MY DAY AT THE CON (aka Geoff Keighly Teaches Me The Meaning Of Fandom)

So I went to the 2007 Comic-Con on Thursday and had an absolute blast. The con itself was way more crowded than usual (the thing just keeps attracting more and more people)! The crowds- along with the traffic jam that stretched out some 30 blocks in front of the convention center and saw me stuck in my car for over an hour- would have usually been enough to put me in a foul mood for the entire day. But I’ve really been into positive thinking lately (The Secret and all that…it really works)! So instead of focusing on the maddening crowds, I decided to shift my perception to the fact that I was- first off- simply walking around: alive, healthy, and semi-young. Considering the large amount of folks who needed wheel chairs and canes to move about the convention floor (not to mention those poor souls too sick to attend in the first place), I easily counted myself as lucky. Toss in the fact that I was walking around a massive room stuffed with all the things that inspire me and stir my soul-from sci-fi movies to long lost toys from my childhood to actual pieces of pop culture that I've had a hand in creating-and you’ve got the makings of a great fucking day.

And when I decided to view things from that perspective, I found myself so grateful; so excited that I could share the day with my fellow geeks; enjoying the things that all geeks love so much. I surprised myself and got a bit of a high from the whole thing. Even more surprising, it's a high that I am still on. I’m back at work now, fueled and inspired to work my ass off in order to do my part to make sure that all of the games out of EAT SLEEP PLAY are worthy of- one day- being included in the amazing cannon of geek culture.

Ok, so what did I do specifically at the con? Well, I’ll tell you (he’s going to tell, he’s going to tell):

#1- HUNG WITH MR. KEIGHLY- I did an interview with Geoff Keighly from GAMEHEAD (Spike TV). Geoff’s a great guy who has always been nice to me and good to the games we make. I really appreciated his interest in our new company and that he allowed me to go on-air to talk about EAT SLEEP PLAY. So we gabbed a bit about that kind of stuff, the con in general; and then started walking the floor together, talking some more while the camera crew followed us around. I imagine some of it will make it into the show (should be airing in a few weeks). Hope so anyway, as I had a fun time doing it! So while we were walking around, I spotted this college age kid who was dressed as PUCK, the stocky-ass, Canadian super hero from the Marvel comic ALPHA FLIGHT. Didn’t get a pic, but here’s what he looks like in the comic:


So imagine a very out of shape guy, very short guy dressed in this outfit and you’ll get the idea.

So I thought it would be funny to go up to this Puck-Kid, chat with him on camera, and- to be totally honest- make fun of him a bit. Sort of like the whole Triumph the Insult Comic Dog making fun of the Star Wars geeks in that classic clip…but much less funny considering I’m really not all that clever/funny of a guy. But what the hell, right? But God, when it was over, I just felt bad. Really bad. Like, who the fuck am I to make fun of someone? Especially someone who clearly is passionate about the same things I care about? I mean, sure, I thought the guy looked pretty silly but hell, he was happy, having a good time, and seemed to know the difference between reality and fantasy. It was a really mean spirited thing to do (although I was not that bad to him) and I really wish I had not even gone up to the kid. Afterwards, Keighly and I were talking about it and Keighly set me straight: he was like, ‘ah, the guy seems happy, he’s having fun, and hey, that’s some of the kind of people who like the stuff you and I do.’ And Geoff was right, 100% right. What an ass I was. I mean, I wasn’t really that bad to him but just the idea that I felt I had the right (and the desire) to poke fun at this kid…ughh, doesn’t sit well with me. Puck-Kid, if you are reading this, I’m really sorry man.


#2- MET UWE BOWL- So Geoff was going to interview infamous film director Uwe Boll and I asked to come along. I thought it’d be neat to meet someone who has to deal with his own internet slings and arrows; see how he deals with the abuse. He turned out to be a nice, nice guy.




He is passionate about his new movie (Postal) and seems really like a decent person. I’ve never seen any of his films however so I’m not sure if he deserves the shit he takes or not. I can tell you when Geoff- on camera!- asked me if I would let Uwe direct God Of War, I told him….err, wait. Maybe that will make it onto GameHead in a few weeks. So I’ll wait till it airs before I spill the beans! But he was cool!

Oh, and check it out! He gave me some plans of the set to his new movie, FARCRY, that he’s making right now!

I taped over his email cause I know that the worst thing the net needs right now is Uwe's private email floating around! Can you imagine the hell?!?

#3- HUNG WITH COLLEGE FRIENDS- Was really nice to hang around with Jeff Goldsmith (who hosts the wonderful CREATIVE SCREENWRITING podcast for Creative Screenwriting magazine…check it out here:

http://creativescreenwriting.com/podcasts/main.html

So I hung with Jeff and Scott Hyman (fellow geek, USC alum, and game industry veteran). I never used to like to bum around with folks at Comic Con cause I liked to just lose myself and explore. But for some reason, I really dug hanging with my fellow geeks this time around, and checking out the sites. Here’s an interview Jeff and I did with Gametrailers at the show. They just kind of found me standing on line for pizza and started shooting. I like interviews like this- very casual, very real. Much better- to me- than the PR bullshit we hear all the time. Check it out here:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/22881.html

Oh and here's another one from the con with me, talking about the new company:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/22861.html

Man, my forehead is shiny as shit. What's up with that?!?!

#4- SPENT SOME MONEY- Bought some stuff….check it:

Here's some of what I bought. I always wanted some original comic art. This page is from JLA 112 from Ron Garney. I like it but would have loved something with Spidey but those were going for mucho bucks.


Cool DVD I got from the Stan/Joe/Kevin gabfest at UCLA a few months back. It's good...not great, but decent.


I wore out my cassette of this back in high school, writing movie scripts while I blasted this on my boom box (yeah, we called them boom boxes back then, fuck off!). It doesn't hold up all that well, kinda cheese ball. But still, it brings back memories and there are some parts that are still pretty good.

Thing is, I thought this CD was long out of print. But you can find everything on the comic con floor. In this case, some dude was selling bootlegged soundtracks. Some were soundtracks long out of print/press/circulation/whatever…some were soundtracks that were never released (WarGames?!? With dialogue from the movie?!?! What the hell!!!) But it was great to buy these and the dude was super nice cause his credit card machine was down and I had no cash (the wife had take out our limit from the ATM earlier that morning so I was kinda living off credit cards for the day). But the guy- this was so nice- just gave me the cd’s and told me to mail him a check! Amazing huh?

Oh, and check out my Spidey! Suck it, Tallirico! No way you could have this one!!!! (note: just kidding! did anyone see Tommy's amazing Peter Parker/Spidey costume?!? That was great!)


Bought this cool spidey statue for my home office. It’s fun setting up the home space, the San Diego branch of Eat Sleep Play! I love working from home and figured I needed to surround myself with lots of geeky things to keep me happy! Maybe when I get the place all decked out, I’ll shoot a video tour of my home office. Why? Who knows…it’s late…just an idea ☺

#5- LOOKED AT COOL STUFF- Saw lots of cool stuff. Like this:



Fat Ronald! See, now this is how they should fucking promote McDonalds to kids. You ask me Ronald is as bad as Joe Cool was. They really should ban that fuck. He’s bad news.



KRATOS LIVES! How cool is that, to see a character I had a huge hand in creating on someone’s tee shirt! This is actually the second time I’ve seen a GOD OF WAR tee-shirt (first was on 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica a few weeks ago). It’s really a thrill to see something you worked on out there in the world, clearly an important enough character to someone that they put on a tee-shirt with the damn dude on it!




