Gay TGS Coverage

My first post for GayGamer.net is now available for your viewing pleasure!

Goodbye Seoul, Hello Tokyo

Greetings from Tokyo! It's always been a dream of mine to visit Japan, and now it's happening for realz. But before we forget about Seoul, I want to share my favorite photo from the trip:


This picture was taken during the changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung Palace in the old part of Seoul. I took tons of photos and will share them when I get home!

Tomorrow I will be at the Tokyo Game Show, Japan's biggest video game extravaganza! It should be quite amazing. In honor of this event, I will post one more awesome photo from a Korean arcade:


Yes, that is "Poka Poka Satan" -- a devil-themed whack-a-mole game.

Make sure you tune in for my coverage of TGS over at GayGamer.net. I may not be gay, but I play one on the web.

Rogue Galaxy

In case you missed it, Rogue Galaxy is scheduled to hit the States on October 5! This awesome-looking Japanese RPG is brought to us by Level 5, the same folks who gave us the positively divine Dragon Quest VIII. Normally I can't hang with this genre, but a unique setting, sweet overall design, cool characters and seemingly action-packed combat system has me excited. Check out the trailer on the official Japanese site to see for yourself.

On a side note: with only a few short months to the PS3 launch, the PS2 still has a lot going for it. Yakuza, Rogue Galaxy, Okami...these are some seriously good-looking and relatively high-profile titles. Seriously, I'm more excited for Okami than anything supposedly launching with the PS3. Rhetorical question: has a new console ever been bested by its immediate predecessor?

Seoul Brother No. 1

Well, here I am in Seoul! It's already been an eye-opening experience. First off, the city is much more Westernized than I expected. Certainly Seoul is a huge international city, but its ascent into the digital stratosphere (largest broadband penetration in the world) seems to have come with the consumerist tendencies of the West: gigantic shopping malls, SUVs, digital phones for everyone over the age of five, high gas prices, etc. Yesterday afternoon (Saturday) included visits to two huge shopping centers, which were jam-packed with people buying everything from clothes and toys to Starbucks coffee and green tea ice cream. Sure, there are visual reminders of the Asian culture: civic buildings shaped like old palaces, traditional colorful Korean fabrics in the shops, and the smell of kimchi everywhere. (Like, EVERYWHERE.) Speaking of, the food here is really cheap and REALLY good.

As for the negative, the traffic here is bad. Horrible. Worst I've ever seen. It took me two hours to get to my hotel from the airport in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. I've since heard a statistic that there are 15 MILLION cars in this city. It makes any jaunt across the Han river a huge pain in the ass. There are so many cars, you can't even cross most of the big avenues at street level -- you must go underground or find another way. That all being said, the subways are super clean. In fact, all public areas of the city are spotless. They employ people to wipe down the handrails in the train station!

Some other quirks include: heated toilet seats, awesome video arcades, and a chain of French juice bars called "Le Crapeau" (Hee, hee!). Also, barber shop poles indicate where you can get a trim...and some trim! (Shave and a haircut with a happy ending.)

My hotel is dope. There is a bathroom shower room (not a stall, a ROOM) with a "rain" device installed in the ceiling. Also a high-pressure wand, which I turned on by accident this morning and nearly flooded the closet. Everything is my room is controlled by touch panels on the wall: lights, curtains, etc. One wall is floor-to-ceiling glass, with an impeccable view. Turner knows how to spoil us rotten, that's for damn sure.

I've already taken some nice pictures but I'm doing some more touring today. Hopefully I will be able to upload them soon. I'm feeling lazy and jet lagged. More soon!

Austin Game Conference Recap

I really enjoyed the Austin Game Conference, even though I came down with a nasty 24-hour bug before I even got to the hotel. No biggie. The conference is attended by roughly 2,000 game developers, writers, programmers, yadda yadda...making for what is truly an "intimate" gathering by normal conference standards. I met a lot of cool people and actually had some room to breathe between sessions. Spent most of my time at the Writer's Conference panels, which were overall very rewarding. Mostly, these sessions served to remind me how many people are currently making a living doing this writing thing. Of course, some of us are "designers" and some of us are "content managers" and so on, but we're all writers. This kind of blurring of roles is probably pretty common in a young industry like the games biz. No one seemed to have the exact same job description as the next guy, and surely everyone's individual career path was unique. This certainly seemed the case based on the conversations I had.

In any event, it is heartening to know that the writing aspect of game development seems to be blooming. Spearheading this movement are really cool companies like BioWare and UbiSoft. Regarding BioWare, some of the guys doing Mass Effect were on hand to give a presentation about digital actors and their highly-touted conversation engine -- Gamasutra did a decent recap here. More importantly, BioWare clearly stresses story as the foundation of a good game (they said as much), backing up their claim by employing over 20 staff writers between their Edmonton and Austin locations. As for UbiSoft, their senior editorial dude gave a very low-key presentation about managing 15-20 games in simultaneous development. As a company that is clearly focused on a high level of production value, it was cool to know that they also require top-notch writing (while still churning out a ton of really high-quality titles).

A panel on writing comedy for games was interesting, but mostly because the speakers were obviously very smart and talented (and funny). The same could be said of the "Inside the Voice Actor's Studio" panelists, but unfortunately, they seemed more concerned with telling witty celebrity anecdotes than providing useful info. Oh, well! Interestingly, one of the best sessions came at the end of the conference, which took the form of a roundtable discussion instead of a panel. (Many of the previous speakers were still around and joined in.) With a more laid-back and conversational tone, this session nicely reinforced my feeling that game writers are now part of a lively and growing -- if not exactly thriving -- field.

In other news, Austin is a really cool town. They have awesome barbecue, and lots of bats live there.

Rocket Slime!

Oh, yes...I will be buying this as soon as I get back from Asia. (Unless I can't stand the wait and buy the Japanese version in Tokyo!)

Guitar Hero II Track List

Hey, so while I wasn't paying attention, someone revealed the Guitar Hero II track list. Highlights include "Madhouse" by Anthrax, "Sweet Child O' Mine" by G'n'R and (surprise!) Spinal Tap's "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight". There's barely 30 tracks on the list, and I seem to remember something about over 40 being available in the game, so here's hoping that "The Trooper" is an unlockable. Maiden!

Thanks to Chrissie for the link.

Hollywood Reports on Game Writing

A really excellent article about game writing can be found here, on the Hollywood Reporter's website. The showbiz trade publications are devoting more and more attention to games, it seems, and this is a good piece to time with the Austin Game Conference. I had no idea that the writer's conference was only in its second year!

NYT on WoW

Joystiq reports on an article in today's New York Times about World of Warcraft. This comes just a few weeks after a piece in the Washington Post about MMOs. While the Post piece is typically alarmist, stressing the clinically "addictive" nature of MMOs -- even stating that "many game companies employ psychologists" to make the games even more so. Okaaay. Meanwhile, the Times takes a calmer approach, albeit with the familiar "Hey, did you know games are popular all over the world and make lots of money?" angle we see so often in the mainstream press. Well, at least there is some positive coverage to be had. I liked this quote from Microsoft's Rich Wickham: “World of Warcraft is an incredibly polished entertainment experience that appeals to more sorts of different players than any game I’ve seen.” Very true.

Crazy Cartoon Character Skeletons

These awesome skeletal recreations of famous cartoon characters are going to be exhibiting at a gallery in Seoul when I am there later this month. Sweet!


They immediately reminded me of the anatomical sketches of Portland artist Michael Paulus.