DICE PHOTO ALBUM!

Didn't get a chance to take lots of pics at the really fun, really informative DICE conference, but here's what I got! 

Day before the show I was getting a gambling craving (imagine that) but didn't want to get all serious on the craps table just yet (eventually I won $700 off $40 at craps...but lost it all). Anyway, so for a simple fix for my gambling needs, I played some WHEEL OF FORTUNE slots (the all time best slot machine around). Talk about effective risk/reward gameplay- you are ALWAYS betting the full 3 coins on this baby JUST for the chance to hit that SPIN button! Hard to tell in this shot, but the button is lit...which means I gets to spin!!!

And there she goes! Round and round and round and round...

...and I...lost again. :) Still, coulda been worse...coulda been 25 coins instead of 50. And hell, 50 coins on a quarter machine is still almost 13 bucks! 

                 

Here's me and Insomniac founder/president (and super nice guy) Ted Price. This is at the Insomniac sponsored martini bar where Ted got me my very first ever Martini. I like to get my drink on from time to time but had never had a martini. So Ted hooked me up with a super hard core martini called the SECRET AGENT CLANK. And HOLY HELL that thing was strong. As I told the 1up guys, it was like sticking a gasoline pump nozzle in my mouth and squeezing the handle. I could only take 4-5 sips and I was done. However, it did get me a bit drunk and I did then proceed to do an on camera interview with GAMESPOT where I went on about how now that I was single I was gonna go out and get some hookers. So I'm sure when that hits the interwebs it'll do wonders for my already squeaky clean image :)

                 

Me and Tina Koweskalofskittenakdkaieiysfljpsutpofsky (I kid her about her last name and hell if I can spell it to this day :)....) But she's the head of Santa Monica external development, a great gal, a super good friend, and one of the most connected industry players around. 

Here's my blurry pic of game design legend, Activision co-founder, and Dice Legend Award recipient David Crane.  David and I did a couple of events together at DICE this year. We were on a panel, presented an award together, and sat together at the awards. What a great guy. He's a total hero of mine as I grew up loving his games (PITFALL!, LASER BLAST, FREEWAY, OUTLAW, and more!) To be able to get to know him- along with Garry Kitchen (David's longtime biz partner and co founder of their new iphone game company APPSTAR) was a true treat and honor. Garry was also the coder of the classic 2600 game KEYSTONE KAPERS, by the way. So I got to sit with David and Garry at the awards show and I actually felt more at home and more in sync with these guys who made the games I grew up loving than I do sitting with a lot of the modern game designers. So that was really cool and a total treat! I think the panel we did will be on tv soon (G4) or up on the net so I'll link to it when I find it.

               

Here's David again. This time we are rehearsing for the DICE AWARDS. See that script in front of me? I really should have paid more attention to it as I totally fucked up my lines the nite of the show. Even tho I joked about being high, I really was not. I was just unprepared. I feel bad cause the writer of the show made a good deal of changes to accommodate my requests/changes to my original lines. And then I get up there the nite of the show and fucked it all up anyway. Sorry man, if you're reading this. I was just tired from being out late the nite before so I was just running on adrenaline and was pretty hyper.

View of the awards room during rehearsal. Notice the teleprompter down below. With that, why was I flubbing my lines? Cause- as I said- I was hopped up on adrenaline. BUT also: the damn thing was configured wrong and a good 10% of the words were bleeding off the edges of the prompter screen so you could not actually tell what you were supposed to say some of the time. Still, it was a blast! Show was great and Mohr was funny and vulgar as shit, as always (my kinda comedy!)

A shot of the stage before the show started and Uncharted 2 began it's total (well, almost total) domination of the nite! MW2, BATMAN, FLOWER, and SCRIBBLENAUTS also got a ton of well deserved love! :)

Ah, there we go- better shot of the stage, if not a bit blurry. It ain't the Oscars but she's a good little show, and she's ours, and I gotta say, every year she grows on me more and more. Joe and the academy board are doing a great job with this whole conference.

Me and David all decked out the nite of the show, ready to go up and hand out BEST GAME DIRECTION and BEST GAME DESIGN awards. Bet ya never thought you'd see me in a suit, eh? 

Me and super cool Shannon Studstill before the show. Shannon was the GOD OF WAR I genius producer, GOD OF WAR II exec producer, and now head of her own game company (BROODWORKS). Shannon rocks much and is one of the best producers in the biz! She's was also good drinkin', craps playin', and cigar smokin' partner post show! I told ya'll she was cool! 

Thought STAR WARS was a kids movie, George! What the fuck! If you are going to claim your whole series was- and more importantly- REMAINS intended for children, George, then you are mighty irresponsible allowing your brand to grace fucking slot machines. ESPECIALLY slot machines in fucking AIRPORTS where kids will see them and flock to them. I GET that adults love STAR WARS as well, but CLONE WARS and the new trilogy are HUGE among kids and they love STAR WARS overall. I'm not a prude AT ALL about things (and I think gambling is totally a blast!)..but this is pretty bad form, I gotta say.

