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OUYA's Kellee Santiago talks game publishing, her new role as Head of Developer Relations
When Kellee Santiago resigned from her previous gig as president of thatgamecompany, she left behind a job running one of the most highly acclaimed indie game studios in the industry. But she left on a high note, having helped craft Journey -- not just one of the best games of 2012, but a high mark on the medium. Her next move is similarly bold, taking the reins of the Android-powered OUYA console's digital content library as "Head of Developer Relations." On Santiago's LinkedIn profile, she describes her new job as, "curator of content for the games section on OUYA" (among other things); a job she's plenty qualified for given her time on the board of the Indie Fund (an angel investment group of successful indie game devs). "This role seems almost like a logical extension of everything I've done up to this point," Santiago told us in an email interview this afternoon. Indeed it does. In her new role at OUYA, Santiago will be "working with many developers globally and in different capacities," she said, as well as managing the digital library that users at home see. "I'm very passionate about empowering new voices in game development so we can have more variety in game content -- that's what initially led me to co-founding thatgamecompany, and Indie Fund, and working with the Independent Games Summit, and IndieCade," she added. The job of course includes courting devs, even if that means OUYA assists in the funding and publishing of those devs' games. "OUYA is doing both," Santiago told us -- that's no doubt assisted by the $8.5 million OUYA pulled in during its Kickstarter funding campaign. Despite her passion for indies, she said there's no "arbitrary restrictions for developing on OUYA," and that her guiding principle is identifying, "developers and content that for whatever reasons wouldn't be able to exist on any other console." In other words, there's no reason one of the biggies -- think EA, Activision, Ubisoft and others -- couldn't get in on the action. Square Enix has already promised a variety of titles, so it seems a given that others will sign on. One developer who's still curiously uncertain about the console, however? Santiago herself. Though she teased on Twitter earlier today that she'll, "still be making stuff, too," and not to worry, she wouldn't offer us any more details about her plans for development on OUYA. Again, it seems a given, but we can't help but want to know more sooner than later.
Journey, Walking Dead, Far Cry 3 lead BAFTA 2013 nominations
Journey scooped eight nominations in the British Academy of Film and Television's Games Awards this year. As if it hadn't won enough of the like, thatgamecompany's PS3 odyssey is a contender for BAFTA's Best Game award, competing with Dishonored, FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, and The Walking Dead for the prize. It's the two latter games that also lead the way in terms of nominations; Far Cry 3 received six nods, while The Walking Dead picked up seven, including two in the Performer category for Melissa Hutchinson and Dave Fennoy's respective portrayals of Clementine and Lee.Dear Esther is also clearly popular at BAFTA HQ. The melancholic game, developed by indie studio thechineseroom, can boast a very impressive five nominations including ones in the British Game and Debut Game categories.The full list of nominees is after the break. BAFTA's Games Awards take place on March 5.
Journey bankrupted the studio, next game to be multiplatform, Chen says
Developing Journey cost thatgamecompany a lot of time, talent and all of its money, creator Jenova Chen said during his DICE 2013 address. Journey bankrupted thatgamecompany; Chen began its development in 2006 and the studio eventually received two extensions from Sony so the team could perfect the game's emotional impact."We did get the money, we got to finish the extra year, but a lot of people in our studio were not paid in the last half of the year, and we actually paid our savings to extend the game for another couple months," Chen said. "So by the end, when we shipped Journey, we also went bankrupt as thatgamecompany."In the end, Chen said it was worth it, if only to see the deep, human impact Journey had on its players. One email he received told Sophia's story, a 15-year-old who played Journey with her dad before he died and said the game changed her life for the better.Next up, Chen wants to create a similarly artistic, but more commercially successful game, in an attempt to broaden the game development industry as a whole, he tells Polygon. Thatgamecompany's next game will be multiplatform, unlike its previous, Sony-exclusive games.
Journey soundtrack loses Grammy to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Austin Wintory's composition of thatgamecompany's Journey soundtrack earned him a Grammy nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category, an accomplishment Wintory was shocked to achieve. It marked the first time a full video game score was recognized by the Academy, following Christopher Tin's win in 2011 with the song "Baba Yetu" from the Civilization 4 soundtrack.Last night, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross took home the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, for their The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo music. Wintory took the news in stride on Twitter, congratulating Reznor on the win."Obviously I didn't work on #JourneyPS3 hoping to win a Grammy," Wintory later tweeted. "The entire point was the game itself and that's gone beyond my wildest dreams." Journey won the top honor at the DICE 2013 awards and we were fairly fond of it as well. Good work, Wintory.
