I am a “fidgeter.” I cannot help it. I’ve Gaming. “Fidget no more!” they cry and and paper DC Heroes, about how his tried to mend my squirmy ways, but to hand over their wares. An entire world of past experiences have equipped him for no avail. In school, I doodled. In gaming made to fit into, and enhance, his latest effort, Elder Scrolls: meetings, I play with the top of my red our lives was born. Shadowkey for the N-Gage. Sharing his pen. Even now, as I sit at my computer particular take on the current mobile To the editor - I stumbled on your on- to write, I tap my fingers on the desk This new world of gaming goodness platform wars, Max Steele ponders the line magazine today. The title lured me between bursts of typing. started with the tip of a toe in the water, strategies of the various hardware in because I thought of the fictional with oldies such as Parker Brothers’ developers. Find these articles, and character “The Escapist” created by I know I am not alone. Merlin and Mattel’s Football. We have more, in the next pages of The Escapist. Michael Chabon in “Kavalier and Clay.” since plunged, head first, into a wide First, be sure to take a look at what Nevertheless, I read on, as my 7 year There are others who are distraught at array of platforms and games to keep us other readers are saying about us in the old son enjoys playing various games on the idea of sitting still for five hours on a entertained while we are on the go. In Letters to the Editor. the Game Cube (e.g. Sonic, Mario cross-country flight. I am not the only fact, some of you may be reading this on Sunshine), and I am curious about the one who cringes at the thought of a road your handheld – we hear The Escapist Cheers, industry. While I, a 43 year old, do not trip over three hours. The waiting room reads quite well on the PSP. have the patience to sit and learn how to at the doctor’s/dentist’s/mechanic’s play the more complicated games elicits a feeling akin to panic in many, for Wherever and however you may be properly (like Madden Football), I more reasons than the visit itself. What reading this, we are glad you have joined recognize the allure of the games and is a fidgeter like me to do in today’s us for another week as we talk about the pure fun they can provide. “hurry up and wait” society? Gaming on the Go. Tom Chick has weighed in on the PSP and the The quality of the writing for your first Luckily, our dear friends in the hardware DS, speaking about their respective issue was excellent so I will revisit The and game development community functionalities and the games that best Escapist magazine in the future. stepped up to the plate and alleviated display them. has spoken our collective anxiety by creating Mobile with , designer of the pen Michael Rosenthal Philadelphia, PA To the editor - In response to Mr. Tynes To the editor - Just a note to that I can actually view full pages on Contrarian article, I think he misses the congatulate you on the first Escapist. without scrolling. point of mainstream gaming. Learned about it in Kotaku (or wherever, there are so many news sites around Keep up the great work! “When gamers celebrate the fact that these days). gaming has gone mainstream, that it’s Atul Varma everywhere, they’re dancing on Anyway, a very nice format. I chose the Nintendo’s grave.” HTML version. Beautiful layout there, easy to read, nice paragraphs... The To the editor - First of all, let me He then argues that mainstream gaming articles were somewhat old stuff, but congratulate everyone involved with The is equivalent to the path of least reasonably well-written, and sort of Escapist on producing a fantastic piece of resistance for developers. I couldn’t updated the hardcore on these age-old editorial journalism. To my mind, the disagree more. The videogame crash of issues of mainstream, art and the label magazine encapsulates the tone and the early 80’s was a direct result of an of a gamer. thought-provoking subject matter that avalanche of poor quality games. This the best (and generally now defunct or coincides with the “seven platform” Keep it coming. mutated) print magazines produced in development methodology. A single the last few years. The only thing I can game, seven platforms, crappy on each. Joonas Laakso imagine might add to the experience This is not the new direction of gaming. Finland would be a forum of some sort, to His argument sounds more like a discuss each article (with appropriate warning of a second videogame crash moderation to avoid discussions than anything else. Nintendo is now creating another market To the editor - Just wanted to let you degenerating too far). However, as you for games and gamers that Mr. Tynes know that I think the first issue is great. seem to be styling the magazine as an So what rescued the American game does not understand. That’s OK. The Aside from the stories, which are internet-distributed print magazine, industry in the late 80’s? Nintendo. They games are not for him. But while he is excellent, I’m particularly impressed by perhaps this is inappropriate. Finally, the pushed their 8-bit system into a shaking his head at Nintendogs, Trauma the widescreen-format page layout... It’s notion of having a single game or market... rather, they *created* a Center, and Electroplankton, Nintendo gorgeous, especially when I full-screen it product advertised in each issue is a market for a product no toy store buyer and their customers will happily support on