Theescapist 060.Pdf

And this week, we present the first of ...and I never stopped looking for ways right now if I had only focused, paid the Editor’s Choice issues, all tied up into of beating the system since. attention, etc. a neat package. Max Steele drops in to We hear from a lot of people on a weekly tell us about three hot up-and-comers in - Meophist Actually the article makes me want to basis wishing to write for the magazine. the world of game development. Pat get the software and try this whole thing Some just like the magazine’s style and Miller writes in from Tokyo, discussing In response to “Piano Wizards” from over again... want to be involved. Sometimes, they’ve how the ubiquity of games in Japan The Escapist Forum: If only there had already looked at our editorial calendar actually reduces the number of those been something like this while I was - falselogic and have an issue in particular for which considered gamers. And newcomer taking piano lessons. Around eight years they’d like to write. And some come Matthew McKeague takes us on a quest of my life wasted. I have nothing to In response to “Playing to the Test” forward with fully fleshed out pitches or to find gaming gems through the most show for it. I memorized every song from The Escapist Forum: The articles, great ideas, but not at all Random of all realms, The Suburban assigned to me and knew it by ear. I can question of learning games shouldn’t be related to our calendar. Yardsale. Find these articles and more in only tell you where middle C is on the “how can we make learning fun?” this week’s issue of The Escapist. Enjoy! piano and on sheet music ... What a Learning is already fun. It is built into It is these orphan articles which cause us waste ... Of course I feel bad about it our cognitive systems genetically. The the most difficulty. You see, we’re Cheers, now. I could be playing decent piano entire school system has unintentionally suckers for a great article, but we have built, and love, our editorial calendar. It is the foundation upon which the whole of The Escapist is built. However, we have learned in our first year of publishing The Escapist that sometimes it is best to have a little flexibility built into the mix. In response to “Anne Died of It is this need for flexibility that has Dysentery” from The Escapist brought forth the recurring Editor’s Forum: I remember playing that game a Choice issues you’ll find scattered lot. In the end, I learned how to “cheat” throughout the calendar. These issues the trading system so that I could get as are literally a mix of some of our favorite much as I wanted before I even started Homeless Articles over the last few months. the trip. broken almost everything about our lead me down the road to becoming a children’s natural ability to learn through lifetime gamer and PC tinkering expert. play. More on this can be found by reading about it from a teacher’s - Jacob.pederson perspective at johntaylorgatto.com In response to “Learning the Gaming Applying this idea to games is simple Way” from The Escapist Forum: Wow. enough. Our son, Elijah, never sees the That was the best article I’ve read all inside of the zombie factory, and a large summer. I know of a couple senators portion of his “learning” comes from PC who should give this a gander. and console games. A lot of parents wouldn’t dream of throwing Homeworld It’s so very heartening to hear of Becky’s 2 at a four-year-old; however, my theory improvement. It’s also wonderful to was that the fun of the game would spur know that the industry is contributing to the learning of Homeworld’s complex society in ways not related to money or systems like upgrade paths, 3d entertainment. navigation, tactics, and teamwork. My idea paid off, and Homeworld 2 quickly Between brain games and the Wii’s became one of Elijah’s favorite games potential for motor function therapy, Nintendo should think about expanding My point is that educational games (with into the medical industry. a few exceptions) are often the worst possible games to give to your kids. Full Thank you for making my afternoon! of boring drivel, the only thing they teach is a general mistrust of games. - number40one Your kids want to play what you’re playing, so let them. When my dad showed me how to copy the floppies to get my own StarFlight 2 galaxy going, it was a turning point in my young life and It’s becoming so ubiquitous that the Using neurofeedback, the helmet can hatred is old hat to us. Don’t allow your register how much the user is focusing - kids to play videogames. It deadens the very problem ADD sufferers have. their imagination, makes them more Doctors soon discovered its usefulness in violent, exposes them to boobies and therapeutic situations, as these are ruins their social conditioning with other qualities monitored in children with ADD. kids. Don’t allow your kids to play The helmet supports a surprising number roleplaying games. It’s a gateway drug of games on the PlayStation, PS2 and to the occult, it encourages devil Xbox systems. After measuring the worship, suicide and only losers do it, neurofeedback from the child, the anyway. helmet modifies the game. For example, if the child’s attention starts to waver, Most gamers are tired of hearing this, so the game slows down. It works best with tired they’re numb to the criticisms. But racing or platform games that require what we don’t hear enough of is the truth speed and direction control, responding of the matter: Gaming is good for you. to higher focus and rewarding things other than hand-eye coordination. Really. The S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames EEG While many have blamed today’s hectic Neurofeedback system from lifestyle – and computer games – on the Smartbraingames.com won’t even break rise of attention deficit disorder in the bank. But does it work? children, the fact has gone silently under the radar that there are computer games This past March, doctors declared that 9- available that are specifically designed to year-old Ethan Meyers was brain dead help kids with ADD. after a car accident, and when he woke up, would never function on his own. But NASA developed a high-tech helmet to Ethan has regained much of his memory assist pilots in flight simulator training, and mental abilities, partially with the measuring sustained attention, help of videogame therapy from the engagement, awareness and stress. same S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames product. It has long been known that doing On a social and religious level, Cure Light Wounds speed, sadly. It’s puzzles is good for your brain, and roleplaying games (namely Dungeons & been slow, proceeding in baby steps to there’s a plethora of cheap puzzle games Dragons) have been mocked, feared and begin to get back the skills he lost during available, and even more can be found demonized. In pop culture, playing D&D the stroke. for free online. What’s more, Big Brain is considered the stamp of the Geek With Academy and Brain Age are selling No Social Abilities™ - the thing you quit At the beginning of the 2006 summer, Nintendo DSes just as quickly as New when you get a girlfriend, a job and Derek was nearing the end of his official Super Mario Bros. These games are so finally grow up. speech therapy appointments. His popular, the publishers are developing therapist, Karen Patterson, asked him marketing campaigns to focus on women Derek Colanduno of Atlanta, GA, is an and the elderly. adult, geek, gamer, intellectual and co- host of one of the web’s popular Brain Age tests your concentration with a independent podcasts, Skepticality. He variety of tests from arithmetic to word has dabbled in being a radio DJ, an anti- memorization – and of course, it runs terrorism expert and a project manager the puzzle game that’s all the rage now: for an environmental engineering what he did for fun, since a lot of Sudoku. It uses the microphone for some company (his current job). everyday activities count as therapy for voice recognition games, such as saying stroke victims, and if they can have fun the color of a word – if a word “red” Last September, Derek suffered a stroke; during therapy, all the better. When he shows up in the color blue, you have to specifically what’s called a “bleed.” mentioned his D&D playing, Karen asked say “blue.” It’s challenging, and even for more information. more so when your dog decides to bark “A bundle of small blood vessels at the at the UPS driver while you’re yelling base of my skull ruptured and started to “Once she read more about D&D and “Red!” at your DS. It also utilizes the fill my skull with blood,” Derek said. other games of the type, she realized touch screen with handwriting “They had to go in and drill three or four that it is a good use of my time at home recognition software for arithmetic and holes and insert tubes into my head to to get myself back to talking normally writing games. All of the games, as the let out the excess blood.” He was in a and with friends and coworkers,” Derek little bobbing host head constantly coma for 45 days. said. “She also found out that in the reminds you, are good for your early days of the creation of D&D, it was prefrontal cortex. We figure Derek lost at least three- used at hospitals and schools for kids fourths of his hit points that night in and others that had issues with talking September. His recovery has not had any and other problems with relating to others, or with the world in general. So, range of feelings from love to hate within she became a big fan of me getting back therapy, and to master them. to doing the gaming with friend on a normal schedule. Who was I to argue?” Games are easy targets for the fundamentalist leaders and uninformed Patterson was right that D&D has been parents who want to blame the Problems used in speech therapy before, but the of the Youth Today on one easily defined ironic thing is that there are several and censorable hobby. Have gamers examples of it being used in killed people? Yes. But so have sports psychotherapy. In 1994, Wayne D. fans, rifle enthusiasts, military Blackmon published an article in the personnel, NASCAR devotees and people American Journal of Psychotherapy titled with other hobbies. And yet roleplaying “Dungeons and Dragons: The Use of a is the one hobby that is vilified; it’s the Fantasy Game in the Psychotherapeutic one that people always assume has a Treatment of a Young Adult.” In his definite connection to violence. study, Blackmon had a suicidal patient by the name of Fred who resisted Detractors point to the fact that you can conventional therapy with great hostility, worship demons, cast spells and kill but his therapy had a significant turning innocents in games, and that these lead point when Fred joined a D&D game. to more violent thoughts that escalate Blackmon writes, “It did allow him some into actions in real life. But, as the case social contact, and the eagerness with of Fred showed us, sometimes the which he told me about the game violent actions in our imaginations can indicated to me the importance of his act as a valve on a pressure cooker, sharing this material. I began to letting us pretend to do things that we encourage him to bring summaries of know are socially reprehensible. Fred’s episodes into therapy and to ask about character had killed a rich man’s sons motivation and feelings of characters.” and was conspiring to marry his daughter in order to gain the man’s After exploring issues regarding his fortune. Blackmon writes, “As he parents and his mentally challenged recounted this material in the therapy brother, Fred began to recognize the we focused on two questions: the motives and feelings of the character as gamers were nothing but violent, progressive – some might call them doctors, psychiatrists, dentists, speech he schemed and acted, and whether socially-repressed dorks. This charity has desperate – schools in West Virginia therapists and high school curriculum Fred had ever had such feelings, and in raised hundreds of thousands of dollars actually incorporated DDR into their planners on our side, we might actually what situations. Gradually, he was able worth of toys, books and yes, games for physical education program. make some headway. Gaming is good to relate that he had felt his brother had children’s hospitals. for you. always gotten the family ‘treasures’ of Let’s face it: Nothing is black and white love and attention and that he had “Incorporating videogames marks a new anymore. For every kid who got fat and Mur Lafferty is a freelance writer and wanted to murder him much of the time.” frontier that taps young people’s anti-social from playing too much podcast producer. She has dabbled in as fascination with animation and Monster Rancher, there’s a kid with ADD much gaming as possible, from her We didn’t see Fred running out and electronics to sweeten often frightening, who can focus without meds, or a kid website work at Red Storm Entertainment killing his family who he resented. lengthy and tedious medical treatments. who doctors claimed would always be to her RPG writing for White Wolf Instead he played it out, releasing the … Videogames are being used, for brain damaged, or an adult who is finally Publishing. Currently she writes freelance frustration and anger in a controlled instance, to help sick children manage able to function socially. Penny Arcade’s for several gaming publications and game setting. Games are a stress pain and anxiety during hospital stays,” Holkins and Krahulik might also argue produces three podcasts: Geek Fu Action reliever, an escape. A pediatric dentist in says a Reuters report. that gaming makes one more generous, Grip, I Should Be Writing and Pseudopod: Cary, NC, has a waiting room that’s fitted as their $600,000-plus take for Child’s the Horror Podcast Magazine. She lives in with TVs and Xboxes to comfort and Every year, hospitals make a wish list of Play 2005 showed. Durham, NC. calm nervous patients. Why they have to items to keep sick children occupied keep this only in pediatric dentist’s during