Joystiq

Hit List Q&A: Matthew Lee Johnston

Joystiq Staff — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:30:00 EST

In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Matthew Lee Johnston.

Matthew Lee Johnston is an eighteen-year veteran of the video game industry and in that time has contributed to over 50 shipped titles. His first project was Microsoft Golf 2.0, and his most recent was Plants Vs. Zombies 2.

At the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit today, Matt will be moderating a panel titled, "Secret Sauce: Disruption on the Mobile Frontier." Joining him on the panel will be Halfbrick CMO Phil Larsen (Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride), Spry Fox CEO David Edery (Triple Town) and Backflip Studios CEO Julian Farrior (Dragonvale). This is a session where outspoken and independent developers, who have innovated in the mobile market, tell the big guys how they snuck up behind them and grabbed their earnings last year. We'll get behind-the-scenes access to the designs, principles, and methods that allowed these studios to disrupt the entire balance of the traditional video game marketplace in less than two years by dominating the mobile space with some great entertainment.

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Hit List Q&A: Matthew Lee Johnston originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Glen Schofield, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games

Joystiq Staff — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:00:00 EST

Glen Schofield is co-founder and studio head of Sledgehammer Games, co-developer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. A visionary in the video game business for more than 20 years, Glen started his career as an artist and art director for Absolute Entertainment. He also served as the general manager of EA's Visceral Games Studio and was the creator and executive producer of the award winning Dead Space. Glen is credited in over 50 games that together have grossed more than $3 billion in revenues.

Art has been an important part of Glen's life from a young age. He started taking art lessons early on, eventually earning a BFA (he also holds an MBA) and began his professional career as a freelance illustrator before entering the world of video games. In his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, Glen will discuss "The Art of Inspiration." He will speak about how he draws inspiration from anything and anywhere and how that has influenced his work as a game developer on a day-to-day basis.

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Hit List Q&A: Glen Schofield, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi

Joystiq Staff — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:55:00 EST

Outspoken entrepreneur, passionate video game developer, and the Person of the Year 2012 according to GamesIndustry International, Victor Kislyi is the man behind the blockbuster World of Tanks, the Massive Assault Series, and the upcoming World of Warplanes and World of Warships action MMO games.

In 1998, Victor established Wargaming, eventually leading the company from its strategy gaming roots to its current position as a leading global interactive entertainment conglomerate with over 1,300 employees and 11 offices in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Victor leads the team, setting design philosophy and strategy and boosting the company with his experience and enthusiasm. Under his expert care Wargaming is now working on four MMO games and building the Wargaming.net service - the epicenter of a battle-driven gaming universe that would unite all company's projects under a single multiplayer ecosystem.

At his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, Victor will speak on "The Evolution of Free-To-Play: From Tanks To Beyond." Without growth there is only stagnation. While "free-to play" has taken the gaming industry by storm, it's becoming more and more apparent that an evolution of the business model is necessary in order to truly adapt to the needs of gamers and consumers. He will walk D.I.C.E. attendees through his vision of the free-to-play market as it stands today, as well as his thoughts and ideas on how it must grow in the future in order to remain viable.

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Hit List Q&A: Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Warren Spector, Creative Director and Founder of Junction Point

Joystiq Staff — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:30:00 EST

Warren Spector, veteran electronic game designer/producer, heads up video game developer Junction Point Studios, a division of Disney Interactive. Warren has worked in the game industry since 1983. After six years at Steve Jackson Games and TSR, creating pen-and-paper games, he joined computer game developer Origin Systems where he produced several games including Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds, System Shock, Ultima VII: Part 2, Serpent Isle, Wings of Glory, Bad Blood, Ultima Worlds of Adventure: Martian Dreams, Cybermage and others.

After seven years with Origin, Warren did a brief stint with LookingGlass Technologies before founding Ion Storm's Austin, Texas studio in 1997. At Ion Storm, he produced and directed the award-winning, genre-bending Deus Ex. He later oversaw development of Deus Ex: Invisible War, released in 2003, and Thief: Deadly Shadows, released in 2004. That year, he left Ion Storm to found Junction Point Studios, developing concepts for a variety of video game and motion picture partners before being acquired, in 2007, by The Walt Disney Company. There he directed Disney Epic Mickey, released in 2010. A sequel, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, was released in November 2012.

