PEEP MY SCHWAG!

Slammed with work and stomach flu. Wanted to share pics of some of my newest office mates real quick tho :)

Got my Doctor Who Tardis in the mail the other day! :) And that's my BEFORE YOU QUIT YOUR JOB book on the right, by the way. Read that to assuage my fears before I left Sony (after a 13+ year run). Didn't help. Was still scared shitless. :)

Damn thing even opens up, lights up, makes cool sounds,etc.  Used to think Doc Who was so stupid (a dude flies around in a Police Public Call Box?!? What?!?!)...now I can't get enough of it. Downloaded the soundtrack to work to a few days back as well :)

LOVE Darksiders! Love the character of War! Love the whole world and art style of the game! Thanks to lead designer Haydn Dalton and comic book super star (and Darksiders Creative Director) Joe Madureira for the super neat signed Darksiders schwag!

Ok, gonna work till I pass out or vomit. Lots of work over the weekend so I hope I sleep this damn bug off. Later ya'll! Have a great weekend! Part of me wants to see the new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (I LOVE Freddy and that series in general) but I hear it sucks. :( But hell, it's a horror movie. What, I expect Oscar nominations? Freddy is like pizza anyway. ANY Freddy is good Freddy...altho I do not dig this new dude playing him...but I'll give him a chance. He rocked in Little Children.

David

JAFFE ON DAY ONE DLC/DOCTOR WHO/GAME SHARING

FINALLY got my video blogs working again! Pardon the bed head and the messy office. Between tons of work and 2 sick kids at home, it's been a hell of a week so far!

QUICK HITS (E3+SPIELBERG+AFTERBURNER+RED DEAD)

Hey ya'll! Been crazed with work as of late working on TWISTED METAL: HARBOR CITY!

Just kidding! You seen this?!?

Man you'd think if someone bothered to go thru the trouble of trying to fake peeps out with a 'what will be shown at E3' list, the least they could do is avoid some stupid mistakes like listing games that were cancelled a few years ago (like Harbor City or Road Rash HD).

Just for the record: Even tho we can not talk about what we are working on (it is Sony's game so they will announce it when they want to), there is NOTHING on this list that we are making or have ANYTHING to do with. I guess it's possible this list is real tho but I really doubt it given the crazy errors and brain farts that I already mentioned. Kind of hope it is real tho cause MAN I would LOVE to see a new Road Rash!!! :) Altho it would suck if Sony had someone else making a Twisted Metal. I'd love to think if there were ever gonna revive that series they would come to us first. But hey, not my call. 

STILL, gotta admit I'm pretty excited for E3. People keep asking if I'm gonna go and I think I will TRY to get up there for at least one day this year. I missed last year so I've yet to see the new improved 'bigger than before but not as big as back in the day' E3. But my oldest daughter is doing PETER AND THE WOLF on the first day of the show so there's no way I'm missing that. She plays the duck :)...So I think I'll end up just watching the whole thing from the comfort of my office, banging away on our game while the great internet coverage blares in the background. I especially like the Gamespot ON STAGE demos that they stream live from the show floor...makes me feel like I am there. As I've said before, fun as it is to go to E3, I really like experiencing it from home more. Nothing beats live E3 coverage in one window, Neogaf in another (with threads being added to like wildfire), Rubio's at my desk, and the press conferences playing on G4. 

Anyway, so been too swamped to deal with my video blog issue so I'll get to my thoughts on gamesharing and day one/On Disc DLC in a bit. For now, some very quick hits and just saying 'hey!'...

#1- HD KILLS YOUR IDOLS- As many of you know, I grew up IDOLIZING Steven Spielberg. I mean, he was my mega hero and I pretty much wanted to BE him when I grew up. For real. Over the years as I've grown up, built my own life, had my own successes, and actually met the man a few times the hero worship has faded significantly. I still admire and am crazy inspired by the guy but I'm now very happy being David Jaffe. I don't need to be Steven Spielberg anymore. BUT I gotta admit, there's still a tinge of idolization left over, probably always will be there. And I dig that, I like that. I kind of never want to lose that hint of what it was like to be a kid and having a crazy amazing hero/role model. However when I see stuff like this, it helps to make it VERY clear to me that he's just a man, not a God:

So here's a screen grab of my new MINORITY REPORT BLU RAY that I just got from Amazon. Pretty decent Spielberg interview about the underrated  flick (which I think- with age- will find more and more fans). But anyway, point is: what did I notice most about this interview? Was it a new insight into precrime? Or a cool new factoid about the Cruise/Spielberg working relationship? Nah. What I most got out of this interview was this: watching Steven in full HD it makes it SO CLEAR he's just a guy. You see his pores and a few blemishes and lots and lots of unkempt hair and a scruffy beard. All of that oh so human detail just sucks away the magic I usually associate with the man. If I woulda seen this as a kid, who knows if I would have tried to be a movie maker?!? On one hand I think it's very, very good to see our idols as the people they really are. But I admit a part of me is sad by this cause it really does make you realize there are no magical people walking around. We're all just human. And so seeing this interview in all its HD glory goes a big step towards bringing this guy down to a human level. Now most people probably never idolized Spielberg like I did so for you, you'll probably be going, "Well no shit, Jaffe...of course he's just a man!"...but think about someone you do or DID idolize when you were younger? Wasn't it cool/weird/sad/strange/amazing when you finally realized they were just a person? 

