San Diego Comic Con 2012- The Pictures!

Summer is racing to a close :(.

Fuck.

Ah well. Fall rocks too :).

Anyway, one of my favorite things about summer is the San Diego Comic Con. I go every year, I go for all 4 days, I stay till they close on day 4, and I am depressed for about a day once the show ends. 

I love to be surrounded by toys licensed from cool geek IP, cool new movie posters, game/comic/tv show news, geek celebs,etc.

I love hanging with new and old friends at the con in the day and in the Gaslamp District at night. 

I love working the con when we have something to promote. I love taking meetings at the con when we are in production or getting a new production off the ground.

And I love meeting fans of the work we do. Be at at panels promoting our stuff or just walking the floor, meeting fans who like our games is really one of the best parts. 

And I'm already excited for next year's con.

And I just realized that I forgot to post pics of this year's con. So, with all that said, here are some things from San Diego Comic Con 2012 that I thought were neat, interesting, odd, cool, and/or photo worthy.

Me meeting one of my fave writers and one of my fave celebs. Super nice guy. 

Me, Norman, the Judge, and some other dead guy. 

Groo's Papa.

Snazzy Art! Would love to hang on my walls at home! 

Sideshow Collectibles is just amazing! See the tiny Surfer?!? So cool! :) 

Excelsior! 

Boba Fett! Boba Fett?!? Where?!?!

One of my favorite slashers ever! 

Zelda with Blood?!? YES PLEASE!!!! :)

If religion had been sold this way to me as a kid, I'd have happily signed up! 

Thanks Warren Robinett! 

So does Lucas sue Marvel or does Marvel sue Lucas?!?

Yo Joe!

Yo Joe! 

Yo J...ah fuck it. Here's some dolls on a bridge. 

More dolls.

Storm Shadow fights a doll on a roof.

      

` 

Where's my President Bartlet Mego?!?!

Neat! 

Pretty cotton smoke! 

Doctor Who Swag Is Cool! 

Nasty! 

We Can Rebuild Him...

Bought This To Scare The Kids With! :) 

Creepy Cosplay!

Monster High

Follow That Cheap Ass Big Bird Costume

EarthWord Jim Vs. Viewtiful Joe (?) Vs Zombie Brides! 

Nice! 

My Comic Con Crush! 

Forrey Would Be Proud! 

Coolest Costume At The Con!

Doctor Strange Pose! Great costumes tho! 

Don't Look At It Marion! Keep Your Eyes SHUT! 

And just some random stuff: 

Closing Time...last few minutes of the con on Sunday: 

Already excited to see you again next year!!!

My Open Letter To Movie Studios About Digital Rentals:

Dear movie studios and companies that deal in digital download rentals of movies and television shows:

I have a more than full time job. I'm trying to raise 2 kids. From time to time, I'd also love to work out, leave my house, and see the world. Oh, and I really want to fly home to Alabama before the end of the summer to see my parents. It's been a while and they are getting older. Ralph and Barbara Jaffe, from Birmingham? Perhaps you know them?

It doesn't matter. Anway:

I also spend lots of cash on your products, both at home and in theaters. And I mean a LOT of cash. Hell, I just ordered the JAWS Blu Ray off Amazon this morning. I mean, seriously you guys: I love the stuff ya'll make.

Oh, and the last thing I pirated was a port of the Super Mario Bros. arcade game for my Apple //e back in the 1980's (85 I think it may have been). Happy to send ya'll a check for that act if that is what this is all about. But assuming it's not:

For the love of God, PLEASE stop with this 'once you hit PLAY on a movie/show download you only have 24 hours in which to watch the whole thing' bullshit.

I will be paying for THE HUNGER GAMES- great, great movie so far, by the way. Nice job, movie making people! I'm just at the point where she gets her rating and that's a really good part, you know?!?- at least 2 times and probably 3 before I reach the end of the film. Do I really need to be paying you guys for 3 different downloads? How about you track what I've watched so far so I can't rewind to a part I've already seen after 24 hours? How about you charge 1-2 dollars more for a longer download period for those of us with busy lives? How about you do SOMETHING?

Thanks,

David

Video Twitter Q&A

Hey ya'll!

