Recently released, Smartbomb is a more contemporary look at the video game industry and some of the prominent figures behind its success. While I wouldn’t say Smartbomb is a dud, it does fizzle instead of explode, IMO.
Firstly, I found the compartmentalized nature of the chapters to be somewhat off-putting. Each chapter is like an extended magazine-like article (one on Will Wright’s genius, one for Miyamoto san as toy maker, one on CliffyB’s quest for stardom, etc). We do see some “characters” pop up across chapters - mainly in reference to their appearances at GDC and E3. As such, there’s a lack of overarching premise/hypothesis. Rather, it ends up being a really well written and researched recounting of the game industry’s rise in cultural significance over the past few years. Which, of course, is not a bad thing in and of itself.
In part, my disappointed is likely due to the fact that “I was there” for so much of what is covered in the book. And, quite literally, I mean I was there… I suppose I was looking for some greater level of examination. Alas, I’m guessing that industry veterans are not really the target audience for the book. So, for those who were not “there” the book should be an enjoyable and insightful read.
FYI, Next-Gen has a nice review and is running chapter excerpts from the book…
Who am I to point fingers? I’m part of the problem and I’ll admit that I buy/enjoy sequels (eg, I completed 100% of Burnout 3: Takedown last summer, and ran out to buy Burnout Revenge the day it came out, which I am now 89% through). That said, I also bought and thoroughly enjoyed Psychonauts and finished Jade Empire - both original games from 2005.
Anyway, thought it was interesting the extent to which Wedbush Morgan Securities is pointing to the proliferation of sequels as a major contributing factor in the current games sales slump…
Prompted by an IGDA Montreal chapter panel on the creative crisis facing the industry that I’ll be running next month, a local developer conducted some unscientific research into sequels. Pierre-Alexandre Garneau compared games to films under the premise that if we are blaming the maturation of the game industry as the harbinger of our woes, then looking at the much more mature film industry should give us some insights. What he found was that of the current games being promoted, 12% were original (ie, non sequel, non licensed), while 77% of films were original. Wow, 77%. Sure, it is very casual type research but it is still an interesting data point…
My guess is that our current troubles are much more due to our continued LACK of maturity (on many fronts) than a suggestion that “this is just what happens when an industry matures”…
In general, I’m a big fan of awards (well, perhaps not all awards). If done with integrity and credibility, they serve to recognize and reward hard/smart work and inspire others to do the same - and all that good stuff. Aside from the impending phalanx of game awards, the following handful of accolades are quite special in each their own way:
Ever the provocateur, Eric Zimmerman presented “A Game Developers’ Bill of Rights” during his keynote at the Montreal Game Summit. The 700+ crowd of mostly developers lapped it up. Well, at least in theory, if not actual practical implementation…
While it is certainly a gutsy approach, it does serve as a valuable tool for discussion of what developers’ “rights” should/could be. And, to further expose the extent which current developers would barely be able to check-off a small handful of the 13 rights listed…
Despite the 36+ hour door-to-door transit time, I was very much looking forward to my first trip to Korea. I was invited by the Korean Game Development & Promotion Institute (the game support arm of the Ministry of Culture) to lecture on industry issues during the Korean Game Conference.
The first thing you notice is how infused gaming/games are into Korean culture. They are simply everywhere and no one really questions their place among other forms of art and entertainment.
Coming off of the Montreal Summit just a week prior, I was quite taken back by the opening keynote that echoed much of Warren Spector’s discontent with the industry. HakGyu Kim, the CEO of Ragnarok Online creator IMC Games, referenced the “Blue Ocean Strategy” book as a call to be more innovative, take more risk and reach out to broader audiences. (Raph Koster took much more extensive notes on the keynote.) In effect, finding the “blue ocean” became the underlying current/theme of the entire conference as nearly every subsequent speaker referenced Kim’s comment in some fashion…
Overall, KGC was a solid and well organized conference, with an impressive 2000+ attendance. Sadly, aside from the keynotes, the majority of sessions by Korean developers were not translated. So, instead of learning more about the Korean industry, I was mostly “forced” to listen to fellow North American speakers. This is something they should work on for next year as the try to attract a more international audience.
Running alongside KGC was the more E3-like game expo G*. Taking a quick spring around the expo floor, there were a lot of interesting looking games. But, what is most startling is when you realize that, despite similarities to E3, none of these games will ever hit a retail shelf! Korea is so overwhelming based on the subscription model, digital downloads and the burgeoning RMT approach (ie, real-money-transactions for in-game goods), that there is literally no retail side to the industry (of course, originally prompted by overwhelming piracy, as gman comments below).
Luckily, I had a bit of free time on the Saturday to head into downtown Seoul. Travel virgin, Marty O’Donnell (from Bungie) was happy for me to hold his hand as we wandered about… (see the touristy photos way below)
As usual, here are a bunch of pics that I snapped during my visit to Korea.
Somewhat less of a novelty now that we have G4, but the hotel room had at least three chanels dedicated to games.
Conference organizer Estella Kwak (KGDI) greets Clint Hocking (Ubisoft Montreal) and Raph Koster (Sony Online) at the hotel.
Adoring Fans: Fine, not mine - I was sitting next to Raph, who got bombarded by photogs…
…until they decided it was best to get his autograph as well.
HakGyu Kim (IMC Games) yearns for the blue ocean during his opening keynote.
Bill Roper (Flagship Studios) got mauled as well.
Certainly not something you’d see at E3. Busses full of kids were coming to check out the games at G*.
Dylan Miklashek (Pandemic) and Marty O’Donnell (Bungie) enjoying lunch.
Renowned Japanese artist Toshinobu Kondo discusses creating game characters, manga style.
Nearly all sessions were packed. The conference welcomed over 2000 attendees.
