Temjin

I like to think I’m not all that different compared to other people and like other people I do go through my phases of just wanting time and space to myself and then sometimes the other extreme where I feel I need to get out and do more. Well this weekend was great for the latter, kicked off with a concert of game music on Friday night followed by a few days of meeting people and playing games.

First off was the Video Game Live concert which was held at Festival Hall in London where music from games as early as Donkey Kong and as recent as World of Warcaft was orchestrated and played by the English Chamber Orchestra. It was great to see (hear) that music from games is being appreciated outside of their original intention and form. Often I have got snickers when people have glanced at my music collection to see countless folders of game music, for some reason people seem to find it unusual to listen to such specifically – I don’t. I find there are some great pieces of music in there which are as enjoyable if not more so to listen to compared to anything else.

I was also introduced to a new card game over the course of Saturday night called Chairmans (Mao). Now I heard a lot of mixed opinions on the game before playing from people who either really liked it or the exact opposite from people who really really hated it – no surprise really, everyone likes different things but nonetheless my interest had been perked for a few months wanting to know what my own reaction would be to the game. After a few hours of play however it became obvious it was the sort of game for me.

For those of you who don’t know it the concept of the game is mystery, the game play and challenge is inverse to normal design where as opposed to being told the rules at the start the objective throughout is to learn the rules as you go along (and new rules are always being made but can never be explained). To me that is awesome (and at the same time I can understand how others might fight it hopelessly infuriating), it sparks my curiosity and want to observe and work-out how and why something works. My only sticking point about the game is that it is fairly aimless which makes it more a challenge of endurance as more rules are added (I was told of a 16 hour game was once played by the people I was playing with) and to me that seems a little too much.

Also for those of you so inclined you can now see my amazing lack of being able to play Geometry Wars 2 on XBOX Live by adding the gamer tag “TemjinMKII“.

I’m sure a lot of you recall the EIDOS fiasco over Gamespot’s Kane & Lynch review which after a mediocre rating had been posted saw Jeff Gerstmann suspiciously loose his job. Even though (to my knowledge) no direct confirmation was made as to the circumstances of his dismissal other GameSpot reviewers such as Frank Provo suggest the rumours could have been true and that CNet (parent company) “intends to soften the site’s tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy”.

Alas, I fear, the naïve, spineless, freedom of speech fearing and vain marketing & PR brains have struck again over Atari’s recently released Alone in the Dark. In this case a number of European review sites (which just happened to give the game a low scoring review) have been threatened with spontaneous legal action over the claim that each one used a pirated version. In the case of 4Players’ at least they state they purchased the game from a public retailer which brings into question Atari’s real intent.

What bugs me though (and a lot of people are thinking this is just another attempt to somehow silence poor reviews) is people entrust reviewers to give them some opinion and foresight into if they will enjoy a game or not. A role which requires simple freedom of speech, honesty and truth in order to be fulfilled. Take Big Rigs for example – if anyone tried (forced or not) to recommend me that game for anything but hilarity value I would, I’m afraid, have to kill them.

Not to mince my words too much, here as some lessons marketing & PR people, so take note:

• Forcing only good reviews does not make a good game. It’s true.

• People have opinions. Some people will dislike things which other people love and occasionally the majority will have only negative things to say – learn to be accepting and deal with it.

• If you want to be able to popularise truly good games you need to be much MUCH more flexible in giving the developer more time when it’s needed. Your “fixed deadlines” are unhelpful and ultimately unimportant. (Take Hellgate:London, I’m looking at you EA / Flagship Studios…).

• People are observant and not as stupid as you maybe hope. Each time a controversy like this flares up people DO pickup on it, which will only go to damage your creditability in the future.

No-one should be afraid of criticism, it is what enables everyone and everything to improve for the future. Assuming, that is, you have any intention to try.

Hi EA,

Although no doubt you have fixed many of the issues which plagued Hellgate London on release you need to learn releasing a finished game is much more important than hitting a specific date of release. People don’t care what day it’s released on; that isn’t a detail which is going to be at the forefront of people’s memories when they are asked what struck them about the game.

The number of bugs and blatant unfinished quality of the title however will.

Thanks,

P

For the love of all things holy, sign it!

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/04/06/uwe-boll-will-quit-making-movies-with-one-million-signatures