What Eric's Playing

Anyone who has checked out my blog has probably noticed a list of game on the right side of the site.  This is my "What Eric's Playing" list.  I started to compile the list sometime after I started this blog, so obviously it's not my entire history of games played, but it at least gives you a snapshot of what I have been playing for the last couple of years.

I believe anyone in the industry should be playing games.  I've heard a number of times how people "don't have time to play", or "nothing interests me", or worse yet "I play games all day at work, when I come home I don't want to play anymore".  While it's easy to understand that life happens and things can get in the way of a good gaming session, I will never understand someone who is a responsible party in the industry can't find time to enjoy games for game's sake.

This is tantamount to someone in the fashion industry not wearing fashionable clothes, or someone who makes movies for a living and doesn't watch movies.  I am not suggesting that plumbers plumb on their days off, or a truck driver who wants to drive just for fun.  We are in a creative industry, one that is market driven, and what we do has to be relevant to people you may not fully understand or relate to.  We must play games to understand them.  We have to play games to know what may be fun.  Of course it's better if you can actually enjoy yourself while you are playing, but at the very least I believe it's important to examine games systematically so you can understand what may make them work or fail in the marketplace.

Playing games, especially English language games, isn't as easy as one may think while living in Asia.  Some locations aren't too bad - I found it easy to find the latest games in the Philippines and Singapore.  It's great that the new releases come out roughly the same time as they do in the US, and the prices are competitive, if not a little cheaper in some instances.  Living in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, or China is problematic though.  The games are localized for the market, and that doesn't include English.  Thank goodness for Amazon.

I offer my games list here as a way of not only seeing what I am playing, but also what interests me personally.  You can see my family game inclinations from some of the games on my list, but you can see the more hard core games for after-hours play.  Yes, there are a few work games in there, and a few that I selected because I thought they were important enough to examine from a market perspective.  But I will continue to love my personal game time as I love the industry and it's extremely exciting to be developing entertainment like this.

Here's a New Aragorn's Quest Video - More Gameplay :-)

Congrats to the entire team at Headstrong and Kuju Manila for their efforts in putting together this increadible game!

Happy Moon/Mid-Autumn Festival!

To everyone in Taiwan, China, or of Chinese ancestry, Happy Moon/Mid-Autumn Festival!

If you are unfamiliar with this holiday, a little primer is HERE.

Enjoy :-)

Some More Aragorn's Quest Video Goodness

Here are some behind-the-scenes videos on the voice over work for Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest.  John-Rhys Davies and Sean Astin lend there voices to the game as viewed in this interview.  Enjoy :-)

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (NDS/PS2/PS/Wii) - Launch Trailer

Here is yet another game we helped to develop.  It'll be out Sept 19th!  Enjoy :-)

Burn Zombie Burn (PC/Steam) - Launch Trailer

Here's another game our studio helped to develop.  Enjoy :-)

Top Gun (PSN) - Launch Trailer

Here's the launch trailer for a game our studio helped to develop.  Enjoy :-)

Formula for Naming Games in Taiwan

I've noticed a great number of things about games and gamers here in Asia, but one thing is clear - if you want a successful game in Taiwan, naming it is easy.

Step 1 - take any combination of characters that discribe emporers, princes, princesses, dynastic period, etc, and add the word "ONLINE".

Step 2 - there is no step 2.

(Note: hot girls certainly add to the effect, but they are more the exception rather than the rule in commercials - unless you are promoting a dancing/friendship game where being cute helps.  Typically the commericals will consisist of pretty nice rendered cut scenes with a few seconds of pretty low-res in-game MMO footage).

Designing Characters - the Square Enix Way...

Although posted a few years back, I was recalling some of the nuances of developing art in Asia.  While Japanese companies like Square Enix have this method down pat, other regional countries tend to emulated the styles (if not preferences) in their art as well.

The original article is posted HERE (warning: wear a flame retardant suit if you wish to post there.  Obviously the humor was lost on many of those who replied).

Beyond the chuckle (truth) factor for those of use tasked with design art in Asia, the reality is that one must understand the target audience to make games that are readily accepted beyond the country from which you are making it.  This applies not only to art, but game design as well.

Overused and Trendy Words

Those of you who know me realize that I am prone to the occasional rant. I've avoided doing so here as I thought I would keep this blog relatively uncluttered. But every once in a while I get a little perturbed when I see things that seem to occur out of fashion or trendiness. I am speaking here of the overuse in the selection of certain words, to the point in which they become annoying.

