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