MARVEL VS. SILENT HILL: UNCHARTED 3: BIOSHOCK THOR: CAPCOM 3 DOWNPOUR DRAKE'S DECEPTION INFINITE GOD OF THUNDER

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR, EGM: Brady Fiechter EXECUTIVE EDITOR, EGMIil: Andrew Pfister SENIOR EDITOR, EGM[i]: Patrick Klepek CONTENT EDITOR: Marc Camron PREVIEWS EDITOR: Paul Semel

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ABE AND HIS ODDWORLD RETURNS TO GAMING...

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“МАУВЕ THE BIG IDEA OF THE YEAR IS HOW TO HAVE FUN, HOW TO RETURN TO THE PURITY OF FUN."

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COMPLICATION OF LABELS, THE RETURN OF FUN

ndrew Pfister makes a great

point in his column this month.

In fact, he makes a number of

reat points, which you can

read about on page 79, but the one I'm us- ing as a talking point proclaims that “We— by which | mean the Royal You of the audi- ence and the Royal Us of the media—are Still stuck on the same old arguments and tired debates that prevent us from figuring out what the new issues are."

Part of why we get locked into a ham- ster wheel of conversation is because we haven't really brought any closure to many of the debates that circulate in the industry. It's like our political system, which throws around the same rhetoric driving the same issues to the same dead-end conclu- Sions. It can be entertaining and engaging and provocative to tackle the familiar and ageless issues, but where do we ultimately: end up after the conversation simmers down and we go back to business as usual? Safe, perhaps, but not satisfied.

The gaming landscape is becoming too complex and, dare | say, important, to con- tinue to retread the same issues without some solid answers to push us forward.

But while I’ve got your attention, let's talk about Games as Art, because...

Okay, okay, so let's not do that, be- cause it's 2011 now, and that's for Andrew to flesh out, as he does quite slyly and succinctly —the art is in making games better forms of expression, no matter how slight, and understanding the source of that expression. There are only so many more conversations that can be had about Games as Art that didn't occur in 2010.

Forms of expression often come with neatly packaged labels that act as iden- tification. Labels are becoming broader yet ironically defining and personalized as we step into a widening realm of gaming tastes and choices. More and more, mar- keting departments and the machine that drives them are going to want to label us and try and figure out what we're buying, playing, saying and doing on all these dif- ferent gaming devices—label us, then feed us what they think we like. Facebook is the evolution of this process, a new breed of monster that will take the social aspect of our entertainment into new territory.

What does this do to the process of making the games, delivering the games, and enjoying the games? Most game designers will tell you they're still perfect- ing the basic craft of what they do. While the debate about "story" and "art" and "importance" plows forward, the label gun keeps firing away, defining the casual user, the hardcore user, the heavy user, the Social user, the indie user, the mobile user, and on and on.

As someone who's continually barked about wanting games to be so much more feel free to label me as “that guy" who keeps resurrecting the art debate— the truth is that we're starting to see more games that are stripped-down, basic fun, and this is good. They're becoming more like classical games again, thanks in no small part to the Apple generation. It stuck with me, playing board games with family and friends over the holidays, just how worked up we all get in communal compe- tition, the fun of simple victory and simple games. It's the fun factor that lines the best games, and that's an old idea | hope becomes a new one this year. EJ

8 nan мек" о you VÉ eet et vot Y gaok We T 16 ха „дере! ears " а де ve TY 20 Y an e | y mot? же хе M p come m en О! ү М! судове ме x opinio? РЫ чле 2199 sia село соч сваі zine ох rst MOO аде" oe pen V tal е! e о dio go мода“ да ard € qne y, oft 4 nan

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I'll never understand why people are always looking to point the finger at entertainment/media for the “deviant behavior of children.” | just finished reading the “Supreme Concerns” article in your January issue, and it gave me the chills. Senator Yee’s statement that the proposed bill on extremely violent content would simply give parents more control about what their kids can and cannot do screams of ignorance. One would think that, in the long history

of humanity, people would be able to understand that if a person wants to do something bad enough, youth or elder, they will find a way.

