Nintendo DS Download Trials Begin

From GamesIndustry.biz – Nintendo trials DS downloads in Japan:

Nintendo has begun a Japanese nationwide test of its content download service for the Nintendo DS, allowing gamers to wirelessly download demos and bonus game content from special kiosks in locations all over Japan.

Very cool! Nintendo are positioning this as way of preventing the sequelitis which the GameBoy suffered in a very bad way. I can imagine this enabling a form of long-tail-esque discovery for original games content, if they design the kiosk in the right way.

If each game on the DS had a unique signature, then the kiosk could look to see what games you owned and played, and could then recommend games in an Amazon-type manner.

There is a rather strange bit in that article, though:

The service was originally announced … last year, where Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that time-restricted demos would be available to download at said kiosks. As the service rolls out for the first time, however, it appears that demos will instead remain on DS units until they are powered down.

Seems to me that that is a time-restricted demo.

Bonus content seems to be loaded straight onto the game cards themselves though, which rocks.

GDC 2005

So I’ll be heading out to San Francisco this Saturday for the Game Developers Conference. I’ve just been working through the schedule at the moment, trying to pick out which sessions to attend.

Aside from the fact that many sessions I’m interested in actually clash (and I’m sure this must be true for others as well), the schedule builder feature on the website is truly awful… I’m going to have to go through everything by hand later on, in order to make sure I’ve not missed anything out.

It’s pretty likely definite that I’ll pop along to the Mobile Monday event., assuming I can find out more details given that the site is currently not working for me :-)

The Incredible Pixar

Recently, there’s been a lot of discussion in the games industry about working practices (linked everywhere, so I’m not going to do so again) and also about new structures for developing games, particularly what is being called the Hollywood model.

Essentially, this is the games industry attempting to evolve in the same way that the movie industry itself evolved, from the “studio” system where everything was in house and talent was contracted to one particular place, to the current model where the best talent available to work on a particular project (usually dictated by budget and other commitments) comes together, makes the project, and disperses again.

Slam Games in particular have been doing some heavy thinking on this recently, and are actually practicing what they are preaching. You can read more on their blog.

However, far and away the most successful film producer of recent years (IMHO) is none other than the mighty Pixar. Now, Pixar isn’t your average movie company; they’re not based in LA, they employ all their talent in-house, they invent all the technology they need themselves, and they consistently raise the bar for themselves with every release (both in fiscal and in quality terms – define quality technologically or creatively, whichever you prefer, the end result is the same!).

So how can Pixar achieve this success, (seemingly) without burning out their staff? [NB I’m assuming that they don’t burn out their staff because the credits on a lot of the shorts and movies are the same names; I’ve not performed any kind of scientific analysis on this however.]

Personally, I think a lot of it comes down to the processes and tools that Pixar employ. Now, I’m familiar with a few games companies who are experimenting with design and production process, and a couple of them seem to have it going on pretty darn well. However, these are very small scale teams and projects, nothing like on a par with a team at Pixar, which I would guess comprises around 2-300 people per film. In addition to that, the tools that Pixar create in house are geared towards what the filmmakers and animators want, and I assume they allow for excellent pipeline management of new assets etc. Pixar also keep a “Digital Backlot” of prop objects which can be re-used in a variety of scenes with new dimensions and textures applied.

A tremendous amount of time at Pixar is spent on pitching and pre-producing story ideas before they get anywhere near the production team. According to this walkthrough of the Pixar production process, they go as far as to produce a hand-animated showreel, with scratch voices to ensure that the story works in front of an audience without the original pitcher of the idea, who may well have been such a good showman that no-one could say no to him. Sadly, no indication of how often stories are turned away is given.

What this indicates to me is that games designers do not yet have the necessary tools to understand what it is that they have designed in advance of actually building the whole game, or at least a goodly portion of it.

never throw content away always adding features little understanding of game balance

Very Droll

Head over to the inXile page, and mouse over the comely wench on the right a few times.

(Via)

Manhunt Twist

Gamesindustry.biz has the latest on the Manhunt story which has caused so much furore over the last week, and prompted me to rail against the games industry:

Police involved in the Stefan Pakeerah murder case have revealed that the copy of Manhunt at the centre of a tabloid media frenzy last week was found in the possession of the victim, not the killer.

The story also poses the question of how the British media’s behaviour during this story:

The tabloid press, in particular the extremist right-wing Daily Mail newspaper, have already been heavily criticised for ignoring the police reports and prosecution statements which gave the motive for the murder as robbery, with LeBlanc killing his younger friend in order to pay back a drugs-related debt. Few tabloid stories made any mention of the drugs angle.