In his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, Warren will be speaking on "Hey, You kids! Get Outta My Yard! or The Graying of Gaming."

"Used to be, games were largely the domain of youngsters - kids played them and 'kids' (relatively speaking) made them," Spector says. "Nowadays, things are different. Gamers are everywhere, coming in all ages and genders, and developers have grown up, too. In this talk, I will address the impact of aging on gamers, on developers and on our medium. How does the graying of gaming affect Game Content, Player Commitment, Design Philosophy, Gaming Platforms, Mainstream Media Interactions and, generally speaking, The Future. This talk will be a personal look backwards and forwards that will, I hope, offer something for kids and adults, boys and girls, men and women, whatever their relationship may be with games as pastime, as art or as business."

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Hit List Q&A: Warren Spector, Creative Director and Founder of Junction Point originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Supergiant Games studio director Amir Rao

Joystiq Staff — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:30:00 EST

Amir Rao is the Studio Director for Supergiant Games, the team behind the AIAS award-winning downloadable game Bastion, which was released on Xbox Live Arcade, Steam, Mac, Linux, Chrome and iOS. Prior to Supergiant Games, Amir worked at Electronic Arts Los Angeles as a designer on Command & Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3.

At the upcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit Amir will be speaking on the topic, "Multiplatformism." Over the course of a year, Supergiant Games shipped its award-winning game Bastion on six different platforms with three fundamentally different user interface paradigms. This session covers the design tenets that emerged in translating Bastion from controller to keyboard to touch. The talk will explore Superigant Games' ethos behind picking platforms, while considering if the future of elegant design is truly interface agnostic.

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Hit List Q&A: Supergiant Games studio director Amir Rao originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: David Cage, founder of Quantic Dream

Joystiq Staff — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:45:00 EST

David Cage founded Quantic Dream in 1997, with the ambition of using interactivity as a new means of expression. He developed a creative vision based upon emotion, innovation and immersive storytelling. After his first video game Omikron featuring famous singer David Bowie, the game Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) received great critical acclaim and won several awards worldwide. In 2010, Heavy Rain, a dark thriller produced by Sony, met critical acclaim and commercial success, selling over 2.3 million units to date. Heavy Rain was the winner of three Interactive Achievement Awards in 2011 (now called the D.I.C.E. Awards) - Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

In 2012, Cage launched a new tech demo called KARA, featuring an android girl with an actress who delivered a stunning acting performance. Quantic Dream is currently in production of Beyond, a game written and directed by David Cage, starring actress Ellen Page. The game, produced by Sony exclusively on PlayStation 3, will be released in 2013.

In his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, Cage will be speaking on "The Peter Pan Syndrome: The Industry that Refused to Grow Up." In a significantly changing landscape dominated by franchises, where new devices with 89c games get more and more of consumers' attention, the video game industry is confronted with a massive challenge. A new console cycle is about to start, new business models and platforms appear while creativity and risk taking has never been lower.

The game industry, having always refused to grow up, is now confronted with a new dilemma: evolve or stagnate. The first and most important revolution to start is about content. Based on his experience and fifteen years in the industry developing original content, David Cage will explain in a passionate, thought-provoking presentation (with a French accent) his vision for content in the future and why he believes it is the key to expanding our market and finally become a mature industry.

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Hit List Q&A: David Cage, founder of Quantic Dream originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Xavier Poix, Ubisoft Annecy, Montpellier and Paris managing director

Joystiq Staff — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:45:00 EST

Xavier Poix is Managing Director of Ubisoft's Annecy, Montpellier and Paris studios. Xavier joined Ubisoft in 1998 on the business side, becoming Sales Director for France before moving into production. He was Director of Ubisoft Montpellier and producer of the game for Peter Jackson's King Kong before taking his current role. Under Xavier's management, Ubisoft's French studios have become synonymous with launch titles for new platforms, such as Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Red Steel, and ZombiU. Their creative talent is at the origin of blockbuster brands (Raving Rabbids, Just Dance), critically acclaimed original IP (From Dust), and demonstrating that license-based titles and quality gaming experiences are not incompatible (The Adventures of TinTin, Michael Jackson The Experience). Having recently finished development on several Wii U launch titles as well as Assassin's Creed 3 multiplayer, the French studios are working on new titles, including Rayman Legends, and continue to infuse creativity and innovation into Ubisoft's brands.