Having said that(tm), as an adult, it's pretty cool to have STAR WARS slots! :)

Check it out! I got KEVIN SMITH back on a SOUTHWEST flight! Snootch to the Mother Fuckin' Bootch bitches :) 

Ok that's it! Wish I had taken more pics but was pretty busy. Did a shit ton of interviews (Bonus Round, 1up, Gamepro, IGN, a few others) which- looking back - was pretty stupid. I'm not promoting a game right now so it just makes me look like more of a media whore...which I really ain't. I just like talking games and geek culture and I just always feel like I should say 'yes' when they ask me for interviews. It's not like I seek them out. They ask me...if I say 'no' isn't that kind of rude? I dunno, maybe I'll take it down a notch till we're ready to announce and just blog till then. Or not. Who knows! Later ya'll!!!!

David 

Let me explain...

...just got home from DICE. Exhausted but it was a fantastic show. Thanks to the Acedemy and Joe Ollin for- as usual- showing us all a fantastic time!

I will post pics and some details this weekend but for now, just know this:

The dude in the audience shouting for TWISTED METAL? That was my buddy and- I assume- very drunk analyst Michael Pachter.

He was taking the piss out of me from the safety of the audience and I was hitting him right back. It was all in good fun and anyone who thinks I was being mean, I am sorry. We were just verbally sparring and that's all it was.

Ok- going to watch Bill Maher (it's back on tonite, sweet!) and then crashing.

Great weekend ya'll!

David

SPOTTED AT TOY FAIR 2010

These are out in July! Sure hope we get some in time to give out at Comic Con!

Real happy with the sculpt. As a layperson, I mean. Not really into toys enough to know what is good or bad 'officially'. But I really dig this figure and can't wait to get one for my desk!

Ideally this will be the start of a TWISTED METAL line just like they did for RESISTANCE and RATCHET. Would love to see DOLLFACE, PREACHER, MR. GRIM, and CALYPSO!

Ah hell, I'd like to get some damn cars made while we're at it. Hot Wheels style! :)

WHY I WANT TO MAKE FUN...

Saw this amazing quote from the great critic Roger Ebert in this fantastic write up of his life (yes, I still love his work no matter what he says about video games).

The quote really expresses why I will be totally happy and proud if the video game work I do in my life does 'nothing more' than entertains and makes people happy. This quote represents the reason why I could give 2 shits about being known as an artiste or doing 'important work' for our culture, society, species, whatever. This quote explains why, to me, fun (and fun ALONE) is one of the most noble gifts we can give each other.

Here is what Ebert says:

I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

Love that! Thanks Roger!

David 

ONE MORE NOTE ON CHEAPER GAMES...

UPDATE: And to the peeps going, "but ain't you the one who was against used games...if you are, how can you be pro consumer!?!"...and I will say the same thing about that that I always have: I am NOT against used games or rentals. I think the consumer should get the BEST deal they can and sometimes that best deal is a used or rental game. My beef is with the business model surrounding used games and rentals and how devs and publishers are cut out of the deal. And MAYBE the devs and pubs can cut a deal with retail (like the movie biz has done)...perhaps we can't. Perhaps that will lead devs and pubs to push digital distribution and services like ONLIVE...perhaps that will succeed and be a 'fuck you' to the retail peeps who never gave 2 shits for our own business...or perhaps that will fail. Maybe games will get shorter and people will love it...or maybe they will hate it. Who knows. And so perhaps the biz will change, perhaps it will not. But the behind the scenes machinations of how games get into gamers hands and IF those games are worthy will be judged- as they should be- in the end, by the customer. And I am 1000% ok with that. I love that about our system. All I've been saying is- all along- us on the game making side should be free to try to get the best deals we can get in the same way that customers should be trying to get the best deals THEY can get. That doesn't make me evil. It makes me a guy operating in a capitalist society.

END UPDATE

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

Ah ya know- forget it. I had a whole post up a moment ago (perhaps you saw it)...but I told myself I was done arguing with people on the net.

Old habits die hard I suppose but yeah, lemme just delete that. What's the point.

Let me just say this to be clear...and I've said this before and I will never waiver: if you are a consumer, get the best motherfucking deal you can. If you can get a game- legally- for free and it lasts you and entertains you for YEARS without you spending a dime, then go for it. I am a firm believer in:

a- capitalism (assuming it's regulated...which it's really not in our country, which sucks)

b- customer ALWAYS being right

And if my idea of shorter/cheaper games is as dumb as some of you think, the market will bear that out. But if it's as smart as some of you think, then soon we'll all be playing much shorter 1 player titles :)

We'll see! 

Take it easy ya'll!

David

ps. By the way, this is a blog. It's not official industry mandate. That is why I often use phrases like 'it seems to me' and 'I THINK it should be this way' and 'I would LIKE this"...meaning they are my opinions. I don't think they HAVE to be your opinions but this is- as you can probably tell from the header- my blog. I'm not here to have a fair debate among all parties. I'm here to express my views of the world and the industry. That's what I thought a blog was for. 

KRATOS IN DA HOUSE!

7-11 has been sold out for days! But I had to go drop off my 'nice clothes' at the cleaners (I gotta have something to wear to the DICE awards) and there's a 7-11 next door. So right before I headed home I popped in...and they just got new cups in!