Isn’t that nice? Not sure if you can read the text, but it’s a girly looking R2D2 like action figure (called RT-K2) that seems to have been made for a kid at the Make A Wish Foundation. Warms the heart.





Here’s ROCK N ROLL from 1985…one of the first GI JOE action figures they made (from that time period). I remember buying Rock N Roll and his cool motorbike at my local Service Merchandise in Alabama…this was like 2-3 months before the cartoon and comic hit so I just thought they were cool toys. Didn’t know they would go on to be a mini cultural phenom.


Flash and Ming Bobbleheads! The day they hit, I’m buying them. Hell, I’m even going to give the new Flash Sci-Fi series a chance! Loves me some Flash G!






The Ark! What can I say?!? I wish I could have stolen it and taken it home. And OH MY GOD! Forget Marion being in Indy 4! What about those fucking rumors on the net about what Indy is looking for this time??!? HOW FUCKING COOL WILL THAT BE IF IT TURNS OUT TO BE TRUE?!?!!!!!



TURN YOUR KEY,SIR! I'M SORRY, I AM SO SORRY.....ahem, anyway....SO, what the hell is this? A sequel to WarGames?!?! Dude, I don't care if this is some low budget Sci-Fi Channel original series or straight-to-video movie: I wanna see it! WarGames is in my top 10 movies of all time! Was there any footage of this? Any news on plot? Stars? Someone give me some info!





Look at these things! Day one purchase! So fucking cool! I gotta get Freddy, Jason, and Michael Meyers! They are scary…but cute at the same time! Who knew it was possible! Same company had some cooler, more realistic toys from the classic 70’s/80’s horror flicks- like a little play set where Jason as a boy- from F13th- was leaping up from the water, like he did at the end of the movie! Man, that scene scared me to death as a kid! Speaking of Jason, anyone see Jason X and that scene where he had the chick in the sleeping bag and picked it up with her inside and started slamming the bag against the tree?!?! OH MY GOD! That was the best kill ever!.....well, that or the hammer in the bald guy’s head in Halloween II.

Ok, it’s getting real late and I gotta get to bed. I really need to make more time to write better blog entries in the future. I used to put more time into making sure they read well, were meaty,etc…but these days I’m so busy I feel like I’d rather post more often and just more brain dump than really write a nice entry. Ah well, something for me to think about…

Goodnite ya’ll!


David

One Door Closes...

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EDIT#1- Just to be clear, the port of TM:HEAD ON does NOT count as our first title in the Sony 3 game deal...it's a port we are doing and THEN we start full time work on game #1. But unless the powers that be shoot us down mid-pro, we know what game #1 will be, the concept art is fucking amazing, and I am crazy in love with game #1 already. Hope ya'll like it when you see it in a bit...


Edit #2- Ok, so my comic-con post is coming soon but I can't contain my excitement so:



How fucking cool is that?!?!

Ok, back to the original post:

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So, as some of you may have heard, today is my last day at Sony.

After 14 years, I’m leaving the mothership that has protected me, nurtured me, sustained me, taught me, and- in the early days when I was an insecure kid who didn’t know any better-defined me.

Scott Campbell and I are starting a new games company called EAT SLEEP PLAY. We're teaming up with a host of the key folks from the Twisted Metal games (not to mention many of the other great Incognito/Singletrac games) and trying to give this indy game thing a shot! I’ve worked with these folks- on and off- for about 13 years and we figured it was high time to pull back the sheets and jump into bed together all permanent like.

We have a 3 game console/handheld exclusive deal with Sony and hope to have our first original game out sometime in 2008. In the meantime, we’ll be putting out a port of TWISTED METAL: HEAD ON this Xmas season. The port- going from PSP to PS2- is pretty cool for a port because:

- It has the original HEAD ON title but it’s now running at 60fps and has resed up textures as well as some gameplay tweaks.
- It has 5-7 levels from the never released TWISTED METAL BLACK: PART II.
- It has a documentary on the history of the series.

So for a port, we think it’s a pretty sweet package and a pretty good deal. We're also trying to get the powers that be to throw in an art book that ships with the game (nothing fancy,just something packed in with the disc).

So the new company will be based out of Utah, but I’ll remain here in San Diego, working from my home office. No real difference between the way I’ve worked with SingleTrac/Incog over the years, so we don’t expect much to change, other than the fact that all of us now own a piece of the company.

Again, we are working with Sony and that just feels great. We met with some other interested parties but at the end of the day, Sony is our home, our family, and we’re really thrilled and honored they wanted to work with us and continue the relationship we’ve spent almost 15 years cultivating. So in many ways, it’s like very little has changed, other than the pay cut ☺.

But it’s what we wanted: to go independent and see where we could steer our very own ship. Granted, our new ship is no longer the grand, unstoppable beast that is Sony. Instead, it’s a smaller vessel, scrappy even, manned with a crew of experienced sailors who felt the need to venture out into the unknown seas and and see what we could see. And the cool thing is, a small as our ship is, it’s not the least bit scary. It’s exciting as hell. It feels right; like the time is right, the crew is ready, and the grand voyage is just beginning.

As always, I hope you guys/gals will join us on our journey (ok, enough with the shitty metaphor). As soon as I can reveal more about our new titles, I will share all. Maybe in the next 8-12 months, I would imagine, but who knows.

Anyway, so there’s my big news. As I said, it’s really big news for us, we’re real excited, and we hope our new company name- Eat Sleep Play- becomes synonymous with some of the most fun games of the future.

Ok, my oldest kid is awake. Gotta get her dressed for the day, then head upstairs to report for my first official day of work ☺. Oh, and stay tuned for my ‘report’ from Comic Con. I had a BLAST yesterday. I wish I could go back today for day #2, but hell, I got games to design! ☺

Talk to ya’ll later!

David

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING FRIDAY

...well big announcement for ME. It's not like I'll be revealing what game we've been working on, stuff like that. Well actually, I will be able to talk a little bit about ONE of the games for the first time...

...anyway, the points are these:

a- sorry I've been out of touch this last week; was in Bama for a great wedding and great visit with the family. I actually took some cool pics from Cracker Barrel (love the biscuits!) that I may post...not sure why....I just love eating at that place. And they don't have them out here in So Cal.



EDIT#1: Here's the pic....I ordered a side biscuit and assumed it would be a single biscuit. But damn if it wasn't a PLATE of biscuits and cornbread...mmmm....good!

b- Thursday is comiccon day 1! I will only get to go for a day this year as I am swamped but I will prob post something from there if I see cool stuff...always do. I really wanna try to make it to the Kevin Smith panel.

c- Friday-at 9am (PR wants to send the press release out before I post...so no 12:01 update)...but at 9am, I will post news of my future. Again, it's a big deal for me personally and it does deal with my work. So this week I'll be able to spill SOME of the beans...and I'll prob. spew about how I'm dealing with this very, very big change in my work life.

Hope to see ya'll soon!

David

ps. Just FYI, the game alot of you guys seems to think we are working on, we are not. Sorry to dissapoint :(

MIYAMOTO PART II

Usually when stuff I say pisses off my net brothers and sisters, I usually chalk it up to:

a- I just rub certain people the wrong way. Fair enough, I know people in my life as well who- from the instant I met them- I just did not like. I can see myself generating that kind of response in some folks, especially given how outspoken and opinionated I can be and how some folks feel we should all instead just be respectful and quiet at all times. Fair enough- different strokes and all that.

b- People still want to say I am arrogant even tho I'm a very, very smart person and very intuative as well- more so than most people would ever be- and because I am so smart and bright and do alot of introspective thinking, I think it's pretty safe to say I am not arrogant. Hmmm...do I put a smiley here or just leave it as is so more folks miss the 'joke'...I think I will just leave it.

c-Sony haters. It's like sports I guess. Some hardcore Nintendo Fan Boys and Xbots hate me cause I am a Sony game maker. Fair enough I suppose, even though I have expressed my love for work both of those companies have done many, many times.