The only thing this bill would ac- complish would be to stifle the voice and imagination of the industry. I’m not saying games should be rife with violence and nudity, simply for their own sake, but if the IP utilizes adult themes for artistic expression, whose right is it to censor them? If a developer/publisher becomes forced to slap an additional, superfluous label on their product, all it will do is cause uninformed parents to shy away, sales to decline, and a lack of willingness to stock the product on the part of vendors.

Looking at industry trends, especially in this economy, it would be a ballsy developer at best that would make a game that fits what could only be called а taboo criteria, and an even ballsier publisher to have their name attached to a game that is essentially guaranteed to fail, as far as revenue is concerned. And then what? No one takes chances anymore? Everyone becomes afraid to push the envelope? | suppose, at least, there'd still be some Cliff Bleszinskis out there, but it would be a sad state for gaming. And in time it would crossover into our movies and music, even books,

comics or otherwise.

I'm all for the ESRB, and holding par- ents accountable for not paying attention to what their children are doing/playing/ watching, but why hand out a mass- sentence to our freedom of speech? If some kid out there is carving up animals or stocking up on Nazi literature, maybe their parents should take them to a doctor instead of blaming Madworld, the Matrix, and Marilyn Manson.

ГИ end this with a page from JFK's book: “Some people look at games that are and ask why. | don't want to have to look at games that never were and ask why not." - Kamron Capps

EGM Response: Excellent points Kamron, even if many of the issues you raise may seem obvious to those of us sitting on this side of the issue. The need to pin the blame on every abhorrent event in society, be it on ideology, belief, or absence, is not a new reaction, but even the attempt

to segregate gaming from the rest of the creative arts is another alarming example of misplaced concern as you point out. There are other coun-

tries where the application of such restrictions have already been taken to similar unbelievable extremes (in Germany, for instance, there are many games that are forbidden by law to be sold, or even written about), but the fact remains that those who would seek to temper our right to experi- ence the full imaginative juices of a Bleszinski or David Cage or Christian Cantamessa are likely the same crowd that can't understand the reasons why it is important to allow the creative expression that gave us Saw to exist next to Schindler's List or American Psycho next to Moby Dick. And that's

what should truly frighten everyone, whether they play games or not. Scrolling Into the Future

First off, let me just say | love ЕСМ and am glad it's back!

Up until now, I’ve loved the design of EGMi. However, the new scrolling layout really irritates me. It’s not only clunky, but I find it really detracts from the “digital magazine” aesthetic and experience. | loved feeling like | was looking at a real magazine. Having to scroll to read articles is atrocious.

But | still love you, EGM.- Kevin Long

EGM_Response: You probably didn’t realize it at the time Kevin, but what you are seeing with those new EGMi scrolls is actually the first step in our (long overdue) migration to the iPad. On the tablet devices you can “swipe” those areas to reveal more text, photos, and more. It’s all part of the process, and you can expect to see new functions—as well as fewer scroll boxes—by the time you read this issue.

System Bias

| read through your 21 Most Anticipated New Games of 2011, and І could only count two from Nintendo. In fact, the whole issue seemed to have a minimal amount of Nintendo-related articles and reviews. You guys should allow more Nintendo stuff, because you don’t want to be like Game Informer Magazine, which is very biased against Nintendo. That is the reason | cancelled my sub- scription and considered ЕСМ. 1, along with many other people, left that maga- zine to read something that focuses on all three companies equally. You should take this into account and not make the same mistake.- Patrick Finnigan

[06 09

ЕСМ Response: As a multi-format magazine that covers the entire gaming industry, there's sometimes a percep- tion that we're playing favorites. In the case of our 2011 preview, however, there were several titles that were “sure things” on many of our editors’ ballots like Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Devil’s Third. Unfortunately for those titles (and quite possibly even one of the two we DID pick—The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword—now rumored to be slipping into next year), they’re going to have to be profiled in our 2072 preview.

