ANAHEIM -- I just arrived in Anaheim, California to attend the annual Blizzcon conference over the course of the weekend.

During my time here I have an opportunity to interview the people who really make Blizzard Entertainment function: CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime, World of Warcraft lead producer J. Allen Brack, Diablo III executive vice president of game design Rob Pardo and StarCraft 2 lead designer Dustin Browder.

I've already got a list of questions I'm personally wondering about, but I wanted to open this up to you guys to see if there is anything you'd like me to ask any of them about any of their respective games. I start my round of interviews around noon, so until then drop any questions you might have in the comments and I'll try to work them in.

Look for a full Q&A on Sunday.

See Also:

• Blizzcon Tournaments to Be Streamed Live
• Blizzard Beats Botters, Earns $6 Million
• Diablo III Officially Confirmed

A homeless, penniless, amateur, Chicago-area man is working his way toward becoming a game designer. What's more he wants to become the "best game designer ever."

In a simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking post on his personal blog, Gamasutra's Chris Remo details the man's struggles, from losing his job, his home, and the support of friends, to living in a shelter and attempting to craft an amazing game deemed "a blend of old school Castlevania 2-D type of game with Super Mario RPG," that he has entitled Me Vs. My Robots.

Normally I wouldn't spotlight anyone's attempt at amateur game design (particularly without any actual assets to show you all) but the story -- recreated by Remo via internet detective work -- is simply too amazing to pass up.

Despite the man's obvious racist, misanthropic leanings, I'm almost rooting for his indie project to live up to what he envisions. No matter how his game turns out -- assuming it turns out at all -- I urge you all to read his tale. It's riveting.

Image: jamesfischer/Flickr

Home is where the development environment is [Remowned]

Things are changing in the Mortal Kombat universe. The game has been through quite a few iterations over the last 15 years, but the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe will be the most jarring: It adds superheroes, and eschews the game's traditional Mature branding.

Instead, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which is due in November, will come with a relatively wholesome Teen rating.

In a recent Gamastura story, the game's designer Paulo Garcia discusses the latest iteration of the Mortal Kombat series and some of the changes being put into place for the sake of a Teen rating. DC's comics are geared toward all ages, after all -- can't have the younger generation seeing their favorite characters doing anything unseemly. That means nixing dismemberment, deleting hallmark fatalities and making sure classic DC heroes like Batman can't kill at all.

I've long given up trying to make any sense of the Mortal Kombat franchise, so a crossover with comic book characters is just fine by me. But isn't there something a little hypocritical about sanitizing a series that was all about corrupting kids before videogame violence was cool?

Continue reading "Teen-Friendly Mortal Kombat Feels Wrong Somehow" »

These days, you can't really fire up a browser without running into a robust internet community -- Facebook, Wikipedia, even our merry band here at Game|Life. Turn to most games, however, and you'll be hard-pressed to find anything more substantial than a forum. While third-party sites have offered a place for gamers to gather for years, why haven't more game creators stepped up to the plate?

In an interview with  Gamesindustry.biz, Jerome Gastaldi of Monte Cristo Games remarks upon the countless possibilities for user interaction that are largely being overlooked by the videogame industry. With a narrow-minded focus on cranking out titles, there's a missed opportunity for developers to nurture experiences and ties to a particular game that persist even when we're not actually playing.

Continue reading "Monte Cristo Games CEO Wants To Expand User Interactivity" »

Gears of War 2 will be here in a matter of weeks, and it looks like the viral marketing campaign is being kicked off -- at least for folks in the media. 

We recently received a bulky metal cog in the mail from Microsoft, labeled "Property of the Coalition of Ordered Governments." Why the company is sending us cogs instead of Lancers, I have no idea -- perhaps we can hurl them at our foes. But there's a curious little number on the cog called a CSID, along with the URL to the Gears of War website.

And in case we didn't get the point, there was also a slip of paper. It instructed us to head to gearsofwar.com/lastday, and enter the number somewhere.

Being inquisitive types, we followed the directions. The site itself is a bit sparse on details, though clicking about will net you what appear to be concept sketches and the occasional audio clip. Once we entered our code, we were rewarded with a pop-up of the image above. As for what it actually means ... yeah, I've got no clue. Is it merely wallpaper? Or a warning about an imminent invasion by ferocious subterranean species? Perhaps it's yet another code, which will tell us where to pick up our very own Marcus Fenix bobble-head dolls.

We turn to you, clever readers, to discover the secret behind this riddle. Head over to the site (be sure to turn off any pop-up blockers) and use our CSID number: 895575-B851V-EL.