So there you go, right? Can't please the world and I am cool with that. So somewhere along the line, I gave up trying.

BUT when the Miyamoto write up hit and people started saying I was thinking I was BETTER than Miyamoto or I was DISRESPECTING the man or I felt his games post Mario64 were lame....I mean, that really, really bothered me alot because that is not what I said at all. Now sure, some would argue: well, why did you even THINK those things?!? Why did you SHARE those things?!? You are both professionals and should never talk bad about one another in public.

Well I was not talking BAD about Miyamoto or his games, I was simply waxing philisophical on the fact that these days, the man's genius- and I use that term with uttmost seriousness- is not meant for me.

This post I made the next day on NEO GAF expresses how I feel about the whole thing pretty well:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If I may, just to be clear:

1- LOVE LOVE LOVE Mario64...one of the best games ever made. And for those who are scared of the F word: FUCKING FUCKING FUCKING FINGER LICKING FUCKING LOVE that game.

2- I NEVER said the stuff Miyamoto did AFTER Mario64 was crap or bad. I just said that those products did not float my boat. I DID give him the proper respect and awe the man deserves not ONLY for his older games but made it clear that he and his POST Mario64 work were responsible for creating the amazing biz we are all a part of. There is no ounce in my body that has anything but the uttmost awe and admiration and respect for the man.

3- Does that mean I am not allowed to say that games like NINTENDOGS and Wii Sports and Brain Age are not my cup of tea? Shit yea. I respect those games and am so in awe of how amazing Miyamoto is at reading what a huge slice of the market wants. But those games are not for me and were not designed to be for me.

Please- if you don't mind too much- stop trying to turn this into a 'JAFFE DISSES MIYAMOTO' deal because there could be nothing farther from the truth. I hope to achieve 1/50th of the success that that man has gained. He is the father of the modern game industry and I was proud and honored he posed for a picture with me.

David

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So there you go. And for those who have asked, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the 2d Zelda games. I have fond memories of staying home from school senior year and finishing Zelda 2 and then right when I finished it, the mail came and there was my college acceptance letter! It was a great day! But the 3D Zelda games have never been my cup of tea...they are too overwhealming for me, too big and too easy for me to get lost and lose the pace of the game as I fall off the tracks and get lost just wandering around. But I know many LOVE those games and I respect the brilliance that went into making them. Also, for the record, I have not played MM and I heard that is the best 3d Zelda yet.

Take it easy ya'll,

David

I usually think writing to elected representatives is a waste of time. There is no way even a million of us will affect the folks in the Senate and House more than the massive checks from big corps. That said, short of taking up a gun and joining a revolution, what else can a constitution loving liberal like myself do in times like these? So- in the interest of not being an apathetic person- I just shot this off to Babs Boxer, a great senator from California. Sure it won't do a hill of beans, but at least I tried. Thought I'd share:



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I would like to know your views on impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney and George W. Bush.

I think it is time for our elected representatives to get to the bottom of what many of us feel are the current administration's lies to the people and disrespect for our constitution. If the hearings do not bear this out, then so be it. Good for us as a nation.

If the hearings do prove what many of us feel- that it is time for the corrupt administration in the White House to go- then good for us as a nation. It will mean our elected officials have put the fear of not being elected again aside and protected our constitution with the same bravery and courage shown by our troops who are dying daily in Iraq.

Please search your heart and look into this matter. Like any job that you love, it must be scary to risk losing it. I can appreciate this. But please do not let your love for your job come before the love for your country.

Thanks for all you've done for our state,

David Jaffe

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NOW we'll start seeing some fucking changers around here!!!

...errr.....yeah.


:)

David

Sweet!

But God I'm getting fat again! Amazing, 10 pounds in like 2 months...stress and me dude, they just don't mix.

E3 was so lame this year. It was cool to walk around some of the company hotel suites and actually be able to get on AAA games with NO ONE waiting to play. But it sucked to not get into the hanger (no badge). But I hear the hanger was lame. And it was kind of cool to watch the conferences on G4. That was great but man, you'd think two things:

a- they could have worked with the folks holding the keynotes to space commercial breaks. So lame they had to cut away during key stuff.

b- Uhm, whoever is directing the damn shows, could you FUCKING PUSH IN TO THE FUCKING GAME FOOTAGE and not sit on a MOTHER FUCKING SHOT of the stage and 4 video screens and be so FUCKING PULLED BACK you can't see the motherfucking footage?!?! I mean, were you taking a shit and just left the fucking shot on a single camera with no direction to the fucking cameraman? Yeah man, that pissed me off so much.

But as for the rest of it, it was really cool. I dug the 'on the floor' stuff from the G4 gang as well. It was a much, much better E3 broadcast this year. Great job, G4!


And hey- I bumped into Miyamoto, so that's cool. Not that I introduced myself or anything. He was rushing to his car and what am I gonna say to the man?!? I mean, hell, I really don't know what I should have said.

Maybe I should have gone: 'You have made some of the best games- hell, the best pieces of entertainment EVER but since MARIO 64, I have not loved anything you have done? I have respected all you have brought to the industry and world, especially in the last POST-Mario 64 years but for me personally, none of it floated my boat? But still dude, thanks so so so much for pretty much creating the modern incarnaton of this industry?"

And then he would have just looked at me and said: 'You are fat. Use Wii Fit for 2 months and call me back. Bye fatso'


Who knows.

Still, it was cool to see/semi-meet him and get a pic. Now I got pics with Miyamoto, Kojima, Stan Lee, and Steven Spielberg. Oh, and the guy who played Carmine from Laverne and Shirley (I got that one when I was like 4 years old).

Ok, tired from driving to and from LA in one day, so going to bed. See ya'll soon.

David

HEY, NEW E3...GO FUCK YOURSELF

So I just found out that the new E3 badges have pictures of the attendees on them. Which means my original plan to use my boss' badge to get into the main show area of E3 is shot to hell. And no, I did NOT get an invite, thanks for asking. After hitting all of the E3's in the past, I guess I will be sitting this one out. Since I am not showing any games this year, I won't be on the show floor to do the dog and pony stuff so Sony could not get me a badge.

Fuck man, now I gotta go to LA anyway for E3 meetings and Sony stuff, but I can't get into the main event.

Sucks to be me.

Ah well, looks like I'll be hitting refresh like the rest of ya'll to see the big news. Well fuck them, I didn't want to go to their stupid ass show anyway :)

Actually, I kinda did.

fuck!

David

ps. Now I know how Jason Rubin felt when he could not get into the Sony party but Tara Reid did. Well I mean now I know how Rubin feels if you take away the millions of dollars, super fast sports cars, and model good looks. But besides those things, I feel just like him!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

To all of us American's out there: Happy 4th!

To those serving in the armed forces, I may despise your commander in chief with every fiber I got, but I respect and am in awe of you guys. Thank you very much for your service.

And to those fuckers who live in a state where they can still go and buy this kind of stuff...



...let me just say that I am CRAZY ASS JEALOUS of you right now! 'Personal' fireworks are illegal in California and oh man I so want to share the joy of bottle rockets and roman candles (hell, even sparklers!) with my kids! But no! Here's all we are allowed to have:



Well whopdie-fuckin-mother-fuckin-do: stupid ass party poppers! Fuckin-wee.