So I finally got my hands on a Kratos Slurpee! Granted, I didn't go for the strange GOD OF WAR Slurpee flavor. I chose cherry and pretended I was drinking blood out of some enchanted chalice or some such.

Again, as I said in a previous post, seeing this is a total dream come true. I know I'm not working on GOW III but as a guy who had a major role in creating this character and his world, I just gotta say WOW! I've always wanted stuff I helped create to end up on a Slurpee cup and now, low and behold, here it is!!!

Not sure if these will be as memorable to people as the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Burger King glasses were to me when I was kid, but still, just to be contributing to geek pop culture even in a small to medium way is damn exciting. How grateful I am for this journey! Which must mean the guys/gals who actually MADE God of War III are just bouncing off the wall with excitement over how jazzed people are for their new game!

Congrats ya'll!

Ok, time to drink up...and then get back to work! That spreadsheet in the back of my Slurpee is a list of some of the stats we're hoping to track for our new game. Over the last month I've really warmed up to certain types of stat tracking and level up schemes in games. I'm not a stat hound for sure and I think- for our game anyway- it's key not to get carried away with stats for the sake of stats. But I think there are key stats that in a game like ours players will want to track and ways they will want to use those stats to build their character. So it's a new part of game design for me and it's proving to be a lot of fun!

David

DICE AWARDS! WATCH THE STREAM THIS WEDNESDAY NITE!

Always love it when they stream the DICE awards on the net. Not sure if this is live since it starts at 9central...could be 1-2 hours delayed...or maybe not. Not sure.

BUT whatever.

So, putting them on tv = pretty meh to me. I know 'being on tv' is supposed to mean 'we've arrived' but frankly a game awards show broadcast over the net just makes more sense to me.

I know GAMESPOT hosted the stream a few years back (last time I was at the show) but now it seems IFC.COM has the honors. So check it out! I'll be one of the presenters this year if you wanna see me being my usual cool/bad ass/stupid/embarrassing/charming/super hot/dorky self. Also, Jay Mohr is the host again and he's fucking funny as hell when he does this show.

So check it out!

David

ps. DICE is this week! DUH! VEGAS! DRINKING! BIZ BUDDIES! TALKING GAMES AND PLAYING CRAPS ALL NITE! SWEET!

ARTY FARTY GAMES PART II

The other day I praised the Destructoid.com articles that were shooting down a lot of the arty-farty style indie games that seem to be popping up more and more. You can check out those refreshingly frank (to me) articles here and here...

But you know, the more I think about it, the more I think I'm a bigger supporter of artistic and meaningful games than the folks on the net who are ripping me because I was supporting the Destructoid  pieces.

See I'm not this mouth breathing, knuckle dragging, 'gotta always be fun and if it ain't fun, throw in blood and guns cause games are just sposed to be fun and loud!' kind of guys. I mean, yes, I LOVE games like that. Hell, so far, I've only made games like that!

BUT:

I really, really, really want games to be able to stand toe to toe with other mediums in terms of the ability to communicate fresh, unique messages and points of view.

I really, really, really want games to actually be stronger than other mediums because I have moments where I think interactive media should/can/will be the most powerful medium in the world when it comes to eliciting emotions and communicating deep and semi-deep messages. I mean, what better way to get a message across than to allow someone to step into the shoes of the person who is being affected by the message itself? Want to teach kids about the Holocaust or just make a statement about that awful time in history? Forget the movies- make an interactive experience where you play a Jew trying to survive the Auschwitz concentration camp. If it works, THAT could be more impacting and meaningful than watching Schiendler's List 100 times in a row!*

I really, really, really want to be able to make a game one day that speaks to the part of me that is into more than comics and video games and action movies. I'm not the world's deepest thinker but I do think that I'm deeper than the average bear and I do think about all sorts of non gamey things: politics, death, religion, spirituality, mortality, friendship, the meaning of marriage, conformity, world/life balance, raising kids, is there a God, etc,etc,etc. And I would love to be able to have my work- at times- be ABOUT these more adult ideas and thoughts. I would love that as a player and as a game maker.

And I don't think it matters much in the grand scheme of things but it would be nice to work with a team to leave some work behind that endures and gives other humans a sense of compassion and connectedness and joy (beyond the visceral and pure play joy they already do get from playing a fun game...which is a damn fine, and damn noble gift us 'non arty' game makers give to the world and that's something that I am very, very proud of).

But in terms of artistic, meaningful games that say something: I just don't think we are there yet and in most cases, I don't think we are even close. And I still wonder if the medium itself is even capable of such feats. And rather than jump on the bandwagon and say that games are 100% capable of doing such things, I prefer to be honest and real and embrace where we are in the 'struggle' right here and right now. I think that kind of honesty will allow us to either:

a- reach our destination of 'meaningful games' sooner.
OR
b-realize that interactivity will never be able to do all the things I listed above
AND/OR
c- allow the games we do make NOW (when we are not trying to push the medium ahead) to focus on what we know games do so much better than any other medium (provide fun, competition, puzzle solving,etc)....again, why turn our noses up at something that brings so many so much happiness?

