the id and the ego

I’ve been meaning to write a reaction to last week’s sale of id Software to ZeniMax, but it’s honestly taken me this long to figure out how I felt about it, exactly.  For anyone that was an avid gamer in the mid 90’s, id (and particularly the DOOM series) represented a very specific division between ‘us’ and ‘them.’

If you were a teenage nerd in the mid 90's, you recognize this poster

They were unapologetically hardcore in their approach to game design: their subject material was edgy at the time, and their games always required top-of-the-line hardware to run really well.  You either dug DOOM’s horror/sci-fi storyline, complete with impaled space marines and hooved demons, or it turned you off.  You either had the patience to manually configure a mulitplayer session, or you didn’t go near it.  Id’s developers even appealed to a very specific audience, with cars and attitude more befitting the founders of Image Comics than the code monkeys of the day.

In its heydey, DOOM was tremendously popular, but only among the specific audience of hardcore gamers.  This planing away of less-than-hardcore gamers was not only a ballsy move by the id guys, it helped light the way for a lot of nerds avid gamers to figure out who their friends were, and where they fit in.

On the one hand, ZeniMax seems like the perfect place for a shop like id.  As pointed out in last week’s superb “Listen Up” podcast, id’s strengths complement ZeniMax’s own Bethesda studio’s weaknesses perfectly, and vice versa.  Guys like John Carmack can continue to work on bulletproof code and not have to worry about moving up the food chain and staffing up as a publisher just to maintain their IP.

But a part of me is a little… not sad… nostalgic for the loss of id as its own entity.  While they stood in one place and cranked out shooters seemingly fueled by Red Bull and teen angst, this industry changed around them. 

World of Warcraft came along and showed PC gamers that they could play with each other online in scenarios that weren’t always framed by the barrel of a gun.  Microsoft’s entry into the console game brought a “shooter box” into the market that had fixed specs and a user base too large to ignore, so id’s constant pushing of the hardware envolope had to be roped in for their games (not to mention their more profitable engine licensing business) to be a success.  Like a former chart topper turned lounge act, DOOM’s shock value wore off with age and Grand Theft Auto, then our Wiis and casual gaming friends, wives, and mothers showed us that you could hold a controller and smile at the same time, in a non-ironic way.

The DOOM movie: too late to be awesome, too crappy to be funny

Meanwhile, Race to Witch Mountain’s The Rock starred in the long awaited big screen adaptation of DOOM.

In reaction to the sale, estranged co-founder John Romero tweeted “i guess i was shocked and sad to see the id Software of old changed forever today. it’s a new day and a new id.”

Mario, Link and Tiger Woods walk into a bar…

Tiger Woods keeps good company.  He stands with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus as the only men to win the Masters more than 3 times.  He’s a dominant athlete that’s changed the face of his sport, just like Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan before him.  And just like Lebron James or even non-athletes like Mark Zuckerberg, his entrance on an international stage at a very young age can truly be described as phenominal.  With the release of Tiger Woods 10 for the Wii, he joins the rare company of (fictional and immortal!) characters that have starred in a game good enough to move hardware.  And NINTENDO hardware to boot.

Unlike last year’s game, EA chose the Wii as the lead platform for Tiger Woods 10.  That effort’s been rewarded out of the gate with shining review scores.  More importantly, it’s finally making good one EA’s “All Play” effort to bring Nintendo’s more casual Wii-owning audience into the sports game fold.  A Sunday golfer in his 30’s could easily pick this game up and play alongside his entire family, with plenty of fun minigames and varying difficulty levels to keep everyone entertained.

Tiger's Frisbee Golf mode adds a much-needed party game appeal

In a move that really surprised me, Tiger comes bundled with the new Wii Motion Plus peripheral, fully a month ahead of the first compatible first-party title, Wii Sports Resort. When I first saw Motion Plus at last year’s E3, I thought Nintendo would go for the identical release plan as N64’s Rumble Pack, which came packed in with Star Fox 64 for its introduction.

I certainly hope we see more support from third party devs for Motion Plus.  Tiger uses it correctly, and it makes a huge difference in the overall feel of the game.  It really connects with most of the things that make playing golf fun, especially when you bring some other players into the room.  Here’s hoping all the attention and TLC this title obviously benefitted from during development pays dividends for EA on the shelves, too.