Ah well, hard to complain considering we live in a country that- in less that 2 years- will be released from the oppresion of King George II. Then we can start- I hope- turning America BACK into a beacon of hope for many other countries around the world. Republican, Democrat, or otherwise, whoever gets in in 08 has GOT to be better than this guy...right? I mean, NO jail time for Libby?!?! Come the fuck on! What's it take to run this guy out of town already?!?! Sheesh!

But seriously ya'll: whatever your political views, have a safe and fun holiday! I'm sure we all deserve it! See ya'll after the break!

MORE THAN MEETS MY ASS...

Just got back from a screening of TRANSFORMERS. As you can see in the above pic, lines were around the movie theater and not just for one show, but it seemed like ALL shows were this nuts.

For those looking forward to it, most in the audience seemed to dig it, good 50-75% of them applauded at the end, so that's a good sign.

Me, I fucking hated it. HATED it. Worst film of the year and maybe in the last 5 years, Just dreck and if I as not with a group, I would have walked out. But again, for you Transformer fans, most of the group I was with seemed to dig it. So there you go.

And I'm no movie snob; I like Michael Bay. Thought Armmegeddon was a blast (I even cried a bit which watching it) and really enjoyed THE ISLAND. I went in wanting a good, fun popcorn flick. What I got was an overproduced kids movie that- if I was under the age of 11- would go down as the greatest film ever made. It really was like a 10 year old's imagination splattered all over the screen.

And that's great here, great there. But for a 2+ hour movie? Ugh, it was so hard to sit thru. So dull. And the fights for the most part were ultra confusing, could not tell who was doing what to whom. Just noise.

Anyway, I seem to be ine minority and that's good. As I said, I like Bay and LOVE good action summer movies. So at least it seems others are getting thier fix with this one.

As for me, I was always more of a GI-JOE fan myself, so no harm done.

David

TWISTED METAL DOCUMENTARY

EDIT++++++++++++++++++++++
Hey Mortimer (tmalliance)? If you come back please comment me with your email. I would like to ask you a question. Thanks!
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Hey! We are going to be shooting a documentary/round table discussion on the Twisted Metal series. The piece will be used for something I can't talk about right now (sorry about that!) but for those out there who consider themselves fans of the series, I was hoping you could do us a favor:

We are trying to make a list of the issues/questions we want to address in the doc and we want to make sure we hit the things Twisted Metal fans want to know about. So:

If you have any questions that you would like us to answer/address in the doc, please send them to the comments section in this blog. These can be questions about the series overall, or about a specific title in the series. And the questions can be as specific or macro as you'd like them to be. If we use your question, let us know if we can mention your name or handle in the doc; if you don't want us to, let us know in the comment.

Not sure how many Twisted fans are reading this blog but if you are out there, let me know if you can help us out!

Thanks in advance!


David

LA: I MISS YOU!

I know it's somewhat cool to hate LA, but man I just love it there. I moved to San Diego last year so I could raise my kids in a place that was more family friendly. And I love it down here too; it's great and all. I mean, I got more house than I could ever afford in Los Angeles; my kids have great schools to go to; we are closer to grand parents; kids actually have a backyard with a pool (tiny as it is); and on and on and on. For bringing up a family, you just can't beat it. And sure as shit, the weather actually seems BETTER here in San Diego, if that's possible! Maybe's it's just the lack of smog.

...but even with all that, everytime I head back to LA for work, I get to missing it very badly. Every time I watch Entourage or hear Seager singing Hollywood Nights, I miss the place so much. Especially the Westside of Los Angeles. It really is an amazing town. Amazing because so much of the cluture and business on the westside is driven by the movie, music, and to an extent these days, new media (including games) businesses. So as you walk around, go to lunch, go shopping, you are always bumping into folks who work in entertainment...and there's an energy about them that is tangible, an energy I love because it's alive and powerful and creative and just so much fun to be around. I guess it speaks to my soul. So you know, it's nice to be around that.

I can't imagine I'll be back there for a long time as a perm. resident; maybe once my kids go to college or something. So for now, it's a two hour drive north 1-3 times/month to get my fix. And hell, I don't mind too much as if I was there much longer, I'd start to remember all the things I did hate about the place (bad earthquakes; the worst traffic you can imagine; paying to park at malls and movie theaters;etc).

I was just back there for work a few days ago...hope to share with you guys/gals the specifics of why I was there pretty soon, but not just yet....but yeah, I was up there and it was so sweet....so damn sweet to be back....home? Yeah, fuck it. Even living down in San Diego, LA is- to my soul- still home. I lived there for almost 18 years; I really grew up and discovered myself there; met my wife and had my kids there; found my career there. It's home. The west side of Los Angeles (Santa Monica, Bev. Hills, Century City, Malibu); it's a fantastic place.

Ok, well don't get all mushy on me; so long princess.


Oh, and here's pics from my trip:


Puzzle Zoo on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica- right by the beach! Overpriced as hell but man, they have just about every toy or game you can imagine. It's the best toy store I've ever been in and I love browsing this place; you can get lost for hours in there, looking at the old Star Wars figures, the obscure toys that you would never see anywhere else or can't buy anymore (I saw old mego action figures for sale, from the 70's this visit!)


Here's the giant Batman made of LEGO they have in the store window. They change the store display every few months and put the coolest geek stuff in there.

At the back of the store they have display cases of sci-fi/comic/fantasy models that they've commisioned artists to put together. Here's a sweet ass GHOST RIDER model and a Spiderman 3D cover from Amazing Fantasy #15...


Best Indian food I've ever eaten. I sometimes drive to LA JUST to pick this up and then turn around and head right back to San Diego so me and my wife can have Dom Alloo and Cheese Nan. It's across from King's Head Pub on 2nd street in Santa Monica. If you like Indian and are in town, you owe it to yourself to check it out. In the interest of full disclosure tho, I went there with some of the Incognito guys once and they all got the shits. But that's never happened to me, so maybe the Utah boys just can't handle real Indian :)


As amazing as GATE OF INDIA is, they have the most fucked up, random drinking glasses I've ever seen. Nothing matches and each one has images that a) have NOTHING to do with the rest of the Indian theme that decks out the place and b) they are just fucked up odd. I mean, here's a glass I got my Diet Coke in that has a picture of the fucking Yeti on it. I mean, the fucking YETI?!?! My wife's glass had an image of a cartoon cat looking in a fish bowl as the terrified fish looked on, anticipating its death. I mean, WTF?!?!


How else do you expect us to celebrate signing a big, important, life changing contract?!?


Ok, gotta go...been puting off doing my checking and reconcilliation for like 2 months....need to get on that now...yuch! ...ok, Chat with ya'll later!

David

BUT WE ONLY HAVE 24 HOURS TO SAVE THE EARTH!

You must admit- yes?- that this ranks as one of the greatest images ever created?




+++++++++++EDIT++++++++++++++++++++++
So get this: here is a post some anon (naturally) made to the comment section of this post:

Anonymous said...
That's a really g'ay poster, man.

2:45 PM



Now I mean, really?!? Fucking really?!? In 2007 there are STILL stupid motherfuckers out there who actually use gay as a derogatory term? I wonder if they realize how insanely dumb they look now, let alone how dumb they will look in 10-20 years when they look back and actually realize they were so stupid. It's like being a racist in the 60's against African-Americans and looking back at how dumb you were, some 20-30 years later. Anyway, this just floors me how people still toss around the gay thing in a negative light. Hell I was on LOST PLANET multiplayer the other day and all the voice chat was all 'fag this' and 'fag that' and it just strikes me as so fucking sad that people are still so ignorant. I mean, what is that anyway? Why are these supposedly straight boys/men so concerned about cocks going into male assholes? I mean, it's not something I think about cause you never hear me commenting on it. But man, these guys are thinking about dicks in male anal canals a whole hell of a lot. What is up with that?!? So fucking sad, dude.