Shortchanged by EGM

This is my response to Tom Russo’s [EGMi] interview with Cliff Bleszinski:

Five questions? Oh, really? All | see is two questions and some conversation in between. If you’re going to call the feature “5 Questions...” you should at least follow through with it and present readers with 5 questions. Don’t just ask two things and then prompt some answers to your own ideas. You could have called the piece *A Conversation with Cliff Bleszinski" and

it would have been more accurate. Just sayin'. - Spencer Gregory

EGM Response: We appreciate your feedback Spencer, but would like to ask you five questions of our own: Did you like Tom Russo's article and would a different title have really changed that fact?

About To Burst

| enjoyed your article in issue 243.0 entitled, "Gaming By The Numbers." The one problem that | have is that, when we talk about what games would cost

in the past with today's dollar value, the

We're digging the latest trailers for Battle: Los Angeles, hoping it delivers a much- needed dose of big-budget alien intervention while we continue to recuperate from the abomination that was Skyline. Mass destruction, Michelle Rodriguez as a hot military grunt, and intergalactic gun platforms tearing into surfers at the Santa

Monica pier— what's not to love?

[Ed Gaming by the Numbers FROM THE GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS GAMER'S EDITION 2011 percentage of peoples' earnings that are Age of gamer spent on the necessities of life are never John Bates, who mentioned. How big of a percentage, bowled 2,850 of their paycheck, went to food, shelter, perfect games in utilities, etc. and what percentage went to Wii Sports Bowling gaming? | think that these necessities are taking an ever growing percentage out of our paychecks ever year in relation to how Number of Mario- much came out of our earnings in the themed items past. As that percentage goes from 6096, owned by 7096, 8096 of our earnings the amount left Mitsugu Kikai

for entertainment continues shrinking. This is something | want gaming publishers to keep in mind when they want to charge us for every individual element of a game. Thanks for a great magazine and website. - Jonathan Tomlinson

Time it took three gamers to finish

Little Big Planet 2 EGM Response: You're right Jonathan, And break the

“longest marathon we do have less to spend. It helps 7

playing a platform

explain why the girls never talk to us at 4 7 н video game" record the strip club.

‘What ІР Revisited

What if...they made Little Big Planet of the Apes?- Giuseppe Contelli Longest gaming Session while indoor

EGM Response: Thanks for the laugh freefalling

Giuseppe, even if it was lifted from

Games Radar.

Dear Letters...

May you have the best Christmas ever

with discount Uggs and a Mario flat pan. The time ЕСМ

Register [at my site] now get $20. Publisher

- Mister Oka Steve Harris held the world record on

EGM_Response: We appreciate your the Nintendo video

generous offer to trade Andrew Jack- game Popeye before

son for our important banking informa- losing the crown to

tion, but we have to ask: What the hell is a Perry Rodgers

Mario flat рап? Ё

Ask Quarterman

What are the chances that ме"! see a new Resident Evil in 2011?

- Justin Sommers

The Q-Mann_Responds: The Q hears that fans of the Capcom series may be in for a treat: not one, but TWO new entries in the RE franchise. The first is thought to revolve around a squad-based scenario, while REG is believed to hit in 2012...

1 just got done reading your SSX: Deadly Descents issue and although the new direction looks interesting,

І wish EA hadn't strayed so far from the franchise’s roots.

- Paul Carr

The Q-Mann_Responds: Yours truly has heard rumblings that those dis- appointed by the visual style of 55.

Deadly Descents may be in for a pre- launch treat: a downloadable update of an earlier SSX title rendered in full HD glory. Personally, the Q-Mann is hoping for Tricky...

Have you heard anything about a sequel to Mirror’s Edge?

