My childhood hero is back! The Indy 4 trailer- like a Valentine's gift to my inner 10 year old-was just waiting for me when I got up to my mac this morning. Let me tell you, if you have not yet seen it, it does not disappoint. It feels more like Crusade in it's tone and humor- much as you can deduce the end result from a trailer- and less like the edgy Raiders and Temple but I'll take 1000 Last Crusades over 95% of the films out these days. So yeah, I am a happy ass camper. No doubt.
And the film- far as I can tell from the little window on my mac- LOOKS great. It LOOKS like an old adventure movie from back in the day. I know this is what the filmmakers were going for and it seems like they nailed it.
So thanks Spielberg and Lucas.
And and thanks to my brother too.
Wait, my brother?!?! What'd he have to do with the way Indy 4 looks?!?!
Well...a little, anyway!
Get this! This is the personal cool news I wanted to share ages ago but could not:
My motherfucking brother WORKED on this freaking masterpiece! YEP! He was 2nd unit asst. camera on the truck chase that you see in today's very trailer!!!! Imagine that! He and I were just kids when we were both swept away by the first Raiders, both falling in love with the movies! And now, he's not only making movies (he's been doing that for many years), but he's fucking making not just a STEVEN SPIELBERG movie...he's making an INDIANA JONES movie!!! OH MAN! How nuts will that be to watch this movie with him and when that scene comes on- how cool!
Ok, heading out. Taking my daughters to our first annual daddy-daughter Valentine Day breakfast! Guess what swanky place they picked? They could have picked anywhere in the city and they picked...McDonalds! :) Kids after my own heart!
EDIT: some more pics for Sunday! Thank you! Please keep them coming! So cool!
EDIT: CANADA- I hear you guys and so you know, this whole thing is news to us at Eat Sleep Play (and perhaps SCEA as well).. No one ever mentioned that Canadians would get the shaft regarding art book and music. It is FIRST on my list to deal with when work opens tomorrow morning; I will keep you guys posted.
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Hey! Blogging from Vegas.
Did a whole vid blog but Flixn is broke- audio is working tho. Here:
Fried from drinking and press and no sleep- but show is going great!
Heading down in a bit to the DICE awards! Watch it streamed live on Gamespot!
Anyway, first pics from people buying our game! Thank you so much!!!! :)
Thanks Carlton!
Thanks Davis!
Thanks Synthr!
Oscar, Thank You!!! And thanks for all the support over the years at the Playstation Store!! :)
Thank you Delriach (and wife of Delriach!) :)
Thank you, Rex!!!
Thanks David! For both buying our game and all the great message board support over the last few years. We SOOOO appreciate it!
RallyRes! Thanks dude- for buying our game and for creeping the shit out of me with this manip! Thanks for the support on the board as well! :)
KILRGRN, thank you for buying our new game and thanks for being so understanding about taking those scans down :) I know your heart was in the right place :)
Ray- thanks dude! And thanks for keeping Shoutbox going with all your great posts!
Torgo, thanks! And thanks for the podcast support! We still need to get the team to sign a copy for you guys!
Yeah, I'm sure I've used that headline on previous blogs...ah well.
So off to DICE in a few hours! CAN. NOT. WAIT!
Love Vegas, love catching up with old biz buddies and drinking like crazy, love that the award show is going live over the net (altho I still have no clue what to wear when I will be presenting), and hell, the show itself looks good this year too!
Few things before I go:
1- Some new TM HEAD ON interviews have hit. Check them out if you so desire:
2- To the three folks who won the New Year's contest, can you please post your mailing address to the comment section of this post? I will get those sent out this week (I THINK the Sony copies have come in...if not, I will let you know when they are... but I think they have!)
3- Twisted Metal hits the shelves today! If you buy a copy, would you please take a pic of yourself doing it (at the store). I'd love to post it- if you don't mind- on the blog. That'd be cool! I'd love to see pics of folks buying our games! So please! Send me those pics!