I was waiting on some meetings to start so I threw out the following to the folks kind enough to follow me on twitter:

I was able to answer more than 10, but not sure how many more. If you are so interested in watching (it's 15 min long!) here ya go:



And here's the cool Dollface painting- along with a link- done by twitter follower @fastjorge. If you watch the video, you'll know what I'm talking about :):

And I'm pretty sure I posted this already but in case I did not (and keeping with the theme)here's another Dollface oil painting! Is this the start of a trend?!? Check it out:

I forget the name of the artist but this was done by an amazingly kind and talented Twisted Metal fan who came to see us when the Sony/ESP team showed off the game in San Francisco back in February. She was waiting in line to get in and gave me this as I was walking into the event- totally made my week. Between this one and seeing Jorge's, makes me want to propose the next TM game have a full on oil painting art style :)!

Ok ya'll back to work- talk soon!

Thanks for visiting!

David

More of the Borderlands 2 Girlfriend Mode Nonsense

UPDATE:

1. It was pointed out to me last nite that this sentence could have been causing some confusion, and actually allowing some folks to think I was ok with the term 'girlfriend mode':

'It would be nice if we could correctly acknowledge that the term 'girlfriend mode' is sexist, offensive to a lot of folks, and long past ready to be put out to the 'shit we will be embarrassed to admit we ever said' pasture while also having the stones to admit there is a still valid reason the term was coined in the first place.'

I assumed the opening of the paragraph makes it clear that's not the case, but I can see this individual's point that the last sentence is poorly written. So allow me to adjust for clarity:

'It would be nice if we could correctly acknowledge that the term 'girlfriend mode' is sexist, offensive to a lot of folks, and long past ready to be put out to the 'shit we will be embarrassed to admit we ever said' pasture while also having the stones to admit there is a still valid reason the play mechanics-that gave rise to the offensive term- were created in the first place'

I stand by that. I'm sorry the first crack was poorly worded to the point that some of you felt I was in favor of the term. To be 100% clear, I am not.

2. I feel the author of the offensive and out right incorrect piece against me is in the wrong and knows he's in the wrong.

To write this, 'But then he (Jaffe) goes on to say that there’s a valid reason the term is used and that reason is, essentially, that women (or girlfriends) don’t play games.'

when I said this, ' the vast, vast, vast majority of adult women want NOTHING to do with a game like Borderlands 2 (or a game like God of War or Twisted Metal or Gears of War)'

To claim I said anything resembling 'women don't play games' is a new low when it comes to game journalist spin.

3. This original post- see below- was written in a moment of haste and anger. It was an attempt at some kind of aggressive humor but it clearly missed the mark. Instead of the playground insults coming off as intentionally smarmy and somewhat funny (my original hope), it came off as literal (i.e. I really think this guy is stupid; I'm really calling him 'dummy' as a way of insulting him and calling him names'). That's a failure on my part.  So I've changed it.

Not trying to whitewash anything. Let's be clear: I think this 'reporter' is bush league and he owes me an apology and he owes me a change in his initial article. I don't care for the guy one bit. And I have no problem saying so. But it's clear I failed at expressing that properly and so I've adjusted the entry below to reflect my intent.

Thanks

David


+++++

The guy who wrote this article should be ashamed of himself. Check it out:

'Jaffe begins well by acknowledging that the term “girlfriend mode” is sexist and offensive and that it’s the type of comment we, as an industry, find embarrassing.'

'But then he (Jaffe) goes on to say that there’s a valid reason the term is used and that reason is, essentially, that women (or girlfriends) don’t play games.'

'Jaffe says that “the vast, vast, vast majority of adult women want NOTHING to do with a game like Borderlands 2.” While I don’t have access to Jaffe’s research in the area, this is something that may well be true. Or it may not. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is utterly beside the point.'

'It’s not about whether or not someone – male or female – would find a game such as Borderlands 2 appealing. Jaffe lumps Borderlands 2 in with similarly violent games such as God of War, Twisted Metal and Gears of War, the content of which will not be to everyone’s taste.

Equally, a term like “girlfriend mode” is not about statistics claiming what percentage of games players are female. So what if the majority of players of games such as Borderlands 2 (and God of War, etc) are male? That’s an aesthetic choice and utterly unrelated to the context in which the term “girlfriend mode” was used.

The term “girlfriend mode” doesn’t say “Hey, maybe you don’t like this type of game, so here’s a way you might like to try.” The term “girlfriend mode” says “Hey, you’re a girl so you must be terrible at playing games, so here’s how we’re going to help you.”

And that is the definition of sexism.'


Of COURSE it matters in the context of my post if women do not play games LIKE Borderlands 2, God of War, Gears of War,etc. If - as you acknowledge it could very well be true that games like BL2, GOW, etc. are played by a huge male majority then it stands to reason that there is a huge majority of women who have little experience with these sorts of games. And thus,  it's not about aesthetics (as you wrongly assume), it's about mechanics. PLAY mechanics.

