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"Crash Bandicoot" creator comments on Cataclysm's problems and the evolution of WoW
I didn't see this until recently, but I'm really glad I did. Andy Gavin, the co-creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter, ran a series between the end of November and mid-January examining WoW, its four expansions, and how each of them succeeded or failed through both personal and professional eyes. His particular focus is the endgame in each and how it worked to attract and retain players -- or, in some cases, didn't. While there's certainly been no shortage of player commentary on how WoW's developed, Gavin's experience as a game developer who's not involved with Blizzard is a pretty unique perspective. I found his article on Cataclysm to be particularly adept at putting into words a lot of things I felt but had difficulty articulating. Most of the expansion's developmental time had to go into a revamped leveling process that few people saw unless they wanted to level a new alt. The content at 85 that greeted more casual players got bottlenecked in a series of difficult heroics that frustrated players dropped constantly. Personally, I still consider Cataclysm to have been a necessary expansion -- it did a lot of stuff that Blizzard had to do for the game even if it wasn't as eye-catching as what BC and Wrath did -- but I think Gavin's assessment is accurate and measured. (And many of Blizzard's own observations aren't all that different.) Funnily enough, with lots of people leveling new monks in Mists of Pandaria, more people might be seeing Cataclysm content now than they did during the expansion that was actually dedicated to it. I've linked Gavin's full series here. While it's long, it's an incredibly interesting and detailed read: WoW's endgame: Vanilla WoW's endgame: The Burning Crusade WoW's endgame: Wrath of the Lich King WoW's endgame: Cataclysm WoW at present: Mists of Pandaria
Crash Bandicoot creator ruminates on the old days
Don't be surprised if you see America's Favorite Marsupial (after Kangaroo Jack) tooling around on the highways and byways of this great land. That's right: Crash Bandicoot is old enough to get his learner's permit. To mark the big guy's 15th birthday, co-creator Andy Gavin took to his blog to share some memories of Crash's early days, naked baby photos, as it were. Our personal favorite is Gavin's story of trying to conduct an intensely technical conversation with Ken Kutaragi while (1) "pretty drunk" and (2) shouting over ear-splittingly loud music. It's a lot of fun, as are some of the Crash-centric memories readers have posted in the comments. ... And hey, while we're thinking about it, if you should happen to see Crash Bandicoot driving around, you should be wicked surprised, contrary to our intro. He's not only fictional, he's a bandicoot. It's an extremely unsafe situation that should probably reported to local law enforcement. Sorry for being so irresponsible.
Ex-Naughty Dog founders go casual with Monkey Gods
Back in 1986, Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin had a dream. As childhood friends, they both wished to make games, so in their adult life, they established Naughty Dog in Santa Monica. They made some games for the Sega Genesis and 3DO, but pay dirt didn't arrive until they created Crash Bandicoot and set the whirling dervish loose on the PSOne. When the PS2 came around, the duo thought up another beloved property in the Jak & Daxter series, which we don't have to tell you was a pretty big deal (and still is!). Now, the duo has a new company: Monkey Gods. Its focus is on the PC crowd (mostly the casual players), though there really isn't anything on the site at the moment. The first game to come from Monkey Gods will be Snood for the iPhone, available on the iTunes App store June 1.We've put in word for comment to the two, and will update you all on whatever we hear back just as soon as we receive it.[Via Geoff Keighley's Twitter]