ReviE³w

While I didn’t get out to last week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E³), I was really glad to see the show return to the more recognizable “under the big top” format.  At a time when just about everyone is forced to cut costs wherever possible, it was nice to see some of the industry’s big hitters pull out all the stops once again.  At the very least, it gave us all a lot more to watch than the very weird “editorial speed dating in office parks” feel of the last two years.

This year’s show was poised for success from the start – we’re far enough into this console generation that most developers understand how to get the most out of the hardware, but we’re not quite to the point where everyone expects to see new all-new consoles unveiled.  E³ 2005 was the most boring show I’ve been to, with the big reveal of the PS3 and all the tech demos and non-games that came with it.  This year was mostly focused on the games.  Be sure to check out the big honkin’ E³ coverage summaries over at Kotaku and Joystiq, just in case you missed anything.  Read on for my highlights (and a few not-so-highlights) from the big keynotes of the show.

MICROSOFT

The Good: M-soft came out strong right out of the gate with The Beatles: Rock Band.  They managed to have Paul McCartney and Ringo Star onstage, turning an otherwise ho-hum demo into a newsworthy event for even non-game press.  Perhaps most importantly, they created the most newsworthy event of the show for non-enthusiast press, and managed to have the surviving Beatles on stage with all sorts of Xbox branding behind them.  It’s a multiplatform title – in fact, the first Rock Band to ship day and date on the Wii as well as the PS3 and 360.  But Microsoft has managed to “own” this game in the minds of exactly the type of casual gamers that will eat up The Beatles: Rock Band — and a system to play it on.

The Bad: Microsoft managed to grab headlines with their project Natal camera system.  Essentially, at-home, real-time motion capture for gesture controls in games.  It looks like it works pretty well, and is much easier to set up than Microsoft’s earlier efforts with the Live Vision camera.  But I still can’t get excited about applying that technology to games.  I guess time will tell, as no release date or even a price point are in sight yet.

The Rest: All in all, Microsoft had a strong showing with those two reveals, and then a lot of smaller, fan service announcements.  The first ever Final Fantasy game on Xbox, a Metal Gear Solid multiplatform title, and a ton of sequels to familiar Xbox franchises rounded out their hour.

NINTENDO

The Good: Last year, the enthusiast press felt abondoned by Nintendo, with their keynote centered around Wii Motion Plus and the pack-in game, Wii Sports Resort.  This year, they made sure to take care of the hardcore set, with ample stage time given to a new Metroid game by Tecmo’s Team Ninja, The return of Mario Galaxy, and the very classic feeling New Super Mario Bros. finally brought to the big screen as a fun coop game for up to 4 players.  Charming, timeless IP goes a long way toward keeping the Big N in good graces with their loyal fans, and they delivered quite a bit of love for them this year.

The Bad: The Wii Vitality Sensor is… puzzling at best.  I’m an unabashed Nintendo fan, and I stand by the notion that failures along the way like the Virtual Boy are essential for a company to foster the free thinking brand of R&D that could deliver the Wii unto us.  But the idea of a peripheral that pinches you on the finger so it can get a read on your pulse… I just can’t see the application here into anything that would make a fun game.  I’ve been wrong before and I really hope I am in this case, but Nintendo certainly didn’t help its cause by not even really demoing this at the show.

The Rest: I was honestly hoping for a little more of a preview of what’s coming down the pipe for DSiWare and WiiWare.  They’re both underutilized networks on the best-selling pieces of hardware out there.  Beyond that, 6 new exercises and 15 minigames added to Wii Fit Plus doesn’t sound like very much new content to me.  I’d prefer to see them deliver more exercises throughout the year as DLC.

SONY

The Good: Team Ico revealed The Last Guardian, the sequel to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. True to form, this one will be a PS3 exclusive, and looks to be hauntingly beautiful.  I will probably buy it on launch day, and cry at least once by the time I beat it.  So will you, if you happen to have a soul and a PS3.

The Bad: Sony’s gesture control (was this a requirement to present his year!?) just seems way too early to show to the public, and I’m willing to bet they wouldn’t have if Microsoft hadn’t made such a big splash with Natal.

