A long time ago, I was a designer and writer for a small design house called Westwood Associates. It was run by two great designers - Brett Sperry and Louis Castle. Louis was just and incredible programer and designer. He was doing stuff on the Apple IIe that would not be replicated until Doom came out. And Brett had this incredible sense of layout, interface design and organic motion.
On of the first games I worked on was Eye of the Beholder. I was a writer for the clue book on the EOB One and a writer and designer on EOB II.
The second game I worked on was DragonStrike for the NES. This was a top-down shooter and didn't any (other than the name) to do with the Apple IIe flight sim version.
I was a designer for a small NEC Turbographx role playing game called Order of the Griffon.
One of the last games I worked was Dune II for the Amiga and PC. This was the first real RTS to be developed. Brett Sperry came up with the idea after playing a German game called Herzog.
One of the great things about living my life is that I've met some of the most interesting and unique people in this world. And no one was more original than Bill Kunkel.
Kunkel was into video games before anyone I knew. He'd been doing it for like ten years when I got into the industry in the late 80's. He was part of KKW - Katz, Kunkel Worley Inc. Arnie Katz, Bill Kunkel and Joyce Worley were game designers and writers. They built this kind of magical world inside this small house in Las Vegas.
A Bill Kunkel Story - Mike Legg (Petroglyph Games), Bill Kunkel and I were at Louis Castle's(EA, Zynga) house. Louis and his wife Donna had these incredible Christmas parties. It was getting toward the end and Mike, Bill and I were just sitting on the floor talking, next to this enormous Christmas tree.
I remember that Bill wasn't paying attention to what were talking about. He kept looking up at the tree.
Finally I had to ask. "What's wrong Bill? You seem distracted."
Bill didn't answer. He just pointed to the top.
Donna had put this little animatronic angel in place of the star on the tree. It was dressed in white robes holding a small lit candled that illuminated its cherub face. The angel methodically swayed back and forth waving the candle in a slow-motion figure eight. Over and over again.
Bill said something to the affect that the little creature was freaking him out and I think Mike Legg named it, the White Angel. The whole conversation turned to speaking about the White Angel. In our minds, it no longer was a cute, little Christmas ornament. But a small, impish creature perched on top of the tree, scanning for its next victim.
We even had this movie intro voice for it - you have to say it like Tiny Tim and draw it out. -- The White Angel .. The White Angel.
It was so good it was evil.
The conversation expanded to other small, evil creatures and that's the start of the infamous LEM's - Little Evil Men.
Finally, Bill got so freaked out by the whole thing he had to leave and I don't think Christmas was ever the same for him.
Bill Kunkel died on Sunday night of an apparent heart attack. I'm shocked and stunned. I get this strange dread when people like Bill die - usually whole eras end with them.
I think the toughest thing now for Bill is to choose between video game heaven and wrestler's heaven. I think I know which one he chose.
(This was a long time ago - so my memory is a bit rough on the events and if you've been to any of the Castle parties you have a hard time remembering what happened the day after)
At the 2011 E3 conference, Nintendo announced it's brand new Wii console called the Wii U. Now I don't know how many more vowels Nintendo can stuff into a name but the system looks pretty awesome.
The Wii U has a 6.2-inch touchscreen along with analog controls, motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer, speakers and a camera. The controller can be used in a variety of ways with the Wii, including video conferencing, and digital interchange between controller and screen. All Wii games, controllers and accessories work are backwards compatible with the new system. It will be available sometime in 2012. - Huffington Post
Kristen Schaal is one of my favorite actors. I loved her in HBO's Flight of the Conchords, where she plays Mel, the band's lone, desperate fan. She's like Sarah Silverman, but not as bitter or full or thorns.
Sony has hired Schaal as their spokesperson for the new Sony Xperia Play - a type smart phone meets Game Boy. It seems the only thing working at Sony these days is their advertising department, because Schaal is fantastic in these commercials.
In the beginning, around the mid-80's, when video and computer games were just starting out, it was a pretty simple formula. A small group of guys (sometimes a girl: Roberta Williams) got together, threw a ball around and came up with a game concept. Then those same guys along with some artists, writers and a musician or two got busy and programed the game. The finished game was delivered to the publisher and the published made a whole bunch of copies and sold them to stores.
That was it really. Nothing more to it and guess what, games sold and sometimes they sold millions of copies without much advertising or marketing. Games like Mario Brothers, Pac Mac, Tetris and Zelda. Then what happens whenever there's money involved happened. People who either didn't have any idea what a video game was or hated video games got involved in the industry. Human Resources, Legal, Accounting, Advertising, Project Managers and Marketing.
Like I said, these people for the most part hated games - the one who loved computer games but couldn't create them went to work for Q&A and Test. The only reason the above got involved was because there was money, they got a degree in marketing or business and they couldn't get a job at IBM or Morgan Stanley.
Because of this total lack of interest and complete disdain for the product, there have been some spectacular failures in game demonstrations, presentations and E3 events. I present a few here for your cringing entertainment.