Possibly you have noticed this too. A media outlet will start to use a word over and over. Culturally the word seems to pick up steam in terms of its use, to the point of being used to exhaustion. The writer seems to inject the word inappropriately, or even writes their headlines with the sole purpose of using the word. If you are a voracious reader like I am, you tend to notice patterns in language. And and if you do it long enough, you can see some words fall in and out of favor.

I am not talking about certain fashionable words, such as "eco-friendly", or "green". Those topics tend to populate the news these days, and as such we need language to describe them. And I am not talking about cliches such as "think outside the box". They can be annoying to, but I guess as a former management consultant I have used my share. I am talking here about the use of written words for the sake of the word only.

So this is my list. It is by no means exhaustive, but I may come back from time to time and update with more words I see being overused in the media:

• "Row" - I am talking about the definition of "noisy dispute or quarrel; commotion" (see defintion #3). News editors love to use this in a headline, such as "Mike Jagger in a Row with Keith Richards". I am guessing that editors love this word because of its economical size, but it's just odd they want to use a word that falls outside the common spoken vernacular. CNN online would regularly use this one, and sometimes I could spot it in different headlines over the same week.
• "Cover" - this is a word where I started to notice this trend. Although apparently the word was originally coined in the 60s, it didn't fall into prominence until the 90s. It continues to be overused to this day. This band does a cover of that band's songs. Bleh.
• "Re-imagine" or "Reboot" - most commonly associated with movie properties that have lost their way, these words have become synonymous with big budget Hollywood studios giving way too much control to producres and directors who have no appreciation with their source material. Sometimes having the ability to change something doesn't necessarily mean you should (Barbara Broccoli and JJ Abrams I hope you are listening!).

Perils of Localization

Thought I would pass on a humorous (but stranglely true) comic that was posted over at Nerfnow.com.

1GB Fiber for $26?? Sheesh...

In Hong Kong right now.... Surfing the net. An article catches my eye...

Over at Tom's Hardware they have a new article "Who has the Fastest, Cheapest Internet in the World"

Included in that article are reference that further caught my eye because I am here in Hong Kong - City Telecom is apparently offering 1GB broadband for $26/month.

Although I am enjoying my 10MB (99.98% uptime!!) broadband in Taiwan, I certainly would enjoy taking a look at 1GB, even just for a while ;-)

Circus Games / Funfair Party Commericals

I was recently searching the 'net and found some ads of Circus Games / Funfair Party - made by Kuju Manila.  Some were produced for the web, while others actualy made it to the TV as full blown commericals.

In the one above the video of Circus Games is about half-way through.

This is a TV commercial that originally aired in the UK.

Major DOH! Moment... :-(

I had a major DOH! moment yesterday. I found out my Zune 16GB had the glass cracked pretty significantly. I know exactly what happened - I had put the player in my briefcase along with my netbook, and then took the briefcase out for a few hours. Even though I had not really jostled the briefcase around, I guess the corner of the netbook was able to connect with the plastic screen of the Zune. Ouch.

Unfortunately it appears the Microsoft does not repair this item any more. With the release of the Zune HD this smaller form factor isn't being made anymore, and all the previous Generation 2 players are drying up at retail. I really think that's a bad move, as this smaller size is really appealing to those wanting something they can easily carry and tuck away. I used it a lot when I am running - the larger HDs are just too big for that...

Anyway, I'm lucky that the player still works :-p I'll just have to live with my stupidity until the glass falls off or Microsoft gets wise and produces a form factor you can carry in the palm of your hand.

Update (04-24-10) Props to Microsoft. While cosmetically the player is thrashed, my Doh! moment hasn't affected the player one bit. Still waiting for MS to come out with a smaller form factor in their digital music player line of products...

Creating A Game Development Industry from the Ground Up

I was going through some of my files and I ran across this presentation. I originally gave this at the Games Convention Asia in September 2007, but the material is still quite current and relevant. The presentation illustrates some of our discoveries as well as relays to other burgeoning game industries and culture what may be required to start one down the right path.



I'd enjoy hearing comments from those of you with similar experiences or those of you who have questions regarding the state of game development in the Philippines or Asia Pacific. Enjoy!


Note: the presentation was written during the Matahari Studio days - prior to the Kuju acqusition.