my laptop’s cinematic display. good one, and I wish you the best of thought would sell. The rest, as they each other into the next age of gaming. Normally I hate PDF’s because their page luck in securing some top-quality say, is history. dimensions are horrible for viewing on sponsors. Fuji8bit my computer screen, but thanks to your foresight this is possibly the only PDF I have only one (minor) criticism, related probably the best essay I’ve ever read to the “Gamer Like Me” article by dealing with gaming as a new medium. Jennifer Buckendorff. As a major article in the high-profile first release of a I was quite pleased to discover the high flagship magazine, I can’t help but feel quality of content throughout the issue it’s a little unwise to mention “the kid and that the editorial direction of the who only plays GTA after school – and publication will fill a void in gaming loves it.” In the current climate of publications since the days of Nintendo gaming coming under heavy fire (in Magazine: that of the adult, educated many cases for adult games being sold individual seeking more from their to minors), this could be misinterpreted. reading than the latest press release/ Perhaps I’m being over-sensitive – I play new game info. Fortunately now that a GTA and enjoy it greatly, and haven’t yet whole generation of gamers has grown felt the need to release my latent up, you have an audience large enough gaming-borne rage onto society… Still, if to support the more esoteric essays that you plan to be held up as a publication lead to more thoughtful conversation that celebrates the greatness of gaming, around the watercooler than the “holy perhaps extreme sensitivity to these crap, you shoulda seen the move I pulled sorts of public issues (however wide of last night” variety. the truth they may be) is in order. Thank you for a great read. I wish you Anyway, congratulations again on a much success with the new publication. fantastic first issue; I look forward to a long series of interesting articles to read. Rob Kansas City, MO Simon “Rolphus” Rolfe

To the editor - I just learned of your online publication via a post on slashdot regarding the article, “Culture Wargames,” by Kieron Gillen. It is It’s a typical Friday morning at LAX - which means a line that runs laps around the terminal, doing my best striptease for security, and indulging in an $8 breakfast burrito that strives to meet the strict nutritional guidelines of Purina dog food. After all that, my flight will be an hour late. With nary a crinkling of my brow, I sit at the gate and wait it out. This means I can put in another 18 in Hot Shots: Open Tee for the PSP, so it ain’t all bad.

Mobile gaming has become huge, and the reasons why are plentiful. It suits our on-the-go lifestyles, allowing you to play anywhere the feeling hits you. Both hardware and software are cheaper, while offering competitive entertainment values. It appeals to an audience that is more vast and broad than console gaming - catering especially to casual players and kiddies. The list goes on and on. You Always Got Game read books, give yourselves five points. To start with, we all have cell phones. If I don’t know about you, but there are all Nerd.) you don’t, then I pity you, because you’ll sorts of times when I get the urge to be pretty darn lonely when the rest of us game, and only a fraction happen when The way many portable games are die of brain cancer. The phone is now I’m in my living room with my PS2, designed, playing is a more bite-sized Game Machine Lite. You want Tetris? It’s Xbox, and GameCube staring hopefully experience. You can jack in and log out there. You want Pac-Man? For the price in my direction. Mobile games bring the with ease, whether it’s a five-minute of a few credits at the arcade, you can fun to you, instead of the other way quickie or a three-hour marathon have it for a week. This is the same around. You aren’t tied to your sofa, and session. They’re perfect for society’s crowd who’s playing all those free you don’t need a bulky box and TV collective short attention span. Shockwave games online when they around to indulge in digital decadence. should be working, and they’re a robust With their own screens, headphone Bits For Your Buck mob. attachments, and light sources, you Not everyone wants to blow $300 on the won’t be disturbing anyone else. latest console or graphics card. Some On the dedicated machine front, you can consider these people casual players, but snag a Game Boy Advance for well under We’re a society that’s always in motion. that doesn’t make them any less $100, and choose from hundreds of Contributing to our hurried lifestyles is important in the grand scheme of things. quality games priced below $20. That’s a making up for all the setbacks and After all, if this industry sticks to merely comparatively small startup investment delays we’re forced to endure. We appeasing hardcore players, it’s like a to relieve stress and keep you out of constantly find ourselves a captive restaurant that only serves one dish. For trouble. audience - be it waiting at the those who just want a little fun every mechanic’s, cruising at 30,000 feet, or now and then, mobile is the way to go. when you’re taking a porcelain pit stop (admittedly where I do a good portion of my playing). How can you pass the time? You play mobile games, of course! I mean, what else are you going to do - read a book!? (For those who actually do Big Things, Small