Joystiq

Rovio wants Angry Birds Space on 'all the screens,' Vita version up to Sony

Jordan Mallory — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:35:00 EST

Rovio's plans for porting Angry Birds Space are just as ambitious as they were with the original, according to chief marketing officer/Mighty Eagle Peter Vesterbacka. "With all our games, we're going for all the screens: Smartphones, tablets, TVs, the web, so we really want to bring Space to all the screens as well," Vesterbacka told us during this week's SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, TX. "As always, we have limited resources, so we can only do iOS, Android, PC and Mac for the launch, but the other platforms will follow shortly after."

Vesterbacka also mentioned that Rovio's back catalog of bird/slingshot simulators are still coming to the 3DS, and that potential Vita versions are in Sony's court: "We'll have our games on the 3DS pretty soon. The Vita we haven't decided what to do about yet, but of course we want to be on all the screens, so let's see how the Vita does in the market. And of course, always when working with these console guys it's not that we can decide, it's really if Sony wants to have Angry Birds on Vita. It's more up to them than to us."

Rovio wants Angry Birds Space on 'all the screens,' Vita version up to Sony originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Latest UMvC3 costume pack contains mysterious, unexplained Nova outfit

Jordan Mallory — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:30:00 EST

Every time a new costume pack is released for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Capcom explains the often obscure sources for said costumes. The "Viewtiful Strange" pack that came out last Tuesday, for instance, contains a Doctor Strange variant from a 1960s comic-book subplot, among other esoteric digs.

There is however one costume without an explanation, one that leaves our interests sufficiently piqued. Nova's new threads (as seen above) legally cannot be expounded upon, according to Capcom Unity, which means that the inspiration for this costume must come from a Marvel production that is currently unannounced. We know that Marvel will be making some sort of announcement during the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin next month, and while we're not willing to say that Nova will be getting his own game or anything, it's not beyond impossible for the two events to be related.

Latest UMvC3 costume pack contains mysterious, unexplained Nova outfit originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Boondock Saints cast to announce mysterious gaming thing at SXSWi [update]

Jordan Mallory — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Update: A flyer for the event (added below) mentions Austin-based Critical Mass Interactive as part of the panel. A quick trip to the developer's website resulted in the banner image above, which pretty much removes any doubt about what this announcement could possibly be for. According to its LinkedIn profile, Critical Mass Interactive handles outsourced art, design and programming duties for other developers, listing The Outfit and The Incredible Hulk among its past projects.

Joystiq has learned that cast members from the 1999 cult classic film The Boondock Saints will be making some manner of gaming announcement during the ScreenBurn Arcade portion of next month's SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, TX. Now, whether that announcement is actually Boondock Saints related is anyone's guess, but that seems like the logical conclusion. At the moment, all we know for sure is that Norman Reedus (aka Murphy MacManus) will be in attendance.

We've got our money on it being one of those cross-over fighting games the kids seem to like so much these days; Boondock Saints vs. Pulp Fiction: Bullet Break Valencia, or maybe Boondock Saints vs. Snatch: Sceptered Isle Showdown. We're also not entirely counting out Willem Dafoe: Boy Detective, but we feel pretty good about the fighter thing.

Gallery: ScreenBurn Arcade (Flyer)

The Boondock Saints cast to announce mysterious gaming thing at SXSWi [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSWi ScreenBurn Arcade to host Street Fighter X Tekken tournament

Jordan Mallory — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:20:00 EST

SXSWi, the "interactive" technology portion of Austin's South by Southwest festival that runs between March 9 and 13, also hosts ScreenBurn, a three-day gaming conference and expo. The ScreenBurn Arcade portion of ScreenBurn is open to the general public, and to kick things off the first day of the Arcade will feature a Street Fighter X Tekken tournament, presented by IGN Pro League.

An exhibition-style tournament, the event will be more of a spectator activity, rather than something that the public can enter and participate in. Still, it'll be a good opportunity to see highly technical play of the game just after its release. Since attending the ScreenBurn Arcade doesn't require a SXSWi pass, Austinites interested in the future of fighting can swing by the Palmer Center between 3PM and 7 PM Central on March 9 to scope out the tourney. If you see a complete dork dressed like Dan Hibiki, come say hi.

SXSWi ScreenBurn Arcade to host Street Fighter X Tekken tournament originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indie Game: The Movie showing at SXSW, creators hosting panel

Griffin McElroy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:20:00 EST

Can't make it out to the Sundance film festival to check out the world premiere of the crowdsource-funded documentary Indie Game: The Movie? There's no need to worry, assuming you can score passes to SXSW instead; the film will have a showing at the SXSW ScreenBurn Arcade (March 9 - 11) and SXSW Film (March 9 - 17) next year (clap, clap, clap, clap) deep in the heart of Austin, Texas.

The conference will also host a panel presented by IG:TM creators James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, along with Phil Fish, the creator of Fez, one of the titular indie games. The whole thing is so full-circular, we might just faint.

