Paul Bellezza

Our first trailer for the official XBLA version of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom! Enjoy!

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For all the IMD people who will be attending GDC this year we are happy to announce that the Winterbottom Team will be speaking at two sessions during the course of the conference.

Our first talk is part of the session entitled: Post-mortems of Student IGF Groups which is hosted by our own Tracy Fullerton as well as professors from the Guildhall.

We'll be speaking about our experiences designing the game, gathering and leading a student run team and discussing five rights and wrongs we've encountered while working on the project.

The second session is the Experimental Gameplay Workshop hosted by Jonathan Blow (creator of Braid). We'll actually be showing Winterbottom and our B-Game Submission: The Wrath of Transpertor at the session! Transpertor is an invisible platformer where the player's avatar is invisible. The core gameplay forces user to intensely study the environment as opposed to a players actions in order to gain immediate feedback on what user’s action is doing.

The Student IGF Post Mortem is on Tuesday during the IGDA Education Summit from 2-4 in Room 131 of Northall.

The Experimental Gameplay Workshop is held on Thursday from 2:30-4:30 PM in room 2018 of Westhall.

We'd love if you came by and sat in!

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

COME ONE, COME ALL!

The official Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom T-Shirts are available for the IMD Department! We got em in Medium, Large and X-Large!

You can grab them from the IMD Thesis Space over at 555 23rd Space right now! We'll be here until late tonight! Just stop on by!

Or you can just grab them up at GDC 2008!

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Informational Meeting this Friday in IML from 7-9

Pizza and Pie!!!!

Join the Facebook Group

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Um...totally rad.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Found this via Kotaku (of course..)

Jayisgames.com is tallying a vote for the best new Casual Games of 2006.

Of course, Flow is in there somewhere.

But I also recommend checking out Dice Wars and Westward!

It's great to see so many independent games being produced- probably on miniscule budgets. That’s a hopeful sign.

Anyone know any Starkies and MBAs who wanna hustle for us?

I'm joking...

....not really. I'll keep buying Lotto tickets.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nice little article on the PS3 up on the New York Times. Mostly deals with how Sony dropped the ball with the interface and system functionality. Basically its non-intuitive.
Great quote:

In regards to PS3 not being able to download content or listen to music in the background of gameplaying (a la Xbox 360):

"In that sense it often feels as if the PlayStation 3 can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. "

Who would of thought MS would be at the forefront of Next Gen console interfaces?

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For stuff life this....

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Clover Studio is being closed by its parent company Capcom in 2007. The reason, not enough profit from the games they design.

What games have they designed?

Oh......Okami! Viewtiful Joe! God Hand! Too name a few.

This is terrible news. Clover Studio is one of the most creative, innovative, and fresh game design studios out there. Their games have their own aesthetic and style that stands out among the cookie cutter games released each year.

They were my favorite studio and heroes. This is a sad day in gaming.

Taken from Kotaku

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/breaking-clover-studio-is-dead-207026.php

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ok. So, I'm sure EVERYONE has heard about this Southpark Episode already entitled "Make Love Not Warcraft".

Basically, its a hybrid Warcraft Machinima/South Park episode that pokes fun at MMORPGs, the notion of being a virtual hero, and gamer culture in general.

A must must must. Thanks to Tuters for slapping me into posting this.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Flow gets mentioned on Kotaku- which is kinda a big deals these days- as its pretty much the number 1 gaming blog out there. So congrats to our peeps on that.

But check out those vicious gamer comments on there! Yeesh! For a while I had forgotten, the abrasiveness of the hardcore.This is what we're up against as designers. Toughen up that skin.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Warren Spector, designer of the Thief and Deus Ex series, chimes in on why game content is still in its infancy and will continue to be as such until developers start pushing the envelope .

Via Kotaku via Next Generation

My favorites so far:

“If you go to E3 and you’re not depressed, you’re really not paying attention. I mean, three-thousand identical, noisy, crappy… With, like, five good ones you have to spend three days seeking.”

and

“Most of what we play is as interactive as a roller-coaster. And that’s not good enough.”

and

“Clearly, if what you see in games right now, even in the best games, is all we’re capable of doing, then I’m getting out of the business. I don’t know about the rest of you…there’s so much more we can do.”

Hear hear. I was feeling ok about the current state of games for awhile- and now I've returned to my cynical self. That's a gppd thing.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am 8 Bit version 2.0 opens tonight at Gallery 1988 on Melrose and LaBrea!

Gallery opens at 6pm and stays on till 11pm.

Featuring: Performance by 8-Bit Weapon, Open Bar, A collaboration between Capcom + Harmonix presenting Guitar Hero with 2 NES Capcom Classic songs playable!