- Jeff Templeton

The Q-Mann Responds: Actually, ! have, and details may be forthcom- ing sooner than you think. What do you think about the possibility of Faith having a side-kick along for the ride, er, run, in round two?

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THE TRANSMEDIA EXPERIENCE AND

A NEW LEVEL ОР

GAMING

~

ру ADAM ROSENBERG

ЛТ. professor and noted voice in game studies Henry Jenkins coined the term "transmedia storytelling" in a 2003 article for Technology Review, in which he spoke to *a growing realization within the media industries that what is variously called transmedia, multiplatform, or enhanced storytelling represents the future of entertainment." Now, seven years later, the trend that Jenkins spoke to continues to gain momentum. The biggest sign of a

successful franchise these days is one that fans consume in multiple entertain- ment spaces.

"Transmedia franchise" may be an ugly pairing of corporate buzzwords. But look deeper and the creative possibilities are endless. Develop an entire universe and then color it with multimedia products that explore different stories within that fiction

and you're onto something richly engaging.

When executed correctly, there is nothing more fulfilling for the dedicated fan, an

additive experience that elevates the sense of immersion incalculably.

ТНО vice president of core games Danny Bilson has been both a theorist and a strong supporter of the idea for more than a decade. While he acknowledges that the idea of transmedia in entertain- ment goes back as far as the days of Jules Verne and Mickey Mouse, Star Wars is the epochal success so many of us relate to.

"The most obvious example of robust transmedia in most of our lifetimes is Star

Batman: Arkham City faces the exciting task of living up to the expectations created by Arkham Asylum...

Wars," he points out. “It absolutely has succeeded on all cylinders in that from movies to games to books—the tremen- dous series of books—the action figures back in "77, "78, we first started buying those action figures and they're still making them today, [allowing] kids to apply their imagination to that universe."

Bilson also cites The Matrix: Path of Neo as a key example of transmedia being done right. Remember, while that particular game was not without its flaws and had its justified critics, it did succeed in paint- ing another part of the Matrix story, one that both lived alongside the film and yet existed in its own space. The adventures of Vin Diesel's Richard B. Riddick character, which started with David Twohy's 2000 film Pitch Black, also represent a successful transmedia leap. Not only was The Chron- icles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay one of the strongest original Xbox titles, it also further fleshed out the backstory on characters who were only touched upon in the movie.

More recently we have the example of Tron: Evolution, a game which released alongside Tron: Legacy in December, offering a prequel story to Disney's much- hyped blockbuster film. Propaganda

Games’ Darren Hedges, the director of Evolution, believes fans appreciate taking that deeper dive into the universe. “І think the big allure from the consumer perspec- tive is continuing that feeling of wish fulfill- ment," he says. "As a consumer myself, if | see something | like in the cinema | often would like to continue that experience in other media."

In the case of Tron: Evolution, Propa- ganda worked closely with the Legacy team to ensure continuity across the two Stories. "The game team spent a lot of time on-set seeing how Joe Kosinski, the direc- tor, and the production team were putting the film together," Hedges points out.

Kosinski himself admits that it's an important part of the process, finding par- ity between the different creative teams. "From the very beginning we wanted to make sure [Evolution had] a consistent tone and look and feel across all of the different properties they wanted to sur- round this movie with," the Legacy director explains. "Whether it's me turning over

PRESS START | 11

all of the digital assets to the videogame company or the writers working on the storyline for the television show, we've tried to make sure everything fits together in as cohesive a way as possible."

The Tron franchise started in movie theaters and eventually crossed over into the gaming space. More exciting for gamers are those stories which are born of an interactive narrative. Perhaps no other publisher is pursuing projects like this more aggressively than THQ. Homefront, Darksiders and Red Faction have all gone or are going transmedia in some way while the publisher's handling of the Warham- mer, UFC and WWE licenses continue to engage gamers. Most recently Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro's partnership on inSANE speaks to the growing trend.

