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Games so bad they're good: Far Cry 2
I was invited to be on the "Games So Bad They're Good" panel at PAX East, but a scheduling conflict prevented me from taking part. Fortunately, my Editor in Chief, Ludwig Kietzmann, was ready and willing to take my place. His selection, Far Cry 2, took more than a few people by surprise - the reaction on Twitter went something like "Are you crazy? Far Cry 2 is awesommmmeeeeee!" His reasoning was ... unusual, to say the least, so we're reprinting his argument. These are the notes he used for his presentation, exactly as he used them, thus the atypical format. For the record, my choice was going to be Phantasy Star Online. I think Luddy won this one. --Susan I tried to be considerate about this, and cognizant of why bad qualities can lead to pleasure. The thing about bad movies like Plan 9 is that you're looking at an event so awkward and terrible for the people involved that you want to instinctually stop them and protect them, but you can't because it's already committed to film. It's too late to stop the tragedy, so now you are allowed to enjoy it. In a game, if your actions don't align with your expectations or what the game is about, it's frustrating. Most games are good despite their bad qualities, like story and controls, and not because of them. At first I thought: Okay, what about games that give the player all the power and then back away? Is that bad game design? Is God of War so bad, because they let you rip out a monster's medulla oblongata and then bash their head in with it and then you're like, "This violence is a bit mindless isn't it?" Or, what about games that overcomplicate and abstract simple, physical actions, like QWOP, Surgeon Simulator and Octodad? Then I had an epiphany, I yelled, "Eureka! "and someone said, "Shh, this is a library, keep your revelations to yourself." I'm going with Far Cry 2, and here's why.
Amazon Fire TV lineup trailer has dinosaurs, lasers, and laser dinosaurs
Amazon announced a plethora of development partners when it revealed Amazon Fire TV, its new streaming video and games device. While Mojang's Minecraft got top billing during Amazon's Wednesday presentation, the company's own Amazon Game Studios has plenty in the works as demonstrated by this trailer. For a device Amazon deems "not a game console," Fire TV has some fetching and very traditional looking games in the works based on this teaser. A side-scrolling platformer where you play as a caveman clubbing dinosaurs and then inexplicably disintegrating dinosaurs with a giant laser; a soft-colored world of papercraft woodland animals not dissimilar to Tearaway; and what looks like a turn-based medieval RPG; Amazon Fire TV will cover its genre bases if nothing else. There's even another platformer that looks like some bizarre version of the Jetsons, but you control Ernie from Sesame Street's doppelganger as he shoots aliens. While Ernie Shoots All the Aliens isn't a likely title for Amazon Game Studios' sci-fi platformer, the teaser doesn't provide titles for that game or any of the others in this lineup. It also doesn't say what developers in Amazon's stable are working on what games. Amazon acquired Double Helix, developer of Killer Instinct and Strider, in February. Far Cry 2 and Splinter Cell designer Clint Hocking announced he'd joined Amazon alongside Portal creator Kim Swift on Wednesday as well. The potential talent behind these new games makes them all the more mysterious. Except for the one about dinosaurs. That seems pretty straightforward. [Images: Amazon]
Far Cry 2's Clint Hocking, Portal's Kim Swift join Amazon Game Studios
Portal Co-Creator Kim Swift and Far Cry 2 Lead Designer Clint Hocking have joined Amazon Game Studios. Hocking made the switch in February, according to his LinkedIn profile, following his departure from Valve near the end of 2013. Swift was previously creative director of Airight Games, which launched Soul Fjord exclusively on Ouya in January. Likewise, her profile on LinkedIn now notes her new position at Amazon as Senior Designer. The news follows Amazon's announcement of its Fire TV media streaming device, which is is on sale today for $99. The Fire TV's controller can be purchased separately for $40, and while games on the Android-based machine can support third-party Bluetooth controllers, gaming was deemed a "bonus" feature of the device. Amazon founded the in-house development studio in August 2012 and purchased Killer Instinct developer Double Helix in February. [Image: Clint Hocking]
Far Cry 2 lead designer Clint Hocking no longer working for Valve
It's emerged Clint Hocking, the lead designer of Far Cry 2 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, left Valve towards the end of last year. According to Hocking's blog and his LinkedIn profile, the industry veteran's post as a designer and level designer ended in December 2013. The former Ubisoft and LucasArts creative director joined Valve in June 2012, but as Game Informer notes, it wasn't known what he was working on there. If the rumor mill is to be believed, Hocking was involved with the as-yet-unannounced Left 4 Dead 3. Back in October, Hocking featured on a supposed list of people working on the game, with ValveTime reporting (via superannuation) the list was procured from an internal Valve database.
