We always think it's fun to imagine living in alternate realities, where some of our favorite game designers get hold of some of our favorite properties. So, we were interested to hear what David Jaffe had to say about the slew of Marvel comics games (specifically the ones featuring Spider-Man) that has been unleashed on the general populace (and continues to arrive). In short, Jaffe wants to see characters like Spidey put into a more story-driven game, rather than a giant, open world superhero playground that's solely focused on emulating the feel of having superpowers.

He's got a good point, one that's an all too common theme in superhero stories: Superhero gets powers, superhero spends all his time enjoying the rush of having said powers, superhero's uncle dies. Is that what you want from us Activision? Do you want our uncles to die?

On the Friday of this year's Game Developers Conference, the Game Career Seminar will offer a series of speakers and roundtables aimed toward students hoping to break into the industry. Kicking off the event will be David Jaffe, who will be delivering a keynote speech entitled "From Grunt to God to Startup: Career Lessons from the Edge of Development."

Jaffe will be discussing his own history in the industry, starting from his earliest projects and lowliest jobs, to his own indie studio, Eat Sleep Play, where he's working on several unannounced Playstation 3 titles. Though infamous for his matter-of-fact approach, Jaffe is also a dynamic and engaging speaker, having previously participated in GDC events like last year's Game Design Challenge. It will be interesting to see what advice he has to impart upon the wide-eyed developers of tomorrow.

We know, we know. We know this this looks, well, like a PS2 game. And we know that the metal/goth trappings are a little bit late 90s. But we can not help but be excited for Twisted Metal: Head On Extra Twisted Edition. And this new gameplay footage (posted by one Mr. David Jaffe) isn't doing anything to make us less pumped.

What you're seeing is "Carnival of Darkness," a bonus level lifted from Twisted Metal Black 2, which never saw the light of day. We're particularly enthralled by the roller coaster section of the course, and the music, even the missile trails, which are distinctly Twisted Metal. But what about you? Is this doing anything thing for you?

Two things you might not have known about David Jaffe: He likes ridiculously long game titles (a colon and a dash? You have outdone yourself, sir), and he also loves bonus features in games. This is why Twisted Metal: Head On - Extra Twisted Edition for the PS2 features a wealth of new content not seen in the PSP version.

The included content includes new levels, several of which were originally designed for Twisted Metal: Black, access to an online soundtrack, an art book, a 30-minute making-of documentary, a new "Sweet Tour" mode, and ending footage originally shot for the first Twisted Metal game. Oh yeah, and the port of the PSP game is in there too, with an improved framerate and textures.

Considering the game will retail for $19.99 USD, that's a whole lot of content included. TM:HO-ETE is scheduled for a February release in the States.

We all know the massive assembly of computers and routers, the thousands of miles of fiber-optic wires, and the cacophony of adolescent voices that comprise what our grandparents call the "world wide web" is good at one thing and one thing only ... okay, well two things: that other thing ... and drama. We're here to talk about the latter.

Back in May, a little situation occurred that we at Joystiq HQ have come to refer to as "Jaffe-ton." It involved several of the key ingredients of internet drama: bad words, similes, misunderstandings of similes, and a convenient one-button publishing platform. Oh yeah, and lolcats.

Following a, ahem, candid response from Mr. Jaffe to a post of ours, we wrote a heartfelt response seeking to bury the hatchet (no doubt with a series of well-timed button presses) and "bee frends." Coupled with an email to his work account, our pleas went unanswered and, consequently, our therapy visits increased.

Well, as unearthed by our pals at GameDaily in their recent interview with the game designer, it turns out Mr. Jaffe did hear our pleas via our podcast discussion of the topic (which you can relive like it was the very first time here). He tried to reach out to us but, alas, in a cruel (but poetically appropriate) twist of fate, his plea also went unanswered. He explained, "I wrote them a letter and I said, 'Guys, I never got any invites to come on your podcast and I would be happy to come on to your podcast to talk games and talk about that issue.'"