The Rest: I’m intrigued by the PSP Go.  That tiny form factor looks to solve a lot of the issues the original design (and subsequent iterations) had to deal with, but not all.  The screen’s still not protected in your pocket, which is a much bigger deal to me than the fact that there’s only one analog nub.  Sorry, FPS fans.

It’s puzzling to me that the PSP, which has had such a hard time reaching any audience other than teenage boys is the first to market with a download-only portable system.  Not to mention, one with a $250 price tag at launch.  If they don’t market the Go hardware the right way, they could be left with a diminishing audience that feels burned about all the useless UMD’s they bought to go with their original hardware.

This is Not a Post About Super Mario Brothers

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of seeing Malcom Gladwell on his book tour for Outliers. In my opinion, the most important takeaway from his discussion and the book was the 10,000 hour rule.  In essence, he says that a key to becoming extraordinarily successful in any discipline requires 10,000 hours of practice.

It’s not difficult for any hardcore gamer to log 10,000 hours of time spent playing.  I tend to think all the time I spent talking, thinking and writing about games in a critical fashion actually put me in a better position to work with games as part of my day job, more than the time I spent playing.  But when I think back on the countless hours I’ve played, there’s one noticeable constant that has stuck with me from practically the first time I held a controller: Super Mario.

What’s not to love about Mario?  He and I are both products of 1981.  Not unlike Mickey Mouse, he’s got juuust enough design detail and backstory to make him interesting, but still remain a relatively blank slate for any scenario Nintendo wants to put him in.

I love the the entire Super Mario oeuvre, and will always have fond memories of playing those games with the people I love the most.  I was nearly late for the second grade talent show because my sister, mother and I were all playing the original Super Mario Brothers.  Almost 20 years later, I downloaded it on the Wii’s Virtual Console to play with my wife in our apartment. Mario Kart 64 and Super Smash Bros. were staples in college.  And I hardly ever travel without some Mario game in my DS these days.

Of course, I was very excited to see footage from New Super Mario Brothers Wii and the followup to Super Mario Galaxy at this week’s E3.  I’m very much looking forward to playing  them with my new son or daughter, after I meet him/her this November.

As a few astute readers have pointed out to me, things have been a bit… light on the blog lately.  With E3 officially kicking off this week, we’ll have no shortage of game news coming down the pipe.  Stay tuned!

Why?

If you haven’t had the pleasure yet, be sure and spend some time with Robert Ashley’s unbelievably good podcast, “A Life Well Wasted.”  His third episode explores why it is we play games, with interviews from folks on the floor at this year’s Game Developers’ Conference.  There’s also a fascinating in-depth piece on Jason Rohrer, the indie dev behind the lo-fi, intensely thought-provoking Passage.

Ashley’s exploration into why we play videogames is eminently satisfying, because it’s a question we just don’t ask ourselves very often.  Considering how the audience has expanded in recent years, there are as many different motivations to play games as there are gamers to play them now.  What are yours?  Hit up the comments section…

Personally, the reasons why I keep playing have shifted a lot over the years, along with the types of games I play and the amount of time I spend with them.  Games were a novelty, a diversion, a pastime, and a means for both competition and commonality among my friends when I was younger.

As a dear friend pointed out, I don’t necessarily play to compete anymore.  Commitments to a great marriage, a fascinating career and a rambunctious puppy keep my weekly playing hours down in the single-digits-to-teens neighborhood.  I’m just not as good as I used to be, with 30+ hours to practice each week.  Instead, I find myself really playing to experience the fruits of (in my humble opinion) some of the greatest storytellers alive today.  And as a way to bring my friends together and frame the fun we have together.

RIP UMD?

1Up's mockup of the new PSP design

1Up .com has become the first legitimate outlet to publish the news of a new PSP hardware iteration that, among other significant design changes, ditches the UMD drive in favor of a download-only format that uses an internal flash drive and (of course) Sony MemorySticks for storage.  If you’re scoring at home, UMD (Universal Media Disc) is a proprietary Sony disc format created for the PSP.

The 1Up piece comes on the heels of an apparent slip-up in either editing or scheduled posting for the @1Up podcast that let the cat out of the bag.  Sony’s refused to comment, but they’re allegedly announcing the whole shebang at E3.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read the “PSP without UMD” rumor over the years, but it really seemed to gain steam in recent months.  When David Perry swore very publicly and vehemently in late February that we would see it soon, it was finally very easy to see why it might be for real this time.  We’ve had Sony telling us that PSP would see an earnest commitment to development, with big franchises like Rock Band and Little Big Planet on the way.  And once Loco Roco 2 was announced as download only, it seemed like the final nail in UMD’s coffin.