Little time to post today, just a few quick things:
1- Looks like I will be KEYNOTING the game career conference at this year's GDC. I told them I would speak, did not know it would be a keynote!!! Jeeze, there's pressure. Well look, a few things: if you plan on going know this:
a- it is going to be very off the cuff. I'm gonna go through my career steps, give a little advice on what I would have done differently, and take questions during the whole talk. I told them I did not have time to plan out a big, detailed speech and they were like: 'no worries, just talk about how you got to be doing what you are.' And so that is what I will do :) If you plan on coming, bring lots of questions so we can just shoot the shit, talk, and share war stories.
b- Contrary to what you may think, I have no intention of this being a rant or soapbox session. I will answer questions as honestly as I can- as always- but I'm not lookiong to make waves or make a barbed point or anything like that. The whole thing is helping new folks get into the biz and/or advance where they are in the biz. So I will consider the talk a success if even one person takes one thing I did (or didn't do) on my career path and succeeds even a touch because of what we talked about. So if you are coming for a reble rousin' good time...well, that MAY happen but it's not the goal. Hell, it's never the goal...it just tends to happen sometimes :)... But so know that...if you are looking for drama, look elsewhere...cause my other goal is to keep the damn thing out of the press so I will be trying not to say ANYTHING that will get me a post on Kotaku :) Much as I LOVE Kotaku, I'm just ready for a drama free GDC! Oh and hey, I'm doing a fun thing with Kotaku at GDC, come to think of it...I'll fill you in when they let me.
2- Pics! Some random pics I thought I would share:
Went to pick up diapers last night for my kids...and it occurred to me, with the youngest being 2 1/2, ain't much longer I'm gonna need to be picking up the Pampers :( You never know what the future holds and hey, there are always grandkids, but man, I'm gonna miss diapers! Is that crazy?!?! Could be, but I've really loved having babies and very small kids around the house. Ah well, on to the next stage!!!
Decided to get on the ball and make my office look a LITTLE nicer...wife got this custom framed for me...it's 3-4 transparent sheets that I laid over the map of GOD OF WAR (back when it was called DARK ODYSSEY) in order to see where all the monsters and cut scenes and puzzles went...it's neat to look at the image now and see a very, very rough sketch of what ended up being the whole game!
Here are some close ups:
Ahh, the Hydra...and look at little stickman Kratos with his dual blades...man I suck at drawing! :)
Went to ebay and purchased- and then framed- four of the games that made me fall in love with video games when I was a kid: ADVENTURE, COMBAT, DODGE EM, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Funny thing is, if you look at Twisted Metal, God of War, and Calling All Cars, you can TOTALLY see the influence of those games!
And finally...yes, tomorrow is the big day out here in Cali...as well as in 21 other states. I am so excited and happy and proud to be voting for Obama. Look, I have not drunk the Kool Aid in that I KNOW he's a politician and I KNOW that no one is 100% what they promise in politics...but hell, if he's 40% of what he says, I'll be damn happy. Go Obama!
Here's a sneak peak of THE DARK PAST, the documentary on the history of the Twisted Metal series. It ships with TWISTED METAL-HEAD ON: EXTRA TWISTED EDITION, which comes out Feb 5th! Lots more bonus content on the disc (which you may have read about) but I wanted to give ya'll a quick look at what some of it looks like.
About 6 months ago we put a call out to hardcore/diehard TM fans to send us video clips of them talking about the series. This clip represents some of our favorites! Check it out!
#1- Check out me and Scott on the Playstation Nation podcast! Always fun to work with those guys! Find it Here!
#2- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take the TM flame wars to TMA? Me and the folks at Eat Sleep Play appreciate and LOVE the passion over the series but this really isn't the place for it. Thanks! :)
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A few more Twisted Metal: HEAD ON- EXTRA TWISTED EDITION interviews hitting today...check them out :)
Also- as to WHY FUCK WIL WHEATON, considering in the vblog I talk about how much I dig him, it was gonna be this whole joke thing making some comparison between me at one time wanting to be his buddy based on his blog...or something...I've forgotten and now all I recall is the title- FUCK WIL WHEATON!- which I really like...even though I'm a total Wheaton Fan (Wheatie? WheateiHead? Wheatonian?)...anyway...see ya!