#2- PLAYING AFTER BURNER ON PSN- 

Not much to say...it's Afterburner. No surprises but well made, fun, and Sega blue skies! What's not to love?


#3- RED DEAD REDEMPTION- GREAT write up in the Sunday LA TIMES Calendar section! Aimed at an educated mainstream audience the write up makes the game sound really, really fun! Here's a link to it online. The one thing that KIND OF annoys however is the opening quote by Dan Houser. It's hard to make it out in the image above but basically when asked what the game is about, Dan says, "It's America. The birth of modern America. What was gained and what was lost."...

Uhm...yeah. Excuse me but my hyperbole/bullshit/games-as-art detector is going off.

And hey, I dig GTA and think what Rockstar has done for the biz is FANTASTIC! And for all I know Rockstar has cracked the nut and players playing RED DEAD will actually understand and feel what Houser is talking about. And if that's the case, I will take back my cynicism. But for now, please allow me to be a smarmy prick as I think back to the days when I was telling the press that Twisted Metal:Black was 'about' depression and dealing with inner demons. Uhm, sure Jaffe.

Ya know, a good reporter woulda called me on that bullshit and been like, "Ok, tell us about that." Or better yet they'd have said, "You sure it's not really about cars blowing each other up with you basically riffing on the Seven and Jacob's Ladder visual style and surface tone without really understanding what made those movies tick on a more human level? And even if you DO understand those movies at a deep level, how in the hell are you infusing those themes and that meaning into a video game at all...let alone a video game where you drive around and shoot power missiles and napalm at other cars?".... Yeah, a good journalist woulda asked me that. But they never did. Suckers :)

But either way, the Red Dead looks FANTASTIC and I can't wait to play it! 

Ok ya'll back soon with a damn video blog once I get the whole thing sorted out and we're not so damn bizzy with the game. Hope you are all well!

David 

UGH!! DAMMIT!

Hey ya'll- sorry so few posts this week. Hate that. But I tried to do a video post 3 times (which means I spent about 30 minutes total recording). Each and every time, when I hit STOP RECORDING, my browser would crash (using Youtube). So I gotta figure that shit out.

Anyway,I really want to chat with ya'll about my issues with GAME SHARING and DLC DAY ONE/ON DISC stuff. But fuck video for now, I'll just use text. Also wanna show some of the amazingly cool DARKSIDERS toys/schwag that the game's lead designer Haydn Dalton sent me. He also had Joe Mad sign the stuff! Holy cow! Will post pics and do my write up this weekend.

For now, just saying hey and letting ya know why the posts have been so spotty this week. Will look into the YOUTUBE issues as well when I get a sec.

Ok great weekend! Talk tomorrow or Sunday!

David

ps. VIDDLER crashed on me too when I went to process the video so it's gotta be on my end. An update to my software maybe? 

Movie Makin' With The Sony San Diego Peeps

Spent the last few days in the Sony Cinematics offices in San Diego. They are the group that does most of the movies for Sony games, along with mocap, behind the scenes footage, stuff for HOME, and all kinds of other cool, hi-tech stuff that I'm not allowed to share. But they're a cool bunch and always fun to visit with.

So the crew there is handling the flicks for our latest game. And as I've said in a previous blog post, a number of issues have cropped up in the last month (budget, timing, story telling syles) that have necessitated rewrites to the script. But production is so close to starting that we figured we'd skip the rewrite script phase and jump right into storyboards, adjusting (and in some cases out and out rewriting) the story as we boarded. 

So that's what we did, and that's what I've been doing all week.

Super producer Nick Kononelos rolled white boards into his office and we had a big ol story telling/story boarding jam session as we worked thru all the shots and the story. It was fun! Check it out:

That's Tony Washington, super nice dude and he of this video clip right here. World of Warcraft and Comic Con fans may recognize super talented Tony from his super cool work on the WOW and Dragon's Lair comics, as well as the animated Ninja Turtles flick. He's also got a pretty cool audio/visual story telling world going on that he's designed called Stations Stories. To learn more about all the cool stuff he's up to, Check out his site.

And here we have uber talented Mr. Steve High. Great artist, great visual storyteller.

Check out his cool stuff here!  

Steve and Tony split up the work over the week so we could get the whole story banged out (and I still gotta go back on Monday to finish it up with them). THEN the Sony producers gotta take the new boards and run it thru the Dream Killing Machine (AKA the spreadsheet they use to estimate and calculate the budgets) and then we'll prob. have to make some more adjustments so we can afford to make these movies. And then- once that is all done (should be next week)- we can roll into production of the game's movies. Whew! 

Ok, last 2-3 days have been all story telling, now it's time- thank God- to get my ass back to the gameplay! Gotta run- great weekend ya'll....who is going to see KICK ASS?!?!? I know I am! 

Later!