I never said women could not be great at these kinds of games. I think the many amazingly talented women who kick the shit out of men everyday in these kinds of games can attest to that.

But if the vast majority of women have no interest in these kinds of games then the vast majority of women are not going to be INITIALLY as successful as the vast majority of men (who have huge interest in these sorts of games, compared to the women) given that the play mechanics of these games are not easy for either sex to just pick up and play without having learned and practiced similar mechanics from similar action/shooter games over the years.

This has NOTHING to do with the ability of one sex over another. This has EVERYTHING to do with experience and the fact that- because men are much more into action games than women- men have much more experience playing action games and thus the majority of folks without experience with games like Borderlands 2 will be women. That's no more sexist than saying the majority of folks who choose reading as their primary for of entertainment are women and because of that, women would do much better than men when playing a trivia game where the topic was 'fiction from the last 50 years'.

Wherein I Have An Opinion About 'Girlfriend Mode'

It would be nice if we could correctly acknowledge that the term 'girlfriend mode' is sexist, offensive to a lot of folks, and long past ready to be put out to the 'shit we will be embarrassed to admit we ever said' pasture while also having the stones to admit there is a still valid reason the term was coined in the first place.

We should be able to embrace and push forward a change in the way we talk about games in the interest of inclusion,fairness, kindness, and respectability for ALL gamers (and all people) while still being able to openly acknowledge that the vast, vast, vast majority of adult women want NOTHING to do with a game like Borderlands 2 (or a game like God of War or Twisted Metal or Gears of War). Anymore than the vast, vast, vast majority of men have any interest in watching a show like Project Runway or reading a book like The Notebook or Twilight.

Political Correctness has been 90% fantastic for our society because before you know it, it stops being 'politically correct' and -rightly so- simply becomes folks being treated with respect. But the remaining 10% has really done a hack job to our culture, neutering the fuck out our ability to acknowledge things as the way they truly are.

David

The Death (and Future?) Of Twisted Metal

Twitter follower @Vyprstryke tweeted me this morning:

                                  

I wanted to respond here on the blog as I get the 'what is the future of Twisted Metal' question often enough (which is a really nice question to get cause it means the series still has fans!) that it seemed best to put my quick thoughts all in one place. So here's my take on Twisted Metal's future:

#1- I said it would for sure be the last Twisted Metal game I worked on, at least for a long while. I can't speak for Sony's plans for the franchise other than to say I've heard nothing about a new one. But I've not been a Sony employee since 2007/8 (?) so I am far from a Sony insider. For all I know they ARE making a sequel and I've simply not been informed. And to be fair, even if I had been informed, I could/would not tell you :). Just like with TM PS3's secret existence, I do not feel it is my place to decide when a publisher- who owns and pays for the game- wants to reveal its secrets. 

#2- As for Sony making a new TM, TM PS3 got some great reviews and some terrible reviews which has placed it at a 76% metacritic. It sold fine. Not a dud, not a hit. When all is said and done, I hope Sony will be satisfied that it made a decent investment in the game and in us. But it was not a mega blockbuster or even a big hit (was it even a 'hit'?...not sure what is in between 'dud' and 'hit' but I think TM PS3 falls into that category)...

#3- I HOPE Sony makes a new TM one day. Heck, once we get the new studio launched and we've brought some new IPs to the world that folks enjoy, I can see myself dying to go back and do a new TM w/the new studio and with Sony. But for now, I really want to do new things. But one day, sure, I'd love to return to straight up car combat. But I'd want to do it super small and all digital. So a launch would look something like:  5-6 vehicles, 2 levels (with 1 or both being able to be broken up into at least 1 other level map), 3 modes (TDM, DM, and 1 new, fresh mode), 8 weapons, a 4 level single player campaign with a single end boss, inexpensive stories for each of the 5-6 characters (aka TM2 but with darker visuals).

NOT cutting edge visuals at all. We would find an art style that fits the game but allows us to keep the budget down. Or we'd go photo real but just accept we're not going to compete with current gen visuals and budget/charge accordingly. I think TM works because of the play and the world and the genre. While bleeding edge TM visuals would rock, I don't think the genre is big enough to merit the cost.

And that gets put out and- if it's great- we can count on the fans to show up and we make our money back and a small profit. And if it's AMAZING, we can count on even more. And then we see if there is interest in doing add ons and such.