Far Cry 2 creative lead Clint Hocking now working for Valve
Clint Hocking – the designer behind Far Cry 2 and the original Splinter Cell – vacated his latest gig at LucasArts last month. Though he didn't leave a forwarding address, a recent tweet depicted his son in the Valve headquarters lobby, with the word "Arrival." Valve reps confirmed his new employment there to Joystiq today via email, but stopped short of saying what Hocking's work at the Washington-based studio would entail.Hocking previously worked at LucasArts on projects unknown, and has spent the past few years out of the spotlight (our past three stories on him involve exiting or entering new jobs).
Far Cry 2 creative lead Clint Hocking exits LucasArts to ventures unknown
Clint Hocking is no longer working at LucasArts. The man behind the original Splinter Cell, Chaos Theory, and Far Cry 2 was working on an unannounced project for LucasArts (said to be something other than Star Wars 1313) as creative lead. In his surprisingly concise announcement post (Hocking's known for his verbosity), he said, "I recently left my job at LucasArts and am moving on to something new."Hocking didn't leave a forwarding address, as it were. "I will let the world know where I am going once I get there," he said. "Unless you already know." As you probably already guess, we have no idea where Hocking's headed. He is, however, "relocating," though it's unclear if that means he's headed out of San Francisco. "I already have something lined up and I am currently in the process of dealing with the living hell of relocation."Apparently LucasArts already took The Force back from him, post-employment. It would've made moving so much easier!
Ex-Ubisoft creative director Clint Hocking joining LucasArts as ... creative director [update]
According to the tweets of Ubisoft community developer Kimi Matsuzaki, ex-Ubisoft creative director Clint Hocking has taken a job in some capacity with LucasArts. Though Hocking has yet to note as much in public (we checked his personal blog, his LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook pages), he did announce that he was leaving Ubisoft Montreal back in May. It also appears that Hocking has left his former home of Montreal for San Francisco, as indicated by a slew of tweets on the subject. Okay, okay ... you're right -- we're starting to feel kind of creepy about this. We've reached out to both Hocking and LucasArts for more details on his new job and will let you know, directly from the source, as soon as we know more. Update: LucasArts confirmed to GameSpot that Hocking has joined its ranks as "creative director on an unannounced project."
Splinter Cell, Far Cry 2 designer Clint Hocking leaves Ubisoft
[Image Source] Clint Hocking, longtime creative director at Ubisoft on the Splinter Cell games and lead designer on FarCry 2, has announced on his blog that he has resigned from Ubisoft. The separation appears to be genial -- Hocking waxes a little poetic about his nearly-a-decade with the company, and then goes on to say that he has found the courage to "bid farewell to those tragically comforting habits" and move forward to "walk on hot coals and sleep on a bed of nails." We'll assume he's speaking metaphorically there, and guess that Hocking is moving off to start his own company. Still, as Hocking points out, it's a big move away from the company where he started out, originally hired after "fiddling around more or less constantly ... with the Unreal Level Editor" and having "sent in a resume on a lark" to a job posting. Hocking started work on the first Splinter Cell, and says he's "been very lucky to say the least" in his career so far. We'll let you know when we hear what he's up to next. [Via IdleThumbs]
GDC09: Highlights from the Game Critics Rant
Though it seems like game journalists have a fine platform on which to project their opinions, it's rare that they get to directly address the game developers they cover. Just such a chance was provided by this year's GDC rant session, which let game journalists talk about games and their own writing about them.Before we begin, keep in mind that we are cherry picking here, and there's a lot of context you miss out on by not being on site. Hopefully, we're at least able to give you a flavor of what was going on.
Don't be sad, but a Far Cry 2 demo isn't happening
Far Cry 2 will not have a pre-release demo according to Clint Hocking, the game's creative director. Hocking explains to Eurogamer that given the open-world nature of the game, that even if they put walls around a certain section, there could still potentially be hours worth of game in that space -- defeating the whole point of a demo being a teaser.Hocking went on to say that Far Cry 2's features are all locked and now "100 guys" are sitting around picking out the bugs. We should certainly get some hands-on time with the game next week at E3 and we'll report back what we find from our jaunt through the savanna.
GDC08: Six things to take from Game Developers Rant
It has been one year since Chris Hecker made the headline-catching Duct Tape comment at the Developer's Rant. At GDC this year we were waiting with great anticipation for what other nuggets would come this year. Interested in vulgarity, balloons, excessive drinking and French literature? How about poignant discourse and hope? Keep reading for both!%Gallery-16726%