Indie Game: The Movie showing at SXSW, creators hosting panel originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What is Zynga doing to that sheep? Brian Reynolds on the power of innuendo

JC Fletcher — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST

During a presentation at SXSW Interactive yesterday, Zynga chief designer Brian Reynolds shared an emergent game feature that the team discovered when making Frontierville, one designed to appeal to juvenility.

The "tutorial" mission in Frontierville involves finding a lost sheep and bringing it back, he explained. Because it's a Facebook game, you get the option to post when you've done so, which shares a little blurb about your achievement and a picture of a cartoony character struggling to pull a stubborn sheep. But that's not what players' friends saw.

"What is she doing to that sheep?" was a common refrain from people who saw that post, Reynolds said. "The look on the sheep's face kind of sells it." But this wasn't a problem, as it turned out. That pseudo-scandalous sheep image "has our highest post rate and our highest clickthrough rate," he explained, with many more replies to those posts creating increased visibility, and thus inadvertently promoting Frontierville. And so Zynga went forward with innuendo-laden status messages, more examples of which you can see above.

At the end of the presentation, Reynolds answered a question about his reaction to Satoru Iwata's GDC keynote, during which Iwata pretty clearly denounced social and mobile games in general. "I don't understand why they'd feel threatened," he said, suggesting that social games and console games can coexist. "Maybe that person thinks a lot about console games," but not about mobile games.

What is Zynga doing to that sheep? Brian Reynolds on the power of innuendo originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW debuts Propeller indie game awards this March

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST

Between schmoozing with record company executives and debating the merits of Lester Bangs, you may want to take a breather at South by Southwest to play a video game or two. Beyond relaxing in the ScreenBurn Arcade, you'll have a chance to demo games submitted to the first annual SXSW ScreenBurn Independent Propeller Awards. Indiepub Games is sponsoring the event, where finalists for "Best Art, Best Audio, Best Design and Technical Excellence" will show off their games from March 11 - 13.

If you're a developer interested in competing, submissions are open now through February 18 -- finalists get a free flight and accommodations to SXSW at the very least, where they'll be tasked with impressing attendees. One grand-prize winner will be decided on March 13, closing out the awards as well as the first annual SXSW ScreenBurn Game Developer's Meetup (a series of "informal round tables, impromptu talks, and a barrage of industry war stories").

SXSW debuts Propeller indie game awards this March originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interview: Twisted Pixel's Mike Wilford talks Comic Jumper

Christopher Grant — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST

After a grinning Peter Molyneux told Joystiq that Comic Jumper reminded him of a game he would have made twenty years ago (that's a compliment!), we stopped by developer Twisted Pixel's humble South by Southwest booth where CEO Mike Wilford told us about the encounter. "He gave us such a compliment, it was amazing!" Wilford said. After seeing what all the buzz was about, courtesy of a ten-minute demo, we rapped all about Comic Jumper's roots, how Twisted Pixel has changed after the success of 'Splosion Man, the return of 2D mascots (Hello, Sonic! Hello, Rocket Knight!), and where they find inspiration. Read on!

Joystiq: What kind of games are you harkening back to with Comic Jumper? It looks like there's a little bit of everything in there.

Mike Wilford: Definitely Contra, Gunstar Heroes, and a common theme across all of our games is that they're character-driven. We try to put a lot of personality and humor into the characters, so Earthworm Jim is a huge influence for us. Back in the day, there seemed to be a whole lot of mascot-type characters in games, like Mario, Sonic, all those things, and not many devs seem to be doing that anymore. We're trying to bring that back a little bit with our games.

Continue reading Interview: Twisted Pixel's Mike Wilford talks Comic Jumper

Interview: Twisted Pixel's Mike Wilford talks Comic Jumper originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Molyneux says Heavy Rain offers the 'first glimpses of the future' of games

James Ransom-Wiley — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST

If only Sony had waited until after the South by Southwest festival to release Heavy Rain, the publisher could have printed several glowing quotes from a known Xbox consorter on the back of the PS3-exclusive's game box. Oh, well -- there's always the "Game of the Year" edition.

During a a one-on-one conversation with writer Frank Rose at SXSW this week, Fabled designer Peter Molyneux heaped praise on Heavy Rain, calling it "absolutely brilliant."

"I recommend anyone who wants to start to see the first glimpses of the future of video games to go out and buy it," Molyneux advocated, before exposing his softer side to the audience. "But, personally, I could not bring myself to play more than 90 minutes, because the world that was there was so dark and so emotionally involving I felt emotionally beaten up." Aww, Mr. Molyneux.

"But there's no question in my mind that games like Heavy Rain -- games that have a new fidelity in the way that they present their experiences; obviously made with cinematography and motion capture in mind -- can really show the way forward to a new form of entertainment, which is evolving the story and choices and consequences." Molyneux steadfastly declared, having apparently recovered from painful memories of the game (perhaps cries of Jason? Jason? Jason! still faintly echoing in his head).

Molyneux also commended developer Quantic Dream's design choices, observing that the QTE interface "really meant that you had to pay attention all the time because you didn't know whether these quick-time events were going to come up"; though he noted that such gameplay mechanics "may be a little bit tired after a while." Still, he said, "I have to take my hat off to [Quantic Dream] ... There's a couple of things they do in that game which were really revolutionary, and what they do with quick-time is fantastic."