Packages Gage took this idea and decided to try are dealing with similar technology, yet console and PC business in no time. Not all portable gaming is cost-effective, killing two birds with one stone – they get to apply all the knowledge There are just too many benefits to however, as the PSP’s $250 price tag combining a high-end phone with a fully learned in the last 20 years. Hence, you gaming on the go, and too many people and $40 average for games functioning game platform. In fact, they see a lot of new styles of play that cater to whom it appeals. The PSP does so demonstrates. That’s because it comes plan to try killing a third bird by adding to a different audience. NBA Fantasy many things well. The Nintendo DS has dangerously close to offering a console- N-Gage technology to the next Five, THQ’s fantasy basketball game, so many innovative features. Cell phone quality system that can go anywhere. I generation of smart phones – thus and Airborne’s Buzztime Trivia are games are so painless and no-strings- defy you to compare the PS2 version of bringing even more digital diversion to appealing and easy enough that, even if attached. One way or another, mobile Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 and PSP’s the high-tech set. Sony’s PSP is a next- you’ve never played a , you games are going to hook you. Cut the THUG 2: Remix. Methinks you’ll find generation Swiss army knife, as it plays can still partake in their splendor. cord, and let your imagination run wild. nary a difference, and that’s a major movies and MP3s (and even older Neither game requires flashy production achievement. systems’ games if you’re one of the values to get its point across, either. hacker “leet”). The mainstream portable machines are Then there are the young’uns, to whom now capable of doing anything home Bring Us Your Huddled Masses Nintendo owes a debt of gratitude. If it consoles can. You want to go at it with More women and children are playing wasn’t for the facts that more kids own friends? All the major handheld portable games, while we 18-34 males GBAs than bicycles or that Pokemon platforms have wireless multiplayer, and are still giving it our full support to boot. became a worldwide phenomenon, the online play is either already here or just If you don’t wield your controller like the company may have gone under. Portable around the corner for each one, too. great Excalibur, it’s not easy getting into gaming is what has kept them afloat for What about creativity? The Nintendo DS the current generation of console many years, while consoles like N64 and - with its touch-screen and microphone - games: so many buttons, so much GameCube lost more and more market is the biggest innovation in gaming since complexity. The majority of portable share to Sony and Microsoft. the joystick. It was also the platform titles still keep it smooth and simple, with the most sure-fire titles at this with controls that allow anyone with Cut The Cord year’s video game expo. three or more fingers to enjoy Portable gaming is here to stay, and I themselves, and difficulty that won’t have a feeling its growth will exceed A convergence of technology means have you breaking expensive things into many portable game machines have tiny little pieces. other tricks up their sleeves. Cell phones are the obvious example, as they merely With phone games, it’s like an 8-bit moonlight as gaming centers. Nokia’s N- resurgence. Cellular game developers The mainstream media continues to determine victory in war, but five factors argue about a coming console war would take up too much of my allotted between Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. I word count, so we’ll discuss only the can only shrug. What makes them think strategy factor. If you have a problem Sony has a chance? with this, email [email protected] to demand more word count for me. Sony has just now produced its third Thanks.) console, while Microsoft is already on its 360th. That’s an order of magnitude Whose handheld strategy will lead to more experience. It’s called the learning victory? It’s not a rhetorical question. curve, people. You can’t beat that sort The last thing anyone wants to do is buy of expertise. It’s the same reason US in to an unpopular console system. It’s cars are better than Japanese cars: the network effect: You need a broad We’ve been doing it longer. platform base to get the publishers to support the hardware with great games. But enough about that. Max Steele is not Lose sales momentum and the platform interested in next year’s battles. He is can wither and die. And you don’t want a interested in the here and now. The war dead handheld, do you? (Max Steele is at hand. And that’s the handheld war. still bitter about his Atari Lynx.)

