Wizard World: My Haul

So this weekend I worked my way down to Philadelphia to try and get my groove back, Stella style*, after the Beatles: Rock Band. Why Philly? Well, I wanted to check out Wizard World Philadelphia! There were some amazing guests lined up; Kevin Maguire, Steve Dillon, Garth Ennis, EDWARD JAMES OLMOS, and a number of other cool guests. I hadn't been to a hardcore comics con in a long time, so I was pumped.

Unfortunately, after a few hours at the con, I realized; I'm kind of done with this schtick! A lot of things were overpriced, ESPECIALLY anything involving a pro: Alex Maleev wanted $150 for a sketch and would only talk to people through an agent, Kevin Maguire wanted $100 dollars for one of JUST a character's face (though he is an AWESOME dude and talked to, and shared a few awesome Justice League secrets with me), and Edward James Olmos wanted $50 for an autograph, and $20 just to take a photo with him!

Not everyone was quite as demanding; the delightful Amanda Conner was selling head sketches for $40, and J. G. Jones, too, was doing them at a reasonably rate. Not surprisingly, though, they were both fully booked for sketches for the weekend.

BUT, I am still really happy I came, as I got to talk to some awesome creators, and I ended up buying a TON of art from independent creators. Here's what I got:

I met Joe Dunn from one of my favorite strips, Joe Loves Crappy Movies, who I didn't expect to see.

I ended up buying the Turtle shirt and book of another one of his delightful strips Turtle Vs Bunny!

I also found this excellent Duck Tales print by Craig Parrillo:

I found an amazingly dense Goonies print by Jim Horwat with more tiny references to different scenes in the movie (and the NES game!) than I could list here. He's also got a TOTALLY rad Evil Dead 2 print on his website that I'm considering ordering.

Then... then I found the COOLEST table at the whole show. These three guys were all holed up together, selling these prints, and I walked away with about a million pieces.

First is Scott Derby, who did this amazing Shaun of the Dead poster:

I love the color and overall claustrophobic design of the piece. Plus the Simon Pegg is adorable.

Then I met Tom Whalen, who was selling these other movie poster remakes, and he was selling one particular set I couldn't resist picking up:

While I was waiting for him to flip through, I also couldn't resist picking up this print of Earth's Mightiest Heroes:

And the third artist at this table, the man who got the most money out of me, was Dave Perillo, and well, I can't talk about all the pieces I got from him, so here they are in all their awesomeness.

These guys were all incredibly talented, incredibly nice, and I was really happy to have met them. Now I just need to figure out how to frame and where to put all this...

Anyway, tonight is Kaiju Big Battle and then I plan to just wander around Philly for a few days, but I wanted to take a minute and share my swag.

-casey-

*Yes, I know that means have an affair with a young black man.

Game Designer weekly E-Mail #1 - E3

This is the first in a series of weely e-mail exchanges between game designers about upcoming events (Like this one! E3) trends in games (a move towards more casual play for example), or just what we feel like discussing at a given time (the perfect taco, or where one might get said taco).

Your participants are designers Dan Teasdale, Chris Foster, myself, Sylvain Dubrofsky, and eventually Grace Williams.

These e-mails were exchanged pre-E3, so read them and see how the real thing matched up with our expectations!

Dan Teasdale

Okay, let’s try kicking off this whole email design thing with something that’s sure to cause contention. I am a classy gent, after all.

E3 is next week. It’s the return of the huge 40,000 person behemoths of old, complete with 8 hours of doof and awkward-looking booth babes. What is everyone looking forward to? Any games that are off most people’s radars that you think will be awesome? Any trends you hope to see, or not see?

Casey Malone

Well, this is my first E3, so I'm expecting an orgy of decadence the likes of which even David Bowie or Robert Evans would back away from slowly.

Seriously, though, growing up reading about and imagining the floor of E3 I'm not sure what's coming; is it going to be full of multimillion dollar booths with lights, decorations, props, costumes and fun like Disney World or is it going to be a starkly lit nightmare full of cranky nerds and too-loud music like Euro Disney? I'll let the old hands at this convention thing take guesses towards that.