"Us designers were just laughing because we thought quick-time was dead, but that really was part of the drama of Heavy Rain."

Molyneux says Heavy Rain offers the 'first glimpses of the future' of games originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Molyneux explores Fable 3's episodic potential (with the aid of Charles Dickens)

Christopher Grant — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:30:00 EST

During a one-on-one conversation with writer Frank Rose at South by Southwest titled "The Emotion Engine: Can a Video Game Speak to the Heart?," Lionhead's Peter Molyneux offered some early details on the episodic potential of Fable 3, citing the serial nature of Charles Dickens' novels.

He began by comparing Fable 3's industrial setting to the mid-19th century setting of Charles Dickens' London, calling it a "brilliant time to set a game." "You look at the characters and the world that someone like Charles Dickens developed and you think, 'Well, it would be brilliant to feel like you're walking through that Dickensian version of London with a little bit of darkness.' Those novels, if you don't know them, are very, very dark," Molyneux explained. "They're written in a way that breaks the story up into these episodes. So why don't we do a similar sort of thing?"

Though Molyneux told Joystiq just last week that Fable 2's episodic experiment had been "massively successful," he stopped short of promising similar functionality for Fable 3; however, yesterday, he seemed to suggest they would be doing just that. "So what we're thinking with Fable 2 to start off with, and with Fable 3, we're going to give you the first big episode and then allow you to continue to download new episodes," Molyneux said. "And that's analogous to the way Charles Dickens wrote his books."

Asked if he would be developing these episodes "as you go along," Molyneux responded, "This is the new world of computer games where in fact, a lot of us are now saying, is, 'If we can have a really strong digital relationship with people then that means you don't have to entirely finish your game or your universe or your experience on release.'" Now, before you get upset, appreciate that Molyneux knows how "strange and bizarre" that sounds, so he's got two examples to help you better understand.

Continue reading Molyneux explores Fable 3's episodic potential (with the aid of Charles Dickens)

Molyneux explores Fable 3's episodic potential (with the aid of Charles Dickens) originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comic Jumper first video!

Christopher Grant — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST

What a treat! Tucked away amongst the South by Southwest Screenburn Arcade was a humble booth for Twisted Pixel Games. Sure, they were demoing The Maw and 'Splosion Man (one of Joystiq's top ten games of 2009!) for curious passers-by, but at 4pm CEO Mike Wilford demoed the first ten minutes of the heretofore unseen Comic Jumper. The price for this early look at the video: shaky cam footage! Wilford promised us some direct feed video this week; but, in the interim, enjoy this first look at Comic Jumper.

Comic Jumper first video! originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: Datapop tuneage for your Tuesday

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:50:00 EST

While we're scampering around GDC in the hunt for gaming goodness, we thought we'd drop a bootleg tune from last week's Datapop concert party at SXSW, which went exceedingly well. The venue was packed with sweaty chiptune lovers, and it actually rocked a lot more than we thought it would. Check out the gallery below from the event, and bounce along to the song from Sievert -- embedded at the bottom of the post.

If you're itching for more tunes, hit up the 8bitpeoples site for a ton of free music from most of the artists at the show. Warning: listening is addictive.

Gallery: SXSW 2009: Datapop

SXSW 2009: Datapop tuneage for your Tuesday originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: Gaming as a Gateway Drug: Getting Girls Interested in Technology

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:19:00 EST

The "Gaming as a Gateway Drug: Getting Girls into Technology" panel at SXSW proved to be extremely interesting, and sparked quite a debate on Twitter during the talk. The panelists focused both on the increasing number of girls getting their game on and the ones that eventually become employed within the gaming industry.

Ostensibly, they want to use gaming to get girls interested in the STEM career tracks, which are usually boy heavy: science, technology, engineering, and math. The panel was moderated by Dee Kapila of Girlstart, a non-profit organization aimed at getting girls interested in those fields. Kapila and the rest of the panel brought up some interesting points, and you can check out the highlights after the break.

Continue reading SXSW 2009: Gaming as a Gateway Drug: Getting Girls Interested in Technology

SXSW 2009: Gaming as a Gateway Drug: Getting Girls Interested in Technology originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: EA Dead Space - A Deep Media Case Study

Kevin Kelly — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:10:00 EST

One of SXSW's panels that showed off the effects of Panelitis Fakeoutitis (where a panel sounds much better on paper than it actually is) was "EA Dead Space: A Deep Case Media Study," which sounded like it would be a dissection of the game and what went into creating it.

A closer reading of the synopsis noted that it was all about "the method and the madness behind Electronic Arts' use of cross-platform marketing." Wait? What? Marketing?! Well, we went anyhow, and you can check out the highlights beyond the break.