David 

ps. check it out- just got tickets to these two super cool events in LA this May! 

Harrison Ford doing Q/A after a screening of Empire Strikes Back at the Arclight! And all the cash for tix goes to charity!

Kevin Smith Q/A at House of Blues in Los Angeles! 

Can't wait! May's gonna rock! 

Arguing the Argument

Agree 1000% w/sentiment of this Kotaku write up about the new Game Dev Magazine/Gamasutra 'key people in the biz' list not having any women on it.

But I call bullshit on the details.

 MAYBE I'd agree on Meggan Scavio because she is so dang important but it's debatable if she fits on a list that is intended to show off people IN GAMES. Isn't Meggan's business more along the lines of the convention business? As for the list itself, it's utter bullshit Amy Henning is not on it.

But for the rest of the women this article lists- talented and key players as many of them are- the ones I would put on the main list from this list have not (far as I know) released anything in the last year. For example, Kim Swift made a great game in Portal...but that was 2-3 years ago. Why put her on a list for this year? Be the same as someone putting ME on a list for the last few years...why would they do that? They would not.

And splitting the list with 50% men, 50% women = bullshit. Unless you are releasing a list of 'THE KEY MALE PLAYERS" and "THE KEY FEMALE PLAYERS" then fine. But to split a main list just to be 'fair'? Doesn't sound like that would be doing the list the respect it deserves. Women are key to our business and they some of them should be applauded and noticed more than they are, no doubt. But let's not knock key males off the list just so less deserving women can be on it. That's bullshit.

David

COMMENTS ARE BACK UP

Hey- for those who are into such things, I've turned commenting back on for registered users.

Glad to be chatting again with you all!

David

MODNATION RACERS!

Sony sent me a copy of the super cool MODNATION RACERS a few weeks ago and then filmed me talking about the experience. Tell you what man, the creation tools in this game are fuckin' sweet! Within minutes (as in 5 minutes, I kid you not), I was making levels!

Check it out!


Isn't SD Kratos cool?!?!

Ok, gotta run ya'll! Tons to do! Hope you're all well!

David

ps. they listed me as FOUNDER of EAT SLEEP PLAY. Trust me, I was a CO-founder. Other than that, I dig the clip!

HOW TO WRITE GAME MOVIES...THE MARVEL WAY!

Running out of time to get our game movies into production (these things take 12+ months to create). Have already written the scripts a handful of times but production changes everyday which necessitates rewrites.

At this point, we need story boards by end of week and that's just not enough time to write the scripts in. So instead I am meeting tomorrow with some storyboard artists at Sony San Diego and we are going to bypass the script stage and go right to storyboards based on these little stick figure sketches I've been working on all day:

Scary, eh? Gulp! :)

Wish us luck!

David

ps. So I cleaned my office pretty hard core over the holidays and put a lot of my geek toys in the garage. Well 95% of them are still down there but it was just feeling too sterile and lonely up here so I brought my faves back :)

Tweeting Again

Hey all- still super slammed- but I'll back soon.

Real quick tho: I decided to start Tweeting again cause I miss it. Plus I'll be getting an ipad next month (waiting for the WiFi/3G combo to hit in May) and really want to go back to tweet deck.

A few things:

1- my twitter name is davidscottjaffe (as djaffe and davidjaffe seem to be taken). Pretty sure this is the link:

https://twitter.com/davidscottjaffe

2- be warned- when I tweet- I tweet A LOT! I do not do this 'one tweet every 15-36 hours' thing. So if you get your tweets on your phone or you get annoyed by tweet spamming (not ads but like 5-20 tweets and multiple conversations that I have over tweet) then this is NOT a tweet you want to be following. I totally respect that a lot of people like to use tweet in a certain way. Just know that I don't use it that way so subscribe knowing that. I really like following and tweeting on tweet deck and similar programs and that is why I love conversational tweets. So seriously, DO NOT follow me if you are not down with that. It would be a miserable for you (as people who followed my old tweet account told me).

3- Please don't tweet me ideas for games or anything else creative. I don't want or need them. I want to be in touch with people who dig the work we do. I LOVE that. But don't send in your ideas. Thanks!

Ok, heading off to a fun Del Mar lunch with the ex and our kids. Talk soon!

David

This Is The Best TIme Of Making A Game!!!

Hey all- well I gotta say, I have not been this busy in a looong while. And it's really, really good. I love being slammed when the stuff we're slammed with are real, concrete game making tasks. This phase of the game is fantastic, where the pieces SLOWLY start falling into place and you- finally- begin to get glimpses of what you wanted the game to be from the very start. Still a long way to go and still not close to having the game of our dreams yet but we're working our asses off to get there....

...and that's the point of this post. I'm gonna stop posting just for a bit...nothing long, 1-4 weeks just cause I'm too busy to do anything other than post links and videos of other people...and I really don't care for blogs that do that.

I will 100% be back. Not leaving for good or for long so please come back soon and visit. I love this blog and am still eager to keep letting ya'll in behind the scenes of the game making process. Just right now, we're all super slammed.

So I'm off...just for a few weeks- back soon!

Take it easy ya'll!

David