Sun Tzu teaches us that the outcome of So that’s the question, then. Which will a war is governed by the strategy of the be the killer platform for the handheld combatants. (Well, actually, Sun Tzu market, and which are going to get teaches there are five factors that killed? On the One Hand production, it’s foolish to try something There’s a second point weighing in favor With a less costly development cycle and Let’s start with the DS. Nintendo’s DS without a proven formula. Sticking to the of innovation: The audience that plays an audience more open to innovation, strategy can be boiled down to one tried and true, whether that means on handhelds is younger than for Nintendo’s strategy for the DS does word: innovation. “Nintendo DS formulaic plots or standardized game consoles and PCs. Why does that make some sense. They’ve engineered revolutionizes the way games are components, keeps cost and risk down. matter? Well, to be blunt, old gamers get the system to provide new interface played,” the company propaganda set in their ways. Max Steele expects the options (the touchpad), new display preaches. That’s a strong argument and, by and old farts to one day grumble about the options (the dual screen), and new play large, it’s true. I admit to playing Half- direct-cognitive interface of Quake X, options (wireless multiplay and Life 2 and waiting in line for Star Wars and wonder why this newfangled stuff is PictoChat), and they’re saying, III. But it’s also true that cost, risk, and getting in the way of real gaming, using “Developers, use our platform to innovation sit on a spectrum. It’s not a mouse-and-keyboard. innovate. Take risks, try new things, and black and white. In the case of the reach new audiences in new ways!” And handheld segment, there might still be The point is: A gamer in his mid-thirties to gamers they are saying, “Play games room for innovation. Maybe. has been conditioned to view gaming a on the DS because you can’t get this particular way, through the lens of a set experience anywhere else!” First off, handheld games cost less to of platforms, genres, and interface develop than games for the PC or living- options. He thinks touching is stupid and This strategy might just work. That sounds promising. Except in last room consoles. True, the cost is rising, boggles at Nintendogs. (Max Steele does week’s issue of The Escapist, our but it’s not rising as fast as the cost is too, but not because he is old.) Younger And On the Other Hand resident contrarian, John Tynes, made a rising for AAA next-generation consoles. gamers haven’t had their expectations Yet it might not. Sony sees the market great case that Nintendo is doomed A developer can make a great handheld set, one way or another, and are more differently. And there are countervailing because it’s innovative. Of course, he is game for as little as 10-33% of what it open to new ways of playing. There’s a forces at work. a contrarian. It’s John Tynes’ job to be costs to make a AAA console game. reason trends so often start with the gloomy. So before we start short-selling young. They like innovation. First, the forward march of technology Nintendo stock, we are going to take our That lower cost means more freedom to has created substantially more powerful own look at the situation, Steele style. take risks and make bold gambles. Just handheld systems than ever before. The as films like∏ (Pi) and Memento can The traditional argument against take risks no feature film would dare, a innovation in the entertainment industry handheld game can try new things in - and this is true across film, music, TV, ways that Halo 2 can not. and games - is that entertainment is hit- driven, and given the high cost of power of what’s in your pocket is expensive way to put a game on the makers and game publishers see an probably in the same order of magnitude shelf to sell to a new audience. (That’s audience for handheld gaming that’s a as last generation’s console. As always, right publishers - Max Steele is on to lot more grown up, as well. Instead of more powerful hardware means you.) abandoning gaming on the go, older increasing costs to develop games for gamers simply want it in a more mature the hardware. The second force at work is the age of form. The advertising for PSP positions it the handheld gamer. Handhelds used to as a product for teens and twenty- But with the PSP, at least, it seems a be seen as an introductory product to somethings. tipping point has been reached. The PSP get young people hooked on gaming. is powerful enough so that it’s possible Indeed, I personally used to give out The existence of this older audience in familiar content to an on-the-go to port living-room console games to the Gameboys to kindergarteners so I could turn argues for games that will be platform. system. I don’t mean just adapting PC later sell them used games at a mark- familiar to that audience. While the and console games for the handheld (as up. While handheld gaming still has a youth audience may embrace new ways Sony is saying, “Developers, use our has often been the case in the past), but young audience, today’s hardware of play, adult gamers are seeking out platform to port. Keep costs down while true ports, with all that implies. first-person shooters, strategy games, reaching your audience on the go Publishers love ports. They’re the least familiar brands and formats. Combine wherever they are!” To gamers, they are that with the cost advantage of porting saying, “Play games on the PSP because versus developing innovative handheld you can get the familiar experience you games, and the strategy behind the PSP know from your PC and consoles, becomes clear: If the DS is about whenever and wherever you’d like!” innovation, the PSP is about familiarity. Even the vaunted UMD movie feature of This strategy might just work, too. the PSP is just another way of bringing And on The … Uh…Third Hand Conventional media likes to paint this as a two-way war. Max Steele believes that a simplistic Manichean viewpoint of good v. evil is perhaps comforting, but he tells it like it is. As the great spiritual guide, Yoda, once said, “There is another.”