Unless the poster meant the Flash Gordon image was gay in the sense that he means that Ming and Flash look like lovers and the poster was pointing out that the content of the poster dealt with homosexuals? Or that he meant gay in that 1920's kind of happy way?

But somehow I doubt it.

Anyway, there ya go....back to work! :)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1408

I was at the movies over the weekend, checking out 1408. Not a great movie, but a really damn good one, to be sure. So nice to see a well written, well made horror/ghost movie, versus more of this dark, serial killer, inches-away-from-being-a-snuff-film that passes for the horror genre these days (Hostel, Saw, Captivity,etc). Not that I'm opposed to those movies, but they lack the creativity of a great horror film, like Poltergeist or The Shining. And while 1408 is not in the league of those films, it's still a fun, creepy ride. I'm also really digging the various theories about the ending of the movie; it's open ended so we may never know but each time I hear a new one, I'm like: 'oh yeah! That must be what the ending is about!'

I was in LA for Monday night- meet with Scott and Kellan from Incog for some design meetings- and let me tell you: checking into my hotel and going up to my room freaked me out just a little bit. I mean, after about 2 minutes, I was over it, but damn if that movie didn't change the way I look at hotels.

Oh, and it's so great to see John Cusak back on the screen. He was great in this movie!

Anyway, not much to write about at the moment. Deep in design phase as we just decided the game we want to make next so I got a document to write. Also need to figure out the right concept art to commision for the title so the powers that be- when they see it- will get on board with what we want to do next. Hope it all goes well.

Hope you're doing well! Chat with ya'll later! Gotta get to work!

David

PLAYING HOOKIE

So I skipped out on work, took a PTO day, and went to see a Padres game with my father-in-law. Padres lost to Baltimore 6 to 3. Not a huge sports fan but I like to watch a game from time to time and this was just a great summer day, perfect for heading out to the ballpark. So I dug it alot.

Watching this game got me thinking that it would be sweet if real life sports had some sort of way of applying the fudge factor of a game like Calling All Cars or NBA JAMS, where the game is designed to do some minor cheating in order to keep game scores closer. That would be cool cause every game would be a nail biter. But it would also be cheating.

I also thought it would be great if all umpires were hot women dressed in skimpy outfits. I mean, who is going to argue with a hot woman umpire dressed in a sexy costume? You'd feel like a total ass in the stands yelling: 'Hey Ump! Are you freaking blind! Open your god damned eyes!' Because somewhere in your primal mind- assuming you are a man or a woman lovin' woman- you'd be thinking- deep down: she may be going home with me if I play my cards right and no way in hell am I fucking up my chances!

Anyway...

Been doing alot of work the last few weeks, lots of design stuff that I'm real happy with but has required lots of concentration and focus...so I was just feeling a bit fried. That's probably why I'm blogging so much today; just can't get my head around the next big design task in front of me after having just completed my previous big design task. I think it's important to recharge between challenges; you just know when you need to step back and chill. So that's what I did today. And it was great! I thought I'd come home and be all ready to work again, but now I just want to take a nap. I'm tired.

I'll hit it hard tomorrow!

See ya!

David

TWO THINGS...

THING #1- What happens the DAY I post about how Nintendo does not like to let people peek behind the curtain of their game making magic? I pop open the latest copy of GAMES(TM) and see an article showing off the recently opened Nintendo museum in Japan. The exhbit chronicles the history of Nintendo, mainly their video games. And what is sitting there on page one of the article? Sketches from Miyamoto himself, behind the scenes, rare ass sketches of Mario and Donkey Kong from 1979, 1980. These are sketches that Miyamoto did showing how the characters should look and move in the game. So once again, just goes to show: I know nothing. But still, with the exception of that event, I stand by my point that Nintendo- by holding the behind the scenes stuff pretty close to the vest- manages to create stronger, more loved characters/franchises.


THING #2- I was 'dark' when Spidey 3 came out so I didn't get to post this. By the way, 'going dark' to me is a Vegas term for when a show is not playing on a certain day. As in: 'Cirque is going dark on tuesdays starting next month'. Lots of people assumed I was trying to sound like a spy or something when I wrote I was 'going dark'. But I wasn't. So I wanted to clear that up. Cause that would be stupid. But now that I've written this, I am wondering which is worse: trying to sound like a bad-ass spy when, clearly, I am not...or using Vegas show terms to describe my hiatus from blogging. :) Anyway, so I saw this and I loved it:



I mean, that's as close to a real world Spidey encounter as I will ever have. I was at the drive thru at Burger King and I look up and I see this. It's a little small for Spidey, not sure why they didn't go life size. But it was still very cool and I really sat there for a few minutes imagining what it would be like to glance up and there's the real Spidey, staring around, looking for bad guys and whatnot. "Toss me a fry, true believer!" he would say. But it struck me as how- if you saw Spidey in real life- how creepy he would actually be. In the comics, even tho it's an aspect of how others treat him, visually it never came across to me. But seeing him here, I was like, "man, now I know what JJ. Jamison means when he calls Spidey a menace!"


THING #3 (NOTE: I knew I had 3 things to say but I could not find a picture of thing #3, so deal with it)- Finally, Next-Gen.biz had an amazing write up yesterday on games needing to get more meaningful before they are given respect by anyone other than gamers. I thought it was great and thought provoking. I chimed in on the comments section in hopes of getting some other opinions and advice from other designers on the subject but I think I killed the thread (either that or simply no one posts on the next-gen comments section...heck I didn't even know they had one till yesterday). But I thought what I wrote about story in game and emotion in game really nailed my feelings and struggles on the issue. So I 'reprint' it here in hopes that maybe someone has some insight into what I feel is the biggest problem with story and games...oh, and here's where you can find the great next-gen story (I would link but the blogger link Icon is not appearing):

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6066&Itemid=50

and here is my response to it:

+++++
Great article and as someone who has struggled with this issue before (as a designer with my own games and as a player: a game like Facade comes to mind as something I've played that has set its sights on the lofty goals you suggest we pursue), I can tell you that many designers have the intent and some of us lucky ones even have the freedom to puruse the goal of making games matter more than they currently do. The biggest issue I've come up against- besides my clear lack of talent- is the inability to convince players that the fiction matters. Unless you- as a player- make a clumsy self-conscience effort to force yourself to buy into the fiction, you are always aware that the game world is meaningless in any context other than the surface goals given (i.e. get thru the door; kill the enemies). So in Facade, instead of caring about the fate of this young couple's marriage, I just went around and either started messing with things to see what would happen (kissing the man's wife was the very first thing I did, ignoring the fiction of the scenario alltogether because I wanted to see what would happen), or I just focus on how to 'win'. It's not because I don't WANT to care about the story and scenario. I love character stories and political drama and all sorts of 'mature' subject matter when I see it in movies and read about it in books. It's just that- in a game- I simply don't care about anything other than my goals. Until we figure out how- if it's even possible in an interactive experience- to make players suspend disbelief and really buy into the wolrd fiction (while they are playing, not by watching a cut scene), then all of the effort that would go into making players care for characters and situations will be wasted on all those other than the few willing to force themselves into buying the fantasy...and I don't think that is close to even 5% of the folks who go into EB and buy the latest hit title.
Again, loved the write up. It was great and thought provoking. But I would love to see someone address what I feel is the real problem with this issue versus simply telling us designers that the solve is coming up with characters we care about and scenarios more involved than: kill the bad guys! We get that, and some of us have even done it. It's just not working.
David
+++++

Ok, gonna drop the kid off at pre-school then get to work. Talk to ya'll later!

