Joystiq's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from the last week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute.
The Digital Continuum: Rock Band, the MMO I've actually entertained the idea for a long time now, only to shove it aside as a crazy notion. But the thing kept popping back into the forefront of my mind so often that I couldn't discount it as happenstance. I've become enamored with the idea, because let's face it; a Rock Band MMO has the potential to ooze- no, to gush pure liquid awesome.
Massively's exclusive Mines of Moria dev tour Earlier last month, Massively was invited to get a hands-on look at Mines of Moria, the first-ever expansion for Lord of the Rings Online with Turbine's Adam Mersky and Moria Producer Mike Jablonn. During this special dev tour, we were treated to many of the features of the new environments, new creatures, certain landmarks and the Legendary Item system.
Is LotRO coming to the console? According to a job posting on Turbine's website, they're looking to hire a Senior User Interface Engineer who "may be refactoring existing user interfaces or implementing completely new user interfaces for systems such as combat, skills, inventory, treasure, and social systems." Does this mean LotRO?
Whether it's being punched in the face or eaten alive, Capcom has become concerned of a media backlash against its upcoming violence-heavy software catalog. As part of the same annual report to investors in which the developer and publisher reaffirmed its dedication to Western game development, Capcom also outlined a handful of potential obstacles to its business, one of which it describes as a possible "smear campaign" by the mass media against its titles.
Writes Capcom: "Some of our popular software titles have provocative graphics and text, such as violent and grotesque scenes. Accordingly, in the event of violent incidents and other criminal cases involving juveniles, we may be subject to a smear campaign by some sections of the mass media which often point out the correlation between crime and games."
What some fail to realize is the vital role Capcom's games play in the education of today's youth. Where else can they learn the most effective means to grind a path through the shambling undead with a lawnmower? Without such knowledge, who else will live on and continue humanity's struggle against the zombie hordes after the rest of us are dead and eaten?
Right, so the Mario Bros. remake below the jump -- by former Joystiq writer Jared Rea -- might be just the slightest bit offensive (and not in a NSFW way). But, it's also very funny, which has always trumped offense in our book. He says it's the result of a Twitter joke gone too far, but in our book it's gone just far enough.
Mr. Rea does provide some additional explanation for the gag on his blog, but we hope you don't need it (you're not that removed from the outside world, are you?).
"There are fascinating things going on in your industry that not enough Americans, not enough people around the world, know about. You're in a constant state of evolution -- and yes for all you bloggers out there, I actually used the E-word there." -Texas Governor Rick Perry makes an oblique reference to his more controversial associations at his E3 keynote speech this morning.
If we had to summarize thismorning's E keynote speech by Texas Governor Rick Perry in three words, it would be "Texas is awesome." If we had a few more words, we'd say "Texas is awesome, and so is the game industry."
After a short introductory video featuring a few Texan developers (including Warren Spector), Perry launched into a laundry list of the business virtues for the Lone Star state, including a legal system low on frivolous lawsuits, an income-tax free revenue structure that "lets workers keep their wages" and a "sensible regulatory environment," whatever that means. Texas also has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state, making it an economic powerhouse.
"The weather is hot, the barbecue is hot, the music is hot, and we want to see the game industry even hotter," Perry said, gushing about the 2,800 new jobs created by 22 Texas game development companies (the third highest concentration in America, but Perry is "gunning for No. 1"). The governor lost us a bit when he said the industry average salary of $63,000 a year "may seem like pocket change to those of you here from California or Washington," Personally, we'd love to make that kind of scratch.
University of Oklahoma freshman John Tyler Hammons harbors the stereotypical interests of a 19-year-old college student -- an Associated Press report, apparently written by a 1950's schoolteacher, credits Hammons as enjoying "fast cars and rock n' roll". Anachronistic lingo aside, the teenager also apparently spends his time beating the pants off of seventy-year-old incumbents in local mayoral races, and according to the same AP story, could probably beat the rest of Muskogee's local leaders in a round of Call of Duty 4.
