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Sims Carnival is now in open beta
In the future, there will be no game developers. Well, to be more accurate, there will be no paid videogame developers, just a legion of unpaid game slaves, toiling away for a chance at e-stardom. Today, the inevitable future looms just a bit closer with The Sims Carnival going into open beta.Right now, you can play some of the offerings from closed beta folks, who've come up with some really bizarre entries like this terrible take on Mario Kart and this brûlée caramelizing sim. You can also design your own games for the general populace to partake of, enjoy and never, ever pay you for.
ION 08: Getting the most out of user generated content
One might rightfully acuse the term "user generated content" of being a rather dry way to describe what is really a fascinating trend in media: the opportunity for "users" to contribute their own creations and have them incorporated into traditionally heavily produced "content." By nature interactive, the games industry is taking notice of the power of UGC, and in a panel yesterday at ION 08 we had the chance to listen to Flying Lab's Troy Hewitt and Linden Lab's Rob Lanphier talk about how user content has been working in Pirates of the Burning Sea and Second Life. Attorney Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University School of Law was on hand to discuss some of the legal issues surrounding UGC, and the panel was moderated by Scott Warner, owner and leader of the intellectual property and technology group at firm Garvey Schubert Barer. Scott: Troy, do you want to start us off by talking about how user content has been working in Pirates? Troy: Sure. As some of you may know, we just launched PotBS earlier this year. We have a system in the game where players can create flags and sails for their ships. There's a mechanism to distribute your work and they can actually create and sell their designs as well. Players can also create and model their own ships, and other people in game will be able to use those ships. We have 30 ships now in the game made by players, and these were actually done by only 13 people; so it's a small group of dedicated people creating these ships. With the flags and sails, about 20% of our player base is creating them and a much larger percentage actually use them.
Harmonix' LoPiccolo wants user music in Rock Band
Harmonix' Greg LoPiccolo wants you to know that he's thinking about you. He knows that as you play Rock Band, the song that you'd really like to play and spread across the world is your own band's tune. LoPiccolo wants you to know that he wants The Cephalopods' local hit "Three Is a Tragic Number" in the game as much as you do, saying "We would like to make it possible for people to introduce their own music into the Rock Band ecosystem, which is a pretty complicated topic."Some of those plentiful complications include IP issues and ratings problems, but LoPiccolo still thinks it's the "natural direction" for the franchise. He also talks about the feasibility of a keyboard peripheral for the game. Can we just be the ones to point out that he's missing the obvious? Keytar, people. Keytar. It's staring you right in the face. Pull the trigger on the fun gun. Do it.
GDC08: All Points Bulletin info and eye candy
What word is perhaps most synonymous with the current MMO playing field? Grind. Realtime Worlds' Dave Jones (no relation?) is setting out to change that with the studio's first massively multiplayer title All Points Bulletin we've been following eagerly. He's hoping the formula Crackdown + MMO = crack will be proven true with variables like infinite, professional-looking character and vehicle customization, contemporary setting, integration with last.fm and dynamic, variable team-sized missions hidden in the equation. Hit up our symbiotic other selves at Joystiq for the complete overview of APB.%Gallery-16668%
GDC08: Realtime Worlds shows off All Points Bulletin
What word is perhaps most synonymous with the current MMO playing field? Grind. Realtime Worlds' Dave Jones (no relation?) is setting out to change that with the studio's first massively multiplayer title All Points Bulletin we caught wind of back in September. He's hoping the formula Crackdown + MMO = crack will be proven true with variables like infinite, professional-looking character and vehicle customization, contemporary setting, integration with last.fm and dynamic, variable team-sized missions hidden in the equation. In today's innocuously-titled "My first MMO" panel at GDC, Jones revealed a number of details about those variables and showed off some gameplay and character customization demos that left a packed house audibly oohing and ahhing. Read on for a breakdown of the session and details on the game. Gallery: GDC08: All Points Bulletin
Seen@GDC: Console war continues in Spore as Wii, PS3, 360 rebuilt in-game
Just how versatile is Spore's asset creation system? Check out these images we saw at today's GDC demonstration of the game's user-generated content features. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, those are buildings shaped like a Wii, PS3 controller, GameCube and Xbox 360, created by one Maxis staffer.Just FYI, that dude's head isn't user generated ... unless God plays Spore. Which he probably does.
Areae explains MetaPlace's MetaBucks
The MetaPlace developer blog was updated with a description of Areae's plans for "MetaBucks." Unsurprisingly, MetaBucks will be the currency of MetaPlace. They will be exchangeable both ways for real-world currency, and will be used to buy tools and assets with which to build worlds. Also, MetaBucks will provide a system for creators of virtual worlds made in MetaPlace to charge subscription fees.If you're thinking, "gee, that sounds very Second Life-esque," you're not the only one! MetaPlace seeks to bridge the gap between gamers and virtual world residents by providing tools (like MetaBucks) that will be useful to both. For a browser-based title, MetaPlace is unusually ambitious in terms of scope.If you're curious how all this fits into Areae's business plan as a whole, check out the business plan FAQ. Basically, MetaPlace is free until the world you create crosses a certain traffic threshold. After that, it costs money to continue hosting your world there, but you can use MetaBucks to charge players or take donations, and use that income to cover the costs.
Nintendo takes wraps off of WiiWare
Nintendo is the latest on the indie console-development bandwagon with WiiWare, a "game-creation service that will allow developers large and small to create new downloadable video game content" that the company announced this morning. The company is making it clear that they're looking for little guys to make games for the console, though it's currently unclear exactly how that will be done. Interestingly, Reggie Fils-Amie told N'Gai Croal of Newsweek that the games would be checked for bugs but not vetted by Nintendo. Developers would be responsible for securing an ESRB rating (AO titles won't be welcome, sorry Manhunt 2.) Look for the first WiiWare to start appearing in early 2008.Nintendo will also be deciding how many points the games will be sold for when they're put on the Wii Shop channel. With this brave new world of indie development, who knows where the next big Wii game will come from now? Well, we do, it will come from Nintendo. But thanks to WiiWare, the search for the next big way to wait for the next big Nintendo game just got a lot more interesting.Read -- Nintendo's WiiWare Paves The Way ...Read -- What is WiiWare? Level Up Gets the Scoop ...