treatment. The items can be as Whatever the issue, it’s clear that the offices, I’ll never know. My dentist simple as a $3 coloring book to a $400 gaming good/bad debate is firmly mired prescribes me Valium. I’d rather have Xbox 360. And yes, several 360s make it in gray territory. We, as gamers, just Final Fantasy VIII. into children’s wards. The larger need to find a way to make the good consoles, Nintendo GBAs, DSs, PSPs and side heard as loudly as the bad. With While games do have direct therapeutic scores of games are available for rent in applications, their benefits can extend hospitals, occupying young kids’ times. beyond those suffering psychologically. Gamers should be familiar with Jerry And who can forget the whole issue of Holkins and Mike Krahulik’s three-year- obesity? “Games make kids fat” was one old charity, Child’s Play. The creators of of the rallying cries, until, that is, Dance the mega-popular Penny Arcade Dance Revolution came out. The game webcomic started a charity in order to was so engaging that kids of all energy address yet another report about how levels wanted to play, and some The game industry is widely perceived as The vast majority – but not all. Like film young. And, in a sense, it is: The “old and television, gaming has its masters,” developers like Garriott, Meier wunderkinds, young stars that shatter and Miyamoto, are still in their prime, expectations of accomplishment. I’ve still young; and the game development assembled profiles of three of the best studios are chock full of fresh blood and brightest of these gamemakers, our itching to make the Next Big Thing. industry’s future game gods. One is an independent publisher, the second a But the industry’s relative youth is as revolutionary risk-taker, the third a much a curse as a blessing. While graphical prodigy. Each is under 30 years Shigeru Miyamoto is still making games, old. Here, then, are three under-30 next no rising star can claim to be the new generation gamemakers to watch. Miyamoto. And no one can claim to be the successor to Sid Meier’s turn-based The Independent: Thomas Arundel strategy legacy while Sid Meier is still Call him “The Last of the Bedroom making really great turn-based strategy Programmers” and you get a wry chuckle games. Compounding the problem is the out of Thomas Arundel, director and co- ever-increasing cost and complexity of founder of game development studio game development. Fewer and fewer Introversion Software. “I’m actually the publishers are willing to risk commercial director. I’m the development capital on green crews and entrepreneur. I handle all of the business bright ideas, and production values have aspects of Introversion,” he explains. risen so high that something like Garriott’s Akalabeth seems impossible And business has been good under the today. As a result, the vast majority of stewardship of the 27-year-old executive. the industry’s young developers are still “When we founded Introversion, we had working at junior-level positions in their £1,000 between three of us. A friend of seniors’ studios. mine [co-founder Chris Delay] had written Uplink in university, and that was company into two divisions, a more our first product. After three months, creative side and an implementation we’d made £100,000. Our gross margin side. Chris [Delay] will come out with the was 95%. Since then, all of our growth original IP, and Mark Morris and I will get has been organic. We’ve never raised it done. Our plan is to work as producers cash, never sold out.” with third-party developers doing the nitty-gritty.” Riding high on Uplink’s success, Introversion began work on its second It’s perhaps common to think of the game, Darwinia. “That was supposed to small development studio as the take 18 months, but it took three years.” recipient of work-for-hire, rather than as The delay was nearly disastrous for the an outsourcer, but Arundel sees a team, he notes. “We had to sell different trend emerging. “I think this everything we owned on eBay and go method we’re adopting of developing without salary for 10 months. I moved unique IP independently and then back in with Mom and Dad. But we made outsourcing the nitty-gritty work is an it through.” emerging trend. People will look back and say that we were the first guys to The belt-tightening commitment paid off. adopt an independent producer-director- Darwinia went on to win three studio model, like in the film business. At Independent Game Festival Awards at E3, people talk a lot about trends in indie San Jose earlier this year and has paved development, and they talk about trends “Ever dapper, Tom is pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an indie the way for the team’s next projects. “It in the film business. And this is it.” developer via Introversion’s unwavering commitment to make what they got us a lot of credibility. It’s given us a want to make, and yet being business savvy about what it means to thrive comfortable salary for the past 18 Arundel is sanguine about his in the indie space.” months. And it’s made us enough money accomplishments at Introversion. “You – Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director, IGDA to get us through to Defcon.” don’t need a huge amount of capital to start a game company. You just need a “Tom is exceptional -- I’ve been impressed with his will to drive Introversion Defcon, a game of global thermonuclear lot of time and a lot of inspiration. But in a different direction to traditional developers. He’s astute, articulate, a war due out in September, is you have to be able to live on the edge. fast learner, and a lot of fun to be around.” Introversion’s next project. “After that’s There’s no safe bets.” Except, perhaps, a – Alison Beasley, Lincoln Beasley PR released, we’re going to split the bet on Arundel. The Revolutionary: Scott Foe “When I came on to Sega, it was before Online, Bomberman Online and NFL 2K1. Ask Scott Foe what his favorite project the launch of the Dreamcast and the plan “It was a tremendous amount of is, and he’ll tell you “whatever’s next.” was to have this big consumer-facing responsibility for a 22-year-old,” he Often outrageous, always funny, the 29- gaming network. The vision was not unlike adds. When the Dreamcast era ended, year-old producer has made a career of what Xbox Live eventually became,” Foe he led the team that assembled the staying on the forefront of industry explains. “But we were right out there on various network projects that had been trends – sometimes too far ahead, but the precipice, looking forward.” created for the console into the unified always looking to the future. He got his Sega Network Application Package start at age 21 at Sega, which recruited Foe created the first game that used the (SNAP). When Sega abandoned online, the Japanese-fluent Foe straight out of Dreamcast Network SDKs, then went on his SNAP technology was sold to Nokia, Antioch College. to work as a senior-level production and Foe followed his creation to make consultant on projects like Phantasy Star it mobile.