I guess what excites me the most is seeing what some of my favorite developers are bringing; I have been itching to get my hands on the next game from DoubleFine since the moment I finished* Psychonauts, so I'll be rushing to try Brutal Legend. I'm hoping that Warren Spector brings his long-rumored Mickey Mouse game, so I can at least get a look at what he's bringing to the Disney universe. I want to try out The Legend of Zelda: We Love Toy Trains Edition**, because I have no idea what's happening with this title. And I will proudly wear the badge of the only Harmonix designer who is excited at whatever new game Kojima Productions is working on; yes, I'm sure they'll announce MGS4 for 360, but I'm really crossing my fingers they're bringing something else with them.

As for games that'll secretly steal the show? I think people are going to walk away from Scribblenauts amazed - and no, I don't just love games with "nauts" in the title. And I don't mean to get all "blow our own horn-y"***, but I think The Beatles: Rock Band is going to make jaws hit the floor.

The trend I really want to see and also want to see avoided is sort of a contradiction - I want to see less of a casual market taking over the games industry and instead see games move more towards accepting a casual audience. I mean fewer fitness and weight loss products, and more games that have bright friendly art direction and no lose conditions. Fewer mini-game collections and more intuitive controls. I want to see game makers trending away from the hardcore, but not the point where we lose focus of what makes games fun - interactive fantasies we can provide that movies can't. If the focus of E3 is on experiences like that instead of the gritty FPSs of the world, I'll be really excited for gaming in the next year.


* I never finished Psychonauts, but instead had to watch a friend finish it. Damned Meat Circus.
**Which Dan will tell you he designed a decade ago, I'm sure.
*** There was a better way to say that, I'm sure.

Dan Teasdale

Casey, you have reminded me of Scribblenauts and made me throw in my 0.02c for that as potential dark horse of the year. I'm really curious to see how deep the vocabulary is. Maybe they're really smart about it and target common words plus people's playtest list? I heard that's how Al Lowe did the vocabulary in the first Leisure Suit Larry, and it seemed to work pretty well in being a jerk to me because of it.

I loved E3 the first few times I went. As a game nerd, having everything you want to play on a show floor is awesome. I'm pretty sure this will be the Casey experience. Then, I demoed a game with a 15 minute linear demo for three days and got to see the seedy underbelly of E3, and now I'm a curmudgeonly old jerk. This will probably be the Sylvain experience.

This curmudgeonliness has raised a question in my head: Do we need E3 anymore?

The justification about Ye Olde E3 was that it was a single location that publishers could meet with retailers to buy shelf space for the holidays. Sure, there was a nice side bonus of all the people attending getting to play each other's games and see in action upcoming trends, but the only reason you were flown out there was so that you could guide your hastily-duct taped demo for the King of Walmart*, who would then decree the amount of shelf space you'd get in November.

In the break between Ye Olde E3 and this year's E3, the publishers figured out news ways to talk to developers and vice versa - shows like EA3 and the GameStop Manager's Conference took the place. Bloggers picked up video cameras, thereby negating the need for me to walk the floor or wait in a three hour line. Services like Steam and the first party marketplaces have meant that shelf space isn't a problem, so they can focus on spending their marketing budget towards players rather than wooing retailers ($1mil+ on a booth for E3 2006, EA? Really?) Games like Bioshock have proven that you don't have to come out in the holidays (or be held over to March 31) to be successful.

My gut is that while it'll be a good press boost, it's going to be more like Harrison Ford in Crystal Skull than it is Harrison Ford in Raiders. We'll see this old format played out, realise that it was great before, but that as an industry we've grown since then and that our needs for an expo need to be different if we're going to treat it as a PR festival rather than a distributor pimpathon.

To end on a cheery note, my predictions for E3:
* Brutal Legend blows peoples brains open
* The Beatles: Rock Band gets nominated for an E3 Critics Choice award.
* The most popular booth will be the Target relax-and-feed-me-snacks lounge.

-DanT

*I'm assuming he's your king, or at the very least your Governor General.

Chris Foster

Between being seven months into Raise-A-Baby-Quest, and only now getting de-Beatled after over a year in the Rock Band mines, I'm going into this E3 fairly cold and devoid of specific expectations.

But while it's been a few years since my last E3, I do have my memories. I think my first significant recollection of E3 (though maybe it was an ECTS from the same year) is seeing this mindblowing, totally unexpected 3D console called the "PlayStation." I particularly remember that they demoed Ridge Racer using these weird pre-Dualshock analog controllers from Namco called NegCon, where you steered by twisting one half of a split controller while holding the other half.

