Voice Actors, Server Techs, etc, all these people working to make the games people are complaining about, get paid to make the games. This can be a massive investment for a company, and the “box price” and the subscription fees, even the item mall content being added to sub model games go to recoup the money spent to make the game.

But beyond that, with MMO’s or at least with the good ones, new content and patches don’t come out of thin air, the above mentioned group of game staff, plus GM’s, plus Customer service people, plus community management all have to be paid to get all the new content/updates/patches created/made/tested before it gets released.

Using the “Game of main comparison” WoW, Blizzard spent millions developing it before it even launched and they spend more and more for expansions, updates and the like. Now yes they are making a pant load of money but when you factor in original and continuing development costs, continued operation and repair costs, corporate tax and more, that cuts down on actual profit.

Of course all these companies are interested in making profit; no company can survive without it. Not just because profit is good, but also because profit translates into capital for the next game they create/build/launch/operate.

I am not a happy go luck fan of Item malls, not because I don’t like paying for extra content, but because of the kind of crap that usually ends up in them. Items that unbalance a game, uber xp scrolls and the like that those who can afford love and those who can’t loathe.

Looking at STO (which yes I currently play as you all know) which was in development for something like 4+ years, that’s all that money spent, hoping that it would attract Star Trek fans, and gaming fans alike with a new experience. Yes there is the box fee or digital download cost, there’s the subscription cost be it monthly, 3 months, 6 months, or the special year or life time sub cost. Also they do have the C-Shop, which presently only contains 2 items, a playable Federation Klingon or Ferengi.

They need to make back all the money spent designing, developing, and testing the game, then make money to continue to operate, expand, and repair the game. Continuing with this example, the Staff for STO has already said in different places, that how Cryptic’s other games are operated in price models and how STO will be modeled isn’t going to be the same thing. The Borg update was free, and I get the sense other expansion content will likely be free also.

So looking at the overall subscription + item mall model, when you factor in all the costs either spent in development or going forward, it makes sense the company needs to generate revenue. Yes not everyone can or will pay for stuff in the item mall, which goes without saying. People play F2P games all the time without buying a thing. They however balance out with those who do buy things and usually spend an insane amount of money doing it.

How is that any better?

I’m not really sure it is, or different for that matter. The only differences between F2P and Subscription based games is usually quality (though that may be starting to change) and the word “Free”. It might be free to play the basic game, which is great for players, but to get the most out of the game experience you have to spend money. With P2P games you pay money to get the main experience, but there’s also the occasional bonus goodies in the Item mall, usually nothing that is really required, generally in the P2P world these are just nice little bonuses, and not really impactful to the experience over all. (Broad strokes I know)

Expansions on the other hand, yes some companies will make you pay for expansions, but considering an expansion is usually quite a bit of additional content, this makes sense. When of course, the expansion is priced reasonably and is worth buying. Any gamer who plays the Sims franchise will tell you that not always is the expansion worth buying, not because of the price, but because they, for whatever reason, don’t like the content. (Generally)

But you’re still paying for a higher end content package, not just a quick update patch, which costs more to create and develop.

If you want to really argue about this issue, at least be intelligent about it and do some research. Debate, discussion, and dissent is vital to keep the industry moving forward, but just complaining for the sake of complaining doesn’t do anything short of making you look rather stupid and waste the time of those whom participate in it.

My grandma used to fill my ears with the cliché “Money doesn’t grow on trees” Well in Gaming, neither does new content, expansions, and patches.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

— Revelation 6:5-6 NIV

After an interesting conversation during a call tonight, and some deep thought of my own, it does make me wonder where the industry is headed these days. With Social Media sites on the rise as gaming platforms, primarily for the sake of this article, Facebook. As well as a lot of companies now gearing their efforts towards development and publishing to make use of these platforms it has me thinking.

I’ve had a lot of people comment to me that they’re finding more and more games that just aren’t catching their interest anymore, or are down right boring. I’ve noticed this myself that a lot of times games aren’t really innovating anything new, just putting on shiny new clothes.

Of course there are plenty of exceptions to this, but not as many as there once were. And to be candid, a lot of the games found on Facebook are without a doubt, boring as crap, yet they get millions of players daily and the market is growing constantly with more and more companies and indie teams getting into the act.