And heck: if the new free to play models I'm thinking of for our new games, perhaps we put out a f2p version as well. And before you balk, I assure you, it would not consist of you buying missiles and paying for a faster car or for more armor. It would not be pay to win. It would not be micro transaction based. 

But again, this is just me pie in the sky thinking out loud. None of this is planned.

#4- I think the dark Twilight Zone-meets-CreepShow-meets-Se7en world of Twisted Metal is ripe for more products and I hope Sony does something with that universe. Heck, I hope Sony reaches out to me to ask me and the new crew to do something with it. But instead of a super expensive sixty dollar game, I'd love to do a next-gen Twisted Metal/Sweet Tooth all digital graphic novel or a small, indie style adventure game (super low budget) or- as I've said in the past- a low budget Tooth slasher movie, etc. But whether we are involved or not, I really think that TM is a cool world that can yield a great deal of success outside of the vehicle combat niche. In fact, I would venture that the property would be substantially more successful if it were expressed in other game genres and other media. 

So those are my thoughts on the franchise as it stands on July 31st, 2012. I still love the Twisted Metal games Scott and I and the rest of the talented team have made over the years. I am still very proud of the TMPS3 multiplayer. And I still love, love, love the TM universe. 

But right now, I'm happily exploring new universes and am excited to report back my findings and the findings of my new team to the world when the time is right! 

And with that, I'm outta here! Oh, one more Twisted thing:

Tooth's machete from the Twisted Metal PS3 movies and its current, unseemly resting place: the trunk of my 2005 Toyota Corolla. I really need to frame this damn thing and hang it on my wall. 

Later Ya'll-

David

SWEET TOOTH ALT ENDINGS

Hey all- wanted to get the last two alt endings up from TWISTED METAL for PS3. These are from Sweet Tooth.

Ending #1 was/is the ending that shipped on the disc.

Ending #2 is here:



Ending #3 requires a little explanation:

I made this video on my own using iMovie when I was struggling to try to find the tone for the movies. As some of ya'll know, the game was originally a T and then became an M. But the movies were written and shot to be T (at least the first shoot we did) and so it was a real struggle trying to find the fun, comic book flavor of TM2 (the T rating) and merge it with the dark, depressing flavor of TMB (the M rating). It was especially hard when 80% of our footage was written and shot to be T and when- in order to make our deadline- we had to smush the 3 planning (and shot) endings of each characters down to a single ending for each character (comprised usually of elements form all 3 endings).  Whew- long explanation...SO this was what the darker version of ending #3 would have looked like. If you've seen Tooth's actual middle story ending that we shipped with, this ending is where we took the used middle portion from. Biggest difference is once Tooth gets up to the hospital...well, things change. Take a look:



In the original version, the man inside the mask- the human who was still deep inside fighting to protect his daughter-won over the beast that is Sweet Tooth. The man inside forced Tooth to walk away and let Sophie live. But Sophie has a line where she says she'd 'rather die than live as the daughter of a monster'. And with that, she jumps out of the window, killing herself.

The above video was me taking the story line darker for both the M rating (because we now could go darker) and because it just didn't seem like Tooth fans would be ok with him taking the 'noble' high road and walking away, letting Sophie live. It just didn't feel right for the world/character.

No idea if this video above will even run. I posted it as private to share with our TM marketing lead as he and I spent a lot of time discussing game's tone. Because this was an internal video never meant to be shared, I used licensed music I had sitting on my iTunes just to set the tone. Now that I'm making the movie public, I have no idea if it will be allowed to be posted.

Ok, that's pretty much everything!

Hope the TM fans out there have dug some of the 'what could have been' stuff from what I am fairly certain will be the last Twisted Metal game made. At least for a very, very long time!

Hope ya'lls weekend is going great! Talk soon-

David

Coolest Thing At Comic Con 2012...so far!

Saw this walking to my cab late last nite:

'Big deal', I hear you say. 'It's just a white van...'

Well that's what I thought too...but then I saw all these people crowded around it and I had to see what was up. So I did...and check this shit OUT! 

Van has movies playing on the windows to make it look like zombies are inside-banging on the glass-trying to get out! I imagine it's mostly for Halloween to put on your windows at home (and yes, I'm going to look into getting it this year!)...but man, it really looks super creepy on a van. There's no way they could get a permit to drive this thing around with these movies turned out. It would create a ton of distracted drivers.

And check out the back windows! I'll take a video if I see it again tonite, but as you can tell from just these 3 frames, these are not stills, but an actual movie.

Ok back to the con! Will post lots of pics soon! So far, a total, total blast! Loving it! Hope to see you there! 

David