Continue reading SXSW 2009: EA Dead Space - A Deep Media Case Study

SXSW 2009: EA Dead Space - A Deep Media Case Study originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: Free Datapop Gameboy chiptunes party open to the public

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:30:00 EST

If you're interested in all 8-bit music and chiptunes, then you'll want to get yourself to the free Datapop party in Austin this Wednesday night, March 18th. It's free, open to everyone, and will be full of Gameboy music from people like Bit Shifter, Nullsleep, IAYD, Anamanaguchi, 8Bk OK, Graffiti Monsters, and Sievert. Free game-related music, free drinks, and free admission? Three of our favorite free things. We'll be there, and if you will be too then let us know and come say hi.

SXSW 2009: Free Datapop Gameboy chiptunes party open to the public originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: Being Indie and Successful in the Video Game Industry

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:15:00 EST

There's a wealth of indie-related gaming panels and goings on at SXSW this year, ranging from the previous "Games By The People, For The People" panel, the GameSalad folks, and the retro-cool Get Outta My Face arcade cabinet. Heck, there's even a company that wants to bring back Hypercard stack games. So we went back for more indie gaming panel goodness, just because we could.

This was a panel by the game developers this time, rather than the people who run the companies ... so what did we learn? A lot of the same from the previous panel. Sadly Jonathan Blow couldn't make it, and was replaced by the above inflatable doll with the Freddie Mercury mug. Although covering his absence nicely were panelists Kellee Santiago from thatgamecompany, John Baez of The Behemoth, Ron Carmel of 2D BOY, and Joel DeYoung from Hothead Games who moderated. Check out the highlights after the break.

Continue reading SXSW 2009: Being Indie and Successful in the Video Game Industry

SXSW 2009: Being Indie and Successful in the Video Game Industry originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: Game Design Competition rewards elite game designs with Elite Xbox 360s

JC Fletcher — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:42:00 EST

This year's SXSW ScreenBurn Festival was the first to hold a game design competition for amateur developers. The finals in the two categories, Casual and AAA, were held back-to-back, with the four finalists in each category presenting their designs to an audience whose applause would determine their fate, and a panel of judges who would ask questions about the concepts and the possible execution of the games.

Continue reading SXSW 2009: Game Design Competition rewards elite game designs with Elite Xbox 360s

SXSW 2009: Game Design Competition rewards elite game designs with Elite Xbox 360s originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spotted @SXSW 2009: Jonathan Coulton in a giant fishbowl

Kevin Kelly — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:30:00 EST

Geek songster extraordinaire Jonathan Coulton was on-hand at SXSW, being interviewed in the aquariumrific Studio SX stage. You can watch the full interview at some point later on SXSW.com to hear Coulton talking about reaching his geeky audiences, how he crafts his songs, and why he loves audience misbehavior. He capped everything off with a live performance of the unofficial Portal anthem "Still Alive," which really doesn't get old no matter how many times you hear it.

Spotted @SXSW 2009: Jonathan Coulton in a giant fishbowl originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: That Doesn't Suck! Inspiring Creativity With Spore

Kevin Kelly — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:30:00 EST

Although Spore's ship date has come and gone, many people are still fervent about creating new creatures, vehicles, buildings, and more for the game, and they've chalked up over 86 million users creations and counting so far. This panel was about the the wealth user created content out there, and also served as a springboard for talking about the first full Spore expansion pack: Galactic Adventures.

Caryl Shaw is a producer at Maxis, and she showed off the new expansion pack, and talked about the tools that Maxis and EA strive to give users so that they can create their own open-ended adventures, which is what Galactic Adventures promises to do. She tooled around inside the game for a bit, showing off the planet terraforming features and a combat-focused user created adventure. But what caught our eye most of all was the sheer amount of extremely creative user creations that just stagger the imagination.

While Spore might have come out and disappointed some, this panel was enough to make us want to bust it out again when we get home and either get busy creating, or get busy exploring some of the jaw-dropping user content. Check out the highlights after the break.

Continue reading SXSW 2009: That Doesn't Suck! Inspiring Creativity With Spore

SXSW 2009: That Doesn't Suck! Inspiring Creativity With Spore originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: Indie meets arcade in Get Outta My Face

JC Fletcher — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 02:30:00 EST

The secluded Snowrunner Productions booth in SXSW's ScreenBurn Arcade housed a rare sight: two actual arcade cabinets. Even rarer: the cabinets featured a new game: Will Brierly's Get Outta My Face: a jittery, slightly psychotic action game about a blue cube who has to dodge a rush of red cubes. It's not just a hobby project, either -- Brierly is planning to market Get Outta My Face to restaurants, clubs, and arcades, and it's already found a home in a few venues.

After playing the bizarre novelty (in classic arcade fashion, I failed out of my first session within a minute), I spoke with Brierly about the crazy process of making your own arcade game.

Continue reading SXSW 2009: Indie meets arcade in Get Outta My Face

SXSW 2009: Indie meets arcade in Get Outta My Face originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 15 Mar 2009 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: Games By the People, For the People

Kevin Kelly — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:30:00 EST

So you enjoy playing video games, right? That's what probably brought you to Joystiq in the first place. But have you ever thought about making your own? Right now you're probably thinking, "But, Kevin... doesn't that take millions of dollars and a huge development team?" Well you happen to be in luck, because the answer is no. You can pretty much do it all on your own for pennies. But what's the secret to making it awesome? 5 out of 5 panelists agree: you need to have a good story, or a really interesting idea. Simple, right? Start thinking, and find out more after the break.