And I get that SOME of you out there say that you've played games that have done all/some (and more!) of what I've listed above. And to that I say, "BULLY FOR YOU!" But the reality is: I have not played such games. I've seen flashes of hope in a game slice here, a brief moment there. But overall, I have not played these meaningful games that affect me and move me and make me think. And MOST other people have not either. Because if they/we/I actually had, the whole issue of 'can games serve as meaningful tools of relevant communication' and 'can games be 'about' sometime more than just killing and gore' would not even BE a question. There would be no debate.  Because the answer would be obvious to most everyone.

Think about it: you don't hear people questioning if movies or books or paintings or songs can be meaningful and artistic, do you? NO, you don't because those mediums- even in their earliest stages- were proving that fact so strongly that if there were ever a question of 'if movies/books/paintings could be art/meaningful' it was silenced very quickly as the proof of such things could simply not be denied. **

Games do not find themselves in that situation.  No matter how arty and meaningful games try to be, the public's view of the situation has not really shifted. To most people, games are meant to be fun diversions- nothing more, nothing less.

And there have been enough attempts at cracking the 'games as art' nut that by now, we should have seen at least ONE THING that the majority of players would have said they were moved/affected by.

But we haven't.

Now that doesn't mean games can't pull it off. It just means that- for most- right now- games are NOT pulling it off in the minds of MOST people. And all I'm saying is that a little honesty about where we are on the journey can only help.

So to the haters I say: stop being so damn defensive and realize when I cuss and type in caps I'm just being all passionate and shit, but in reality, I would imagine we have much more in common when it comes to how we would LIKE to see the future of games that you might imagine.

David

*By the way, I am aware of Brenda Brathwaite's very cool game TRAIN but it's not a video game and it's about GOING to a camp, not surviving one. But still I think this shows we could be a on a good track, altho I have yet to play the game itself. There was a DS game coming out about the Holocaust as well but far as I know, no one ever agreed to publish it...which is a shame.

** Yes, I know the Nickelodeons were very simple novelty movies and at first people wondered if movies could be more these little diversions and trifles (sounds familiar). But in the question of 'can movies be more impacting/meaningful', it didn't take long to realize that movies were the next great artistic medium! But our Nickelodeon days were the arcades of the 70's and 80's and we've come a LONG way since then BUT the question of 'can games be art/meaningful' still- for most people- stands. Not much- on this front- has changed between SPACE INVADERS and MODERN WARFARE 2...at least not for most people.

***By the way, making the subject matter of your game about something meaningful or deep or relevant is not the same as making a game meaningful, deep, or relevant.  And this is one of the issues I have with most arty farty games of today: In the experience of playing a game (not watching it being played or reading about it, but YOU sitting down and PLAYING it) the window dressing of a game- settling, theme, story- falls away very fast and you are left with the challenge of, "What do I actually DO in this game?!?!"...And it is there- in answering the 'what do I actually DO in the game' question that this 'games as art' nut is gonna be cracked (if it's actually possible to crack it at all).

PEACHES= GOTY 2010!!!!

Is it any surprise I'm a fan of this?

ARTY GAMES+ DICE + WEEKEND MOVIES+ GAMES R 2 LONG! :)

Great weekend ya'll!

David

REGARDING THIS...

...really good write up from Kotaku and Gamespy, the solution is not to release fewer games. It's to make games much shorter. And charge less money for them.

I really do not think games should cost 60 bucks. And I also don't think they should be more than 4-6 hours each unless they are focused on multiplayer or are more gamey-games ala TRIALS HD or Popcap style games.

I really hope with digital distribution this is going to change. It's getting ridiculous that a game can consume months of your life.  For 60 bucks, it SHOULD consume a large chunk of your time but- again- for me, 60 bucks is way too much cash for a game.

10 bucks for 4 hours seems a good deal to me. I wish all 1 player games were that long. I would play more of them and finish most of them.

David

Go Destructoid!

Great article over there on arty-farty indie games. Check it out. 

They say it 1000 times better than I ever could/have. I pretty much agree with about 99% of their article.

I just wish they would have not only laid into the pretentious bullshit that gets called 'art' or 'meaningful' or 'important' in the gaming medium but would also have laid in to the pretentious, full of shit 'journalists' that insist on lauding and hyping these types of games. Often times I think these writers go on and on about a lot of this arty farty stuff so it makes them feel like their own work is important (i.e. they are letting their readers in on something special and important versus simply writing about how many new weapons exist in modern shooter/alien invasion/football sim game #42).

Not to be a hateful bastard about it. I've always wanted deeper games and deeper game journalism. But I think the only way we will get both is to call bullshit when we see (i.e. games that parade around in arty clothing but are actually full of total shit)  so it forces us developers (and journalists) to actually,genuinely, honestly try to crack the 'games as a meaningful medium/games as art' nut.

So far most of what these wanna be arty games have been doing is draping themselves in the 'moody, heavy foggy atmospheric fx, sounds of wind and echoey laughing children in the distance' window dressing used by other mediums that HAVE made people feel and think (paintings, movies, novels). And once the games kind of look like these other mediums, the game makers shout really loud, "Look! We're art and important too cause we look/sound/feel just like all that other stuff". And lots of gamers and lots of journalist buy it hook, line, and sinker.