Journey takes 'Game of the Year' at DICE awards
Journey took a long walk through the DICE awards this evening and scooped up eight accolades along the way. We can't help but agree with the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. The 16th annual DICE awards also recognized The Walking Dead with four awards.Valve co-founder and overlord Gabe Newell became the 17th inductee into the AIAS Hall of Fame (he also totally ignored the "no denim" rule of the awards show). Also, Infocom co-founders Dave Lebling and Marc Blank receive the 2013 AIAS Pioneer Award.All the winners can can be found listed after the break.
Game Developers Choice Awards nod to Journey, Dishonored, FTL
Finalists for the 13th annual Game Developers Choice Awards represent the broad swath of modern game development, featuring indie and mainstream games side-by-side and in perfect, competitive harmony. Journey, a game that we thoroughly enjoyed, leads the pack with six nominations in Best Design, Best Downloadable Game, Best Audio, Best Visual, Innovation and Game of the Year. Dishonored follows with four nominations in Best Narrative, Best Visual, Best Design and Game of the Year.The Walking Dead gets three nods, for Best Downloadable Game, Best Narrative and Game of the Year. Rounding out the Game of the Year category is Mass Effect 3 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Mark of the Ninja, FTL: Faster Than Light, The Unfinished Swan and ZombiU join Journey in the Innovation category. The Best Debut category features Polytron Corporation with Fez, Fireproof Games with The Room, Humble Hearts and Dust: An Elysian Tail, Giant Sparrow and The Unfinished Swan, and Subset Games with FTL.Take a peek at the entire GDCA lineup in the press release below, featuring finalists in 10 categories. The awards ceremony is scheduled for March 27 in San Francisco, during GDC 2013.
The Daily Grind: Would you buy a console to play an MMO?
Imagine there's an MMO you really want to play (for some of you, this is going to take a lot of imagination, but pretend, for just this question, that you actually like playing the MMOs you play). Maybe the game is going to connect to an existing MMO in a novel way, or maybe it's that $300,000,000 ultimate sandbox you've been hoping for. This theoretical MMO is just perfect for you, and you need to play it like yesterday. Except that it's coming out on consoles, and only on consoles for the foreseeable future. And it's a console you don't already own. Nooooooooooo! I picked up a PS3 partly for this reason -- to play PS3-exclusive games like Journey. But an MMO? That would take a lot more doing; it'd have to be a truly compelling world that offers something I can't get anywhere else. Whether or not it's your thing, DUST 514 is asking just this question of gamers, but it wasn't the first and it surely won't be the last. So what about you? Would you buy a console just to play an MMO -- if not DUST, then some other game? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
2013 DICE Award nominations led by Journey, Walking Dead, Far Cry 3
The nominations have been announced for the 16th annual DICE Awards, and Journey leads the pack with nods in 11 categories including outstanding achievement in music composition, outstanding achievement in game direction and overall game of the year. The Walking Dead, Far Cry 3 and Halo 4 have each racked up eight, seven and six nominations, respectively. Dishonored and Borderlands 2 each pulling in five nods.In addition to Journey, contenders for game of the year include The Walking Dead, Far Cry 3, Borderlands 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.The DICE Awards will take place on February 7 at 10:30pm ET, during the 2013 DICE summit, and will be hosted by Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist and Talking Dead. The event will be streamed live on Machinima. You can read the full list of nominations right here.
Journey makes its way to No. 1 on PSN charts for December
Journey is a pretty fantastic game. Not only do we completely agree with this sentiment, but US PSN players do too – Journey topped the PSN sales charts in December, beating out Mass Effect, Far Cry 3, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and The Walking Dead Episode 5: No Time Left.Helping to fill out the top 20 full-games list was Assassin's Creed 3, Grand Theft Auto 4, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Tokyo Jungle, and The Walking Dead episodes three and four. LittleBigPlanet Vita was the No. 1 Vita game in December, while the Black Ops 2 Season Pass was the top add-on.In related PSN news, European players can snag some sweet deals this month on games such as Saints Row: The Third, Spec Ops: The Line, Mafia 2, Jet Set Radio, Hell Yeah! and quite a few more. Check out the complete list here.