At his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, he will be addressing the topic - "Developing the Future: leveraging new technology to change the way we play." Putting new tech in the hands of developers inevitably results in exciting new ideas. And when that tech is revolutionary, it can change paradigms and make us question the fundamentals of how we play. Building on the personal of experience of overseeing Ubisoft titles that offered audiences a new way of interacting with the game - and each other - this talk explores certain trends that could mark and potentially change our perspective of gaming in the near future.

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Hit List Q&A: Xavier Poix, Ubisoft Annecy, Montpellier and Paris managing director originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Jesse Schell, Schell Games CEO

Joystiq Staff — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST

A note from the AIAS:Jesse is the CEO of Schell Games, the largest videogame studio in Pennsylvania. He also serves as Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. Jesse has worked on a wide variety of innovative game and simulation projects for both entertainment and education, but he is best known for his award winning book The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses and for Beyond Facebook, a talk at the 2010 DICE Summit where he described a future where games and life become indistinguishable. He is a former chair of the International Game Developers Association, and in 2004 he was named one of the world's Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT Technology Review. Before starting his own company, Jesse was the Creative Director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, which helped to develop interactive theme park attractions as well as Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer game for children. Before that, he worked as writer, director, performer, juggler, comedian, and circus artist for both Freihofer's Mime Circus and the Juggler's Guild.

Jesse will be speaking at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit on "The Secret Mechanisms." The world of game design is changing. New systems of distribution and payment are making even seasoned designers feel naïve. The key to understanding what business models and what game concepts will work is to understand the human mind, for the mind is the medium in which game designers work. Far from an inert surface, the human mind has thousands of complex mechanisms that determine a game's success or failure. Continuing the theme of Jesse's landmark 2010 DICE talk, this talk gathers mechanisms from far and wide: art, psychology, advertising, music, architecture, poetry, science, storytelling - nothing is off-limits, and special attention is paid to the mechanisms that can help us understand how to live, thrive, and survive in this post-retail world of game development.

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Hit List Q&A: Jesse Schell, Schell Games CEO originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Jenova Chen, thatgamecompany President

Joystiq Staff — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:33:00 EST

A note from the AIAS:
Jenova Chen is President & Creative Director for thatgamecompany (TGC). TGC is best known for creating experimental, artistic, and accessible games that touch players on an emotional level. TGC designed and developed the award-winning PSN titles flOw, Flower, and, most recently, Journey.

At the upcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit conference, Jenova will be speaking on: Emotion Oriented Interactive Entertainment - Inspirations and Theories Behind Journey. Jenova learned many valuable lessons on what went well and how to do better on his quest to create games that deliver a lasting emotional impact. Jenova will discuss TGC's founding design philosophy and share some of the lessons he and his team gleaned from TGC's past six years developing three innovative downloadable games.

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Hit List Q&A: Jenova Chen, thatgamecompany President originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit List Q&A: Randy Pitchford, Gearbox Software President

Joystiq Staff — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:45:00 EST

A note from the AIAS:Randy Pitchford is co-founder, owner and President of Gearbox Software. Randy served as Executive Producer and in creative and development capacities in the creation of Gearbox Software's award winning, best-selling original franchises Brothers in Arms and Borderlands. Under Randy's leadership, Gearbox Software has also developed a string of hits with sequels, expansions, and original games for many of the industry's most credible franchises and in 2010 acquired Duke Nukem to add to its stable of properties. Before the launch of Borderlands 2 on September 18, 2012, Gearbox Software games have sold over 30 million units earning more than $1 billion in gross revenues.

What many do not know is that prior to game development, Randy was a professional magician. In his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session titled "Video Games Are Magic," Randy will explore how the lessons of magical performance apply to our industry. Along the way, he'll demonstrate and expose specific techniques, methods and ideas from magic that illustrate how the art of illusion has a lot in common with the art of interactive entertainment and leave his audience with tools that are useful and applicable from the executive level to the design level of our craft.

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Hit List Q&A: Randy Pitchford, Gearbox Software President originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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