Is the industry headed for another crash before we see a renaissance of creativity and an explosion of innovative creation across the board of games? Honestly, I don’t know, but at the same time as more companies pull away from making console games and of course the continuing stigma of PC gaming aside from the MMO market. (Which is constantly being accused of being clones upon clones upon clones of this game or that game?)

Where is the industry headed?

Where will our new gaming experiences going to coming from?

Has the bubble burst again?

Tough questions; and maybe a bit of an alarmist bent to my thinking as I look over the scope of the gaming space these days. A lot of companies have been cutting stuff, shutting down, restructuring, and changing direction, so on, so forth, etcetera, and etcetera.

So I but it to all of you dear friends and readers, is this new explosion of gaming on social platforms a sign of great change that will push the industry into a new era of creativity or is Facebook the rider of the black horse, preparing to spread a famine amongst hardcore games and gamers while it sows the seeds of meaningless fluff?

Comment below.

The recent news about the job cuts at EA prompted some thoughts as well as thinking about the spurt of indie films that have achieved a lot with a very small budget. One of the things that discussed all the time about game development is the cost of development. The cost of tools, team, and all the other associated costs, and yet we see some indie games make it bigger it leads one to wonder.

Does it really cost or does it really need to cost that much to make a game. Certainly big budget Triple A titles spend amazing amounts of money for the building of their products, and yet even these have a tendency to fall short when they roll out. Yet we see low cost indie games or smaller budget games go on to success and prosperity. Is it the lack of funds that prompts that extra something in the creative process that leads these titles to shine?

With studios cutting their work forces, what is the soon to be unemployed to do? Why don’t they go rogue and build their own titles while they job hunt? I suspect a major influx of these previous employed designers, programmers, artists and so forth could make a serious impact on the indie scene, bringing their experience and their own creative vision to the table. We all want to get paid for the work we do, that goes without saying, but the more I watch and think, the more I see a sort of stagnancy in the gaming corporate world.

Like any industry it’s grown and growing bigger and bigger, and with any large system, there’s a vacuum that slowly sucks the life out of it. More and more we hear about user generated content, we hear about the free to play model, we hear about how the industry is growing in demographic and the casual market is making crazy amounts of money when they get it right.

So what’s the magic ingredient? Looking at Farmville and the numbers it generates in terms of users, the believed amount of money it generates and the cost it was for development. Does the industry need to shift from these overkill budgets and focus on the product in terms of creativity and experience and cut costs not on the staff but on the prices paid for the rest. I’d rather pay for quality staff to create an awesome game, and then spend a fortune on the newest shiniest engine.

If Facebook, MySpace, and if the overall casual game market teaches us anything, you don’t need to have the amazing stunning, photo realistic graphics with 3D depth whenever your characters sneeze to capture the players.  Sure it is nice, but required to be successful? Doesn’t appear that way to me, and hasn’t for a while, not anymore anyways, there’s always some example that changes the way we look at things.

It sucks to loose your job, no question, but it doesn’t mean it’s the end, if you want to make games, and then make games; sure it might not be the amazing budgeted game you’re used to, but it doesn’t mean it will suck, just means you need to be more inventive. These days getting into the industry usually requires all kinds of experience, education, previous products delivered and so on. That amuses me considering the origins of the industry was certainly not built by experienced , titles delivered hands, but by people who wanted to create fun, entertaining games.

When did we get away from that?

So many people want to make games, so make games.  You don’t need the company to tell you what to work on unless you’re working for them. You’re cut loose so finally pursue that game idea you’ve had stashed in your old campfire note book since you first killed slimes in Dragon Warrior. The only limit to your creativity is yourself. Sure it costs money to do it the way you exactly pictured it, but if you deliver something that starts building your own momentum, you build upon it and make your own destiny using your own creativity and your own hands.

A renaissance of creativity in the indie space would be delightful, and watching more and more indie titles make it big would certainly be a healthy thing for the industry, I’m tired of seeing 15 sequels of the same tired old game; I personally thrive on the new when it comes to my game playing habits. I don’t mind the usual settings, but I want to see them delivered in a new way, with a new spin.