Continue reading SXSW 2009: Games By the People, For the People

SXSW 2009: Games By the People, For the People originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW 2009: A lifetime of gaming in a single booth

JC Fletcher — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:30:00 EST

It is not my intention to shill for a beverage, but Mountain Dew's installation in SXSW's ScreenBurn Arcade was too cool for me not to share. As I walked by, I noticed a cozy little setup with a couch, a vintage TV, an NES, an Atari 2600, and a pile of games; a booth employee was playing some Super Mario Bros. I looked around a bit and found that Mountain Dew's expansive booth featured separate areas dedicated to discrete eras of gaming.

In addition to the early-mid '80s corner, the booth featured an SNES/Genesis shrine, a setup with a PlayStation, N64, and Xbox, and, of course, modern installations, one of which featured Wii Sports and the other Rock Band. The whole effect was more than nostalgic, it was soothing -- I can definitely imagine getting away from the stress and crowds by whiling away time in 1985. And more than that, it was like seeing my own life in distinct little pieces. That PlayStation/Xbox room might as well have been my dorm room -- except for the nice furniture and TV.

As great as the booth was, it didn't necessarily make me crave any Mountain Dew, though the booth staff gave me some anyway. Kudos to the Dew for abandoning the "extreme" for a bit and doing something incredibly sweet.

Gallery: Mountain Dew ScreenBurn booth

SXSW 2009: A lifetime of gaming in a single booth originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq invades SXSW 2009!

Kevin Kelly — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:30:00 EST

If you're in the vicinity of Austin, Texas, then you're probably in town for SXSW - the interactive, music, and film festival. We are too! Both myself and JC Fletcher will be here bringing updates from panels, attending the Screenburn Arcade, and checking out the gaming scene here at the festival. If you're in town, leave us a comment and say hi. Who knows, we might buy you a Shiner Bock. Stay tuned for more SXSW coverage, and check out years past right here.

Joystiq invades SXSW 2009! originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: ScreenBurn Arcade in pictures

JC Fletcher — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Galleries

Despite being the centerpiece of SXSW Interactive's game-focused ScreenBurn Festival, the ScreenBurn Arcade has yet to achieve the expansive grandeur of other conventions' expo floors. The entire floor was enclosed within less than half of the Austin Convention Center's convention space. Most of the real estate in there was taken up by just a few exhibitors. The Championship Gaming Series held a draft at ScreenBurn, and had a large, flashy area of their own on one side of the floor, with constant bouts of Dead or Alive 4, Forza 2 and other games taking place.

Wizards of the Coast had one of the largest installations directly in the middle of the floor, with space to play board, card, and miniature games -- as well as, of course, space to buy said games. The relative size of the booth actually made it seem more important, and almost drove me to buy some Magic cards or something.

Many of the booths were playing popular released games -- GameTap, of course, had a selection of classics, and Guitar Hero III and Rock Band were mainstays. The only booth I could find that was demonstrating any pre-release games was Gamecock, who brought the demos of Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball, Hail to the Chimp, Insecticide, and Legendary from EIEIO, as well as Dementium.

The most popular booth in the Arcade was not really game-related: Austin Laser Art offered laser etching of cellphones and other items, and had conventiongoers waiting over an hour for the chance to burn their expensive stuff.

ScreenBurn is just in its second year, and we're certain that the festival and the Arcade will continue to grow in size and popularity. This year, however, it was a great place to play some Rock Band and lose at Dead or Alive 4.

Gallery: SXSW 2008: ScreenBurn Arcade

SXSW08: ScreenBurn Arcade in pictures originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: Virtual worlds and indie games to dethrone publishers

JC Fletcher — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO, Business

Multiverse cofounder Corey Bridges' talk at SXSW Interactive may have had the title "Virtual World and Game Development: Rise of the Indies," but it soon became clear that "Rise of the Indies" was a nicer spin on "Fall of Publishers." The talk turned out to be surprisingly inflammatory as Bridges predicted the death of the traditional video game industry in favor of near-universal adoption of virtual worlds. "Video game publishers are dead. They're walking corpses. They just don't know it."

Bridges has the track record to back up wild predictions, having been right about things like graphical web browsing, online mail-order DVD rental, and, uh, computer security (by association, as in he was involved with each of these early on). To see this person attached to an MMO development platform is basically troubling for people who would like to continue ignoring MMOs.

Continue reading SXSW08: Virtual worlds and indie games to dethrone publishers

SXSW08: Virtual worlds and indie games to dethrone publishers originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: Inside Austin's Developerscape

JC Fletcher — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO

In this panel, a group of Austin-based game developers set out to discuss the unique Austin game development community, moderated by journalist (and Joystiq contributor) N. Evan Van Zelfden. In the course of the discussion, a bit of neuropsychology and hilarious anti-MMO (and pro-MMO) vitriol also came out, along with a lot of reminiscence.