"The arena of gaming is immersive in a way that no other medium is," says del Toro. "No better or worse, just different. It is not vicarious or empathic, [it] is very visceral and immediate and puts you in the moment in a radical way."

FIVE FAVORITE TRANSMEDIA SUCCESS STORIES

Quality transmedia shies away from the straight adaptation in favor of standalone narratives that further color in the fictional universe in one franchise or another.

While the trend is growing now at a rapid pace, this is not a new idea within the videogame industry. Here are five exceptional examples of transmedia properties “getting it right.”

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC

KINGDOM HEARTS

ALAN WAKE

| THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK:

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electronic gaming monthly 245.0

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Embracing transmedia has been Bilson's singular goal as the VP of Core Games. “THQ was the first company to really let me have the opportunity and em- brace the idea of it,” he says. “It was easy enough to sell them, once | made them un- derstand that if we generate the properties, it costs us basically nothing and we get a lot of reach...different and interesting ways to make our games more important.”

While the dollars and cents have to make sense, THQ's ultimate goal in this business—and this is true of any publisher—is to please the gamers, and it's something Bilson keeps in his head. “If | were a fan of this property, what would | like? How would | want to experience it in more ways?" Applying gamer logic to the transmedia puzzle is critical and it helps drive those important decisions. “The

creative strategies all come out of it. If I'm a fan of it, what would be cool? That's how we build our stuff out."

In terms of the process, it varies wildly. The common thread tying the strategies for each of THQ's major transmedia cam- paigns together is stated simply enough: Start by building the world. “Оп Red Faction we contracted Starlight Runner in New York, which is this specific transme- dia company," Bilson reveals. They built the “bible” for the game's universe, which is now guiding production on the 2011 SyFy TV movie Red Faction: Origins. “Оп de Blob we have another group building out that bible, [WorldWide Biggies, run by Spike TV founder Albie Hecht]."

"Each [property] is a different story," continues Bilson, "but it's something that's essential to keep verisimilitude and all the

pieces together."

The most unusual of the bunch is inSANE, which has been in development for some time even though it was only just announced in December. "We've been videotaping every single meeting with a professional video crew," Bilson says. "We'll have some really cool developer diary stuff to post on the web a couple years down the road of Guillermo working with the team."

Del Toro certainly seems primed for the unique task ahead of him. "Developing a videogame is intellectually stimulating," he says. "The creation of atmospherics and physics reminds me a lot of animation, where, in order to create the simulation of any reality, you have to entirely fabricate things that happen at a 'ground level' in everyday life: gravity, particles of dust, light, a moment of hesitation, etc. But in the writing of a gaming project | am reminded of strategy games, be it chess or board games, where you need to anticipate your opponent's moves and the consequences of them in order to move forth."

The most immediate example of an aggressive transmedia push is the upcom- ing Homefront, a new IP launching in March with a story written by Apocalypse Now co-writer and Red Dawn writer John Milius. In addition to a Homefront novel from Random House, which follows a reporter across the game's future vision of a North Korea-occupied America, there are also plans for the series' future games. "Hopefully we'll have a miniseries coming between Homefront 1 and Homefront 2 that we're working to whip up right now," Bilson reveals. "We've got a major film- maker too looking at that right now with a big producer, so that could be really neat."

Looking at what's ahead in the growth of transmedia, the most appealing aspect of the narrative possibilities for us, as gamers, is that by definition it requires that those on the creative side pay attention to the desires of the fan community. As Bilson says, “It’s not how many studios you have or how many employees you have, it's how many brands you have that matter to the fans."

And of course, it’s the quality and rich- ness of those brands that will ultimately keep us attached. Few will achieve their own Star Wars, but as the transmedia machine grows with more creative weight, the efforts will only continue to reveal more success stories.

“The arena of gaming is immersive in a way that no other medium is...”

Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro

PRESS START | 13

IN SEARCH OF THE HARDCORE

Is the familiar gamer stereotype a relic of the past?

aymond “Stallion83” Cox has

a job and a girlfriend. He eats healthy and doesn't wear game character t-shirts.

He's also probably the most hardcore gamer you'd ever meet. "Everybody perceives me as the guy who lives in my mom's basement," says Cox. *And that's not the case."

But with a jaw-dropping Xbox Live Gamer Score soaring over half a million points and a number-one leaderboard ranking backed by two Guinness Book of World Records entries, no one can argue that this 27-year-old Tennessean isn't serious about his gaming.

Like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, the hunt for the stereotypi- cal hardcore gamer turns into a search for a creature of myth and legend. Nacho cheese-stained controllers and unemployed couch potatoes wrapped in vintage Sonic attire have given way to a

whole new approach to thinking about hardcore gaming.

According to the NPD Group, "hard- core” denotes a demographic they call "extreme gamers." These players game 39 hours a week, compared to 29 hours for the next highest segment, the "avid PC gamers." Extreme gamers also play more games, tend to be male, and have an average age of 29.

"Extreme gamers spend a remarkable three hours and 45 minutes a day gaming on consoles or portables, more than twice as much time per day as any other seg- ment," explains David Riley, NPD's execu- tive director of corporate marketing.

On face value, these numbers chal- lenge the notion of the hardcore gamer as а teen with loads of free time. The Electronic Software Association also takes on the stereotype, noting that the average age of a game player has soared to 34-years-old with 26 percent of Americans over the age of 50 playing videogames.

As games increasingly become a mass-market product, what's changed is less how much the hardcore loves playing games but rather the growing variety of people who love games.

“If you just substitute ‘hardcore’ with ‘heavy,’ you can pretty much define some- body that way,” says Tony Key, Ubisoft's SVP of sales & marketing, “And heavy gamers come in an increasing number of shapes and size.”

Mia Consalvo, a visiting associate professor at MIT, studies the casual game market. She’s noticed an increasingly hard- core inclination with the card and puzzle games set, especially among women. This has led her to coin a new classification, the “hardcore casual.”

“Some people who would never even define themselves as ‘gamers’ are actually pretty hardcore in how they play certain games—things like Farmville or Frontier- ville, for example.”

Your grandma may not consider herself hardcore. But if she hits the online bridge circuit four or five hours a day every day, she looks like a hardcore gamer to the industry.

“It used to be so simple to define a hardcore gamer—typically a male between 12 and 24 who played videogames for 10 hours a week and spent $100 a month,

by DAVID

А5

bought two or three games a month," says Key. "Nowadays, it's not males 12-24 anymore. ...The definition of the heavy gamer hasn't changed, it's how he looks that's changed."

For a company like Ubisoft, the focus on psychographics and demographics allows it to segment the growing gaming audience into different kinds of players. Assassin's Creed and Ghost Recon might appeal more to a traditional hardcore audience. But a TV fan addicted to the CS/ game on Facebook or a group of teen girls hooked on Just Dance 2 actually define other hardcore gamer segments.

“There are heavy users in almost every demographic you can image," says Key.

This turns out to be good news for game makers and game players alike, because rather than simply turning its back on the traditional hardcore market, publishers like Ubisoft are making the most of finding the people that love games the most and making products that appeal to these groups. In order words, rather than disappearing under a wave of watered- down mass market titles, the hardcore matters more now than ever.

"Ultimately it's the heavy gamer that keeps us in business," say Key. “If you don't have heavy users of your game, it's probably not a good one."

And Cox is clearly at the forefront of the new hardcore. A scan through the over 470 games on his Xbox Live profile shows complete achievements for such stalwart hardcore titles as Gears of War 2 and Fable Ill, mixed in with maxed out scores in Family Game Night and Kinectimals. You don't climb to the top of the leaderboard obsessing about Black Ops. You have to love games enough to play everything.