Well, Mr. Jaffe, that invite still stands (it has an expiration date of 'never') so if you'd like to be on the podcast, we'd be thrilled to have you (send us an email at podcast aat joystiq dawt com). And what did we learn from this whole affair? That, like a simile about little girls ...

If you took advantage of the new price drop on the 80 GB PS3, you'll be happy to hear that you can start putting those luxurious gigs to good use with tons of new content on the PlayStation Store. First off, you've got some new demos for Folklore and Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights and videos for Uncharted, Turok and Devil May Cry 4. In addition to some movie trailers, there's also a new Eye of Judgement-based theme.

As if that weren't enough, the new update also come equipped with value, as the price of David Jaffe's super fun Calling All Cars has been reduced for one week to $4.99. ... Hey, does this mean it actually is in the garage sale bin now?

Ever since David Jaffe announced he was striking off on his own with new development house Eat Sleep Play, there's one particular bit of information gamers everywhere have been clamoring for. No, not the company's first original title -- what gamers really want to see is the logo.

Well, the day has finally arrived. At long last fans, well-wishers and hangers-on can check out the above logo, courtesy of Newsweek. Jaffe says the soda-bottle-cap logo represents "the heart and soul of what our company is all about ... fizzy, refreshing fun." Frankly, it makes us think of Popcap Games more than anything like that.

Along with the exclusive logo reveal, Newsweek has also posted up the first two parts of a three-part interview with Jaffe wherein he talks up the financial possibilities of smaller games and bravely reveals that he doesn't know what the word "remuneration" means. Careful David... those internet trolls are real sticklers for vocabulary.

Read - The logo revealed
Read - Newsweek Jaffe interview (part II)

David Jaffe's PlayStation Network title Calling All Cars, a pseudo-basketball arcade game of moral/automotive proportions, will soon be made available for download play on Sony PSP, according to European magazine PSP: The Official Guidebook (via CVG).

Though we know it will feature both ad hoc and Infrastructure multiplayer, Sony has yet to reveal anything else about the title. Will it will be pushed as an update to the original or a separate download? Will we have to pay again? No release date has been given.

A day before David Jaffe announced his departure from Sony, GameTrailers caught the man himself, lunching amongst the population of Comic-Con. Spilling the beans and laying out the general plan, Jaffe is real excited about his new company, Eat Sleep Play, but less so about the name. Sure, Eat Sleep Play sounds like something you'd see on a free promo shirt, but the man himself has the right idea saying, "The games [will] eventually define the name versus the name defining the company." Seriously, what the heck is a Psygnosis anyway?

Those defining games will be on the accessible, more arcade-style front as Jaffe points out that a game like Calling All Cars would be the smallest in terms of scope they would tackle. While Eat Sleep Play has partnered up with Sony for a multi-game deal, Jaffe describes his relationship with Kratos and the God of War franchise as "severed," though he says he'd be honored if they asked for his input on a sequel.

Good luck on Monday, David.

As promised, game developer David Jaffe has finally announced – in a move many expected – details of his new development studio located, not surprisingly, in Utah. Titled Eat, Sleep, Play, the new studio is a partnership with Incognito chief Scott Campbell who worked with Jaffe on the popular Twisted Metal series while both were at SCEA. With Ingognito's Warhawk about to take flight on PS3 and Jaffe having just finished Calling All Cars, the two are finally ready to branch out on their own ... but it's hard to get away from the mothership Sony. They've "signed on for a multi-year, multi-title deal to create titles for the PlayStation family of products, with the first slated for release in 2008."

It's not clear if that includes their first project, a PlayStation 2 port of the PSP's Twisted Metal: Head On with some notable tweaks: bumped to 60 frames per second, higher-res textures, "5-7 levels from the never released Twisted Metal Black: Part II," and "a documentary on the history of the series." Jaffe surmises it may be some eight to twelve months before we hear about these new titles, but Twisted Metal: Head On will be available this holiday season.