" After touting its new High School Musical karaoke game, the host asked for two "volunteers" to demonstrate. These clearly planted actors pretended to be novices, struggling wit the microphones and looking confused. Then, as soon as the music started, they began belting out the number like Broadway veterans. All hell broke loose as dozens of dancers dressed as cheerleaders flooded the aisles, throwing beach balls and inciting the crowd to join in." Game Informer (don't know the date cause GI is not smart enough to put the date on the magazine)
Here's the embarrassing video:
Wii Music for Gifted Children
Ever wish a game could make you look like an uncoordinated, spastic loser? Then welcome to Wii Music drum demo. See, when you really don't understand how the game works, nor do you care - then you fail to see the importance of testing out the product before the demonstration.
Jeff Bell - A legend in his own mind.
Former VP of Marketing for Microsoft, Jeff Bell is the classic marketing guy. First you have to have an ego as big as the Grand Canyon, but have very little talent for designing or creating the actual product. So, that the first thing you think about when you get up on stage is .. "I got to make me look good." rather than "Can I make the product look good."
In this video, Jeff Bell is demonstrating Madden 08 with Reggie Bush at the 2008 E3 show. Remember, Jeff wants himself to look good so he's got to say the most up-to-date, pimped out words, Dog.
Here Jeff is doing a mock interview with the Microsoft marketing team for the dialog wheel in Mass Effect. Realize that Jeff is not a designer; also, comedy comes from certain vulnerability within the comedian, but when you think you're "all-that" then it's impossible to be funny other than in a sort of pitiful Hasselhoff way.
The Other Kennedy
When you don't care about the game or the company then you hire other people who don't care about video games or the customer. This was never more apparent than when Jamie Kennedy hosted the Activision press conference at 2007 E3
I'm not saying that all marketing is bad. Strangely enough many marketing people in the casino industry like gambling and have an understanding of the customer's wants and needs. This is definitely not happening in video games. Especially when some marketing dude tries to slog a horrible game idea like "Hello Kitty" combined with "The Sims" down a developer's throat.
My World of Warcraft sheet music arrived today and I am already geeked out about it. Recently I purchased a Casio WK-200 keyboard for my daughter to learn piano on .. Secretly, I also purchased it for myself. It has a MIDI interface .. and you know.
It has been a long time since I played piano and I have hand tremors from my MS, but I thought .. it can't hurt to give it a try ..
The songs included in this Anthology are:
A Call to Arms Garden of Life
Gatges of the Black Temple
Intro Movie: Seasons of War
Invincible
Karazhan
Lament of the Highborne
Lion's Pride ---> see Youtube video
Mountains of Thunder
Pig and Whistle
The Shaping of the World
Totems of the Grizzlemaw
Wrath of the Lich King (Main Title) Suite.
I looked through it and it doesn't seem too complex .. So, I think I'm going to try one of these songs out .. record it and put it up on the blog.
If you're interested in purchasing this sheet music you can find it at ----> Sheet Music Plus
I heard about this new game for the Wii on CNET radio. It's called We Dare by Ubisoft and it's extremely hard to find the game trailer anywhere. After about thirty minutes of searching I found it on Youtube, but with only 4k viewers it probably won't be up for long. From what I hear, the video is taken down not long after it has been posted.
The game is basically a tame Swingers' Party game. According to Entro news who quote Ubisoft.
"We Dare is a sexy, quirky, party game that offers a large variety of hilarious, innovative and physical, sometimes kinky, challenges."
- yea right. Rumor has it that the game has three modes .. playful, sinful and something called exotic. And unfortunately, it's not going to be here in the USA.
If the Youtube site is down - no worries, yours truly has downloaded the video and presents it here for your viewing pleasure. That is until this post is taken down .. no promises.
***Warning*** This game trailer is definitely PG13 and is only marginally safe for work. Also, it will stick in your brain for a quite a bit. Be prepared to be distracted for at least ten to fifteen minutes after view the video. So, don't view before a big meeting - unless your boss likes to hear a lot of "What -- what did you say?"
With that - I present the newest and possibly the most popular game on the Wii .. We Dare.
What? --- oh okay .. yea well as you can see there are some new ways to use that wand. Although you may want to invest in some good cleaning solution. Just saying.
Seems Blizzard is going the Disney route by creating a World of Warcraft and Starcraft theme park in China. According to the Huffington Post, the WoW park is called Joyland and is in the Wunjin district.
Inside Joyland, the park will be distributed into different regions, and those areas will be themed with various popular anime games, such as “Moore Park”, “Legend of the world”, “Starcraft”, “World of Warcraft” and “Mysterious Island”. - M.I.C Gadget.
Now I have to figure out how to get to China .. without spend any money. I wonder if someone would pay me to do a full report .. a full up close and personal report.
The Mighty Kmuzu has commissioned work of fine art for the kingdom. It is called, "Playing Halo with Elvis". It is a masterpiece - is it not. The artist is Andre and his the new hit smashsation on the internet. You can see more of his stuff at Photobucket.
Kmuzu / Cram holds publication rights to the artwork. All original copyright is maintained by the artists. 2010
This is the very first post and like all first posts it's difficult to exactly know what to say, other than, "Hello" or "Welcome to my blog". I'm filled with such hate and self-loathing thinking about starting that way.
Okay - EMB is going to be about video games, entertainment, comedy, weird news and (my favorite) conspiracy theories. Oh there may be some art and music thrown in.
Why the Elvis? Because I'm on an journey - really a vision quest to find Elvis. I know he's alive somewhere .. some how.
