Archive for September, 2006

Today the industry awoke to the leaked REVELATIONS that Ubisoft plans to release sequels to all its popular brands!. While none of this may be terribly interesting, it does once again highlight the difficultiy in keeping secrets within our industry - brought on in part due to the large quotient of industry insiders coming from backgrounds of unpopularity, and being charged with withholding information that would make them kings among geeks.

The alsoran knows of one instance where an independent developer’s relationship with EA was greatly harmed when an employee boasted online about his involvement with the Goldeneye sequel long before any public announcement was made. Despite the immediate firing of said employee, the project was taken over by EA’s LA outfit, with all future projects affected. The developer has since closed shop.

Recently, one of the alsoran’s own colleagues was found to be posting workflow secrets online, again with the result being immediate dismissal. What was more frightening was the discovery of actual 3D files from several other high-profile PS3 and 360 games still in development on the offender’s hard-drive, pointing towards a network of sharing sensetive information between other developer friends.

Projects assume a code-name in the pre-announcement stages of development so that design discussions can take place outside of work - the reason being that ideas should not be constrained by the physical limitations of secrecy, (ie. the four walls of the studio). It shouldn’t be so hard for ideas to permeate within the industry without disclosing sensetive information. Perhaps a technical forum, with posts sanctioned and approved by each poster’s employer, is the answer.

In his time, the alsoran has worked with some of the most talented, experienced and inspirational individuals in the industry today, yet many of them remain humble about their achievements. It is important to always bear in mind that despite your own accolade, however great it may appear, there will always be others equally if not more talented than yourself who have the sublime ability to not act like a prick.

After reading an article in EDGE magazine regarding the influence of the French gaming industry, the alsoran has discovered this little gem of a game, the flash-based online RPG - Dofus. Of biggest note, the beautifully-rendered art style appears to be created by first building the assets in 3D, then drawing over them in a standardised perspective.

Unfortunately however, the alsoran has too much self-respect to play an MMO, so this beautiful little game will have to remained regarded, but not touched.

It is presumed that the creator of this piece saw a “cartoon” at some point, and decided to create a “cartoony” walk full of character and bounce. This little boy’s under-developed arms flop around in a reverse motion that is topped only by the appaling asymetry of the forward momentum, while squash and stretch should be applied to more than just the neck.

It’s likely that the animator has never witnessed a woman in movement outside the gyrations of his collection of bite-size .avi downloads, (note the model’s poly-soaring attention to detail around the breast area). This genetically enhanced female has spent so much time at the gym with WBW 26 that her arms swing in reverse and her legs can never straighten - but it’s worth it for shoulders like those.

Upon breaking his micro following too many drops, the alsoran finally bowed to peer pressure last month and picked up a DS Lite during his trip to LA, and regrets not having done so before. His growing collection includes Metroid Prime Hunters, New Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Kart and the most recent addition, Starfox Command. Much like the Wii before it, it initially appeared the touch screen was a gimmick at best, with both 1st-party Mario games requiring no input from the bottom screen at all despite being fantastic games in their own right. However, Metroid and Starfox use the stylus to perfectly simulate mouse-look, and once again (like the Wii) provides a new face to old technology.

The single most impressive feature of this console though, and the one the makes the alsoran confident he has invested in a winner, is the importance placed on multiplayer gaming. Up to 6-Player matches of Starfox are possible via only one cart, which not only allows for great fun to be had with the multitude of colleagues that are DS owners and may not have the latest releases, but also provides an opportunity for the non-owners to try a limited version of the game in a seductive situation (exciting multiplayer) that almost unfailingly convinces them to make the full purchase.

At the time of writing, the Japanese top 10 is dominated by DS releases, and though he is lothe to agree with the eastern market, they sure know when gaming is fun again and not about flashy graphics.