Read – One Door Closes [Jaffe's Blog]
Read – SCEA Announces Exclusive Game Development Deal

Despite some ... unfortunate occurrences in the past, we still like David Jaffe. So it should come as no surprise that we're curious about the announcement he's pre-announced for tomorrow. He notably makes efforts to downplay the scope of the news, saying that it's something that means a lot to him personally; however, if you're the sort who doesn't really care how much time Jaffe does or doesn't spend in Utah, he said there will also be a smidgen of game-related news in the announcement.

Some have speculated that Jaffe is working on a new Twisted Metal title, fueled by the notorious "clownsplosion" PS3 ad. Though the timing of this upcoming announcement would seem to lend credibility to that, Jaffe seems to be hinting that it's a non-starter, saying "Just FYI, the game alot of you guys seems to think we are working on, we are not. Sorry to dissapoint :(." We'll let you know Jaffe's actual status when he starts spilling beans tomorrow.

After swearing off blogging earlier this year, God of War and Calling All Cars mastermind David Jaffe returned weeks later to post images from what appear to be an abandoned warehouse. The pics have recently been confirmed to be in Utah, which just happens to be the location of Incognito, the studio Jaffe collaborated with on Calling All Cars. Jaffe's recent post on the future of videogames as "SHORTER, LESS EXPENSIVE" projects instead of marathon development periods may hint at the direction the studio will take when (if) it comes to life.

Update: To clarify, Jaffe is not moving to Utah and is still an employee of SCEA. 1UP speculates the studio space could become a "full fledged company or [fill] a more focused role within Sony" and the idea of Jaffe traveling back and forth between Utah and San Diego (as he did with Calling All Cars) "sounds on-target". More here.

After swearing off blogging over a month ago for reasons unbeknownst to us -- Jaffe's back! Wave your rollies in the sky and wave them side to side. Whoop, whoop! He returns to blogging with pictures and not words -- actually, not true, the title of the post is "coming soon". The post holds two pictures, the one you see above and one after the break. It's very avant-garde, what Jaffe is doing here; the pictures speak the words for us. It's blogging 2.0.

What does it mean? Well, it's one man's struggle against words while probably showing his new office getting all fixed up. Or maybe they put gamers in the fishbowl off to the right side to observe their behavior, helping craft an optimal gaming experience. Obviously Jaffe is building a mystery and carefully choosing what to reveal. Or he's just building an office. One or the other, we're pretty sure.

Arriving fashionably late is the latest installment of the Joystiq Podcast, double-oh seven! No, it's not "Bond edition," it's "Synergy edition." Why synergy? When you combine guest host Shawn Andrich, of the popular Gamers with Jobs Conference Call podcast, with discussion of Jaffeton you can't help but feel the synergy. Roll in some discussion with GamePolitics blogger -- and Joystiq columnist -- Dennis McCauley, and thinks get downright synergistic.

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Hosts: Christopher Grant and Justin McElroy

Guests: Shawn Andrich (Gamers with Jobs) and Dennis McCauley (GamePolitics)

Music: "We Weren't Put Together" by David E. Sugar

Program:
0:01:30 - Spider-Man 3 synergy ("who cleans up all that webbing?")
0:12:36 - Sony goat of war II ("red phone")
0:21:07 - PlayStation 4 is coming ("fourth dimension new chipset")
0:27:53 - GTAIV "limited" on 360 ("it makes no qualitative difference")
0:33:38 - LucasArts' Fracture ("everybody's a miner")
0:41:00 - Wii release calendar ("What're ya' buyin'?")
0:49:55 - Dennis McCauley on Clements High maps
1:03:48 - The Jaffeton (censored)

David Jaffe's crackdown on criminals, epic games and disc-based content, Calling All Cars, will become available on the US PlayStation Network today. Having seen its fair share of delays and drama, the high-speed, cartoon cops 'n robbers clash is undoubtedly the PSN's biggest and most scrutinized release thus far. Engage in all the hootenanny, hijinks and hubbub online for a $9.99 fee.

[Via SCEA press release]