David

BRING BACK THE SECRETS?

So Sony Playsation has their very own blog. If you have not dropped by, please do so at: http://blog.us.playstation.com/

Man,I just love it.

I think it's a fantastic idea to get voices from all areas of the company speaking directly to Playstation fans. One day it's a producer, the next day it's a junior tester, and then a few days later, you're leaving comments to the head of the freaking company! That's just cool, man. And I love how even though Playstation is this very large division within this very mega corporation, the blog just feels so intimate. To me, it makes your relationship with Sony Playstation alot more cozy and personal. I'm a big, big fan and am eager to see how the new site continues to grow.

But it's got me thinking about how much access we- as game creators- should allow to the players.

Not in terms of the kind of stuff Sony is doing with the blog, or even the kinds of stuff that I do here. I'm talking about concept art and behind the scenes videos showing how the titles get made.

Now I love that stuff; loved watching the 'making of' movie stuff as a kid and I am sure lots of players today love the 'how games are made' docs that are all over the place now.

But do you think it ruins some of the magic of the final product? And if so, how much?

Think about this: You NEVER see concept art or behind the scenes footage from first party Nintendo games. You never see wire frame models of what Princess Zelda's castle looks like, or voice recording footage of the actress playing Peach. Or if you do, it's very, very rare. And it's one of the reasons- I feel- that the Mario and Zelda characters almost feel real, alive, and magical. Granted, much of this comes from the fact that they are just amazing characters who inhabit amazing games. You can't deny that part, to be sure. But I think they are on to something when it comes to how they- as a company- protect those characters and worlds; like how you never get to see the actors changing out of the Mickey costume at Disneyland. It's an illusion that pays off big for them.

So while I think direct access to players and fans is the way to go and what is so much fun about life with the internet, I am starting to wonder how much access we should be giving players when it comes to revealing how we make the games. Shouldn't some tricks stay secret? And even if they are not secrets, aren't Kratos and Sweet Tooth and even the criminals in Calling All Cars (or the seals in SOCOM or the hero from UNCHARTED) stronger characters if you only ever see them when they have thier make up on, costumes fitted, and are lit just right?

On a blog like this, I get lots of readers who want to be in the biz one day. So I can see those guys/gals wanting all the access they can get (just like I, as a wanna be filmmaker, used to love to watch how movies were made). But assuming your goal is not to work in the biz (or even if it is,put those thoughts aside for a moment), tell me this: if the end goal is a strong game and a much loved franchise, do you think it makes the product stronger or weaker to allow players even the tinniest peak behind the curtain?

David

ps. sorry I can't give any more info on those pictures I posted. I'll have some updates on that space very soon. But to answer a few of the comments:

a- those pics are from a space in Utah
b- thanks for the industry vet and his well wishes/luck wishes. I know it's a tough biz...let's hope we both get lucky, eh?


pps. I know Nintendo has given some press to Charles Martinet, the man who does the Mario voice. I see him at trade shows from time to time, doing the voices and doing the PR thing. I am not sure why Nintendo does this as it seems to fly in the face of all the other 'keep it secret' decisions that I am assuming are intentional. Maybe because it's trade shows, Nintendo doesn't feel the info gets out to the majority of the public so it doesn't affect 99% of the players. Same with the recent Zelda deconstruction that went on at GDC; I mean, most folks are not going to find information on that unless they really seek it out and that is a small % of the players. I don't know, just wondering.

Ok, gotta get some work done. Talk to ya'll later. Nice to be back blogging!

coming soon

THAT'S IT FOR NOW...SEE YOU SOON.

Well the last few posts have caused more of a stir than I had hoped. One day I will learn my lesson: that people don't read the whole post, hell people don't tend to read the post at all, but rather a truncated version of the post posted on another website with just the part of the post that is inflamitory enough to get the haters in a tizzy and get hits on the site(s) in question.

But that's ok; I mean, it's the net right? You take the good with the bad; and I've had a hell of a lot of good from it and for that- as well as for the bad- I am grateful.

But for the time being, I'm going to go dark. My stylings have upset some folks within the biz I care very much about and that I can not live with. For me, it's always been silly, stupid fun...you know, giving what I get, talking like alot of folks on geeky message boards do, trash talking,etc. But I guess some folks have taken it to heart and that's not cool for me. End of the day, even the folks who spew much venom my way, I probably would like very much in real life. As I've said before, we're all geeks and if you can't get along with a fellow geek, then what's the point.

Anyway, so CAC is coming out...soon? I dunno. It's done, so I'm just waiting now for the official word. I'm sure you'll see the press release when Sony lets it out. But I will be playing online for sure, so hope to see you guys in the game!

But you know, I gotta get off a final parting shot before I go:

TO THE LAME ASS WEBSITE THAT SHALL GO UNNAMED- Fuck you, guys. Go fuck yourselves. What other developer makes a fucking change to a game when a review (IGN's in this case) has a good, valid point and is willing to open the fucking code up at the risk of more bugs to make the game better? Amazing.But hey, you guys are great, you guys rock. I hope Kotaku fucking puts your ass out of business, wanna be fucktards. And if you were actual journalists you would have read the motherfucking quote I posted on NEOGAF where I said because of the two bugs we needed to fix (not because I was afraid of the bargin bin) we had a window of opp. to fix the magnet problem. Assholes...total fucking assholes.

Ok, that's it. I will be back soon with an announcement and the next stage of this blog (and my life!) I'll post the news- assuming it all happens as planed...you never know- sometime this summer. I'll keep ya'll posted as the blog will remain open. Nothing set in stone, but the hope is to let you guys know what is up sometime in July.

Take it easy, have a GREAT first part of the summer. I will miss you guys!

David

ps. oh and JUST to make it CLEAR since it doesn't seem to be: I like GAMESPOT, have respect for them, always have. Hell I pay for the damn thing every year. I don't agree with the review but I've always dug the folks over there and continue to do so. Hope they will like our next game alot more!

UGH! NO FUCKING MORE

Jesus, that last post generated a lot more shit than I had intented.

Appreciate all the kind words that came in; hell even the 'fuck you jaffe' posts were fine. Everyone is welcome, pull up a seat :)

Latest Reviews:

IGN: 8.5/10
GAMEZONE: 84/100
1UP: 8/10
GAMESRADAR: 70/100
GAMESPOT: 67/100

Overall, not too bad. Still pretty happy with where we are so far. Real eager to see what the buying public thinks of our game tho. As much as we care about official reviews, it's the reviews of the buying public that matter most to us.


So...

Not much to say tonight, just wanted to move that last post down a notch so we could talk about something else. As I've said before, I am ok with all the hate and shit that goes on here from the standpoint of: I'm not taking the time to delete it. I don't have the time or interest in being a moderator. But I do have to say, man, there are some angry, pissed off, sad motherfuckers out there, ain't there? And not just at me. Some real nice people post in the comments and man, some ass holes just come out of the woodwork to tear them apart. Makes me wish the last scene in JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK could really happen in real life.

So...