Hey ya'll! Head on over to Gamespot.com at 4pm (Pacific time) to hear me on their ON THE SPOT show. At least I THINK I am gonna be on (not 100% confirmed yet). And I THINK they have played some of the review code of the new Twisted, so listen in and I will try to pry out some info on if they dug the game, hated it, or were kinda meh on the whole thing.
Also, if you have not seen some of our other press, check out me and Scott doing some press for the new Twisted Metal at:
Will also be chatting with IGN and 1up today I THINK. So look out for that as well!
David
ps. Thanks to Grasshopper for helping me figure out- FINALLY- how to post links to this damn site! Thanks bud!
pps. Extra special thanks to Paul 'bad ass motherfucker' Murphy at Sony PR for setting up all these great PR opps for us. Much as we love the new TM and proud as we are of it, we know without a great PR man hitting the phones, we would not be getting the kind of coverage we are for a PSP-to-PS2 port...so thanks dude!
Can't see the snow in this pic but MAN is it coming down! I was hoping my kids could log on to see how much it's snowing where I'm at- they never see snow in San Diego- but it doesn't show up in this pic. Ah well... :)
Design meetings are going great- man I love design meetings! Then it's like 2 years to get the actual game to live up to what is in everyone's head, but still...it's a blast!
Journalist Zaitsev posted this to the comment section and I wanted to share!
Isn't that fantastic? If you missed it, it's suggesting I'm a pinko commie! What would Colonel Flag think (M*A*S*H reference)?
It's amazing that one of the things that used to make America great- the fact that ideas of all kinds, no matter how different or unpopular, could be debated and brought up for discussion- is now the very thing that gets you labeled a commie. Not that this is a new trend, but I think it's been brought to the level of art form by our buddies Bush/Rove/Cheney.
Anyway, great pic Zaitsev! Thank you! And send a link when you get your story up.
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Thanks for all the great comments, ya'll. Appreciate the input. A few quick things:
a- as many have pointed out, I am arguing for a single standard not a single console. Thanks for clarifying and helping me express it better. And just because the 'big 3' would never stand for it, as some of you say, I wonder what the big 3 would do if EA, Capcom, Valve, Ubi, Blizzard, Activision,etc. formed a consortium and made a console/standard of their own and agreed to only publish on that standard. It would at least put Sony and Xbox out to pasture unless they did something drastic, pretty damn quick.
b- For the record- to all the semi-sensationalist headlines around the net: Jaffe is not 'arguing for' or 'proposing' anything. I think my blog post made it pretty clear I was simply floating the idea, that I did not think I was 100% right, and that I was open to being educated on the subject. Nice reading skillz, ya'll!
c- Chris Kohler reads good! Thanks for taking me up on it. Read your post at Wired.com and loved it. And you are spot on: to me, 80% of the game innovation I care about comes via design, not tech. Yes, you need your upgrades but I could live with an upgrade every 8 years or so (like 2d to 3d) and then do the rest via software upgrades and perpipheral add ons. But that's just me. Thanks for your article tho. Lots of good info on the subject there....see ya at Dice/GDC!
Ok, I'm done with it. Back to more posts about me and the wife watching fecal paste slither out of young women's brown eyes. I mean, come on, THAT'S the reason you come here isn't it? Well hell, that's the the reason I post here! :)
David
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Can anyone explain to me how having ONE console would be bad for gamers? Or game developers for that matter?
The argument that keeps coming up is, ‘oh, it would stifle competition and competition is good for gamers!’
But I don’t understand this in regards to console hardware.
One game publisher would be bad. One giant game developer would be bad. I get how those things would hurt gamers. But why would one unified hardware platform?
We have it with DVD, we had it with VHS. We have it with televisions (in the sense that- for the most part- every tv is capable of broadcasting the same signal). So what do we lose by having it for game consoles?