It’s called the N-Gage. Here in the US, we like to rag on the N- perspective, Sony expects to sell half Gage. We write it off as a dead platform. that - 12 million PSPs. But then we’re not exactly the world’s leading experts on mobile technology. So what’s the strategy behind N-Gage gaming on a smartphone? If the DS is Not many people in America may have about innovation, and the PSP is about bought one, but N-Gage has still shipped familiarity, the smartphone is about a million and a half units. Compare that convenience. A large percentage of the to DS and PSP’s numbers and you’ll see population is going to carry a N-Gage has done relatively better in this smartphone for purposes other than segment than Gamecube did against gaming. If that population can enjoy Playstation 2. And more importantly, quality handheld gaming on the device even if Nokia never sold another N-Gage, they’re already carrying anyway, they they are pretty shortly going to have the will. Nokia is saying, “Developers, use N-Gage platform in more people’s hands our platform to reach a massive than Sony and Nintendo can dream audience that’s already carrying a about. smartphone, and is conveniently ready for you to entertain them!” And to I’m referring, of course, to Nokia’s gamers, Nokia is saying, “Play games on decision to support N-Gage games your smartphone because you’re already across its entire range of Series 60 using it do everything else!” smartphones. The big boys from Finland expect to sell 25 million Symbian You know, this strategy might work, as handsets this year. To put that in well. Hand Them Over So here’s how it’ll play out. Nintendo’s platform. Think of it like this: Everybody it’s the same concept with the That’s the strategy review, then. It’s DS will end up as the #1 platform. has a PC. Everybody uses their PC for smartphone. innovation v. familiarity v. convenience. They’ll deliver innovative, exclusive work and web. Some people also use it Which will triumph? content that you can’t get anywhere for gaming - enough people to make the That’s all. Max out. else, and that will drive sales. PSP will PC, as a platform, the second biggest; It’s a tough call, even for the discerning have lots of games, but very few will be judgment of Max Steele. I can see the exclusive, and ultimately the consumer merit in the innovation that is Advance is going to pass on paying $250 to get Wars DS or Kirby: Canvas Curse. I also what he’s already got, particularly understand the joy of PS2 gaming and because Sony’s going to get distracted Nintendo has sold almost 67 million GBAdvances since 2001. The current UMD movies on the beautiful 4.3” screen by the coming battle for the living room. worldwide shipments of PSP, N-Gage, and DS, in total, equal less than 10 of the PSP. And I’m certainly savvy to million. With so many handheld gamers yet to upgrade, the war for the next the benefits of good gameplay on my Sony’s stumble will clear the way for generation of handhelds is still anyone’s to win. mobile. But I can’t let you read this far Nokia’s N-Gage powered smartphones to and not deliver the goods. be the #2 platform in handheld gaming. DS I see it developing into a PC-like PSP N-GAGE

The current portfolio of available games is approximately equal across all three platforms, but the ease of porting to the PSP puts it poised to overshoot Over the next twelve months, PSP is likely to catch up to DS in total sales the other platforms in title breadth. Nintendo will have to focus on innovation volume, putting each platform at about 12m owners. But third-place N-Gage’s to overcome lower quantity. Nokia will have to convince more third-party installed base will begin to skyrocket in early 2006 when the first N-Gage- developers of the value of its platform when the installed base expands. compatible Smartphones become available. The open question is what percentage of smartphone owners will be game buyers… N-GAGE 40 23 NOKIA SMARTPHONE DS 36 88 25 million PSP 42 106 PSP 9.5 million DS 6 million as you do for an arcade game and 50 percent more than a strategy game, because that’s the expectation of the market.”

they’re first-person-perspective RPGs In the Travels games, Gorden and Vir2L with attractive art (by Elder Scrolls artist give the market a concentrated, crack- Mark Jones), multiple character classes, like essence of Elder: the trademark lots of quests, and dozens of detailed first-person view, the feel of open-ended dungeon levels full of monsters and loot. adventure, plenty of quests, and a world Like bonsai sequoias growing on an end to explore. “Elder Scrolls games really table or toy poodles that can sit in a play with the sense of scale,” Gorden coffee mug, the three ultra-miniaturized observes. “Things can be vast, things mobile RPGs in this Elder Scrolls: Travels can be cramped. That’s hard to do on a series embody obsessive attention, a mobile phone. For that approach, master’s skill, and a crazed urge to do Shadowkey was the most successful. We the impossible. Who pulled it off? An Elder Scrolls game on a cellphone? It had stuff that felt crampy, stuff that felt large. The world seemed absolutely sounds like painting landscapes on rice “If it’s hard, I have to know if I can do grains. The most famous roleplaying huge. That one was the most successful it,” says Greg Gorden, who designed all in bringing the entire world alive.” games (RPGs) in Bethesda Softworks’ three games working freelance with bestselling PC-based fantasy series – Vir2L Entertainment. “RPGs are the Players like them all - and not just Morrowind, Daggerfall, and the upcoming biggest challenge on mobile platforms. Oblivion - are sprawling, open-ended hardcore Scrolls fans, either. “Mobile At the time we started doing the Travels games typically have a shelf life about