Let us know what you find!

Image: Microsoft

See Also:

• Preview: Gears of War 2 Defines 'Hard-core'
• Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Detailed
• Cliffy B: Gears of War 2 More 'Girlfriend-Friendly'

Those not attending this weekend's Blizzcon event in Anaheim, California who still want to watch the most talented Blizzard fans battle to the (virtual) death are in luck: Blizzard will be streaming select events live on the 'net.

Though the official Blizzcon page only reveals that "select tournaments from the convention floor" will be broadcast, I would assume Blizzard has a plan in place to specifically cover the most hotly contested battles.

Those of you with nothing but vitriol for World of Warcraft need not fear Blizzard's hit MMO hogging the limelight. The company plans to hold tournaments spanning the gamut of their titles, from classics like StarCraft to newer hits like WarCraft III.

It's a safe bet that Blizzard will also be streaming footage of the competitive StarCraft II matches, as the company expects the finest StarCraft players in the world (read: Korea) to be showing off on their upcoming strategy title.

Image courtesy Blizzard Entertainment

BlizzCon Tournaments Live Stream Information [Blizzcon 2008]

If Kratos' and Nariko's Sackboy incarnations weren't reason enough to pick up LittleBigPlanet, how about similarly adorable versions of Metal Gear Solid geriatric Old Snake and Final Fantasy's angsty poster boy Sephiroth?

So far neither Sony, nor developer Media Molecule have explained exactly how you'll acquire the latest Sack-centric additions, but don't be surprised if -- like the God of War and Heavenly Sword characters -- plunking down some pre-order cash at a specific retailer is involved in the process.

Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans seems a bit overwhelmed by his firm's opportunity to incorporate such iconic characters into LBP, categorizing the event as "slightly bizarre."

Continue reading "Old Snake, Sephiroth Get Sacked for LittleBigPlanet" »

TOKYO -- There used to be a joke that giving games cinematic flavor was all about using Quick Time Events. Most games have moved beyond that -- that is, except for From Software's Ninja Blade.

Things do kick off nicely in the upcoming Xbox 360 game: You jump from a chopper, initiating a few QTEs on your way down before crashing through a high-rise. Then it's on to some real battles, which are actually decent. You do combos, and switch weapons using the D-pad.

At first I was slashing away with my katana, mixing it up with two-sword attacks, but once enemies started pulling out shields, the only way to get through them was by using a massive sword.

Continue reading "Hands On: Ninja Blade Embraces QTEs" »

TOKYO -- I don't think Sony should go passing out this pamphlet about Game Archives, the service that lets PlayStation 3 and PSP owners download classic PSone games, to foreigners. It only makes us feel terrible about ourselves.

I mean, seriously. Gaze and weep upon the 239 different PSone games -- from Metal Gear Solid to Resident Evil and even crazier games like Einhander and Policenauts -- that you can download to your Sony platform of choice if you live in Japan. In the United States there are ... a dozen? If that.

(I do feel kind of compelled to point out that not even Japan has Riiiidge Racerrrrr yet.)

Image: Wired.com

TOKYO -- Don't get me wrong, Square Enix's The Last Remnant does look great and shows promise, but the generous amount of time I had with the game at the Microsoft booth was pretty much just about watching cut scenes.

Things did start promising, with an opening cinematic that reminded me of the Lost Odyssey opener, as you find yourself in the middle of a massive battle of Lord of the Rings proportions. You then quickly find yourself in battle, in control of a few squads, giving each of them an attack command from a menu. After all the commands are set, off they go.

Now, this could be because it's part of the game's opening, but that was it, with combat being shown in a sequence showing the result of every attack, which then segued into more story scenes.

Continue reading "Hands On: The Last Remnant Is Barely Playable" »

TOKYO -- My last few weeks of gaming have mostly been about Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery, so when I got inside Tokyo Game Show on Thursday, I made a beeline to Microsoft's booth to get some play time with Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

I was really hoping that developer Tri-Ace would decide to go the Infinite Undiscovery route and implement real-time battles with no breaks to introduce combat, which makes grinding infinitely bearable. It instead follows the style of previous entries in the series: Combat itself is real-time -- and quite action-packed -- but we get the classic Japanese RPG style of combat encounters, with enemies in the main world triggering the start of a separate battle sequence.

Once you enter battles, it is fast-moving and fun. A "Rush" gauge lets you perform special attacks -- you initiate it by pressing X -- and pulling the controller's triggers will create other powerful and magic-based attacks.

Continue reading "Hands On: Action-Packed Star Ocean 4" »