According to Junction Point's Warren Spector and NCSoft's Dallas Snell, the Austin game development scene, as well as its current MMO focus, have their origins in, uh, Origin. The Ultima developer moved in Austin in 1986 from New Hampshire, and many companies spun off from ex-Origin personnel. Spector was hired at the company after time spent teaching at UT and working at Steve Jackson Games, and then a stint in Wisconsin at TSR. Snell was at Origin during the 1986 move.

Continue reading SXSW08: Inside Austin's Developerscape

SXSW08: Inside Austin's Developerscape originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: The Female Takedown of Casual Gaming

JC Fletcher — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: PC, Casual

A panel of game publishers, analysts, and investors met at this SXSW presentation to discuss the numbers and trends involving the female audience for casual games. For this talk, "casual games" comprises mostly web games and downloadable shareware games, and not, say, Wii party games or console downloads.

Parks Associates' Michael Cai began with some charts. According to the data, female gamers heavily prefer computers to consoles: female gamers spend an average of 70% of their gaming time on computers, versus male gamers' 56%. Female gamers make up 62% of the casual game audience, and this group, especially those age 13-17, play more sessions per month. There is less diversity among genres for female gamers as well: across age groups, puzzle and card games are the most popular casual games.

Continue reading SXSW08: The Female Takedown of Casual Gaming

SXSW08: The Female Takedown of Casual Gaming originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 09 Mar 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: GameTap party lets the free games flow

JC Fletcher — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:35:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, PC, Galleries

Augmenting their usual Internet-based strategy of giving people free games to lure them into a subscription service, GameTap treated SXSW attendees to a party at Austin's Parkside restaurant Saturday night. Along with the laptops set up for free play of a selection of classics, partygoers were treated to fancy hors d'oeuvres (ceviche, croquettes, uh, tiny hamburgers), drinks, and excellent DJ-provided music. Also, projected logos that only shone directly into my eyes a couple of times.

It should be noted that these pictures were taken soon after the beginning of the party. It was already picking up as I left. There were still plenty of people in Parkside enjoying the crowd, the food, the beer, and the Metal Slug. If more parties had Metal Slug stations, well, I'd go to parties.

Gallery: SXSW GameTap party

SXSW08: GameTap party lets the free games flow originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: Booth Hero

JC Fletcher — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm, Galleries

What's better for attracting people to your booth than a fake guitar? Apparently nothing! Walking around SXSW's ScreenBurn Arcade, I began to notice that I was seeing a lot of Guitar Hero III and Rock Band setups. The guitars and drums are a lot showier than most game controllers, and are thus a lot better at getting attention than other games. I understood the power of these two games.

But that doesn't mean I didn't find it a little weird that groups who had basically nothing to do with Guitar Hero III or Rock Band were featuring it at their booths. I was also amused by the number of booths that featured guitar games, compared to the total number of booths in the ScreenBurn Arcade. It almost seemed like these two games outnumbered not-music games.

Gallery: SXSW guitar games

SXSW08: Booth Hero originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Overheard' @ SXSW: What does green mean to you?

JC Fletcher — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360

I didn't actually need to hear anything to get the story here. The interview crew were wearing shirts featuring the title question (which I really thought would show up in the picture, but just trust me), and they cornered this Spartan from the 405th Infantry Division. What does green mean to you, guy dressed like the Master Chief?

I felt very lucky to witness this convergence. Such a perfect meeting is like a lol-ar eclipse.

'Overheard' @ SXSW: What does green mean to you? originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: Edit Me! How Gamers Are Adopting the Wiki Way

JC Fletcher — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO

With such a strange and specialized topic, I couldn't help but stop into this SXSW panel with speakers Jake McKee (Ant's Eye View), April Burba (NCSoft), Angelique Shelton (Wikia) and George Pribul (WoWWiki, the second largest English-language wiki in the world by traffic, according to the panel). The basic topic: the state of gaming wikis, particularly those built around MMO games.

The panel began with a call out to the audience to determine what people wanted out of the presentation. One attendee wanted to better serve business clients with a wiki; another wanted to get a sense of the wiki world beyond Wikipedia; another wanted to use wikis for science education. It wasn't an entirely game-focused crowd, but the emphasis was on emergent information organization anyway, and not necessarily any one game.

Continue reading SXSW08: Edit Me! How Gamers Are Adopting the Wiki Way

SXSW08: Edit Me! How Gamers Are Adopting the Wiki Way originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW08: SXSWag

JC Fletcher — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Galleries

My first task upon entering the Austin Convention Center was ... well, it was to challenge the Labyrinth of Press Registration (instead of a minotaur at the end, there is a nice-but-flustered volunteer). But after that! I went for the swag bag. I just wasn't carrying enough stuff! It's stuff. How could I resist?