I will say this tho, when I think about it. I am torn about reviews of these sorts of games. Getting the gamespot review really made me think. And before any of you cowards who don't post your real fucking names tell me that I should stop crying, here's a big, juicy: 'GO FUCK YOUR MOTHER UP HER JIGGLY ASS TWAT' for you. Go ahead: Take it; that's right, it's just for you! So take it and shove it up your ass there real good! :)

Cause jeeze man, what am I supposed to be? A fucking robot? I make games for a living, we care if people like what we do. We are not perfect, our games are not perfect (even the ones that score 10/10) and it sucks when people don't love our stuff as much as we had hoped. Why is that such a sign of weakness to some of you pricks? I swear I don't know. But either way, I can live with you asshats if you can live with me.

But onto the topic on my mind...and yes, it still has to do with reviews of small games. Not my own, just the idea in general:

Do you guys think every game needs to be:

a- reviewed on if it achieved its purpose and intent and provides what it sets out to do? Assuming what it sets out to do is at least semi-noble in some way (and hell, even then)? I mean, I love DUMB AND DUMBER and I love GOODFELLAS. Only a fool would say D&D is the 'better' movie...but when I want to laugh and cut loose and watch stupid shit, D&D is towards the top of the list. So do I rate that movie lower than GOODFELLAS or do I rate it amongst other movies like D&D (i.e. Something About Mary, for example).

b- Reviewed as a game, no matter the intent, or cost to the consumer? I think a good case can be made that games are games and they could all be lumped together as fun can be found anywhere, no matter the cost to the player or cost to the dev team/publisher. Uno to me on XBLA is more fun than 80% of the retail disc based games I've purchased this year.

This is what I wonder...I can see the point of both sides and I just don't know.

Someone else posted on the blog that they could get a 5 dollar bargin bin game that USED To be 60 bucks with more content than 99% of the XBLA/PSN titles so why should a game like CAC be 10 bucks? It's a good question I guess. I mean, by that logic tho, is the XBLA/PSN biz model broken? One guy a long time ago posted that it should be like arcades or porn token sites where you buy tokens and don't buy the games but just plunk in 25-50 cent tokens to get a single play. Maybe that would go down easier for some folks. I could support that model as a player.

Anyway, gotta go. Chat with you guys later.

David

MY RESPONSE TO GAMESPOT (and the reviews in general)

MY RESPONSE TO THE REVIEWS:

The nice thing about having a blog, is I can review the reviews! :)

So…

As of now, here’s what we’re looking at:

IGN: 8/5/10
1UP: 8/10
GAMESPOT: 6.7/10

The first two I can live with, they feel fair and make sense. I am very, very proud of those reviews. Although, I have to say, when I hear the 1up guys on the podcast saying the game is the best on PSN AND saying that it's closing in on being one of the top 3 download games out there, it does seem 8 is a bit low...but what the hell...8 is good in my book, so thank you guys!

I’m not so keen on the GAMESPOT review, and who would be? It simply feels unfair and simply wrong. Granted, why would I not say that? I am the director of the game they are saying is simply ‘fair’. So take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I think tho, much of it has to do with expectations for titles such as this, as well as maybe me not really understanding the review process.

So my thoughts in general on aspects of the reviews:

MAGNET ISSUE- Here was a nice, simple, clean PROBLEM with the game that the reviewer hit on that was pretty black and white. Hard to argue with this one. IGN hit this spot on and we’ve fixed it already! Nice thing about download games is you can see a review and then rush back to the code and do some tweaks :) So while we don’t know if we’ve solved IGN’s issue where the AI seemed to be able to dominate with the magnet weapon, we’ve at least toned it down and increased the amount of time a player needs to be in the magnet ‘cone’ before the criminal is sucked away. We did not touch the multiplayer aspect of this, just the single player where IGN had what we felt was a great point about how the single player was feeling. So thanks IGN!

LACK OF CONTENT: This one just makes no sense to me but I can live with the fact that I may in the minority here. I can also live with the fact that my take on what something should cost (as a guy who gets games for free mostly) is different from the take of a reviewer as to what a game should cost (as people who get paid to play games they usually get for free…but to be fair, the reviewers ARE paid to take the consumer mindset into mind….but then again, so am I…so anyway…). But look, it’s a 10 dollar game. And for that you get: the core game (which in multiplayer- which is the point- EVERYONE says is at least fun, and many say is really, really fucking fun). 4 maps, split screen, internet with voice, and 10 cars to unlock. I fail to see how this is a bad deal, especially since if you like the multiplay- and all of the reviewers have- you can play the game for hours (over time) before you burn out. How is this a bad deal for 10 bucks? I just don’t see it. The gamespot review- I think- didn’t seem to like that you could finish the single player game in 20 minutes. And maybe this is a fault of the game’s presentation but it’s not an adventure game…it’s like a fighting game in that sense: you work thru the single player to learn the game and unlock stuff. And when you get thru one level if you want to get better, up the difficulty. I get thru Tekken and Mortal Kombat single player in 5-15 minutes on default setting. Again, maybe our presentation did not make this clear and it's a fair call that Gamespot would want more from the single player experience. But it's not like I go out and buy Madden or NBA JAM or NBA HOMECOURT cause I'm going to be playing it by myself. But that could just be me and it's Gamespot's job- I assume- to take all gamer's desires into account and I can appreciate that.

But again, this may be the problem. Gamespot was not saying it’s a shit game. They seemed to like aspects of it. So I’m not bashing them or the score so much as just being confused a bit. We set out to make a balls to the wall, trash talking, fun ass multiplayer/party game. From all reviews we did that and from a few of the reviews (IGN and 1up) we did that really, really well. And so really, that’s all I care about. And I can see reviewers are not going to JUST review the game portions I care about. Hell, I guess I could have just taken out the single player so it would have never been an issue. But somehow that would have just felt wrong.

SCORES IN GENERAL: And maybe therein lies the problem. With the exception of the GAMESPOT score- which I really just feel is simply unfair- these scores are good scores and I am happy with them. I am proud of those scores; happy with them and grateful for them. So thanks IGN and 1up! But the issue may be that our goal was to provide a trash talking fun ass time with your buddies. And I feel we did that really well…between an 8 and a 10 depending on all the factors that determine fun that go into any individual game (who is playing; skill level;etc). So to me, I’m like: grade us on THAT because that was what we wanted to do.

But I guess that’s like asking a movie reviewer to grade a horror movie 10/10 that wanted to do nothing more but provide a visceral thrill ride (and did that) while at the same time there may be other movies out there that provide the thrills AND drama and story too? You guys know my shitty analogies....not sure if that makes sense. And I'm rush typing this as I gotta head out for some shit to do today.

CASUAL: Diner Dash got like a 3/10 on a game site the other day. And that game is considered a watershed/masterpiece in the casual space. It may also be that as I get away from hardcore games, some of the reviewers (that have no interest in those sorts of games) that used to love the kind of stuff I did, will simply not find as much in the stuff we do nowadays to love? Could be…and I can understand that.

Or it could be that the game really is a 7/10 and I just WANTED it to be more. I can live with that as an option if that's how- once the game ships and people play it and pass judgement and time passes- that is how it all comes down. Hope that's not the case, but what can you do?

I don’t know…I wanted to get a response to the scores up fast. I will prob. think on this some more and hit you guys back.

But overall, I am so proud of this game and think in many aspects it’s the most fun game I’ve ever worked on. If you want a fun party game, then I think we’ve got something for you. I hope you read the reviews from folks who are into these sorts of titles and THEN make your decision to buy or pass.

Ok gotta run...thanks for indulging me. A more mature designer would say: 'my game is my response' and shut up about it. But come on, this is me :)

David

CALLING ALL CARS- FIRST REVIEW IS UP!

Here's a link:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/783/783536p1.html

But here's the gist:

8.5/10!

Very happy with this first review.