Are there some genuine games out there that ARE on the path to proving that games can make you feel and think? Yep! And some are small, indie games and some are big AAAAA $60.00 box products. But there are not many and there are only 1-2 /year at most. And there are sure as hell not near as many as a lot of the net and certain websites/magazines would have you believe.

David

WEEKEND STASH

Had a crazy productive, busy, exhausting week out in Utah working on the game. Lot of great meetings, decisions made, and great progress on the game in general. And next week is nuts with tons of design docs I gotta write up based on the decisions we made during all those meetings.  So I need a break over the weekend (altho I'm prob gonna work a bit tomorrow). 

SO I rented some flicks for me and the kids. I've already seen Basterds and Hurt but really wanted to watch them again. I'm a MJ fan and am eager to see how that flick turned out. The other movies I'll stick on while I make my kids pancakes tomorrow morning.

Oooh, and I gotta go get me one of them 7-11 Kratos Slurpees sometime this weekend too. And hell, was that freaking GOD OF WAR III I saw on a damn NASCAR?!?! I was at Gamestop in Utah yesterday and I saw an ad for the GOW NASCAR- holy hell Sony is behind this game in a big way! How exciting! 

Ok, gotta run- chat later ya'll! Great weekend!

David 

WEEKEND UPDATE: Pics from a lazy weekend with the kids:

Prepping to make the weekend pancakes! 

Keepin' it lumpy. My brother-in-law told my dad that lumpy pancakes=great pancakes...and he is right! Ever since I started keeping them lumpy AND putting some baking powder in, my pcakes have gotten much, much better! :) 

"...life ain't nuthin' but a funny, funny riddle..."

Kids always watch cartoons while I make the cakes o' pan. They like me to make 'baby pancakes' to tide them over while I finish breakfast, set the table,etc...those little cakes in the bottom right are said 'baby pancakes'...Nothing like having a baby pancake and a sip of ice cold Diet Coke right out of the fridge...

Hell, just need some syrup and I could stick these on a pancake box! I wish they tasted as good as they look but alas, my pancakes- while they have gotten much much better- are still about a 7/10....

Later in the day we ordered Za from the best pizza place in San Diego: Oggi's!  They of the super bad ass thick thick thick crust! 

This was about 10-15 minutes after the delivery guy left. It's really good...

Then we broke out the kid's science kit I got at the toy store and made stuff like miniature volcanoes that actually erupt (occurring above but kinda hard to tell)...

Also made a bubbling mad scientist potion...

Bwah-Ha-Ha! 

We got bored tho and started mixing all the stuff together to see what would happen. Here is the end result: a bubbling, stinky test tube of something that looks like human feces mixed with battery acid.

In the end we poured the remaining ingredients from the science kit in the toilet to see what would happen and to try and freak out grandma (I was gonna have my oldest run out of the bathroom crying to her 82 year old grandma that something strange had come out of her stomach :) )......altho grandma showed up too late to see it cause the kids (and me) really wanted to see what the bubbling, nasty-ass concoction looked like when it was swirling down the toilet....

So that was my weekend...hope yours was fun too! 

Later! 

THE MAZE CRAZE!

As some of you know, I will be speaking with game designer/creator legend David Crane at the upcoming DICE conference in Vegas. As such, I've been getting very nostalgic for my childhood gaming days. And then I get to Utah and...well, hang on a sec...lemme set it up:

Ok, so as a as kid, I used to love this game:  

As a kid, me, my brother, and my neighbors used to play the hell out of Maze Craze on our Atari 2600. Not really much to it, just a simple batch of mazes and you try to get out first or- if I recall- stop the other guy before he gets out. Pretty fun, pretty standard.  Check out a screen:

Ok, so that's it. That's the screen. That's the game that some 28 years ago kept me engaged for hours. How times change, yes? But the point is, there's that...and then there's this:

This is the carpet in the Utah hotel room I'm staying in right now. Just looking at the floor brings me back to a simpler, more pure time of old school gaming and I thought I'd share :) Plus it's late and I gotta get to work on a document and I'm kinda procrastinating since I worked all day. But I guess it's time to get rolling on it...so lemme get going!

Nite ya'll!

David

ps. Oh! One more thing! Have you seen this?



Yes, yes. I appear on the show as you can see in the trailer. I have not see the final shows so I can't comment on outcome or anything like that. Also, since it's a reality show where the outcome is not know, I'm also contractually not allowed to talk about it. But once it airs, I'll spill all the beans! Hope it's as fun to watch as it was to shoot!

OSCARS

So they just announced the Oscar nominations...and I missed seeing them live! Which makes no sense cause I was wide awake! I'm out in Utah for work and Utah is an hour ahead of San Diego/LA so I was already up. But I guess I just forgot about them. Which- for me- is somewhat newish. I used to love the Academy Awards. I mean, I still really love the show and am still a crazy movie nut, but you know how life goes: you get other things on your plate and the stuff that used to be crazy important slips away.

I'm sure I've written about this before but as a total movie geek back in junior high and high school I'd be up at the crack of dawn to see the noms announced. I have one particularly warm memory of me in like 10th grade and my dad waking me up crazy early to watch the noms. So I'm sitting there freezing, waiting for the heater to kick in on a cold, February Alabama morning and my dad is making me biscuits while I watched the nominations being read. Man, my parents were always so supportive of my dreams. I'm so grateful for that. And they still are :) Thanks mom and dad!