Looks like I’d better find an eager buyer for my UMD copy of Jerry Maguire, stat!

Know Your NPD’s: Don’t Panic! Edition

As has become the monthly norm around here, we’re diving into the latest NPD numbers and reading the tea leaves so you don’t have to!  Liquid Architecture is not afraid to be servicey.

The March report shows a 17% decline in overall sales from March of last year, which brings the total sales number for Q1 ‘09 back down to earth.  But nobody’s jumping out a window just yet.  Easter fell in March of last year, so that and the release of Smash Bros. Brawl contributed to a better-than-average showing.  I’m actually not surprised to hear that there’s a direct correlation between the Christian feast of the Resurrection and an uptick in game sales.  I can actually remember quite a few Easter baskets that included a videogame… and for some reason they tended be a GameBoy game.  I guess handheld systems are more appropriate for springtime?

If anything, the March report shows why this industry is so healthy, in spite of one down month.  This month’s Top 10 shows tremendous diversity among systems, with a top 5 comprised of two 360 games, and one each for the PS3, DS, and Wii:

1. Resident Evil 5 – Xbox 360 – Capcom – 938K
2. Pokemon Platinum – DS – Nintendo – 805K
3. Halo Wars – Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 639K
4. Resident Evil 5 – PS3 – Capcom – 585K
5. Wii Fit w/ balance board – Wii – Nintendo – 541K
6. MLB ‘09 The Show – PS3 – Sony – 305K
7. Killzone 2 – PS3 – Sony – 296K
8. Wii Play w/ remote – Wii – Nintendo – 281K
9. Mario Kart w/ wheel – Wii – Nintendo – 278K
10. Major League Baseball 2K9 – Xbox 360 – Take-Two – 205K

There’s something to be said for diversity of audience served as well.  The very kid-friendly Pokemon Platinum settled firmly into #2, among decidely hardcore titles like RE5, Halo Wars and Killzone 2. Both Major Leage Baseball games found their audience of sports fans, rounding out Nintendo’s Holy Trinity of top sellers.

The real eyebrow raiser for March is what’s NOT on the list. The fact that GTA: Chinatown Wars sold less then 100,000 units represents a rare sales misfire from Rockstar.  It released to solid enthusiast press reviews, but it didn’t translate to the same impressive sales numbers as the previous GTA handheld installments on the PSP.  This is a pretty clear indication of just how many of those millions of DS owners actually pay attention to hardcore gamer press.

I’ll be interested to see how this weak showing figures in to Rockstar’s future plans for Nintendo hardware.  Does this mean the “experiment” Strass Zelnick talked up in March was a failure?  Does their existing IP really appeal to Nintendo’s audience?  Personally, I’d love to see them give the Bully universe another look, possibly as a Wii or DS exclusive.  It really brought together everything that made GTA such a joy to play, but stripped out a lot of the edgier content that can be a turnoff for so many.  Certainly worth a look if you missed it the first time, especially alongside the superb Bully Game Club podcast series from Rebel FM.

If it’s in the game… it’s in the game?

Today marked the 62nd anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s historic first Major League Baseball game with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Throughout the league, MLB teams honored Jackie in their own way, from a dedication at the new Citi Field to scholarship awards and Jumbotron retrospectives.  And every single player in every game today wore #42, with no name on the back of his jersey.

It was a class move that involved the entire league.  And yet, it didn’t carry over to either of the officially licensed baseball franchises,  MLB 2K9 or MLB 09: The Show.

Considering these games (and every major sports game, for that matter) get continuous roster updates and patches throughout the season, is it really too much to ask that this carefully planned, well executed salute make it into the digital version of our favorite pastime?

Sports games have led the way in verisimilitude for quite some time.  Madden brought in authentic rosters and 11-on-11 formations 20 years ago, and still adds a nifty trick or two each year to bring the game just a bit closer to reality.  A few years ago, they linked in-game weather conditions to the actual field conditions in each stadium in realtime.  This year’s NBA Live game features daily adjustments to player performance based on their real-life counterparts’ hot and cold streaks in realtime.