I want to see something magical come out of no where in our industry all the time and it’s entirely possible. Considering many of the players of games might be rocking the latest amazing title from “Insert studio here” when that experience is over, they loop back to the old games, their favourites from the previous generations. Just because the technology has changed it doesn’t mean that style of game isn’t viable, it just means people aren’t looking back and thinking “hey I loved this; why not make something to recapture the nostalgia?”

It’s never the end, it’s good to have accomplished something before, but it’s what you do next that has real meaning.

Alright now that I’ve set the tone with the above video, as everyone knows (unless they’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks) Closed Beta has started for Star Trek Online, and beta sign ups have begun for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now I’m a pretty ‘core fan of both franchises and I’m eagerly waiting to play both of these games, as I imagine every other fan boi and fan gerl is also. But there begs the question…

Which am I anticipating more?

The answer to that isn’t simple as I have no idea! I want to be a rock’em sock’em Jedi, but at the same time I want to beam around the galaxy in a star ship tackling those Federation yahoos. This is a conundrum facing many sci-fi geeks the world over; which franchise and which game do we really want to support. I’m certain many will opt to play both, but for us time constricted folks it’s likely to come down to one or the other. Certainly some will gravitate based on their experience with the aforementioned games, some will like one more than the other based on game play, graphics, or some obscure geeky thing or another.

But given who’s behind each game, Cryptic Studios doing ST:O and BioWare doing SW:TOR, I suspect it’s going to be a hard fight with ourselves one way or another. A duel of the fan-bases is going to ensure and I’m not sure which is going to win if either. Lots of us are more staunchly embed in one camp or another, or split evenly down the middle. The flame wars that will come and spread across the internets is going to be astounding as fans will rally behind their choice and evangelize whichever game that might be.

When caught up in so much chaos, where will that leave the fence sitting fans, who can’t decide either way? Worst case they will decide which community is less annoyingly vocal and mature than the other, or they’ll get fed up with both sides and run off to play Farmville. I hope, I desperately hope that both communities can learn to co-exist and we don’t see to much tomfoolery go on.

But when it comes to fan bois and fan gerls that seems about as likely as my winning the lottery. So I leave it to you dear readers, how will you decide when the time comes, will you be Dances with Siths or Gone with the Vulcans?

For me, I can tell you one thing…

I have no idea! They both look awesome XD

For the majority of time we’ve had video games there’s been music attached to them. It a fact music can trigger memories and sometimes music can just spontaneously pop into our head at the strangest time. Like any good gamer, most of the music that pops into my mind and the strangest times is game music. There’s a lot of music that instantly plays and recall that particular game, or that period in our life when we were playing that game.

There’s been good music, and bad music in games and the use of music in games can either be a good counter point to the game experience or it’s just thrown in there because either the developers liked the song or they just couldn’t find anything better and took whatever they happened to hear in the elevator on their way to the office.

As far as recalling music, whenever I hear the Legend of Zelda theme, regardless of which version for which iteration, my thoughts always go back to the gold cartridge for the NES.

Music can be very effective in games to set a scene, add ambiance, make for kick ass battle scenes and cinematics, or  just be part of the experience that comes with a game. For the sake of not pissing anyone off I’m not going to list the misses that fall into the game music category, and I can think of a wealth of music that stands out in my mind as game music I could listen to for hours. I’ll post one of those examples later.

My point however is that when making games we should and personally have to think about the music we associate with our game. Music that adds to the experience is a benefit, both to the game but also to longevity. If people can hear a tune and instantly think back to the fun and joy they had playing your game not only did you get the game right but you have a certain kind of stickiness that you might not otherwise find. Music as a memory cue can add a wealth of recognition to your game(s), but also your brand.

Squaresoft has been remarkably good at this, not that it comes as a surprise of course, considering they have Nobuo Uematsu-Sama, and others making music for their games. Even after all these years of Final Fantasy games, I still get that chill run through me when I hear the tell tale theme, Legend of Zelda manages that of course as I stated above, but I can think of many more examples.

But then there’s the other side of this conversation, when game music isn’t used effectively, isn’t adding to the experience but instead, just sits in the game and ends up either annoying the crap out of the players or gets blatantly ignored. MMO’s are notorious for crappy music selections in the games, often recycling the same music for area after area. Which let me tell you, gets old really quickly, especially when you’re transitioning from a swamp land, through a town, into an ice area and the same ghastly, worse than elevator music persists throughout the game world.