Sure you miss out on some features that may otherwise be available if another console was there to compete. But this is always the way when one format wins over another and becomes the standard. And for those few features you lose, don’t you make up for it in so many other ways? Massive content choice, being the main one. And what about better quality products because the makers of the software/television shows/dvds don’t have to spend one instant struggling to make the same content for 2-3 different systems and instead can focus on making grate content right out of the gate? And you get MORE competition on the software side- which is, to me, where it counts- because there is MORE competition to be the best on a single system instead of content creators splintering and never ever worrying about competing with 2 out of the 3 groups.
For me, those are much bigger reasons to want a single console. Sure, you miss out on a cool feature here, a neat feature there. But we’ve gotten used to this in so many other hardware products and- in doing so- reaped the many more benefits of a single system.
Sure, our industry would have to battle it out to determine who gets to make the system. Is it one company or a group of companies? Or is it like television sets where you have multiple consoles that run the same software but with their own unique features?. And before you toss 3DO at me as an example as to why this won’t work, don’t. 3DO failed because- for the most part- it had crap games and was way too expensive and could not compete with the new game hardware coming out that was selling at much cheaper prices. But if the 3DO had been an XBOX 360 or a PLAYSTATION 2….or even a Wii? Well then I think things would have gone differently.
A lot of people will say: well, the game companies would never agree to this or that or the other. And to me, that is part of the problem our business has overall. Competition is great. But I think the leaders of the biggest groups should come together from time to time- like the big Mafia families do in the movies- and make some decisions together for the overall health of the business. Heck, maybe they already do this and I am just not aware. But if they do, they have not made the right decision on the one thing I think that could benefit gamers and game makers in a massive way: a single console.
As always. I’m up for being proven wrong. I don’t think I have the ultimate answer and I know there are some strong feelings on this topic from some folks. But I’ve yet to have a good argument from anyone-including these vocal anti single system folks- as to why a single console is wrong. Please to educate me? Even if the reason is competition, please explain why it works in other industries but would not work in ours? Thanks!
I shit you not, Hillary winning last nite really got me upset. Is that lame? Yeah, I guess. I think I just allowed myself to hope- just for a moment- that politics as usual would not prevail. And when politics as usual did, it really annoyed me. More than it should have I think. And so I've been cranky all day.
Hate to write when I am cranky as I don't feel it's an accurate reflection of how I feel about things. I'm actually a big fan of what Nintendo is doing, how can you not be?
I know I usually put these in the corner- and will continue to do so- but in the interest of seeing the whole reaction, here's a full screen view....I forgot to tell my wife to sit off center...my fault.
No more comic book stores for me! Check out the latest video blog on the upper right of this blog to see what's up with my newest passion: Marvel Digital Comics!
Will this be the FINAL nail in the coffin for comic stores? Maybe...hell, probably. Just like music stores.
But I think this could also open up the medium to so many more people...now all they gotta do is try to make some comics that grown ups don't feel like idiots reading. I know there are some out there- used to LOVE Strangers in Paradise. But hell, I would love to read an adult oriented ACTION comic...it's like you either get the 10 year old boy superhero stories or the 20 something angsty hippie chick comix. Yes this is a generalization but it's kinda true from my 30+ years of comic reading experience.
Either way- this is great stuff for lovers of the medium and lovers of Marvel (that's me!) included! Now DC just needs to fall in line. Eager to see how well this is going for Marvel, money wise. I hope this takes off!
See ya!
David
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Adam Orth-from Sony- just sent me this image of the comic that- it seems- is still in the Sony Santa Monica bathroom! Watch the V-blog to see what the hell I'm talking about :) Thanks Adam! Just glad Herminie isn't photoshopped into the toilet!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ EDIT: NOT THIS POST! DO NOT POST TO THIS POST! Read this post....you need to comment to a NEW POST that is going up after midnite! Thanks!!! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3:30pm San Diego time. Less than 9 hours till a brand new year. Amazing how times flies although I have to say, this year has been a great one. So much has happened that I am so grateful for and so much living - versus simply existing- was packed into the last 12 months, that for the first time in memory I don't look back and think, 'man, where did the year go?!?!' It really feels like I milked the shit out of 2007. I got no regrets, just great memories. And I'm ultra jazzed for what 2008 has in store for us all.