Somehow, I doubt that they’ll print any kind of retraction. However, this doesn’t change anything regarding the behaviour of Rockstar, ELSPA and the other relevent parties that I wrote about yesterday.

Games Industry Shame

There’s recently been a storm in the UK over the perceived connection of violence in games such as Manhunt to the violence of an obviously disturbed 17 year old, who killed his 14 year old ‘friend’ in a manner reminiscent of a scene from the game. Dixons stores have already withdrawn the game for sale. (Read this story for a catch-up.)

Now, I’m not going to bang on about how flimsy these arguments are, which are no different to the arguments used against ‘video nasties’ back at the advent of VCR.

What has really infuriated me has been the reaction of the games industry itself.

A friend of mine (let’s call him Brian, since that’s his name), who runs his own PR consultancy mainly targetting the games industry, appeared on BBC Radio Scotland last Friday as part of a phone-in show regarding the incident, acting as a representative of the games industry. It seems that the chief of ELSPA (the UK trade body for the industry) pulled out of the show, and no-one else stepped up: magazine editors wouldn’t touch it, and Rockstar themselves were giving no comment (and still haven’t acknowledged the incident at all). Brian took on the task, and performed admirably. A credit to the industry.

After the show, which basically concurred with the theory that the connection between the game and the murder was fairly tenuous, my friend checked his phone for messages. 24 missed calls from all over the industry, including PR firm, Barrington Harvey, who are essentially the de-facto PR firm for the UK games business, representing most of the trade shows, ELSPA themselves and many others.

Apparently, ‘the industry’ had decided that nobody was allowed to talk to the media about this story. They had then found out Brian was appearing on the radio and had a bit of a hissy fit.

Wait, rewind. Nobody from the industry should talk about this story? WTF? Did I hear that right? Apparently, yes.

I’ll Brian himself regale you with the rest of the tale:

He’s not ‘on message’, he’s doesn’t know the official ‘industry position’ on the game. He’ll say something wrong!!

So they started spreading this around, calling TIGA [the game developer’s trade association], the office, hitmen, ANYONE, before I could royally screw things up for the entire industry and call down the very wrath of the Gods themselves upon us all.

I spoke to [BHPR] – after the show – who wanted to assure me that they had every confidence in me. They just wanted to ensure that I would not mention the Edinburgh Games Festival, ELSPA, TIGA, Roger Bennet, Fred Hasson, The European Games Network, The European Development Forum, MCV, any developers living or dead – or in fact anything relating to the games industry in any way, shape or form, or Manhunt itself.

Obviously, I was thrilled.

WTF?

Loving parents have lost a son, there’s a national outcry in the press over videogames (admittedly during silly season), the biggest electrical retailer in the country has pulled the game from it’s shelves, and the industry isn’t allowed to talk about the story? Instead, all that happens is this pissy little press release from ELSPA.

Frankly, I’m ashamed to be connected to the games industry at the moment. Are we supposed to feel that ELSPA’s statement was enough? That Rockstar’s continued silence over the incident means that this will all go away? The furore will die down over time, but only until a similar story erupts and it all happens again.

This last week, the industry should have stood up and taken part in the debate that emerged. Instead it hid behind a press release and tried to erect some sort of shield around itself.

“We sympathise enormously with the family and parents of Stefan Pakeerah.”, the release states. How the hell does a trade association sympathise? It’s not real. Why didn’t they use a direct quote from Roger Bennett, the Director General of ELSPA? At least that would have given the statement some meaning. Not much, but certainly more than it already has.

As for Rockstar themselves, their policy of ‘no comment’ may have protected them in the past for games such as the GTA series and State Of Emergency, but when the rest of the games industry is forced into defending them and speaking on their behalf, it behooves them to step up and take some responsibility for the game. Apart from acting like responsible adults, it might also stop the rest of us dumping them in it, when GTA: San Andreas emerges.

The industry should have made itself more transparent a long time ago. Many people still don’t believe in the games industry as being a decent economic driver for the country; they don’t understand why people play games.

It is well overdue that the industry starts to open up and dedicate some time to enhancing its image to the larger public, just as every other form of entertainment has had to do over the years.