I know music can be expensive if you’re shelling out money for a Big Name composer to do your game, but to be honest you don’t need to go that far to get good music. Looking through the indie music scene is it rock, electronic, or folk music depending on the genre of your game you can find quality music to bring into your game world and add to the experience.

It’s not rocket science and maybe it does require your designers/developers/ and especially your producers to have some level of decent taste, but at the same time, it is worth the effort. Of course you want to focus on game play, art style, game experience, game world and all the components that make up a successful title, but at the same time, you don’t want to cause your players ears to bleed and do a half assed job picking music.

Music can and is effective both for game experience, brand recognition, but also the all important stickiness. You want your players to remember your game fondly, and use music for its memory cue ability so the next time you launch a title, your players can remember the kick ass time they had on the previous one and look forward to your next offering.

Music might not seem important, but I can recall the countless times I’ve seen players ask; “Is the music any good?”

Something to think about; that and remember to be consistent for god sake. For now, here are a few more samples of games that got music right, even if it’s only in one certain part of the game.

Yeah I know, most of it’s Squaresoft, what can I say, they get it right most of the time.

Having watched all of this season of Digital Trends – Players Only, by far this is I think the best episode I’ve seen. There’s a lot of truth in that, especially for gaming blogs.Of which there is an uncountable amount of them as everyone and their dog has opinions on games, on gaming, and on the game industry.

Yes, I am aware I’m no different than the rest, and while I do try to keep some measure of objectivity especially when I talk about games, I of course have opinions, it’s an opinionated business to say “This game rocks” or “This game sucks”

Lets be honest, we have our preferences and while I or anyone else can find good and bad points about games, generally I will cover games that actually interest me, not games that are just out there. Unless they’re given to me to check out of course.

Media isn’t dead, it’s evolving, it’s just that a lot of print media companies and journalists seem to not have the flexibility to make the jump more often then not.

All that said, I really enjoyed this episode and took a lot of food for thought from it. Maybe you will too.

Oh and final point, I know plenty of you dear readers know as much as i do, and probably a lot know more than I do on certain points.

A person isn’t defined by what they know, but what they don’t know and choose to learn more about.

Now we all know the argument between what makes a casual game player and a hardcore game player and that particular debate is going to continue raging back and forth probably for the rest of the foreseeable future. And far be it for me to interject my opinion on that one. However, I have noticed something as of late which fairly amusing to me and as you know dear readers, my amusement is paramount to the inner workings of the universe.

Now what is it that amuses me? You ask, well my lovelies, let me enlighten you on this new source of merryment.

There’s this strange creature prowling around the internetz, especially on the social networks which is a curious being indeed. I really don’t think scientists have classified this one yet, but in mind, I’ll refer to this entity as the “Hardcore Casual Player”.

Yes, yes of course it sounds like a very good oxymoron, which I suppose it is, and yet I can find no better terminology having encountered this species in the wild.

Now we all know casual game s, especially on social networks like Facebook and Myspace are essentially short playtime games, you know x amounts of minutes or less. So taking Farmville for an example, you prepare your farmland, plant your crops wait hours to days to harvest, rinse, and repeat. Fairly simple formula for a game and yet can be oddly addictive, mainly due to it’s low requirement of brain use. You drop in, do your business like in many of the similar games and then off you go. Wham, bam, thank you Zynga-Ma’am.

Here’s the punch-line though, there are people, however strange as this is, who sit on Facebook for hours on end engaged in these games, either several over a period of time, or they just spend hours and hours playing the same quick game. I suspect this is an example of the Tetris effect we saw back in the day, but it still boggles the mind.

Many of these games, no matter how fun they may be, have the depth of a drying mud puddle yet they captivate people for unnatural amounts of time and have millions of players.

We talk all the time about replay-ability of games and some games try to highlight this aspect.  Yet these casual, low brain activity games seem to suck the time out of people in copious quantities without the major budgets, massive game worlds and deep stories.

I realize that I believe much of this is due in part to the social aspect of these games, they share with their friends, give them gifts, become neighbours and all the other cute little social bells and whistles that seems to be standard MO for these games. But in the final analysis, there seems to be comfort in repeating simple actions that makes these games so addictive. Sure they might have cute graphics and nice lulling music that doesn’t annoy sometimes, but just sort of fades into the background of doing the same basic chores again, even with your friends.