Lost in translation…
Unlike E3, there was a whole section dedicated to gambling/casino oriented games.
One of the cooler games, “Doogi Doogi” is a drums based beamani style game. Very noisy.
The honorable Hideo Kojima on hand to sign autographs at Konami’s G* stand.
Didn’t realize that cosplay was so tiring - this was only after lunch on the first day!
Kart Rider, currently the number one game in Korea. Very similar to Mario Kart, except it is online-only and revenue is generated from in-game purchases for upgrades, etc.
Surprisingly, there were quite a few “senior” gamers taking in the spectacle.
Tomo Hisanaga (Capcom) not amused with all of the lengthy welcoming speeches during the VIP dinner.
There was some kind of indie/student game dev festival, but I couldn’t quite figure things out as none of it was translated to English.
KGDI president Jong-Sik Woo bids everyone thanks and farely during the closing party.
Part of the closing party, KGDA president Mu-Sik Jung was giving out the indie festival prizes. Again, no clue what was going on :(
Steven Davis (IT GlobalSecure) enjoying a closing party beer with Clint and Marty.
Marty and I started our touring at the South Gate.
Marty dives into the Namdaemun Market.
The Seoul Tower off in the distance.
A serene pond at Deoksugung Palace.
Very ornate architecture on the Deoksugung Palace (kinda looks like little Pokemon creatures).
Out of place: An early 20th century Anglican church just next door to the Deoksugung Palace. Was weird to see it there.
Not sure what building that is, but talk about funky/modern architecture.
The city long river just pops out of side of the street. Was very cool.
The statue of Admiral Lee Sun-Sin looked pretty impressive standing in the middle of the downtown boulevard.
…as did the VERY long clubs of the patrolling police.
The entry gate to the Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Field Research: Marty recording the music from Gyeongbokgung Palace’s changing of the guard ceremony.
More Gyeongbokgung Palace guard action.
I’m scrambling to prep for my next trip (ie, to Korea for KGC and G*). So, I sadly don’t have much time to go into any great depth. But, overall, the second run of the Montreal International Game Summit was pretty kick ass!
The first year had 500+ attendees and I’m guessing the Summit broke 800 for this year. In part, the jump can be attributable to the impressive roster of speakers they were able to bring into Montreal for the Summit (eg, Warren Spector, Neil Young, Eric Zimmerman, Doug Church, etc, etc). All the sessions I attended were well done, and I was particularly pleased to see that some of the none-mainstream sessions were well attended (eg, ARGs, real world games, serious games, etc). As a minus, I heard from a few techies that the programming sessions were too abstract and didn’t provide much take-away (clearly something to work on for next year).
As the closing session, I ran a Zimmerman-style game design challenge on the theme of sex in games. It was an inspiring and wilding amusing climax to the Summit. Despite Heather Kelley’s winning design for a game to teach female sexual response, my personal favorite was Frank Lantz’s Spore mod, “Sporgy”. (If anyone has a link to a summary of the session, please pass it along so I can update…)
Finally, here are some quick shots I took during the Summit (hmm, perhaps I should stop using the no-flash mode)…
Summit director Jean-Pierre Faucher (Alliance NumeriQC) kicks things off during the opening reception.
Just before the opening keynote, Eric Zimmerman (gameLab) roots through his tote bag; Frank Lantz (area/code) scopes the program.
A healthy crowd made it in for the 8:30am start (!).
Warren Spector (Junction Point) left no stone unturned in delivering his “best of times / worst of times” keynote.
Hmm, can’t remember exactly what Neil Young (EA LA) was referring to at this point in his “can games make us cry” keynote, but his whole speech was trumped by an attendee holding up a doodle from his 3-year-old son and proclaiming “who gives a crap about big budgets, this makes me fucking cry”…
Frank Lantz gave a very compelling session on “real world” games like PacManhattan.
Mark DeLoura (Sony) and Scott Foe (Nokia) at the VIP cocktail.
A somewhat less “present” Doug Church (EA LA) also at the cocktail.
Eric and Warren debating the merits of Scandinavian ludological taxonomies…
Nintendo’s Hideki Konno (one rank below Miyamoto san) discussing how the hardware innovations of the DS enabled the accessible style of play they wanted for Nintendogs.
Eric gets the audience to their feet… To play a round of “massively multiplayer rock-paper-scissors” during his keynote.
Bart Simon (Concordia) and Don Daglow (Stormfront Studios) anxious to get to the sex…
Ever the showman, Eric gets the audience involved for the demo of his “games making babies” meta-design for the Game Design Challenge.
Frank watching Heather Kelley (Ubisoft) demo her “Lapis” sexual response concept.
The Design Challenge and closing party were held at the Society for Arts & Technology, which had some interesting art installations, well, installed, for the crowd.
Vander Caballero (EA Montreal) and Alfredo Chaves (4-Elements) getting some tips from the victorious Heather…
Eric, Frank and Clint Hocking (Ubisoft) strike a pose at the closing party.
Also in town, the Arcadia Festival started the day after the Summit. Arcadia was more of a gamer/consumer event, partially inspired by big expos like E3 and TGS. I popped in on Saturday morning with my nearly-3-year-old son Gabriel. Funnily enough, soon after we got there he said “Daddy it’s too loud, I want to go home”. Now I don’t feel so old when I complain about the noise at E3 ;)
Walking into the Arcadia Festival…
They had fun mini-events like a DDR contest, a LAN party, etc. Sadly, the minibosses weren’t set to play until later that night.
Gabriel checking out one of the kiddie oriented games.
King Kong (which I did not have the chance to see during E3) looked pretty cool.
They even had some breaking-in style lecture sessions, which, to the organizers’ surprise, were always packed!
Gabriel enjoying the metro ride (his first) back home.