Game Related Reading

I’ve uncovered the following articles over the last 18 hours, and I find them all pretty much on the money:

• Designing Games for the Wage Slave: Strangely, I posted about this the other day on the Scottish Games mailing list; (via)
• Named and Shamed: Excellent article about the lack of imagination in naming games (especially sequels);
• Micropayments in Gaming: They are coming, and I’m surprised it took this long.

Also via Slashdot, I found the famed Ron Gilbert’s blog. But why don’t GameDev.net or Idle Thumbs have RSS feeds? Do you think I have time to go looking for this stuff?

Nintendo DS

Although the PSP is an interesting side-show, the Nintendo DS (for Double-Screen) is what I’ve really been waiting for, and from what I’ve heard and seen so far, the system just completely rocks.

Two screens (obviously), one of which is a touch-screen; stylus; built-in mic and voice recognition; WiFi (802.11 for direct Internet connections plus a proprietary system for ad-hoc short-range networking)... beautiful :-) I hope the screens are of GBA SP quality, rather than the original GBA.

DS games will be delivered on SD cards, and it is fully GBA compatible (and presumably CGB as well). The games covered by GameSpy sound really great, especially WarioWare DS and Pac-Mix, and of course Metroid Prime: Hunter.

Nintendo have been the greatest games company in the world since they started making games, and this just takes it to a new level for me. Now, where can I place my pre-order?

Sources: GameDaily; GameSpy; Nintendo DS

PSP Debuts

This site appears to have some images: E3 2004: Sony debut eagerly-awaited PSP handheld – Ferrago

MSN Game Integration

Buried deep in this press release, an interesting feature looms:

The company announced that “Vanguard: Saga of Heroes,” a WindowsÆ-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Sigil Games Online Inc., will employ voice and notification software tools from Xbox Live to the Windows gaming world. “Vanguard: Saga of Heroes,” whose development team includes the original producer and co-creator of the wildly successful “EverQuest™ ,” will be integrated with MSNÆ Messenger in mobile devices, cell phones and more, allowing players to be notified if their friends are online, their castle is under siege or a troll needs to be vanquished.

We’ve been talking about this since 1999, when we started The Games Kitchen (others talked about it as well), but this is the first time I’ve seen the concept deployed in a large-scale, high-profile game.

Xbox Live Arcade

Via Gamespot, Microsoft are rolling out Xbox Live Arcade, which is apparently:

... an online service that will allow users to download a variety of “poker, card, trivia, and classic arcade games,” according to Xbox Group Chief J Allard.

This is a spin on what I talked about in this post about them having a direct billing relationship with players, and could potentially be very, very lucrative for the likes of PopCap and uWink.

Actually, I suppose this is kind of like RealArcade, but for your console.

E3 No Show

This week, the E3 Expo begins in LA, and for the first time since 1999, I shan’t be there :-(

I won’t miss the show as such, although the fact that Sony are debuting PSP, Nintendo are launching the DS, and Sega are being rumoured to have a new portable console in the works does make things slightly more difficult for me.

More annoying for me is that I will miss what I call the meta-show: everything that happens around the show, in other words. I’ll miss catching up with folk that I don’t normally see through the year, and I’ll miss hanging out in Santa Monica (which by now has lost its Wizards store and has gained an Apple store). I’ll especially miss the whisky party which the Scottish companies throw in the Staples Center: always a good night, and the thrill of seeing your company logo on the massive screen on the outside wall is just one of those Great Moments…

Best of luck to everyone I know who will be there; I’m only slightly jealous ;-)

Avi Greengart on N-Gage QD

Avi Greengart, a Jupiter Analyst, has written about the new N-Gage QD:

But for game-first platforms, content is key, and that seems to have gotten buried. There haven’t been many must-have games for N-Gage.

And this is exactly where Nokia have gone wrong. There have been no must-have games for the “platform” (and I use that term loosely), which is always a bit of a hold-up for a gaming system.

Our research shows that phones and gaming can make sense in the right packaging – significantly, we have yet to see a phone-first/game-second device. The original N-Gage was game-first/phone-maybe; I look forward to categorizing the QD once I actually use one in the next couple weeks. Most J2ME and BREW phones – even the ones with itty bitty joysticks in lieu of 5 way buttons – are phone-first/game-maybe.

As I wrote in People Play Games on N-Gage Shock, Nokia desperately wanted N-Gage to be a new games console, but it turned out to be a phone that was geared towards playing games. This is exactly what Nokia have focussed on for the QD system, but I think they’ve missed an opportunity by failing to upgrade the J2ME support.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if we saw some other manufacturers following with phones that are geared to games in this way, but I suspect this might be one time when they don’t just copy everything Nokia does.