Get down there and meet Jon Gibson, the curator- he's a hell of a guy!

I am 8-Bit will continue on through May 19, 2006.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

GDC is in full force and I'm up here covering up for The Game Chair.

And here is my latest article for them:

Let me say this: GDC takes care of the press. When my body began to tire from hours of being immersed in sessions towards the ends of the afternoon, there was bad coffee set aside for the speakers, exhibitors, volunteers and the press . And when one is tired - bad coffee can make all the difference in the world.

Recap on Keynotes and Development Sessions

"Whats Next" Keynote with David Perry formerly of Shiny, Masaya Matsuura (Paraapa the Rappa), Cyrus Lum (Creative Director-Midway), Jamil Moledina, and Louis Castle.

Summary: Developer's perspectives on the future of game development in the "next gen" console cycle.
Points of Interest:

1. Developing games exclusively for one console can be healthy.
   
2. Efficiency will become even more crucial for delivering next-gen games on time and on budget.
   
3. The lack of controller innovation by the hardware manufacturers in the past 15 years has a lot do with why games are inaccessible to many people. "Kudos to Nintendo for trying something different with Nintendo Revolution Controller."- David Perry
   
4. Experiments with Digital Distribution are important- because a company like Apple or MySpace may find a viable way to do so before the game industry does. The field is open- and the industry must take this seriously.
   
5. Outsourcing isn't something to be feared- can help with production- if integrated well with the main design teams.
   

To quote a professor of mine: "They never say anything that everyone already knows." Hear, Hear.

Sony Keynote: Playstation 3: Beyond the Box

Summary: Sony is the market leader and plans on continuing to do so (according to Sony).

Points of Interest:

1. Turning on my DS and finding over 6 rooms of Pictochat full of attendees. As well as several games of Tetris, Metroid Prime Hunters and Bomberman. Truly a nice gamer moment.
   
2. God of War 2 trailer displayed and was quite delicious. Point was well made: good content can still be created for "current gen" systems because people will continue to support the PS2 after the launch of the PS3.
   
3. PSP camera to soon be available? Why? Voice Over IP enabled phone service + camera= video phone.
   
4. Sony's answer to Xbox Live: Xbox Live. Fit with microtransactions, in/out game video chat and game rankings.
   
5. Emulated PS1 game downloads for the PSP
   

Wow. It seems like Sony is having a hard time coming up with original ideas. First they make some virtually carbon copy Xbox Live mock-ups to illustrate the functionality of their new online service. Secondly, they announce PS1 emulated game downloads for the PSP akin to Nintendo's virtual console functionality of the Revolution. Oh Sony, I suppose the age old adage is not lost with you: "good artists copy but great artists steal."

I will say that the two PS3 games demoed, WarHawk and a moto-cross style game, were quite beautiful and enticing to look at. However, that feeling turned to drained away when a droll FPS was demoed- confirming the omnipotent fact that gameplay trumps graphics. Well, whaddya know?

"Sex in Games: The Exciting Evolution of Adult Content in Games"

Notes of Interest:

1. Sex in games needs to get to a point where it can be acknowledged as part of the experience akin to a sex scene in a movie or book being simply part of the plot. Meaning, the mature content in games can exist and be done quite well like in God of War.
   
2. People will bring sex with them everywhere- from Second Life to World of Warcraft.
   

Lunch

Notes of Interest:

1. Choice of Roast Beef, Vegetarian, or Turkey sandwhiches.
   

Roast Beef was delicious. Well, it was free- thus delicious.

Post Mortem: The Emotional Character Control of Shadow of the Colossus

Points of Interest:

1. The programmers and designers were motivated by more than creating a "cool product" capable of shipping a ton of units- they looked to add value to Sony's name and create something signifcant to improve the field of game design.
   
2. All animation for Shadow of Colossus was done by hand- no motion capture. Why? To create a sense of weight, balance, and timing that would aid in creating a more realistic moving character.
   

IGF (Independant Games Festival) and GDC Choice Awards

Points of Interest:

1. Guitar Hero being virtually worshipped by all GDC attendees.
   
2. Shadow of the Colossus walking away with at least six awards.
   

Co-host, Video Games Live Guru, Tommy Tallarico is not as funny as he thinks he is.

After parties at various San Jose Hotels.

Points of Interest:

1. Socializing with talented developers.
   

1. Socializaing with talented developers, who are overall 95% male. Where are the female designers?
   

Agenda for Tommorow:

1. Nintendo Keynote
   
2. Will Wright Keynote
   
3. Interview with Nintendo's Head of Public Relations
   
4. Interview with GameCast- a spectator camera engine for competitive FPS.RTS.MMORPG gaming.
   
5. BioWare/Pandemic Party complete with Open Bar and Guitar Hero Tournament
   

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Xfire is sponsering a World of Warcraft Machinima making contest and is giving away some nice pieces of PC Hardware as loot.