Joystiq Top 10 of 2012: Journey
Watchmen, the monumental graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, was once deemed "unfilmable." So entrenched were the creators in the structure and language of their chosen medium, that no interpretation, even if faithful to the plot and characters, could truly convey as intended this study of duplicitous, damaged superheroes.One of my favorite novels, "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski, belongs best in a book, which you flutter through, turn upside down and decode in mad layers. The core of it, however, is a spooky, spatially suspect house. Hollywood can probably handle that – and I'd go see the results – but it wouldn't be the same without the scribbled anecdotes, the cover and the spine.Journey is an unfilmable video game, despite being rooted in a concept that's miraculously relatable and explainable (for a game). A slender being, draped in beautiful and unfettered fabrics, is drawn to a mountain. The beacon beckons not with words, but a language enmeshed with the world itself. Some designers show they care by putting a dot on your screen; others make you a mountain.
Austin Wintory's journey to the 2013 Grammys
On the day Grammy nominations were scheduled to be announced, Austin Wintory didn't get much work done. As the composer for Journey, Wintory had an inkling that he might be nominated in Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, and he was distracted all day, constantly refreshing the Grammy page, scanning for his name. By evening the list still wasn't posted and he gave up on trying to focus. He got in his car, determined to go home, make dinner and then check the page again."The instant I got in my car, my email started blinking. Of all people, it was from my friend Christopher Tin, emailing me to say 'CONGRATULATIONS' – in all caps."Tin won the first Grammy for a piece of video game music, Civilization 4's "Baba Yetu," in 2011. He and Wintory had been friends for years. When Wintory saw that email, he quickly called Tin and the subsequent conversation went something like this:"What are you – are you on the website?" Wintory asked Tin. "What's going on?""Yeah, I'm looking right at it! There you are!" Tin replied. And then, after a second, the situation dawned on him. "Wait a minute – you didn't know this already?""No! I'm in my car right now.""Oh, this is perfect."Just then Wintory's phone began buzzing, beeping and possibly sobbing under the barrage of emails, texts and calls from friends and well-wishers. Two weeks later, Wintory agrees with Tin's assessment of events."As fate had it, I heard from Chris himself," he says. "I had no foresight, I had absolutely no plan, and yet in hindsight, I wouldn't have it any other way."
Journey composer Austin Wintory writing score for Leisure Suit Larry
We can't think of two games that could possibly be more disparate from one another than Journey and Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, but we apparently live in the wackiest of all possible universes because Journey's Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory will also be lending his talents to Larry's upcoming adventure. Weird."That's my era as a gamer growing up," Wintory told Polygon. "This was like a fantasy to work on a game like that." Leisure Suit Larry creator Al Lowe confirmed with Wintory that he was okay with writing "seedy, back alley kind of stuff" before finalizing the deal, so we probably shouldn't expect the same sort of grand, sweeping orchestral majesty that Wintory penned for Journey, as heard above.Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is slated to really class up the joint sometime next year.
Journey soundtrack receives Grammy nomination
Austin Wintory must be floating on air after learning his Journey soundtrack is nominated for a Grammy. Wintory's work for thatgamecompany's PSN adventure is going up against scores from the likes of John Williams, Howard Shore, and Hans Zimmer as it bids to take home only the second Grammy ever won for video game music.While Journey represents the first game to get a Grammy nod for its soundtrack, the accolade for the first game music ever nominated belongs to Civilization 4 and Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu." Tin went one better after he took home the golden gramophone for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" back in 2011.As for the 2013 awards, the full list of nominees for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media are Journey, The Adventures of Tintin, The Artist, The Dark Knight Rises, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Hugo. Wintory learns if he's to follow in Tin's footsteps on February 10, 2013, when the 55th Annual Grammy Awards are held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Journey leads Spike VGA 2012 nominations
The nominees for this year's Spike Video Game Awards have been outed, featuring a cavalcade of 2012's best titles. Journey led the pack with seven nods this year, including Game of the Year. Other stand-outs include The Walking Dead, Assassin's Creed 3 and Dishonored, which are each nominated for five awards. The complete list of nominees and special "Viewer Voted" categories are available on Spike's award page.In addition to being broadcast on television, the Spike VGAs will be presented on Xbox Live with special SmartGlass functionality. Viewers can check out the festivities through their Xbox 360 on December 7 at 9pm ET when Samuel L. Jackson takes the stage as host.
