Overheard
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Overheard@E3: Kudos to Kudo's Wii burn
No doubt a little flustered by the woman wildly flailing about at the other end of the stage, Kudo Tsunoda slipped in a comment that, according to wicked modern parlance, could easily be classified as a "sick burn." The recipient? The Nintendo Wii, which will soon find itself competing against Microsoft's just-announced motion control system, "Project Natal."Said Kudo: "This isn't the kind of game where you just end up on the sofa using some kind of preset waggle commands." Pheeeeeew.
Overheard @ E3: Kojima seeing 'Dun-Dun Dun Da-Dun'
Looks like Hideo Kojima won't be making the Microsoft press conference. When we stumbled upon him outside our hotel he told us that he'd be doing some sightseeing around (not so) sunny LA and then seeing "Dun-Dun Dun Da-Dun." We assume he means Terminator Salvation and, despite our instincts, we couldn't bring ourselves to tell him he shouldn't. He did say he enjoyed Star Trek, though -- in fact, he gave it two thumbs up.
Overheard@GDC09: It's a small, small development community, be nice
Sure, the video game industry is a multi-billion dollar behemoth, but behind it all are people -- a few people ... really, not as many as you'd think. So, while discussing his career path to becoming lead designer on Fallout 3, Emil Pagliarulo gave some prudent advice to anyone trying to break in ... or people mouthing-off with an ego: "The game industry is very small. If you're an asshole, they'll remember that when your resume comes across their desk six years down the line." When you talk to enough developers at GDC, you learn how incestuous the industry really is.
Overheard@GDC09: Design is Takahashi's anti-drug
Although it's hard to believe that the ideas for Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy weren't birthed from some serious drug use, Keita Takahashi stated at GDC that he's completely straight-edge when it comes to partaking in the chemical vices of man. In the same session where he revealed Noby Noby Boy for iPhone, he also claimed, "I don't use drugs at all, I don't drink at all. Please don't worry about me."Hmmmmmmm .... okay.
Overheard@GDC09: ngmoco employees are 'ngmofos'
During GDC's "Braving the Stormy Waters of XBLA and PSN: Smaller is NOT Easier" panel, Mike Mika of Backbone Entertainment spotted some of his former ngmoco coworkers in the audience and said, "Hey! It's good to see some ngmofos out there!" What's the slang term for Joystiq employees?
Overheard@GDC09: Tim makes a good point
"No one's ever made a bong in the shape of a game designer." -Tim Schafer We could give you some more context here, but we're pretty sure it speaks for itself.
Overheard@GDC09: TTP = Time To Penis
During the "Spore's Wake: What Seriously Happened?" panel at GDC, we learned a fantastic new meme that we have to share with you. "Time To Penis" (or just "TTP" in the streetz) is defined as the amount of time it will take children to make something rude out of a set of tools they've been given -- typically, that object is a penis. Apparently, TTP can be measured down to the near-second. In Spore's case, TTP was actually a negative factor since "children" were making penis monsters before the Creature Creator was even officially released!Did you know? That little guy on the right is generally considered to be Spore's first penis creature. Don't stare, though -- he's shy.
Overheard at BlizzCon 2008: A real, live Blue
Scene: Just outside the BlizzCon badge pickup area, the Thursday before BlizzCon, 10 minutes before 4pm badge pickup.Crowd: (Mills around, is huge, waits patiently, talks occasionally about everything from the Protoss to the weather. Throws out a random "WoW Insider rocks!" yell as we pass by -- thanks for that!)BlizzCon Employee: (Steps out of Convention Center to address the crowd) Hi everyone! We're going to open up the doors here in just a minute, but we will not be giving out badges until 4pm. So when we open the doors, in about five minutes from now, come on in and line up, but we won't give out badges until four.Crowd: (Various murmurs of excitement, until, from in the back:) Why aren't you wearing a blue shirt?(Laughter from all sides.)Employee: Ha, that's funny. No, I'm wearing a black shirt today, not a blue shirt. Ok, so in five minutes we'll let you in, and then we'll give out badges at 4pm. (Turns and heads back inside.)Crowd: (Follows immediately, calmly flooding inside without waiting, while convention center employees stand and shake their heads.)
Overheard@E3: "Check out all these girls playing games!"
When the doors of the E3 showfloor first opened, herds of eager game industry denizens rushed inside to set up stations at kiosks to try their hands at the new wares. One small gaggle of gaming journalists from a world where women must not exist gawped and said "Check out all these girls playing games!" Keep in mind, this was after seeing two women playing games at one console.Two girls, one console. Yes, apparently women play games.
Overheard@E3: 'You guys did a cover for us, right?'