Pretty neat stuff- though I'm sure pumping out the machinima using WOW is quite a feat. Especially if your directiong 40-50 people online. It'd be cool to try, any takers?

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So besides being a full time MFA student here in the IMD, I moonlight as a blogger for a gaming website called the Game Chair. Here's the latest piece I've written for them on my less than stellar return to the World of Warcraft.

----------------------------------------------------------------
This past June, I hung up my gnome’s boots in World of Warcraft. I was fed up with dealing with pick up groups for dungeon exploration, taking 15 minutes to walk from the North side of Stranglethorn Vale to the South side, being level 40 and still 50 gold away from buying a mount, and having to travel half way around the world to the Elf Lands just to bring up my leatherworking skill! The game had become work! I spent an hour prepping for a quest before I went out to accomplish it. Ennui became too much for Gnob, my little gnome, and so I cancelled my account.

And so months past and I merrily moved on with my life outside of Azeroth- besides I was starting graduate school. All was well, until echoes of its world began penetrating my daily routine. Friend’s AIM away messages begin creeping up with “Smacking your mom around in Azeroth” or “Saving Gnomeregon”. Several professors and visiting speakers at my graduate program alluded to their weekend raiding guilds. A few cute girls I knew revealed to me that they out dueled their level 60 boyfriends. Even The New York Times had several WOW related stories covering topics such as Gold Farming in China.

I smiled and continued on with my studies, my resolve was slightly tarnished, but overall unabated. And then the expansion pack was revealed. A level 70 level cap, new areas and gear, flying mounts, the attractive Horde race: the Blood Elves and rumors of Pandarians for the Alliance. I peered over that month’s PC Gamer and began quivering with excitement. I was sold again- but on the condition that I would wait for the expansion pack to launch in July of 2006.

But one evening, when I should have been writing a project proposal- I decided to peruse my WOW Collector’s Edition Art Book, which then led me to reading the WOW forums, which then led me to install the game on my laptop, with its wimpy Intel 915 GMA graphics card, just as an experiment to see if the game would work. After downloading several patches, I logged into the game world using my friend’s account information (with his permission of course).

And to my astonishment it ran smoothly- granted the settings were all on the minimum level of detail- the game was working on my lap top. My finger’s muscle memory instantly recalled all of the keystrokes needed to dispatch an enemy or change up my inventory. The familiar sound of people mulling around Ironforge began to bring back memories of happier times when my character was at a lower level and the quests were simple and plentiful.

Finally, a guild member of my friend appeared before me on top of his golden epic mount- his war hammer glinting in the air. He de-summoned his horse, turned towards my direction, and began doing the Hustle. Yes, the hustle.

And so I calmly logged off, signed onto the World of Warcraft billing page and re-activated my account. (Bless Blizzard for this option). 3 minutes later, on my significantly more powerful desktop, Gnob the Gnome awoke from a six-month slumber in a sleazy Booty Bay inn with 12 quests waiting to be finished in my Quest Queue. With a sweet poisoned Skull mace in hand, he embarked into the wild jungles of Stranglethorn Vale. And it’s good to be back.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

http://cgi.ebay.com/IN-STOCK-NON-PREORDER-Xbox-360-PLATINUM-UPS-2nd-Day_W0QQitemZ8236122978QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

All I gotta say is...dude..what an opportunity....

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lionhead Studios and EA just released Peter Molyneux's latest game: The Movies.

The game is part movie-studio tycoon game and part movie-making game. When I first heard about this concept at E3 in 2004, I was skeptical. How could a game let you create your own movies within the game world without the movies being a literal recording of the game-play itself (ala Starcraft or Counterstrike matches)?

Well according to Gamespot:

"If you want to get really involved in the fake filmmaking process, The Movies includes an incredible set of in-game moviemaking tools that let you create your own little masterpieces. At its most basic, you're given a timeline and the frame for a story arc. Anyone familiar with digital video editing will find this to be like a Playskool version of something like FinalCut or Premiere. You fill in your story by dragging and dropping prebuilt shots, of which there are literally dozens to choose from for any one portion of the story arc. Like the rest of the game, the moviemaker can be tuned to give you just the amount of control you're comfortable with. If you're happy with just dragging and dropping a few scenes into a timeline and letting that be that, you can operate that way...though the real fun here is getting really crazy with the details, such as lighting, the mood of the performances, the backdrop designs, the types of camera angles used, and so on. You can even add subtitles, sound effects, your own custom musical score, and, if you've got a microphone, your own dialog. Given the dozens of different sets you'll eventually have at your disposal, in addition to the five different genres you can work within and the insane amount of control you can take over virtually every single detail of your movie, there is a great amount of potential here for budding virtual filmmakers."