Hit List Q&A: Jenova Chen, thatgamecompany President
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: thatgamecompany President Jenova Chen. A note from the AIAS:Jenova Chen is President & Creative Director for thatgamecompany (TGC). TGC is best known for creating experimental, artistic, and accessible games that touch players on an emotional level. TGC designed and developed the award-winning PSN titles flOw, Flower, and, most recently, Journey.At the upcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit conference, Jenova will be speaking on: Emotion Oriented Interactive Entertainment - Inspirations and Theories Behind Journey. Jenova learned many valuable lessons on what went well and how to do better on his quest to create games that deliver a lasting emotional impact. Jenova will discuss TGC's founding design philosophy and share some of the lessons he and his team gleaned from TGC's past six years developing three innovative downloadable games.
Rumor: PowerUp Rewards offers big discounts on Sony PS3 collections
Supposedly GameStop is planning a PowerUp Rewards member-exclusive sale from November 1 through November 14 for select Sony PlayStation 3 collections. Titles rumored to be on the cheap include Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection ($10), Jak and Daxter Collection ($10), Uncharted 1 and 2 ($15), God of War Saga ($20), Infamous 1 and 2 ($15), Killzone Trilogy ($20), the collector's edition of Journey ($15) and Ratchet & Clank Collection ($15). The rumored prices come courtesy of a NeoGAF thread featuring deal-seeking gamers.We called a few local GameStop stores and the employees we talked to said there's no indication on their end a sale is incoming. A few employees mentioned seeing the GAF thread, but had no email correspondence or indication in their system of the promotion. We've followed up with GameStop corporate as well because we totally want this to be a thing. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for $10? Yeah, we totally back that idea.
Journey soundtrack jumps, floats to CD [update: autographed copies at thatgamecompany store]
The soundtrack to thatgamecompany's Journey is now available on CD thanks to Sumthing Else Music Works. You can snag it from Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon or GameStop. If you can abandon your lust for physical media, it's still available on iTunes for significantly less.Update: Thatgamecompany informs Joystiq that interested fans can snag autographed copies of the soundtrack from the studio's store. For a limited time, all copies will be signed by the soundtrack's composer, Austin Wintory.
Pre-orders open for 'The Art of Journey,' first 750 copies signed
The Art of Journey, thatgamecompany's compendium of concept and production artwork from its unbelievably gorgeous PSN game, can now be pre-ordered for $60 through Bluecanvas. The first 750 people to place their order will receive a copy of the book signed by Journey creative director Jenova Chen and art director Matt Nava.While some of the art book's pages are equipped with augmented reality capabilities, the new photos of the product below are not. You can, however, hold a book up to your nose while looking at these pictures, and it's kind of like Smell-O-Vision.%Gallery-164752%
Around the world Tesla Roadster tour back on track after swift repair job
While we might not have enjoyed the full story arc just yet, we came within an electric whisker of seeing the electric Roadster's around the world trip derailed completely. The team at Tesla service in Munich, however, obviously love a fairytale ending -- which is why they pledged to fix-up the car in the fastest time possible. Just four days after that show-stopping accident, de Mestre is back in the game, and heading south to Barcelona. The journey won't end there though, as to make up some lost miles on the French Citroen team, he'll travel back up to Strasbourg, and in turn roll over the virtual 25,000 km finish line. Assuming no other problems along the way, we'll be mentally cheering the him along.
Journey's art travels to bookshelves next month
The beautiful art of Journey – and we're talking about the PS3 game here, and not the band, although the cover design for Escape is a total classic – will be available in a coffee table-appropriate format next month.The Art of Journey, a hardcover book designed and written by art director Matt Nava, includes art from the game, and discusses the influences and ideas behind its development. It also includes in-game 3D models, visible AR-style by pointing a smartphone at a special code on the page. For more multimedia satisfaction, the book also includes a PSN voucher for a copy of the Journey soundtrack.