Le sigh. A sincere question coming from the developers of acrobatic Gears of Civil War shooter, Damnation, once again brings us in direct competition with longtime Joystiq nemesis and mistaken alternate identity, Joystick Magazine. "You guys did a cover for us, right?" asks a member of Blue Omega Entertainment, unaware of our disdain for paper and our geographical avoidance of France.Being mistaken for Joystick has become one of our favorite trade show traditions (does it happen to them too?), if only for the ironic reminder that the Joystiq with a "q" is the one that isn't French.
Overheard@E3: Sleeping on the job
"I totally fell asleep during the Sony press conference. Like ... out." -- Another loud-talking middle-aged journalist walking the concourse at the LACC. We wanted to stop and ask him during what part he fell asleep.
Overheard@E3: Zelnick don't like badges
Yesterday we learned Strauss Zelnick, the Charmain of Take-Two and the man standing brave against the hostile EA takeover, doesn't like wearing his E3 badge. While waiting to see 2K's latest offerings, the very polished Zelnick, who looks identical to his head-shot above, walked in and handed his badge off to the lady behind the desk exclaiming, "I hate wearing these things!"Dude, we're totally with you! But, we're not the Strauss Zelnick. We'd love to join you in solidarity, but then security would probably kick us out.
Overheard @ E3: A match made in L.A.
Schlumpy, balding guy: Are you a frag doll? Cute red head: *nods* Schlumpy balding guy: Cool ... I'm not. *small chuckle*Frag doll: ...- A connection is made in the audience before the start of the UbiSoft press conference
Overheard@E3: 'I feel kind of bad that we're turning people into drummers'
When we sat down to get a fresh look at Rock Band 2 at the Harmonix E3 booth, the musical members of the dev team were happy to tell us that many people who try Rock Band wind up pursuing real instruments as a result. When discussing the new drum trainer in Rock Band 2, Senior Designer Dan Teasdale told us, "I feel kind of bad that we're turning people into drummers." Teasdale, as it turns out, is a bass player bassist.
Overheard@E3: The wisdom of Bill Walton
At their conference yesterday, EA invited NBA hall-of-famer Bill Walton onstage to help them show off NBA Live '09 and its Dynamic Player DNA, and ended up stealing the show. Peter Moore, who also hammed it up with Natalie Gulbis, kept saying that Walton had gone off script, and that must be true -- anyone who wrote a script like this would never want for a job in Hollywood.
Overheard at BlizzCon: Changes to the bgs?
Well, as I stood in line for food this afternoon at BlizzCon, I found myself behind some Blizzard employees. They were very nice, and evidently from the QA department. As the the line moved on, their conversation turned to some of their PvP exploits from the day before. Evidently guys who spend all day playing WoW go home and....you guessed it, play WoW.What was interesting wasn't really what battlegrounds they were playing in, or how they did. What was interesting was what they let drop while they talked about their PvP exploits. Evidently fairly soon Blizzard will release a method of dealing with those pesky AFKers in AV and WSG. They said something along the lines of "I can't wait to select all those guys hanging out in the caves and just hit 'report.'" Perhaps this will be a system similar to that which has removed all but the most tenacious gold spammers from my whispers. Intriguing? I thought so, and also thought you should hear about it. I'll keep my ears perked for anything else tantalizing I hear tomorrow.
Overheard@E3: the Toyota Cylon
Lines heard before Sierra Senior producer Connie Brammeier guided one journalist through the Battlestar GalacticaXbox Live Arcade. Don't worry, BSG fans, they were both in on the joke. You probably won't find this as funny unless you watch the show:"So, before we begin, do you know what a Cylon is?""Yeah, a Cylon is a car, right? By Toyota?""Yeah, it's a hybrid."
Overheard@E3: ZOMG, are they playing Metal Gear Solid 4?
The media was kicked out of the Fairmont Hotel very quickly after the Konami press conference. Maybe it was our continuous E3 coverage, which has left us awake for 48 hours ... but we moved as slowly as zombies on our way out. Good thing we waited! Because as we stayed behind, we heard the sounds of massive explosions in the auditorium. Gun fire and screams could be heard for minutes. Our interest was piqued, so we tried to look past the black curtain. Unfortunately, we were stopped before we could see anything of significance.A neighboring attendee shared our suspicions with us: "OMG, are they playing Metal Gear Solid 4?"
Overheard@E3: Incomplete pass
During Tuesday night's E3 media briefing, Microsoft boasted that Xbox 360 was the only console with the current three best-selling franchises (Sony ain't far behind with two). But at least one attendee failed to grasp the significance:South African game blogger: What's this game called?Other blogger: Uh ... Madden.
Overheard at GDC: "Greatest moment of my life"
"That was the single greatest moment of my life. He stood in front of me, he smiled, he took my game, he signed it, he shook my hand."-A passerby, talking on his cell phone about a chance meeting with Shigeru Miyamato, shortly after a presentation by game composer Koji Kondo.