I also remember, a year or so later, the massive robot-spider both that Scavenger Software used to present their dozen games and game demos-in-progress. I think that spider-booth was pretty much the only concrete thing they ever actually shipped.

I also remember the multiple appearances of the Gathering of Developers outside E3 at their personal trailer park -- though I never personally visited due to a pathological distrust of strippers and loud people.

I guess that covers the range of experiences I'm hoping for. I'd love to be wowed by something as monumental and game-changing as it is unexpected. I'll also keeping an eye out for those companies where you catch glimpses of a massive train wreck to come, if only in hindsight. And I'm expecting to see things that I will immediately wish that I could unsee.

E3, how I've missed you.

Sylvain Dubrofsky

Hey I remember that E3 booth that you manned Dan. I was actually really looking forward to DAH after that presentation.

I'm really excited E3 is back in the form I remember. I've been in the industry for almost 10 years. I think I went to E3 in years 2-7. At first it was a similar experience to going to a big out-of-town concert. The first couple industry jobs I had wouldn't pay for us, so we'd get our own flights, share beds in hotels, and take vacation days. By the end I have been spoiled getting my flights, hotel room, and per diem covered.

There is one common experience with all my E3 visits. Exhaustion after it's all over. As much as I love it, I'm sure I'll get massive headaches, muscle soreness, and extreme lack of sleep. This year that will be mitigated by my excitement showing off our HMX games which I'm tremendously proud of.

Ok enough history. To the games! I'll be on my usual hunt for obscure titles that may not have received enough coverage. The truth is, besides actually playing the games, you can get a large picture at home in front of a computer or watching G4. That's why I'm gonna do my best to actually play the games while I'm there and have free time.

Things I wanna play if they are there:
Modern Warfare 2
Halo: ODST
Half Life 2: Episode 3
Batman Arkham Asylum
Splinter Cell Conviction
Trico
Madden
Starcraft 2
Anybody else's music games

Casey, I find it odd that you mention FPS-sequel-X as a problem but are excited by yet another Metal Gear. Everyone has their things they enjoy (I'm always excited to try each new Madden, or anything by Valve, Bungie, Infinity Ward, Epic...). I personally don't get the fandom behind the regular E3 trailer of the next Metal Gear or Final Fantasy but I don't see it as something that takes away my excitement.

And with that, we got ready to do E3 prep and other projects, and our first e-mail exchange ended. Tune in next Sunday for hopefully our next installment.

-casey-

Audio Booin' The HMX After Party

Here is the links to the audio boos for the E3 After Party!

Nate Stoddard:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27746-nate-stoddard

John Drake:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27749-john-drake

Hope's P!nk Sweater:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27751-hope-s-p-nk-sweater

Josh Randal & Stephanie Myers:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27752-josh-steph

HMXHenry:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27758-hmxhenry

HMXPope, HMXVeng, & HMXThrasher:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27761-pope-veng-and-thrasher

John Pardo & HarmonixSean (It got cut off :-( )
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27772-half-a-boo

Caleb Epps (@Nekkobus)
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27776-nekkobus

Me! My thoughts!*
http://audioboo.fm/boos/27780-me

*Sorry about the million "Um..."s. It's late at night and I am sleepy.

I Have Never Been So Excited for a Solicitation In My Life

Ladies. Gentlemen. ESPECIALLY the gentlemen.

I give you... MARVEL BROMANCE:

"If This Be Bromance--! Marvel's greatest buddies take the spotlight in this one-of-a-kind collection, and it's male bonding like you've never seen -- as Cable and Deadpool swap stories, Wonder Man and the Beast share a plane ride, Spidey and the Human Torch battle back-to-back, Wolverine makes a bet with Nightcrawler, Black Panther and Everett Ross lay their feelings on the line...and the Warriors Three set sail for fun! Plus: Captain America and the Falcon, Iron Man and Jim Rhodes, and more! Be here as Marvel says, 'I love you, man!' "

Amazing. 

I honestly don't know why they don't just change the title of every Power Man & Iron Fist collection to "DUDE-GRABS: HEROES FOR HIRE."