SXSW Interactive is not strictly about video games, and the free stuff in this bag is similarly focused on interactive technology in general. Microsoft is promoting their Flash-like Silverlight browser plugin, Opera's pushing, uh, Opera (via koozie!) and Fuze is putting their marketing effort behind their thirst-quenching technology. By far the most enjoyable bit of swag was Adobe's ad-filled fortune cookies. Or, as I like to call them, breakfast. I am literally a consumer of their ad material!

I laid out everything that wasn't an advertising flier and took pictures to provide you with the immersive SXSW swag bag experience. Check our gallery and imagine what it must feel like to have things from a convention!

Gallery: SXSW 2008 swag bag

SXSW08: SXSWag originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: Getting Girls Into The Game: Designing and Marketing Games for Female Players

Kevin Kelly — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:45:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Competitive Gaming, Business, Casual

Boyfriends aren't the only ones facing dilemmas. Publishers and developers have been struggling to develop games that appeal to women, because they represent a huge demographic who haven't traditionally been associated with the video game market, and that translates to lost dollars. But how do you begin to approach making a game for girls, or is it even a mistake to set out to do that from the beginning, rather than just making a game that's fun?

The panel first asked the question, "What constitutes a female gamer?" Jame Pinckard said, "Women aren't just this monolithic block of 'gamers', they all want different types of games. Just because a Barbie video is made for a 12 year old girl, doesn't mean a 26 year woman has to play it." Sheri Graner Ray took it a step further, adding "There is no definition of a female gamer, and trying to tack a label to them does a disservice. The female gamer is simply a female who plays games. She's just a diverse as any other market out there."

Continue reading SXSW: Getting Girls Into The Game: Designing and Marketing Games for Female Players

SXSW: Getting Girls Into The Game: Designing and Marketing Games for Female Players originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: Virtual Worlds and Virtual Humans: NPCs and Avatars

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:42:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Adventure, Online, Competitive Gaming, MMO

This panel discussed the rise of virtual worlds, the NPCs that frequently populate them and how games like World of Warcraft are much more populated with human players and their avatars. Although it devolved into a sort of "he said/she said" argument over user-created content and in-game behaviors, it did introduce us to a particular nasty bout of griefing in a WoW realm.

Apparently a player who died in real life had a funeral procession on the server she played on, and tons of her guild members and other players turned out to honor her. Of course, it wasn't long until some funeral crashers showed up and pretty much slaughtered the entire funeral party. In a way, it's sort of fitting, don't you think? Check out the video after the jump. Yes, it's been around for eons, but it sort of brilliantly explains, in a visual sense, what this panel devolved into.

After this, things sort of went awry and off-course. There was a lot of verbal jabbing, both good-natured and not, throughout the rest of the panel without it really going in a particular direction. We were too busy trying to find a good spot to grief from.

Continue reading SXSW: Virtual Worlds and Virtual Humans: NPCs and Avatars

SXSW: Virtual Worlds and Virtual Humans: NPCs and Avatars originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: Digital Distribution: The Way of the Future for Gaming

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:42:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Online, Business, Casual

Almost everyone who has gone online with the computer or a game console has probably downloaded something at one time or another, whether it's been a song, a photo, a game, or a set of horse armor for their equine friend. But are digital downloads the wave of the future for full-on distribution? Developers are hoping so, because it will cut down tremendously on competing for shelf space at the local Mega-Lo-Mart, not to mention all those costs for printing games, manuals, boxes, shipping, and the like.

The panel consisted of Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimted one of the big "shelf" retailers, especially with their newly announced mega-game Turning Point: Fall of Liberty due this coming November. From the other end of things was Dan Conners, CEO of Telltale productions who is in the middle of releasing Sam & Max as an episodic game, before packaging everything up into a retail edition. In the middle (and sadly, without much to offer) was David Burks, the marketing manager for Seagate Technology. You gotta store the downloads somewhere, right? In all fairness, Seagate was one of the SXSW sponsors, and he probably felt a bit shoehorned into this panel.

Continue reading SXSW: Digital Distribution: The Way of the Future for Gaming

SXSW: Digital Distribution: The Way of the Future for Gaming originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: Serious Games: Can Learning Be Hard Fun?

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, PC, Puzzle, Simulations, Casual

When you combine the words "serious" "learning" and "hard" in the same sentence, chances are you're going to end up with something that gamers won't like. But that's what the Serious Games Initiative is all about, developing games for "non-entertainment" purposes. Of course, the problem is games for non-entertainment tend to scare people away faster than the phrase "edutainment."

That's the main problem facing Serious Games, how do they make it seem like they aren't hiding the broccoli under the meatloaf? All of the games shown off were educational in one form or another, having to do with zapping cancer cells inside the human body, or how to interact with people in the workplace. Seriously, there is a game about the proper way to run a meeting, collaborate with coworkers, and generally function in an office. Too bad it's not running on the Unreal Engine. Zing!

Continue reading SXSW: Serious Games: Can Learning Be Hard Fun?

SXSW: Serious Games: Can Learning Be Hard Fun? originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: Joystiq live at the Will Wright keynote [Update 1]

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 15:56:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, PC, Online, Simulations

We're live in Austin, front and center for the Will Wright keynote speech, where the attendees seem a lot more excited for this one than they did for the Dan Rather speech yesterday. I guess that might change if Dan Rather was actually working on a groundbreaking new game that has almost as much buzz around it as the Apple iPhone.