extravaganzas so big you need a Lonely games, there were no first-person phone Planet guide. one third as long as a PC title,” Gorden games. They’re just beginning to come says. “You’re doing well if your game is out with some now. With a lot of Yet, here they are: Stormhold and still available after six months. You can handheld games, you can burn through still buy these Travels games after two Dawnstar, Java and BREW-based Elder them in 45 minutes; they may be highly Scrolls games that run on dozens of years. At this point we’re bringing some replayable, but you’re not seeing any new people in.” different handsets, and Shadowkey for new content. But there’s no such thing the N-Gage. Your jaw will drop: On a as a 45-minute console RPG. You have to screen the size of a Federal Duck Stamp, give roleplayers generally twice as much In jamming full RPGs onto a phone, ’80s in the paper-and-dice roleplaying “Attribute Points” (APs). Six APs of time Gorden learned that “everything is bang- hobby. Victory Games’ licensed James is four minutes; of distance, 200 yards; for-the-buck. If I crop an image by 15 Bond 007 roleplaying game, on which he of weight, a ton and a half. If you have a pixels, does that free up memory for a was credited as system developer, was Strength of 6 APs, you can lift 6 APs of dialogue or mission brief, another palette an early entry in the “universal table” weight, or throw 4 APs of weight for 2 color? It was tradeoff after tradeoff. We school of design, where you resolve the APs of distance, or throw 1 AP of weight squeezed until we could squeeze no success or failure of your actions by at 5 APs of speed, and so on. Whether more.” Some of the supported handsets rolling dice and consulting a single chart. you’re interrogating a crook, the have just 64K of RAM. “We did custom The all-purpose chart tells whether you Flash sprinting across the Atlantic, or versions for each main phone branch,” succeed and how well. punching the Moon out of its Gorden says. “For the one we delivered orbit, you turn everything into APs, and to Sprint, we were within 17 bytes of the Gorden became the leading proponent of the two tables tell whether you succeed Jimmy Olsen and Superman, all on the maximum.” this philosophy, gaming’s universal and how well. Maybe your eyes have same scale. already glazed over, but to any roleplayer who’s struggled with a Gorden pushed this idea to the limit with Dungeons & Dragons encumbrance the cinematic action RPG . A table, this is elegant stuff. sprawling free-for-all in both design and setting, Torg depicts a war among The brilliance of DC Heroes, and the realities, competing universes (“Realms”) most telling sign of Greg Gorden’s in a surreal land-grab for Earth. The breadth of vision, is that each additional genre-spanning premise conjures AP is worth about twice as much as the competing Realms of fantasy, science AP before it. So, for instance, a character fiction, cyberpunk, pulp adventure, and with Strength 6 is twice as strong as Victorian-era horror - supervillains, Strength 5. If 1 AP of surface area gives ninjas, dragons, dinosaurs - magic, “Phenomenal cosmic power, itty- tablemaster. His pioneering DC Heroes you a tabletop; just 51 APs (fifty cybernetic implants, shamanism, and bitty living space” comic-book RPG runs monomaniacally on doublings) gives you Earth. (A mere 5 theocratic sorcery. Gorden’s design boils two all-encompassing Action and Result APs of information separate Gorden’s cell down his earlier universal tables to a Gorden has arrived at this Tables. They quantify everything, which phone dungeon-crawls from Morrowind.) single line, and then layers on rules for microminiature niche after many designs is to say evvvvverything - strength, This lets the DC Heroes’ design Realm-specific genre conventions, that, in size and scope, can fairly be smarts, weight, time, distance, money, gracefully accommodate both petite and Possibility Points, a Drama Deck of cards, called spectacular. He started in the mid- information, psychic force - in generic planetary, normal and superheroic, a system for collecting story outcomes from individual player groups nationwide First-person perspective and quantifying their combined effects to Gorden’s presence in the mobile space shape the published war storylines. By echoes an earlier influx of paper-game now you see why reading Torg is like designers into computer and console eating an entire pineapple upside-down games - a horde that includes Warren cake - rich, delicious, much too much of Spector (Deus Ex), Chris Avellone a muchness. ( Torment), Zeb Cook (Metroid Prime, City of Villains), and not Did his experience in creating these least, Ken Rolston, who did standout giant games, among many others, help work for paper RPGs RuneQuest and Gorden in condensing the Elder Scrolls to Paranoia before designing - what was it? 64K? “Yes, it actually did,” he says, “it’s - oh yeah: Morrowind. more just being old. You have an established bag of tricks, a game toolkit. The gameplay ideas these designers A lot of the techniques are the same,” brought to computers are now filtering regardless of the game type. “You can virally into phones, and Gorden is one hearken back to some of the old solitaire vector. “I love RPGs, and the mobile dungeons and build-your-own-dungeon space is growing like crazy. I thought, ‘If tile-laying games, and turn that into I’m gonna jump in, it’s certainly better to something easy to execute in code. In jump in now.’” Shadowkey it’s just the ability to put a narrative together that’s spread across Apart from his future projects with Vir2L 50 bite-size pieces” - a technique Gorden (nothing has been announced), Gorden mastered in his trading card game Killer is shopping around a mobile game he Instinct, with Shane Hensley. Gorden designed with longtime collaborator, relates, “I believe it was Anthony Gill: Marble Mazeness, a J2ME who said, ‘Mobile games are designed by version of those infernal wooden tilting- haiku.’ If you’ve done that in the past, table dexterity toys in which you guide a you know what to do better than steel ball along a path while avoiding someone who’s come to the platform holes, or more often, not. The phone from a console game.” game adds divots, bumpers, lasers, lava, trapdoors, power-ups, and magnetic walls. Mazeness went gold in May and We asked a few personal questions of Q: What’s your favorite game to play? Q: What is your favorite vacation spot? may appear by late 2005. Greg Gorden and he obliged. Read on to learn more about what makes him tick – A: Currently playing Savage Worlds on A: Last vacation ended with an From cosmos-spanning epics to ... or at least busy. table top, a smattering of Guild Wars, emergency room visit, which culminated marbles. With the Travels games, and Rise of Nations: Thrones and in an infection from an improper IV Gorden has brought vigor to mobile Q: Where are you from? Patriots when I think, “Gosh, I would which lasted better than five months. I RPGs - sort of created them, really - but love to play Civ III, but I just don’t have think work is just peachy at the moment. platform strictures forbid surpassing the A: The village of Yellow Springs, Ohio, the time.” scope of his paper masterpieces. which had within walking distance people Q: Who is the person you most respect who had worked on the V-2 program, Q: What’s the last movie you went to in the industry? Gorden is philosophical about his future edited fiction for a living, wrote episodes see? role in the space. “I think the coolest of Bonanza, became members of the A: When I started seriously considering mobile game genre is yet to be Swiss National Quartet, or raised Dave A: My son thought Bewitched would be becoming a game designer I drew up a developed. My experience on Travels got Chappelle. I was pretty much doomed to hysterically funny. Payback will be a ___ list of names of people whose work had me closer to seeing how you could build lead an interesting life from an early but I digress... expanded the horizons of games in ways an entirely new experience on the mobile age. that excited me. That first list was Gary phone. But I’m not there yet. I consider Q: What’s your alcoholic beverage of Gygax, Redmond Simonsen, Sid myself a laggard in the race, but I Q: Age? choice, if any? Sackson, and Toru Iwatani. My informal definitely want to see who wins. list is now considerably larger, and I A: Soon to be 47. Insert joke about A: Local Microbrew product, expect it to keep growing. Good work is So when will we see this breakthrough “prime of his life” here. MacTarnahans. being done, right now, and someone phone-game experience? Gorden doesn’t somewhere is creating something which know - he’s not planning it himself - but Q: Do you have family? Q: What’s your favorite flavor of ice will make me mutter, “That is just he offers a guess: “My feeling is, in the cream? freakin’ brilliant.” I live for that. next 18 months it will be out, and it will A: One son, Spencer, who inherited my absolutely blow up the mobile business. love of games, and apparently got his A: Whatever I can steal from my son. I’m looking forward to seeing it.” athletic ability as a result of cosmic ray See “Movie,” above. exposure. Midnight Club Racing is loading on my Playstation 2, after all). So, yeah, it’ll be anything else around that can run a PSP. It’s pretty slow going, so I’ll work pretty nice. When it finally comes up. game. on this article while I wait. I know that Yep. once it loads, it’s going to be sweet. I The games that are best for the PSP are know this because I’ve already played it At times like this, I wonder if they even also, oddly enough, the games that are on the Playstation 2 and this handheld know why we play their handhelds. already best for your PS2 or Xbox. version is almost identical. They’re both Because if I had a lunch break at work, They’re racing games like Midnight Club instances of Rockstar’s super-slick, or was using it for a fifteen-minute - hold on let me check…nope, still super-fast city racing, traffic-smashing commute on the subway, or was at an loading - and especially, Wipeout Pure, extravaganza (although the traffic on the airport waiting for my flight to board, I with their fancy graphics, career PSP is lighter and the cars are a touch don’t think I’d bother. Playing the PSP is progression, and really bad data slower, because the PSP isn’t quite a a really involved experience, from the management, so you don’t mind time investment to the hardcore next- powering through a bunch of screens, do gen-ish graphics and lighting effects and you? Because you’re going to be here dynamic vertex whatnot. This isn’t for a while. The Diablo clone, Untold something to be approached lightly. It’s Legends, is great for passing a few hours for hunkering down and gaming when hacking-and-slashing. You also have you’re away from home, for letting plenty of sports games. The few puzzle yourself fall into it, much the same way games on the PSP are almost an you fall into your computer or the TV in afterthought; it’s as if someone at Sony your living room. You play the PSP not suddenly remembered how many to kill a little time, but because you find Gameboys Tetris sold. yourself parked somewhere without First-person shooters (that other genre writing for it the way developers used to for graphics whores, couch barnacles, write for the Gameboy Advance - it’s and power PC builders with their $350 going to remain an expensive toy for videocards) haven’t migrated to the PSP gamers and a place where cool people yet for the same reason RTSs