-casey-

Joe Quesada Says: Ladies, Give Me Your Money And Shut Up

It's not often that I come across a quote from a major comic book creator that makes me go, "AAAAAAARGHSASHALBARGLRLE" with murderous fury and terrible rage. The reasons for this is that my expectations for socially progressive statements from the big two comic companies are staggeringly low.

So when a reader came out and said that this cover to "Marvel Divas" was sexist, I was extra impressed by Joe Q's reply ;

"If you’re Marvel reader and truly feel we’re sexist, then why are you reading our books?  Now, perhaps you’re not a Marvel reader, then if that’s the case, I’m not quite sure what you’re criticizing if you don’t read our books?"

Putting aside that the reader was concerned about an image, something that can be critiqued as soon as someone views it, this defense is completely bulletproof. I'm sorry, I meant "bullshit". Completely bullshit.

If you are buying Marvel Comics, perhaps because you enjoy some of the characters they have exclusive rights too, then you've immediately lost the right to question any subject matter in those comics. But if you're not reading them, perhaps because you found the cover of a comic you'd otherwise be interested in too demeaning to women, then your opinion is again invalid. Basically, this statement says; ladies, give me your money and shut up.

Now, to his credit, Joe Q goes on to give an industry answer to this issue; that if the book launched with a less sex-laden cover, it would never sell. He even goes so far as to say that "the book would be canceled before it hits the shelves,*" and defends the cover, saying "Is the cover image provocative, perhaps, but it’s no more or less than any other book we do."

I find this interesting, because by saying this, Joe Q acknowledges what he's denied the reader the ability to point out - that there is something wrong here, it's the industry standard, and what's more it's The Marvel Standard. A standard that they, with their huge market share and some of the most popular and iconic characters in the world, could fight against. A standard that they have no intention of ever challenging.

I don't know about you, but I don't want a comic company that's going to grumble, "Yeah, yeah, we know that we're not great to women, but what are we supposed to do?" and pushes Incompetent Professional She-Hulk and Domesticated Mary Jane statues on me. And I certainly don't want one that's going to tell me to shut up while they're doing it.

-casey-

* All I have to say to this is, "28 Issue Run."

Geoff Klock on Watchmen

So I have my own thoughts about Watchmen, but I wanted to first post some thoughts that Dr. Klock had over at Remarkable that I found spot-on:

I am wondering if the thing that makes Watchmen unfilmable is the fact that you cannot make superhero violence look anything other than sexy, at least because it requires a massive budget and budget means people who are not going to let you do violence in a depressing way. [...] Watchmen the comic is not supposed to deliver that particular thrill, but the movie does, and how can I fault a movie for delivering a thrill? [...] It is a mess and I would hardly hold it up as an example of great filmmaking; but to deny I had fun would just be dishonest, even if it makes me look foolish. I would recommend it to people only on this superficial level; as an intellectual thing, as a hunt to re-experience the craft and thematics of the book, avoid it I think. 

More on this from me, soon, but in the mean time check out Dr. Klock's blog for other interesting pop-culture commentary. 

Remarkable: Short Appreciations of Poetry and Pop-Culture

-casey-

Digital Dollars

Looks like I need to add some money to my Playstation Wallet and buy some Microsoft Imaginary Space Bucks. The downloadable content that's been released in the past week has been darn near insane in both scope and quality. 


Here's a rundown of what I'm picking up:

• Prince of Persia: Epilogue
• Mirror's Edge Time Trial Pack
• Noby Noby Boy
• Flower*
• Burnout Legendary Car Pack

As someone who only ever spends his money on whole Xbox Live Arcade games and Rock Band tracks, this is a whole lot of expansion content for one week. 

You'll also notice that Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and the Damned is not on that list. I will definitely be getting into why in a later post.

What expansion content do you guys buy? I'm curious if releasing stuff like this gets people to hold onto games they'd otherwise trade/lend/use as costers...

-casey-

*Yes, I bought this last week, but it was in the calendar week, so I'm adding it to the list!

Ninja-Star Power

I got stuck in Best Buy waiting for a friend today and ended up sorting through the DS games.

On the heels of the Rock Band PSP announcement today, I was surprised to discover that there is another, possibly more AWESOME portable music game that already exists;

Someone. ANYONE. Please make this happen. 