So after the noms, I'd spend the day arguing back and forth about who would/could/should win with my fellow movie geeks. Ah, the life of a nerd. But I loved it! Good, good times.

Anyway, as many of you know, they've expanded the list of best pic noms this year to 10 flix instead of 5. And I've seen the vast majority of them. So here's my take...cause I KNOW you wanna know :)

• “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producer
• JAFFE SAYS: Probably will win. Should not win. Good movie that raised the bar on film making process and effects but as a pure movie, it's just 'good', not great. I think it will benefit from the whole '#1 movie of all time!" hype cause that heavily reported story makes it seem like Avatar has become part of the cultural zeitgeist. But clearly the whole #1 movie thing is more about inflated ticket prices and 3D tix being more expensive than it is about Avatar having seeped into the culture. Avatar has not become part of our daily lives. It's not like people are walking around going, "I see you!", you know?
• 
  
• “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
• JAFFE SAYS: LOVED IT! Totally entertaining. But won't win. And it should not win. What it says has been said many times before and has been said much, much better.         

• “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
• JAFFE SAYS: Walked out of this. I know, I know. I'm an idiot and need to see it again but I just wasn't in the mood for it. What I saw was cool if not a touch slow. However, it won't win cause it's just not seen as that important of a movie. However, I would argue that it has done a lot for the film making process just like Avatar. To tell a sci fi story of this visual ambition for as little as it costs says a lot about how movies will get made in the future...at least that's what I think.

• 
  
• “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
• JAFFE SAYS: Didn't see it. Guess I will now as I hear great things. Don't really even know what it's about.
• 
  
• “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
• JAFFE SAYS: Liked it, didn't go gaga for it like so many. It may win as it's 'about' something grown up and tangible and isn't an easy movie in terms of what it says about humanity and war and even family. I need to see this one again...think I'll rent it. I could see this one growing on me.

• “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
• JAFFE SAYS: My fave movie of the year. Won't win but I wish it would. I loved this movie. It was a good, old fashioned, entertaining love letter to the movies. Great, drawn out scenes filled with tension and excitement, very cool characters. To me, this is Tarintino's Raiders of the Lost Ark. I know that probably sounds stupid but in the same way Spielberg made one of the best 'movie movies' of all time with Raiders, Tarintino has done the same with this. Au revior, Shoshanna!
• 
  
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
• JAFFE: Some amazing performances and a strong, strong spirit. Still, felt like an afterschool special. Hope the ladies in the flic get some Oscars tho. Especially Monique (sp?), she was amazing!

• “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
• JAFFE SAYS: I LOVED this movie! I know it's one of the Coen's least successful but I just thought it was fantastic. As a kid raised Jewish it really struck a chord. Just great and thought provoking and really cool flick all around. I don't think more than 10 people saw it tho. I don't see this one winning. 

• 
  
• “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
• JAFFE SAYS: I like this and like most people with a heart LOVED the opening 'they meet' montage. But a best pic? Nah. And not cause it's a cartoon. But because it- like all Pixar movies except the Toy Story flix- goes on for about 20-30 minutes too long and is caked with this sort of melancholy that- to be frank- I'm getting kind of tired of. 
• 
  
• “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
• JAFFE SAYS: I really liked this movie. And while I can see Bridges getting the actor win for more of a 'we really like you, Jeff!' kind of thing (and he may deserve it on merit, have not seen Crazy Heart) , I thought George C. rocked this flick. And the dude who talks about not being able to take his kids to Chuck E. Cheese? Give that guy an Oscar- he broke my heart man. But I liked this movie a lot. And if anything is gonna take best pic from Avatar, it's this. But out of this list, it's not- to me- the best pic by a long shot.

Ok ya'll...there's my prattle for the day. Off to work! Later!

David

ps. I just voted for my choices in the DICE awards and it occurs to me I should write up a list like this but for games. I think I will...my biggest issue tho is I've only played about 40% of the games last year and out of those, I only FINISHED about 2%. Which is a crime but games are fucking long dude. If I actually played ALL the games ALL the way thru, I'd never be able to work on our own game! 

OK, I KNOW I AM NOT THE FIRST TO SAY/NOTICE THIS...

...but man, it would SO SUCK to be that dude behind Lady Gaga. He's like, "I spend my whole life trying to get into the Grammys and I finally get to go and now I'm stuck behind this stupid ass Fortress of Solitude hat wearing motherfucker?!? Aw hell naw!"

And look at his eyes...look at them!! I COMMAND YOU!

Ahem...:)

But check him out: he's totally going, "I just wanna reach up and snap that damn thing off her fucking head"...

That said, I dig the Gaga...like her music, like her style, like her spirit. Plus my old Jewish grandma was called Gaga. And while she was too old for me to ever really know, people always tell me she was a fierce, independent, creative spirit. So who knows- maybe she was reincarnated as Lady G.

Or not.

But still, that POKER FACE song is really good. I assume- by the way- that it's SUPPOSED to sound like she's saying 'fuck her face' when she says 'poker' during the 'po-po-po-po-po-po-po-po-poke her face' part?