haven’t skirt the fringes of geekdom. Walk down migrated to consoles: they’re genres the aisles of a flight between LAX and with control issues. You can’t play an DFW and you’re liable to see a few guys RTS without a mouse and you can’t play playing the Tiger Woods PSP port, a shooter with the PSP’s nubby little blissfully unaware that they’re playing analog controller that doesn’t let you one of the worst golf games ever aim, so much as suggest a general created. That, ladies and gentlemen, is direction. But Konami, Planet Moon, and the PSP. Pandemic are all currently working on shooters for the PSP. Best of luck to you But because the Nintendo DS is all…we’re waiting to see what you can backward compatible, it’s got a huge do. If it doesn’t work out, there are library of sublime handheld games that other windmills that need tilting. were written for the Gameboy Advance, often easy to find for cheap. Just going Here’s the deal: The PSP is a powerful by the law of averages, you’re far less system that happens to be the size of a likely to be stuck playing a game as bad handheld. Until developers start writing as the PSP Tiger Woods. Of course, for people who might want to play it in you’re wasting half of the DS’s screen quick and easy bursts - until they start real estate, and you’re playing on a big silver brick of a clamshell the size and God, reaching into the game world to shape of a six-year-old PDA. But we’re diddle around with the little pink guy. on the verge of a new generation of DS Sounds dirty, doesn’t it? But it’s an games that could make it all worthwhile. amazing interface because there’s no Take Kirby: Canvas Curse, a game about abstracted button pressing or D-padding a stupid little pink blob. Oh, hold on a between you and what you see second, let me see if I can play Midnight onscreen. You’re in there, touching stuff Club yet…nope, still loading. Okay, and making it happen. Kirby: Canvas where was I? Curse is probably the last step before Besides, considering some of the play a first person shooter. Just don’t they start wet-wiring your brain. upcoming titles playing to its strength as mind the graphics. A Nintendo game about a stupid pink a platform, you’ll want a DS. In addition blob, right? That’s what you’d think. It’s a slick and well-made game, to boot, to some potentially complex mouse- Oh, right, speaking of graphics, I just But what you might not realize is that it’s unlike anything you’ve ever played driven strategy games, there’s know Midnight Club is going to look the first game that makes your DS a DS. because the DS is unlike anything that’s Nintendogs, which will hopefully explode awesome. Let me have a look at how You use your stylus like the finger of ever been made. The developers at Hal in popularity so I don’t feel like such a it’s coming along. Quel surprise!...still Laboratories did something that’s a lost little girl when I’m playing it. Yeah, loading. But when that baby finally art in these days of cross-platform okay, it’s about a cute puppy, and The crams itself into how ever much memory development: They wrote a game for an Sims is a dollhouse, but I’m just one of the PSP has, I’m sure it’ll be sweet. actual system rather than an imagined about five million people playing, so go Which reminds me: one of the best uses audience. Kirby: Canvas Curse is really make fun of them, too. Then there’s the for a Nintendo DS is playing games while one of the shrewdest creations you’ll see upcoming Metroid game for the DS which you’re waiting for your PSP to load. this year. And, yeah, it’s worth getting a uses the touchpad as a mouse to let you DS for it.

loading... Hot Coffee Spills Over Imperator. Set in a fictional futuristic Rome, EDITORIAL Lead Web Developer Whitney Butts Rockstar’s role in the creation of GTA: San Andreas Imperator pitted Roman citizens against a Executive Editor Hot Coffee content has prompted Hillary Clinton to technologically advanced Mayan race. According to Julianne Greer call for an official investigation to discover exactly CEO Mark Jacobs, Imperator was “not meeting IT Director Jason Smith who created the illicit mini-game. She’s also [Mythic’s] standard.” Mythic definitely isn’t closing Contributing Editors remarked that the ESRB should become a up shop, however. They recently acquired a license Joseph Blancato BUSINESS regulatory body, rather than a voluntary guide to produce an MMO based on the popular JR Sutich funded by game companies, saying the ratings Warhammer franchise. Publisher needed “teeth.” Research Manager Alexander Macris Marvel Signs with Microsoft for 360 MMO Nova Barlow It was also revealed by Gamespot that the PS2 Marvel announced a contract signed with Microsoft Chief Financial Officer version of the game has the Hot Coffee content which gives them the rights to create a Marvel Contributors Thomas S. Kurz locked away, which further invalidates Rockstar’s universe MMO on the Xbox 360. No mention was Tom Chick claim that the mod was indeed created by a PC made of a PC port, which could deal a staggering Justin Leeper Director of Advertising hacker. blow to PC gaming. Microsoft has pushed the Max Steele Susan Briglia online capabilities of the Xbox, and now the 360, in Allen Varney Imperator Postponed a direction that causes one to wonder how many Associate Publishers Mythic, creators of MMO Dark Age of Camelot, has PC gaming opportunities will be available by the PRODUCTION & DESIGN Jerry Godwin “postponed” development of their new sci-fi game, time Longhorn launches. Gregory Lincoln Producer Jonathan Hayter

Volume 1, Issue 2, © 2005. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. To contact the editors please email editor@ escapistmag.com. For a free subscription to The Escapist in PDF format please view www.escapistmagazine.com