“The idea that you could be walking down the street and whip out your phone and play a game with someone in Thailand – that was the Wild Wild West “Foe has really big balls, and when they get to swinging, watch out!” of the videogaming industry. I got to – Ed Annunziata, Creator, Ecco the Dolphin make that idea reality. I was the product manager on N-Gage Arena, the visionary “Scott has continually impressed me as a creative thinker, and one of the for that project.” rare breed that understands how business, marketing and design all mix together in the making of a great game.” After laying out the design for N-Gage – Scott Miller, Co-Founder, 3D Realms Arena, Foe had the opportunity to produce Sega’s Pocket Kingdom: Own “Scott pairs cutting-edge vision with the ability to execute and that’s what the World, a massively multiplayer makes him formidable. He has a broad palette of skills that he brings to mobile game that won the game of the the table. He is analytical, but can pair that with an emotional and intuitive year for the N-Gage platform and even a angle that is rare in any business.” nod from notoriously un-N-Gaged Penny – Gerard Weiner, Director & GM, Nokia Games Business Program Arcade. “Pocket Kingdom was played after launch an average of 7.3 hours per “Lots of people sit around and tell you why something is month per user, making it possibly the other people to watch. One future of impossible. Then someone thinks for himself or herself and goes most popular online mobile game in the gaming will be entertainment that can be out and does it. Scott Foe was the big thinker who brought world at that time,” says Foe. enjoyed by the non-player, creating as a globally multiplayer worlds to mobile gaming with Sega’s Pocket byproduct of your own entertainment Kingdom. I don’t know if it was his gaming instincts or his At just short of 30, Foe has already been something for the masses to enjoy.” He mathematical training, but he saw the opening that everyone a coder, designer and producer for two takes a breath. “That’s how we’ll escape else missed.” mega-brand companies. The polymathic Hollywood’s shadow.” – Don Daglow, Founder, Stormfront Studios Foe is also well-respected in the marketing community, speaking at conferences worldwide on viral tactics. “Salable product is a producer’s primary responsibility. On-time, under-budget is the fallacy of production. You could go to the bathroom for less time and money than you ever thought possible, but all you’ve made is a piece of shit.”

So, what’s next? “I want to bring things into this world that cut the edge into little pieces that could cut further still. And it’s not graphics. We’ve already reached a point of diminishing returns in “Scott’s been at the forefront of a couple really cool graphics horsepower. Fun is no longer advances in gaming; he was a pioneer in online proportional to polygons. There was this console gaming with the Dreamcast and he has great leap from 2-D to 3-D. And there helped to realize the first Mobile [MMOG]. I’m really was another great leap when we took it interested to see what he does next - he’s got online; that was a new dimension. But it’s not any more. Now what I see the tremendous potential (and a boat-load of passion)!” next dimension as being is passive – Greg Zeschuk, Co-Founder, BioWare entertainment – games that are fun for The Photorealist: Sam McGrath Twenty-seven-year-old game engine prodigy Sam McGrath is entirely self- taught. “I’ve been programming ever “Sam and his team are proving to a jaded industry how a few guys since I can remember, since I was maybe with great ideas and great technology can still succeed. The Offset 6 years old. It’s something I’ve always Engine really surprised the big engine vendors, coming out of had a passion for. I read a few books nowhere like they did. Carmack once mentioned that the industry here and there, but the rest is trial and would go on without him if he left, and that others would carry the error.” torch. Sam is one of those special guys following in his footsteps.” – Mark Kern, Founder, Red 5 Studios McGrath’s first trial was the creation of Savage, the RTS/FPS hybrid by S2 “Sam is firing on all cylinders. He knows the importance of saving Games that swept three Independent money, making great tools for great artists, and is even a brilliant Game Festival awards in 2004. “I was composer.” the lead programmer. I wrote the engine – Dave Taylor, Industry Consultant (formerly of id, Transmeta code. But I wasn’t happy about the and Carbon6) direction the company was heading, and I didn’t have a lot of control. So, I started Offset.” had saved up all the money I made working at S2 games and I had the Offset Software is now a 19-person team freedom to work on this technology with publisher backing, and their without any income.” eponymous Project Offset, a first-person shooter in an epic fantasy universe, is The outcome of McGrath’s isolation has generating massive buzz for its gritty to be seen to be believed. “The Offset Call of Duty-style action and amazing Engine brings together next-generation graphics. The engine that powers Offset hardware with rendering techniques from is all McGrath. film, such as motion blurs, self- shadowing, a full HDR rendering pipeline, “I locked myself in an apartment for a all the rendering features that people are year, and I worked on engine used to in movie effects, but which have technology,” Sam McGrath explains. “I never been done in real-time before. Effects that used to take an hour to “In a world were videogame budgets have gotten crazy, it is great to render out a frame, we’re able to achieve see someone like Sam push the envelope and make a great engine 30 times per second.” because he has a love and a passion for it. I love it that Sam is able to shock people with his work. Hearing the questions at shows of “is McGrath is quick to share credit for that really all in real-time?” and “nah, that has to be rendered” is the Offset with his two lead artists, brothers greatest compliment that a game can achieve. Trevor and Travis Stringer. All three share a vision of games that push the “I can’t wait till I am sitting in the audience and hearing Sam envelope of what can be done visually. McGrath and his partners on Project Offset being awarded Best New “We want to make games that are Developer and Best Game of the Year.” incredibly immersive. People always talk – Eric Reichley, Dev Relations Manager, nVidia about making games that look like movies, but it hasn’t really been The Future of Gaming achieved yet. I want to be on the The future of gaming doesn’t lie in the forefront of actually achieving that.” Xbox 360, the Wii, Windows Vista or PlayStation 3. It can’t be found in next- McGrath cites Tim Sweeney, Dave Taylor generation graphics processors or dual and John Carmack as major inspirations; core chips. It’s not in mobile or online. indeed, it’s clear that if McGrath has his It’s found in the new wave of people – way, Offset will be the new id Software. Arundel, Foe, and McGrath aren’t the only people you need to people like McGrath, Foe and Arundel — Like id, the company is working with a be keeping an eye on. Here are a few more emerging stars from that have learned from the game gods of publisher to release its FPS title while among the next generation of game developers: the past three decades and are ready to retaining all underlying technology rights lead