Ok, so I wanted to give those of you who are interested in the 'Win Twisted Metal: Head On: Extra Twisted Edition PS2' contest, some info:
I did not make the time to fill out the holiday cards. I got sick and that- plus normal holiday activities- just drained my time. So no cards went out and I doubt I will ever get around to sending them. I am very, very sorry for those who took the time to go to the yahoo account and enter addresses. But let me make it up to you...in two ways!
#1- Because I feel bad for being a slacker, let's give away 4 copies of the game, versus 3! So, there ya go: one extra chance to win a copy!
#2- Since I'm tossing the whole holiday card idea, it means more than 20 folks (the original number of cards I was going to send out) now have a chance to win now! So that's good(for those who didn't make the cut!)...
So here's the deal...at between 12:00 and 12:30am on Jan 1 PST (i.e. once us Californians get to see the ball drop in NYC Times Square) I will post a new blog entry. The folks who post to that blog entry's #10,#15,#20,and #26 comments will get a copy of the game. So it's like the old school radio call in contests ('be caller #10 to win a pair of tickets to the Duran Duran concert!')...but now there are 4 chances to win...not just one! You just gotta make sure your comment lands in one of those slots! And YES, multiple comments are ok!
So good luck! I will post the winners later tonite or first thing in the am.
NOTE: If for some reason blogger has an allergic reaction to folks refreshing and posting comments fast (and yes, the comments don't have to have anything written in them...they can be empty as long as blogger will take them)...but if for some reason, it doesn't work the way I think it is...I reserve the right to find a new way to give these damn things away :)
But let's hope for the best! I think it'll work great!
By the way, if you are from out of the country, I am more than happy to send you a copy if you win, but it is the NTSC version. Also, the games will go out- I THINK- around the week we ship. But it may be a bit sooner or a bit later, depending on when we get our copies from Sony.
Ok, so that's that.
Now I gotta go get ready. We are having a little kids New Year's party/play date that starts in less than an hour. I imagine the kids and their parents will not make it till midnight so it will prob be me and the wife ringing in the new year and then her hitting the hay while I update the blog and try to whip thru a few more Uncharted chapters (I am on chapter 18 right now) before I go to bed. My fantasy is to finish the game before the holiday officially ends tomorow nite. I'll let ya'll know!
Oh and look: if you are going out tonite, please be safe! Have a great time and Happy New Year! Looking forward to continuing to blog and chat with ya'll in 2008 (the year of Indy!!!)...
ok, gotta run...see ya'll...and good luck tonite if you are entering the contest!
This is the game I directed/lead designed that is currently running on Playstation Network! The critics pretty much hated it but it has its fans and I am one of them! I'm super proud of this thing and I think it's a blast! Hope to see ya online while it's still alive :).
THE LITTLE COMPANY THAT WAS...
We've officially shut down The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency. I am almost certain it shall rise again one day in some form or another but at least as far as ver 1.0 is concerned, 'She's dead, Jim'. And I'll miss her. What a great team, a great company, and a great experience. Thanks for everything, Bartlet Jones! And thanks to Sony for the opportunity to launch our little adventure; y'alls faith in us remains so appreciated! Y'all rock!
No idea why it's a 'guilty' pleasure. But it is! :) Love this show!
JUST FINISHED (AND I LOVED IT!)
WOW- WHAT A COOL MOVIE!
WATCHING:
And EAGERLY waiting for next 4 episodes!
WATCHING
...and STUNNED by how good, funny, and emotional this is! Was not a fan of the original so this really caught me by surprise!
PLAYING:
Took me FOREVER to get around to playing this! WOW! LOVE IT! Limbo was cool but 'meh' for me. This tho? Next level shit, right here!
READING:
WATCHING:
Watch this with my 12 year old. Season 2 not as strong as season 1 but it's still lots of fun! ...And I don't WANNA fit in!!! :)
PLAYING
My kid finally got a PC so her and I play this networked on weekends! She's in her room and I'm in mine, shouting to each other as we play! So much fun! :)
THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE...peeps who follow this blog :)
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