Game Design: East vs. West

On camera angles:

"I think that most Western games are made for the audience, whereas many Japanese games are made to invite the player into the designer's world," says James Clarendon of Breakaway Games [...] For instance, camera control tends to be handled very differently in American and Japanese games. "Many Japanese titles fix the camera for a better cinematic presentation, while good Western titles allow the player to look around the environment for better gameplay," says Clarendon.

Oh god.

There goes the weekend. Hell of Sand — read on

G.o.t.m.o: V

Fun fieldtrip this week to NYU. As per recommendation of Mr. Vaidhyanathan, I might swing by to hear this guy's talk titled State of the Copyfight 2007. Might be good, or maybe I'll brush up on my play on words. Details: 5pm, January 19 @ Courant Institute in Room 109 (NYU) — read on

Erik enters the 21st century

Low & behold. Another machinoclast has surrendered and technology marches onward.





Also, look for his sister on there.



— read on

Midway & Happy Feet (Warner Bros.)

Somehow missed this one earlier. The $326 million box office hit has been made into a game (duh) and Midway says to have shipped 1.8 million units worldwide already. (011107) In fact, it appears these Happy Feet will be walking all over us, if you read the press release on this massive campaign. (Original license agreement announcement here) I'm wondering if the number of 'shipped units' is some kind of indication of how successful a game is, and I'm thinking it's not. I'll go check the second-hand bin at my local GameStop this week. — read on

G.o.t.m.o: IV

This is to inform you that your proposal for the Media in Transition 5: creativity, ownership and collaboration in the digital age conference has been accepted by the conference directors.

G.o.t.m.o: III

On the same day as my comps, so I might be drunk by the time it starts. According to the e-mail:

WHAT: "Academic Game Development," a lecture with Q&A to follow. WHO: Chris Swain, Assistant Professor at USC and co-founder of EA's Game Innovation Lab. WHEN: Tuesday, January 16th, at 6:30pm. WHERE: Teachers College, Horace Mann 234. WHY: Notes from the front lines of game design, production and research in academia!

Buena Vista Games & SUNFLOWERS

Never heard of Anno 1701, but apparently the whole series sold 4.4 million copies worldwide. Originally in German, they're now sporting an English-version as well. Anyway, Disney (Buena Vista Games) is getting a piece of it, developing for the DS. But dang, it looks beautiful.. (picture: Anno 1701) — read on