gaming forward into its place as the to its engine and pursuing licensing Jenova Chen, Designer, USC School of Cinema & Television preeminent entertainment medium of deals. The ex-Blizzard veterans at Red 5 Joshua Glazer, CTO, Naked Sky Entertainment the 21st century. Studios have already licensed Offset for Erin Hoffman, Designer, 1st Playable Productions an upcoming game. “It would be nice to Robin Hunicke, Game Designer, Maxis Max Steele is an enigma wrapped inside be the next id. It’s something we’re Darius Kazemi, Data Analyst, Turbine Games a riddle. When not actively being striving for. There are no guarantees in Christophe Soum, CTO, Allegorithmic mysterious, he passes his time life, but things are looking really good Naoko Takamoto, Associate Producer, Harmonix Music manipulating time and space to fit his for us.” plans for world domination. I’ve walked across the Sophia University The exception to all of this was my bright campus in Tokyo, Japan almost every green 1UP mushroom T-shirt, which day at 9:10 a.m. for the last few inspired even the most tenuous of months. The entire campus is shaped acquaintances to comment, with genuine like a gigantic T, and from the Yotsuya curiosity, “So, you know Mario?” More train station it took me about 10 minutes excitable individuals would simply point to turn the corner, walk straight through and yell “Ichi-Appu!” to get my attention. the main gates and down the long end of The shirt was, I already knew, tragically, the T until I got to the building that hopelessly otaku, particularly because housed the Faculty of Comparative Japan’s 8-bit memories haven’t been Culture, affectionately referred to as the merchandised to the college crowd quite “Gaijin Ghetto” by its inhabitants, most like they have in the U.S., but they didn’t of whom were international students. seem to mind. There was no subtlety to my character while I wore the 1UP; it Normally, I would show up to school in a transformed me from an ethnically T-shirt, jeans and sandals; hopelessly ambiguous, mysterious foreigner to a underdressed by the standards of most dorky American kid who violated the first Sophia students, but I didn’t particularly rule of the Japanese Dress Code by care. I would only see most of the other wearing his heart on his sleeve. At least students while we were making the long it wasn’t an icon of obscure Japan- trek across the campus, and general worship, like some cult anime character. campus-walking etiquette requires that Mario is relatively harmless, I thought. one either look straight ahead, far off into the horizon or stare down at the After all, Mario is everywhere. He is on ground immediately ahead of oneself, New Super Mario Bros. billboards; he is the idea being that these two postures in TV spots starring well-known Japanese are ideal for avoiding unnecessarily actresses; he has his own brand of curry. awkward eye contact with strangers. He shows up in Nintendo-sponsored This, of course, meant I was blissfully trivia ads on the Yamanote train line that ignorant of wardrobe-based judgments runs in a loop around downtown Tokyo. of my character. If you know where to look, you can find someone’s rendition of Yoshi hidden in course, with Final Fantasy’s rampant playing games is less weird, and so it’s Harajuku’s Takeshita-doori. And, of American popularity; to the Japanese not so surprising when my friend Emi, a course, he shows up on Game Boys and who haven’t encountered American fan- third-year college student, points out Nintendo DSes all over. Seeing pink people, the idea that Sephiroth occupies DQVIII as her favorite while I’m running Nintendo DSes in the hands of girls and the hearts and minds of a million errands in Akihabara’s Electric Town. Yes, women of all ages isn’t so surprising LiveJournals is nigh impossible to imagine. people who play too many games are when it hits the fastest-selling-console- still considered weird - with the notorious in-Japanese-history milestone, which In the United States, kids who play examples of “hikikomori,” shut-ins that isn’t to say that you won’t see plenty of videogames are relatively “normal”; it is tend to spend their days insulated in PSPs dotting Tokyo’s portable landscape, not considered unusual for the children their bedrooms in their parents’ house, for that matter, or tiny laptops with of the last few decades to lust after playing games all day being a prime mahjong games. Or cell phones playing whatever the flavor-of-the-month game example - but presence of games alone, baseball sims. This is the same country system is. As we age, our platform may in acceptable contexts, is not necessarily that brought us the Final Fantasy Potion; change with us; perhaps we will change enough to be what we call a “gamer.” of course games are everywhere. to a more “adult” platform like the Xbox or the N-Gage. But at some point, the Present-day America does not have the And yet, despite the incredible saturation grown man who spends more of his identity of “moviegoer” in the same of Mario in Japan, people were surprised weekend on home improvement in sense that we consider our gamers. A that I wore the 1UP. Average young Second Life than his real life is seen as DVD player alone is not enough to Japanese people had no idea how an anomaly. In Japan, videogames are constitute part of our identity; we are popular Mario is overseas. They probably more accessible - there are thriving science-fiction moviegoers, action haven’t seen the Super Mario Brothers arcades in most major commercial moviegoers or Johnny Depp moviegoers. Super Show, the movie with John centers, for one, and almost everyone The analogue to a gamer is, perhaps, a Leguizamo, eaten the Nintendo cereal or spends one-sixth of their waking life on a “film buff,” but of course, the film buff is any of that. Never mind that Kentucky train with nothing better to do than play characterized not simply by knowledge of Fried Chicken’s Colonel Sanders has games - and so it’s not so uncommon to movies but excessive knowledge of movies. successfully penetrated the Japanese find a mid-30s salary man playing market; imagining the reverse, that a Dragon Quest VIII. This is why it’s a little weird when I wear Japanese symbol has become an integral my 1UP tee, and a little weirder to see image of an entire American generation, Games are accessible, which means Super Potato, Akihabara’s legendary is completely unthinkable. Likewise, of more people play games, which means retro game store, populated by wolf packs of college-age Americans. him. But searching for the barest hint of Japanese people - the ones who know familiarity, like Mickey or the 1UP, can be Electric Town well enough to know about enough push someone over that cultural Super Potato, at any rate - stop by to gap and hesitantly stammer in a get in a quick game of Super Mario Bros. language that’s not their own, “You know 3. Americans come on a pilgrimage. We Mario?” Which in turn could lead you to gasp and drool in awe over something “Do you play videogames?” “Oh, you like that everyone else takes for granted. We kickboxing, too?” or, more often than incorporate the gaming into our identity. not, “You like drinking?” Everyone else thinks that’s kind of weird. Mario - and the 1UP - will not make you A fellow American international student look more Japanese any more than landed a sweet job teaching English in adorning her accessories with Mickey Tokyo for