Now do your movies affect gameplay? Well, Gamespot also covers that:

"Unfortunately, you can pour hours into creating your own perfect piece of machinima, and it will have minimal impact inside the game itself, as the game judges the quality of the films rather mechanically, without much capacity to discern between what's garbage and what's art. In a way, this is acceptable, since the end product of the movie you've made is really the best reward. Plus, the game makes it quite easy to export the movies you've made into a common video format that you can share with others. There's even an integrated tool that makes it easy to upload your movies to the Internet for all to see. Really, with the inclusion of a sandbox mode that lets you skip the "game" part of The Movies almost entirely, it's pretty apparent that the whole package was designed with two separate, largely unrelated goals in mind. It's not a deal breaker, but it does mar the illusion that you're running your movie studio in a living, breathing world. "

So, ultimately no. The AI of the game won't be able to judge your film and thus won't affect gameplay. This is sad because your work doesn't change the game world. But then again, it would be a bit freaky if the game's AI knew if you were making slop or quality.

The most interesting thing to me here, is the potential for making machinima movies with an obviously intuitive in-game movie-making UI. Final project for CTPR-507 anyone?

Regardless of the disconnect between the two game elements: tycoon and user created content this game seems fun.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I wrote a rant (which later became part of my Statement of Intent Letter for USC) that bashed the gaming industry for not doing enough to create game with non-traditional controllers.

And of course, no one heard my rant, but perhaps my thoughts were part of a zeitgeist among gamers and some game developers. Because yesterday was the release of Harmonix and Red Octane's Guitar Hero.

A game where a person grabs their Magical PS2 Guitar and rocks out to a collection of over 30 rock, rock anthems, and metal jams. It's sort of like DDR but with rock- and a nifty 4 button Guitar Controller.

Holy Geeze, this is a must have. (For me at least...)

And the people have spoken...

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Via Kotaku, I linked up to this great article in Wired

Its a musing by a game journalist as to why we sometimes get uncontrollably hooked on a game for a week or two and then put it away cold turkey style. Here is an interview excerpt from the article by Clive Thompson:

"....Jonathan Hayes, a forensic pathologist in New York, regularly falls hard for gorgeous-world games like Ico, and recently he was swallowed whole by Resident Evil 4. He thinks the reason he stops playing a game is that he's unwrapped every skin on its onion.

"You kind of see through the game to its underlying mechanics," Hayes says, "and it suddenly seems no longer worth the investment of time." This is much like what Ralph Koster argues in his Theory of Fun: We humans seek constant novelty, so only gameplay that has nearly infinite permutations -- like chess -- can hold our attention forever...."

In my case I feel like I can't play many FPSs, RPGs, and most platformers any more just because I'm so used to the mechanics. This most recently happened to me with Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow which I creamed through in a week of constant play. At the moment, I see no reason to play with it. 6 Months later, I might pick it up again.

Posted by Paul Bellezza at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm not a regular reader of CSM but from time to time I peruse their technology section. Here's an article that asks the questions: Are Multiplayer Online games more compelling or more addictive?"

Notable Quotes:

"The games, with names like"City of Heroes," "The Legend of Mir," and "Asheron's Call" "are made to be addictive," she says." - Maressa Orzack, director of the Computer Addiction Study Center at McLean Hospital in Belmon,t Mass.

"For a lot of people, in their real lives they don't get to be a hero," he says. "Suddenly, [in the game] they're a cleric who can resurrect a warrior, can save other players. [Or they're a] a wizard who can cast out a rain of fire ... someone with great powers...A teenager might be the leader of a guild with 100 or more players, many of whom probably are much older". That's "very seductive" for someone who might not be entrusted with much responsibility in real life, Yee says. - Quote from Nick Yee Graduate Student Researcher at Stanford

"Players also may choose to play as characters of the opposite gender. Their motives are varied. Some think they will gain an in-game advantage: Women characters are more likely to be treated better and given more help by the other players, Yee says. But they also can be "treated like a second-class citizen." If a female and male character are of equal fighting strength, he says, the male character is usually asked by the group to lead an attack.

On the other hand, women who play as male characters often "say they didn't realize how cold, hierarchical, and impersonal a lot of male-male b"onds can be," Yee says."

"In general, MMORPGs are getting an unfair rap, Delwiche says. "When television was introduced, there was much concern about TV addiction," he says. "New media historically have tended to engender a lot of fear ... that bad social messages will be imparted." -AaronDelwiche, Aassistant professor of Communication at Trinity University in San Antonio

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