-casey-

Burnout: Paradise - "Panama" > "Paradise City"

I have been playing hell of Burnout: Paradise this weekend.

It's amazing how much I'm enjoying it, as I hate driving in general*, and driving GAMES specifically. But Criterion manages to take all the things that normally drag other games down - the simulation style controls, crashing once ruining your good time, and generally just smashing your opponents - and make it their trademark. Well done. Add on all the free content and DLC that they've put onto their platform and Burnout: Paradise quickly becomes an amazing game and an even more amazing achievement for a developer.

I do, however, have one beef with the game: The soundtrack.

Luckily, both platforms allow you to play your own damn music.

So presented here, in full, is my soundtrack for Burnout: Paradise. I shuffle the hell out of them, so pay no attention to the order. But know that all 48 of these tracks are perfectly suited for driving the hell out of cars. 

1. Panama - Van Halen**
2. Circle, Square, Triange - Test Icicles
3. Out of My Mind - The Konks
4. Back in Black - The Hives
5. Pump It Up - Elvis Costello
6. OLE! - The Bouncing Souls
7. PDA - Interpol
8. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne***
9. Ms. Fat Booty - Mos Def
10. Nausea - Beck
11. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen
12. Random - Lady Sovereign
13. Lyrical Swords - GZA & Ras Kass
14. Song 2 - Blur
15. Rock N Roll Train - AC/DC
16. Dancing Queen - Abba
17. Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees
18. She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult
19. Positive Contact - Deltron 3030
20. Method Man - Wu Tang Clan
21. Here's Your Future - The Thermals
22. Troublemaker - Weezer
23. Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault - Jawbreaker
24. Do You Want To? - Franz Ferdinand
25. Bone Machine - Pixies
26. This is a Call - Foo Fighters
27. Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth
28. Helter Skelter - The Beatles
29. Just a Gigolo (I Ain't Got Nobody) - David Lee Roth
30. Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Old Dirty Bastard
31. Hello There (Steve Albini Version) - Cheap Trick
32. The Power Is On - The Go! Team
33. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
34. 99 Problems (Helter Skelter Mix) - Danger Mouse
35. Kiss Off - Violent Femmes
36. Tick Tick Boom - The Hives
37. American Hearts - Piebald
38. Hold Music - Architecture in Helsinki
39. Beat It - Michael Jackson
40. Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
41. Perfect Hair - Danger Doom
42. The Final Countdown - Europe
43. The Militia - Gang Starr
44. You Vandal - Saves the Day
45. Dirt of Your Shoulder - Jay-Z
46. Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
    
47. Baba O'Riley - The Who
48. Highway to Hell - AC/DC
    

And with that, I return to Paradise City to smash things to tiny bits. 

I suggest you do the same.

-casey-

*I don't even have my license for realsies.
** Despite "Paradise City" by Guns N Roses being on disc, Panama by Van Halen is the perfect song for this game. PERFECT. 
*** Look, I seriously don't even want to hear about it, okay?

President Elect Barack Obama

Tonight, the night of Barack Obama's acceptance speech, I'm 26 years old. Raised by The Simpsons and taught quips by Mystery Science Theater, my generation is one that views everything through thick lenses of irony, touches everything through a heavy sheet of sarcasm. A group of friends gathered together to watch the election results ebb into CNN and throughout the night, hopeful and excited as we were, we mocked. 

We mocked presenters, gaffs in speeches, graphics and a Will I. Am hologram. This was a process we had all been excited about, an election that promised nothing but hope for all in the room, something of unprecedented importance in our adult lives, and we still mocked.

Then President Elect Obama came behind the podium, and began to speak. More than that, mere minutes after he was chosen by the American people, he began to lead.

While I could tell you many things about my reaction to this -  how I felt finally touched by this candidate who I'd listened to for months, how I was actually moved to tears, how amazed I felt to have a candidate who has won not instantly forget all he'd said for months - what is most telling is that for the duration of President Elect Obama's speech my friends and I sat in dead silence.

Not a word. Not a quip. No gentle teasing of someone in the crowd. 

For once I feel like someone has lifted the protective veil from the people of my generation and we're allowed to feel something patriotic and genuine all at the same time.

Thank you, Mr. Obama, if for nothing else, then for that.

-casey-