Archive for category miscellaneous
GameFan journalism.
Posted by The Management in miscellaneous on August 28, 2010
As the games-journalism debate of consumer evaluations vs. artistic critiques continues, it’s almost refreshing to look back on the sordid history of GameFan Magazine.
DieHard GameFan Magazine was an unabashedly fanboy-ish publication that spawned in the backroom of a videogame store. It started off as a catalogue promoting Western and import titles, but quickly grew to a widely syndicated magazine that competed with the likes of EGM and GamePro. It was filled with hyperboles, factual errors and made-up rumours, but it also had lovingly arranged layouts, superior print quality and a contagious enthusiasm for the medium.
I fondly recall pouring over GameFan’s spreads of popular games like Earthworm Jim and Street Fighter Alpha, and lesser known titles — which I didn’t hear much about in other publications but was pleased to discover — such as Dark Savior and Lucienne’s Quest. Like many young videogame enthusiasts, I eagerly awaited the treasure trove of text and colour that came with each issue, but I was oblivious to the magazine’s crazy behind-the-scenes antics:
- The company behind GameFan was perpetually on the verge of bankruptcy, resulting in re-enactments of Cannonball Run by its employees who did not want their checks to bounce.
- Review copies were burned and leaked out, much to the dismay of Capcom.
The layouts of GameFan Magazine were fantastic, often incorporating a title's concept art and overall visual style.
- Dubious lawsuits were launched.
- Writers took on multiple roles, including those of fans writing to the magazine, and of the Postmeister responding to said letters.
- Illegal workers were employed while magazine covers were sometimes given to the most attractive PR girl.
- Drug binges and reviews occasionally went hand in hand.
- Fake ID’s were obtained under the name of “Guile.”
- Dogs were routinely jerked off.
- Investors were swindled, with the boss allegedly breaking into company property so he could purchase expensive videogame memorabilia.
- Event budgets were spent on prostitutes.
- Racial slurs occasionally slipped through the cracks and made it into print.
It’s hard to defend GameFan after reading the above, and the magazine itself was as far from real journalism as videogame publications got, but for many it was also a labour of love. As such, it still stands heads and shoulders above all the other fanzines, and its tumultuous history is rich enough to fill a book.
If it ever does, I’d sure like to read it.
The IGDA Board elections.
Posted by The Management in miscellaneous on February 15, 2010
The IGDA is electing 5 new board members, and if you’re a videogame developer, you might want to cast your vote(s). The minimum $48 Core membership is required to do this, but it’s a pretty important election that will have a large impact on the organization.
I’ve already submitted my ballot, and I hope that David Edery gets one of the eligible spots. I’ve only ever spoken to David a few times, but he was very approachable, and his business acumen would certainly benefit the IGDA. Being the former head of XBLA’s world-wide portfolio, David has given out various lectures on digital distribution, and continues to write insightful commentaries on the ever changing videogame market. I believe his knowledge could prove very beneficial to the IDGA and its members, and would help us adapt to the trends (and sometimes the hard-to-accept realities) of the business.
For a more robust assessment of the candidates, though, feel free to check out Scott Macmillan’s analyses of the entrants.
Whatever the results, I hope they’ll bring some concrete improvements to the oft-criticized IGDA.
Blog stats.
Posted by The Management in miscellaneous on August 8, 2009
Well, it’s been just over half a year since I started the blog, so I figured I’d post some stats on how thing have been going.
Top 5 posts:
Initially my largest-traffic posts were the “bits,” especially ones that referenced fairly recent games, e.g., Fable 2. I’m rather pleased that the articles discussing game design eventually took over, though. Below is a list of my top 5 posts and the amount of individual hits each one received.
- What made those old, 2D platformers so great? (21, 048)
- A layman’s guide to projection in videogames. (6, 772)
- How I got art for my game, part 1. (6, 294)
- The 1-pixel collision box. (6, 252)
- The magic of secrets. (5, 710)
Top 5 individual referrers:
I get quite a bit of regular traffic from various sites, but these were the top sources for individual posts.
- Slashdot (9, 010)
- Reddit (3, 792)
- Plaza.fi (2, 203)
- Blue’s News (1, 132)
- StumbleUpon (1, 094)
Top 5 search engine terms:
To be completely honest, some variation of GTA takes up all of the top five spots in this category. Every day I get about 25 hits from these searches, but since listing “hot coffee” 5 times wouldn’t be as interesting, I’m including spots 6 through 9 as well.
- hot coffee mod (789)
- blazblue (282)
- escher (245)
- touhou (196)
- ink splatter (169)
Top 5 funniest and oddest search engine terms:
These aren’t nearly as common as the ones above, but they have made me pause and/or snicker every so often.
- real hot sex – Boy, someone must’ve been really disappointed! But aren’t there billions of sites that should show up before mine if you google that?
- cattle prods for sale – Once again, sorry to disappoint.
- hidden stairway next to royal mausoleum – This one’s just very specific, and it made think of someone planning an elaborate heist.
