G-pinions

So the other night I went to a focus group on 'extreme sports videogames.' It turned out to be about a specific game, an ATV/Biking game based around a team of extreme sports douches called the Crusty Demons, developed by Climax. Most of the two hours I spent there involved sitting a table with a bunch of slack-jawed troglodytes giving feedback on various terrible game ideas about where they should take the direction of the game (despite it being at least two thirds done). This idea of "let's make a decent biking game engine and slap the marketing and sassitude on it later" annoys me in game design, because something should be developed based on a specific game idea from the beginning, that way the source material and ideas will shine through a lot stronger in the final product. But that's obvious. Anyhow, they started by showing us some live footage of the Demons doing various stunts and goofing off with hard rock playing in the background (quite the shocker). We were then given several sheets of paper, each with a two paragraph description of what the final game could be. They were all either based on the idea of being a nobody who has to earn their way onto the Demons team, or based more around GTA-style recklessness, including traversing the globe and "slapping disrespectful foreign hos". I shit you know. Verbatim. So after an hour and a half of giving feedback on these increasingly awful ideas, we were finally shown some gameplay footage. It actually didn't look as bad it as sounded; it was pretty much a straight Tony Hawk rip-off, only with ATVs and Bikes instead (and some strictly racing levels). The graphics were pleasant and the levels seemed well-designed, but the fact that the game didn't have an original bone in it's body dooms it to mediocrity. It's unfortunate that a company can spend money on focus-testing their games conceptually, all the while not realizing that their game is actually on the road to nowhere. Bah. I got 75 clams though, so I guess it wasn't a total waste ;-)

Games industry, games industry.....oh! So Digital Extremes decided to show a bit of footage from their upcoming PS3/X-Box2 game, Dark Sector. The footage is all in-game, and looks quite spectacular. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of how actual games would look (this one is made using assumed specs for the next-gen consoles, not an actual development kit, I don't think), but I'm more than satisfied. The lighting looks particularly sexy. I guess a good gauge for the next generation is that it should look nearly as good as the CG from previous generations, in-game. Remember when they first showed the PS2, and ran the dancing scene from FFVIII in real-time? Same idea.

Other notes:

Tom and I finished our second playthrough of Norrath a couple of nights ago, and began our third. And it's still as awesome as ever.

In BG&E, I'm going to the moon. Yay!

I ordered Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES the other day (turns out my copies I used to have were borrowed - who knew?) at the 'buy 1 get 1 free' classic game sale at EBgames, and guess what arrived today? Super Mario World, and the rare version of All-Stars that includes Super Mario World, on the same cartridge. How's that for asinine irony?

Lastly, the new site is coming along great, I finally got a look at it last night. Any requests for layout or content, let us know. Peace!