Yes, the "baby-faced" gaming enthusiast will be sworn in next week as the mayor of Muskogee -- an Oklahoma city of about 38,000. Though his achievement completely overshadows our teenage feat of becoming the youngest Taco Bell assistant manager in the tri-county area, we can't wait to see how a fellow gamer (one who is many years the minor of most of Joystiq's staff) decides to run a town -- almost as much as we can't wait to hear the mayoral pick-up lines he busts out at the next Sooner soiree.
Almost solely because he doesn't talk about them, Barack Obama was rated the most gaming friendly Democrat candidate for president by Yahoo recently, so we were interested to read that he had dipped his toes into the hot coffee (as it were) and brought up the complicated topic of Grand Theft Auto IV at a campaign stop. You can watch the video above to see how he fared.
In our opinion, it went pretty well. He put the onus on parents to monitor that sort of thing, didn't complain about violence and didn't try to sound hip by pretending he knew more about it than he did. In fact, he said the word "goo gobs" out loud, which is like, the complete opposite of trying to sound cool.
Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks rendez-vous on Joystiq to contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:
The politics of video games are well covered by other websites, but it's worth spending a little time to think about the business implications of politics on the industry and its customers -- particularly in light of recent events like the UK game study. Just how much day-to-day impact does this maneuvering really have? For all of the angst found in the gamer community over issues like the latest ridiculous violent video game ban, I'd argue that the average gamer is actually pretty well-insulated from the mess.
So who does get affected? Well, the answer lies at least in part in figuring out the touch points that politics has on politicians, developers and publishers, and the people who buy and sell games in the first place. At its most basic, there are some essential conflicts of interest between these groups that get mediated by politics, and we can use them as the lens by which to think about this further.
Let's start off with consumers themselves. What do they really want? Well, game players want to be able to play whatever they want, whenever they want to play. But they're not the only stakeholders here; for younger players, parents play an important role as intermediaries in determining what games get purchased and thus what games are available. Parents, more than anything, want control: the ability to control what their children play and filter out products that they view as offensive or objectionable. Industry figures have similarly simple incentives. They want to satisfy players' demands and supply the games they want -- that's how they make money. It's in their best interests to avoid any restrictions whatsoever on what they can produce or how they sell it. Retailers also have to worry about their brand image and how they're publicly perceived, which is why Wal-Marts don't stock Adults-Only rated games.
Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq, a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:
This week has seen a striking revival of 'video game legislation' stories, from Massachusetts to Minnesota to England. Given the sudden resurgence of the issue, it seemed like an appropriate time to dissect the legal issue of 'video game regulation' on the Law of the Game operating table. The concept of government regulation is as much a legal construct as it is a political one, and to date, it has been the legal system's role to strikedown these regulations as a violation of free speech (although, it has recently been brought out that, at a minimum, Justice Scalia may not agree). The real issue at hand is where, if anywhere, a 'video game law' could fall in our legal system.
In broad terms, the US government gets to regulate many things, be that at the state or federal level. Just take a moment to think of all of the ways the government restricts your personal and professional life. If you want to drive a car without stealing it, you have to be at least 16 years old. If you want to buy certain 'products' from law-abiding establishments (the guy in the back alley doesn't count), the age restrictions are set at 18 or 21. If you want to sell a franchise concept, you have to make certain disclosures as required by the Federal Trade Commission and various state regulators. If you want to get philosophical, this is all part of the 'social contract,' and these restrictions are generally in place for the benefit of the public at large. But what about the games?
The UK government's recent budget announcement shows that it has turned a deaf ear to the many calls for financial incentives by the video game industry. In response, UK developers have taken up arms and started a petition to go directly to 10 Downing Street. Or, at least, its online home. With British talent being enticed out of the country by Montreal's tax breaks and cash handouts, the petitioners are requesting similar incentives as development prices and team sizes continue to grow larger.