For Cox, what separates him from more casual gamers is simply how he likes to spend his free time. Because where some might game a little, and spend lots of time watching TV and going to the movies, Cox spends his time in front the console. “Ко not what you play,” he says, “it’s your mentality, and how you think about games that makes you hardcore.”

Five years into his goal to reach a Gamer Score of 1,000,000, Cox figures it will take him another four years to reach that accomplishment. And when he does?

“When | get to a million, ГИ probably slow down and have kids.”

electronic gaming monthly 245.0

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TIME CAPSULE

YEARSAGO

March, 2001

What a difference 10 years can make. In issue 20, we gave a momentary salute to Sonic as an eye-catching emerging character. Now, in issue 191, Speedy Gonzales’ spiritual cousin snags the cover and a lengthy, splashy feature paying tribute to his decade-long legacy. Consider- ing how tarnished Sonic’s reputation is now, yet another 10 years later, it's a sobering reminder of how characters can burn brightly and then fall out of the public's favor. Then again, Sonic was never one to play it safe—he hails from the era of finger-wagging mascot animals with arched eyebrows. In any case, we painstakingly detailed the impetus of Sega's crack team to deliver Project Million Seller, the internal nickname given to Sonic since the Genesis had to prove itself formidable against Nintendo and its plumber.

Sonic makes his debut. A Dick Tracy game is reviewed. There's gossip de- bating whether the Super Famicom would get a name change when it hit America. Hell, Battletoads is on the cover. This being our 1991 spring preview issue, over 100 games get an early look. Most of them are obscure even by today's standards:

Blue Almanac for the Mega Drive, shmup Aero Blasters: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit for the Genesis, and Noah's Ark for the NES all enjoy excited copy. Best of all, there's a blurb about canceled NES title Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch. It's like an Adult Swim show that never quite got off the ground: The heavyweight champion leaves earth forever after suffering his first-ever defeat by Little Mac and travels around the galaxy fighting robots and eyeing bikini-wearing anthropomorphic slugs.

LASER BLAST

March, 1981

This was a transitional month for gam- ing, which is a nice way of saying not alot was going on. The games coming out didn't really stand the test of time, but you could make the case that what was released actually was important since developers are often inspired by what came before. Indeed, Activision co-founder David Crane, who would create Pitfall the next year, unleashed Laser Blast for the Atari 2600 in March 1981. Sure, Atari games by definition aren't especially complex, but at least they always delivered on what their titles promised. Laser Blast is essentially Space Invaders, only you control the invading spaceship and attempt to, yes, blast lasers at three turrets.

www-egmnow-com

Developers discuss the ups and downs of Nintendo’s

flagship download service

KLEPEK

by PATRI

t didn’t take long for Nintendo to establish lofty expectations for WiiWare, its downloadable distribution platform. Combined with Wii's mammoth and seemingly unrelenting sales, it looked like a potential goldmine. “Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit,” said Nintendo of America’s bombastic president Reggie Fils-Aime in a June 2007 press release. “WiiWare brings new levels of creativity and value to the ever-growing population of Wii owners.” WiiWare has been home to some absolutely fantastic games, including Gaijin Games’ eclectically nostalgic (and brutally difficult) Bit. Trip series and 2D Boy's addictive World of Goo. But Nintendo has done little to evolve WiiWare since its launch in early 2008. It's easy to excuse a poor interface or forgive the lack of a proper demo policy at launch, but three years later? Frustration mounts. *The WiiWare store is just hugely cumbersome to deal with," explains a visibly disappointed Alex Neuse, CEO of Gaijin Games. “Му parents can't buy games. They bought a Wii so they could buy my games. The bummer is that the potential is there. 70 million Wiis. The potential is huge." Gajin Games has been the most prominent and consistent supporter of WiiWare. When others moved to more