Swamped right now but will wright more about what it's like to get reviews, wait on reviews, get stressed and elated about reviews in a few days, when the other site reviews hit on Friday. But for know, three things:

1- Yah! 8.5 for a game that took 11 months and cost very little AND let us do the work we LOVE but still- for the MOST part- live normal lives (although some members of the team gave up SOOOO much time to get some aspects of the game working, so to them: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!)....and the best part is, 9.99 for what IGN- at least- says is fun. How can you beat that? We're very happy!

2- Game is NOT OUT TOMORROW. It is out May 3rd. I am very sorry about this but we're still in format, chasing a few bugs and we don't want the game out until it's bug free. But it WILL be out 5/3! I will let you guys know when it clears format.

Ok guys, heading out to dinner with the family. Will talk to you guys soon. 8.5! Sweet!

David

ps. Please don't feed the fucking animals on the comment board. I am 1000% fine with them post the stuff they do (the insults and the bullshit,etc)...it's the net, what are you going to do. I sure as hell am not taking the comments off. And I know what it's like to want to get attention and be willing to say ANYTHING to get it (ya think?!?) but please unless you really feel compelled, just let them be. I like that they are here, I'm ok with them being here but I'd rather the comment section not turn into a battle. Let them do what they want and we can get back to just talking about games,the biz,etc. Thanks!

David

DISNEYLAND AND IGN

In a more rambling mode than usual, ya'll...hope you don't mind too much :)

So....

Hey guys, took Wednesday off as sort of a 'sweet! We finished Calling All Cars' celebration. Unlike GOD OF WAR where I needed 3 months of comp time to recoop, I'm thinking of taking like 3 days of PTO, and even then spreading those few days across a few weeks. Making these games is hard and challenging but since it does not drain your soul like the epic titles, you don't need as much down time before you dive back into the trenches. In fact, hell, Scott and Kellan (Creative Director/Art Director at Incognito) are flying down to San Diego Monday for a double day marathon session of game design for game #2! I can't wait!

So what did I do on my day off? I took my wife and oldest daughter to Disneyland! Man, what a blast. My kid is almost 4 now and it was her first time there. She loved it and we did as well, mostly cause we got such a blast watching her enjoy the park! Hell, she even got to ride Space Mountain and The Matterhorn! A fucking 3 year old kid on SPACE MOUNTAIN!?!? I was stunned they let her on but they did!

Man, that is still a great ride and may very well be my fave coaster of all time. Especially now when they are blasting a version of HIGHER GROUND by THE RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS thru the headset speakers as you whip thru those corkscrews! So much fun!

When it was over, I looked behind me (kid was riding with the wife in the seat behind me) and my daughter was just sort of starting into space, overwhelmed by the sensations and blasting music and flashing lights. I was like: oh shit, we've just scarred this kid for life! But within a few seconds of it all coming to an end, she was telling us how much she loved it! When she got home she was jumping around and using her arms to mimic the curves and turns of the coaster she liked the most and telling us all about how much fun it was! And I was just like: sweet! I got a coaster buddy for life now!!!

But yeah, when you go with a kid, it's just more fun I think. I like going as an adult but taking my kid, I got to enjoy her enjoying it. And about 2 years ago, I had a realization that I assume most parents eventually have- or should have- where you stop TRYING TO MAKE THE FUN for your kid and just let your kid pretty much be (from a standpoint of entertainment). For a while I kept trying to make sure the stuff we were doing was fun, come hell or high water. And then I realized after about 6 months of this that it didn't feel genuine to me, it felt all manufactured and I HATED that feeling. So I just relaxed and assumed: hell, she's a kid...If anyone can find the fun, it's a kid. So I just allowed myself to be along for the ride as she found fun and- when she decided to- shared it with her dad. And it's been so much more...well, FUN since then! I guess as a game designer I am always feeling responsible for people having a good time...and with kids I really had to curb that desire. So there's a, whatever, a Jaffe parenting tip for you, if you ever wanted one!


Pic I grabbed as we were leaving the park...Ahh, Magic Way! Glad I live only 50 minutes from the park as now I wanna go back with my kids alot more often. Pretty amazing that I can just make it a spur of the moment Saturday trip if I want to! Ahh, the joys of Southern California!

Makes me wonder tho: thru my career I've know lots of Disney obsessed folks in the game biz. They grew up with it, love it to death, want to be part of it. I can see that, I can appreciate that. I'm more of a Spielberg/Lucas nut, but I can see the allure of the Disney Magic. But then almost all of the folks I know who end up working for Disney always tell me they don't enjoy working for the company as much as they had hoped. Not the admin types or producers; and I actually hear it's a pretty good company to work for in terms of benefits and what not. But it's like, Disney fired so many imaginations around the world and within the game biz, that the work of that company really turned people into professional creative types themselves! But now, as those creative types head to work for the company that inspired them to be creative, they find that they can't really be the creative juggernauts that Disney created because to work for Disney means you gotta do it the DISNEY WAY. There's only one way to draw Mickey Mouse and it ain't yours! So to work for Disney means you gotta suck it up and be a cog in the machine I guess. I've never worked for Disney so this is all secondhand....but I can see how that could be a challenge for the very folks Disney inspired in the first place! Interesting...at least to me :)

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So hey, I played multiplayer with the IGN crew last night. Since the game is not out yet, we go online with the reviewers so they can test out the online portion of the game (otherwise there would be no one for them to play with over the net). It was lots of fun and, being ultra protective of all the games I work on, I was like begging for the review score from them because I really do care about reviews...as I said, I feel compelled that people have fun! :) But they were like: dude we can't tell you the score now, sorry. And I got that, and I appreciate that. But they assured me they dug it so that made me feel good. And then last night I saw this on the IGN message board:


It's from Jeremy Dunham who is the Editor in Chief of the Playstation site on the board (I don't think he's EIC of the whole site, but I could be wrong).

So that's always nice to see. Score aside, it's nice to know that we've given people some good fun! That is what you work for. And it's even better to know that you've given folks fun who are in a great position to let many others know about the fun that they've had!

So thanks for giving us a shot IGN!

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Finally, CALLING ALL CARS will be out either next week or the NEXT week. It's not May 18th in USA...that seems to be the date for Europe (I am not sure on this, I'm just getting that date from the net like alot of your guys). We are shooting to have the game out next week but it's not us at this point as the game has been done for about a week now. There's just some format stuff we gotta clear and as soon as we do-and thus get the street date- I will let ya'll know. So thanks for being patient!

And nice talking to those I've talked with in the chat box! Chat with ya'll soon!

Take care ya'll, have a great weekend!

David

LIVE CHAT COMES TO THE BLOG!

Hey all....put a widget on the right side of the blog that will let us chat together in real time. Not sure how much use it will get, but it seemed like a fun thing to do. Plus, if there's ever a time we wanna hook and and do Q/A about the games and stuff, I could get some of the key members of the team in- from whatever game we are working on- to answer questions and give insight into the process, if that would be of interest to any of ya'll.

As of now, it doesn't look like there is a way for me to lock names, which means ANYONE can sign in and say they are someone they are not. I hope to see if I can change that in the future but for now, I guess it's the honor system...shyeah, right! But I'll leave this up for a bit and see if anyone likes to use it!

Ok, back to work. Today begins focused design on small game project #2! Wish us luck!

David


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EDIT:
My brother just sent me this....from the Sony Picture lot in Culver City, California. He's shooting the show CLOSE TO HOME there and he knows I'm a big Spidey fan! Some great reviews coming in for the flic on AINT IT COOL NEWS! Man, I am getting excited!!!



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