David

GOD OF WAR III SLURPEES!!!!!!!!

ARES! GIVE ME A CHERRY COKE SLURPEE AND MY LIFE...IS YOURS! 

So...how fucking cool is this?!? Here's the news story on adage if you are so inclined. Much thanks to GOD OF WAR III art director Ken Feldman for sharing this cool news with me! 

By the way, sorry the video stutters. Tried to get a higher res version and this is what I get...so fucking sick of this shit just not working. Youtube is out of sync and Viddler has issues with sound quality and buffering when it's high quality. Will record medium quality video from here on out. Later!


David

IN DEFENSE OF THE IPAD

Had the nite to sleep on it. Waking up, I want one. I want one bad.

I get all the arguments against it and they are valid. I just don't care. I still want one to surf the net with in coffee shops, on my couch, and in my hotel when I travel. HATE there is no camera (must have my video chat!) but when they offer one with a camera on the next gen, I'll upgrade if I can afford to.

Main reason for wanting it: reading Marvel Comics digital comic service (man those comics are gonna look sweet on this thing!), online news sites, and game sites on a more comfortable device than a laptop. Oooh, and I will prob use ibooks if they start publishing graphic novels and some good non fiction stuff. And man, I HOPE more magazine like applications are coming soon. Not websites, but magazine style apps (like reading full issues of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY on the thing...NOT just a link to the EW website)....

Also some people have been writing about how cool video board games would be on it (think it was Kotaku or Joystiq) and I certainly agree.

But I get it's not for everyone. The data plans are expensive, there's no REAL reason to ditch your laptop and/or iphone for this...those devices are much more robust than this device. But end of the day, this thing is just cool and I think I will use it a lot, and those are the two main reasons I want it.

But sure, maybe it will flop. If you take the geek net's majority reaction as an indication of mainstream interest, the Ipad is DOA. Lots of people sure are disappointed in what the thing does and does not do. And I get that. Like I said, I can see how it's not for everyone. That's fair.

BUT I really hate the argument I've seen pop up today where one reason to hate Ipad is cause of it being a closed system that Apple controls. Same old anti-Apple argument. And it's a stupid fucking argument because people who buy Apple know what they are in for with Apple products. And in most cases- at the very least mine- not only do they know what they're in for...they FUCKING LOVE what they're in for!

Man, I LOVE that my Apple products just freaking work 99% of the time. I can't STAND PCs. Can't stand the interface, can't stand how long they take to boot up, can't stand how fucking inelegant they are, hate the stupid Windows start up and shut down sound. Hate everything about them.

And I don't WANT to tinker with my fucking computer. I don't WANT to add cards and cables and have 5 monitors hooked up to it and some such shit.

I want the shit I buy to do the shit I need it to do...I don't care if it's a new shirt, a pack of condoms, or a brand new $2000 computer. If I buy something, damn thing BETTER work the way it's designed to work or it's going back to the store.  And none of this, "Well a PC DOES work how it's designed to work but you have to know what you are doing and nut fuck it up". Oh FUCK YOU. I'm kind of busy living a life here, you know? Kids, a business, making games, hanging out...not all that interested in getting a fucking IT degree before my PC will work how it's supposed to.

I get there is a subset of users out there that want more control over their home computing experience and God bless em', that's what a PC is for. But I wish the haters would stop trying to present Apple's closed door/tight control policy like it's a bad thing. Us Apple lovers KNOW what we are getting into with the closed door policy and dammit, most of us LIKE IT because it means the shit will work the way it was designed to. It's a damn good trade off for many of us out here. So PLEASE Apple haters, stop trying to present it like it's a bad thing to so many of us. It's just not.

Ahem...rant over :)

Damn...90 days is a LOOOONG time to wait to kick back at Starbucks and read an Amazing Spiderman digital comic.

Later!

David

SYNC TEST...

Am I in Sync?!?



By the way, hate the audio quality but I guess it beats being out of Sync! :) LATER!


David


ps. Oh no! He typed LATER in all caps! He's shouting!!! He's shouting the word 'Later' at me!?! Oh my stars and garters!

JAFFE'S PICKS

For those who give a shit about the stuff I like...here's a write up on the newly re-launched UGO.COM that covers 8 of my most recent favorite things.

My buddy Tracey John just started writing for the site and we did a really fun mega interview last week that will be hitting the site next week as well. I'll post a link.

Ok, just wanted to share. Back to work and back to eagerly awaiting news from Apple :)

David

WHAT AN HONOR...

I will be part of a panel with the legendary Atari 2600 game creator David Crane at this year's DICE. For more on the legend who created such classics as PITFALL! and LASER BLAST click here.  If you are a youngun' or just new to games I get how you could have no clue who this man is. But trust me, he made some of the best pure fun games of all time and it's such an honor to be sharing the stage with him. Surreal as hell, but a major honor for me.