Jupiter Research has a lot to say about when to converge, what to converge, and what to keep primary.

I’m sure, but so do I ;-)

Microgames Live

It strikes me that party games such as WarioWare could benefit from online connectivity in a different way than just providing multiplayer features: more games.

Presumably, these games are built in such a way as to allow easy integration of the mini-/micro-games, so it would be reasonably easy to integrate newly downloaded bits of content. Imagine they even released the API before the game was launched (a la The Sims), allowing clever folks to create new sub-games which players can download. Imagine that the developer/publisher actually created some sort of ecosystem which rewarded the creators of these new sub-games in some way (perhaps with a cut of any charges made).

This is perhaps an opportunity which Xbox Live is missing: providing billing on behalf of others (a Holy Grail in mobile games as well, as it happens). Microsoft now has a billing relationship with the Live subscribers, so it would be in a position to offer this. It probably needs to reduce the monthly subscription fee (to 50% of the current level, IMHO) before doing this, but I think it could allow some cool innovation…

If it moves, shoot it...

Today’s Penny Arcade commentary reminded me about BulletML and Bulletsmorph, which I meant write about last July when Nelson wrote about it. Sadly, I couldn’t get the applet to work, but I did download a bunch of the games which are available to satisfy my shooterlust. Happy happy joy joy.

Nelson says, “I think people miss simple shooter games.” I don’t necessarily agree with that, as there are a few independent sources on the web doing these games, and the Japanese games industry still churns them out (Treasure being one of my favourite producers), so if you know where to go, then you don’t miss them. The problem is figuring out where to go to get a fix. I do believe, however, that the Western world’s mainstream games industry misses the games and the joy they bring to players, as the playing on a PC just isn’t the same as playing on a console…

Scheduling Conflict

According to Game, next Friday sees the release of Viewtiful Joe and FIFA 2004.

No fair! I don’t have enough time to play one game, never mind two…

EA on Xbox Live Dispute

[EA CFO Warren] Jenson also commented on the disagreement between EA and Microsoft over the Xbox Live service, saying: “We’re not about to support a model where the content provider does not get paid for the content provided.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself…

Tactical Quest

Via Cogworks

Well, sigh, I cannot read a word of this site, but since I can see pictures, this looks for all the world like a Tactics game, only for your cell phone.

I can’t read it either, but I’d agree with that. This is by Square-Enix, and I can’t believe this hasn’t been covered elsewhere. Check it out here

Preserving Games of Olde

[ESA President Douglas Lowenstein] said his organization focuses on immediate legal and regulatory issues such as copyrights and piracy. It simply hasn’t yet put a priority on preserving the industry’s history, which he said would be a huge undertaking. Nor does he know of any other efforts in the industry.

I find this perspective incredibly sad. Every other entertainment industry catalogues much of its history (witness digitally remastered albums and restored film reels) – and they use it as a revenue earner (Disney is incredibly good at this). The games industry seems intent on shutting off its lineage—if the publishers are so concerned about piracy, emulators and abandonware, and how it impacts their top line [aside: because games companies are all very well run, of course ;-)] maybe they should take a look at that model.

Perhaps there’s a business opportunity here? Think I’ll have a word with Greg...

Warp Pipe Project

I’ll be keeping an eye on this: Warp Pipe Project.

Girls in Games

game girl advance: Genderplay: Successes and Failures in Character Designs for Videogames

I don’t want to see a shelf of pink boxes of “girl games”. I just want to see better games in general – games which are more thoughtful, more provocative, more interesting, with better character design.

Amen to that.

PlanetSide

PlanetSide is a game that has interested me since it was first announced (although I doubt my l33t skillz will ever be good enough to try and play it).

I wondered how the gameplay would pan out in what is a massively-multiplayer first-person shooter. However, it appears that they have devised a skill tree for the game (whether actually encoded or not), and the gameplay is actually quite open.

The game is now in beta, and you can read some info on it at the website.

Midnight Synergy

If you are looking for a couple of fun, cheap games for your Windows PC, then you could do worse than check out Midnight Synergy’s games: Wonderland and Intensity XS.

Wonderland is a nice little puzzle game in the vein of Chip’s Challenge, which is pretty compelling.

Intensity XS: ReCharge (to give it its full name) is a horizontally scrolling shoot-’em-up taking the lead of classics such as R-Type. Shooters are my favourite games, and this is a damn fine effort (moreso considering the price).