- cars attack video games – Everyone seems to have it out for videogames these days…
- renaissance paupers – Well, I do consider myself an authority on the subject, but this was still a little surprising.
Average daily traffic:
Over the span of 6 months, I’ve averaged 550 hits a day. This number is a bit skewed, though, as the traffic tends to spike up periodically. Basically I get 250-350 visits a day, and when I write a post that gets a lot of attention, I get a couple thousands hits over the span of 1-3 days.
The experience has been quite good overall. I like jotting down all these miscellaneous thoughts, and the topics I’ve covered have led me to meet some pretty interesting people (and two individual freelance design gigs to boot).
Hopefully the next 6 months will be just as eventful.
The XNA to indie transition.
Posted by The Management in miscellaneous on July 24, 2009
Details on Xbox Live’s XNA section transforming itself into an “indie” one have finally arrived.
The name change was announced a while ago and it seems like a fairly reasonable move. The word “indie” carries a lot more cachet than “XNA,” and “Indie Games” rolls off the tongue much more nicely than “XNA Community Games.” A bunch of nice new features were also announced such as tokens. These digital coupons come in a limited quantity and (presumably) can be sent to anyone you want, at which point (once again, presumably) they’ll be able to download your game for free.
With the oncoming user rankings, this could really improve the service, but I am very disappointed by the new price changes.
I was never big on the concept of price slots, and now they’re being shrunk down. What used to be the 800/400/200 scale is becoming a 400/240/80 one. This might be a result of so many XNA titles being little “trinkets” that resemble the $0.99 entries on iPhone AppStore, but I don’t see a reason to drop the ceiling as a whole. 800 points was not an astronomic number to begin with, and now the highest price that indie developers can charge for their XNA titles is $5. Won’t this simply increase the amount of games of dubious quality and further enlarge the rift between Xbox Live’s Indie and Arcade titles?
Then again maybe that’s the intention. Prices of Arcade games have been steadily going up, while there’ve been rumours of indie developers being shut out from the Arcade section. The lower price points might encourage experimentation, but, in the end, I don’t see them helping XNA games get closer to the overall polish and quality — at least a perceived one — of Arcade titles.
Jason Rohrer gets a job, and the bitching begins.
Posted by The Management in miscellaneous on June 18, 2009
Jason Rohrer made a big name for himself at the gamma 256 event with the release of Passage. It was a great use of the videogame medium, conveying a message and evoking emotions. It also created enough mainstream buzz to garner Jason a very interesting article in Esquire. His humble and spiritual lifestyle made him an indie darling, and no one very few people dared to say anything negative about him.
Not too many people seemed to notice that Jason wasn’t just a gentle “hippie” developer, though. For example, his article on non-randomized, “infinitely replayable” single-player games was a cold, hard look at game mechanics. The piece was almost an antithesis to the game that made him famous, showcasing his range as a designer.
The man himself.
In recent days, it was announced that Jason would be joining Tool, an advertising agency. At first glance, this seemed like a good fit. Jason has proven himself a very creative individual, capable of using a medium in unique and unexplored ways. Logically speaking, this makes him a potentially great fit for advertising, and kudos to Tool for recognizing it.
However, what I failed to initially grasp is that this also makes him a sellout.
The grumbling in the indie community has already begun, with the most notable bit coming from auntie pixelante. On her Twitter feed, Anna posted these three consecutive messages:
“http://bit.ly/TOOLROHRER jason rohrer your parents are rich you don’t have to sell out. i’m sure TOOL will be a good fit for you though”
““i see video games not as addicting time-wasters, but…tools for communication and expression” you’re going to make ads for fucking verizon”
“jason rohrer won’t plug in a refrigerator for fear of killing chinese children but he apparently has no qualms about selling refrigerators.”
Really?
OK, let’s break down this vitriol a bit:
- First of all, glad to know some of us are not above the low-hanging fruit that is calling Jason Rohrer a sellout by referencing “TOOL,” the name of his new employer.
- How is not mooching off your parents a bad thing?
- What does Verizon have to do with Jason’s view of videogames?
- Where is it stated that Jason will be creating ads for refrigerators? Isn’t that a bit presumptuous? Also, when did he state that ridding the world of refrigerators was his life goal? Maybe he’s just someone who follows his own personal beliefs without shoving them down the throats of others?
I mean, isn’t this all just a bit silly? The guy has made a modest living off of creating small — and for the most part — freeware games. Obviously the donations he received for these titles have not kept him financially secure. Wanting to improve his monetary situation, he’s found a gig at a company that seems to value his skill-set. The details of this job are unknown, and Jason has not stated anything about the future of his games.
And yet, this is enough to crucify him?
Seriously, get off your high-horse people and stop shitting on a talented guy who’s done nothing but try to enrich the culture you hold so dear.
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About
Hi, my name’s Radek Koncewicz, and I work as a videogame design consultant. I'm also the creative lead of Incubator Games, a small development studio I started with a few former coworkers.
I think a lot about videogames, and write a lot of it down too, so I figured why not make it public?
If you'd like to contact me, drop me a line at themanagement@significant-bits.com.