Will Wright is wandering around visiting with peeps, and he his arm in a sling for some reason. As we find out, we'll let you know. Maybe he's been spending too much time Spore-ing.

1:56pm: They've started playing celestial new-agey Yanni-type music and showing slides of the solar system. Maybe Will Wright has decided to become the new Carl Sagan. Now the music sounds like a twangy version of the Firefly theme song. Browncoats, FTW! The slides keep pulling farther back and showing beelyuns and beelyuns of galaxies and stars.

2:06pm: Will Wright is sitting right in front of us and talking with a Tucker Carlson lookalike, complete with floppy hair and bow-tie. Wright is wearing a sort of muscle-shirt combo with the sling. It's very steampunk and aggro. We snuck a look at his XPS laptop on the stage .... no screensaver.

Gallery: Will Wright SXSW Keynote pix

Continue reading SXSW: Joystiq live at the Will Wright keynote [Update 1]

SXSW: Joystiq live at the Will Wright keynote [Update 1] originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 15:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: Game Perverts

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:25:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Hacks, Retro, Casual

At first glance that panel title sounds like a very special episode of Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator," but the subtitle makes it a bit clearer ... for some: "A Robot, a DS, and a dot-matrix printer menage a trois." This panel was all about hacking and homebrewing, and we saw some pretty cool stuff.

Bob Sabiston's Nintendo DS animation project -- this is a homebrew kit that Bob began developing after sending Nintendo a letter explaining that he was a fairly decent programmer and engineer (he is - he wrote the rotoscoping software used for the animation in Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly) and they sent him a software development kit for the DS. His animation and painting program is one of the best apps we've ever seen on the DS, and even the artwork he's produced on it is very impressive.
Rich LeGrand got into game robotics with the Game Boy Advance, because there is a fairly limitless supply of hardware available on eBay at around $20 a pop. He reverse-engineered a robotics tool for the GBA called the Xport, which he sells through his company Charmed Labs, that lets you program and build a robot around your handheld (most people use Lego for the robot exoskeleton). He has also very successfully not been sued by Nintendo.
Paul Slocum took an old Epson LQ500 dot-matrix printer and reversed engineered a box that lets him program and play music through it by changing the speeds and strengths that the pins strike the paper. It really has to be heard to be believed (it's part of the song - former dot-matrix users will hear it right away). He also uses an Atari 2600 with a modified cartridge to generate drums and "bleep" sounds. Pretty impressive stuff.

We lovingly retitled this panel "How to hack up your precious hardware," but now we're thinking about cracking something open and giving it a whirl. We just wish we'd kept those old dot-matrix printers.

SXSW: Game Perverts originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: Games + Entertainment Brands: Five Top Trends In 2007

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:26:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

This panel brought together Robert Nashak, GM of Yahoo Games, Chris Charla, director of business development for Foundation 9, Charles Merrin from Real Networks, and Brian Ring, the GM of Interactive Content for Scope Seven. The purpose was to discuss the top five trends in 2007 in the realm of gaming and entertainment.

When games meet entertainment brands, it's traditionally meant a game based on a movie that comes out a few weeks (or months) after the film has hit theaters. However, for the past few years games have started to be released concurrently with the films, or even before the movies come out. Hollywood studios now include video game development in the earliest stages of pre-production, and even involve game companies in the writing process.

Games + Entertainment Brands also encompasses traditional board games, like Scrabble and Monopoly, being licensed for video games, and toys like Bratz and Barbie as well. We break down the top five trends that will be hitting games + entertainment brands in 2007 after the jump.

Continue reading SXSW: Games + Entertainment Brands: Five Top Trends In 2007

SXSW: Games + Entertainment Brands: Five Top Trends In 2007 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SXSW: The Inside Scoop - how to get a job in the game industry

Kevin Kelly — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:51:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Business

For the most part, the "Inside Scoop" about getting a job in the gaming industry sounded like getting a job in pretty much any industry, except maybe trading decommissioned nuclear weapons on the black market. They hit the main points several times, which were as follows:

Have a professional looking resume.
Wear clean, washed (!) clothes to any meeting or interview.
Be on time.
Network. Network. Network.

Like any industry you hope to break into, it's often not what you know, but who you know. Although panelist Bryan Stratton did add that he had a friend who he helped get a job in the field, and he ended up making a lot less money than he should have because of his lack of a higher education. So put down the controllers from time to time and read a book, ftw ... er, paycheck.

Of particular note, one panelist mentioned that the two most important applications you can learn to help get a job in the industry are ... Microsoft Excel and email. Most of the time you are going to be coordinating assets and communicating with other people, so it's highly important that you know your way around a spreadsheet, and can organize your inbox and send/receive files and then know where they are.

So if you can pwn in Excel as well as you do in Gears of War, then you're well on your way.

SXSW: The Inside Scoop - how to get a job in the game industry originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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