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Former InstantAction CEO Lou Castle goes to Zynga
Lou Castle once founded the legendary Westwood Studios, and had worked with EA for a while on games like Boom Blox before moving on to browser-based gaming service InstantAction. Now that that service has shut its doors, what's a developer with an extensive game design background and experience in social and browser gaming to do? Go to Zynga, of course. Castle has joined the company as a VP of Studios, and will presumably oversee the various development studios at the social giant. Castle says that InstantAction was on its way to turning itself around, and would have done so in "another six months or so," but that the cost of the operation was too much. Castle says InstantAction wanted to "bridge downloadable and browser-based games," and that "it's understandable that it took a lot of time and energy, but it's also understandable when someone is writing a lot of burn money every month and they don't want to do it anymore."
Gaikai and InstantAction team up for streaming, embeddable games
If InstantAction.com's CEO Lou Castle is to be believed, we're apparently going to be playing games pretty much wherever we want in the not-so-distant future. He's just revealed plans (via IndustryGamers) to relaunch his site with a new business/distribution model and a partnership with game streaming service Gaikai. In addition to the already existing model of a quick download (a claimed 4 - 5 minutes) that still somewhat relies on your computer power to process the game's graphics, IA will now offer a streaming option for those who'd prefer a quicker, less hardware reliant gaming experience. "It's the perfect implementation of a thin client solution because when it's available it's brilliant and when it's not available it's ok ... you only have to wait a couple minutes." The aforementioned streaming option (employing Gaikai) will also be embedabble on the web, as demonstrated with Assassin's Creed (not to mention to us earlier today) "Now if people are reading a review of a game, they don't have to go find it ... they can play it right then and there in the browser." And that's just the beginning -- Castle clearly has an eye on digital distribution services when he talks about employing Facebook as "InstantAction's Xbox Live." IA's new distribution model essentially promises to developers/publishers the ability to release games with a variety of payment methods (pay as you go, free-to-play, one-time charge, etc.) while incorporating the aforementioned embed and streaming functionalities. So far, the company has inked one deal for distribution (with LucasArts for The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition) and Castle claims to be pursuing others right now. And apparently it won't be too long before we get to check out the new system ourselves, as the revamped digital platform is said to be "launching soon." %Gallery-88034%
Lou Castle talks leaving EA for InstantAction
Even if Lou Castle's name isn't familiar to you, the franchises he's attached to certainly will be. Not only was he instrumental in EA's Boom Blox, the dude founded Westwood and was the driving force behind Command & Conquer. Now, Castle's left EA behind to run InstantAction, the browser-based portal that Castle says is at the vanguard of the industry's future, thanks to their experience with web development and social networking. "So I had an opportunity to join a company that was already proficient in the parts I frankly don't have as much experience with," Castle explained to IndustryGamers. Of course, I have a lot of experience making products, and the company I'm joining has a lot of eager and talented people that could really use somebody with a little bit more experience." Castle was most recently tied to now-closed EA Blueprint, built around the development of smaller, more social games. InstantAction said that, besides Castle's years of experience, they were mainly paying for the coolness of his name, which sounds like it would be perfect for a hardboiled newspaper editor that moonlights as a private dick with fists of steel and a nose for trouble. Can't say as we blame them.
GDC08: Head tracking Easter egg included in BOOM BLOX
Remember the ever-so-awesome Johnny Lee's experiment with head tracking? We were so wistful then, seeing what the Wii's equipment was capable of in the proper hands. Well, as it turns out, we don't have to be wistful anymore. In a continued effort to make us look bad, the creators of BOOM BLOX revealed yesterday at GDC that the game would incorporate some head tracking. Before you get too excited, executive producer Lou Castle told Joystiq that this would only be an "Easter egg inclusion." This feature won't be an integral part of the game, clearly, but it's still a big step for gaming nonetheless. We're a little worried that in order to use this feature, the player must make their own LED headset -- we think most people won't bother doing that, and thus miss out on something great. Castle said that they weren't going to promote the feature, and we're assuming that it's for this reason. Whether you take advantage of the head tracking option or not, though, it's still a laudable inclusion in our eyes.%Gallery-15446%
GDC08: Boom Blox to include head tracking. Seriously.
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Head_tracking_in_Steven_Spielberg_s_Boom_Blox_no_really'; At the end of the "Creating Boom Blox" session at GDC, executive producer Lou Castle revealed that you can use two Wii remotes on your TV (and some form of do-it-yourself LED headset) to control the camera in Boom Blox with your head. Seriously. Speaking briefly to Joystiq after the session, Castle explained that it was more of an easter egg inclusion and they weren't planning to actively promote the feature. We'll have more from the Boom Blox session later this week. After the break, a video of do-it-yourself head tracking.