For all of EA’s attention to the little things, even very recent editions of Madden missed the occasional detail.  Where were the Gene Upshaw memoriums in this year’s game?  No, their lack of inclusion shouldn’t (and hopefully doesn’t) impact anybody’s enjoyment of the game overall, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect these seemingly minute details to come through in the games.

I really hope Sony’s MLB: The Show team can get around to a pink bat update in time for the Mothers’ Day games.  Maybe they could even tie in a charity component with the Susan G. Komen foundation.  That’s DLC that really adds value to a game, and makes us all feel like we’re a small part of something much bigger.

Wright left

Following the always-timely Stephen Totilo’s Multiplayer Twitter feed, I caught the news just a couple minutes ago about Will Wright leaving EA Maxis to commit fully to his multimedia IP think tank, Stupid Fun Club. For the record, Totilo was seven minutes ahead of EA’s official Twitter.

I’m not entirely surprised with the move. DRM controversy aside, Spore made a tremendous splash with critics and consumers alike, and it really felt like the culmination of everything he’s done in the Sim lineage.  There were elements of big sellers like The Sims and SimCity in there, and even some of the quirkier titles like SimFarm, SimAnt and SimEarth. I don’t really see a need for Spore 2, and I’m willing to bet Wright feels the same way.  Then again, when has that stopped anyone?

Without a doubt, Wright can say he was with EA during a transformative period for the company.  EA bought Maxis in ‘97, so you’ve got the rise of Sony and the PlayStation brand, and EA’s embracing that technology to become an undisputed superpower in development during that time.  The advancement of Western development and evntual industry shift to cater to US-centric tastes.  The PR backlash against “big, bad EA” and the EA Spouse Livejournal giving a voice to the workforce rights issue that could no longer be ignored.  The end of Sega as a hardware manufacturer (catalyzed by EA’s lack of support for the Dreamcast) and the entrance of Microsoft on the console scene.  Countless top personnel moves, exclusive licensing deals won (NFL) and lost (MLB), and the will-they-won’t-they? circus of EA’s move to acquire Take2.

Will Wright managed to keep himself and his studio remarkably clear of everything that went down at the parent company during that time.  They managed to stick to resonable release schedules and get quality games to market every few years.  EA has a stake Stupid Fun Club, and it sounds like they retain rights of first refusal on their videogame projects.  I hope it works out well for all involved, and am really excited to see what their first projects look like.

Know Your NPD’s: What Drought?

The NPD report for February came out last Thursday, and if the industry keeps up this pace, I may have to issue a teary, self-depricating apology for my New Year’s rant about release scheduling.  The first quarter of the year has always been pin-drop quiet, even during some of the industry’s best years.  It gave gamers, retailers, and developers a much needed breath after the holidays.  This year?  Not so much.

On a recent visit to GameStop, I had to choose from perennial favorite MLB The Show, the long-awaited Peggle: Dual Shot, the better than expected GTA: Chinatown Wars, and Street Fighter IV.  Of course, Resident Evil 5 just dropped, and Gears 2, Little Big Planet and the rock-out-with-your-plastic-axes-out games continue to get killer DLC on an a regular basis.  It’s unlikely that such a bountiful first quarter was 100% intentional.  Holiday release schedules get ambitious, marketing budgets get slashed, and before you know it, a locked-in holiday blockbuster gets shuffled into the following year.

However, I’m willing to give Capcom the benefit of the doubt with Street Fighter IV.  All along, they’ve been favoring a hardcore gamer audience in marketing this title, with a steady flow of info from their Capcom-Unity blog and Twitter feed.  And their down ‘n dirty “Fight Club” event was just about the only pre-launch promotion this year that I really, really wished I had worked on.  At the end of the day, this title exists for that hardcore, multi-system owning gamer that purchases over a dozen games a year.  Capcom was refreshingly unapologetic about it, and I’m glad to see they were rewarded for it.

Nintendo juggernauts like Wii Fit, Wii Play, and the Mario Kart titles will (very deservedly) continue to consume the best-seller list month in and month out, because there’s a new casual gamer born every minute.  I hope third parties continue to use different parts of the year and inspired, innovative promo to show their biggest fans how much they still care.