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EA's Rich Hilleman answers 10 Questions from the Academy
Introducing 10 Questions from the Academy: A weekly feature from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences wherein significant figures in the video game industry provide their input on past trends, current events, and future challenges and goals for the entertainment software community. Rich Hilleman is a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences where he serves as one of its board directors. He's worked for Electronic Arts since 1982 where he was one of the first twenty employees, and was one of the creators of the original Madden football game. He currently holds the title of Chief Creative Officer. AIAS: What's your favorite part of game development? Rich Hilleman: Discovery of Fun. I think you can understand how elements combine to be successful, in the same way that you can create a recipe by chemistry. There are many elements, and as a result nearly infinite possibilities. The Art is in anticipating the results of a new combination and understanding what that means for feedback systems, game mechanics and marketing concepts. Those second order effects are where the magic is... How do you measure success? Impact = change x the number of people impacted.
EA's Hilleman expects console growth to be iterative
From the dudes being shot in line to the comically large taxis, everybody loves the excitement of a new console launch. But Rich Hilleman, the chief creative officer of EA, says you shouldn't expect similar events in the immediate future. Speaking at the Hot Chips conference in Stanford (via VentureBeat), Hilleman predicted that the current economic climate would better foster smaller updates to existing gaming systems, especially in the face of growth in digital distribution. "I expected we'll see a PlayStation 3.5 before we see a PlayStation 4 and an Xbox 560 before we see an Xbox 720," he said. "The biggest shift is how fast packaged goods games are changing and going away." Hilleman also added that gaming's future has more to do with Korea than Japan. Isn't it nice that EA and Blizzard can agree on something? [image]