about US$30 an hour. One of Mouse will make a Japanese woman look his students - a housewife in her early more American. They will not speak 40s - carried Mickey Mouse emblems on volumes about your personality the way her electronic dictionary, handkerchief, that they can in the U.S. They’re not a watch, cellular phone, cosmetic pouch, cultural skeleton key, guaranteeing you even her imitation Louis Vuitton acceptance into another people’s way of handbag, and introduced herself as viewing the world. But making the effort “Miki.” “I really like Mickey Mouse,” she helps bridge gaps that have been open said on the first day. As Americans, for far too long. That, I think, is good perhaps we’re not surprised enough to enough. ask, “Oh, you know Mickey Mouse?” because, well, everybody grew up with Pat Miller has been doing this for way too Mickey Mouse, didn’t they? We won’t, long. Stop by his blog, Token Minorities, generally speaking, handle Mickey Mouse for more on race and videogames. with the same amount of retro cool that we regard the 1UP. In fact, we might think it’s kind of weird when grown people saturate their belongings with “I am forced into print because men of them, is inevitable; yet, if I suppressed journalism have refused to follow my what will seem extravagant and incredible, advice without knowing why.” It’s a sign there would be nothing left.” things are going awry when the walls start bleeding. Then, the voices start up, Eternal Darkness was “something that and the Gamecube spits up an error kind of came together. At that point, message saying the controller isn’t there had been a lot of horror games, plugged in. And in the meantime, the specifically survival/horror. And we monsters are closing in and it’s time to wanted to create something that was in start questioning how much sanity you the horror genre, but not categorized as have left. survival/horror.” There was another reason, too, something less lofty, he Chainsaws and gore pass for cutting- says. “At the same time, and [this] still edge in gaming, but Silicon Knights’ is ongoing, videogames were under fire Eternal Darkness takes the craft of for messing with people’s heads, and horror further. A Call of Cthulhu-style being accused of being murder Sanity system plunges characters into simulators and stuff. So, we thought, madness, but the game also reaches out wouldn’t it be a good idea to make into the life of the player as his character something that really does mess with goes mad. Instead of zombies out of people’s heads?” nowhere, there’s that cold chill in the pit of the stomach, that little shudder as the Combining the atmosphere of a Poe game announces 20 hours of gameplay story — protagonist going mad, dealing has been deleted. There’s the unsettling with forces that may be entirely in his feeling of realizing the bug crawling mind — with the themes of a Lovecraft across the TV is on the inside. story — protagonist going mad, dealing with forces that may be entirely in his I hunted down Denis Dyack, Producer and mind and the ancient evil lurking on the Director of Eternal Darkness and President edges of consciousness — Eternal of Silicon Knights, to get inside his head. Darkness is a different kind of horror “Doubt of the real facts, as I must reveal game, almost literary in its storytelling. Not surprisingly, Denis cites the classics speaking of a monument made out of and I confess that I have not, only half break. With Eternal Darkness, it was, for inspiration. “All horror is steeped in people - “that’s historically accurate. joking when I cite a weak heart. “If you ‘Let’s be historically accurate.’ So, yeah, Edgar Allen Poe, but Lovecraft is a staple That stuff really did happen,” he says, actually play it through all three times, that is something I think improves the of horror, and just about every major referring to Tamerlane’s habit of and it changes to a different god every game and helps people appreciate it horror movie, almost every major horror slaughtering the people of the cities he time, the story actually explains how you more and the content within.” writer, had to have some homage, and conquered. “So, we’ve basically gone could’ve played the game three times in [we] stand on the shoulders of giants,” he through history and said, ‘What are parallel, and that’s the parallel says, adding, “The other one that’s a little these crazy, insane things that have universes,” he says. more subtle in Eternal Darkness that a lot happened?’ and then put a fantasy spin of people don’t pick up on is Michael on it of, let’s say there’s an ancient That commitment to keeping things Moorcock and the parallel universes, influence on people to do these really believable was something I was curious Eternal Champion kind of thing.” bad things.” Somewhere, an ancient evil about. While the undead walk, ancient sleeping in a lost city stirs. evils sleep and people travel through He’s actually hesitant to talk about his time, there is an internal consistency to influences at all, saying, “These are “Things like that were tied in or thrown the story that seems rooted in keeping it things that I like, that resonate in everywhere. That was kind of the believable. I asked if it was intentional. personally. We hadn’t really looked at it guiding light,” and the research didn’t “Yes!” he said, quite emphatically. “Yeah, and said, ‘Let’s do part of this and mix it stop there. With crazy historical events I think whenever you create any kind of all together.’ It’s just that these are the in place, they began looking elsewhere. fiction, you have to set up your own kinds of things, if I was to say, it was He tells me, “We did a lot of research ruleset, and if you break those rules, similar to. … [However], we try to create into the occult [and] magic systems, and you’re going to upset the audience. We something original every time. … [In we really tried to pull it into something think that’s really important. When we Eternal Darkness,] we talk about the that would really make sense and be fun create content, that’s one of the major history of the Ancients and them being for people to play. At the same time, we rules. So, with every game we’ve created imprisoned. [In] every major area in tried to ground it in something that’s so far, it’s basically, here’s our set of Eternal Darkness, there was a major somewhat believable and doesn’t break rules. Here’s what we’re never going to catastrophe that occurred at some level.” the suspension of disbelief. And one of the things we really tried to do with the He cites an instance from Tamerlane’s story that I personally am pretty happy exploits as an example: “The Pillar of with -” He pauses to ask if I’ve played Flesh in the chapter with Abdul” - he’s through the game’s three different plots, Without question, a hallmark of Silicon mythology of Too Human, the vampire Knights’ games is a strong focus on lore of Kane, or the Lovecraft-style history. Eternal Darkness hops across mythology of Eternal Darkness. I asked history, Too Human is rooted in Norse what motivated that. “I think … [mythoi] mythology and most of their other titles really are rich, involved and deep, and I are set in the past or a dystopian dark think it’s just a love for that stuff. I don’t fantasy that looks a lot like the past. I know if you’ve seen our blogs, but I was asked what significance history has for a big Ray Harryhausen fan. And, to me, the team, and why