Companies affected by this petition include Rare, several Sony studios (WipEout, Home, Singstar), Media Molecule, Free Radical, Ninja Theory, Evolution Studios, Bizarre Creations and Lionhead Studios, and many others. UK citizens, particularly those interested in getting into the industry in the future, have been asked to sign the petition that aims to help save UK developers some cash and remain in the country.
Not being much of a "next-gen" follower (sorry!) I had a vague belief that Wideload's Hail to the Chimp was a downloadable game. I was, then, surprised to find it a full-sized (but budget-priced) release. Developer Wideload Games used the retail-game budget to create not only a unique party game, but also a hilarious audiovisual experience that doesn't really have an analogue on modern systems.
Hail to the Chimp's menu interface is the GRR News Network, with pompous anchor Woodchuck Chumley (seen above enjoying some... hot coffee ... with Bean the Sloth) onscreen authoritatively intoning ridiculous stories, while the menu options take the place of all the ubiquitous TV news infoboxes and text clutter. Wrapping the game inside this TV-station premise allows Hail to the Chimp to have something resembling a storyline, and also provides the opportunity for the funniest aspect of the game, which I'll get to shortly.
Following the primary elections of Vermont, Rhode Island, Texas and Ohio on March 4, a date affectionately known by many political junkies as "Super Tuesday 2: Electric Boogaloo", the Republican party found themselves with a candidate presumptive in John McCain following Mike Huckabee's resignation. How did the former Arkansas governor recover from watching his presidential aspirations crash and burn, you ask? He did what any of us would do -- he played some Rock Band, and he macked on some 'zanya.
It was a fitting end for the bass-slapper-turned-presidential-candidate, as his staffers gathered around to enjoy the layered Italian treat, and to witness Huck's well-documented aptitude with peripheral-based rhythm games. Regardless of your political views and endorsements, we think we can all agree that the gaming community would be well-served by a president that shared Huckabee's fervor for video games of any kind. His reported Garfield-esque penchant for lasagna, however, we could take or leave.
A new free download game for PC and Mac looks to inform people of US immigration practices targeting legal permanent residents, asylum seekers, students and undocumented immigrants. GameDaily explains that ICED (I Can End Deportation), by international human rights organization Breakthough, seeks to give players another perspective on the immigration debate. Playing as one of five characters with different backgrounds the player can end up being deported, incarcerated, voluntarily deported or become a citizen.
The game's designer, Heidi Boisvert, says the game was created to show people what happens to thousands of immigrants on a daily basis. She hopes that people will become more aware of the scope of the situation through the game and take action. The download is less than 100 MB and takes 15-45 minutes to play. At least this game is a little more sensitive and culturally relevant than Border Patrol.
Our coverage of American electoral politics rarely extends far beyond cheesy flash games, the occasional virtual worldappearance, and the ever-looming threat of federal video game legislation. Thanks to Fundrace 2008 and 1UP, however, we have an opportunity to take a peak at the political leanings of the industry's biggest companies.
1UP has combed Fundrace's database of political campaign contributions to create an impressive list of contributions made by members of companies like Activision, EA, and Blizzard. These contributions are entirely separate from the ESA's proposed Political Action Committee, which is not planned to go into action until March.
Obviously political leanings have little to do with the creative output of these companies (and the leanings of some company members certainly have no weight on the leanings of others). Still, it's interesting to see how the big names of these companies spend their money (and, amazingly, how many contributed to failed campaigns).
According to British newspaper The Guardian, a new classification system is set to be introduced for video games sold in the United Kingdom. The proposal would deem the rating system legally binding, making it against the law for retailers to sell games to persons below the recommended age rating.
The Guardian does not state who would be responsible for administering the new ratings, although a likely candidate would be the British Board of Film Classification, who spearheaded the Manhunt 2 ban. Although we're hesitant whenever the government tries to step in and tell us what to play (that whole censorship thing), perhaps with a new system they can implement a rating that would allow games like Manhunt 2 to be carried. (Hey, we can dream.)
The proposal also goes into ways the government can restrict children from seeing unsuitable games (don't forget all new consoles have family settings) and internet content. A commissioned review of violence and video games is due next month.