It’s no small wonder the market for social games is exploding more and more. People eat this shit up with their morning coffee and night time beer. It’s like reality TV shows, sure we know that eventually someone is going to be the only survivor or win the amazing race, yet people are captivated by the events that lead to the conclusion which is sometimes the real reward in user/watcher participation.

I sometimes wonder if we need to take a page from the casual game world and find some way to make our more expansive and yes grindy games just as addicting.

Which brings up another issue, people can spend hours on end doing quests and things on Mafia Wars, but they complain endlessly about the grind in MMOs. If you play an mmo in small does as you do a casual game, of course you’ll be less bored by the grind, but you won’t accomplish as much. So how then can we make the long term grind rewarding enough to entice players to do it as much as they can spend hours in casual games?

Quite a conundrum really, for which I don’t have an answer presently.

One thing I do know is that Hardcore Casual Players are a growing trend, a curious, amusing and bizarre trend but one we must be aware of and make allowances for as we continue to make games, be they epically massive games, or cute casual 4 minute fun blasts. There’s a change in the reciepe, and we need to find that secret ingredient again.

User generated content isn’t a new concept really. It’s been around for quite some time now, primarily in PC gaming space at first but as the consoles have opened their doors to homebrew creations it’s growing in significance. There’s always a debate on the quality of the content being created and the amount to which the tools are used. I recall a statement that while the tools are there only a small fraction of the user base will actually use them. Given the growth of uploads on Spore, Sims 2 and now Sims 3 exchanges and other titles that provide in-game tools for content or levels, I think that assessment is incorrect indeed.

The amount of use the tool-sets given to the players gets is directly related to the ease of use those tools have. Certainly the higher the complexity of the tool is to use, the less likely a wide selection of people are going to be using them.  Now don’t get me wrong, there are certainly some games that require a certain level of complexity in the tools to create levels and so on, which is where the mod and indie developer community comes in, but games that have more intuitive and easy to use tools, the more content gets generated by the user base.

All of this is a great thing to see, and yes, I know a lot of the content that comes out of the community can be complete and utter crap, but other times we see elements and ideas that are truly inspired, interesting or sheer creative genius. The thing I like most about this is that it gives aspiring designers and developers a place to get their wet feet wet, their hands dirty and catch a glimpse of what’s involved in the space they want to enter. I’ve seen some truly amazing content come out of the minds of kids as young as 9 and it gives a bright hope for the future of the industry.

So where am I going with all this?

It’s simple, and it goes beyond the content, to the community built around the games. When the developers and publishers of a game are accepting and open to user generate content, not only do they find a wealth of new ideas to build on with the community, but also form a sense of connection that not only leads to an interesting gaming experience but also a more loyal fan base. (Which never hurts the sales hmmm?)

With more and more people making homebrew games across the many platforms we now have available to us, the more new and interesting ideas are coming forth. It can be a pain to filter through the random garbage, no doubt about it, but like sifting gold, you might move a lot of dirt, but then you find the bright shinny nuggets that really seem to sparkle in the sunlight.

The gifted and inspired within the community not only add a new dimension to the game experience but also these people should be drafted and brought into the fold to build on and expand the horizons of the games in  a more formal way. The wealth of undiscovered talent out in the world would startle many in the industry if they really took the time to look, and I believe taking a good hard look is worth the effort.

Free to play games, flash games, social networking games, mobile phone games, console homebrew, mods, indie projects, this is where a lot of the future can be seen. Sure everyone loves the big, heavy hitting triple a games with the massive budgets, but watching the habits of people playing games these days from every walk of life, and age group reflects that people just want to play games, good games, amazing games, or just casual addicting games. You don’t need a massive budget to be successful, you just need ideas that are fresh and capture the imagination to really stand out. (Though a big budget helps lol).

If anything, collaborative efforts between developers, publishers, and the gaming community is where some of the future of the industry can be seen taking root. User generated content is one aspect of where the lines between customer and collaborator are starting to blur a bit as players are adding to the game experience and recognition for those inspired ideas should be given freely as it will help fertilize and grow the future of the industry.