it keeps popping up when you look at the Cyclops or the in their titles. “I was a History minor at statue of Kali, when you start looking university,” Denis answered. “I love into those mythologies, you’re like, history. I actually think that history is so ‘Wow, that’s really cool stuff,’ and then rich, that there’s so much that can be you look at the interpretation, and the learned from it.” He cites Conan, a series interpretation adds so much more. and movie he loves, as an example: “A lot of the philosophy was based on “Really, art is a perspective, and you Genghis Khan. And a lot of the things take these mythologies and [say], ‘Let’s that Conan would say would be straight spin a perspective on them and see what from that. And it’s sort of, well, people people think.’” Too Human takes Norse don’t realize that, but it sounds really mythology and adds cybernetics, and good, and they like it. I think by having explains that twist thusly: “‘Let’s take that kind of foundation, we create the Norse mythologies and let’s put something that’s enjoyable and these perspectives on them, and see entertaining. And in the end, that’s what what people think.’ And you’ll find it’ll be we’re trying to do, is entertain people. If extremely consistent and very well- we have that grounding in history, god researched.” forbid people learn something. I think we do [learn something] through osmosis, Getting into the specifics of the game, I and I think that’s a nice secondary goal.” felt I would be remiss if I didn’t ask the guy named on the insanity patent about Mythology is another big feature of Eternal Darkness’ Sanity system. Voices, Silicon Knights games, be it the Norse horrible visions, bugs crawling across the Darkness is the opposite. It’s actually really fun. And we found, in focus testing, that people would want to go insane. And so, there’s things like that, just exploring the fascination.” Citing gaming as a form of escapism, he brings up a rhetorical question. What if you screen, the game spitting up fake error could go insane for fun? messages and worse effects happen as the player characters go insane. It’s He’s eager to mention the Sanity effect possible to confront the monsters and where the game says your memory card madness of Eternal Darkness’ world, but has been wiped out. “It’s funny; these it always comes with a price, be it a are the worries that people have,” he character seeing things or the game says. “We tried to play upon the things shifting the volume up and down for the that people worry about when they play sake of creepiness. videogames, or when they’re investing time into a product. The whole crash “We really wanted to create something screen coming up, erasing all the time that messed with people’s heads,” Denis you’ve spent on the game, and having said. “So we had these ideas, and the bug crawl across the screen is hallucinations had been done before. annoying at first, but then you realize it’s And so, the whole idea that we could this big bug and you’re like, ‘Oh, my God.’” make it so that as you saw things you slowly lose your Sanity, it would change Even the creator isn’t immune to the the way the game would play, [that] was machinations, to hear him tell it. “The something that we thought people would one that still fools me once in a while is really enjoy.” Lovecraft’s name comes up when the volume gets turned down. It again as he says, “If you look at depends on your TV. We did it with some Lovecraft or the Call of Cthulhu games, of the TVs that we had here, and if it in their sort of mythos, when you lost actually matches the TV that you have, it your sanity, it was really bad, and it is completely nuts. We had focus testing. usually meant you would die. Eternal We had people in the background, we’d be playing, and they’d say, ‘Turn it up.’ One word that keeps coming up is you have a lot of people in the industry We’d say, ‘We didn’t touch anything.’ And “story,” and I suspect I’ve found a come up to you and say, ‘I want to make they’d say, ‘Ooh, that was awesome.” member of the Games Need More Story a game like that.’ And the response we Perhaps ironically, the game itself was Club. After talking about books for a few always have is ‘Can’t wait. We’d love to playing with minds before it even minutes, we get into a discussion of why play it.’” Wouldn’t we all? shipped. “It was pretty scary getting that many games shy away from story. “Why through testing, as well, because do people shy away from stories? I think In 1972, Shannon Drake was sent to Nintendo is a hardware manufacturer. it’s just because our industry is prison by a military court for a crime he They would look at it and go, ‘How many immature. And if you look at the movie didn’t commit. He promptly escaped calls are we going to get about this game?’” industry when it first started, there were from a maximum security stockade to no stories in movies then either,” he the Los Angeles underground. Today, Though I’d been told he was tired of answered, leaving me to wonder if still wanted by the government, he sequel questions, I tried a nudge, asking viewers of Train Coming Out Of A Station survives as a soldier of fortune. If you which stories he’d really like to tell, and pined for something more engaging. “It’s have a problem, if no one else can help, as I expected, I was rebuffed. Almost. basically similar, but it was all about and if you can find him, maybe you can “Ooh,” he says, laughing like a man who technology. Once the technology hire Shannon Drake. just parried an unexpected strike. “I matured to the point where everyone don’t think I can go into that. Secrets for had the right tools, and it started being the future. But one of the things we about content … the content won. The lightly touched upon, and some people people who could tell the best stories have discovered, there actually is a fifth won. You’re starting to see that more Old One in the game that’s really alluded and more. You’re starting to see gamers to, which is the proponent of yellow say, ‘Do I like the story?’ more now, magic. And explaining that stuff and the starting to rate how good the story of mythos, there’s a lot more to tell, [like] Half-Life 2 was compared to Half-Life. why have the Ancients been imprisoned, People never used to do that. those kinds of things. It’s just the tip of the iceberg, where we need to expand “I wish there were more of us. But the universe and stuff. There’s a lot there’s more coming, and I’m starting to more to tell.” see it. And it’s funny, because Eternal Darkness is one of those games where Websites like eBay, Craigslist, and even quest. Upon consuming my hero’s MySpace and other networking sites breakfast (a bowl of sugary cereal), I seem like the obvious places to look for was out the door and on my way to my long-lost videogame treasures, old- first on-the-job yard sale experience. My school games for a long-dead consoles first destination was the town of Woolrich, or the odd peripheral that has since gone PA. This was no ordinary yard sale outing: the way of the dodo. But when sifting for On sale were the combined offerings of an the cultural remains of the ghost of entire 40-person community. gaming’s past, one shouldn’t overlook the traditional, and perhaps outdated, At one sale, I caught a glimpse of a repository of discarded memorabilia: small child holding one of the holy relics the yard sale. of the Nintendo Gamecube community: An unopened Legend of Zelda Collector’s Epic Yard Sale Edition that included The Legend of In an effort to combine my hardcore Zelda and Zelda II: Link’s Adventure for gaming hobby, my journalism degree the Nintendo Entertainment System, and a mild curiosity in yard sales, I along with Ocarina of Time and Majora’s decided to see what kind of videogame- Mask for the Nintendo 64, all on one related items were to be had amidst the disc. Previously only available as a assorted knick-knacks being cleared reward for Nintendo Power magazine from the garages around Central subscribers, this Collector’s Edition Pennsylvania. I searched the lands for frequently sells on eBay for as much gems of the videogame world with only a as $80. pen, a notepad, a wallet full of small bills, the newspaper classifieds section “So many classic games on one tiny and my Monty Python-esque haggling disc,” I thought to myself. “How could skills, and discovered a bit about anyone sell this?” gaming’s history and perhaps my own in the process. Watching the cinematic opening scene in Ocarina of Time, visiting the majestic Gem number one Gorons, winning Epona, discovering I dragged myself out of bed to begin my Dampe, the comical gravedigger, and his quirky and downright disturbing controller, visor, stand and a game, along physically touch it after drooling over “I’ll give you all of it for $20,” said the idiosyncrasies – those gaming memories with a gumball machine, a neon pictures of it online and in magazines. lady behind the table. “I don’t even know alone were priceless. I wondered how wristwatch, a broken alarm clock and a Sure, the Virtual Boy wouldn’t have that how they got here.” much it would cost me to buy it off the kid. set of non-related electronic cords, all wonderful new plastic smell when I took for $0.50. it home, but the experience could still be Part of me was appalled - someone had I got closer to the boy and saw the $5 wonderful. I quickly bought it and probably spent years amassing these price sticker. I decided to try and see if I “I don’t even remember buying that. I’m disappeared, fleeing into the crowd like games. Playing them and loving them. A could bid him up. I opened my mouth, not sure if it works or not,” said the man the boy with the Zelda disc. I had piece of this mystery person’s life was and before I could speak, he bolted, behind the table of the Virtual Boy. gotten in touch with my inner-treasure- being sold for a pittance alongside piles taking the game and my chances of seeking-child. of slips, skirts and blouses. I was, in acquiring a handy dwarfish sidekick with I was more than happy to pay $0.50 for him. a Nintendo relic that could at worst be Gem number three used as a decorative paperweight. The Weeks later in another small town Gem number two Virtual Boy was the only Nintendo named Howard, I found myself lost in a I’d missed out on Zelda, but continued system I never owned, because when I sea of women’s clothing, with no the quest. The blistering sun bombarded learned about it, the Nintendo 64 had electronics in sight. Or so it seemed. my skin and the near triple-digit already become the “new hotness,” Under a table, I spied a seemingly out- humidity made me feel as if I was rendering its VR-enabled cousin of-place giant green tub under a table. walking through a sauna. culturally obsolete. With a glimmer of hope, I approached it and pulled the top off. The result: In a black, dirt-covered plastic garbage My brain was playing its own celebratory Nirvana. The tub was filled with over 100 can, I found my next quarry: one of the fanfare music. I didn’t care that the Sega Genesis games. more spectacularly unsuccessful Virtual Boy was a failed system with only peripherals of the videogame world – a 33 games; I didn’t care that it was the Nintendo Virtual Boy. I hoped I wasn’t butt of many jokes on online message having heat stroke-induced boards; and I sure didn’t care about the hallucinations. supposed retina-burning images – I only cared about it becoming mine. It wasn’t the heat - or the humidity. Not only had I set my eyes on the mythical It’s hard to forget the magical feeling of Virtual Boy, but all the accessories were owning a new console, discovering what there as well; including the manual, the exactly it can do and getting to effect, rooting through the discarded terrible, they still make wonderful more than the $10 I spent, and would corpse of some unknown person’s stocking-stuffers for my unsuspecting never have happened on eBay. memories, picking at the bones. On the friends. And even though I didn’t other hand, there were a ton of games in stumble upon any earth-shaking finds, that tub, and I had to restrain myself after fighting through hoards of EA Matthew McKeague is a freelance writer from acting like a giddy school girl as I sports titles and other videogames that and journalism graduate student at searched the pile for a few of my long- didn’t catch my interest, I did return Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. sought favorites. home with a bag full of videogame- He can be reached at yankovicfarley related goodies. [at] hotmail [dot] com. A giant stockpile of games for $20 is definitely a deal, but most of the games At the end of my adventure, I wiped my in the tub were also back at my house in prizes with an antibacterial soap (you my own collection, so I moved on, never know where yard sale objects have leaving the find to someone whose been), spread them out on the table and collection wasn’t as complete, and tried to calculate how much I'd saved perhaps salving my own feelings of over "suggested retail." Altogether, I'd remorse at committing a sin I’d never brought home almost $500 worth of wish on any gamer, least of all myself. videogame-related objects for $10.

Though I left the Howard yard sale You can save lots of money if you're empty handed, I did purchase a number willing to wake up early and go on a yard of games throughout my travels. Some I sale adventure. And sure, there's a thrill had been interested in, but for which I in getting a bargain and bringing home had never wanted to pay full price, while an old game for nostalgia's sake, but a others were games I’d needed to replace lot of what makes getting out and because I’d stupidly sold them as a child rooting through suburbia's "junk" is just to buy something cooler. being out there with other people. I ran into a kid who, in 10 years, might be I also purchased games if they seemed more of a hardcore gamer than I am or interesting enough and were close to might even design the next Mario or rental price, because even if they were Halo. That encounter alone was worth EDITORIAL PRODUCTION BUSINESS Executive Editor Producer Publisher Julianne Greer Jonathan Hayter Alexander Macris

Content Editor Layout Artist Associate Publishers Joseph Blancato Jessica Fielhauer Jerry Godwin Russ Pitts Gregory Lincoln Lead Web Developer Contributing Editor Whitney Butts Director of Advertising JR Sutich Susan Briglia Web Developer Research Manager Erik Jacobson Chairman of Themis Group Nova Barlow Tim Turner Thomas S. Kurz

Contributors IT Director Shannon Drake Jason Smith Mur Lafferty Matthew McKeague Pat Miller Max Steele

Issue 60, © 2006. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. To contact the editors please email [email protected]. For a free subscription to The Escapist in PDF format please view www.escapistmagazine.com