From time to time, me and the teams I work with hear people telling us how much our work has meant to them, how much joy/fun/good times they've gotten from our games. And man, what a great feeling. But I gotta say, I feel the SAME WAY about Mr. Crane as people say they feel about us and our games! Me and my brother and my neighbor Michael would spend HOURS in our den, parked in front of our Atari 2600 and just lost in the worlds that David created.  To me- as a lover of all things Indiana Jones- Pitfall! is one of the best games ever created. Not only did it introduce so many of the concepts for the genre we now define as the platformer, but it just oozed adventure and excitement and stirred the hell out of my 6th grade imagination!  And Laser Blast...oh man, what a game! My brother was the best Laser Blast player but I could hold my own in that one. Oooh, and he made GhostBusters too! Oh, and Pitfall II which was crazy ambitious for the time...and a really fun game as well.

David and his games really shaped and defined my childhood in the same way that the 70's and 80's works of Lucas and Spielberg did. And I know he's just a guy, just a man...but damn, to be sitting with him, to be sharing a stage with a person who had such a significant impact on games, gameplay, the game industry, and- most importantly- my life...well that's gonna be a hell of a thrill! I hope he doesn't think I'm some kind of stalker :)

Ok, so in other news: back home from all the video editing for our video. We're showing the game to the folks at SCEE and needed to cut a trailer to give them a quick idea of what our game is. Now that that's done, back to working on the game itself! Man, sometimes the press and dog and pony and E3 and PAX stuff takes up so much time you wonder when the hell you'll be able to get back to actually working on the damn game! But hey, at least it means people care and are interested in what you and the team is making. Beats the alternative :)

Later!

David

UPDATE: Just to be fair, some people credit Crane with the first ever platformer in Pitfall! Donkey Kong doesn't count to many because it was one screen/level where Pitfall! allowed the player to run back and forth with screens linked into a seamless (for the most part) cohesive world (ala today's 2d Mario games). The thing about this is, I'm not sure if Pitfall! was the first to do this or if it was actually Smurf's Rescue on Colecovision. Since they both hit in 1982 however I think it's safe to assume they were both working to crack the nut around the same time. So, there's that :)

Happy Weekend, Ya'll!

NEW RULE...

...if game sites are going to report on every little rumor- no matter how solid or no matter how clearly full of shit- then they must stop bitching about GDC and E3 not having any surprises.

I don't think it's a game site's job to hold back leaked news, even tho- in the above case- it could very well be bullshit.  They need to attract readers, readers want up to the second news, and as long as the news is not obtained illegally, then what the hell- it's a free country.

But to use an overused net cliche: this is why we can't have nice things. Or more specifically, this is why the days of E3 and GDC being full of jaw dropping surprises are pretty much over.

And that sucks.

I used to love that about those shows. :(

David

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT FALLING FROM THE SKY?!?

It's raining in So Cal!

Not just raining but freaking POURING! And I LOVE IT!

I liked Tina Fey's take on all the water at the Golden Globes last nite. She said, "This isn't rain. It's God crying for NBC."....or something to that effect. She so funny :)

I love the rain. I would not love it if it rained all the time. But 2-3 weeks of rain per year? Oh man, that's da bee's knees as the Brits say. It's like snow used to be when I lived in Alabama. We'd get it MAYBE a few times a year and it was a major novelty. That's how rain is here in San Diego.

Plus I'm kind of a homebody at times so I really love to get my coffee, open the window, and work while the rain just pours down. It's very cozy and productive and just feels like...I dunno...like I'm wrapped up in a little work cocoon. Yes, that is crazy dorky I know. Whatever. Here's the view from my window today:

Hard to tell from a still shot taken on an iphone but this year we're getting some major wind as well, so that's a cool bonus. In the pic above that big ass tree on the right is going nuts, dude! Whipping around and banging against my window just like in Poltergeist!  Speaking of: a big tree came down a few blocks away, that's how windy it is.

Now I know that most of ya'll who get this kind of stuff year round must think I'm nuts. "What's the big damn deal?!?" you must be asking.

I get that. But whatever.

Ohh and it's all overcast too (duh). Check it:

Me and the ex took the girls to PF CHANGS for lunch today. They were home from school celebrating MLK day. So this is the drive home, shot from inside the car. I post it for a few reasons:

#1- look at those palm trees! Windy I tell ya! Not as crazy as it was when I drove to the Spike awards a few weeks ago...then the wind was pushing my car all around the freeway and I literally could see about 5 feet in front of my car. Very tense but very cool. I'm racing down the freeway, blasting Jay-Z, part terrified and part like, "Come on motherfucking rain! This all you got?!?! Bring it rain bitches!"...

#2- People think I'm rich because of the games I've worked on. I am SO not rich. I make a good living for sho, but check it all you 'peeps who think I live in a mansion': I don't! I live in a nice but typical suburban neighborhood in San Diego. So all you bitches out there saying I'm all rich, please stop. OR better yet: please send me lots of cash so I can live up to your swanky image of me! :)

#3- I know the dude who made Paranormal Activity lives in San Diego and shot the movie at his house. He also used to work at Sony San Diego (which is pretty close by). So I wonder if he doesn't live around me and shot his flick in my neighborhood cause the exterior of the house in that movie looks JUST like my neighborhood!

Ok, back to work. Prepping for a video capture session with the San Diego Sony peeps tomorrow so we can cut a video for the European Sales/Marketing teams. Later!

David

ps. Man I'm kinda hyper. What the hell?!? Can you tell?!?