It's a Little Big Planet: Making Sackzilla
August 27, 2008
Media Molecule's Little Big Planet is likely the only upcoming title capable of challenging Will Wright's Spore for mass appeal and sheer design innovation. The build-your-own platforming game also has the best character design Sony's Cell processor has ever rendered. Sackboy, the game's mascot has already inspired a slew of papercraft, charms, and other hand-made goodies. He's been dressed in dragon costumes and been made up as God of War's Kratos. A bear-sized version of him was even spotted on stage at a hobby convention in Japan. Each appearance has further stoked excitement over Little Big Planet.
In honor of LBP's win for best PS3 game at this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, we're posting this video of "Sackzilla," which shows off the game's incredible character generation tool. No need to despair if you aren't crafty. When the game comes out in October, you'll be able to build just about any incarnation of this adorable mascot imaginable with just a few clicks.
Oh, and if you're feeling particularly protective of your little sack of genius, Media Molecule is including a user-generated "copyright system" that will let players dictate how the objects they create in the game can be used by others.
Women In Games Conference 2008
August 27, 2008
Nicola Bhalero is a senior software engineer at Rare Ltd. Being one of only a relatively small number of professional game programmers, Bhalero was interested in encouraging school-age girls to consider a career in the industry. So she did what any self-respecting trade type would do. She organized a conference.
From September 10th through the 12th at Warwick University in England, Bahlero and company are hosting the second annual Women in Games conference. Featuring keynotes from professionals in all aspects of gaming, the conference aims to come up with ways to get more women excited about a career making games:
There is plenty of research going on into why and how women play games, and the way they are portrayed, and this is another aspect of the Women In Games conference that makes it so fascinating. Bringing together academia and industry to discuss all these ideas, and explore ways in which more women can be encouraged to seek careers in games makes for a unique conference.
Keynoters include Sara de Freitas, Director of Research at the Serious Games Institute; Karen Brennan, research assistant at MIT's MediaLab; Paulina Bozek, producer and director of Sony's SingStar series; Karen Clark of Bioware; and Eileen Brown from Microsoft.
On her tech blog, Brown goes into more detail about the motivation for this year's conference:
Sign up rates of students studying Computer Science have fallen in recent years and women are very much in the minority. This is why Jane and Sara wanted to get involved in the conference. Computing in games is one career choice available to Computer Science graduates, though not always obvious to all, but a very attractive and creative industry to be in.
As a result, the impact of the conference extends beyond games. Rather than dwelling on the notion of 'gamer girls' as just another target consumer, Bhalero and the Women In Games conference are using games as a touchpoint to a larger concern. The conference looks to be an inspiring example of how game culture is using its influence to address wider issues.
[via Gaming Today]
Stella Gets Its Sales Groove Back By Handing Out Limited Edition PSPs
August 27, 2008
You'd think free beer might do the trick, but it was games that got Stella Artois' sales team on tap. Although Stella is the #1 beer in Australia, management saw brands like Crown Lager and Victoria Bitter creeping up behind them. To preserve their edge, they created a new sales team. To motivate the team and give them a closer relationship to Stella's brand, the company contracted with Rivet, an Australian ad agency.
Stella execs were expecting a traditional brochure, maybe a well designed folder with oh-so-exciting loose-leaf propaganda to juice up their team. What they got were 50 customized Sony PSP handhelds in velvet pouches branded with the Stella Artois logo.
The real gold, however, was in the software. Rivet not only created custom wallpaper for the PSP, they completely re-themed the handheld console's operating system, including an original Stella Artois icon set.
Because the PSP is both an excellent media player and is Wi-Fi capable, the limited edition PSPs were useful for more than just play. Rivet installed a trunkload of films, artwork and presentations on the history of the brand. As new marketing materials become available, the sales team can simply check for updates and download new content wirelessly.
The brilliance of Rivet's project for Stella lies in providing a tool that not only makes the sales team's job easier and more fun but also has value outside their work life. It's always nice to get a cool new gadget for work, but when you can take that gadget home and make it a part of your leisure time, it becomes much more valuable.
Apparently, the sales team at Stella agrees. Every rep who received one met their targets that quarter. Anecdotal feedback revealed that the branded PSP was the best sales presenter they'd ever received. The status and prestige of owning a limited edition PSP that has gamers around the world drooling doesn't hurt morale either. Fosters (which brews Stella in Australia) is even considering expanding the program.
[via Ibelieveinadv.com]
My Life As A Games Journalist: Games and Dog Rescues
August 26, 2008By John Gaudiosi
RALEIGH, NC—I spent a full week at home again. Time goes by fast with deadlines for print, online and video commitments. I’m working on a few new Web-based game video projects for AOL and Fox Interactive Media, among other outlets. When you travel a lot for work, your time spent at home is always appreciated. In fact, when it comes to vacation, I prefer to stay home than travel. I usually create vacations around work – like upcoming trips to Lanai, Hawaii and Walt Disney World that are based on story assignments but will have plenty of free time for the wife and me. Another reason I like to be home with my wife is because of our dogs. We have eight dogs in our house right now.
Before you start thinking about crazy old people that horde dogs, I’ll start by saying that they’re all rescues. And two of them are foster dogs who we’re nursing back to health after major surgeries. Anyone who’s been to our house is surprised when we tell them how many dogs are actually there. The largest dog, Raleigh, a sweet pit bull, is only 45 pounds. The rest are an assortment of small mutts and two pugs, who we rescued from San Francisco when we lived there.
Konsole Kingz to Host Bow Wow V. The Game for $100,000 Madden Showdown
August 26, 2008
Rappers Bow Wow and The Game are set to battle, but they're doing it without mics. After Konsole Kingz posted a video on YouTube of The Game hyping his Madden NFL prowess, Bow Wow came back and challenged him to a $100,000 grudge match.
"I seen you do your thing in Madden. I want to let you konw I will bust your ass in that 'Madden.' We can get it poppin'."
Bow Wow better bring his, because The Game (aka L-A-X), who once boasted the top honors on the EAsportsworld.com PS3 leaderboard, is still ranked No. 7 "in the world," with a record of 123-17.
As The Game eloquently put it in his response to Bow Wow, "'Madden' — I do this sh-- every day. This is the 'Madden' bus, n---a. You can't f--- with me. I been playing this sh-- since you was in diapers."
The face off might have been just another hot-wind exchange between two rappers and wound up in the airless trunk of the hype wagon had not Kingsoul, the "Psycho CEO" of Konsole Kingz stepped up and announced that his site will host the battle in New York and stream it live on the Internets. No date announced yet. EA denies any involvement in the challenge.
